Look Kate, It's Not Curry!

So, my one reader and I are sick of looking at the last recipe.  Have a new one.

Chana Masala
Adapted from Oh She Glows

3 small cans chickpeas
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
1.5 Tbsp spice mixture*
1 tsp raw sugar
3/4-1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
Handful of chopped cilantro to garnish

*Spice Mixture
1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1 tsp turmeric
2 Tbsp toasted and ground cumin seeds
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala


Toast and grind the cumin seeds in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle, then mix everything together.  Once you're done with the spices, the rest is simple.


Heat oil over medium heat and saute the ginger, garlic and onions until the onions start to become translucent.  Add the tomatoes and saute for another minute or two.  Add the spice mixture and work into a paste, sauteing for about three minutes.  Finally, add in the water and adjust sugar and salt to taste, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  I would recommend adding the water in slowly until it reaches a consistency that you like.  Top with cilantro.

The first time that I tasted this I put the chickpeas over brown rice and added a dollop of Greek yogurt to the top.  Honestly, it tastes better all by itself, and tastes just as good a few days later, hot or cold.  Plus, with the one-time investment of making the spice mix (I'd make a double batch, enough for almost four recipes' worth), the whole thing takes about 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Vegan Red Curry

Hey, look, it's January.  Time to be healthy (or at least make an effort).  I don't know about you, but the holiday season wasn't entirely too kind to my waistline so I wanted to whip up something that would be fairly light but still warming.  Enter red curry.  I'd never used curry paste before, just powder, but the difference in flavor was pretty amazing.  I used light coconut milk to cut out some of the fat and vegan chicken strips, but I think it would taste just as good with seitan if you're not into fake meat products, or more veggies if you want to omit it entirely.

Vegan Red Curry - Serves 4

Vegetable oil for sauteing
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
12 oz. vegan chicken strips or seitan
3 tbsp red curry paste
Splash soy sauce
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 can light coconut milk
1/2 - 1 cup veggie stock
Salt, to taste
Two potatoes, chopped into small cubes
Sriracha, to taste
1 tsp fresh grated ginger

Rice to serve about 4 people (I added three cardamom pods to the water I used to boil the rice to give it a little extra flavor)

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and pepper and saute until they are somewhat tender, but not soft.  Add potatoes and saute for about 3 minutes.  Add chicken strips or seitan, curry paste, ginger, and a splash of soy and saute until ingredients are mixed well and "chicken" is heated through, about 3 minutes or so.  Add drained tomatoes, peas, coconut milk, and 1/2 cup veggie stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.  At this point you can add salt to your liking and the remaining veggie stock if needed to thin out the mixture.  Serve over rice and top with sriracha if you like it even spicier.

A Vegan Christmas

Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house has been a (drunken) vegetarian affair for a long time.  The first year that I can remember included the strange entree that is the Tofurkey, but they've only improved since then.  The boyfriend (now fiance!!!), a carnivore if ever there was one, says that he doesn't even miss meat if he knows that Kate and Calvin (the brother in law, not the dog) are cooking.  There have usually been a couple of vegan dishes, but this year they decided to go completely animal-free and make it vegan, with everyone bringing something along to share.  I got dessert and decided to go with a pie that's a little tart and a little sweet and totally vegan.  It was pretty yum, if I do say so myself.  I went with a layered version of a tarte tatin using pears combined with a cranberry layer in the middle to cut the caramelized sweetness of the cooked pears.  Note: this does take a while, but in the main it's fairly simple and can be completed more quickly if you do both batches of pears simultaneously.

Mmmmm, pie.  Flaky, sweet, tart pie.

Vegan Pear Cranberry Pie

Pie dough before adding milk

For the pie crust:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter-flavored Crisco, refrigerated
1/3 - 1/2 cup very cold almond or soy milk

To make the pie dough, start by mixing together the flour and salt.  Drop the Crisco into the bowl in pieces and cut it into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender (if you don't have one, you can use two knives, one between your index and middle finger, and one between your middle and ring finger) until the mixture makes small balls.  When it reaches the correct consistency, mix the almond milk in with a fork until it's just incorporated.  You don't want it to be too blended or you won't get a flaky crust.  Divide into two balls of equal size and refrigerate until you're ready to roll it out.

For the pears:

The pears are done in two batches, so double this recipe.  If you have two large pans you can cook them at the same time to save on your overall prep time.

3 d'Anjou pears or other light-tasting pears, peeled and chopped into eighths
2/3 cup raw sugar
Scant 1/3 cup water
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance or other vegan butter substitute
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp. bourbon vanilla (or regular vanilla)

For each batch of pears, combine water and sugar in a large skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring.  The sugar will first dissolve, then begin to bubble, and finally caramelize and thicken.  If you're using raw sugar it will be hard to estimate the right color, so just go by a thick consistency.  Don't taste test it unless you want to burn your tongue.  When the mixture has turned to caramel, add the butter sub, the lemon juice, ginger, and vanilla and stir in.  When it is well blended, arrange your pears in the skillet.

Cook the pears for about 10-15 minutes, then turn them over using a fork.  Cook for another 10-15 minutes until the pears are soft and sugary.  Transfer them to a large bowl to cool a bit, making them easier to arrange in the pie shell without sustaining caramel burns.

Cranberry layer:

1 bag (12 oz.) fresh cranberries
Water as needed to thin
Juice of one large orange
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1-2 Tbsp corn starch

Heat orange juice and maple syrup in a small sauce pot.  Once it is simmering, mix in corn starch.  Start with 1 Tbsp and add another Tbsp as needed to thicken the sauce.  Add cranberries and simmer for about 10 minutes until they start to break down.  At this point, add water if needed to thin out the mixture.  The finished product should look like this:

The cranberries should have broken down enough that they're soft, but not so much that they resemble a cranberry sauce that you would serve at dinner.

Setting up the pie:

Now that everything is cooked, preheat your oven to 375 and roll out half of the pie dough and press into a pie pan.  It helps if the rolling pin is floured slightly and the dough is cold before you start.  Warm pie dough is persnickety and sticks to everything.

Add your pears, arranging them as you did in the skillet so that one half covers the bottom of the pie shell.  Next add your cranberries in a second layer.  Finish off the pie with remainder of the pears and as much of the caramel sauce as remains in the bowl/you want to put in.  When the layers are complete, roll out the second half of the pie dough and place over top in one sheet or as a lattice top.  Crimp the edges together with a fork, brush with almond milk, and sprinkle with some more sugar.  Bake pie in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden.  If your edges are getting too brown, which mine always do, cover just the edges with aluminum foil so that the crust bakes more evenly.  Et voila!

This pie isn't too sweet, despite the caramelized pears.  There's a little bit of sweet and a little tart in each bite, so it's not too heavy after a big meal like Christmas dinner.  If you like your pie with a little more sweet, just add more of the caramel that will be left in the bottom of your bowl as the pears cool.

Calvin hopes that you like your pie.

Shrimp Bruschetta

Big news tomorrow people.  But for now, someone (Hi Kate!) told me I needed to update more, so I'm updating.  Things have been busy around here with the introduction of Calvin and I haven't been around my computer very much, hence the lack of posting.  He gets all spastic when I leave him alone for more than 30 seconds at a time and does things like attempt to eat my shoes or devour a refrigerator magnet (like he did the other night).  Here's a picture of him looking particularly awesome with his new dog sunglasses.

Calvin, looking like a bad ass.

He's not especially fond of them yet, but he needs them since his albino eyes get all squinty otherwise.

Oh, and hey, a new recipe.  An awesome new recipe that is super tasty and really easy to throw together but seems kinda fancy when you serve it to people.

Shrimp Bruschetta
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
About 8 good-sized basil leaves, chopped
1/2 - 1/3 red onion, depending on size, diced small
4-5 large tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
3-4 cloves of garlic (or however many you choose, depending on your love for garlic), minced
1 pound peeled shrimp, chopped into smallish pieces
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Red wine vinegar
Sea salt
1 loaf of garlic bread
Parmesan cheese for topping

First, chop up all of your veggies and herbs and toss them into a big bowl together.  Next, heat up a dollop of olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add your shrimp and garlic cloves.  Saute them together for about 3 minutes, just long enough to get the flavors to meld but not so long that you start browning the garlic.  If you want to make the recipe even easier, use frozen peeled shrimp (the small size).  It makes them easier to chop up and it's hard to tell the difference since there are so many other flavors going on.  Once your shrimp and  garlic are done, put them into the bowl and toss with your olive oil and vinegars.  I didn't give precise amounts since it's a matter of personal taste, so just taste it frequently until you're satisfied.  Toss a little bit of sea salt in there and you're done.  You'll want to let it sit for about 10-15 minutes, so while that's happening slice and heat up your garlic bread.  Top each slice with the shrimp mixture and serve with Parmesan.  This makes a lot, so you can have it for a main course for about 4 people and you'll probably still have some left over.

Days 6 & 7 - Pancakes at Last!

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday.  There's a lot to get through, so let's see...

Thursday Night

"Snobby Joes" and Onion Rings

I made Vegan Sloppy Joes and Baked Onion Rings from The Post Punk Kitchen.  The sloppy joes (or snobby joes, as they're called on the website) were pretty good.  I was getting really sick of lentils by that time though, so I don't think that I enjoyed them as much as I might have otherwise.  The onion rings, on the other hand, were quite tasty.  I mixed up the recipe at first, adding only 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs rather than a full cup.  As such, my onions weren't as coated as they should have been, but they turned out well anyway, better than a regular onion ring to my thinking.  I apologize for the totally awful picture, but it was late and kind of dim in my house and everything just looks washed out, even my happy yellow plate.

Friday
I was so ready to throw in the towel yesterday.  Somewhere around 5:00 I decided that I was tired, and headachey, and just wanted to order a pizza, dammit.  I didn't want to cook or clean and I was sick of beans and lentils and everything else.  I was sick of my kitchen being a mess.  I really wanted a damn pizza.  But, I persevered.  I realized I hadn't had any coffee all day, thus explaining the headache, so I got some caffeine in me and invited my brother and my mom over for dinner.  Dinner was quite tasty - vegan chili with faux sausage crumbles and baked tortilla chips for some crunch.  Plus wine, naturally.  I'd made chili before a bunch of times so I just decided to wing it.  This is what I came up with:

Vegan Chili
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large (very large in my case) sweet onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped up very small
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tube of vegan ground sausage substitute - I used Light Life Gimme Lean ground "sausage"
1 Tbsp cumin
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 bay leaves
1 large can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3-4 cups of veggie broth
2 15-oz. cans of beans, drained and rinsed - I used one can of black beans and one can of white beans
If you want - 1 big chunk of ginger, added with the beans to make them easier on your stomach.  It won't change the flavor. 
For garnish - tortilla chips, chopped green onions, cilantro, and Toffuti Sour Supreme (a sour cream substitute)

Heat oil in a large soup pot and add onions and celery, sauteing until translucent (about 8 minutes).  Add garlic and sausage substitute and break up with your spatula until it starts to brown.  Add spices and saute for about 1 minute until everything is mixed together.  Add bay leaves, diced tomatoes and tomato paste and stir in.  Add about 2.5 cups of veggie broth.  Bring to a boil.  Once it's boiling, turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 45 minutes (or longer if you'd like).  At the end, add the beans and enough of the leftover broth to get the chili to your desired consistency (I used about 3.5 cups total).  If you're using the ginger, add it at this point.  Continue to simmer for about 10 more minutes to get all of the flavors to meld together, and then add any additional spices to your liking (mine was pretty spicy already, so I left it alone).  Remove the bay leaves and the ginger piece (I hadn't yet found mine in the mass of chili and my brother accidentally ate it, prompting a "what the hell?").  Serve with tortilla chips, green onions, cilantro and sour cream.

To make the tortilla chips I just chopped up the leftover tortillas that I'd made for the enchiladas, put them in a bag with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, shook them up, and baked them for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.  They weren't at all like store bought tortilla chips, but were thicker and less salty.

I wish I had a picture to post of the chili, but we pretty much ate it all, which is a good recommendation.

And now, pancakes!  I got up super early this morning to go for a run with some girls that live in my new neighborhood and decided that it would be a great morning to test out Calvin's pancake recipe.  I'm pleased to say that they more than lived up to my expectations.  They're yummy and thick and the perfect vehicle for maple syrup.

Flax eggs

Pancakes a la Calvin

1.5 cups unbleached flour
2 Tbsp wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup oatmeal

2 flax eggs (to make a flax egg, put 1 Tbsp of whole flax seeds into a coffee grinder and pulse them until they're finely ground.  Then add 3 Tbsp water and whisk together.  The mixture will get gooey and egg-like in its consistency.  For this recipe, make two of them)
1 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Water as needed to thin batter (I used a little bit less than a quarter of a cup)

Make your flax eggs.  Mix all of your dry ingredients together and then whisk in the wet ingredients.  Make like you would regular pancakes.  Mine made 11 pancakes total.

Pancakes with maple syrup after a long run = happy, happy me.

So today is my last day of the experiment.  I have no idea what I'm going to make for dinner tonight, maybe edamame pesto and french bread (if I can veganize something that relies so very heavily on butter).  I'll report back tomorrow with the results of the experiment!

Day 4 - Vegan Pancake FAIL

I was so excited for pancakes this morning.  I got up early, went downstairs, started coffee and the batter, and promptly realized I might be a little screwed.  See, I didn't have the egg substitute called for.  No matter, I will grind up some flax seeds and make flax eggs.  Or I won't, because a mortar and pestle aren't so good for flax seed grinding.  Okay, I'll use half of a banana and just mush it up really well.  Not happening.  I mixed in my banana, set the pan going, and ended up with the stickiest pancakes ever.  Those things were not coming out of the pan without a fight.  I informed Max that we would not be having pancakes, but he responded with "but they smell like bananas and pancake and I want some."  So he got some.  They weren't pretty, but he claimed they tasted good and ate about 5, so I believe him.  I had a green monster since I was sick of messing about with the batter and had to go to spin class.  Eh, I'll try again, because I really want a vehicle for getting maple syrup into my mouth.  Maybe a coffee grinder would work for flax eggs.

The pizza I made last night, however, was a total success.  Apparently my pizza dough was mad at being left out of the recipe/photo extravaganza the other day, because it continued to rise in the fridge and exploded out of its plastic wrap, but it survived.  So, without further ado, the recipes:

Vegan Pizza Sauce - adapted from All Recipes

1 6 oz can tomato paste
6 oz warm water
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp agave nectar
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp each of oregano, marjoram, basil, black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (it's spicy this way, so decrease cayenne and flakes if you want less heat)

Put all ingredients into a bowl and whisk together.  Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes before use.

Wheat Pizza Crust
1 tsp natural sugar
1.5 cups warm water
1 packet yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 cups wheat flour
1 - 1.5 cups all purpose flour

Prime the yeast by dissolving the sugar into the warm water and sprinkling the yeast on top.  Let it rest for about 5 minutes or until the yeast mixture gets foamy.  Mix in the salt and knead in the wheat flour with a dough hook on your stand mixer (if you don't have one, you can do this by hand.  Just start with the dry ingredients, prime the yeast mixture, and knead the wet ingredients in slowly).  Once you've been going for about 5 minutes, add 1 cup of AP flour to the mixture and knead until a ball forms.  At this point, I move the dough to the flour coated counter and knead the rest of the AP flour into the ball along with the olive oil.  You should flour or oil your hands before doing so because otherwise you will end up a sticky mess.  Put the finished dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl and coat the dough, then let rise for about an hour with a towel over the top.  Once it has doubled in size, punch it down, reshape the ball, and allow to rise for 45 minutes more, so that it has doubled in size again.  At this point you can shape your crust or put it in the refrigerator for up to two days (or freeze it).

Once you've got your dough and sauce ready, have at it.  I shape the dough by hand and put it onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet, but you can roll it out too.  Just crimp the edges a little bit so that your toppings don't slide off.  Preheat your oven to 425 and bake the pizza dough alone for about 7 minutes, so that it starts to get puffy and golden.  Take it out of the oven, spread pizza sauce on the dough, then add your toppings.  I used mushrooms, chopped spinach, onion and tomato, then covered the whole thing with Vegan Rella faux mozzarella cheese.  Boy is that stuff sticky.  It was really hard to grate, but it melted and tasted (mostly) like real cheese.  Anyway, stick the whole thing in the oven and bake for another 8 minutes or so until your "cheese" is melty and starting to brown/bubble on top.  Let it sit for a few minutes before cutting, and serve.  Mine was definitely fork and knife pizza because of the abundance of toppings, but it was delicious.  Spicy and full of veggies with melty cheesiness on top.  The recipe above will make for about 12 square slices, so it's enough to feed at least three and probably four people.

Vegan pizza, you totally surpassed my expectations

P.S.  On another note, I think I'll be wearing leggings for the rest of the experiment, because being a temporary vegan has turned me into a bloat monster.  Seriously.  I've been drinking ginger tea like it's going out of style.  Any vegans out there who can tell me if this is normal?  Because it is sure is annoying!

P.P.S.  OMG HARRY POTTER COMES OUT TOMORROW!  Am I a huge nerd?  Yes.  Am I so excited?!?!?!  Yes.

P.P.P.S.  Meet Goblin, the evil kitten that I keep talking about.  She's cute, but really bad.

Hi, I'm Goblin.  I like to climb onto things that are way too high for me.  Then I forget how to get down and leap right off, knocking over Liza's wine and turning her computer off.

The Experiment Continues - Day 3

I woke up cranky today.  For one, the evil kitten woke me up several times last night and then decided to wrestle Mosquito (our other cat, who is practically a saint compared to his tiny minion) directly outside the bedroom door.  Three floors at her disposal, and right outside our door is where she chose to start a cat fight.  Awesome.  It's also cold and rainy outside and rather gloomy.  So, since cooking something new usually works to make me feel better, I decided to make applesauce today.  I had the necessaries on hand and it makes your kitchen smell all autumny and homey, so I got to work.  Plus, I really want to make apple cinnamon swirl pancakes tomorrow morning to go with my newly purchased maple syrup.

Natural Apple Sauce - makes about 2 cups

About 5 or so apples - I used homegrown fujis
A couple of tablespoons of agave nectar (or honey)
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 lemon, juiced

Chop your apples up into pieces about 1 inch in size.  You'll want to discard the cores, but leave the skins on.  Once they're all done, dump everything into a pot, put about 1 - 1.25 cups of water in there and boil them until the apples are tender, about 15 minutes or so.  The apples give off some juice of their own, so don't worry if the water seems a little shallow.  Once the apples are tender, discard the cinnamon stick and let everything cool off for about 20 minutes.  Finally, use an immersion blender (or a regular blender) to blend everything to your desired texture.  Enjoy the lovely smell in your kitchen.

As for dinner last night, the vegan mac and "cheese" turned out really well.  I didn't have any tahini, which the recipe calls for, so I left it out, and I added a bit more salt than was called for, but it was really good.  Even Max thought so.  My dad is still dubious, as he says that Max has a vested interest in keeping me happy, but as a cheese loving woman I was quite pleased with the results.  Here's the link for the recipe if I left it out yesterday.  Angela from Oh She Glows calls it "Healthy Comfort Food," which it certainly is.  I had some leftovers for lunch today with a few spoon fulls of almond milk to make it creamier and it was even better the next day.

In other news, Max inflicted some cruel and unusual punishment on me yesterday when we went out for a drink.  I have a thing for cheese in general, and I LOVE cheese fries.  Love them.  Especially bar food cheese fries with malt vinegar on top, enjoyed with a good beer.  So that's what he ordered, along with a cheese steak.  And then proceeded to eat them while I looked on, practically drooling because I wanted some so so much.  But hey, if I can resist that temptation, I should be okay for the rest of the week.

V-Day, or Day One of the Vegan Experiment

Today (Sunday): Day 1 of the experiment commences.  For breakfast I had a Green Monster smoothie.  Mine was composed of 2 big handfuls of spinach, 1/2 cup of pomegranate lime juice, 1 cup strawberries, and 1 cup of almond milk.  Oh, and I had coffee with almond milk too.  Lunch was some peanut noodles with broccoli that I cooked on Friday night.  Soooo good.  Here, have a recipe:

Peanut Noodles
One pound whole wheat pasta
1/2 jar natural peanut butter (must be natural, otherwise it comes out not only un-vegan but kind of gross)
Juice of 4 limes
1/4 cup-ish of soy sauce
1/2 bottle of tabasco or sriracha to taste (must be either one of these or, as the creator of the recipe says, "your noodles will taste like ass")
4 inches grated ginger
Rice vinegar and veggie oil to thin as needed
Bunch of broccoli
1-2 blocks firm tofu
Cilantro garnish, if you feel like it

Put all sauce ingredients together and cook them over low heat until homogenized
Cook pasta
Cook broccoli
Chop up tofu and toss in the sauce
Mix together and eat

Simple, right?  And so tasty.  It's Max's favorite food.  And now, on to the baking.  I wanted to do it all at once so that everything was simple and laid out for the week.  On today's agenda: sandwich rolls, whole wheat pizza dough, and ginger chocolate chunk scones (I'm excluding the pizza dough from photos/recipes since I'm not actually making the pizza for a day or two and the recipe is pretty standard).

Whole Wheat Sandwich Rolls
The recipe for these comes from A Bread A Day.  I changed a couple of things, like subbing raw sugar for both the refined sugar and the brown sugar.  For the "brown sugar," I mixed the raw sugar with a little agave nectar and figured it would work just fine.  Who says baking is a science?  The rolls came out pretty well, not as puffy as I thought they would be, but otherwise just fine for my purposes.

See?  Sort of thin, but I think their color complements my table nicely.

Ginger Chocolate Chunk Scones
The recipe for these babies comes from The Post Punk Kitchen, an awesome source all around for vegan recipes.  Plus, the recipe for these in particular is sort of hilariously written.  They are SO good.  I ate one with "butter" as my afternoon snack.  I did use unsweetened chocolate, because I was under the impression that vegans don't eat refined sugar due to the refining process.  As such, they aren't sweet, but they are super tasty.

The scones, hanging out outside, because that's totally normal.

Scones, ready for their close up.

As you can imagine, my kitchen was sort of destroyed after this baking extravaganza.  I cannot bake and be clean at the same time.  I'm no Martha Stewart.  My stuff tastes damn good though, which is the whole point.  For dinner tonight I'll be making pan fried tofu with kale and stir fried noodles from Vegan Yum Yum.  I'll try to get a good picture, but my kitchen isn't so good with the light after the sun goes down, so no promises.

My kitchen, totally destroyed.  There's more, but I can't work the panorama on my phone.