All Hail Kale Salad: Swipe!

Swiper, no swiping!

Those of you that have young siblings as I do or children of your own
might catch that reference. If not, I just swiped or knocked off a dish
from everyone's favorite Veggie Grill.

To be honest, I've never even had the darn thing. Yes, everyone raves
about it, blah blah blah-- but I have a hard time bringing myself to
pay $8-10 for a bowl of kale. I don't care how good it is. If I'm going
to go out to eat and drop dollars in the double digits, it better be
something I can't make at home or have never experienced before.

Its Ok if you can't cook and like to eat out because its the only decent
way to get good food, but you have to at least tell me you're trying to duplicate these things.

What is this All Hale Kale stuff? Apparently it is Kale and Quinoa
marinated in a papaya vinegarette, topped with purple cabbage,
walnuts, carrots, and a roasted corn salsa and chic'n/tempeh (opt).

I basically had everything but the papaya, so I subbed out some OJ for
that baby. Voila. Pretty delish. I didn't do the grilled plant protein,
since we were already eating quinoa and quinoa is high in protein.
Although, we did have some assorted baked sweet potato fries on the
side: orange, purple, and white sweet potato!

FYI: although many people do, there is really no need to remove the
stems from kale. Just cut off the very end and roll the whole leaf with
a rolling pin to tenderize. Crush the stem so it is soft and chewable.
Why waste a perfectly good piece of kale?



All Hail Kale Salad for 4

8 stalks of kale, tenderized and shredded finely
2 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup purple cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup raw walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup orange juice
2 tbsp olive oil or a nut oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp agave
juice from one lemon
1/2 tsp grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup fresh corn
1 tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
juice from one lime
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro (opt)

Once the cooked quinoa has cooled, toss it with the kale and add the
dressing. Go ahead and mix the salsa, let it sit to 'age' the flavors.

Once you're ready to chow down arrange the salad on the plate
starting with the marinated kale, salsa, cabbage, carrot then walnuts--
or whatever you like, it's all ending up in the same place anyway!

This is where you go "WHAT? That's it?!" and I smile and laugh manically.

I guess it's the Forth of July... Don't go out and roast dead animals
or burn a forest down with stupid fireworks... please and thankyou.
No, we are not celebrating today. Why? I dunno, should it be a priority?

Breakfast for Dinner

Growing up we had breakfast for dinner alot. In fact breakfast is
my favorite meal. I like it even more than dessert, believe it or not!

As a kid it was eggs, potatoes, and toast or pancakes.
Later it became tofu, potatoes and a green veg or fruit.
But sometimes toast with marmite! Hee hee As long as it is not heavy in
faux meat or sugary pankcakes, I am a firm believer in breakfast at any hour.

As much as Monkey-man loves his sweets, he goes ape-shit for
anything salty and savory. I think it is a male thing to be honest.
I know I've read something about women being more biologically wired
to like sweet stuff like chocolate. Now this isn't a 100% of the
population or anything, just tendencies. I believe it was a podcast from
Stuff You Should Know or Stuff Mom Never Told You.

Anyway, I was thinking a quick fix of french toast for dinner,
but there was no way I was gonna get Monkey-man happy with that.
And it dawned on me-- savory french toast. Who says this stuff
has to be sweet.

It worried me a little though because I once tried to make savory
waffles and it is one of the most embarrassing foods I have ever made
to date. So disgusting. Remembering that I tread carefully.

Now you don't need eggs to make french toast, just your favorite
unsweetened or original flavored non-dairy milk.

I pair this up with some roasted potatoes and a tofu scramble with
peppers and tomatoes.

Breakfast for Dinner Savory French Toast



Ingredients

4 slices of day old or stale-ish bread
(I prefer a whole wheat because of the density)
1 1/4 cups unsweetened or original flavoured non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp soysauce (opt)
1/2 tsp white pepper
1-2 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons of flour or 1 tablespoon starch
1 tsp italian seasoning
2 tsp very very finely diced green onions (opt)
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients except the bread in a wide bowl.
Heat your frying pan and a little bit of olive oil over
medium-high heat.

Dip the bread, coating each side and lay it down on the frying pan.
Cook on each side until a dark golden-brown.

While the toast is grilling mix up a sauce of:

3 parts ketchup
1 part mustard
1 part chili sauce
1 part apple cider

Top with sauce and sauteed veggies if you like!
Serve while still piping hot and make sure your coffee is decaf
at this hour!

Beet Bejeweled Risotto

Since we had recently gone a little over the top with bread, we hit up
some standard burritos and tacos, and then I had to move on
to a different starch for my meals.

I’ve recently developed a love affair with risotto. There are so many
myths surrounding risotto, telling people it is too hard to make
unless you’ve got Gordon Ramsey screaming over your shoulder,
telling you what to do. I’m here to tell you that risotto is super easy.
If you can pour broth into a pan and stir rice around for a half
hour, you can make risotto.

Of course I like twisting the flavours around. You’ll usually see
some tomato and basil risottos-- anything you might find replicated
from a pasta recipe. Most of all I wanted to change the colour of
the actual dish, so what better than beets? The beets are steamed,
peeled, and chopped before hand so that they are ready to go when
you’re making the risotto.

Its perfect because I wanted to start up some themed dishes to get
you all ready and in the mood for St. Valentine’s Day.

Yes, I know a lot of people really hate St. Valentine’s Day.
Especially, if you’re single or sometimes with a really annoying person.
Well if St.Valentine’s Day is about love, what about loving yourself
a little? Love yourself with a special meal, some dark chocolate,
a glass of wine, and your favorite movie.

Or throw a little dinner party and then you won’t be alone. Maybe
invite all your single friends so no one feels alone out there in
the world of candle light couple events... I honest have never seen
St. Valentine’s as something corporate or designed to make you feel
bad for not having a significant other. I always used it as a day to
remember all the people I love. I’d make cards, cookies, or candy for
all my friends and family. Later on in life, I got little things here
and there from boys and that was nice too. But I wasn’t expecting it,
so it was even better.

Getting back to cooking.... If you are trying to multi-task while
making risotto, good luck. I mean forget it. You’ll probably end up
with some hard, sticky rice. You can hardy leave the pan alone for a
minute without it drying out.

So make sure everything else is set and ready to go. Feed the cats,
take out the dog, avoid interruptions. And enjoy~

Bejeweled Risotto



3 medium beets, cooked, peeled and chopped
1/2 large onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp earth balance or olive oil
1 cup vodka
6-8 cups of vegetable broth
or water with a few bouillon cubes dissolved
2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup daiya moz cheese
black and white pepper
sea salt
sage, thyme, lemon zest

First heat the oil in a large frying pan or saute pan.
Add the onions and garlic and cooking in the oil for a few minutes
at a medium to low high heat.

Add the rice, coating well with oil. Cook for about two minutes,
stirring. Add the vodka, making sure that it is warm or room temp
to not shock the rice leaving it unable to cook properly.

Once the vodka is almost absorbed and the liquid looks sparse,
add a 1/2 cup of warm or room temp broth. You will continue to do
this. Add broth, stir, cooking it just at a light simmer until the
liquid is not quite gone, add more broth. Don’t let it get too dry.

Once it starts to look puffy and sticky, start testing it to see if
the center is cooked. Once it is near al dente, add the seasonings
and chopped beets. Continue to cook until the beets are hot and the
colour has distributed nicely. Add more broth still as needed.
Finally, add the daiya and stir until completely melted. Serves 4-6

I had mine with some garlic-chili grilled tofu! Yum!

Plethora of Panini: Polish Panini

The original idea that we started out with was to do a 'meat'ball
sub. I wanted to make some seitan balls and it sounded good, but
then I realized we had nothing to make a red sauce.

I still made some seitan, but more in the shape of large patties.
I wanted to see if by adding beets you could get a different color
than the usual broth color of seitan.

I blended about a 1/2 cup of cooked beets, a can of soybeans, some
polish herbs/seasonings (or even just some sausag'y seasonings like
sage or rosemary), some vegetable bouillon, a few tablespoons of oil,
diced raw carrots, a few cloves of garlic (minced), sea salt and
lots of black pepper.

Then I added the wheat gluten, just enough to form a firm ball,
which I split up and steamed for over an hour. We sliced the patties
in to thirds and grilled to finish the cooking process. No, the color
didn't hold. It still ended up the usual light brown color.

To round out the paninis we added some dill pickles and sauteed
shredded cabbage and onion cooked with cumin seeds. But you can use
sauerkraut. I had to add veganaise for good measure and we were
happy campers.

Paninis are pretty easy goes or anything goes, really. It mainly
just knowing what theme you want to go with, pair spices and herbs,
having a good sauce/dressing, cooking the wetter vegetables before-
hand, and getting the hang of your own grilling technique.

I'm done with paninis for now, hankering for a burrito or some tacos.
I always said I could live on bread, but now I'm second guessing that.
Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Plethora of Panini: pairing and pearing

I know when I've hit the tail end of a series. It is usually when I
really can't imagine eating that dish once more in a very long time.
I still have the last few paninis on the docket, but I am growing
very near to not being able to eat another for a while.

In fact I'm starting to crave chimichanga... If I can't grill
sandwiches, I'm gonna find something else to grill.

Since this Panini was so extraordinarily simple and not very
high in vegetable content, I had to pair it with another more
nutritious dish. Monkey-man has been complaining about wanting
soup because he doesn't want to get sick. So instead of arguing
that it isn't soup that will keep him from getting sick it is
a good load of vitamin heavy veggies, sleep and exercise--
I quietly made him some sweet potato stew and he was content.

The stew had sweet potatoes, russet potato, bell pepper, turnips,
onions, garlic, cabbage, and carrots. It was a simple base of broth,
soy milk, whole wheat flour, sage, paprika, bay, oregano, sea salt,
black and white peppers, and peanut butter. I don't usually pair stews
and sandwiches, I usually go with a bisque or blended soup.
But as long as you are sure to moderate with a smaller sandwich,
it is perfect.

The panini was stuffed with vegan rice pepper jack cheese, sliced
apples and pears, a sprinkling of garlic powder, and if you're
adventurous, some jalapenos! The sweetness of the fruit is perfectly
balanced with the spiciness of the 'cheese' and peppers.
I've also heard of pair peaches or apricots with brie, but
I'm not sure what vegan cheese I'd use for that. The vegan brie
we did make from The Uncheese Cookbook had much too much onion
powder in it and I cannot imagine that going with peaches...
I'll keep experimenting and get back to you on that one.

Get your fix with sweet, spicy, and savory all at once.
That's an order!

Plethora of Panini: Delhi or Deli?

Although I find middle eastern and Indian food pretty delicious, I
do have to admit one qualm I have with it. Most of what I have tried
is-- overcooked-- for lack of a better word. I'm sure this is because I
haven't gotten to experience traveling in that region and haven't had
the advantage of befriending an outstanding traditional Indian chef.
Even with books, recipes, and restaurants most of what I've tried/seen
has been really heavily cooked dishes of (mainly) grains and legumes.
Not bad, but I always like to have something very raw and fresh with
my meals.

I know there are a lot of salads or cucumber dishes, but too often they
are submerged in dairy.

Another thing that I've found when using Indian recipes is needing to
really know the spices. That is usually the main draw of this region's
dishes-- the spices! So exotic and exciting, but if over done it gets
a heavy dusty taste. That is really the only way I can describe it.

If you don't agree with any of this, please feel free to call me on it.
I'm just describing my own experiences. When making an Indian
spiced Panini, I wanted the flavors you know and love with an added
freshness. This is into way traditional, just a delicious experiment.

When making Paninis I always try to consider what the sauce is going
to be. Sometimes it is a spread, a cheese (vegan please), or dressing.
It should be something that is still tasty when hot or melted, as you
will be grilling it. All that the sauce does is keeps the entire
sandwich from being super dry and crunchy. You want a hot, flavorful,
moist interior, with a crisp, crunchy crust.

You can do more than one. I used veganaise and mustard with the
balsamic vinegar panini for example. Sometimes the vegetables add
enough moisture on their own, but not always.

For this panini I did two. I had a hummus spread on one side and
vegan yogurt on the other. I added a little salt to the yogurt as
the Whole Soy brand, my brand of choice, is a little sweet sometimes.

For the vegetables I separated them and seasoned them differently, to
add variation and to avoid the over spiced taste that I spoke of earlier.

To the onions, garlic, peppers, and chilis I added some red chili
powder, cayenne, and black and white pepper. I sauteed them until the
onion was soft and tender. I just used water instead of oil whenever
they started to look dry. I added no more than 1/4-1 tsp of each spice.

It depends on how much you are making and how strong you want it.
I made enough for two sandwiches: 1/2 onion, 1/2 pepper, 3 cloves
garlic, 1 hot pepper with 1 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and
1/2 tsp of everything else.

Remove your veggies from the pan and get ready to cook the eggplant.
In a tablespoon of oil, quickly roast a tsp or so of cumin seeds. Add 1
tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp coriander, and 1/4 tsp ginger (opt). Cook briefly
and add about half an eggplant cut into 1/4 inch slices. These were
salted and rinsed beforehand to extract the bitterness. Cook each side
in the spices until the edges of the eggplant appear dark and soft.

Assemble the bread with all the ingredients so far... add some fresh
sliced tomatoes and some cilantro and grill! It may seem spicey, but
the coolness of the soygurt and fresh tomatoes balance it all out for
a perfect panini!

Plethora of Panini: Vinegar on the High Street

Last night the paninis took an Italian twist. Usually adding
balsamic vinegar as the main flavor punch has me a bit worried
because it tends to make paninis very soggy. But I found a way to
keep the splashing to a minimum.



First saute the your desired veggies-- I did some peppers, onions,
garlic cloves in some Italian seasonings and light olive oil.
Then separately grilled slices of eggplant that I had salted and
rinsed to remove the bitterness. This is where you add the vinegar.
Dry grilling the eggplant burns up the moisture. Eaten straight
after would be dry and probably a little flavorless.

I put them in the pan with the other veggies and added some salt
and a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, which was quickly
absorbed by the thirsty eggplant.



On the bread I spread some veganaise, spicy mustard, a dash of
garlic salt and fresh shredded basil. I would have loved some pesto
though... Then I added some sliced field roast, fresh tomatoes, and
fresh spinach.

I layered it all together and added another little spoonful of
vinegar on to the field roast, which is absorbent as well.
Then we grilled it with a little bit of olive oil and opened
a bottle of Bordeaux. I know it's french, but who is telling?



Writing this I just realized I forgot to add the black olives...
Oh well, don't tell Monkey-man!

Plethora of Panini: Fajita Panini

I'd like to say that the majority of our meals are planned, but that
would simply not be true. It is part of what I want to focus more of
my energy on this year-- planning ahead. But then life happens.

I was planning on doing a Middle Eastern Panini last night, but
Monkey-man ended up doing a quick fix of a Mexican seasoned panini
instead. Our plans were changed because on the way to the grocer,
we passed a small dog that had been hit and left.

At first I though he was dead because his legs were in the air as
if he was going through rigor mortis, but when we swung around I saw
him shaking. By the time I had him in the car and we had decided to
take him to our vet to see how bad it was he had relaxed and was much
more awake. Not sure if they clipped him or actually ran him over
because there were tire marks across his abdomen.

But now he's upstairs in our bathroom, healing his broken pelvis.
Pretty sweet guy. So if anyone wants a dog! Ha ha, just let me know.
He is not micro-chipped and not fixed (for long...)

Needless to say our dinner was little late, but this is what Monkey-man
magically mixed up for us.



Fajita Panini!

Saute a bell pepper, onion, a bit of jalapenos and a few cloves of
sliced garlic with chili powder, salt, pepper, a little bit of lemon
juice and cumin. Add water as it drys out and then add some olive oil
and half a pack of sliced tofu. Flip to grill both sides.

While that is being cooked, heat up your grill.
On your chosen bread add vegan pepper jack (galaxy rice cheese),
avocados and fresh tomatoes. Add some hot sauce, salsa or bean spread
to make it a little more exciting-- Grill and enjoy!

Plethora of Panini: Beet on the Brat

One of Monkey-man's Christmas presents was a cast-iron panini press
that I seriously had to hunt down. He's been ogling cast-iron pans
for awhile and next to pizza I am pretty sure sandwiches are his
favorite. Finding it was a hassle. I knew Macy's carried them and after
dealing with countless, stupid employees-- I found one at the Macy's
on Lake. Thank goodness my Monkey-man enjoys the more practical
gifts because this has certainly opened us up to a new series as we're
breaking in the ol' cast-iron.

Cast-Iron takes pampering. You should never wash it with soap, leave it
wet or use metal utensils on it. If you cook things on it that require
cleaning after-- something that sticks-- than clean it with very hot
water and a scrubber. Dry immediately afterward and oil to prevent
rusting. It may seem scary, but if you're cooking something like plain
toast, etc. you just brush it off, re-grease it and leave it. This
will age and season your pan.

I've seen people that cook meat just leave their pans with the fat, crap
and everything. Yeah, gross. Many argue that you should NEVER clean
your cast iron, but I do not agree. I say that you should try to never
use soap on it-- or at least don't use a lot and only when you really
need to. I believe in caring for your dishes properly, but I also
believe in not getting sick from bacteria festering on a pan.

Having said that, cast-iron is great because you can cook on the stove
and then stick it straight into the oven or actually use it as a baking
dish for things like corn bread or roasted vegetables. Our has ridges,
so it wouldn't be entirely ideal for that, but it is a possibility.

On to the food!
Panini, or Panino, is basically an Italian Sandwich. More accurately it
is a bread roll. A stuffed Panino is a roll stuffed with sandwich fixings.
This is derivative of the Italian word for bread: Pane. Often they are
served hot or grilled on ciabatta or focaccia. Americans refer to any
grilled sandwich as a panini, as being grilled is the deciding
characteristic. Whereas any sandwich is called a panini in Italy.

If you don't have a stove press you can use an electric one. Some
waffle makers double as panini presses. You can use a heavy pan and
a brick wrapped in foil. Just allow the brick to heat with the pan
before adding your prepped sandwich. Or you can just set a heavy pan
on top of your sandwich and plan on flipping it.

Part One: Beet on the Brat Panini

Ingredients

Beets or beet pulp (See Below)
2 cloves garlic, minced
vegan cream cheese
mustard
Miso
1/2 Red Onion
Vegan deli slices: ideally field roast, sliced seitain, or something
similar to yves roast slices. I'm sure Tofurky would be good too...
But stay away from the bologna style stuff.
Olive Oil or Earth Balance

When I make Borsht I blend the whole pot and push it through a mesh.
I usually end up with about two cups of beet pulp that I use to fill
dumplings, spread on sandwiches or mix into something else.

I had some left over beet-pulp from our postponed Christmas Dinner
that I still needed to use. You can steam beets and blend them with
a little broth, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Or you can just
steam a beet and slice it very very thin.

Heat your pan and saute the sliced onion until soft and caramelized.

I made two sandwiches here... spreading vegan cream cheese, mustard,
and light miso on one side of the bread and then sprinkled it with
diced, raw garlic.



Oil or grease the other side of the bread.
Arrange the deli slices on the side with the cream cheese.
Spread or arrange the beets on the other side of the sandwich and
top with the cooked onion. Squish the sandwich together and grill
according to the type of pan you are using.

Cut in half and serve!

Pumpkin Patch Part Five: Pumpkin Tomato Soup

Whenever it starts getting a little chilly or if I start getting sick,
I insist on tomato soup for dinner. Thankfully I am not ill, but we
have had some crisp autumn evenings as of late.

Tomato soup has to be one of the easiest soups you can just about
make... Actually, now that I think of it-- it IS the easiest soup
you could make.

We'd get tomato soup and saltines as children when we were sick.
I don't know if my Mom made it or bought it, but it made me feel
better. If Dad was home we got miso, which I was not a fan of at the
time. When I got older and my Mom got sick, I made some tomato soup
for her. Except she is so picky I couldn't use garlic or onions and
she wanted it to taste just like traditional canned soup.

Well, I snuck some onions in anyway and managed to skip the heavy
cream with soymilk and she didn't complain. Yet, I found that it
did lose some of the richness it had before. The way to gain that
real creaminess is with cashews!

And adding Pumpkin is such an amazing twist. You get a lovely
orange colour instead of the light redish-pink and a very slight
tinge of squash. I hope you like it!

Pumpkin Tomato Soup

4 cups chopped, skinned tomatoes
1 cup chopped pumpkin, I used cooked but you can start with raw
1 med onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bouillon cube
1/2 tsp sage
1/3-1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions and garlic in a stock pot in a few tbsp of
water or mild oil until the onions appear translucent and the
garlic is fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, bouillon, sage, and pumpkin (if raw only).
Add some water if you are using fresh tomatoes.
Cook covered for about 15-20 minutes on med-low heat, adding water
if it appears to need it. Add the pumpkin and heat through for
about five minutes. Add the cashews, sugar, and seasonings.

Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Blend in small
batches, minding the heat. Move back to the stockpot over the
heat until ready to serve. If the soup appears too thick, you
can thin it out a bit with some veg broth or non-dairy milk.
Make sure the seasoning is adjusted and enjoy!

Monkey-man whipped up some garlicy pumpkin seed crackers, which
we sprinkled on top!




I then heated some soymilk in smallpan, just for a minute or so
and frothed it in my french press. I've got to get the hang of
soup designs with cream...

Pumpkin Patch Part Four: Pumpkin Chili

I'm pretty bummed that last week I made an awesome pumpkin curry
for a potluck and totally forgot to take a picture for you all.

That's why there was a gap of a couple days. However, last night
we made a version of Monkey-man's favorite meal ever-- or one of
them anyway! Chili with roasted potatoes and the best-est cheese
sauce!

Usually I like summer squash or zucchini in my chili, but instead
I used pumpkin. And we got these amazing vitelotte potatoes at our
local grocer. The skins were almost black, but the inside was a
rich, beautiful violet. At first I thought they were going to
taste like the purple sweet potatoes that I used to get in Hawaii,
but these were wonderful. They had the same texture as your run
of the mill potatoes, but had a deeper, earthier, rustic flavour.
Apparently they are native to Peru and Bolivia. Usually I think
of Europe and Ireland when I think of potatoes, but supposedly
Peru is the birthplace of more than 90% of potato varieties we
eat and love today.

I'm sorry, this wasn't meant to be a post about potatoes!
This is a post about pumpkin in Chili! So here you go!

Pumpkin Chili

2-3 cups fresh pumpkin, chopped largely
1 can or 4 large diced tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup of corn
2 cups of beans, cooked (any kind you like)
1 small pepper
1/2 cup TSP or TVP (opt)
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 vegetable bouillon cube
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions and garlic for about five minutes in a large
pot over medium heat in a few tablespoons of water or oil.

Add the pumpkin and a little bit more water an cover, cook for a
few minutes then add the tomato and seasonings. Cover and cook,
adding water if needed and cook until the pumpkin is starting to
get a little bit tender, but is not completely cooked-- about 10
minutes max.

Add the pepper, corn tvp and beans and cook/heat through. You may
need to add a little extra water or veg broth for the tvp. By the
time the tvp is plumped the pumpkin should be cooked through, but
not mushy.

Serve over roasted potatoes and topped with your favorite cheese or
cheese sauce. Monkey-man added daiya moz just for good measure.
If this isn't hot enough for you, throw in a diced hot pepper like
a habenero or some hot sauce if you're kinda lazy and don't want
to deal with chopping hot peppers...

Pumpkin Patch Part One: Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

In honor of my favorite time of year I've decided to do a series of
the most famous autumn fare (and my personal favorite): Pumpkin!

I love squash because of the wonderful colours, shapes, variety and
simple versatility. It is amazing in savory and sweet dishes alike.
Therefore, I thought I'd start off with something you might do a
double take at... Pumpkin Pasta Sauce!

Also because I wanted to use the adorable animal shaped pasta I
recently got. I bought it for mac and cheese, but I had a lot leftover.
The shaped pasta like this really captures the sauce well.

We ate it with some sauteed zucchini and some garlic bread--
But now I have a craving for spiced apple cider!

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce



2 cups of cooked pumpkin
1 cup soymilk or cashew cream
1 vegetable bouillon
5 fresh sage leaves, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp salt
black and white pepper to taste
nutmeg to taste

1/2 tvp
1 tsp oil
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable broth

nutritional yeast

Brown the tvp in a pan over medium heat in the oil. Once the tvp
begins to reach a golden brown and start to toast, turn down and
continually add vegetable broth, while cooking. Once the tvp has
plumped up, is no longer dry on the inside and any excess liquid
is cooked off remove it from the heat. Set aside.

Blend or process your cooked pumpkin with the ‘milk’/cream until
smooth. Over medium heat saute the onion in a few tablespoons of
water. After about two minutes, add the garlic and then the sage.
Cook, adding more water if needed, until the onion appears
translucent and tender.

Add the bouillon, pumpkin mix, tvp, 1/4 cup water/broth and
remaining seasonings. Turn down to medium-low heat and cook for
about more 15 minutes.

Serve over your favorite cooked pasta and top with some nutritional
yeast or mix about a 1/4 cup in right before serving.

Makes enough sauce for 3-4 servings.

Pizza Pizzaz Part Eight: BBQT Pizza

Finally, summer has begun for me. I can breathe freely for a few
months without the impending doom of 30-page papers, a thesis, or
massive exams hanging over me. Instead I have crying kittens, a messy
house and a big deadline for my cookbook.

First I have to set my place up to incorporate a more creative flow.
So I'm spending my day cleaning and rearranging my little place.

Beside that I want to start off my summer showing you another awesome
pizza. Summer is the time of bbqs and outdoor parties. But not all
of it has to include dead flesh or a grill. You can get the amazing
flavor and familiar sensations all with a little imagination.

Experimenting with different sauces got me to whipping up this pizza.
I wanted to do one with my delicious barbecue sauce (which will be in
the book) and also bring in the use of some baked/grilled tofu.





With a smaller, thickly rolled crust you have your favorite
barbecue sauce topped with sweet bell peppers, walnuts, roasted garlic,
baked beggin' tofu, olives, and some chedder daiya. I should have
added some sliced tomatoes.... I used to use this recipe for
'bacon', but now I use a marinade of more maple syrup, less water,
braggs instead of soy sauce, a little bit of salt, smoked paprika,
and a wee bit of garlic powder. Marinate at least a couple hours
before using.









This pizza is a little sweet, very savory, and its got a little kick
from some hot spice in the sauce. Its good to balance the sauce by a
thick crust and lots of toppings or else all you're going to be tasting
is bqq bqq bqq.

So now its officially summer for me I will be posting and updating
much more. You'll be seeing more of my book and getting lots of juicy
photos. If you're interested my tester site will be completed soon and
is invite only. I will be needing testers for book recipes, so I hope
to generate some help and interest. Happy eating!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Six: Chipmunk Pizza

Going through this series we had a list of white pizzas that we wanted
to give a shot. Now I love cashews on pizza (especially with broccoli)
but I wanted to turn up the nuttiness up to eleven.

First I started with adjusting the crust. When adding the flour to my
yeast, sugar, oil, salt, water mix I also tossed in about three tbsps
of flax meal. I like the flecked effect it gives, plus the added
nutritional boost. Monkey-man needs his omega-six!


For the Sauce I mixed up a white wine sauce with a earthbalance roux
base. I thinned it out with soymilk, but any nondairy milk would be
fine. Added some garlic and a dash of nutmeg, just to give it a twist.
Of course salt and pepper and cooked enough to burn off the majority
of the alcohol.



For toppings I went all out, not stopping with cashews. I also threw
on sun flower seeds and toasted Brazil nuts, roasted garlic, diced
tomatoes, and black olives. I considered almonds and peanuts, having
both on hand... but almonds are too sweet and I thought peanuts would
be too overpowering.



Lastly I topped it with a dusting of daiya moz cheese.


Again I baked it at 450F for about 12 minutes until browned.
It was incredibly rich and good with a nice salad or leafy green.

I can think of a few other nuts that might have been good... like
macadamia nuts, walnuts, or pistachios-- go nuts!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Five: Rastafarian Pizza

You don't need dreadlocks or any smoke around da house to enjoy
something rasta, you need to just be jammin this pizza!


I wanted to mix it way up. This is an amazing dish to contrast a deep
natural sweetness with a light brush of spice. Yeah, I know I've already
used beans on another pizza in this series, but I had to go back for
one more version.

This time I used a black bean mix instead of the pintos. And here is
the break down of some basic Jamaican Black Beans...


3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, minced
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1 can black beans
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp red chili flakes
salt and pepper

First cook the onions and garlic over medium heat with a few
tablespoons of water until they appear slightly translucent.
Add the black beans and seasonings and continue to cook for
about 10 minutes, but be sure to keep adding water or more
orange juice if it appears that the beans are drying out.

Preheat the oven at 450F and roll out your prepared crust.

On the crust, spread out the black beans evenly. It is important
to make sure they pretty moist because they will lose a lot of
that moisture during the bake in the oven.

I topped with fresh sliced tomatoes, sliced green and yellow
bell peppers, black olives, and bananas. I originally though pineapple
because I wanted to add something sweet. But pineapple is tricky on
pizzas and can be very over powering. So bananas it was. They were
perfect. Soft, sweet, and yellow! Perfect for my colour scheme!




Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the crust starts to turn
gold. I loved assembling it because it looks like a mandala!
Enjoy with some Marley, or be super naughty and pair it
up with some Sublime...

Pizza Pizzaz Part Three: Getting Saucy

I have encountered two spiritual junctures in my life thus far.
The first was when I discovered kitchen witchery and the craft
as a teenager. It strongly affected my creativity, sense of self,
and overall attitude of action.

The second was when I found garlic.
It felt like finding my soul-mate. In my parent's home, garlic is
not allowed. If my Mom smells it she will squirm and squeal and
run to find the huge loud air filter, topped up with tea tree oil.

I remember when I was little and my Mom forced my Dad to agree to
forgo garlic from then on. Since he stopped bringing it home, he
lost the taste for it too. Not entirely. He doesn't hate it, but
its way more powerful tasting.

My first affair with garlic began with the pesto pizza.
The green colour, the penetrating flavour all topped with luscious
tomatoes was too good to be true. Retrospectively, it was way too
much oil to handle. I can't believe how much fat was in those
pizzas I would order at the local joint.

I use a fraction of the oil in my current version of pesto, adding
tomatoes instead. I also use walnuts instead of pine nuts, because
I don't fancy spending $20/lb on them. Nutritional yeast has easily
replaced parmesan hands down-- Way better nutritional value without
the fat and nastiness of cheese.

I still love it topped with a vegan moz cheese and tomatoes. Other
toppings come and go...



I also suggest experimenting with cilantro pesto. Now, I'm not a
huge fan of cilantro and I know it turns alot of people off. Try it
anyway. The cilantro doesn't come through in the same way for some
reason and its dreamy on pizza. Basically, if you haven't experienced
a pesto pizza yet... Do it. Now. Or I'll never forgive you.

Vegan Fettucini Alfredo

The summer I spent living with two of my best friends, our
cheap college fare was extremely bizarre and fatty. Granted
we did eat our fair share of potatoes and the vegetarian ramen,
there were three main things I learned to cook during that time
span. I learned how to make crepes from my neighbor, mochi from a
classmate and alfredo from my roomie.

I wrote before how we used to eat a crap ton of crepe...
But I have no idea why we started making alfredo. It was
originally what me started back on a path to attempting to
reincorporate mushrooms into my diet. Ultimately that was
foiled by my strange gag reflex triggered by them.
However, we used porcini mushrooms nonetheless in hopes that
someday I could stomach them.

Since those days I continued making alfredo, but very rarely or
when I was desperate to make something my mom would eat.

I learned to make it with fresh parmesan and heavy cream and
since been trying to make a vegan version with nutritional
yeast and soymilk.

*Enter 'The Urban Vegan'

I really dig this cookbook. Unlike most of the vegan books that
get churned out, it doesn't contain a lot of asian dishes or
bizarre expensive ingredients. I have a very european palate I
must admit.

So finally I shoveled out the earthbalance and made Balcavage's
Vegan Alfredo. I made a couple adjustments...

First, I added garlic. Sorry, but I don't know what alfredo without
garlic would be like... Oh yeah. Boring.

Second, I cut down on the earthbalance and upped the nutritional
yeast. Theory was to make a roux out of the oil and yeast. Well,
to make a proper roux you need equal portions of the fat and X--
typically flour.

Third, having a proper roux you don't need the kudzu root that is
called for.



Vegan Fettucini Alfredo~ Adapted

Ingredients

3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup earthbalance
1/4 cup heaping nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup soy milk
black pepper

In a medium pan over medium heat, saute garlic in melting
earthbalance. Once the garlic becomes fragrant, add the
nutritional yeast to form your roux.

Continue to cook for about for a few minutes to cook roux.
Whisk in soymilk a little at a time. Add salt and turn to
low. Allow to simmer until it thickens up.

Toss with fettucini or other desired pasta.
I made about 2/3 of a package for this much sauce and served
it with some dark leafy greens.

To add some extra protein try tossing in some vegan chic like
gardein.

Even without the mushrooms, the memories hit me and I tasted
them anyway. Amusingly enough, Monkey-man said later that if
we hadn't had it with greens he wouldn't have been able to
stomach it either because he kept 'memory-tasting' shrimp.
Go figure! So, yes. This alfredo is so authentic tasting it
will blow your mind!

7 Days of Irish Luck, St. Patrick's Day: Irish Garlic Soup

Unfortunately I am behind a day. School is coming to a close
and trying to take my sanity with it. So when I got home last night,
I had such a headache I went to bed without dinner.



But today I was so caught up with the beautiful day -- how
could I not be in the mood to cook? So after I made some
cookies for my cousin, I started dinner for the Monkey-man
and myself. It was just what we wanted. Warm, rich, and filling.

This is such rejuvenating soup. If I was under the weather,
I'd take it over miso any day. The traditional recipe calls
for egg yolks added at the end to thicken it up and add another
layer of richness (fat).

I got that thickness by just adding a tablespoon of arrowroot
to a little bit of soymilk and adding it at the end.

I served it over sliced, toasted bagels- like croutons. Yum!

Irish Garlic Soup



Ingredients

12 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
3 tablespoons of earthbalance
2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1/4 cup soymilk
1 tablespoon soy sauce/braggs

Melt the earthbalance over low heat, adding the garlic and
onion. Cook on low-low for about 20 minutes. Add the flour,
turning up the heat to cook the flour for a few minutes
into a roux.

Add the vinegar, soy sauce, and broth and cook for another
30 minutes. Finally add the arrowroot powder to the soymilk
and pour into the soup slowly. Season with a little bit of
salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 more minutes.

Serve over croutons.



(Tomorrow is St. Patricks! Pull out that green tonight~)

7 Days of Irish Luck, St. Paddy's Day: Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional dish served on St. Patrick's Day for
the lovely green and white, but more commonly around Old Hallows
Eve. A ring would be hidden in the dish and the lucky lady
(or not so lucky if you bit it) that found it was bound to marry
in the spring.

The traditional recipe uses a lot of fat, I cut it down and added
a bit of nondairy milk to retain the creaminess.

It can be made with curly kale or cabbage, I used regular cabbage
and purple cabbage to make it even more beautiful!

Colcannon

Ingredients

about 4 potatoes, ready to boil
1/2 cup regular cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup purple cabbage, shredded
1/4 onions
1/4 cup earthbalance
a couple green onions, diced
1/4 cup soymilk
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

While your potatoes are boiling, saute your green cabbage,
garlic, and onions together just until tender. After saute
the purple cabbage, so as not to dye the others.

Alternately, you can saute just the onions and garlic and
set aside (or omit) and blanch the cabbage in your hot
potato water after pulling the potatoes out.

Anyway, after the potatoes are cooked place them in a dish
and mash the butter in, adding just enough nondairy milk
to make it creamy.

Mix in your cabbages (and onions if using) and season with
salt and pepper. I topped my with green onions and stuck
it the the over for just a few minutes, partly to keep it
hot while I was cooking other things and partly to give it
just a little be of a different texture on the top.

I love the way that the purple cabbage dyed just a wee bit
of the surrounding potatoes, they looked like puffy little
clouds...

Easy Soup: ABCs & Vegan Candy Bars to the stars

Busy with school the past week I've needed fast, quick fix foods
for dinner. But no crap that was gonna make me crash or leave me
hungry and coked out on fats.

I think soup has got to be one of the easiest things to cook.
They can be made fast or slow, you can put whatever you want in
them, and even if its going badly they are so easy to fix or
change into something amazing.

I found some cute alphabet pasta last week so I decided to make
a tofu noodle soup. Its a pretty straight forward list of ingredients...

1/2 onion
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup cabbage
1 carrot, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
1/2 block tofu
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1 white basil
salt and pepper to taste
3 oz of small pasta

Just saute your onions and garlic in a little bit of water
over medium heat until translucent and fragrant. I used
vegetable bouillon cubes and thin them out with water, so
whatever you choose is fine. Add the vegetables next adding
the water/broth slowly. Add your basil and let simmer until
your veg is getting tender. Add your pasta ensuring that
there is enough water or broth to be absorbed without leaving
your soup like stew. Once your pasta starts to cook, add the
tofu (extra firm) cut into cubes and continue to cook until
your pasta is al dente and tofu is warm through.

Add the salt and pepper to taste.
I had mine with a slice of toasted wheat sourdough from TJs.
(AHH, I'm so hungry right now!!!)

Over the weekend I hung out at Monkey Man's and we hit up the
whole foods in Pasadena where we picked up our second vegan
candy bar from Go Max Go Foods.
The first we had was the Jokers bar, which I guess is like a
snickers and was pretty darn tasty, but this is the one I was
really dying to try.



The Twilight bar is pure Milky Way Goodness. Its like getting
a vegan shot of heroin. Sorry, I don't know why I'm doing all
these comparisons with drugs today. But it was good.
Only difference that you can taste is a little bit of the rice
flavor from the rice milk in the chocolate. It comes across as
coconut at first, but its real subtle.

Sorry the pictures are kinda bad, they were taken in a dark car.



Perfect chocolate, smooth caramel, and oh so fluffy... stuff.
Nougat? I don't know! Its fuffy! And its GOOD!