Seasonal Change

I've found myself reluctant to spend much time in front of the screen on the weekends now that I'm tied to it at work, but I wanted to post some photos from today's Easter meals:

Brunch was well worth keeping the morning munchies at bay for longer than usual.  We enjoyed chocolate babka from Chloe's Vegan Desserts (I  can't recommend this book, or her first book-- Chloe's Kitchen-- enough; these are essentials for any kitchen, vegan or otherwise!), Tofurky kielbasa and Moroccan Couscous from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet.

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After a quiet afternoon spent walking in the woods on a local trail and then subsequently napping, I prepared dinner with plenty of help from my parents.  Mom cooked her trademark kale and Dad mashed the veggies (potatoes, roasted garlic, parsnips and cauliflower-- another Chloe's Kitchen recipe) while I made Seitan Piccata (another Kind Diet recipe) using homemade seitan and Sauvignon Blanc from the Vegan Vine.

All in all a lovely day spent with family, even if I no longer subscribe to the religious beliefs behind the holiday.  I continue to be grateful for my family's openness to adapting traditions to a more compassionate approach to food and am so thankful that my path has led me back to them, no matter how unexpected was the journey here.

Phenomenal Farro

Since winter seems to be lingering beyond its official time I decided to cook up another hearty dish for this week's Sunday dinner.  This veganized version of a recipe my boss had given me a couple of weeks ago fit the bill perfectly and introduced our family to a new grain, farro.

Farro Risotto with Cauliflower and Spinach
Serves 3 - 4

3 T Earth Balance margarine
4 scallions, white and tender green parts, sliced
1 cup plus 2 T farro
1 quart vegetable broth (I made this with Seitenbacher powder)
salt and pepper


2 T olive oil
3 cups/medium-sized head of cauliflower, cut into 1-inch florets
1 Field Roast Italian-style vegan sausage (optional, but adds a nice flavor boost)
salt and pepper

1 T sherry wine vinegar

sun-dried tomato strips (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, melt the Earth Balance.  Add the scallions and saute for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the farro and some salt and pepper.  Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the broth in 1/2-cup increments, simmering and stirring frequently until most of the liquid has been absorbed.  Continue until most or all of the broth has been used and the farro is tender, about 20 - 30 minutes (*I used Trader Joe's "10-Minute Farro," which is pre-cooked, so this step may take longer with regular farro).  
4. Fold in the spinach in batches until wilted.
5. While the farro is cooking, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the cauliflower, some salt and pepper and cook until tender and brown in some spots.
6. Add the sausage, if using, and continue to cook until lightly browned.  
7. Fold the cauliflower mixture into the farro-spinach mixture.  Add some sun-dried tomato strips if desired.  
8. Add the sherry wine vinegar and stir well.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

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!)!

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).

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:

Double Chocolate Ganache Strawberry Layer Cake. Vegan!

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...

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!