Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Homage to Rosetta's

It took me two years to get back to Asheville after moving back to Connecticut, so chances are it will be a while before I make that 750-mile drive again.  However, I don't want to have to wait that long to enjoy the rich, spicy, wholesome flavors of my favorite dish at my favorite restaurant there-- the Mountain at Rosetta's Kitchen.  I knew I could replicate the sauteed kale (although never to match the original) and brown rice, but I was at a loss as to the Korean BBQ tempeh.  Thankfully with a little help from Google I stumbled on this:

Show me your veggies !!!: Korean BBQ braised Tempeh.

With a little tweaking (mainly just adding a heaping tablespoon of tahini instead of using the sesame seeds) I was able to sit down to this feast tonight:

Korean BBQ Tempeh with sauteed kale, mixed grains and kimchi

Not quite the same as Rosetta's, but surprisingly close, and just as filling (and addictive...I'm already looking forward to the leftovers!)!



Monday, February 18, 2013

Breakfast of Champions (in the fight against winter!)

When I woke up this morning to sounds of a howling wind and the sight of the needle on the outside thermometer way too far below 20 degrees F I resolved to conjure up some soup for lunch.  By the time I stumbled back into the warm house after a brief, and very chilly, run I was looking so forward to a carrot ginger creation that I decided to get started right away (ah, the benefits of one more week of vacation!).  Soup for breakfast-- a no-fail defense against stubborn winter!

Soup for Breakfast! (plus avocado toast)
Creamy Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
sea salt
1 lb. carrots, sliced (thickness can vary; thinner slices will just require less cooking time)
5 cups water*
2 tsp Seitenbacher vegetarian vegetable broth powder*
1 bay leaf
1 15-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 T nutritional yeast (optional)
1 T ginger juice (grate a piece of ginger and squeeze to get juice)
juice of 1 small lemon
2 tsp. white miso, dissolved in a little bit of water
sea salt to taste
Baby greens (kale, chard) for garnish

*Or substitute 5 c premade vegetable broth (or a combination of water and broth)

Instructions:


  1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion and celery with a pinch of sea salt and saute until the onion is soft, about 2 to 4 minutes.
  2. Add the carrots and stir well.  Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
  3. Add the water and broth powder (or broth) and the bay leaf.  Raise heat to high and bring to a boil.
  4. Lower heat and simmer, covered, until the carrots are very tender (about 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of your carrot slices).
  5. Add the beans and nutritional yeast, stir well, and allow to simmer for a few more minutes.
  6. Remove the bay leaf.
  7. Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender (or, alternatively, carefully transfer to a blender-- you will probably have to do this in batches-- to puree and then return to the pot).
  8. Add the ginger juice, lemon juice and miso and stir well. **Make sure not to boil at this point since doing so may inactivate the miso's healthful enzymes.
  9. Taste for seasoning-- add more salt (or you could add more miso) as needed.
  10. For added color, serve garnished with some baby kale and/or chard (fresh herbs would also be a nice touch).








Sunday, February 17, 2013

Let us eat cake!

Today was the perfect day--overcast, chilly and forbiddingly windy-- to bake a cake from scratch.  This was my first attempt at a layer cake, and I have to say, the result was pretty fantastic:






I braved the howling gusts outside to deliver big slabs of the chocolate-strawberry goodness to two neighbors who helped our family during the blizzard-- one couple by easing my parents' shoveling burden and a man who pushed my car free of snow when I got stuck in a cursorily plowed street on the very last stretch of my journey home from vacation.

This gesture was apropos of the latest podcast from Our Hen House, in which Chloe Coscarelli talked about using baking (and more specifically sharing the fruits of baking) as a form of activism by introducing more people to the joys of eating vegan cuisine.  The podcast also included a discussion about how our non-vegan friends and family often treat our veganism like a hobby or a club to which we belong and which concerns them only as a topic of conversation or consideration when choosing restaurants or preparing meals for us.  The assumptions underlying this tendency are, for most of us, far from correct.  We don't want anyone to think of us as "other"-- we would much rather live in a world where the label "vegan" was unnecessary, where everyone would agree not to use animals for food, entertainment, clothing or to fulfill any other material needs and desires.

On that note, I'll step off of my soapbox and slice a piece of that cake to enjoy with tea...

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Curry Craze

I was in the mood to make a production out of dinner tonight, so I decided to tackle one of the many recipes on my growing "must try" list: Chef Chloe's Panang Curry.



I tried to stay as true to the recipe as possible, making only the following modifications:

  • Instead of 1 can of coconut milk and 1 1/2 cups water, I used about 3 cups of Trader Joe's Unsweetened Coconut Milk (in the aseptic box), because the box was already open and I didn't want it to go to waste.
  • I lightly pan-fried the tofu cubes before adding them to the curry; not sure if this made any difference but in general I'm not a fan of just adding uncooked tofu to a dish.
  • I added a chopped bell pepper and some shelled edamame along with the kale and sweet potato, just to boost the color and veggie content!
  • I'm a little tired of brown rice so I served this over millet.
The result was so rich with complex, robust flavors that I wanted to just spoon the sauce straight into my mouth and would have heaped a second helping onto my plate if I thought my petite stomach wouldn't have protested.  

Tomorrow I attempt another "must try," this time catering to my sweet tooth...Double Chocolate Ganache Strawberry Layer Cake. Vegan!

It's not all brown rice and broccoli...

As someone whose primary motivation for being vegan is ethical (and whose past experience with an eating disorder makes me wary of restrictive dietary rules), my cooking is guided first and foremost by the desire to prepare food that tastes good.  It just so happens that the meals that please my taste buds (and, just as importantly, are well-recieved by my body!) tend to be colorful and include (but not always exclusively) plenty of fresh and whole foods.  Here are some highlights from yesterday:

Blueberry Banana French Toast

1/2 banana, sliced
3/4 c non-dairy milk (my current choice is Edensoy Original)
cinnamon
2 slices bread of choice (I used Ezekiel's Sprouted 100% Whole Grain)

Earth Balance Organic Buttery Spread
maple syrup
blueberries
strawberry fruit spread

  1. Puree the banana, milk and a dash of cinnamon in a blender.  Pour mixture into a shallow bowl wide enough to fit a slice of bread.
  2. Preheat a nonstick skillet on medium heat; lightly grease with oil (regular or spray) or melted Earth Balance spread.
  3. Soak one slice of the bread in banana-milk mixture, turning once to fully coat both sides.  
  4. Transfer soaked bread to skillet; if there is room for another slice repeat the previous step with the second slice of bread.
  5. Allow bread to cook for a minute or two before flipping over with a spatula (you might need to add another light layer of oil in the middle of doing this if not using a non-stick skillet).  Repeat as needed until both sides are lightly browned and a little crispy.
  6. Serve with desired toppings (I slathered on some Earth Balance and drowned in maple syrup heated with blueberries and strawberry fruit spread).


Nachos

Before...
I don't think this dish requires much of a recipe beyond the basics:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (note: you could also use the broiler but I'm a scaredy cat about such high heat!).
  2. Prep and cook veggies of choice (I sauteed some garlic, red peppers and collard green ribbons in olive oil with sea salt, black pepper, chipotle powder and cayenne).
  3. Add desired protein (I used black beans and homemade chipotle sweet potato seitan) and saute until browned/heated through (depending on what you use).
  4. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper (this makes it easier to transfer the finished product to a plate).  
  5. Arrange tortilla chips on foil and pile on some vegetable-bean mixture and vegan cheese (I used Daiya cheddar-style shreds).  
  6. Heat in oven until cheese starts to melt (just a few minutes).
  7. Remove from oven and transfer to a plate (or you can just eat off the foil/parchment paper).  Layer on toppings as desired-- avocado (tossed in lime juice), salsa, vegan sour cream/cashew crema, etc.



and after!










Thursday, February 14, 2013

Culinary Ad-Lib

I can't tell you how many close calls I've had when adding cinnamon to oatmeal...today my reflexes weren't fast enough and I realized after the fact that I had sprinkled (quite liberally) cumin instead of cinnamon into the pot.   I decided to just roll with it and consider my breakfast Moroccan-themed.  I had already used orange juice for part of the water and mixed in some raisins, so this wasn't too much of a stretch.  I added some cinnamon to balance out the cumin, stirred in some coconut milk, ground flaxseed, walnuts, sliced bananas and blueberries and topped with a swirl of raspberry preserves-- and voila!
Moroccan Fusion Steel Cut Oats

The end result was delicious, proving once again that improvisation in the kitchen (and coloring outside the lines of recipes, which I often do), can yield very pleasant surprises...

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Back in the Kitchen: Quinoa Creation and Comfort Food Bonanza



I pulled into town Monday just as a payloader and sand truck finally rumbled up our street to clear away nearly three feet of snow.  As exhausted as I was from the long road trip (the final leg of which entailed driving through unrelenting, heavy fog for six hours) I was excited to cook up some comfort food for my parents (and get some warm, wholesome nourishment after a day of nibbling on kale chips, a Lara Bar and Barbara's animal cookies in the car).  I kept it simple and whipped up some soba noodles, steamed broccoli and red pepper, maple-glazed tempeh and avocado, all smothered in miso-tahini sauce (tempeh and sauce recipe here: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-brown-rice-bowl-recipes-from-the-kitchn-176915).  The food disappeared before I could take a picture, but since I make some variation of this at least a couple of times a month I'm sure it will show up again in a future post...

The roads around town were still pretty messy in the morning so I decided to put off grocery shopping until later in the day and work with what I had on hand to create lunch:


Mediterranean Quinoa with Roasted Veggies

Ingredients:

1/2 c quinoa 
2/3 c vegetable broth (I like making this with Seitenbacher vegetable broth seasoning powder)

handful of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarsely
handful of pine nuts, toasted
olives, sliced (I only had pimento-stuffed green, but kalamata would be better!)
1 15-oz. can white cannellini beans (garbanzo beans would also be good)

2 T olive oil
juice of one small lemon
black pepper to taste

1 bunch broccoli, cut into bite-size florets (and, if possible, peeled and chopped stem)
baby carrots (I had about one cup)
1 large clove or several small cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
 sea salt
black pepper

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Rinse and drain quinoa and place in small saucepan over medium-high heat until most of the water from rinsing evaporates and the quinoa begins to smell a little toasty.  Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Toss in the sun-dried tomatoes, then cover and reduce heat to low.  
  3. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until water is absorbed and the quinoa "rings" form (the germ separating from the seed).  Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then mix in the beans, olives and pine nuts.
  4. While the quinoa is cooking, toss the broccoli, carrots and garlic with 1 T olive oil and sea salt and pepper to taste.  Spread on a rimmed baking sheet (I like to line this with parchment paper to ease clean-up!) and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes.  The broccoli florets should be very slightly charred in a few spots and the carrots should be tender.
  5. In a small bowl or measuring cup use a fork to blend the 2 T olive oil, lemon juice and pepper until emulsified.  Pour the dressing over the quinoa mixture and stir until well-blended.  
  6. I then mixed in the roasted veggies but this would be just as good with the veggies served on the side or on top of the quinoa mixture.  

Notes
  • I used whatever veggies were in the crisper, but the possibilities are endless...red peppers, zucchini and yellow squash, eggplant, asparagus, even winter squash would all be excellent in place of the broccoli and carrots (roasting time would just have to be adjusted accordingly).
  • This made enough for several lunch portions; I prefer to heat the leftovers since I'm not a fan of cold foods during winter, but I think this dish would be just as tasty served straight from the fridge or at room temperature.


For dinner I was excited to make this hearty meal that I had seen posted on the Healthy.Happy.Life blog while I was on vacation:

 Rustic Tomato Rice Kale Stew. Comfort Soup. Oil-free.

I made some modifications to the original-- collards instead of kale (very slim greens selection at the local supermarket post-blizzard!), shelled edamame instead of frozen peas and carrots, and homemade chipotle sausage (using this recipe with mashed sweet potato instead of the beans, since I forgot to get them and didn't feel like braving the narrow, snowy streets again!).  This warmed me up from the inside (and cleared out my sinuses-- I am not shy with the spices!) and is definitely a keeper.




Sunday, February 10, 2013

Into the snow...but not yet!



Fully-loaded oatmeal, courtesy of Hampton Inn, perfect for warming up after a chilly run around the lovely town of Winchester, Virginia and fueling up for the final leg of my journey back to blizzard-blitzed Connecticut.  Onwards...

Or, as it turned out, staying put for another day while the plows clear the roads in my hometown.  I tried to just enjoy the extra vacation day and spend enough time outside and on my feet to counter all the hours spent sitting in the car yesterday (and the additional time on the road tomorrow).  A recurring metatarsal stress fracture has limited my running lately but strolling around Old Town and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley was, to be honest, equally as satisfying as getting in a second run for the day (more evidence that I'm mellowing out with age!).  I was also able to walk to nearby restaurants for lunch and dinner, and as the pictures below attest, my experiences disproved the common assumption that maintaining a vegan lifestyle is difficult, if not impossible, while traveling:

Vegetarian Burrito Bowl at Chipotle, piled high with brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, three different salsas, guacamole and romaine

Drunken Noodles with Vegetables and Tofu at Thai Winchester II


A quick tour of the local supermarket, Martin's, revealed an extensive "Natural and Organic" section that would have enabled me to whip up some fabulous meals if I had a kitchen at my disposal...[sigh].  As much as I enjoy eating out I'm really looking forward to being able to try out some new recipes, prepare some reliable favorites and create some unique dishes of my own.  And share the bounty with family and friends...


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Home Cooking Away From Home

One week into my return to the mountains of North Carolina and it's now clear that this is a vacation rather than a relocation.  Gorgeous mountain landscapes, a relaxed pace, unconventional culture and, yes, abundant vegan-friendly restaurants can't make up for living 750 miles away from the people who mean the world to me.  Next week I'll return home and make another go at creating a life there, this time without always looking over my shoulder at what might have been had I stayed in NC.

In the meantime I plan to make the most of the vegan-friendly food scene here by doubling back to some of the restaurants I've already visited so far-- Rosetta's (my absolute favorite for its flavor-rich comfort food), Laughing Seed, Plant (a newcomer since I was last here; dangerously close to being too pretentious for my tastes but the seitan reuben and fancy fries were yummy), Green Sage-- as well as a couple that I've yet to revisit or try for the first time-- Nine Mile and VegHeads (a fast food drive-thru!).

Despite all these fabulous options for dining out (or taking out and dining in, which is sometimes just easier and more comfortable for a single introvert!), I've also been taking advantage of staying somewhere with a full kitchen (except, alas, for the oven, which is sadly nonfunctional) and easy access to two elaborately stocked natural foods stores-- Earthfare and Greenlife (unfortunately run by Whole Foods, which automatically makes it my second choice even though it's more conveniently located within walking distance).  Here are some of my recent creations:



Veggie Curry with Chickpeas


Veggie Curry with Chickpeas
(Inspired by “Chickpea and Spinach Curry” from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

3 T olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
2 t mustard seeds
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T fresh ginger, minced
1 T curry powder
2 t ground cumin
1/8 t ground cloves
½ t ground cinnamon
1 t salt
2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
1 bunch kale, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces 
1 (14.5-oz.) can fire roasted crushed or diced tomatoes, undrained(**for a kick, try Muir Glen Adobo Seasoned)
2 (15-oz.) cans chickpeas, drained

  1. Heat a large saucepan over moderate heat; add the oil and then the mustard seeds and cover immediately as seeds will start popping (and flying out of the pan, believe me!). Cook for about 1 minute.
  2. Uncover (carefully!), add onion and turn up the heat to medium-high. Sauté for about 10 minutes or until the onion starts to brown.
  3. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 2 minutes.
  4. Add spices and salt and sauté for 1 minute.
  5. Add carrots and sauté for 2 minutes.
  6. Add kale in batches, stirring until all the leaves are bright green and somewhat wilted.
  7. Add tomatoes (and juice) and stir well. 
  8. Add chickpeas and stir well. 
  9. Add water (about ½ cup) if needed to achieve desired consistency (I prefer it a little saucy but not soupy).
  10. Lower heat and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, until carrots and kale are tender.
  11. Uncover and taste; add spices and salt as desired. 
  12. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 more minutes, until thick and stewlike.
  13. Serve over brown rice or grain of choice if desired (or mix rice in before serving).


Smoky Tempeh and Carolina Slaw Sandwich with Sweet Potato Home Fries

I used this recipe for the tempeh (with chipotle powder as my chili powder of choice):

Smoky Tempeh Wrap!

smothered in Earthfare deli's Carolina Slaw and pressed between two slices of Trader Joe's Sprouted Flourless Whole Wheat Berry Bread slathered with Veganaise.   For a side I sauteed some red onion and sweet potatoes in olive oil with salt and more chipotle powder (I initially balked at the pricetag on this but it's now my go-to spice!).



Pumpkin-Cashew Creamy Pasta with Kale and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Inspired by this:

Roasted Butternut Alfredo | Post Punk Kitchen | Vegan Baking & Vegan Cooking...

My variations included using 1 can of pumpkin puree for the roasted butternut squash and adding kale and sun-dried tomatoes (I like the soft kind that come in a plastic, resealable bag at Trader Joe's) to the onion mixture.  I also used 1/3 cup of sherry in lieu of the wine just because it's what I had on hand (and I wanted to save the yummy organic monastrell I had for drinking!).

Happy cooking!