been a long time comin'

Hello Friends!  It's been a while, eh?

By way of a very short explanation for my sporadic posts, a few of which had absolutely nothing to do with food, and my months-long absence from any kind of posts, I will just say that life has changed a good bit this year, and sometime in the late winter, early spring, I decided that I didn't have anything interesting to say about food anymore.  I was repeating recipes and/or not cooking due to an awkward schedule and I just couldn't think of anything worth saying about stuff I'd made dozens of times before.

Sorry about that, but let's get back to it, shall we?

A couple of weeks ago, I lost my job.  It's cool, don't worry - I feel much better, actually.  It was incredibly more stressful than it needed to be and although I felt good about the things I was able to accomplish in my relatively short time there, my professional development was being strangled.  So, aside from that "money thing," I've decided to consider my newly acquired LotsaTime a blessing.

Back to that whole "money thing" for a minute, though.

If you look back over older posts in this blog, you'll see a few times when our financial situation changed and we had to readjust our budget/financial paradigm.  I'm a naturally frugal person anyway and gain great satisfaction from seeing the little "You saved $___.__ today!" that prints out at the bottom of my SuperFresh receipt after I painstakingly examined the 3 different brands of Navy Beans to find the one that would save a bit of money.  Maybe not the best example, but when I can pay $3.59 for 28 oz of organic fire-roasted diced tomatoes or $0.88 for 28 oz of "regular" diced tomatoes, I find that a bit of a victory.

So what has inspired me to start writing again?  Well, in a sense, I found a new thesis statement (do you remember having to learn those in elementary school English class??): How to Still Eat Well (taste-wise, as well as nutritionally) with Diminishing Funds.

When I lost my job, I had already put together a menu for the following week, since it included Thanksgiving, which I had the privilege of hosting again this year (click here for last year).  It made my insides shrivel up when it came time to run our purchases down the conveyor belt of each store and watch the cashier tally up our debt, knowing it would be higher than usual and at possibly the worst time.  Nevertheless, we had a delightful Thanksgiving and it took us many days (nearly a week, actually) to clear enough leftovers from the fridge for me to start cooking things that created more leftovers.

When it came time to shop for this week's food, I did something I haven't done in years.  Literally.  As in, since before I started this blog and began charting out weekly menus (which I continued all through my absence, even though I didn't share them with anyone but Mister).  I went to the grocery stores and just bought staples and a few fresh veggies I knew would play well together.  Then what?  Then I took all the knowledge I've been storing away over the last three years of Cookbook Studying and just made it up!  I know, right?

One night, I made a thick, hearty minestrone using some canned tomatoes, fresh zucchini and carrots, and orzo lovingly donated to us by my dear FIL (which is a whole other story for another time, but let's just say Mister comes from good stock).

Oh?  You want a recipe?  Well... it's the least I can do after leaving you high and dry for so many months.

Hearty Winter Minestrone (I know it's not winter yet, but it should be!)
yields about 4 quarts (I'll let your bowls decide how many servings that is)

1 Tbsp olive oil
6-7 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed (depending on clove size and personal preference)
4 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, sliced into pieces of uniform size
2 small zucchini, diced*
1/2 tsp McCormick Mediterranean Sea Salt Blend
1 quart vegetable broth (or measure 4 cups water and add 2 bouillon cubes when it starts to boil)
28 oz crushed tomatoes
15 oz petite diced tomatoes
15 oz can of white beans (cannellini would be good, but I used Great Northern)
scant tsp sea salt
1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 cup dried orzo
* The easiest way I've found to do this is to "top and tail" the zucchini, then slice each one 4x lengthwise, then cut those slices 3x lengthwise and then just cut across in half-inch slices.

This is definitely the kind of meal where you can be chopping ingredients as you go along, so you should, because it'll shave off a little time.  Don't get me wrong - this is absolutely a delightfully slow-cooked soup, but there's no need to be standing around watching the pot for 5 minutes until it's time to add the next thing, right?

Heat the oil in a 4- to 6-qt pot on medium-low.  When the oil starts to shimmer a little, add the celery and garlic.  Stir well to combine and thoroughly coat with the oil, then cover and reduce the heat to low.  While they're cooking, cut up your carrots.  When they're all cut up, add them to the pot.  If you have super-fast, ninja-like knife skills, feel free to dice the zucchini and add that at the same time you add the carrot - the idea is to give the celery about 5-7 minutes of quality time in the sauna, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing burns.  Whenever you add the zucchini, sprinkle the Mediterranean Sea Salt blend over the whole mess, stir, and cover again.  Let that melange mix and mingle for another 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the diced tomatoes, then sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and basil, then pour in the quart of broth and stir everything together.  Turn the heat up as high as it will go and wait for your soup to boil.  It'll probably do this faster if you cover the pot again, but don't wander off and check your facebook - you want to be ready the very moment the broth starts to boil, so hang out in the kitchen and glance between the latest issue of Vogue and the pot on your stove.

When the soup has reached a healthy boil, slowly pour in the cup of uncooked orzo while stirring the pot. Continue stirring while the broth boils for another minute or two, then lower the heat to medium/medium-low.  The soup should be at a vibrant simmer, but not boiling.  Be sure to stir frequently now that you've add the orzo - the first time or two that you stir, you'll likely find yourself pushing stubborn bits of pasta off the bottom of your pot, but once you've gotten to the 8 or 9-minute mark, you can relax the stirring and just let your soup simmer another 10 minutes or so.

Taste for seasoning; if necessary, add more salt and/or pepper, and serve immediately.

just not into the jerk

I've mentioned before how treacherous a place a recipe finds itself if it has to hang on to one of the last spots on the menu.  There are so many different reasons that could happen - normally it's a time concern, although other times I've lost interest.  Tonight, I dealt with kind of a combination.

See, we have a tie for "last place."  Tonight's choices for dinner were either Mama Pea's Chickpeas and Dumplings, accompanied by the spinach, lentil and tofeta salad from The Low GI Cookbook or Jerk Seitan from VwaV.  I have every faith in the universe that I will absolutely love the Chickpeas and Dumplings....yet, I've fallen out of love with the idea of cooking from my company-endorsed cookbook.  Too many bland/uninteresting recipes will do that to a person's drive.  Regardless, there were two things that kept me from making that meal tonight: first, it's hot as can be in my second-floor, non-corner-property apartment and by the time the A/C did anything effective, I'd have eaten my own fist (an hour and a half commute usually results in a pretty hungry Natalie by the time I get home).  Second, the tofeta needed to marinate for an hour, which was definitely not in the cards.  For the same reason, the Jerk Seitan, though delicious, fell out of my favor when I confirmed my suspicions - the seitan also had to marinate for an hour.

A person might think that after working their butt off all week, like I did, a dinner where most of the prep time involves sitting and screwing around while something marinates would be ideal.  That would be logical.  However, I am to the point of delirium and exhaustion where I fear what would happen during that idle time - I don't like pre-dinner naps, so I wanted to make something active.  Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, I'm pretty darn hungry by the time I get home from work, so sitting around would just make me focus on that hunger.  I wanted to keep my mind and hands busy enough that even though dinner ended up taking just as much time as it would have if I'd let the tofu or seitan marinate, I was active the whole time.  Was I sweaty by the time I plunked dinner down on the table?  Yes, but was I awake?  Yes, so I consider it a win.

This, I also consider a win.  Since I vetoed both of the remaining dinners, I now had two new options: go out to Cedars or Stella for a relatively inexpensive dinner I didn't have to prepare or clean up, or improvise.  Since Horizons called me this evening to confirm our 9pm reservations there tomorrow night (the last night! boo hoo!!), I decided it was far more fiscally responsible to make something up as I went along.

I opened up my mind and the refrigerator to take stock of what I had to work with.  Gathering up the green pepper meant for the Jerk Seitan, as well as the seitan itself, I also grabbed my big bag o' carrots, the tamari, and my tub of white miso.  Oh yes, and also the wine.  Happy Friday!

Five-Spice Seitan Noodle Bowl
serves 4
Ingredients:
8 oz rice noodles
12 oz seitan in broth, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 generous cup of julienne carrots
4 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
3 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce
2 tsp miso, dissolved in 1/3 cup hot water (steal from noodle water before you drain the noodles but after it stops boiling)
1 tsp Chinese 5-Spice powder

Prepare the noodles according to package directions.  If possible, coordinate the pasta's cook time with the time you start sauteing the vegetables.  Julienne the carrots and slice the pepper thinly, lengthwise.

Heat the peanut oil on medium heat.  Add garlic, peppers, and carrots - stir well to coat evenly with oil. 

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes, until crisp-tender, then add the sliced seitan and stir well to combine.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until seitan begins to brown, then sprinkle on the 5-Spice powder and tamari.  Mix well and lower heat to medium low. 

The noodles should be ready by now.  Remove from heat and steal 1/3 cup of the hot water to dissolve your miso, then drain the noodles.  Whisk together the miso and hot water until completely dissolved, then pour into seitan mixture along with the sesame oil and drained noodles.  Cook, stirring constantly, about three minutes more, until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

It was very easy to eat - the savory notes of the tamari balanced by the sweetness of the white miso I used.  As is the intention, the 5-spice powder completed the flavor spectrum in an extraordinarily subtle way - you really had to be paying attention to know it was in there.  I was hesitant to add fresh ginger, but I think the dish will benefit from just a bit of it in the future.  Due to the generally savory nature of the dish, Mister asked if it was "beef" stroganoff.  I didn't have a response other than to just stare at him until he retracted it and I pointed out that we were using chopsticks to eat, which usually indicates an Asian-intentioned meal.

SIN & my BIG FAT Greek Easter

Do they still have the Seven Deadly Sins?  If so, I fear I'm going straight to Hell - do not pass go and do not collect $200.  How else can it go when my entire celebration of Jesus's act of reconciliation involved gluttony?  Well, okay, maybe not the whole celebration, but the part that occurred outside of the church.

After church, we dined with my in-laws (17 of us total) at Estia on Broad and Locust.  It was an extravagant affair to say the least.  Honestly, I would be lying (another sin, surely) if I didn't admit that my favorite part of lunch was seeing all of our family again - it doesn't happen frequently enough.  I'm pretty sure (unfortunately) that the last time I saw my parents-in-law was Christmas - and if that's not a sin, I don't know what is.  Mister and I had a little gift for our nephews, as well, and there is something priceless about watching children take turns pulling off the wrapping paper so they can share every part of the gift - they're good at being brothers.  So my true delight was in the people; my beautiful SIL, a cousin who brought his new lady friend, my little angel baby.  Of course, another priceless moment was when my father-in-law parked himself across from me, attentive waiter behind him, and asked if I would like some "voov," while making a drinking motion with his hand.  In my momentary ignorance, I thought he had learned a new Greek word for "drink," possibly "wine," but once the waiter nodded, noted, and walked away with my FIL, I realized he had just enlisted my assistance in drinking a bottle of Veuve Clicquot!  It helped wash down the huge amount of food that covered every square inch of the table (and some of the round ones) - fried zucchini, various spreads (baba ghanoush, muhammara, hummus, tzatziki) with bread, pita, and crudites, as well as amazing marinated peasant salads of red and orange tomatoes, red and green peppers, and cucumbers.  I barely had space for my entree and resolved, next time my entree will merely be a salad.  There were also three decadent, huge Greek desserts and Greek coffee.  I love Greek stuff - I'm so lucky to be married into this family!

After 15 hugs and kisses, we excused ourselves to run (in heels) to the train station.  We hopped on the train just as it was about to leave us, and 45 minutes later found ourselves in my dad's car.  Once we arrived at the house, I could finally relieve my purse of the jar full of rice, spices, and cashews that I'd carried to church and lunch.  Mom and a cousin were industriously chopping tomatoes for bruschetta while the littlest cousin hunted for plastic candy-filled eggs in my parents' verdant backyard.  While Mom and I started cooking, my dad showed everyone photos and video of me as an infant and toddler, then took the whole merry party down to the basement to play with his bordering-on-obsession trainset.  It takes up the entire basement.  He cut holes in the walls to let the trains go through "tunnels."  I told Dad he has to take this stuff down before he gets decrepit because I don't want to deal with it.  We all figured, though, that the littlest cousin, presently 2 years old, should at least be a teenager before this becomes an issue, so we'll just hire him and some friends for pizza.

Once the Black Bottom Pineapple Tofu on Coconut Cashew Rice (from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy) was done cooking, Mom and I set up the table and called everyone away from the fun to eat dinner.  My plate was delightfully colorful!

Taking up the majority of the plate was the tofu dish, accompanied (counter-clockwise) by a delightful strawberry-walnut salad my mom made, as well as an apple-sweet potato roast.  What a lovely springtime meal, don't you think?

So tonight is the first night of the new menu.  What menu?  Glad you asked:

1. Chili and Polenta Casserole also from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy, and hopefully, it comes together as quickly as they say it does, because this is going to be a busy week, methinks.

2. Pasta Marinara with Kale and Beans - although this will be accompanied by a new recipe for you (yay!), don't get too excited - it's going to be a cheater recipe (with a rockstar name).

3. Spring Vegetable Curry from The Accidental Vegan - why not?  It's spring and Mister Loves Asparagus.

4. Cajun Red Beans and Rice, also from The Accidental Vegan, because it's my fav-fav-favorite rice-n-beans recipe. 

5. Yakisoba, also from The Accidental Vegan, which was dinner tonight.

It's a little bit bland, but there is a subtle aftertaste of ginger and not quite enough garlic.  Of course, I wanted to use my new toy - a ginger grater, so I grated the garlic and I don't think I got as much out of each clove as I do when I press it.  It did a fantastic job on the ginger, though, so well done, Essene!  Best $5 I ever spent (especially after flirting with the $20 Microplane Special People Grater/Zester at Williams-Sonoma when I picked up the gifts for the nephews).  That $15 will go toward the Buy-Natalie-a-4qt-Saute-Pan fund.  Attempting to "toss" a pound of noodles with the veggies and sauce tonight in my 3-qt pan was quite an adventure and pushed me over the Suck-It-Up-and-Spend-the-$$$ edge.  After the rent gets paid :)

"fortune" teller

I love when I can see just a little glimpse into the future...enough to allow me to make a good decision. 

I was about halfway through yesterday when my throat started getting a little sore, so I wrapped a scarf around to keep it warm (I don't know why warm is supposed to battle sore, but follow me) and puttered through the rest of my day.  By the time I got home, I was frozen and just wanted to make Vegetable Lentil Stew from Vegan on the Cheap for all its warming comfort.  I'd actually skipped over this the first few times I went through the book because I know Mister prefers food he can chew on for dinner, but this time around I said, "It's February, it's snowing, and I want a warm, homey stew."

It's not a terribly attractive picture, but since I snuffled my way through preparing the stew and was pretty sure I was getting sick but still in a state where I could turn it around with enough vitamin C, detox tea, and sleep, I just didn't have the energy or investment to take a picture in the nice, bright light of the stove.

Despite all appearances, this soup is a real winner.  I would have rambled on about it all last night but I went to bed so soon after dinner that I didn't even clean up the dishes (thank you, Mister).  I'm glad I didn't write about it last night, though, because after sitting in the fridge overnight and then being reheated by my loving hubby after I woke up from the four-hour nap I took when I came home early from work today (which is a whole other story for a whole 'nother time), it was nothing short of heavenly.  With a rich, smoky broth made up of crushed tomatoes, bouillon, and some secret herbs and spices and packed with good-for-me veggies, I could eat this stew all day long...and I may need to if I don't shake whatever has claimed me.

On that note, I think it's time to reconsider my 2-hour Awake Spree.

moving makes me stretch

Although it probably would have been wise to stretch my muscles out a bit before and during the moving process, I did not.  That may very well be the reason my back hates me and my arms and legs were introducing me to muscles I didn't know I had by the medium of pain.  Regardless, the way this move has made me stretch is in the kitchen these past two days. 

Although yesterday's dinner was planned out and shopped for, I had no plans at all for tonight, but I did have spinach, carrots, and brown rice!  Yeah, I know, you're drooling already, I'm sure.  I spent most of my homeward commute brainstorming about what we could eat for dinner without stretching our poor bank account any further.  I also didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff since I know I'll finally construct a real menu and need to shop for that.

Turkish Spinach Pilaf
about 4 servings

2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup brown rice
1 Turkish bay leaf
dash of cinnamon
2 large carrots, thinly sliced (about 1.5 cups)
4-5 cups finely chopped spinach (about 4-5 cups)
15 oz can of chickpeas

Bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan (about 2.5 quarts).  Stir in rice and bay leaf, then cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, slice the carrots as thinly as possible - I was able to get some to be nearly translucent.
Add thinly sliced carrots and cinnamon; stir to combine and simmer 5-10 minutes more.  Remove bay leaf.  Lay chopped spinach over the rice and carrots.

Cover the pot and raise the heat slightly.  Allow the spinach to steam on top of the pilaf for 5-10 minutes, then stir into the rice, adding the chickpeas.

Cover and cook until spinach is wilted and all liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

It took about an hour and 15 minutes to be ready, but I'm already brown rice-challenged and now I'm trying to cook it on a new stove with new quirks, so if you prepare this and get a better time, please let me know!

It was fun and very attractive.  It was a little less flavorful than I wanted it to be, so in the future, I may tweak it by adding tamari or perhaps an herb blend to liven it up a little - I might even do a combination of tamari and the low, sweet heat of harissa.  Only time will tell how far I can stretch!

soup's on!

Having had the last of the lentil soup for lunch today, I came to the conclusion that if I was playing one of those silly games where people ask you questions like, "if you could only eat one soup for the rest of your life, what would it be?" my answer would be Isa's Amazing Lentil Soup. When I made it originally and posted about it, I included an excerpt from Veganomicon in which Isa writes that you'll never need another lentil soup recipe. I would like to amend her statement: you will never need another soup recipe. Period. I have eaten that soup on three occasions over the past week and every time I put the spoon in my mouth I am astonished anew by how delicious it is.

So, can anyone tell me why I pushed my luck and made another soup tonight? Actually, the answer to that is, "so I could take the menu off the freezer door and post the new one," since that was the last recipe on last week's menu. That does not explain, however, why there is another soup on the new menu. I digress - the point is, tonight I made Double Pea Soup with Roasted Red Peppers from Veganomicon. It was very good, made with split peas and "regular" peas, and very colorful from the green peas, orange carrots, and red peppers.
Also, today I did indeed return to Whole Foods to clear out their supply of my precious Nectar bars. See, it's funny - I go through snack phases and I'm either all about the bars or I absolutely want nothing to do with them. I had been on a raw rage due to a very pre-packaged and carbolicious winter, so I wouldn't even entertain the notion of a snack other than an apple, pear, cup of strawberries, you get the picture: Fruit in all it's untouched glory. And I'm sure that in the middle of February when all fruit is nasty and most of it has been trucked/flown in from other parts of the WORLD (not even country), I will crave fresh fruit like no one's business. At the moment, however, I am all about the bars.

I babbled about all of that just now because I think it's funny how I wouldn't have cared one whit about Clif discontinuing the Nectar line a few months ago and now I regard it as an apocalyptic tragedy. Here is my shrine to Nectar:
I have never actually had the lone Cranberry, Apricot, Almond Nectar bar in the middle, but when I went to Whole Foods, they had the 4 Cacao bars I snatched up, the 3.5 boxes of Lemon Vanilla Cashew of which I took 2, about 6 boxes of Cherry Pomegranate, and then these bars. I believe there are probably 6 boxes of what sounds like a teeth-achingly sweet bar for good reason, so I thought I'd see if the Cran-Apri-Almond bars were worth hording.

Finally, as if Fate had aligned certain factors to soften the trauma of Nectar's slow disappearance, Chocolate Covered Katie is hosting an Amazing Grass Chocolate SuperFood bars Giveaway! I entered, of course, and if you're interested in possibly trying some of these bars for free, just follow the link and read about the contest! While you're over there, check out the rest of her blog - it's primarily her fault I even remembered my love for the convenience of getting two fruit servings in a neatly wrapped bar. She focuses primarily on breakfast and dessert as far as I can tell, so she has some absolutely incredible ideas for that all-important first meal of the day.

dessert before dinner

It's been a delightful long weekend...I hate to think about going back to work tomorrow, so I'm going to share my tasty food stories (and pictures) with you instead.

Last night the baking bug bit me, so I pulled out Vegan with a Vengeance and set to work making Ginger-Macadamia-Coconut-Carrot Cake, except I substituted pecans for the macadamia nuts and I made cupcakes because it is so much more convenient to have the servings already portioned out! As the name suggests, this is no ordinary carrot cake. There is pineapple juice sweetening the batter and chunks of crystallized ginger throughout the cakes. In addition to the the coconut flakes baked into the cakes, I cut off the tops and made them into little baby layer cakes and frosted them with Isa's Coconut Heaven Frosting. I actually don't like icing/frosting on cakes because they tend to be too sweet, as was the case with this one, but despite the prettiness of his Birthday Coffeecake, Mister has impressed upon me the importance of birthday cakes having icing, so I made these to make up for his frostingless birthday cake.
Despite the frosting melting quite quickly and being sweet enough to give you a cavity just by looking at it, we each had two of these delightful and quirky cupcakes.

Unfortunately, that adventure only increased the hold Baking had over me, so today I set about to bake something that had formed in my head overnight. I can't say I dream of cupcakes, but I did wake up with this idea. A short segue: most of my favorite treats involve some kind of fruit being coated in chocolate. A tasty treat I haven't enjoyed in years (for no good reason) is a frozen chocolate covered banana. Mmmm...so good. So, to capture all the tastiness without all the cold (I believe I mentioned we're having a bit of a cool-snap), I made Chocolate-Covered Banana Cupcakes.

Chocolate-Covered Banana Cupcakes
makes 12

Ingredients:
2 cups flour, lightly spooned and leveled with a knife
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup honey (to make vegan, substitute 1/2 cup sugar)
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 bananas
1/4 cup dark chocolate peanut butter* or Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place liners in cupcake pan.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon with a whisk in a large bowl.
In a food processor, combine peeled bananas, broken in half, with honey, water, oil, and vanilla. Process until smooth, about 15-20 seconds.
Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and mix until combined - this will go faster with the help of a hand-held electric mixer.
Scoop batter into lined cupcake pan, dividing evenly and filling each cup almost to the top.
Bake 25-27 minutes, until a toothpick (tester) inserted into the center of a centrally located cupcake comes out clean.
Cool in pan 5-10 minutes, then remove cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.
Put chocolate peanut butter/Nutella in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high 15-20 seconds. Spread on cooled cupcakes.

**Note: I used "Dark Chocolate Dreams" by Peanut Butter & Co.
It's actually Chocolate Covered Katie's fault - I would never have known it even existed if it weren't for her. Actually, she can share the blame with an old friend of mine who recently undertook what he named "The Nutella Experiment." It made me remember how much I loved Nutella when I was in high school, so when I was at the grocery store, I decided to either pick some up or read the label until I remembered why I don't eat it anymore. Then, magically, I saw this out of the corner of my eye, hanging out just above the big, shiny SALE sign. So there you have it. Moving on...

I thought up a second fun, nostalgic cupcake recipe and stood in my kitchen for about 5 minutes, trying to decide whether to keep going after the Chocolate-Covered Banana cupcakes or save some for later. In the interest of being a good neighbor (I'll explain when we get there) I've decided to refrain from baking the other cupcakes until Friday.

Dinner tonight was Roasted Heirlooms on Orecchiette, although I had to substitute medium shells for the orecchiette because I couldn't find any. I refuse to believe that only Walmart carries this pasta. Anyway, I had been wanting to use heirloom tomatoes for something ever since they made their first appearance in Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. This is a really simple recipe, but it's soooo good (and extremely garlicky - not for the faint of heart or nose).

Roasted Heirlooms on Orecchiette
6 servings

Ingredients:
4-5 large mixed heirloom tomatoes
8-10 cloves of garlic, pressed/minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
13 oz orecchiette pasta (or shells)
10 oz jar of pesto

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Core, seed, and chop the tomatoes. Press garlic cloves over the tomatoes in a non-reactive roasting dish, then drizzle the olive oil over top. Toss well with your hands.
Roast for 30 minutes, stirring twice (at 10 and 20 minutes in).
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, return to pot and toss with pesto. Add roasted tomatoes and toss well.
Serve immediately, with olives and Parmesan, if so inclined.

I'll leave you with a shot of my gorgeous heirloom tomatoes:

mishmash minus mint

I couldn't do it...I couldn't add the mint that would make the recipe Minty Moroccan Mishmash. I just can't deal with the flavor combination. In my world, mint is a confection - it belongs in dessert, or at least a beverage. Funny thing is that I wrote this recipe specifically to use up some mint hanging out in my refrigerator...it's still hanging out.

Minus the mint, though, the Moroccan Mishmash was a smashing success, unlike lunch. Against his better judgment, I convinced Mister to go with me to Cafe Fulya today for lunch. I had a delightful Americano, a spinach pie that didn't suck but was nothing to write home about, and a very tasty cookie filled with shredded apple and walnuts. I ended up eating my cookie at home, though, while Mister wolfed down his Wawa hoagie. He got coffee, a shepherd's salad, and a strange egg dish...which he hated like he has hated no food before. The salad was pretty good, but it was a little heavy on the scallions and I have issues with onions.

The decor was fabulous - right up my alley. Everything was black and red - the chairs were clear and patterned with diamonds and a perfect red, which looked amazing with the black marble tabletops resting on wrought iron bases. We were seated on a red leather couch by the open window...which unfortunately allowed a group of flies to attempt to participate in our meal. The music was ambient and the stereo system was well camoflaged as it was black and surrounded by (unlit) red candles. I will go there again...probably alone.

In any case, as I mentioned, dinner made up for it:

Moroccan Mishmash
serves 4-6

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
3 large cloves garlic, pressed/minced
2 medium carrots, chopped
12 oz soy crumbles (I use Yves brand)
14.5 oz can of diced petite tomatoes
15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup V8 juice
dash of black pepper (to taste)
splash of balsamic vinegar
1 rounded cup of bulghur
14 oz (or 2 cups) vegetable broth

Bring broth to boiling in a medium saucepan. Add bulghur, stir and cover, then simmer on the lowest heat for about 15 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and bulghur is tender.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep pot on medium-low heat. Add garlic and carrots, cover and saute 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add soy crumbles and break up with a wooden spoon, then stir into carrots. Add undrained tomatoes and simmer 3-5 minutes, then stir in corn, chickpeas, cranberries, and V8. Simmer, uncovered, 2-3 more minutes, then add black pepper and vinegar. Simmer, uncovered, on low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
Serve over bulghur.

Jocalat on one shoulder, Seitan on the other...

I decided to start sampling my treasure trove of bars today. Ordinarily, this is how my day goes, eating-wise:
breakfast
morning snack
lunch
afternoon snack (sometimes)
dinner
The morning snack is usually a piece of fruit - grapes, an apple, a pear. However, I've found that they don't hold me over very long. Usually, I have my snack about two hours into my work day, but today I knew I was going to be too busy to eat something then, so I would have to go at 1 hour into work and make it last until a few hours later when I got lunchtime. I figured a 180 calorie fruit, nut, and chocolate bar would do a better job than my grapes, so I just grabbed the first one I could reach and it was my Larabar Jocalat Chocolate Mint bar.

I have to be honest: when I opened it up and smelled it, I thought, 'I don't know about this..." and when I took the first bite, every impulse in me wanted to be completely unladylike and spit it out in my trashcan. I fought the urge to be utterly uncouth and managed to chew it up and swallow. Upon doing so, there came this kind of nice aftertaste that made me pause and say, "let's try another bite." I realized about halfway through the bar that sometimes you just need to give your tastebuds a moment to shift their paradigm. If you are expecting something chocolatey the way that a Hershey's bar or (ooohh) a Dove bar is chocolatey, you will be sorely disappointed. Once I realized that something that had dates as a first ingredient wasn't going to be creamy, it was actually a delightfully dark and bitter chocolate taste on my tongue.

By the way, that little bar got me through four and a half hours of training before I could have my lunch (leftover "black bottom" tofu).

Tonight, I had more fun with gloppy sauces and once again marvelled that I can make them without gobs of some fatty substance. None at all, actually! I made Pineapple-Tamari Braised Seitan for dinner tonight. Tamari is a japanese version of soy sauce - a little sweeter, a little more piquant, if you will. If you cannot find it (though it is widely available where I live anyway), regular soy sauce will be an adequate substitute. It didn't turn out completely as I imagined, but it was really good, and could be a great noodle dish if I made 3 times as much sauce...and with the huge can of pineapple juice I got (because apparently they don't make single servings anymore), I very easily could have!

Pineapple-Tamari Braised Seitan with Vegetables

Ingredients
2 Tbsp peanut oil, divided
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
8 oz seitan
1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
3 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce
2 Tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 2 Tbsp warm water
4 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
1 bunch of asparagus*, ends trimmed and bias-cut
2 medium carrots, bias-cut
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
cooked brown rice

Tear seitan into bite-sized chunks with your hands. Heat 1 Tbsp peanut oil in a large saute pan; add seitan and saute 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until edges start to brown. Combine pineapple juice and tamari, pour into seitan and stir to coat. Bring to simmer, then cover and reduce heat slightly. Braise, stirring once or twice, 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the garlic and vegetables by pressing all garlic into a small bowl and placing all cut vegetables in another bowl. Heat 1 Tbsp peanut oil and 1 tsp sesame oil on high heat in a large wok or a very large pan - it is ready when the oil shimmers. Add garlic all at once and stirfry rapidly for about 15 seconds. Add vegetables and stir constantly for the first minute, and very frequently for another 2-3 minutes.
Dissolve the cornstarch in water and add to seitan mixture, then pour seitan and sauce into wok to thicken with vegetables. Stirfry one more minute until sauce is thick and gloppy. Remove from heat and serve over rice.
* Note:
Asparagus has an early and short season - usually around early- to mid-springtime. I was absolutely astonished to find not-rotten/rotting asparagus at Whole Foods so I bought it because it competes only with cauliflower for Mister's affections.
Asparagus is "ripe" when it is colorful and closed up - the tips should be tight and pointy, nothing should be "blooming," so to speak. If the heads are opening, you're better off skipping it. Also, always eat asparagus as soon after you buy it as possible - it's a finicky little vegetable without a great deal of stamina.
If you cannot find an appetizing bunch of asparagus, broccoli would make a very close substitute - as far as the stems are concerned, I can't taste a big difference in flavor, only texture.
final note: bias-cut means to slice crosswise diagonally.

magical talking devices

Every once in a while, I have this moment of clarity where I find the time to truly appreciate something that I take for granted every other day/hour. A couple of days ago, I was driving and suddenly I realized how cool that was. Now, I drive every day, just about, and there are times my 60 mile roundtrip for work everyday makes me want to sell my car, but a few days ago I realized how amazing it really is that this piece of machinery yields to my every whim. With just a tug this way of the steering wheel and some gentle (or sometimes quite abrupt) pressure on a pedal at my feet, I control the way the vehicle operates and it does what I command (this was not always so with my last car).

I had another one of those moments earlier today. This one is not nearly so deep and philosophical - actually, I think it's more comical than anything else, but I still appreciate it. Today's amazing moment was when my sister called me from a grocery store in Arizona. Here I am in Pennsylvania and my cellphone rings and connects me instantly with my sister, wandering the aisles of a grocery store thousands of miles away, asking me where to find pomegranate molasses (because she's such a wonderful sister that she is going to make a modified version of the Pomegranate Saute for a potluck). I know, you think I'm crazy, but that's because you're taking this moment for granted.

Stop and reflect on that story for a moment. Cellphones, though invasive at times, are magical!

Today was a fun day. First, Mister and I went to the spice store to get red lentils (and ground cloves, crystallized ginger, and black licorice, because I really did marry a man just like my father), then we went to a diner for breakfast at 3:30 PM. We're still celebrating his birthday, and if breakfast at 3 (after we'd been up for hours) was what he wanted, that's what we were doing. After stuffing ourselves full of omelets and potatoes (and craptastic coffee), we waddled home in the 95 degree heat and were thrilled by the still-working a/c in our home.

For dinner, we had Red Lentil Coconut Curry (thus the trip to get more red lentils):
Red Lentil Coconut Curry
serves 6-8
Spice mixture:
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp canola or olive oil
2 cups water, divided
3/4 cup jasmine rice
2 large carrots
1 small head cauliflower
14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes
1 cup peas
1 cup red lentils
15 oz lite coconut milk
1/2 tsp honey

Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice, lower heat to lowest possible setting, cover and simmer 20-25 minutes, until all water is absorbed.
Meanwhile, mix together all the spices and salt in a small bowl. Quarter and cube the carrots and cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets.
Heat the oil in a large, deep pot and add the spices, stirring continuously for one minute. Add carrots and cauliflower and stir to coat with spices. Allow to cook for a minute or two, then add the undrained tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Stir well to dissolve spices, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in peas, lentils, coconut milk and honey. Cover and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue to simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve over rice.

It was a nice tasty birthday curry. Now I'm ready for leftover birthday cake!

angst also doesn't like butter lettuce

He thought he would, or perhaps he thought it was just mottled spinach, but when Mister gave him a piece, he sniffed it, licked it, made a valiant attempt to eat it, but ultimately gave up and walked away.

Tonight we had an "easy" dinner. That's what you're supposed to say when you make sandwiches for dinner, but it's not always true - some sandwiches are much easier to make than others. For example, it is easier to make a peanut butter sandwich than it is to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's not difficult to make a PB&J, but it is more complicated because it involves more ingredients (and if you're a little nutty - no pun intended - it could involve more utensils, too) than a simple peanut butter sandwich. So, as dinners go, tonight's was quite simple, but I would like to say that our sandwiches were complex, as fist foods go.

Tonight we had Smoked Apple Tofu sandwiches. I had this little storm in my brain that made me think of the marinade - I love the combination of sweet and savory - and then I thought of fun things to do with other parts of the sandwiches. I would like to preface this with the assertion that I'm actually not a huge fan of sandwiches. Sure, they're convenient and easy to carry on picnics, but it's very rare (for me) to come across a sandwich that really makes you pause and say "Wow, that's quite a sandwich!" I have had two such experiences in my life, which combined to create tonight's dinner in my brain.

In 2003 (yes, it really was that good of a sandwich), my husband and I took a trip to Lake Tahoe, which involved flying on Delta before all airlines started going cheap on the airline food provided on cross-country flights. I still remember how good my sandwich was, because I think I told the airline no less than five times that my husband and I required vegan meals. In addition to a really good cookie and a few other tasty bits, they gave us these amazing sandwiches. I want to say the sandwich filling was in a pita, but if it was a pita it was a very good pita. It was a bunch of grilled vegetables, primarily squash, but really good. It was just very bare yet surprisingly flavorful - enough so that I remember it 6 years later! The second sandwich is made immortal in a blog from last week - I'm still impressed with how tasty that sandwich was.

So my brain put together a marinade, putting all these memories together, and tonight I made tasty sandwiches for dinner.
There isn't really a recipe, but I'll tell you what I did:
I combined 8 oz apple juice (no sugar added) with 2 Tbsp liquid smoke and 1/2 tsp salt in a spouted measuring cup and stirred it all together to make the salt dissolve. I drained a 14 oz container of extra firm tofu and cut it lengthwise into 8 slices and laid them on paper towels to drain while I prepped the other toppings. I heated a skillet on medium-high heat and placed the 8 tofu slices upon it, then poured a small amount of the marinade onto each slice (and was delighted by how quickly each slice absorbed it!) and let it cook. Total cooking time for the tofu was 15 minutes, flipping the tofu about every 4-5 minutes to brown/crisp the tofu evenly, and pouring more of the marinade on as seemed appropriate. By the end of the 15 minutes, I had incrementally poured out all of the marinade and the tofu had soaked it all up and become browned and crispy on the edges and looked like this:
I then took two slices of multi-grain bread and spread about 1 tsp of hummus on each slice. I then laid a couple of leaves of butter lettuce on one slice of bread, topped the lettuce with two pieces of tofu, then laid some very thinly sliced carrots and cucumbers atop the tofu and laid the other slice of bread on top. I peeled both the carrot and the cucumber and then cut them both in half crosswise. I then took the vegetable peeler to each half and made paper-thin slices lengthwise (okay, they were more like cardboard-thick, but that doesn't sound as poetic). The tofu came out really well, and Mister was impressed, so I consider this dinner a success, even if I didn't make the side dish I had intended to make with it (it was a long, exhausting day).

angst hates thunder

He loves spinach, pizza, arugula, habanero doritos, hummus, and the cereal-sweetened milk left after you've eaten the Honey Bunches of Oats, but he hates thunderstorms. My poor kitty had such a traumatic day, even with Mister here to comfort and protect him, that when I returned from work he stuck his head out the door to greet me before letting me come in! He then proceeded to follow me around as I prepared dinner and stayed close to us while we ate, without begging, because Angst also does not like ginger and tonight we had Ginger Cakes with Garlic Vegetables.
It was so pretty and it tasted really good (which is kind of important). It came together pretty easily, but it's a multi-pot job, so I think it will prove easier to juggle after one makes it a few times and gets a rhythm down. Tonight was more of a scramble, but it all worked out. I had some leftover Coconut-Lime Sauce I thought about heating up to drizzle decoratively over the little ginger cakes, but I'm thinking the very pronounced lime flavor lends itself better to "carribean-style" food, rather than Asian-style fare. I may try to refine the sauce recipe in the future to make it work in a Thai kind of way, but tonight I really just didn't want to dirty one more pan and take up that fourth and final available burner on the stove.

Anyway, if you feel like getting Chinese take-out/delivery but don't feel like paying for it with your wallet or your waistline, here's the recipe (much faster, by the way, than Jambalaya or Baked Tofu):

Ginger Cakes with Garlic Vegetables (serves 4)
Ingredients:
1 box of Morningstar Farms Ginger Teriyaki Veggie Patties or Thai style burgers
3/4 cup Jasmine rice
1 1/2 cups water
1 generous Tbsp soy sauce
1 scant Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp red wine/grape juice* (see note at end of recipe)
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
cooking spray
6-8 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
2 Tbsp dark miso dissolved in an equal amount of warm water
head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 large red bell pepper, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 medium carrots, julienned

Boil the water, then add the rice and stir to distribute evenly. Cover pan and lower heat to slowest possible simmer and allow rice to steam for 20-25 minutes undisturbed.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables and the garlic, then heat the oils on high heat in a wok. While oil is heating, press all garlic into a small dish by itself (to think about what it's done!) and combine the soy sauce, vinegar, and wine/juice in a small jar with a lid. Add the garlic to the wok all at once and stir constantly for 30 seconds to prevent it from burning or sticking. Add the carrots, peppers, and broccoli and stirfry for about 5 minutes. Add a splash of water to prevent sticking if necessary. Shake jar and add sauce to the stirfry, cooking for another 2 minutes, then turn off heat. Allow vegetables to sit for a moment, then transfer to a serving bowl.

Spray a skillet and heat on medium-high for a minute or so. Add veggie patties to skillet - cook 5 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, rinse out the jar and put the miso and water in it and shake to dissolve. Once the miso is completely dissolved, pour into the rice and stir to coat evenly.

To serve, put a mound of rice on each plate and pat it down with the back of the spoon into a disk about an inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Place one ginger cake atop the rice bed, then surround with the vegetables.

recipe note: I used Merlot juice by First Blush which is 100% grape juice made with the grapes grown for different wine varietals. While it is definitely sweeter than the wine it would have become, it maintains some of the characteristic dryness of the red wine so its sweetness is not overbearing. I do not know how widely available First Blush juices are - I got mine at Whole Foods and it was about $3.50 for an 11.5 oz bottle. You could use regular purple grape juice, but you might want to use less as it will be sweeter. Similarly, you could use red wine, but you might want to add a touch of sugar to sweeten the mixture.