huge apples and lentil hummus

Everyone around me has been raving on and on about these apples.  What apples?  Honeycrisp Apples.  Everyone seems to have something to say about how amazing they are and how in season.  I must confess - that is one of the myriad reasons I love fall.  Not honeycrisp apples, per se, but the pure bounty of varieties I've never seen before that crowd my grocery bins and await Mister and I should we actually make our way to Linvilla one of these days.  At the moment, I have a bag full of a new surprise favorite, Gingergold apples, in the fridge.  I discovered these little beauties at Essene and then found a whole bin of them for a lower price at Whole Foods.  I expected them to be a little spicier, but they are "just right," to steal a phrase.  However, right next to the bin of yellow apples was a display of apples the size of a baby's head.  Honeycrisps, of course.

I mean, seriously - I have abnormally large hands for a woman, to give you an example of that apple's size.  If anyone plays the piano, you might be further intrigued to know that I can reach a 10th with those hands.  Yet, I could barely capture the entire honeycrisp with it.  Wonder how much apple that is when you cut it up for breakfast?

Enough to be piled upon a dinner plate.  Best breakfast ever.  Well, except for all the other times I've said that - I just really like breakfast.  There's no shame in that.

Last night I was sick by the time I finished work - my throat was so swollen and hurty that I could barely swallow.  I was dizzy and my eyes were crossing from being exhausted.  By the time I took off my shoes and visited the loo, my cheeks were bright red with fever and my skin hurt.  By 9pm, Mister had tucked me in for a long Autumn nap which lasted until my alarm yelled at me at 7am this morning.

I still felt kind of awful, but my mega-dosing on vitamin C and other things that are good for me (had a Naked smoothie on my way home from work) and 10 hours of sleep seemed to at least fend off disaster for the moment, so I showered, dressed, took two aspirin and went to work.  Fortunately for me, my attendance was requested with a new trainee starting today - I'm beginning the structuring of future trainings, so I get to participate in training opportunities between now and when we start implementing.  It was much easier to get through today sitting most of the time.

As luck would have it, the boss took me and the new hire to lunch at Pure Fare and it was utterly delightful.  Normally, I get one of their outstanding salads.  I had kind of gotten it into my mind last time, though, that I want to try one of the sandwiches.  Today was that day and I happily chowed down on the Lentil Hummus sandwich on multigrain bread.  The bread was very good, though a little too soft/flimsy to support the weight of all the awesome things inside:  green hummus (I can't even imagine how they made it), halved cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, fennel, and broccoli raab.  Delicious!

That got me through the rest of the day and when I came home, I still had some energy for making dinner!  I made Sloppy Joes from The Urban Vegan with one small twist.  I thought I had more TVP than I did, so I ended up adding about 1/3 cup of red lentils to make up the difference, which resulted in me also needing to add some vegetable broth to be absorbed by the lentils, and having to cook it a little longer.  That was fine, since I also wanted to serve "something green" with dinner, especially since I'm not feeling 100%.

It was tasty and I love how the broccoli is eager to soak up the herbs and spices as well as the broth when I steamed it with just a little.  It's amazing how easy it is to make a tasty veggie side dish - it really required almost no thought and slightly less effort (granted, the broccoli was pre-cut).  I had one sandwich and thought about having another - they really weren't that big.  However, I reflected on the vague nausea I've been carrying with me since this morning and decided against that.  Considering my belly is still a little sad, I think that was the right decision.

Well, kids, I'm off to try for another "full night" of sleep, so I'm signing off for now.  Sweet dreams!

critter petting zoo

This is a great apartment - really it is, but seriously - this place is Critter Central.  After a generally blissful, critter-free existence for the last six years in our tiny apartment, it seems like we found us a wildlife reserve here and I'm wondering if that is one of the reasons for the exceptionally low rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in this part of town (I'm thinking the Meeting Place for the Socially Challenged across the street is another reason).  Presently, in addition to the fuzzy lump we actually want living here, we have one adorable but gotta-go mousy friend, a flock of fruit flies who are trying to hijack my wine (I've already explained to them that I work far harder than they do for my wine) and a spider that might have been helpful in getting rid of the flies if he weren't too darn lazy to build a small web.  Having not accomplished his purpose, Mister escorted our eight-legged free-loader out of our home.  Mister also set a trap for the mouse:

Yup.  A plastic box, set upside down and propped up by an old, empty jar that used to hold Alba facial moisturizer with a piece of cardboard acting as an appetizer plate for a Mouse-Feast of peanut butter.  I tried to tell Mister that this is not a cartoon, but he insisted it would work.  So twice now, the mouse has gone in there and won.  First time, he ran in, grabbed the PB and pulled it out with him before we had a chance to catch him - mouse 1, us 0.  Then, we set it up again because the mouse dropped the PB plate and after a long, patient, barely-breathing staring contest, the little bugger decided to press his luck.  Just as he made his move, I made mine...and Angst made some kind of clattering that made the mouse turn around and run away.  Mouse - 2, us - 0, Angst - in the 'dog'house.

We decided our little friend needs to hit the road.  There are just too many gruesome ways for him to die here and traumatize me in the process.  I would share some of those ways but you don't want to hear about them any more than I want to think about them and even less than I want to actually experience any of them.  Since part of dinner involved roasting, I checked the inside of the oven before preheating it.  Then it started to smell like burning, so I yanked open the door and peered inside with a flashlight, fully expecting to see something that would make dinner a moot point (for lack of appetite), but there was no mousy (thank heavens).  After dinner, we spent enough time waiting to catch the mouse that Friday night's post will have Saturday's date, so just remember, kids - I haven't slept yet, so it's still Friday.

Anyway, as I was coming home from work tonight, I got to thinking about a great many things, but the only one you're interested in is dinner.  Trust me.  I really thought it would be neat to make an entire menu from the cookbook my company is hawking.  Appetite for Reduction made it seem like "diet food" could always be a culinary treasure, but I'll be honest - despite my attempts to make these dishes sound fabulous, I'm a little less than impressed.  The only flavor most of the recipes I've made so far have had came from my own inability to put only 2 cloves of garlic into something or my enjoyment of tweaking flavor elements.  It's not all bad, necessarily, but I have definitely lost my excitement for this cookbook - the pictures look far more attractive and appetizing than the finished product tastes.  I still have a few recipes to go and I do intend to finish them, but what this is all building up to (fortunately) is that I improvised to such a point tonight that I could not say, in good conscience, that I actually followed the recipe for the White Bean Salad in the cookbook.  The reason this is fortunate is that it doubles the recipe fun!

I am not at all ashamed of how excited I was to use my new BBQ sauce, given to me by a member of our chefs' council.  I was a little worried about the heat, but it turned out to have just the right amount.  It's a bit tangy and neither sweet nor savory BBQ sauce, but it is certainly good and I would actually purchase it in a store if I could find it.

I decided to go for a southern-style meal, at least where the BBQ sauce is involved.  The "salad" ended up being relatively Mediterranean, but I think most of my salads either end up that way, or a mix of hippie-commune-meets-Neiman-Marcus-urban-legends, so no big surprise there. 

Roasted Veggies with White Beans
yields about 4 appetizer/side dish servings

Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatoes (organic, if you can)
1 lb asparagus (normally one bunch)   
 15 oz can of white beans (cannellinis were pretty darn good), drained and rinsed (do you really even need to say that anymore?)
2 Tbsp high-quality olive oil
1-2 tsp Mediterranean sea salt blend (to taste)
1 tsp red wine vinegar


Preheat oven to 400 F.  Break the ends off of the asparagus stalks and slice into 1" pieces, on the bias if you want it to be pretty.  Slice the larger grape tomatoes in half diagonally and leave the little ones whole.  Drizzle asparagus and tomatoes with 2 Tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with 1 tsp of the salt blend to start, then toss to coat.  Roast for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now would probably be a good time to start the other half of the recipe, if you're making both (see recipe below).  Once the asparagus is beginning to shrivel a bit and the tomatoes are beginning to burst, remove from oven and add beans and as much as 1 more teaspoon of the salt blend, along with the red wine vinegar, and toss to coat evenly.  Allow to sit and cool while you prepare the po' boys.

Seitan-n-Slaw Po' Boys
serves 6, one po' boy per person

Ingredients
16 oz seitan in broth, drained and sliced very thin/shredded (baked seitan will not work here - I used Michael's Savory Seitan)
10 oz bag of confetti slaw (or other slaw)
2 Tbsp canola (or olive) oil, divided
1 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce
3-4 Tbsp all-natural, spicy BBQ sauce, divided
1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses (or dark agave nectar)
6 long sandwich rolls (about 6")

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large, deep skillet on medium heat.  Add confetti slaw, stir to coat with oil and then cover.  Allow to steam-fry 5-7 minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally.  Remove from pan and add the remaining 1 Tbsp oil and turn heat to medium-high.  Add seitan and stir to coat with oil.  Cover and cook until seitan begins to brown and oil has been absorbed - about 5-7 minutes more.  Once the seitan has browned to your liking, add about 2 Tbsp of the BBQ sauce and stir to coat the seitan evenly.  Allow to cook one more minute, then add the slaw and stir to coat everything with BBQ sauce, adding more 1 Tbsp at a time until all the seitan and slaw is well-coated in BBQ sauce.  Drizzle on the molasses/agave and stir to combine.  Remove from heat.

If you'd prefer, you can heat the rolls in the oven - it should still be hot from the Roasted "Salad," so you won't need to heat it up.  Once they are warmed/toasted to your liking, slice lengthwise, taking care to leave a substantial "hinge."  Gently pile about 1/2 cup of the seitan-n-slaw mixture into the roll.

Serve with "salad" and enjoy!  You want pairings?  How about a nice Merlot-Tempranillo blend or South African Pinotage with dinner, and finish with a digestive of anisette, sipped slowly from a decorated cordial glass?

Bon appetit!
(can anyone translate that to Creole-French?)

sandwiches save the day!

I'm a big fan of utensils.  I like using forks and spoons, and when the occasion presents itself, I even like to use knives (when I can remember which hand holds them).  I don't mind "finger food" necessarily, but I don't particularly enjoy getting oil or sticky-ness or crumbs all over my fingers/hands if there's another way.

Yes, sometimes I do eat pizza with a knife and fork.  I have no issue spearing a french fry with a fork, either.

Anyway, my Sandwich Saavy is a little underwhelming, to say the least.  Something I found completely intriguing when I bought The Urban Vegan last year was how many recipes involved sandwiches.  The picture Dynise painted, though, was one of sophistication and elegance, rather than the not-so-attractive picture that is Me With A Sandwich.  MWaS usually involves graceless gnawing, possibly unappealing ripping apart of a formerly handsome sandwich, and probably a quickly deconstructed pile of carbs and "other stuff."  In other words, I'm not one of those women who looks sexy eating a sandwich.  I'm pretty sure I look something like a cross between a pig and a teenager.

So, although I would love to open my stylish, reusable lunch-carrying-device and gently lay a cloth napkin across my lap before gently taking a small bite from my pumpernickel and sprouts sandwich, generously spread with Sandwich Mousse that does not squish out the other side of the bread and fall onto the pretty napkin, I think we'll leave the Euro-style lunches to Dynise for now.  Let's talk about dinner instead.

Last night, I had a meal I have dubbed The Dinner of Champions purely because I was a little appalled at the combination of things I ate last night.  To provide a little background, I ended up getting home from work early since the police had to evacuate our building to search for the bomb the mean man called about.  Ordinarily, this would create a great opportunity for me to spend a little extra time making a special dinner.  However, upon my return, Mister shared with me that he had just learned of a friend's death and after we sat together for a while, he determined he did not want to eat.  I did, so I made a sandwich with apple butter and peanut butter, and then did my best to eat it without splooshing the apple butter out the back and on my un-napkined lap.  I was a little heavy on the apple butter, so I found myself craving something savory.  I heated up one of Mister's frozen hashbrowns and while I waited for it to get crispy and greasy, I poured a glass of Tempranillo-Merlot (it seemed like a nice splurge after the whole evacuation thing).  A little while after eating my hashbrown with mediterranean sea salt, I realized I was still hungry, so I made another sandwich.  Then I decided sandwiches + hashbrown + red wine was a deadly combination for my recovering digestive system.  Actually, the pain and nausea made that decision.

Sorry, no pictures, but I figure you all know what a sandwich looks like and if you've never seen a hashbrown, it's time to call your parents and ask them why.

Tonight, I got home late, as if to make up for yesterday.  The train was late, which is always awesome when it's whirlwindy and cold and threatening to rain, and then I had to stop at Whole Foods for bread and apples, so I decided to make my fastest cooking meal.  That just happened to be Lemony Garlic Chickpea Patties from Vegan on the Cheap.

The first time I made these, I found that the "dough" didn't stick together very well, so this time I added a little extra liquid in the form of vegetable broth.  Despite that, it felt like these little patties were a little lemon-heavy.  They also packed a bit of heat from the garlic that is still lulling around my mouth (I think I'll probably taste it until tomorrow).  I really like these patties, but a few tweaks will make them even better.

Next time, I'll press the garlic instead of chopping it and hoping the food processor does the rest.  It doesn't.  I liked the addition of the vegetable broth, but it seemed to make the dough a little too sticky, so I think I'll add it a little more slowly and give it time to work into the mixture more next time, or I'll add more Vital Wheat Gluten.  The first time I made these, I had gotten a great deal on Meyer lemons.  The difference in taste between the juice of those two little lemons and the "normal" lemon I juiced tonight was quite significant and definitely in favor of the Meyers.

Nevertheless, it was easy, Mister liked them, and we got to eat potato things, which is always a happy night in out home.  I'm happy to be halfway through the week because once again, I am looking forward to a productive weekend.  Hopefully, I won't get sick again!   Thank you to Kelly and Jackie for your thoughtful comments on the last post :)

short and sweet while my hands are clean

It's been a messy, dirty day.  One of the few things I do look forward to with the imminence of springtime is that the warmer, more humid days restore the moisture winter sucked from my hands.  I look forward to the day I can wash my hands without having to immediately slather them with hand lotion, before they become taut and shiny and feel all papery.  Blech.

Anyway, I'm waist to eyeball high with boxes right now and a little overwhelmed by the knowledge that tomorrow is our last full day in this apartment.  When I look around, it looks like there's still so much to pack, but when I pull out the boxes (the guys at the liquor store love me - they won't have to pay their recycling bill until March) and start putting stuff in them, I find myself running out rather quickly.  We had an early dinner (more in a moment) and then I got to packing up my kitchen, but I figured it was time for a Blog & Wine break, so I opened up my Malbec before I packed up the corkscrew.

Dinner tonight came to us via the talented (and busy!) hands of the cooks at Blackbird Pizzeria.  My intention had been for us to eat at Blackbird - less trash and clean up for me - but there was not a single table open in the whole joint!  Good for them - it's always great to see a business like that do so well while other pizza parlors only blocks from there are switching hands so quickly they're not even bothering to put up the new signs.  We ordered our food to go and flipped through Grid while we waited for dinner.  While we waited, it occurred to us that one reason there were no tables open was because they are not exactly fast food.  Anyway, we got our bag of goodies and took it home:

After far more deliberation than I felt the menu warranted, Mister decided on the Chickpea Salad Hoagie, which appears to be the vegan equivalent of chicken salad.  It was a lot of sandwich - probably about 14" (Mister's guess).  He started out enthusiastically enough, but he seemed to lose steam about halfway through, beginning to devote more of his attention to the fries.  Once he'd finishd the first half, he rewrapped the second half with great gusto, at which point I realized exactly how big a sandwich it really was and he made some comment about only being able to stand the texture one half at a time.

Mister takes his sandwiches very seriously.  If they aren't perfect, it's as though it is a personal offense.

Speaking of serious - these are some serious fries!  Mister and I agreed (as we conquered that pile with the zeal of people who haven't eaten fries since...well, okay, since Monday) that these are very, very good fries.  The outsides are perfectly crispy while the insides maintain a soft, light texture, and the folks at Blackbird have the salt thing down pat - not too much, not too little.  It's like the Goldilocks of French Fries.

As I mentioned, I got the Roasted Eggplant Grinder and it was astonishingly good.  I ate the whole thing happily, along with my share of the fries.  It's ever-so-slightly too oily, but that's really just my terrified-of-fat-calories side talking - the garlic-infused oil really makes the sandwich.  The marinated eggplant, broccoli rabe, and roasted red peppers certainly help create an amazing sandwich.  I definitely preferred this sandwich over their cheesesteaks, mainly because this sandwich had just a sprinkling of Daiya, rather than it being a main ingredient.  I think it worked very well on this sandwich because there were several other bold flavors to balance it out - it really kind of dominates the seitan in the cheesesteak.  Perhaps if the seitan was seasoned a bit more creatively, it would hold its own against the Daiya...food for thought.

Anyway, I'm about to run out of wine (and steam), so it's back to the boxes...let me leave you with a few glamour shots of our mess:

I don't know why I was surprised, but it actually took two boxes to pack all of my cookbooks.  I guess this makes sense, since I had three shelves devoted to them... 

I refer to this as my Fail Box.  This is probably the crappiest packing I've done yet.  I just kind of tossed all of my cookware into a really big box.  It's crammed in there pretty good and Mister already practiced picking it up, so I think it will make its way two blocks without any major damage.  It is neither orderly nor attractive, though.

from the floor to the middle

middle to the top...that's quite a pile

I have absolutely no idea what's for dinner tomorrow, so stay tuned!

P&AB, MoFos!

The last words spoken to me at work today concluded a ninety-minute planning session with the department director.  She looked into my bloodshot eyes and raised her voice above my sniffling:

Her:  Can you do me a favor?
Me, looking sad and worn out, I'm sure:  Umm...?
Her: Would you please go home and rest?

Yes.  I can do that.  I regret that I don't have some stupendously exciting meal to post about, since it's the last night of VeganMoFo...unless you count my killer Peanut & Apple Butters Sandwich and Yogi Detox Tea.  I have to tell you, I appreciate that Whole Foods makes their 365 Peanut Butter from only peanuts and salt (two ingredients, woohoo!), but it doesn't really taste like anything.  It does pair nicely with the apple butter I picked up forever ago, though.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my nightly posts as much as I enjoyed writing them!  Round-ups seem to be the popular way to end this month, so let me link back to some "special" posts, highlights if you will, in case you're just joining us (or just getting caught up on your reading, like me!).

Some recipes:
Breakfast Fried Rice 
Rotini with White Bean-Tomato Sauce
Banana Pecan Oatmeal


Food Zen:
Making Peace with Peas
A Whole World of Difference
Give me $5 and I'll Feed the World


and of course, The Chocolate Round-Up and the Epic VeganMoFo Survey!

That's all, folks!  I posted every single night of November and now I'm going to sleep.  See you in December!

done with leftovers, on to soup

Sometime after I finished last night's post, Mister and I both decided we were hungry again.  I do think my hunger was partially due to the power of suggestion as a friend had mentioned (via Twitter) that she wanted to be hungry again so she could eat leftovers.  That got me thinking about the leftovers we had in the fridge from "greek thanksgiving," so I pulled out the broccolini, olive oil, and Mediterranean Sea Salt blend and sauteed me some greens.  I started with half the broccolini, but it was just so good, I went back and had the second half, too.  Ignoring the olive oil (I'm good at that), how many calories can a green veggie really have?

About 10 minutes after I scarfed down finished savoring the last of my broccolini, the scents wafting in from the kitchen got to Mister and I found him foraging through the fridge and cabinets.  He asked what there was to eat, I made a few suggestions, and he decided he was too lazy to eat (i.e. too lazy to make something to eat).  I asked him if he'd like me to make him something, he smiled, so I got to work reheating the last bits of Savory Sausage and Peppers in the same pan I used for my broccolini, allowing the garlic-herb-salt-tinged oil to add more flavor to the leftovers.  As that was sizzling away, I warmed up the last of the mashed potatoes in the microwave (I'll admit, I use it begrudgingly, but there have really been times that microwave has come in handy), then laid a little pillow of mashed potatoes at the bottom of a bowl and scooped the sausage melange over top and delivered it to my hungry Mister.

The only leftovers we have, well, leftover, are of the apple pie persuasion, and I believe the plan is to heat our last slices up in the oven once our bellies have emptied a bit from dinner.

Segue, anyone?

Before I started cooking tonight, there were three choices left on our 5-option menu, but I already knew I wanted to make the Caldo Verde from Vegan on the Cheap.  Today was the first day we didn't have to do anything at all and we both took full advantage of that, drinking cup after cup of the Snickerdoodle coffee I bought at a Coffee Bean out in California.

It was so good.  It was about 3:30 before either of us made any effort to do something a person could define as productive.  For me, it was taking a shower so I could go get kitty litter (yes, I live the glamorous life, try to tone down the envy).  Mister, at 3:45 PM, decided he wanted to try his luck at Black Friday so he could buy a multi-terabyte hard drive for very little money that my dad told him about last night when he was flipping through store circulars while Mister amused himself on his iPod and Mom and I cooked.  I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn that they were all sold out.

Anyway, the total ten minutes I was outside to get the kitty litter (and spy a new "bakery" in the neighborhood - Cookie Confidential grand opening today) was quite enough to make me want soup for dinner.  The best part is that it's going to be even colder tomorrow!

The soup smelled phenomenal simmering away on the stove while I tried my hand at freeform "cheese" slicing.  I mentioned in a previous post that I picked up cheddar Vegan Gourmet "cheese," but it only comes in block form.  Fortunately, the block is about the same size as a piece of bread, so I just sliced off two big slices and plunked them onto the bread I already had toasting on the skillet.  As you can see, the package declares with great enthusiasm that this cheese substitute melts.  I'll grant that it took me three tries to get the Rice Vegan to finally melt all gooey like it's supposed to, but even on the first try it came far closer to melting than this stuff did... I'm sure it tried, but I was skeptical from the get-go; after slicing the pieces for the sandwiches, I cut off a little more to taste and the texture was so much like a cross between hard-boiled egg whites and extra-firm silken tofu that I couldn't see how it would melt.  Mister was a trooper - he coated his sandwich in ketchup and plowed through it in about 6 bites.  I took my time, trying to gauge how I feel about this one, despite that there was nothing that resembled melting going on.  It has a pleasant flavor, but it smells a little like mildew and scent is kind of important.  Nevertheless, the cheapskate in me my frugal side won't allow me to give up and chuck what's left, so I'll probably try broiling it on an open-face sandwich tomorrow or Sunday, just to see if I can actually convince it to melt.  I don't think it will ever find its way past Mister's lips again, though.

The soup was good - hearty and full of potatoey-kaley goodness, but nothing spectacular, so if I make it again, it will probably be by accident or a year from now.

I had this horrific moment today when I thought tomorrow was Monday.  Mister and I did a little dance in the kitchen (the only place with enough room to dance) when he informed me that tomorrow was actually Saturday - I am absolutely not ready for Monday yet.  I have laundry to do, a new menu to plot and shop for, a Christmas tree to set-up and decorate, and I really want to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes from VCTOTW.  Also, heaven forbid a weekend should pass without a new oatmeal recipe!  See you tomorrow, MoFos!

sandwiches: food or fine art?

I would like to start by declaring two things:

1. I am still very pleased with the picture of my Snobby Joes - it's pretty enough that I almost don't mind how long it has held the space of "first picture you see on the blog," aside from the fact that it means I haven't posted anything since Monday.
2. I believe I am the only woman in Philadelphia...the country...maybe the universe, who needs an hour to make a sandwich.

I mean, really - the whole idea behind a sandwich is that it is easy to make and easy to eat, right?  Isn't that why that simple food has sustained Mister through long days and nights of his various projects (and at times helpful insomnia)?  Isn't that the King of School Lunches?  Donna Reed or June Cleaver slap some mayo on a couple of slices of Wonderbread, neatly place a slice of cheese or two atop the bottom slice, then fold a generous number of slices of mutilated animal flesh and top with another piece of bread, then put it in Junior's brown bag and send him off to school with a smile and a kiss, right?

Not so with me.  Since Mister and I gave up on eating slices of what used to be an animal but managed to fit into a square shape after it was killed and ground into oblivion, sandwiches have taken on a different form.  There are the several incarnations of PB&J which usually involve Dark Chocolate Dreams alone, chunky peanut butter alone or with a generous spread of Polaner All-Fruit.  Mister still makes sandwiches that consist of Provolone, Muenster, Cheddar, or Pepper Jack cheese with one of our three mustards and a couple of pickle slices.  If I am making a "sandwich" for myself, it usually means I've spread something (Chocolate PB, chunky PB, hummus, or olive tapenade) on a single slice of bread and am eating it over the sink.

If, however, a sandwich will play a part in dinner, it will probably involve tofu, cucumbers and/or tomatoes, and about an hour or more of my time.

I don't think it will surprise you that we had TLC Sandwiches with Mediterranean Mashed Potatoes for dinner tonight, served with a bowl of mixed olives.  I think it would have gone quicker if I had pan-seared the tofu slices rather than baked them, but I was mashing the potatoes while they were baking, so it came out okay, I guess.  Our Tofu, Lettuce, and Cucumber Sandwiches were missing the L, so I did a layer of C on the bottom and the top.  Having not been raised by June or Donna, my husband absolutely cannot tolerate mayonnaise, so I smeared hummus on the inside sides of our bread.  It was tasty, smelled good, and was attractive - all I need to do now is get back into the habit of wearing heels while I do household chores and cook dinner.

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).

fun seitan chow

Actually, dinner was Seitan Chow Fun, but that wouldn't have made nearly as attention-grabbing a title! The final dinner in my two week tribute to Vegan Express was just as quick and easy as the rest - this book is definitely a winner. There were two great things about this recipe, both of which were kind of firsts.

For one thing, I had never cooked with udon noodles before. Mind-blowing, I know, but I hadn't. That actually resulted in a staring contest with the shelf of different kinds of udon noodles at the store - I (again, erroneously) expected there would be one lonely box on a shelf of otherwise "standard" pasta products, but how wrong I was! There were at least three different kinds of udon noodles in one brand alone! I can't remember now what my other choices were, but I think I chose wisely because I didn't get any objections from Mister (who complains about whole-wheat pasta).

The second first (let that sink in) was the sauce. Whenever I've ordered chinese food, I've tried not to think too hard about the sauce, because it's so thick and goopy I've always assumed it had something really gross in it, or at least a whole lot of fat. I don't know what they do in restaurants, but I do know that tonight I made the sauce I've tasted there and it wasn't gross at all - just vegetable broth whisked with corn starch, soy sauce, and dark sesame oil. It was delicious and cooked up just as thick as anything I've gotten in a restaurant, so that was somewhat comforting.

Here are some pictures of dinner, and then I'll tell my lunch tale:
My lunch today was awesome, even if it was missing the well-rounded-nutrition part. I can't think of a clever name for it, other than Garlic Soy Sauce Tofu Sandwich, but it was just so good. A little back-story: maintenance has been in my home every day this week (and will be back tomorrow, hopefully to finish everything). The good part of this intrusion is that I have only gone to work two days this week, and once I shake off the guilt of not being there to help with whatever important thing I'm missing, it's actually quite enjoyable. So, after the usual 4 hours in my home, the maintenance guy left around 3 and I decided to make lunch (I had a late breakfast and munched on a few more cookies than I needed to). I wanted to make scrambled tofu, either from Vegan with a Vengeance or How It All Vegan for breakfast, but I keep forgetting I'm braindead when I wake up, which is why I have berries with yogurt when the weather is warm and oatmeal when it's cold. I really don't stray much, and if I do, it's because Mister got up first and went out for pastries or made egg sandwiches. So I thought, "I'm awake now, I'll make it for lunch!" I didn't, though, because for some reason, the 10-12 minutes I was supposed to cook it seemed like too much of a time investment.

You're probably wondering where this is going if you're still with me. Anyway, I grabbed the silken tofu leftover from the pizza and sliced off two pieces, one of which fell apart between my grabby fingers. I sprayed a small pan and threw the tofu on there - I love the sound of sizzling tofu. I sprinkled on a generous amount of soy sauce and was thrilled by the puff of steam and sizzling sound that happened right before it promptly evaporated and burnt to the pan. Oh well, live and learn. So I added a little water to the pan, too, flipped the tofu over and added more soy sauce. I also sprinkled both sides with garlic powder. Once I felt it was done cooking (all the liquid evaporated and I didn't feel like adding more), I piled it onto a slice of multigrain bread (so good) and waited for the steady stream of steam to slow down before closing the bread over it and eating it like a cheesesteak with no cheese. I learned two things from this experience:
1. When the liquid part of soy sauce evaporates and what's left sticks to the pan and burns, it smells illegal (use your imagination).
2. Whatever I made today tasted better than any cheese steak I ever had when I ate meat.