Tag Archives: seasonal cooking

Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Make Ahead, Michigan, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegetarian

Tagged butter, can be vegan, fresh raspberries, ina garten, michigan raspberries, oats, paula deen, raspberries, seasonal baking, seasonal cooking, seasonal ingredients, vegetarian

June Strawberries = Vegan Strawberry Shortcake!!!!!!!

Posted on June 13, 2011 | 1 comment

I have always, always loved strawberries. Like, eat them until you are nearly sick to your stomach love strawberries. In June I always think, I should really get to a pick-your-own berry farm, but inevitably June becomes September and I have certainly NOT made it to a pick-your-own farm. June in Michigan brings early berries so today on my way home from Grand Haven, I stopped at a market on Lake Michigan Drive and bought my first summer berries. Summer early berry season is short, about 3-4 weeks if you are lucky, so get out there! Between this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake and basic inhalation, I managed to polish off 2 pints in about 8 hours. It’s the best kind of sick you can be. Berry sick.

When I was a kid, Grandma Helen made the shortcake, and Aunt Mar made the crisps (we will talk crisp, crumble, betty, etc in the fall). This is the baking powder biscuit recipe I’ve taken from Grandma Helen’s collection and slightly modified to be vegan for all my animal lovin’ friends.

Vegan Baking Powder Biscuits

2 C all-purpose whole wheat WHITE flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/3 C earth balance sticks
1 C coconut milk

Sift before measuring.

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Sift flour with baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

2. Cut shortening into flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 knives (used scissors-fashion), until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

3. Make a well in the center. Pour in 3/4 cup milk all at once. Stir quickly round the bowl with a fork. If mixture seems dry, add a little more milk to form dough just moist enough (but not wet) to leave side of bowl and form ball.

4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface to knead. Gently pick up dough from side away from you; fold over toward you; press out lightly with palm of hand. Give the dough a quarter turn. Repeat ten times.

5. Gently roll out dough, from center, to 3/4 inch thickness.

6. With floured 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter or a juice glass like Grandma Helen did it, cut straight down into dough, being careful not to twist cutter.

7. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Makes 8 (2 1/2 inch) biscuits.

DROP BISCUITS:

When I’m too lazy to roll and cut, I make drop biscuits by using the recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits, but increasing milk to 1 1/4 cup. Do not knead or roll out. Drop dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto lightly greased cookie sheet; bake at 450 F. for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 20.

For the rest of the strawberry shortcake, I took a pint of berries, washed, hulled and sliced them and mixed them in a deep bowl with 1 T sugar and 1 T peach schnapps (don’t judge me – any flavored liquor you like will do here). Left this mixture on the counter to create magic while I made the biscuits. Upcycle the remaining 3/4 C or so of the coconut milk into a flat vegan whipped cream by using your hand mixer on high, toss in a 1/2 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp lemon thyme for fun.

To plate, cut a biscuit in half, spoon in strawberries, top with vegan whipping cream and a mint sprig. Store remaining biscuits in the freezer for peach and nectarine season. Shortcake isn’t just for berries.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Baking, Dessert, Michigan, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged baking powder biscuits, coconut milk, earth balance sticks, grandma helen, lemon thyme, michigan produce, recipes, seasonal cooking, seasonal produce, strawberries, strawberry shortcake, vegan, vegan desserts, vegan whipped cream, vegetarian

It Ain’t Easy Being Green, Spring Stir Fry

Posted on June 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sometimes desperation comes in the form of “I don’t want to go to the grocery store or farmer’s market today.” And so, this modification of a 101cookbooks.com recipe was born…from the stuff I already had in my fridge and herb garden.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Green, Spring Stir Fry

toasted sesame oil
8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into slices thick as a pencil
4 green onions, thinly sliced
scant 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (peeled)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 # asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
a couple big pinches of fine-grain sea salt
4 cloves garlic, chopped
a few handfuls of chopped kale
zest and juice of one lemon and one lime
2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 small handful fresh mint, slivered
1 small handful fresh basil, slivered

When you are frying, stir-fry, the biggest advantages you can give yourself to combat ending up with a soggy-fry is to have all your ingredients prepped and within arms reach of the stove AND a smoking hot pan ready to dump them in to…sometimes a non-stick wok is not the best for this…but do the best you can with what you have.

Heat a splash of sesame oil in a large pan, or well-seasoned wok over medium high heat. When it is hot, add the tofu, and cook until golden – a few minutes. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.

Add another (generous) splash of oil to the pan and, as soon as it is hot, add the onions, ginger, red pepper flakes, asparagus, and salt. Stir fry for about a minute, then add the garlic, kale and stir-fry for another minute, or until the spinach wilts. Return the tofu to the pan. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and the Hoisin sauce. Cook for another 10-20 seconds, stirring all the while. Serve immediately. My favorite way to serve this is over cold Soba noodles.

Posted in Dinner, Noodles, Recipes, Stir Fry, Vegetarian

Tagged asian, asparagus, balsil, coconut oil, ginger, Hoisin, kale, lemon, lime, mint, on hand, onions, recipe, red pepper flakes, seasonal cooking, soba, Stir Fry, toasted sesame oil, tofu, vegetarian, yum

Yuck-su

Posted on June 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’d like to open my birth month, June, with a recipe #fail. Otsu…which is now Yuck-su to me.

This is the first recipe from 101cookbooks.com that I have loathed. Hated it. Can’t stand it. Won’t make it again. I think I have made nearly every recipe Heidi Swanson has posted on her delightful website. It’s my “go-to” site. It’s the site that I direct people to when they are like, “you can’t eat anything good if you are a vegetarian” and it sucks them in every…single…time. I dare you not to like Heidi OR her website 101cookbooks.com. This recipe however, for me, didn’t suck me in. It. Just. Sucked. From the surface it looks like something I would eat myself into a food coma by; however, I felt it lacked a certain freshness I was expecting from the sauce. It just tasted salty to me and sorta, I don’t know, blah. The cucumber was a strange random addition at the end. I’m posting this because I think with a few additions or subtractions even, this might be a great dish…so go out there and tweak it to suit your tastes. Sorry Heidi, this one failed for me. I still love ya, but this one is getting black listed from my repeat list.

Yuck-su

Grated zest of 1 lemon
Fresh ginger, cut into a 1-inch cube, peeled, and grated
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup unseasoned brown-rice vinegar
1/3 cup shoyu sauce (wheat-free soy sauce)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
12 ounces dried soba noodles
12 ounces extra-firm nigari tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Make the dressing by combining the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

Cook the soba in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water.

While the pasta is cooking, drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (½ inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a dry nonstick (or well-seasoned) skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, the green onions, cucumber, and about ⅔ cup of the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged 101 cookbooks, 101cookbooks.com, brown-rice vinegar, cayenne, cilantro, cook, create, cucumber, food processor, ginger, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, noodles, onions, recipe, seasonal cooking, sesame oil, shoyu, soba, tofu, vegetarian

Rummaged Flatbread

Posted on May 26, 2011 | 1 comment

Some nights I just don’t feel like cooking. Really. Yes, even me. Which is why I’m thankful that I am competitive enough to make a game out of what I can scavenge from the fridge to pull dinner off. Mr. Wonderful loves anything in the family of pizza. So naan is a great quick pizza crust and Costco has the best deal on naan in the free world. Enter naan from freezer and let the creative juices flow. The most difficult part about this recipe is the patience it takes to caramelize the onions…chop them up and toss into a fry pan over very, very low, for a very long time. You can vacuum, do dishes, watch some YouTube videos in the mean time. Hell, get crazy and read a real book.

Here’s a quick flatbread recipe as rummaged from the fridge/freezer/pantry:

Grilled Asparagus, White Bean and Caramelized Onion Flatbread

1 very large onion, any type, chopped finely into half circles (approx 2 C raw)
1 bunch asparagus trimmed and washed
1 C Provolone cheese, grated (goat or gorgonzola cheese would be better here, but none in the fridge, alas)
4 C white beans, cooked or 2 cans, drained-reserve this liquid in case your hummus is too thick and you can drizzle some in (I pulled these from my freezer-reserve 3/4 C to sprinkle on TOP of flatbread, the rest will be used for “hummus” for the sauce on the flatbread)
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2-3 T Tahini (or just use a little of the juice from the beans if you don’t have this in your cupboard)
1/2 tsp dried oregano or a handful fresh
1/2 tsp dried cumin
1/2 tsp dried chipotle or red pepper flakes, omit if you are not pro-heat
2 T lemon juice, fresh squeezed preferred, but that little plastic lemon kind won’t kill you here
salt to taste, this will take more than you think…white beans have little flavor
EVOO
2 pieces commercial naan bread

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cut up onion, toss in hot frying pan with a swig of EVOO, then turn way, way down to low. Here is where the patience comes in…now, wait. Stirring every 15 minutes or so. Caramelized onions take TIME. Like, an hour or so. Good news, you don’t have to do anything to them except poke around at them every quarter hour….seriously quit your complaining.

Take the following ingredients and zap them in the food processor until smooth:

tahini

white beans (minus 3/4 C for topping of flatbread)

lemon juice

garlic cloves

spices

pinch of salt

You just made white bean hummus which is the “sauce” for the flatbread.

Asparagus should be washed, trimmed and tossed with a splash of EVOO, then turned out onto a hot grill, or in a grill pan until just warm, they should be crispy, semi-raw still, they will be cooked again in a hot second.

Fire the naan for a few minutes in a 400 degree oven to crisp it up just a little.

Now assemble:

Apply “sauce” to naan bread, then onions, reserved white beans, asparagus and top with provolone cheese. Toss back into hot oven until cheese melts. Season with a bit of black pepper.

Devour.

Posted in Bread, Leftovers, Less is more, Quick Cooking, Recipes

Tagged caramelized onions, cheese, chipotle, cook, create, delish, EVOO, flatbread pizza, food processor, freezer, garlic, grilled asparagus, lemon juice, lemon zest, Mr. Wonderful, mr. wonderful approved, naan, oregano, Provolone, recipe, red epper flakes, salt, seasonal cooking, tahini, vegetarian, white beans, yum

My new guilty pleasure: Horrocks

Posted on March 30, 2011 | 3 comments

I’m sure this is old new to most of you, because I haven’t shut up about Horrocks for about 3 weeks now since my first visit to the grocer in Kentwood. My best find to date, besides their seed packets that are 40% “basically every day” according to the butcher in line behind me, is the Michigan grown lentils, peas and beans.

Horrocks carries Michigan grown and packaged dried items from Carlson-Arbogast Farm in Howard City (that’s 49329 for those of you keeping track). They even have a video on YouTube under the Michigan Farm Bureau Channel:

So what in the world do you do with dried beans? Well, you soak them on a Saturday night over night, then get up on Sunday and cook them about 70% done (while you are ironing or doing laundry) drain, dry, cool and freeze in bags to add during the work week to delicious stoups, soups, stews, tacos, casseroles, curries, etc. They will finish cooking in the pot of whatever delicious finished item you create. Why do this? Less sodium, a better quality, whole bean in your dish, AND they are CHEAP! From one bag of great northern beans, dried, I got 9 ziploc bags of cooked beans (2C per bag) to enjoy.

Now if you will excuse me, I’m off to make a lentil stew with white beans from a local grower, surely by this time, you know who I am referring to. Eat. More. Dried. Beans. Save a few bucks, help a local grower, and serve a higher quality product. Oh, and cross your fingers that Horrocks will hire me part-time this summer to feed my foodie addiction; I applied today.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

3 Comments

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Michigan, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegetarian

Tagged beans, black beans, black turtle beans, cook, cranberry beans, create, delish, Farm Bureau, freezer, green split peas, Horrocks, howard city, Howard City Michigan, local beans, local products, northern beans, northern-mid michigan, seasonal cooking, turtle beans, veg, vegan, vegetarian, white beans, yellow split peas, yum

Yahtzee! Red Pepper SALE=Spicy Red Pepper Soup

Posted on February 3, 2011 | 1 comment

Some like it HOT. I for one, basically drink Frank’s Red Hot. It has some kind of hold on me. A sale on red peppers is like hitting 3 or 4 numbers in the lotto, not the full monty, but you still get an excellent monetary reward…especially at D & W. So when I saw red bell peppers, 10 for $10 dollars and sprinted to the produce shelf, leaving poor Mr. Wonderful in the dust returning with 20 red bell peppers, he had no idea what had just happened. Since he knows better than to actually ask about such things, he agreed to just wait for the finished product which we lapped up 2 days in a row and several lunch servings later.

This recipe was adapted from the klutzychef at her blog; check her out she is cute and honest…and talks about burning Rice Krispie treats, my kind of gal.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

serves 4 people as a main meal

Ingredients

8 red bell peppers, roasted (no, it does NOT taste the same if you use canned-just roast them in your oven..super easy)
1 baked medium russet potato, smashed
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1/4 cup half and half
2 medium chopped onions
6 garlic cloves peeled and left whole
2 tsp roasted red pepper flakes (half of this for a milder soup)
1 tsp chipotle powder (omit for mild soup, I like to hurt myself eating soup like this…)
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups crushed tomatoes (16 oz)
1 3/4 cups reduced-fat coconut milk (or whole fat, whatever)
2 cups veggie broth or water

Directions

Bake your potato, set aside to cool. Roast your peppers, whole, washed and then coated lightly with EVOO or canola oil on a foil-lined (you will thank me later for this step) jelly roll pan at 400 or so until they are black, yes, black. Set them aside in a tightly covered bowl to cool and then stem, seed, and peel them. This is not hard, suck it up and do it. Seriously, the taste is worth it.
In a covered non-reactive pot, heat oil in a dutch oven on medium-high heat.
Add onions, carrots, salt, pepper flakes, chipotle powder, and garlic. Sauté on medium heat for 15 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent. DO NOT INHALE DEEPLY when you put the flakes and powder to the oil. You might want to turn on the fan for a few minutes or suffer for about an hour.
Remove the pot from heat and add canned tomatoes, red peppers, coconut milk, smashed potato guts, half/half and broth/water.
Mix together so ingredients are fully integrated.
Now, in batches, add the soup to a blender or food processor to mix all together. An immersion blender works beautifully here as well since you can just throw it right into the pot. If you have a dish towel to spare and are using a standing blender, you may want to put the towel under the cover to prevent hot soup from spilling out the top.
Keep warm until ready to serve on stove over low.
Top with Frank’s Red Hot (I know it’s too much, but it’s soooooo good).

Posted in Leftovers, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soup

Tagged coconut milk, cook, create, delish, EVOO, Frank's Red Hot, recipe, red pepper, roasting red peppers, sale, seasonal cooking, Soup, vegetarian, yum

Fancy Nancy Visits: Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

Posted on January 12, 2011 | 1 comment

I used to live with a good friend of mine, JT or “Fancy Nancy” (it’s a long story). We shared living space, dog duties, a desire to cook dinners in nearly every night, good olive oil, and obsessive relationships with size 9 pumps, Glamour Magazine and beauty products. Yeah, I miss her a lot. I’ve lived in my new place for a while now and it was time for her to see the house, and for Walter the Wonderdog and her dog Max to have some play time.

What girl isn’t watching her weight? I mean, even the super skinny ones that I want to force-feed veggie burgers to, are watching their weight. I hate those girls, I have never and will never be what one might label as skinny (and I never want to be skinny-I, like Fergie, like my lovely lady lumps). I digress…my fave veg cookbook author Isa Chandra (Moskowitz) just released a “fast and filling, low fat” vegan cookbook called Appetite for Reduction (hat tip to Axl Rose) and it is totally FAB. There isn’t a single recipe that I don’t want to try, honestly. So, I randomly opened the book to the salad section and tried this one: Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing. Ohhhhh, ahhhhh. I know, right?! I particularly LOVE this cookbook because, I sometimes am not really satisfied with 1 C of anything…so if you eat 2 C of something in this book, you aren’t really gonna pay the piper in terms of calories. It’s still lower than an entree eaten out. Isa does a great job with nutritional content and zippy tastes from common ingredients. I used a couple of recipes from the book to make this dish, Pad Thai Salad and Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing. All fast, and easy. Enough talk, let’s eat.

Pad Thai Salad

8 C chopped romaine lettuce
4 C bean sprouts
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated
1 recipe Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing *
1/4 C roasted peanuts
1/2 C lightly packed fresh cilantro
lime wedges for serving

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the lettuce, sprouts, red onion, and carrot. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Distribute the salad among four bowls. There will most likely be dressing left over as it is fairly thin. Distribute the dressing among the bowls. Garnish with roasted peanuts, cilantro, and serve with lime wedges.

Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

1/2 C roasted peanuts
2 T chopped shallot
1/4 C squeezed lime juice
1/2 C water
2 T agave nectar
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp Sriracha

Pulse 2 T of the peanuts and all of the shallot in the food processor, just to chop everything up. Add the lime juice, water, agave, soy sauce, and Sriracha, and blend until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides a few times. Now add the remaining 2 T of peanuts and pulse for a bit. These shouldn’t be blended smooth, just chopped up small. The dressing will be thin. Adjust the seasonings to your liking. Keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container until ready to use, up to 5 days.

In this photo you will see Red Thai Tofu as well, but we will save that recipe for another day.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Less is more, Recipes

Tagged create, delish, dragon dressing, eating well, food network, green, isa chandra, recipe, salad, seasonal cooking, siracha, vegan, vegetarian, yum

Doing The RIGHT Thing!! Leading By Example: Cooking Day With Molly

Posted on January 2, 2011 | 1 comment

My friend Julie is crazy. Like in all the very BEST ways, crazy. I’m so proud of her latest post to Facebook it nearly brought me to tears, I was forced to drop everything and brag about her in this post. But first, a little health education, as if you actually thought I could write about this topic and not go all geek on you!!

In case you have been living in a cave for oh, say 50 years. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. In ancient historic times a person’s weight was the gauge of their social standing. A thin person often meant poverty and a plum family equated to the fact that they were doing well enough to have plenty to eat. This is not the case now. Our culture is producing the first generation of obese children with the highest risk factor of developing diabetes. The National Institutes of Health estimate that over sixty five percent of Americans are either overweight or obese and the number is climbing. With the rise of obesity, the diagnosis of type-2 diabetes has also been increasing.

We are a nation obsessed with all the wrong types of foods and are constantly being marketed to buy and consume copious amounts of junk and fast food. The American Diabetes Association has been expressing alarm at the fact that approximately twenty one million people have diabetes with a potential of around another fifty four million diagnosed with pre-diabetes (an increased elevation of the blood glucose levels but not at a level to be officially diagnosed as type-2 diabetes). The obesity and diabetes statistics are alarming.

Diabetes is a dangerous disease, however, type-2 diabetes has been related as a lifestyle disorder. This means it can start at an early age with a high fat and high sugar diet that lends to the disease progress. By the time of later adult hood, the body functions are set in place to have type-2 diabetes.

Here’s what all the fuss is about:

Over two thirds of the adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be overweight or obese-
All adults total: 68 percent; Women: 64.1 percent. Men: 72.3 percent

About one third of the adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be obese-
All adults total: 33.8 percent; Women: 35.5 percent. Men: 32.2 percent

5.7 percent of adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be extremely obese.

There has been a steady increase in obesity in all ethnicities, genders, ages and education levels. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has increase from 13.4 to 35.1 percent in adults age 20 to 74. Since 2004, while the prevalence of overweight is still high among men and women. There aren’t any significant differences in documented rates from 2003, to 2004; 2005 to 2006 and 2007 to 2008. There hasn’t been any change in obesity prevalence in women from 1999 to 2008; 2009-2010 official statistics have not yet been released, but I’m predicting an increase.

The increase in obesity in children in a 2003-2006 study showed 12.4 percent of children ages 2-5 and a 17 percent of children aged 6-11 were overweight. Most studies show that there is an increased mortality rate associated with obesity due to all sorts of preventable diseases and recently, even the National Cancer Institute links obesity to CANCER!!!!

If we as a community and a culture are going to encourage a healthy life for future generations, and change these alarming statistics, we have to stop buying prepackaged and premade products from manufacturers that really don’t care about us. Their job is to sell us product people! We need to pull the junk food from the schools and replace it with healthier choices (this I could talk about for hours-vending machines in schools still selling regular soda!!? It’s an outrage and a totally separate blog rant later). We also need to begin learning to eat right and less in volume, no matter where we are. Lastly, we need to cook at home with our kids!!!!! I applaud you Julie ( you too Molly! ) for taking steps in the positive direction for change. I love that you begin with a very humble and also misunderstood veggie, Brussels Sprouts. Listed below is Julie’s note from FB, keep up the good fight gals!

(Statistics not immediately sited in text were taken from the Centers for Disease Control website: cdc.gov).

Julie: So, I’ve been inspired by Cooking Light Magazine and their “12 Healthy Habits of 2011” program (check out their website…it’s a pretty cool thing they’re doing!) January is the month of adding more vegetables into your diet. Clearly this will only benefit my effort of weight loss (and my SparkPeople program) so I went to the store today with a mission to get some veggies, try a NEW veggie, and prepare some stuff that will get me through the week.

My new veggie: Brussels Sprouts. Yes, Erin, I’m trying Brussel Sprouts. (I know…you’re tearing up 🙂 I’m linking the recipe that I’m going to use. (I’m hoping that the link works.)

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000522381

And, Molly and I created a Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili. It has butternut squash in it. Which just happens to be one of my FAV veggies 🙂 Here’s that recipe.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001949760

It’s going to be a veggie filled month, I just know it 🙂

(If I tag you, it’s because you’re either a foodie or a diet buddy, or just b/c I adore you.)

Posted in Fall Food, Leftovers, Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes

Tagged brussels sprouts, cook, cooking light, create, delish, eat your veggies, eating well, epidemic, facebook, julie, kids and cooking, molly, new year new you, obesity, recipe, school nutrition, seasonal cooking, snack, squash, type-2 diabetes, vegetarian, yum

Holiday Leftovers Take I

Posted on January 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I’m terrible when it comes to leftovers. They typically end up in the garbage. This dish however, began as stragglers, so not technically leftovers as in cooked and saved, this was mostly the stuff that didn’t get made and that would normally rot in my fridge. As there isn’t really a recipe, here is what I did:

1. Roasted the squash (in cubes) and brussels sprouts in a few teaspoons of EVOO at 400 until sprouts were caramelized and squash was done.

2. Warmed up some leftover Basmati (my fave) rice from a previous stir fry.

3. Stir fried extra firm tofu with lemon juice, orange juice and the zests of both until the tofu was caramelized and the juice made a little sauce. Then I tossed in a little soy for salt, it created a little glaze.

4. To assemble: tofu on rice, with side helping of veggies roasted and topped with pom seeds from the fridge. We enjoyed this with some leftover French bread and smoked cheddar cheese.

Nom nom. 🙂

Posted in Leftovers, Less is more, Seasonal Ingredients, Stir Fry

Tagged asian, cook, create, delish, eating well, EVOO, Mr. Wonderful, seasonal cooking, Stir Fry, vegetarian, yum

Clean Out Your Cupboard Mexican Sopa

Posted on December 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I really, really wanted to go out and get half-off sushi at XO in downtown GR tonight, it’s just simply too cold to leave the house, really! Typically Mr. Wonderful and I eat at XO for lunch on Tuesdays, because can you really pass up a 9 dollar stuff your face with sushi lunch? No way. Today however, I had a lunch and learn speaker session to attend and could not go to half-off sushi day. I was crying on the inside, really. Instead, while listening to a charming and informative session put on by AMA West Michigan, I ate a crappy warm mixed greens salad without dressing (it looked gross), limp and flavorless “veggie pad Thai” (or my translation for the table was peanut butter spaghetti for white people-gag) and starchy, clumpy COLD rice, with a stale dinner roll. I pushed my plate forward and covered it with my napkin for a proper burial after I ate the greens and then waited to get home to eat my leftovers from last night’s Pineapple Tofu dish.

While I am known on occasion to exaggerate (I know you are surprised by this revelation), I have to get this out of my system as I work in a catering department of a very well-known west Michigan establishment and hotelier: food at other venues is shit compared to what we produce at my beloved place of employment. Yes, really, shit. I mean, I cannot emphasize enough, what an outstanding team of chefs and talented staff we have on our team. A luncheon on our turf, would NOT leave you wishing for your leftovers at home, this I assure you. I even passed on, are you ready for this…the Christmas sugar cookie. The Pillsbury cut and bakes I can buy in the refrigerated section are more desirable than the floury mess with butter frosting. Honestly people…and you call yourselves professionals?

Sorry about that distraction, I’m still mad that while my $40.00 paid to attend the session today was in my eyes a donation to the organization, approximately $0.00 went to the food bill. I feed my dogs better quality meals than I received at that country club, and not to the detriment of the host organization, this is all on the country club, 100% #epicfail.

On to the recipe.

As I wasn’t about to brave the cold, I took what I had and made “stone soup” or as I have dubbed it, “clean out your cupboard Mexican sopa”. Proof you can take normal stuff from your cupboards, toss it in a pan, add some broth and have a dinner in under 20 minutes. Mix it up people, your only limitations are what you currently have in your pantry or freezer. Good luck!

Ingredients:

3-15 ounce cans diced or whole tomatoes, zapped in the food processor to make your base
3-15 ounce cans black beans drained, or 4 cups cooked black beans, one cup zapped with tomatoes above for base
6 cloves garlic, zapped in food processor with first two ingredients
1 large sweet onion diced
1-15 ounce can whole corn kernels
1 can or 2 cups great northern beans drained
2T cumin, ground
1T ancho chili pepper, ground or your fave chili powder blend
3T chipotle en adobo, less if you don’t like spicy, play around with it beginning at 1T to taste
1tsp epazote, ground
4 C veggie broth or water
Juice of 4-5 limes

Really sophisticated directions here folks:

1. In a dutch oven, cook onion on medium high until translucent or browned whatever you like.

2. Dump into onion the base as described above with first 3 ingredients.

3. Next toss in whole black beans, whole northern beans, whole kernel corn, spices, veg broth, lime juice and chipotle en adobo.

4. Bring to boil, turn down to simmer, add salt and pepper to taste.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Serve over baked tortilla chips or rice, sprinkle with cheese, top with avocado, sour cream, squeeze of lime, and chopped red onion. Freezes like a champ.

Posted in Fall Food, Leftovers, Less is more, Make Ahead, Michigan, Recipes, Soup

Tagged cook, create, cupboard, delish, eating well, kitchen sink, mexican, recipe, seasonal cooking, sopa, Soup, stone soup, yum

Meatless Any Day of the Week

Posted on December 13, 2010 | 2 comments

When I discuss being a vegetarian with people, usually they say things like “I could NEVER live without eating meat”. I would never be so bold as to say, everyone should be a vegetarian or vegan, but perhaps you could find it within you to give the “weeknight vegetarian” concept a try. Shoot for 2-3 nights in the regular week, to go meat-free. This might be a practice you observe currently and just don’t really recognize it. Why don’t you give it a shot? Start with this simple and fast weeknight recipe, Sesame-Honey Tempeh & Quinoa Bowl. You won’t miss the meat AND you can incorporate that “quinoa stuff” that you bought a while back after seeing it on Oprah, into this meal. Recipe courtesy of Eating Well Magazine. Mr. Wonderful says: “WOW, that red quinoa sure is nutty. Is that sesame?” Why yes it does, and yes it is. Mr. Wonderful approved.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There are two components to the recipe a slaw and the tempeh:

Sesame-Honey Tempeh & Quinoa Bowl

Slaw

2 cups water
1 cup quinoa, rinsed (I prefer the red quinoa, but any will do)
2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted (see Tip)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

Tempeh

2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 8-ounce packages tempeh (see Note), crumbled into bite-size pieces
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 scallions, sliced

PREPARATION

To prepare quinoa: Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer, cover and cook until the water is absorbed, 10 to 14 minutes. Uncover and let stand.
To prepare carrot slaw: Meanwhile, combine carrots, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce in a medium bowl. Set aside.
To prepare tempeh: Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add tempeh and cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown, 7 to 9 minutes.
Combine honey, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to the pan and cook, stirring, until the sauce has thickened and coats the tempeh, about 1 minute.
Divide the quinoa among 4 bowls and top each with 1/2 cup carrot slaw and 3/4 cup tempeh mixture. Sprinkle with scallions.

TIPS & NOTES

Tip: To toast sesame seeds, place in a small dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.
Ingredient Note: Look for tempeh near refrigerated tofu in natural-foods stores and many large supermarkets.

Per serving: 536 calories; 27 g fat (5 g sat, 9 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 53 g carbohydrates; 13 g added sugars; 28 g protein; 5 g fiber; 588 mg sodium; 899 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (182% daily value), Magnesium (46% dv), Iron (32% dv), Folate (27% dv), Potassium (26% dv), Calcium (21% dv), Zinc (19% dv).

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes

Tagged asian, carrots, cook, create, eating well, Mr. Wonderful, one bowl dinner, recipe, red quinoa, seasonal cooking, sesame oil, Stir Fry, tempeh, vegetarian, yum

Stuff An Acorn Squash, Not A Turkey

Posted on November 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I launched this mini “save the turkey” campaign via my Facebook page last week wherein I actually paid $20.00 to adopt a turkey, which equates to sponsoring a month of food for the poor little guy to offset what he might have sold for at the market to become someone’s dinner Thursday (yikes take a breath!). This brought on the usual slew of “what are you gonna eat for dinner if not a turkey?” commentary from people who think that vegetarians/vegans only eat lettuce. Oh, and for this behavior, I was basically called a Communist by one of my Republican friends. A Communist, really? Huh.

While Mr. Wonderful and I basked in the yum that is Chipotle tonight, chasing a Costco expedition high that ended with the purchase of more wine, cheese and bread than two people should even contemplate purchasing, we discussed what parts of Thanksgiving we liked best and it was hand’s down: sides and desserts. Mr. Wonderful maintains that basically you eat like 2 pieces of dry turkey out of obligation and then head right for the stuffing, cranberry chutney, potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, 7-layer salad, sweet potatoes and dinner rolls. I don’t disagree. As long as I can remember I headed right for the scalloped potatoes, the spinach gratin, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, and of course, the homemade yeast rolls. Top it off with a little pumpkin pie, and…oh, I forgot to mention the endless precursors to Thanksgiving dinner, where you stuff yourself before you stuff yourself with as many gherkins that will fit in your mouth at once, black olives you wear on the tips of your fingers and nibble off that taste like the tin can they fell out of, little cubes of cheddar “fancy” cheese where the serving size is a fist-full, along with all you can eat Wheat Thins and Triscuits, I mean, seriously, this is Americana at it’s finest. Who needs a turkey? Not us. Oh, and keep those little wieners in bbq sauce to yourself too. Sick. Sick.

Here is my “main dish” for Thanksgiving, it mixes a few of my fave sides all into one delish, not to mention beautiful dish. Give it a try, I bet you will serve more of this than that Turkey Lurkey. I have yet to go home with leftovers. Consequently, if you do have leftovers, you can wrap these individual portions in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 weeks, defrost in fridge and warm back up in the oven to rehash their goodness when you need a quick bite to eat, post food coma day.

Quinoa and Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

6 small acorn squash, halved and seeds removed
6 cups water
1 cup uncooked wild rice (), rinsed
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
2 tsp EVOO, optional
4 green onions (white and pale green parts), chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped granny smith apple tossed in a bit of lemon juice to keep from browning
1 T fresh sage
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts
1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh-squeezed tangerine or blood orange juice
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange squash halves cut side down in baking dish or roasting pan. Bake until tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make filling. In large saucepan, bring 4 cups water to boil. Add wild rice and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 40 minutes. Drain if necessary.
In another large saucepan, bring remaining 2 cups of water to boil. Add quinoa. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 12 minutes.
In large, deep skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add green onions, celery, apples, and sage, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add dried fruits and nuts and cook, stirring often, until heated through. Using a fork, fluff quinoa and wild rice, then add both to skillet. Add juice and mix until heated through. Season with salt.
To serve, remove squash from oven and arrange on serving platter. Spoon filling into each squash cavity and serve.

More pics to come. This recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times, 2007.

Posted in Fall Food, Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients

Tagged acorn squash, cook, cranberries, create, dried fruits, food network, freezer, Mr. Wonderful, ny times, pecans, quinoa, recipe, seasonal cooking, squash, stuffed, vegan, vegan mo fo, veganmofo, vegetarian, wild rice, yum

Vegan MoFo Readers Inspire

Posted on November 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is an infant blog. I post willy-nilly when I feel like I have righted some food wrong in the universe with a really delicious recipe. Mostly I blog about food because when I tell people I’m vegetarian or semi-vegan, people give me that blank “deer in the headlights” sort of stare; however, in reality, vegetarianism and veganism is not so uncommon. According to a recent study by my friends at Vegetarian Times, 7.3 Million people are vegetarian, of those 1 Million are vegan, consuming NO animal protein at all and a pretty incredible 10% of US adults, say that they are “vegetarian inclined”.

Good work friends. Keep up your enthusiasm and fierce dedication to a meat free lifestyle and I will keep sharing simple, fun and fresh meat-free recipes to assist your quest for a veg life. If I can do it, so can you. I even have Mr. Wonderful requesting and eating TOFU when we go out to restaurants. It’s a great contagion. Happy Vegan MoFo-ing. Be sure to check out other blogs linked to this site: Vegan MoFo Headquarters. Cheers to your next meat free masterpiece.

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Michigan, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients

Tagged cook, create, delish, Mr. Wonderful, recipe, seasonal cooking, vegan, vegan mo fo, veganmofo, vegetarian, yum

Fresh bread, 45 minutes, no yeast. Really. It’s yummy too!

Posted on November 8, 2010 | 122 comments

Turns out you can make bread that tastes good, without much time, yeast or overloading your very busy napping, I mean working, schedule on a Sunday afternoon. I forget that I own this cookbook until I see that someone else has dug out a keeper of a recipe from it. I made more potato soup this afternoon in the crock pot from basically what we had in the fridge, 6 baking potatoes, 2 small yellow onions, a handful of baby carrots, 4 dried chiles, fresh thyme, a little half and half, and some skim milk while we were busy with grading, laundry, cleaning, etc and this quick savory bread was the perfect compliment to that delish dish.

Olive Oil and Salt Quick Bread
Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

3 cups all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt

1 cup of warm water

To Do:

Heat the oven to 375 and grease an oven proof dish or skillet – 8-9″ is probably best.

Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Turn on the machine and slowly add the olive oil and most of the water.

Process for 30 seconds. The dough should roll into a ball and barely sticky. If it hasn’t come together yet, add remaining water a tablespoon at a time, processing for 5 seconds each time. If you want to add herbs, cheese, whatever, to the dough, do it now.

Put the dough into the pan and flatten it until the dough fits to the edges. Flip and press again. Cover tightly with foil and bake.

After 20 minutes, remove the foil and sprinkle the top with coarse seat salt and herbs (if you like). Bake for another 20 minutes. The top will be golden and it will spring back when touched.

122 Comments

Posted in Fall Food, Less is more, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soup

Tagged baking, bread, cook, create, delish, EVOO, mark bittman, ny times, olive oil, recipe, salt, seasonal cooking, snack, Soup, vegan mo fo, veganmofo, vegetarian, yum

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Vegan MoFo!

Posted on November 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

Confession: I ate out tonight. Worse yet, tomorrow I begin noshing at Restaurant Week GR, which means, the next 10 days will have more dining out than I care to admit to…however, in honor of November 2, Election Day FINALLY being behind us, I give you a recipe I will be making at some point in the next few days, as I have already baked off the potatoes in prep for it: Baked Potato Soup. What’s the correlation to Election Day? Well, I came across this YouTube clip of the humble potato and its rise to fame in 1992 when then VP Dan Quayle was schooled by a 6th-grader in how to spell the singular of potatoe, er, I mean potato. Soup’s on!

Baked Potato Soup

2 T EVOO
1/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 baking potatoes (about 2-1/2 lbs.)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 oz.)
6 cups milk (reduced fat if you prefer, or plain soy if vegan)
1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided (use reduced fat if you prefer or soy if vegan)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream (for garnish, omit if you prefer)
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 faux-bacon slices, cooked and crumbled or other meat sub that has a smoky bite to it. I used Morningstar Ground Sausage Crumbles in a pinch tonight.
Cracked black pepper (optional)

*adapted from Cooking Light, Rachael Ray and anon on the Interwebs

Posted in Fall Food, Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Soup

Tagged cook, create, delish, freezer, ina garten, potato, recipe, restaurant week, restaurant week gr, seasonal cooking, Soup, vegan, vegetarian

Adzuki!!

Posted on November 3, 2010 | 2 comments

Sometimes I look at recipes on veg websites, scan the list of ingredients and then set off to stump my local health food grocer. West Michigan lacks a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s which typically has all of these little bulk dried treasure bins and so, after I looked for a way to get rid of a butternut squash that was going to go bad this week, I found a recipe by Heidi Swanson adapted from a vegan cookbook that uses adzuki beans as a source of protein.

Adzuki beans? Yeah, until last year I hadn’t heard of them either. In popular Japanese and Chinese culture, they typically sweeten them and turn them into delicious desserts. Turns out they are a substantial little bean that hold up well in chili, soups, and stews. They take little time to cook from a dry state and store beautifully in your freezer in Ziploc bags, so you can make a bunch at a time. Additionally, they make a great non-refridge salad to pass at potlucks or picnics in the summer in this zesty Adzuki Bean Salad recipe from Whole Foods.

Adzuki & Butternut Squash Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon (dried) coriander
2 teaspoons finely chopped chipotle pepper (from can, or rehydrated from dried chile)
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
2 medium-large onions
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 – 6 cups water
5 whole canned tomatoes, chopped
4 cups cooked or canned adzuki beans
cilantro drizzle (optional)*

To make adzuki beans from a dry state. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Pick through for any duds, toss those. For 4 cups of cooked beans, try for 2-3 cups of dry beans. I had 4 1/2 cups of dried beans on the shelf, so I decided, if I’m gonna cook 4 cups I may as well cook what’s in my jar; thus, came out with 13 cups of cooked beans, of which I froze the extras not needed in the recipe. Put beans in a large pot with cold water covering over the beans about 2 inches, bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for about 30 minutes. They don’t take too long. The bean is perfect when it takes a little pressure to smash it against the roof of your mouth when you are testing and burning yourself 🙂 This is obviously a VERY scientific method here.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cinnamon, coriander, chipotle, cumin and salt and saute for a minute or two – until aromatic. Add the onions and saute another 5 minutes or so, until they start to go translucent. Add the garlic and butternut squash, stir well, and then add 5-6 cups of water. Increase the heat to bring to a boil, and once boiling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for a few minutes, until the squash begins to soften – 5 – 10 minutes.

Once the squash has softened, use a potato masher and break up the squash pieces a bit. Add the tomatoes, and cook a couple more minutes before adding the beans. Serve drizzled with the cilantro.

Serves about 8.

* I made a cilantro drizzle by putting one bunch of cilantro leaves into my mini-chop food processor with about a tablespoon of EVOO and a pinch of salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes for good measure.

Adapted from 101cookbooks.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Fall Food, Less is more, Make Ahead, Michigan, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Soup

Tagged adzuki, adzuki beans, asian, cook, create, delish, freezer, heidi swanson, Mr. Wonderful, recipe, seasonal cooking, squash, vegan, vegan mo fo, vegetarian, yum

Spicy Lentil Soup

Posted on November 2, 2010 | 2 comments

Lentils are wildly simple to use, satisfying and filling, cheap and quick to cook. Now why is it that you haven’t tried them? Yeah, I’m not sure either. Give this recipe a try. It’s pretty tame as far as curry flavors go, so you can ease your friends/family into the whole lentil idea. 🙂

Spicy Red Lentil Soup

1 cup yellow split peas
1 cup red split lentils (masoor dal)
7 cups liters water or veggie broth
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2-3 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons HOT curry powder (which if you purchase from Penzeys turns out to not be very hot, more spicy than hot)
2 tablespoons coconut oil (butter for non-vegans or ghee)
2 cups or 1 can rinsed chickpeas
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried currants
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can low fat coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped
cooked brown rice or farro, for serving (optional)

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse – until they no longer put off murky water. This takes quite a while but believe me it is totally worth it. The first time I made this, I rinsed just so-so and it was a no-go. Ick. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful so as not to burn the curry, this is a huge #fail. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, currants, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. Add the cooked chickpeas just at the end so they don’t turn to mush. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency. The thicker this soup got, the more I liked it. Sprinkle each bowl generously with cilantro and the remaining green onions.

As Heidi Swanson so frequently does, I served this concoction over leftover brown rice that I would have tossed the next day. It’s like upcycling for food.

Turns out this freezes beautifully for single-servings throughout the week. It thickens up a bit, but just thin it out with water if you don’t like the consistency upon reheat. I’ve found a container of this in the back of my freezer and enjoyed with delight up to four weeks later. 🙂

recipe adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Posted in Less is more, Make Ahead, Seasonal Ingredients, Uncategorized

Tagged coconut oil, cook, create, curry, lentils, recipe, seasonal cooking, vegan, vegetarian, yum

VeganMoFo, Ya Know?

Posted on November 1, 2010 | 2 comments

From one of my fave bloggers and cookbook writers, not to mention totally rad human being comes VeganMoFo: “It’s that time of year again! Time to wear down your stove and your keyboard. Time to mow people down with your shopping cart. Time to answer the age old question: do lemon and chocolate taste good together? It’s time for VeganMoFo, the Vegan Month Of Food. VeganMoFo was originally created on the Post Punk Kitchen, as an homage toNaNoWriMo. Because we do want to write novels, but sometimes cooking gets in the way. So why not combine them!

The idea is to write as much as you can all month, about vegan food. The blog entries can be about anything food related – your love of tongs, your top secret tofu pressing techniques, the first time your mom cooked vegan for you, vegan options in Timbuktu – you get the idea, right? If not, browse around on some of our round-ups and you’ll catch on fast!

There aren’t strict guidelines for how often to write, but the idea is to shoot for every weekday, or about 20 times in the month. If you’d like inspiration or would just like to whine about how hard it is, check out the MoFo forum on the PPK message boards.

As the world catches on that vegan food really is the best choice for animals (suck it, humane meat!), the planet (bite me, melting ice caps!) and people (piss off, heart disease!) let’s show them what vegan eating is all about.”

I’m excited! Hopefully I can get in the quota of writing. Between this and Grand Rapids Restaurant Week…I’ve never been more excited for a November! Inspired? Start your own Blog for the month. Perhaps become a Vegan or Veg for a month in homage to PPK’s VeganMoFo. You might even like it. See you on the Veg side. Bring it on Internets!! 🙂

Posted in Fall Food, Recipes

Tagged cook, create, delish, recipe, seasonal cooking, vegan, veganmofo, vegetarian

Tender Zucchini Fritters

Posted on September 26, 2010 | 3 comments

This recipe looks scary, but it’s well worth it. I know it’s intimidating reading the laundry list of ingredients and taking the time to put it together but, it’s a small price to pay for summer in your mouth. Yet another great way to use the Summer Zucchini in your crisper you are going to toss in another week anyway.

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Fritters:

1 1/2 pounds medium zucchini (5 to 6), trimmed
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt, divided
6 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup beer
1 4-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled, chilled (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup (or more) extra-virgin olive oil
3 1/2 cups (lightly packed) mâche (lamb’s lettuce; 2 to 3 ounces)

For dressing:
Blend all ingredients in processor until smooth, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Transfer to small bowl. Cover; chill. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.

For fritters:
Using large holes on box grater, coarsely grate zucchini into large colander. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon coarse salt over and toss to coat evenly. Place colander over large bowl. Let zucchini stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally. Press on zucchini to release as much liquid as possible. Empty zucchini into kitchen towel. Roll up to enclose and squeeze dry.

Whisk flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt in medium bowl to blend. Mix in beer. Scrape zucchini from towel into bowl; stir to coat evenly (batter will be thick). Mix in cheese.

Heat 1/3 cup oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat until very hot, about 2 minutes. Working in batches, drop batter into skillet by 1/4 cupfuls, flattening to 3-inch rounds. Sauté until brown and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer fritters to rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 375°F oven 5 to 6 minutes.

Place mâche in large bowl. Toss with 2 to 3 tablespoons dressing. Place 2 fritters on each of 6 plates. Top with mound of mâche salad. Serve fritters, passing remaining dressing alongside.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

3 Comments

Posted in Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients

Tagged cook, create, delish, food network, freezer, fritters, goat cheese, green goddess, recipe, seasonal cooking, squash, vegetarian, yum

Beans and Cornbread

Posted on September 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

The theme song to Dinner and A Movie with Paul and Annabell on USA Network was THIS. It would be stuck in my mind for DAYS!!! I regressed and began singing it while making chili and promptly wanted to leap off a cliff. Hope you suffer as much as I did. 🙂 For your misery, a cornbread recipe. BEANS AND CORNBREAD!

Mexican Cornbread

1 C yellow cornmeal
1 C sifted all-purp flour
2 T sugar
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1 C skim milk
1/3 C reduced fat sour cream
1/4 C veg oil
2 T chopped jalapenos

Preheat oven to 425, place cast iron skillet inside while warming up, buttered.

In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. To this mixture, add egg, milk, sour cream, oil and jalapenos, mix until smooth. Pour into prepared hot pan. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Recipe is a combo of many from Ina Garten, Paula Deen and Gourmet Magazine.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Soup

Tagged beans, cast iron, chili, cook, cornbread, create, delish, dinner and a movie, freezer, gourmet magazine, ina garden, mexican, paula deen, recipe, seasonal cooking, USA Network, vegetarian, yum

Last of Summer Squash, Summer Tacos

Posted on September 22, 2010 | 1 comment

Today, it reached 86 degrees in west Michigan. Did I mention it’s SEPTEMBER! So what better way to celebrate summer’s last hurrah? Summer Squash Tacos. This is a colorful way to get your family/friends to eat their veggies AND use up that plethora of summer squash you have sitting in the crisper waiting for a slow veg death. Throw in some homemade corn tortillas (thanks for the idea Chef Mike and Andrea) and you have a substantial tasting low-fat and low-cal dish. Easy on the add on’s and you can keep it healthy and light. Make the tortillas, the taste of fresh corn tortillas will change your life. I swear.

Corn Tortillas

2 C Masa Harina
1 1/2 C Hot water
1 tsp kosher salt

Yeah, that’s it. Three ingredients. Combine the Masa Harina and salt with the hot water until it takes form, cover, toss in fridge for an hour. After you let it set, form 2 inch balls with the corn dough, press with tortilla press or old school like I do, between 2 sheets of wax paper with a rolling pin, then toss on a dry fry pan 1 min first side, a few seconds on the second side and keep in a warm oven covered until you are done frying all of the tortillas.

Summer Tacos

1 tsp oil
2 C frozen or fresh corn kernels
1 C chopped sweet onion
1/4 C red pepper, diced
1/4 C poblano pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 small summer zucchini, diced
1 C black beans (I used fresh made, frozen from a previous post)
1 tsp epazote or oregano
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
salsa, light sour cream, reduced fat cheese, hot sauce, lime, pickled jalapenos

Heat the oil in a wok or large fry pan. Toast corn if fresh, if using frozen corn, in pan with oil combine, onion, peppers, garlic and fry until tender crisp, add zucchini, beans, pepper, epazote, tomatoes and frozen corn cook until warm. To serve, top corn tortillas with veg mix and salsa, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce and jalapenos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients

Tagged cook, fresh, low cal, lowfat, seasonal cooking, squash, tacos, vegetarian, yum

Soup Season!

Posted on September 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

Fall is my favorite food season. Tailgating and soup making are really the highlights in my humble opinion. Mr. Wonderful did all the grocery shopping for the week after we picked out our recipes for the week over a blueberry pancake breakfast (yes, some of THOSE blueberries). So this evening, all I had to do was pull together this easy, soul warming soup.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Black Bean Corn Chowder

1 T EVOO
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 baking potato, peeled and diced
1 package frozen corn kernels
2 C black beans, cooked
4 C veggie broth
2 C skim milk
1/4 C sweet red pepper, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/2 T onion powder
1/2 T garlic powder
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
1 T fresh oregano
1 tsp salt, to taste

Saute’ veggies (not corn) in EVOO, cook until soft. Add spices, cook 1-2 more minutes, stirring. Add liquids bring to boil. Drop in frozen corn and beans. Bring back to boil. Serve hot with toppings of your choice. We like sour cream, avocado and a squeeze of lime.

My black beans generally do not come from a can, except for when I am in a super duper hurry and haven’t done a good job of planning ahead. Tonight I made a two pound bag of black beans before putting together the soup so that I had a few bags in the freezer ready to go for the next few weeks. To quickly cook black beans, in a large pot, dump rinsed and picked over beans, cover with water plus 2 inches up the side of the pan and boil until al dente. They will cook the rest of the way in whatever you cook them in, soup, tacos, etc. Yeah, that’s it. You don’t have to do all that soaking if you have about 45 minutes to boil the crap out of them. This way, you save money, they taste WAAAYYYY better and the sodium content is much lower. I then take the beans and freeze them in plastic bags. They don’t last long, so I’m not sure how long they keep. Hispanic food stores have the BEST deals on dried black beans. I once bought a 10 pound bag for $4.00. Seriously. I just finished that bag a few weeks ago, it lasted about 6 months.

Posted in Fall Food, Make Ahead, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Soup

Tagged blueberries, carrots, create, Fall Food, freezer, Mr. Wonderful, onions, recipe, seasonal cooking, Soup, southwestern, tailgating, vegetarian, yum

My Friends Cook Too! Anne P., Guest Post

Posted on September 9, 2010 | 1 comment

I get really excited when my friends make veg friendly food. Fall is a great time for soup, and what is cheaper right now than winter squash? Not much, so stock up and keep it in a cool dry place, it will last through the winter. Or, as Anne mentions below, cut it open, place face down on a cookie sheet, pop into the oven at about 350 degrees until soft, scoop out the flesh (sans seeds-save those to plant in the summer next year), drop it into a freezer bag and you have most of the work done and in your freezer for pies, soups, muffins, breads etc all winter. Great idea Anne.

Squash Soup a la Anne

Anne Porter-I got the original recipe off the Food Network website. It’s an Alton Brown recipe, but I have altered it quite a bit.

It called for butternut squash, but I used a blend of acorn and carnival squash in the batch, I have used butternut in the past.

6 cups of prepared squash
2 cans of fat free vegetarian vegetable broth
2 T. Splenda brown sugar
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 can lite coconut milk (used Thai Kitchen brand)

Directions: In a large stock pot combine squash, broth, brown sugar and ginger. Simmer and then puree with immersion blender (or in your blender, food processor, food mill). Stir in coconut milk and return to a low simmer. Season to taste w/salt, pepper and/or nutmeg.

Approximately 8 – 1 cup servings at 115 calories per serving.

My squash was in the freezer from what I had frozen last fall, so it took me less than 20 minutes to make this, so it’s super easy and so tasty!

*I just made this soup tonight-with butternut from my garden!!! To her base recipe I added:

1/2 frozen banana (out with the brown sugar)
1 medium onion, saute’ with garlic
4 cloves of garlic, saute’ with onion
1 can garbanzo beans
1 & 1/2 tsp hot curry
1 tsp sweet curry
1 T Frank’s Red Hot
1/2 C fat free half and half

Instead of blending the whole thing, I blended 1/2 and left the other half chunky. I like texture in my soup. It was delish served with Nantucket Baking Company Sourdough Bread.

Posted in Fall Food, Michigan, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Soup

Tagged asian, cook, curry, food network, Frank's Red Hot, freezer, friends, Frozen banana, garbanzo bean, garden, hot curry, recipe, seasonal cooking, squash, vegetarian, yum

Buttercrust Corn Pie with Fresh-Tomato Salsa

Posted on September 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s getting to be that time of year again. You know, when you are overwhelmed by all of the great produce in Michigan and start, dare I say it, hating things…like corn on the cob and tomatoes. I have eaten so much corn and so many tomatoes this year that I almost can’t eat them any more. The thought of putting a whole cherry tomato into my mouth is starting to make my gag reflex go off. My one problem with feeling this way, is that as a vegetarian, eating seasonally in Michigan means that I have to OD on fruits and veggies in the summer while they are ripe, pack my freezer with blueberries, strawberries and corn off the cob because come February, I start eating crap from the grocery store like tomatoes that are under ripe just so I can avoid winter squash that I have been force fed since November. It’s a vicious cycle. So, I’m trying to appreciate what I have for the moment, because in a few months when I want to start using apples as shooting targets, I will really want some corn on the cob, a juicy ripe tomato, or fresh green beans that I took for granted in August.

With all that in mind. I made this Buttercrust Corn Pie a few nights ago from items in my fridge to combat the corn/tomato problem. I had everything but the ripe olives which I just omitted and added a little extra salt to make it pop.

This recipe would make a GREAT potluck recipe as you can serve it at room temp and it still tastes great. I am thinking of dragging it along to a tailgating party at GVSU in a few weeks. It sets up quickly and once cool, it can be handled with ease in a napkin in your hand if need be (sans salsa of course).

Another recipe featuring corn and tomatoes comes from my friends at Meatless Monday. I have not tried this but it looks post worthy. Couscous Corn Salad with Tofu appears to be quick and painless. Let me know how it turns out.

Enjoy.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.