perfect timing!

I never realize how many e-magazines and other lifestyle websites have my email address until this time of year.  This past week, I've been bombarded with emails from Real Simple, Martha Stewart, and probably some others, on how to have a healthy, happy, full-of-variety, outside-the-box-but-still-traditional, cholesterol-free, chocolatey Thanksgiving.

I do actually intend to pick through each and every email, especially since I get to host Thanksgiving this year!  This is mega-exciting for me.  One of the biggest reasons Mister and I moved from our old closet to a slightly larger one (think "dressing room," folks) is because I love to entertain but had no space to do it in our old apartment.  I am so excited about Thanksgiving, I've even managed to block out the anticipated trauma of Black Friday (the first time it's mattered in 17 years).  I will be wandering off shortly to sift through emails and websites and.....

My new cookbook which arrived just today!  Woo hoo!  This is probably one of the best Mondays ever: my make-up came out great and garnered several compliments from customers, my dad came to visit and we made plans to have Thanksgiving at my home this year, I sold more than anyone else in the store (closest person "behind" me was over $2000 behind), and I came home to Celebrate Vegan, the long-awaited second cookbook from Philly's own Urban Vegan, Dynise Balcavage.

I'm sure you can imagine the sole source of next week's menu.

I will be posting a review of this book, just in case I haven't already enticed you into purchasing your own copy.  Hey - Black Friday Christmas is coming!  Time to make those lists!

Ironically, I made my favorite recipe for Sloppy Joes last night, and I remember thinking, "Gee, I hope I get my new cookbook soon...I love these sloppy joes, but I could just drool thinking of those new recipes [that I haven't beaten to death and will do again tomorrow night]."

In fact, tonight's dinner was Farfalle Rotini with Cabbage and White Beans from Vegan on the Cheap and when I saw that I had the new Celebrate Vegan and a pile of shallots, I almost abandoned dinner to remake this sure-to-be-classic/heavily-rotated recipe.  I was too busy daydreaming to take pictures of tonight's dinner, but let me assure you, the most interesting part was Angst wishing he could overturn one of our dishes and steal all the "slimy," wilted cabbage.

It's a good thing I have so many more tasty things left on this week's menu, because I'm already looking forward to plotting next week's (and Thanksgiving! so off I go).  Sweet dreams are made of this!

birthday coffee and shameless plugging

I will beg your pardon ahead of time - this post may bounce all over the place.

Yesterday was my dad's birthday which is absolutely no excuse for not posting since we didn't do anything but talk on the phone, but all I did for dinner was send Mister out for more tortilla chips while I reheated the leftover chili, so I didn't consider that very post-worthy.  Something post-worthy could have come out of the conversation I had with my dad while I walked home from work, but I couldn't think of anything clever to say about his boat being shrink-wrapped for the winter (but doesn't it evoke a fabulous mental image of men on ladders with hair-dryers?).  Here's something I love about my dad, though - me calling to wish him a happy birthday turned into him asking whether I prefer my coffee beans whole or pre-ground... just in case he returns to the Realm of Dark Chocolate Ecstasy Coffee this weekend...

Tonight, I made an old favorite recipe that I haven't made in years for no good reason except my own lack of imagination: Penne with Spinach and Chickpeas in Garlic Sauce from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures.

Angst absolutely loved all the little Hummus Balls (chickpeas) Mister was sharing with him.  First he licked off all the salty, garlicky sauce, then he ate up his Hummus Balls with great gusto!  And to think, possibly the only reason I haven't made this in recent years is because it didn't occur to me to just leave off the Parmesan - shame on me!

Okay, I'm sure a little of my negligence was due to the cookbook-buying spree I went on when I discovered how many amazing vegan cookbooks there are out there, thanks to the blogiverse.  Speaking of amazing vegan cookbooks....

Yanked from Amazon.com

Best segue I could come up with accidentally to remind everyone that Celebrate Vegan by local Philly Urban Vegan, Dynise Balcavage is now available through Amazon.com and you should order it.  This is the cookbook I had the incredible privilege of testing recipes for over the winter last year and I know I can't wait to get my hands on it!

For your reading pleasure, and with the hopes of enticing you to get this cookbook with express shipping, here are some links to my wintertime testing:

1. Farfalle with Shallots and Chard - I cannot wait to make this again!
2. Gussied-up Tabbouleh and Smoky Zucchini Bean Dip - the best tabbouleh I've ever had.
3. Pasta with Red Peppers and Basil - because "a big pot of pasta is a happy thing" according to Mister.
4. Lemon-Champagne-Braised Baby Bok Choy and Pan-Seared Tofu with Balsamic Glaze - I kind of want to start stockpiling the baby bok choy now... I already have a little bottle of champagne in the fridge.
5. Funeral Cake - BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER and just in time for some Addams Family Halloween Fun!
6. Mega-Israeli Salad - the only thing better than the crunch is the bite of the garlic.

You can also click on the "testing" label at the bottom of any of those posts to see more adventures, but seriously - you need this cookbook.  Celebrate Vegan by Dynise Balcavage - go get it!

bring on October!

October is my favorite month for so many reasons.  I think it may also be Amy Lee's favorite month, because she released the second Evanescence album in October 2006 and now, after an agonizing 5-year hiatus, she is releasing a new Evanescence album with an almost completely new line-up on October 11, and yes, I have it pre-ordered through iTunes.

That's only part of the reason I can't wait for October to start.  Yes, I've been eagerly awaiting this album while covering my ears with my hands and singing "LA LA LA LA LA" any time someone gossiped about the band breaking up for the last 5 years or so, and the rumors were not helped by the fact that we actually know one of the former band members and were aware that he had moved on to another band.  However, I refused to believe a talent like Amy Lee's could be squandered, so I'm glad I was right.

There are a few other reasons I'm psyched for October - two can be found on amazon.com, one will remain a surprise a little longer.  I mentioned before that Isa has a new book, Vegan Pie in the Sky, and I couldn't be more on the edge of my seat waiting for Dynise's book, tested in part by yours truly, Celebrate Vegan.  It was due to come out the week after the new Evanescence album, but when I visited Amazon, they're saying it isn't being released until November now and that makes me a little sad.

The point of all that really is this: tonight we ate the last meal on the menu, which meant I had to construct the new menu tonight.  Did you catch that?  I had to construct the menu?  Isn't this something I have raved about in the past as one of my favorite parts of each week?  Haven't I reveled in flipping through pages of countless cookbooks to find the perfect combination of meals to get through this next week?  Had to?


I realized after dinner that I was not at all excited about menu-planning this week and wasn't terribly psyched for it last week either.  It shouldn't take a brain surgeon to figure out why - I'm bored of my current cookbook collection.  To my credit, I've been a very good (=frugal = freakishly cheap) girl this year and I haven't bought a new cookbook all year.  Considering we're nearing the tenth month of the year, I'd say I'm doing pretty good.  Yet, it couldn't last forever.  I had a little help with variety in the beginning of the year, when I had just gotten Appetite for Reduction and had a constantly renewing source of recipes I actually had to cook for recipe-testing for Dynise.  I've been slowly stagnating since then, and just recently I've realized that I've been through my cookbooks so many times, I can't even look at them with fresh eyes anymore.

Lucky for all of us, there's a surprise ending, but let's talk about dinner first:

I will probably always think it's funny to call this "Hooker Dinner," but that doesn't change my love for the sweet-salty blend of flavors and textures that makes up Pasta Puttanesca from Vegan Express.  I served it with garlic bread so we could scoop up the leftover tomatoes and olives from our bowls after the pasta was in our bellies.

Mister has been kindly picking up the Superfresh leg of my usual shopping adventures ever since I've been hitting up Trader Joe's on the way home from work.  As you can imagine, some interesting things have been finding their way into our home.  He's been shopping with me enough times to know that the goal is almost always to find the lowest price on a product, unless to do so would compromise its quality.  I can only imagine that some kind of pang of pride for his adolescent home, New Jersey, pulled the jar of New Jersey tomato sauce into the basket by his heart strings.

It wasn't very good.  I shouldn't say that.  It was clearly very fresh and made from real ingredients.  I would liken it to making a batch of homemade tomato sauce, from the dicing of the tomatoes...to the part where you make a kind of weak, watery gazpacho with them, rather than a thick, chunky sauce.  I had to let the sauce simmer a little more lively and longer than the recipe said to allow it to reduce acceptably, and I also felt inclined to add some savory flavors to complement the olives.

It worked out well enough - both our bowls went into the sink pretty clean.

Now for the happy part of menu planning.  When I went over to my bookshelf, half-heartedly looking to see if there was a book from which I haven't cooked in a while and which interested my palate, I noticed something I've been keeping in the corner of my eye for months:

When Mister and I moved in February, we got rid of a ton of stuff - we moved just as much to have a good reason to purge as to get away from that apartment.  We ended up taking a bunch of books to a used book dealer who was happy to write up a credit slip for us to use to buy "new" books from them.  We started out with nearly $100 worth of credit (which means we gave them a lot of books and that they are generous with their appraisals).  One afternoon I went browsing in there and found the gem pictured above.

I already had two Moosewood cookbooks and one of the things I like to make the most from them are the slow-cooking stews and soups, so I scooped this up.  Unfortunately, it was not soup weather, so I just put it aside on the shelf to wait for cooler times.  Well, Saturday greets October with a chilly, chilly day and even the rest of this week isn't supposed to see temperatures out of the low to mid 70s, so I think I'm safe to start investigating that new treasure.  And so, my first adventures will be....

1. Autumn Minestrone from Moosewood Restaurant Soups & Stews Deck.  I plan to serve it with a long, crusty loaf of Italian bread and a bowl of olives.  (Would anyone have found it completely offensive had I written "a long, hard loaf" of bread?  Sorry, too much Anne Rice - she gets a little carried away sometimes.)

2. Mediterranean Stew, also from the card deck.  This chunky pottage will be accompanied by Roasted Cauliflower and Olives from Vegetarian Times Fast & Easy, because I figure Mister will respond better to the first week with not just one but two soup dinners on the menu if cauliflower is involved.

3. Warm Chickpea Ragout with Swiss Chard, Carrots and Harissa, also from Vegetarian Times Fast & Easy because hey, I had the book open!

4. Hoisin-Braised Tempeh Tofu and Chinese Vegetables, also from VTF&E, but the twist here is that I've never actually made this one before.  The reason is because I usually employ this book when I'm either anticipating being brain-dead or already am brain-dead.  As such, I've managed to complete avoid the logic that would make a person say, "well, yes, my husband is deathly allergic to tempeh, but I can substitute tofu."  I'm kind of excited about this one so I'll let you know how it turns out.

5. Vegetable and "Sausage" Skillet from an old issue of Eating Well magazine.

6. Seitan and Broccoli with Pantry BBQ Sauce from theppk.com.  I had an incredible experience with the recipe here, so I thought it was worth another go.

makes mouths happy

Mister loves mashed potatoes (well, potatoes in general, but he definitely loves mashed potatoes as a top three pick).  Actually, let me try that again:

Mister looooooooooves mashed potatoes.

He also loves broccoli and chickpeas and garlic.  It stands to reason, then, that Mister loved tonight's dinner: Forty-Clove Chickpeas and Broccoli from Appetite for Reduction.  Angst kind of liked it, too - he liked the little balls of "raw hummus" Mister kept giving him.

There's Mister's lunch tomorrow - one of the few times he will happily eat leftovers.  As he got up from the dinner table tonight, he proclaimed it one of the best dinners ever because it was made up of "so many favorite things!"  I must agree.  Also, in my own mindful eating of dinner, I made two discoveries - one sweet...the other less so.

I discovered the unbridled bliss of biting into a forkful of mashed potatoes to find a perfect chunk of roasted garlic inside.  Such a powerful flavor, especially because this particular chunk had a whole side that had been browned by the roasting, so it added a kind of darker, smoky aspect.

The second thing I discovered is actually more of a slow-dawning realization.  I do not have a "go to" mashed potatoes recipe.  I have recipes, and occasionally, I follow one - most of the time that is because it is directly linked to the other recipe I'm making and I feel bad making one without the other.  That was not the case tonight - tonight, I simply decided to serve the pile of roasted perfection on top of what I had hoped would be light, creamy mashed potatoes.

I have actually accomplished that, by the way - just wanted to clear that up.  I didn't quite get there tonight, though, which I'm choosing to blame on the lack of Earth Balance and soymilk for blending.  In their place, I added a fair sprinkling of kosher salt, a generous dab of olive oil, and a very rounded spoonful of hummus.  The hummus definitely helped and I can see myself using it again in that capacity, but what I'm getting to is this: I shop for my recipes, so if I have a recipe for something, I know exactly what to buy.  If I had made mashed potatoes from a recipe, I would have purchased soymilk and replenished the Earth Balance before it got down to the miserable little teaspoon currently hogging the whole tub.

Summer isn't a big time for mashed potatoes (or roasted things, for that matter), so I'm issuing myself a challenge this fall (which is creeping closer, believe it or not!).  This fall, I want to perfect my own awesome "go to" recipe for mashed potatoes so flavorful and creamy we'll forget any allegiance we ever paid to those [delightfully convenient] Country Crock mashed potatoes in a microwaveable tub.

I'm also hoping this will ward off the Baking Bug just long enough for me to protect my waistline through the winter months.  Except for two things that will probably interfere....

Celebrate Vegan, the new cookbook by Dynise Balcavage (The Urban Vegan), which I had the extraordinary fortune to be involved in through recipe-testing, will finally be released on October 18!

One short week later, Isa and Terry's new book, Vegan Pie in the Sky, will also be released on the unsuspecting public.

Stay tuned!  Every menu from now until Christmas will be made exclusively from Appetite for Reduction!


(j/k)

Mister likes it simple

My poor husband.  Every weekend, I sit around dreaming up some crazy new menu with as much culinary variety as I can muster, making an earnest effort to cook every recipe in my cookbooks that does not contain an ingredient Mister or I won't/can't eat (except my occasional sneakiness).  I make a list of exotic sounding dinners, both because I think they sound fun and because I am pretty sure no one wants to read about the Chinese take-out we ordered the other night.  Then, after all the plotting, planning, listing, and shopping, it comes time to cook these delights.  I always have trouble picking the first recipe of the week, so I usually solicit Mister's assistance.  Here is a rough transcript of our pre-dinner conversation:

Me: what looks good?
Him: uummmmm......
Me: anything jump out at you?
Him: uhhhhh.... one of these, because I don't know what Caulipots are and I don't want to eat Bulgur Kale Stew.

So, I made what I was leaning toward even before this interaction: Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage, from Vegan on the Cheap.

It was very tasty in a subtle, slightly sweet way.  Green cabbage is really growing on me (not literally) and I replaced the onion the recipe called for with about 5-6 cloves of garlic, pressed.  In place of the liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper, I shook a generous amount of Mediterranean Sea Salt over it and I think that probably added a little extra something.

But...Mister's "outburst" got me thinking.  It's a little bizarre to feel badly for a man who never has leftovers for dinner and only has about a dozen repeat dinners in a year due to his crazy wife's penchant for culinary exploration, but stick with me.  I've mentioned before that Mister would probably be happy if 50% of our dinners were Italian-influenced; I'm starting to think Mister would be happy if every once in a while, I shelved the cookbooks and just made dinner.  Normal people dinner, like spaghetti with marinara or burgers and fries, or stuff like that.  I actually can't think of any others because I've gotten so good at wanting to "gourmetize" everything we eat that I don't really know what other people eat for dinner.  Maybe it's because we really don't know any other veg-folks, so I have no archetype for a "typical," June Cleaver-esque vegan meal.

Mister eats a lot of weird stuff he probably wouldn't choose from a menu at a restaurant.  To thank him for bearing with me through my wing-stretching and recipe-testing, I'm going to make an effort to have at least one "normal" recipe on each menu.  If I can actually think of more than one (right now, all I've got in my brain is pasta with sauce), maybe I'll do a "theme week" and just make simple, Mister-approved meals. 

No.  Probably not, but it was a nice thought.

Vegan on the Bottom Dollar

Have you ever "bet your bottom dollar" on anything (like the sun coming out tomorrow)?  I have and it was quite an experience, but everything came out alright in the end.  Like I've mentioned, Mister and I are still in the adjustment period of having less income and so far our pattern looks a little like this:  the first week after my paycheck, we are aware that there is less money after bills, but not paying close attention, so we still let little discretionary purchases like Starbucks (me) or pizza (Mister) slide.  The second week, which we are presently embarking upon, I check our bank account after receiving my warning email from the bank (what a great tool - I have set up an email reminder to hit me whenever our balance drops below an acceptable amount) and inform Mister exactly how little money we have.

As a result of this Adjustment Period, this week's menu is also sourced completely from Vegan on the Cheap, but this time I was even more strategic in my selections.  Before I sat down, I surveyed the freezer and cupboards to see what we already have to work with since money is not on that list.  Then, as I went through the book, I did my best to find the recipes that involved the most items I already have on hand, therefore, the least number of items I have to buy.  I kept thinking of that question in the Epic VeganMoFo survey about having only $20 to spend on groceries, because it would be amazing if I could pull that off.  I don't think it's going to happen, but considering I usually spend between $60-80 a week on our groceries, I'll be happy to stay beneath $30.

1. Black Bean Soup with Kale and Rice - see, this is how good at being thrifty I'm becoming: ordinarily, I buy a bunch of kale and put it all into whatever recipe I bought it for without bothering to measure.  When I made our Caldo Verde last night, I actually did measure out the 6 cups of chopped kale and found that I had 3-4 stems leftover.  Well, it just so happens, this soup calls for 3 cups of kale and I figure if what I have left isn't 3 cups, it'll be damn close.

2. Better Bean Burgers - yes, I know I made these last week, but a) they're super cheap; b) I still have the other half of those sandwich thins left, so why not?; and c) Mister wished they were flatter, wider, and crunchier, so I'll use that as an excuse.  Heck, we used to have frozen commercial veggie burgers and frozen french fries on at least a weekly basis, so unless Mister has become completely spoiled in the last couple of years, I don't think he'll complain.  Especially when he's perfectly happy to eat pizza for lunch every single day.

3. Baked Ziti - this is one dish my mom has always made really well, so it's kind of like comfort food for me, which I anticipate a possible need for this week (yes, folks, this is the week all hell starts to break loose at work).  I've reserved a bottle of Beaujolais for the occasion and Italy isn't that far from France.  Anyway, this also looks like something I could easily prepare the night before and then ask Mister to stuff it in the oven while I'm on my way home.  It might almost feel like he cooked!

4. Mexican Rice and Bean Bake - the first and last time I made this was a catastrophic failure, as is usually the case with any kind of casserole that involves rice and/or something tomato-based.  I have a plan, though, and this recipe still sounds too good to give up on without a fight, so let's see how Round Two turns out.

5. Pasta e Fagioli - don't get me wrong, there is a huge place in my heart specifically reserved for Dynise's recipe, but this one sounds fun, too, and I only need to buy two things for it.  Also, while I'm still trying to figure out why Dynise thinks her recipe makes a soup, there is little doubt that this recipe makes a chunky soup that you still need a spoon to eat.

I can't believe VeganMoFo is almost over!  I have so thoroughly enjoyed chronicling every single day/night and I hope you've all enjoyed reading.  My full intention lies in continuing to post every day, but I'll be honest - December is going to be rough and I've never been a fan of those Here's-A-Picture-and-a-Few-Pithy-Words posts, so I might skip a night here and there.  I took advantage of the time off I've had these past days (through tomorrow!) to catch up on some of my own reading and found some new great blogs to follow as well - check out my blog roll on the left <--- to see what I'm reading.

So....did you want to see a picture?

Here was dinner just a-sizzlin' away in my saute pan.  Isn't it beautiful?  When I saw how bright and attractive the browned tofu, green pepper, carrots, and chives looked, I wanted to take a picture before slathering them with pineapple sauce.

Tonight's dinner was Tropic of Tempeh Tofu from Vegan on the Cheap and it was kind of absurd. It is so cold in Philadelphia tonight.  The low is supposed to sink below the freezing mark, probably for the first time this season.  When I returned from teaching this evening, after the sun had set, I walked about halfway through this great underground path that lets me out of the belly of the city through a urine-soaked stairway.  I hold my breath the whole way up those stairs, but at least I was warm for half my walk!  The second half was just about enough to freeze me to the bone...I just kind of stopped moving once I was safely inside the apartment and took about five minutes to actually remove my gloves, coat, and scarf.

So, of course, I was kicking myself about 2 blocks from home for making the stupid soup dinner last night.  My options were a tropical tofu skillet supper or pizza.  I have nothing against pizza and I'm sure Mister would be happy, but I wanted to use my green pepper before it started getting shrivelly and gross and the tomatoes look like they still have a day left in 'em, so we'll have the Tuscan Pizza tomorrow. 

Anyway, it was very good and can go into my file of Perfect Portions for Me and Mister.  I enjoy having certain dishes I can make with the knowledge that there will be no leftovers.  Whether it's because we're going away or because we already have a fridge stocked with leftovers I'll be taking to work for lunch, sometimes you just don't want to put anything back in the fridge.  We each had two bowls with rice and the tofu-n-veggies - we were content but not "fat" with food; it was just enough and not too much.  The flavor was pleasant and every now and then, a bit of ginger or allspice would catch you by surprise.  I might increase the tamari to 3 Tbsp in the future for a slightly more savory flavor, but if I forget to do that, the sauce won't suffer.

I can't recommend Vegan on the Cheap enough, honestly.  I bought it because I'm familiar with Robin Robertson and have enjoyed her other recipes, but it won my heart by saving my bank account a couple of times now.  Even if it called for a bunch of expensive ingredients you can only get in specialty shops, though, I would still love it because there are a bunch of quality and unique recipes in here.  It is an all-around great cookbook, so if you still write a letter to Santa, you might want to put this one down.

I want to bid you a good evening with this one last moment of zen:

Last week at Essene, they were giving away free samples of Traditional Medicinals tea.  I grabbed an Everyday Lemon Detox ('tis the season!) and as my throat was a bit scratchy upon my return from teaching, I thought tonight was the night to give it a try.  The little hang-tag warmed my heart...

viva espana! (and a bunch of other places)

There are so many things to love about Veganomicon - probably too many to count.  For one thing, it's huge and full of just about any recipe you could imagine wanting, as well as several that never occurred to you until someone else said "blueberry brownies" and you thought back to that dark chocolate bar with dried blueberries your darling husband gave you as a gift on some random Monday.  Another great thing about this book is the center section where they keep all the slobber-inducing photographs of amazing looking, cruelty-free food (unless, of course, you take into account the inexcusable cruelty that those pictures don't pop out to create those very meals all by themselves on your dining table).  And of course, there are the sarcastic, wry recipe intros, such as:

If these chickpeas could talk, they'd probably be a little fresh and need at least a PG-13 rating due to extreme sauciness.  (On the other hand, if chickpeas could talk they probably wouldn't be vegan anymore.)

 In addition to all that awesomeness, there's one more thing: the incredible multi-ethnicity our authors bring to the proverbial table.  Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a Jewish girl from Brooklyn with an Indian name and a penchant for chickpeas, and Terry Hope Romero, a lovely latina married to a man so Greek, his mother brought her fresh oregano from Greece (way to go, Terry!).   The way all of these cultures mix and marry and rebound off of one another culminates in some of the most innovative and tastebud-challenging dishes I've had the pleasure of making and eating.

Tonight, I finished our recent tour of Veganomicon by making Chickpeas Romesco on Garlic Saffron Rice.  In case you're super curious by now, since every time the past 10 days that I've mentioned this recipe I've crossed out the Saffron, Mister and I are not big fans, so I leave it out, to no detriment that I've noticed.  I've made this before and I think I thought "Romesco" was a made-up word (not that Isa would ever do that), but this time around my curiosity got to me, so I checked it out.  Turns out Romesco sauce is a real thing!  Appropriately enough, it was born in Spain - for some reason, I had gotten the impression that this recipe came from Terry's mind, which makes sense (if it's true), since she has recently released her own solo cookbook, Viva Vegan!

After filling up on dinner, Mister decided to invade Angst's personal space by lying down on the floor to digest.

As long as Mister was willing to pet him, he didn't mind so much. 

Mister?  Where ya goin'?

In other news, I chopped up an Anaheim chili to saute with the shallots and garlic and I really thought it would pack a little more heat than it did.  I am quite a bit trepidatious to put this out there, but I might just be willing to start experimenting with jalapenos again sometime in the nearer future (heck, I've taken an 18 year break, why not?).  If I find that courage hiding somewhere in my purse or the back of a cupboard, I'll let you all know how it turns out!

The Round-Up Returns (and a link party!)

I'm not sure I could honestly say there was any kind of mass uprising demanding the second round-up post I'm about to write, but I did get two pleasant requests and that's enough in my book, especially when dinner was nothing to write about.

We had Indian-Spiced Vegetables on Basmati Jasmine Rice.  It was tasty, but relatively unremarkable.  I substituted chard for the napa cabbage in the recipe for two reasons: one, Whole Foods did not have a single head of napa cabbage, and two, because I accidentally picked up a bunch of chard last week.

On to part one of the Round-Up!  Although I hope you found my first round-up (beauty and personal hygiene) edifying, we're going to concentrate on food this time around.  Ironically, Mama Pea has been focusing on the same thing in her Pea Mail segments, so for more general information, feel free to read her posts.

Question #1: What are some things I always have on hand, essentials, if you will?

In the fridge:
Earth Balance
unsweetened soymilk
flavored soy yogurts
coconut milk coffee creamer
multigrain bread
100% juices for Mister
an 11 oz box of Olivia's Organics mixed greens, at varying levels of fullness
pickles
ketchup and 3 different mustards (two for Mister and one for me to use in recipes)
olives
minced ginger
tamari
hummus and/or baba ganoush
various fruits and vegetables

In the freezer:
frozen veggies: broccoli, spinach (chopped and whole leaf), corn, peas, and cauliflower, sometimes green beans
frozen waffles and frozen berries in the winter
Tempt "ice cream" or some other non-dairy frozen dessert

Pantry essentials:
pasta in multiple shapes and lengths
bulghur
Basmati rice (as well as sometimes arborio, Jasmine, and brown)
whole oats
granola
canned tomatoes and beans
liquid smoke
vegan worcestershire sauce
agave nectar
maple syrup
peanut butter
coffee (regular, flavored, and decaf - we don't mess around)
a chest of teas for drinking and for recipes
kosher salt and sea salt
dried beans and lentils (red, French, and brown)
Clif bars and Luna bars, sometimes Larabars, Odwalla bars, and Clif C bars
dried fruits and shredded coconut
Oils: extra virgin olive, canola, peanut, and toasted sesame
Vinegars: balsamic, red wine, white wine, rice wine, apple cider
Cooking wines: Mirin and Rice Wine
My Herb and Spice Army - it would take a whole other post to give you their names.  Most commonly used herbs: organic basil, marjoram, thyme, tarragon, and parsley.  Most commonly used spices: cumin, curry powder, chili powder, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger.

Question #2: What are my favorite cookbooks/recipes?

There are three "tiers" of cookbook favoritism going on in my home: most favorite live on a bookshelf IN the kitchen, not quite as favorite but still awesome cookbooks live on a shelf just outside of the kitchen, and the ones I look at a time or two a year live on the bookshelf down the hall.


I love everything Isa Chandra Moskowitz has published, though I find it usually takes more than an hour to make the food contained in her books.  The recipes are always worth the time and effort, but I normally stay away from these books if I anticipate a particularly pressed-for-time week.

While I love all of Sarah Kramer's books as well, the one I find most useful is La Dolce Vegan, because the recipes cook faster and the portions are generally intended for her and her husband... Which is perfect, because that's who I'm cooking for - Me and My husband.  You can test-drive my favorite recipe from that book here.

I have three cookbooks exclusively devoted to getting dinner on the table in 45 minutes or less, without which I would be lost:

Vegan Express by Nava Atlas is absolutely Queen of these three.  I don't think I have ever come back to this blog after making one of her recipes and said, "Well, that sucked."  Not only do her entrees come equipped with suggested side dishes, you can also normally get from washing the vegetables to table in about 30 minutes, sometimes less.  See my full review of this book here.

The 30 Minute Vegan by Jennifer Murray and Mark Reinfeld.  This is my only cookbook that also deals with the Raw Food movement, so it gets a little fruity at times.  I am not as big a fan of the "diversity" of recipes presented in this book as I am of those offered by Nava, but there are certainly a decent number of great recipes.  See my full review here.

Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy, a compilation of recipes featured in the eponymous magazine.  The recipes in this book are marked as taking 15, 30, or 45 minutes from the first slice to the first bite - helpful, but not always accurate.  The meals are tasty, if not a little tofu-centric.  When I first got the book, Mister and I weren't all that fond of tofu, so we've grown to like the book more as we have found tofu a more reasonable part of our dinner.  It would not be a good "starter" book for someone looking into a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle because there is just too much tofu.  I think it's better to focus on grains, beans, and vegetables in the beginning, but that's just me.

I am more or less in love with Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, a collection of recipes served at the aforementioned restaurant in Ithaca, New York.  The cookbook is divided into countries of culinary origin and it is an absolute treasure, given to me a long time ago by my mother-in-law, before I even knew I could cook.  In fact, I'm pretty sure most of my education came from that book.  Unfortunately, I don't think I have ever made a recipe from that book that took less than hours, so I reserve it for special occasions and holiday dinners.

Final Round/Link Party:  What are my favorite [speedy] recipes?

A short disclaimer: you may have noticed from the abundant use of links in my posts that I'm pretty big on citing sources and giving credit where it is due.  Consequently, I have a real problem sharing other people's recipes.  I have provided several cookbook recommendations, as well as links to amazon.com in the hopes that you will purchase at least one of these cookbooks and try your hand at the recipes I've mentioned.  All the links I share here will be to pages in my blog which contain self-composed recipes.

Toasted Quinoa Salad comes together in about 20-30 minutes, tastes great, provides a complete protein (all 15 essential amino acids), as well as plenty of greens and healthy fat from the almonds and coconut.

Broccoli Pasta with Savory Sauce takes about as much time as it does to boil the pasta - everything else goes on "meanwhile."  Just about everything can be speedy when you use frozen vegetables, but if you're quick with a knife, you can still chop up the broccoli before you need it to be ready.

Greek Quesadillas are easy to make, fun to eat, and give you great garlic breath.  For my spinach-allergic readers, you can easily sub out the baby spinach for arugula or a couple of leaves of chard, cut into ribbons.  If you're really slow it might take you 20 minutes to make these, including preheating the oven.  For a stovetop tortilla-based version, try Fiestadillas.

Pea and Pepper Risotto cooks quickly because of the arborio rice, which will absorb the broth even more quickly if it's at room temperature or heated up slightly.  I love how savory the broth makes it, while the red peppers and peas provide a complementary spark of sweetness.  The recipe, as written, will provide two adequate servings (adequate means you're eating a side dish and a salad as well).

Pear and Carrot "Fried" Rice is a quick side dish, provided you have some leftover cooked rice sitting around.  It would probably be a nice accompaniment to...

Pineapple-Tamari Braised Seitan with Vegetables.  Depending on what kind of rice you use (Basmati/Jasmine cook in about 25 minutes, long-grain brown cooks in 45...they say), this recipe will certainly push the limit of a 30 minute time-frame, but it tasted too good to be excluded from my little round-up.  The sweet-n-savory nature of the broth-turned-sauce is one of my favorite things about Asian-style cooking and I was very pleased I figured out how to replicate it.

There are a bunch of other recipes, but most of them take closer to an hour (or more, on occasion) to make, so I've left them out.  You can access every recipe I've ever posted by clicking on the "recipes" link at the bottom of this post.  That way you can also access my dessert recipes...

something old, something new

I remember when I was a child, my parents used to brush their teeth with baking soda periodically. My mother once explained to me why, but that was well over 2o years ago and I'm not ashamed that I don't remember it now. I, on the other hand, have been a devoted fan of Aquafresh in all its incarnations for most of my life. My dedication and faithful use of this toothpaste is actually due to what I perceive to be a mild case of paranoia on my part. In the more than three decades I have had teeth, I have never had a cavity or a root canal and I have all of my wisdom teeth still in my mouth and doing just fine. I didn't know anyone else who used Aquafresh but I saw my friends getting cavities and having trouble with their teeth, so in my semi-logical teenage mind, I figured my toothpaste was magical and that the moment I switched to a different toothpaste, all my teeth would fall out of my head.

I'll have to let you know how that works out, because when the last bit of toothpaste was squeezed from the tube last week, I replaced it with Tom's of Maine Natural Whole Care.


Something that has been bothering me for at least the past several months was how downright weird toothpaste like Aquafresh, Colgate, and other "mainstream" brands are. I mean, they're sweet! How does that happen and how can it be good for my teeth? Bit by bit, I became somewhat appalled with the ingredients in my toothpaste (hint: not magical faeriedust) and at just the right time, stumbled across an ad for Tom's toothpaste.

It doesn't taste like much and it actually leaves you feeling like your breath is less than minty fresh, but I'll tell you - my teeth haven't felt this clean since the last time I escaped from the dentist's office. I have been using this toothpaste twice a day for the past week and I am still amazed each time I finish brushing. They feel absolutely clean and here's the real kicker: I've been using Aquafresh Whitening for years, trying to reverse the staining done by years of overusing coffee and red wine. After only one week of using this hippie toothpaste, presumably made from tree bark and raindrops, there is a noticeable difference in the color of my teeth.

So, thus ends my raving review of Tom's of Maine toothpaste. Before we go into my next product review (something new), let me share this week's menu.

1. Pomegranate Saute on Cinnamon Bulghur - I was actually going to make this tonight, but Mister didn't feel like eating, so I had what was left of the Seitan Cacciatore with a mega-salad (mixed greens, sprouts, carrots, a clementine, sliced green olives).

2. White Bean-Tarragon Soup - this is one of the simpler soup recipes I've seen that actually attracted me. My idea of a good soup, perhaps colored by Mister's distaste for drinking his dinner, involves a ton of varied ingredients - a bulky soup, with five different veggies, maybe some beans and/or pasta or rice. This looked too good to pass by, though, so we'll see how it goes.

3. Tofu Saag - this looks like a creamier and less spinach-pressing-intense version of Palak Paneer, which is one of my favorite Indian meals. I've seen recipes like this in other cookbooks, but always passed on them, probably because it looked too difficult or I thought the results would be too bland.

4. Pasta Florentine - because you can never eat enough frozen spinach. And because Mister might die if I don't start making more pasta. It must be the sliver of Sicilian in him.

5. Homey Vegetable Stew with Dumplings - There is a similar recipe in Veganomicon and it looks so tasty and hearty and comforting, but it also looks extremely time-consuming and I have not been willing to make the effort yet. This recipe has almost as much promise and seems slightly easier to make. Maybe it will enhance my zeal to make Isa's recipe next time.

6. Monk Bowl - because that's just an awesome name for food. Also, because roasting tofu sounds like fun.

On Tuesday night, I made the Cajun Beans & Rice from The Accidental Vegan. I am so glad I did because I think I have finally found a satisfying recipe for this staple! I used ambiguously named "Red Beans" from Whole Foods, along with diced green pepper, and leftover Basmati (even though the recipe called for brown rice). I really think the magical ingredient that made this recipe better than others I've tried was the vegan Worcestershire sauce.

Anyway, I served it up with a nice big salad of mixed greens, carrots, kalamatas, and green grapes. It was a very nice dinner and it came together with delightful speed.

All of this week's menu items (except for #1) come from the newest member of my Cookbook Army, The 30 Minute Vegan by husband-wife team Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray. This book is walking the tightrope between adventurous and fruity. This couple is blessed to live in Hawaii, which probably plays some role in the hippie air conveyed at times by this cookbook. Overall, though, I am thrilled with it. I put it on my Wish List sight unseen, which is rare for me. Because so many cookbooks have similar recipes, when I'm recruiting a new one to join its brothers and sisters on my shelves, I'm looking for a spark of creativity or something truly exceptional to set it apart from the others.

This book has so many of the elements I favor in other cookbooks - each recipe is accompanied by suggested partner recipes, which is so valuable if I decide I'm actually interested in making a side dish or appetizer. There is also a decent introduction that reads more like a blog in that it is very self-centered. I mean that in the purest form of the word - the introduction involves things that the authors find important in their own lives - what ingredients are necessary in their pantry/fridge, what cooking tools they can't live without, what causes tug at their hearts. I like knowing those things because it helps me to evaluate where I stand on things like, say, spirulina (a newer "superfood" - algae...not interested, thank you).

The point of the book, in case you missed it, is fast-cooking meals. The authors obviously care a great deal about the way they fuel their bodies, though, so they have included little snippets that tell you how you can enhance the meal if you have some extra time, as well as ways to cut down on cooking time/effort even more, in case you just spent 45 minutes looking for parking and are now officially starting to turn inside out from hunger.

I haven't really bought into the whole raw/living foods thing, but I do think it's neat that the authors have provided alternative ways of preparing certain recipes in order to make them live, and have marked recipes that are already raw/live with a little heart. I'm not interested in making raw/live food a way of life but I have been interested to try a recipe here and there and see what it's about, so this could be a fun experiment. I'll let you know how it goes!

home is where the happy is

I have a confession to make: I am not all that excited about going back to work tomorrow.

I had such a nice weekend; it was really, truly enjoyable. Why ruin it by starting a new week? Is Monday really that necessary?

Yesterday, I woke up to - you guessed it - more snow! What an excellent start to the weekend! Actually, sleeping until I decided to get up was the excellent start, but snow was a terrific way to keep the fun going. It didn't accumulate at all, but it was gorgeous floating around in the air. I enjoyed some coffee and breakfast, and after a satisfying lunch, it was time to go food shopping. I'll spare you the boring details, but after that chore was conquered, I went to my Saturday job and found myself wishing I could make it my only job. It really is fulfilling, but I am basing that on the way it feels to see two girls I've been teaching for 8 years or so and recognize how far they've come. I remember how completely frustrating the first year of lessons can be and how some people just can't/won't learn. I did teach "full-time" for a while and depending on it for my complete income really extinguished any flame of passion I might have had for it at that time, so I'll let it go at that.

Returning home to a fully stocked fridge and cupboards, I decided to kick off my new menu by cooking up some Spanish Veggie Stew with Spanish Rice, both from The Accidental Vegan.


It was something of an exercise in patience. I have nearly given up on brown rice. When I was at Whole Foods last week, I picked up some short-grain brown rice, stupidly thinking that it would cook slightly faster than long-grain brown rice. NOPE. After the first hour of boiling, I lost track of how long it took. I'm not convinced that it was actually done when I served it, but I was done boiling it. I started it well before I started simmering the stew, and it was still going for a while after the stew was very fully cooked.

I will probably make this again, but without brown rice of any length.

Tonight, I made Seitan Cacciatore, also from TAV. It is so easy and so tasty and works well with [much faster cooking] Basmati rice. I also threw together a couple of salads. I don't have a whole lot to say about this, other than how good this is and how you should eat it, too.


Earlier today, we had two fun visits: my parents came into the city and took us out for my birthday brunch (yes, a month and a half late - how awful a daughter am I?), and Mister had a playdate with an old friend. By playdate, I mean that the two of them hung out in the midst of Mister's mess, oohing and aahing over dusty bits of audio gear I still don't understand, while I poked through Hi-Fructose and Clean Eating magazines.

If I've never mentioned this before, my parents are awesome. Despite their inclination to think I'm a little off, they continually humor my whims and courageously take those opportunities to open their minds and try something new. Instead of going to our standard brunch spot, I tricked my loving parents into taking us to MiLah Vegetarian. Once there, I was amused, impressed, and proud. It was amusing watching everyone, including Mister, pore over the menu. I was impressed with my father for ordering Tofu Benedict and proud of him for actually eating it all! I got the Tofu Benedict as well, which came with braised kale, roasted tomatoes, and sweet potato home-fries. It was very good.

I am very much in love with the menu and would love to return multiple times for both brunch and dinner so I can try everything...convincing Mister to go with me could prove difficult, though. It seemed to me that everyone's food was very good and I was also very happy with the coffee and the fruit plate. Mister's grudge is with the staff, and although they were friendly, I am somewhat in agreement with him. It seemed like everyone on staff today was a teenager or college kid...resulting in Mister not getting his "bacon" and getting sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes, which makes for a sad Mister.

In any case, I got my birthday presents! They're all wonderful! I got some kitchen toys: a vegetable peeler that you wear on your finger - I can't wait to see how that works - and a vegetable "peeler" that juliennes the veggies. That will save me SO MUCH TIME. It only got better from there:


That's right, a whole box full of tasty treats for me! That's a nice little picture, isn't it? Funny story, though - my mother gave me the Larabars because she couldn't stand the one she tried. I tried to explain that you have to give it a few bites, but she wasn't having it. More for me!

She saved the best for last, though. I am thrilled to introduce you to....another cookbook!


I had this on my Christmas Wish List, because I can never collect enough recipes that can be prepared quickly. I mean, seriously - I don't start cooking dinner until 8:30 at the very earliest on work nights.

I''ll leave you with a little tangent from that: My sister was born on Christmas Eve. Don't feel bad for her. She has never gotten a Christmas-Birthday present to my knowledge, specifically because everyone expects that she always gets Christmas-Birthday presents and they feel badly about that. It never happens. She makes out like a bandit. On the other hand, I was born 3 weeks after Christmas...which apparently makes it completely acceptable to give me Christmas-Birthday presents because that probably never happens. Nope, sorry - it happens every year. My parents have never done this to me, but I have grown accustomed to missing those great after-Christmas sales and the reason is this: I give them (at their request) a "Christmas list" every year, and have been doing so since I was a child and still thought I was writing to Santa. From that list, my mother takes advantage of the after-Christmas sales and the wealth of ideas provided to get my birthday presents as well. So every year, I have to wait for three weeks until my birthday (this year a little longer, but it was my own fault) to find out if there is anything on that list that I really wanted but didn't get and now have to buy myself.

The point of all this? Nothing really - I just had a great weekend and I don't want it to end!

Chai is the Hindi word for Tea

That's my fun fact for the evening - because it cracks me up! From now on, every time I hear someone say "Chai Tea" I'm going to laugh inside my head. I wanted to share that so you can laugh inside your head, too, or if we're together we can laugh out loud and give the person who said "chai tea" a complex.

I saw that in a little color patch in The Vegan Table, which is funny since dinner came from a different cookbook. I can't remember why I had that one open, but let me move on. Dinner tonight came from La Dolce Vegan and it's one of my favorite recipes. It is extremely simple to make, comes together quickly, smells fabulous, and tastes even better. I think this dish was the first time Mister realized he could actually like tofu.

*Gasp* A vegetarian who doesn't like tofu??? It happens.

Anyway, I'll share the recipe at the end of this post because it doesn't actually belong to the author so I don't feel bad reposting it. Hopefully, too, it will encourage you to buy this wonderful book. There are three:
How It All Vegan
The Garden of Vegan
La Dolce Vegan <-- my favorite

I actually stumbled upon Sarah Kramer and her BFF Tanya Barnard and their amazing trilogy of cookbooks as the result of my wonderful mother trying to accommodate my crazy new lifestyle and make a vegan recipe for some holiday dinner (Christmas, I think), but it didn't quite work out for her, so she gave me the cookbook (HiaV). It had some of the best soup recipes in my collection so it won a fast place in my heart and I got the other two over the years.

Anyway, today I had my Chocolate Cherry Jocalat bar, finally.
I think my favorite thing about this bar is that the cocoa is Fair Trade Certified, which is important to me. To be honest, much like the Chocolate Mint Jocalat bar, the first bite was absolutely horrific. However, considering how well the Mint bar worked out by halfway through, I gave this one another chance and had the same result. Dried cherries are a little more tart than I would like, and these were unsweetened (unlike my craisinets), but it gave a good finish to the bar and I would probably get this one again...but it will never stand up to my Nectar cacao bars.

Now, as promised, I'll share the recipe for tonight's delightful dinner. I love this recipe so much! I chose it because we don't have any more room in the fridge for leftovers and there are never leftovers when I make this. That's another "favorite" thing about this cookbook - Sarah is just cooking for herself and her husband, so her recipes are usually the right size for me and my husband! The recipe was submitted to Sarah from Inder and Vandna Bedi from ViaVegan.com:

Punjabi Peppers & Tofu

Ingredients:
brown rice (or grain of your choice), enough for two people*
1/2 lb firm tofu, cubed**
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp hot chili powder
1 large tomato, finely chopped

In a medium pot, cook the rice accordingly. While rice is cooking, in a wok or large saucepan on medium-high heat, saute the tofu and onions in oil until onions are translucent and tofu starts to brown. Add the green and red peppers, salt, chili powder, garam masala, and tomatoes. Reduce heat and cover with lid. Simmer for 4-6 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serve over rice. Makes 2 large or 4 small servings.

Notes:
* I used 3/4 cup brown rice in 1.5 cups water.
** I used a whole 14 oz container of tofu. I have no idea how much a 1/2 lb would be and I don't really care - the point was not to have leftovers, so I didn't want whatever was left of the tofu after I skillfully carved away exactly half a pound to sit in some far corner of my fridge awaiting the opportunity to become a science project.

By the way, I don't know what "tea" is in Punjabi and Google won't help me.

harvesting the nectar before it's gone

It was a gorgeous almost-autumn day today. The temperature was hovering in the low 70s, the sun was out but there was a nice breeze blowing... I wandered down to the Italian Market to try (again) to get either Beluga lentils or more French lentils and they were out of both. How disappointing, but at least I got to take a walk. I bought bunches of vegetables, including 9 different bell peppers - it's going to be a pepper-heavy menu this week, but it seems there's a bumper crop, so it works out.

I also got more bananas which may or may not get to stay whole for more than a day... last time, I was just a day late in eating them all up and the fruit flies won that round. The little buggers only live about two days, but for those two days, they are annoying as hell. Chocolate Covered Katie has a recipe for banana butter which I'm considering, since I still haven't settled into an oatmeal routine. Maybe I won't - I could just spend the fall and winter experimenting, but I have learned several times over that I really just don't like chocolate oatmeal. That probably will not stop me from trying again, though.

Anyway, tonight's dinner was Stewed Lentils with Soy Sausage and Fingerling Fries, both from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. It was not a fast meal, but that is owed to two factors:
1. I don't believe in canned lentils. They just seem gross.
2. My stove got crippled somewhere between reheating that amazing lentil soup we had earlier this week for lunch and making dinner tonight and all that came out of the burner was the wretched smell they put in natural gas to prevent you from killing yourself accidentally. So, down a front burner and too short to reach the back burners for something requiring frequent attention, it took a little longer because I had to trade off.

The stewed lentils looked kind of gross, but it tasted good and that's really what matters. The fries were both attractive and tasty, though a little bland because I'm very conservative with the salt (you can always add more, but you can't take it away, right?).
I stand corrected, now that I've made a whole bunch of recipes from Vegan Express - Nava has two standard ingredients: sun-dried tomatoes and Tofurky sausage. It kind of works out, though, because Mister loves Tofurky everything and I have thus far been unable to give him a Tofurky for a holiday feast. Someday...when our home is big enough for guests...

I thought I had finished my food shopping today, but it turns out I did forget to pick one thing up at Whole Foods. I'm glad I have to go back because when I was looking at some of the blogs I follow today, I found that my absolute favorite fruit and nut bars are being discontinued! So, I'm planning to march my butt back to Whole Foods tomorrow and buy every Lemon Vanilla Cashew Nectar bar and Dark Chocolate Walnut Nectar bar they have. It's ironic - after all my bar testing, those remained my favorites for many reasons.

In any case, here is the menu for this coming week. I still have one more Isa soup I'm making tomorrow night, though, from last week's menu.

1. Potato Corn Chowder (from Accidental Vegan by Devra Gartenstein)
2. Seitan Pepper Steak (also Accidental Vegan - this was one of the recipes that made me buy the book)
3. Vegetable Etoufee (from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals by Robin Robertson - this is another old standard that I make almost every time I flip through this cookbook)
4. Punjabi Peppers and Tofu (from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer, the crazy Canadian who introduced me to the wondrous world of vegan cooking, as well as the magical spice medley called Garam Masala)
5. Penne Pasta with Fresh Veggies (from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau) That has to be the most unimaginative name I've ever seen for a recipe, but we'll forgive her because she comes up with clever-cute names for her full menus.