Potato Leek Soup and Rustic Garlic Bread

Thinking back, when I was a teen I ate the same thing a lot.
Had pretty much generic meals every other night and never
tried anything new. Believe it or not, I was a picky picky kid.
I guess that's why I'm so tolerant with my little brother and Mom.
Because I was just like them.

I'm not sure if its the influence that veganism has had on my life or
the wonderful support I've had from my boyfriend, but with the
exception of snacks and some breakfasts I rarely if ever eat the same
thing twice in one month. Unless its seriously on of our all time
favorites like chili-cheeze taters or curry.

And I've been on a major cooking crazy. Monkey-man swings off
to work and I make dinner for when he comes back. What a good
little domestic witch I am! (ha) I think its really the excitement of
surprising him with something new that we haven't eaten together
before.

Now, with my organic delivery I've been getting bushels of leeks
and we've been throwing them into all the soups, stews and
stir-frys right along with the onions but I haven't made him potato
leek soup before. I've been dying to try my friends recipe which
sounds amazing, but I've get to have both leeks and apple cider
in my fridge at the same time. I will someday!!!




Basic-basic-basic Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients (for two)

1 med onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large leeks, halved and sliced
2 med-large potatoes, chopped (I used russets w/skins)
4 cups of veg broth
salt, pepper, and rosemary or dill
1 bayleaf

Saute the onion in a little bit of water over medium heat until
translucent. Add the leek and garlic. Keep adding water if it
starts to stick. Saute for a few more minutes and then add the
potatoes. You can saute with olive oil to add a little more flavor
if you like.

Throw in the potatoes and vegetable broth, along with whatever
herb you picked and the bayleaf. I use anywhere from 1/2 tsp- 1 tsp
dried herb, but please flavor to taste.

Bring to a boil and turn down and simmer until the potato is tender.
About 20-25 minutes. Flavor with salt and pepper and using an immersion
blender, blend about 1/3 to thicken up slightly.

Pre-blended


After blending...




I'm not sure why I thought this was going to be rustic
but sure enough didn't come out like it.



Don't get me wrong, it was delicious and fresh, warm bread is
always welcome. But I wish I had added more garlic. I put in
about 6 whole cloves halved when I could have put in twice that much.


And this should have really been fermented overnight, but hey.
It served its tasty purpose.

Baking for Haiti: Brownies and Croissant

I waited almost too long to post this... but nearly two
weeks ago I whipped up a storm in the oven for a vegan
bake sale that was going down at Locali in LA to raise
money for Doctors Without Borders' relief efforts in
Haiti.

I haven't been posting until now because its midterms
for those of us on a quarter system. Grad midterms, ouch.
Thats all I've got to say.

But I originally signed up to make a couple versions of
brownies. I was already studying so I grabbed a couple
recipes that I knew I could depend on.

Naturally I picked Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's brownie
recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking. All I can really
say about these is that... honestly... the are epitome
of what a brownie is.



Fudgy and packed with chocolate chips.
I also tried Alicia Silverstone's Coffee Brownies
from the Kind Diet. It calls for brown rice flour, so
it comes out like chocolate mochi cake that is really
popular in Hawaii. Its topped with a nice frosting
made with chocolate chips and earth balance. The coffee
taste is really subtle and slightly smoking. They were
good but better if you just want some mochi, not really
too brownie like to me.



I was going to make a batch of my sunbutter brownies,
but sadly I ran out of sugar. So I just stuck with the
real project that I was focusing on....



About a month ago I had a friend ask me to veganize croissants.
It took some planning and a lot of tweaking, but SHAZAM!







'Buttery', Flaky, beautiful layers!
They came out of the oven just as we were leaving,
so perfect timing. But they are horribly time consuming,
so you have to plan ahead.















From all these amazing goodies we picked a root bear
float cupcake and a green tea cupcake. Both pretty
awesome. I'm not really cake person, but they were
num. Especially for such a good cause!

Fit Falafel

Honestly, when is falafel not a good idea?
Probably when you don't wanna share. Good thing, I was
taught to share a lot or Monkey-man would be screwed, man-
Screwed!

Got my fine fillings from TJs and also picked up their
tahini dip. Apparently they don't sell just straight tahini.
But it was damn good anyway- thicker than I'm used to, but no
complaints. Nice and zingy and garlicy!





We tried out the pitas from Fresh and Easy and they were
surprisingly awesome. I hate it when the inside melds
together and they are more like a big soft cracker or
super thick wheat tortilla. But we had just got them
because they were on super cheap and they turned out
to be great.

This is about the extent of my pre-made food purchases
so don't judge me!



I call these 'fit falafel' because they are baked- not fried.
One of my Mom's favorites it became a staple in our house
when I was old enough to seriously cook. But it wasn't until
I started sneaking garlic and onions into the house that I
realized how fudging amazing real homemade falafel was!
So pass up that premade boxed stuff folks get your butts
in gear!

Ingredients

16 ounces chickpeas
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1-2 tbsp flour or potato starch (binding purposes)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
A squeeze of lemon
and salt and pepper
some wheat germ for rolling

Its so much easier if you actually have a food processor,
but I've always just mashed them by hand. So grab the
nearest fork or machine or potato masher and get to work.
You don't want hummus, so take it easy. Leave some lumpies
in there.

Throw in all your spices and stuff. If it needs some more
liquid to bind, add a little bit of water. Shape into small
patty/balls and roll in some wheat germ. Place on a 'lightly'
grease baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes at 375F or
until they start to brown.



After that- You know what to do. Stuff the buggers and
chow down!



A jaw dropping addition to the fabulous food that is falafel
is cucumber raita. And if you have never had raita before,
you have not lived. I posted this while ago.
Make it, eat it, love it. Now.

caught in a pretzel

A while back we had a disgusting and disappointing occurrence
at a chain pretzel shop before running to a movie and ever since
we've been craving soft pretzels like crazy.

Just thinking we could get a plain pretzel without the
butter crap they put on it, we ordered at some pretzel chain.
Before we could even finishing saying what we wanted
they slathered something on it in the back. Apparently all
the pretzels at (wetzels? or was it annies? I don't know)
have butter on them. The dip the whole thing right when
it comes out of the oven and then again when you buy it.

Ha, forget that. No thanks. They were pissed, but I was
more so. What better than irritation to get you home to
start cooking something way better yourself?

I'm still working on this because I want them... shinier?
They were really good, but I want to work on the soda
bath. I certainly don't feel like whipping up a lye bath.



The dough is straight forward, but I noted not to
use excess amount of extra flour when rolling it out
later. Also to not roll it in oil before the first
rise.



After splitting them into separate balls, let them
rest before rolling them into ropes and twisting them.



Rise again and boil in a baking soda solution.





I dusted one batch with rock salt and left the other
plain so I could do sweet pretzels too.



As you can see they're missing that little bit of shine
I wanted. So after I tweak it, I'll post the whole recipe.
But for the salted ones, I mixed up a batch of my cheese
sauce that I use for mac and cheese to dip the pretzels in.



I brushed on a little melted earthbalance and dropped
them in raw sugar and cinnamon. You can use a mild
oil instead if you like.

If at first you don't succeed, put it in a pie

succeed
I had the best intentions of making a wonderful pot of smokey
pumpkin soup. I had a container of pumpkin that I had frozen
from Christmas and was intent on using it up.

I made the soup before, but something went horribly wrong.
It tasted pretty bad, but in the way where you can't place
what was wrong. It is supposed to be blended smooth and
flavoured with a wee bit of condensed liquid smoke.
It imparts memories of smokey gouda cheese and oven roasted
pumpkin. Yet for some reason this time it came out tasting
more like smokey feet.

Oh gods! Ok, it wasn't quite that bad. I'm exaggerating.
But we put it aside in hopes of the flavour settling and
it mellowing itself out.

The next evening I cooked up some onions, garlic, carrots,
potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a bit of bell pepper with
some sage... mixed the pumpkin soup in and dumped it in
a pie crust.



For some reason my curse hadn't worn off yet and my
crust came out bready. Not bad, but not flakey.
Oh well. It still tasted damn good.



Pies, or shepherds pies, or even pasties are a great
and delicious way to use up leftover soup.
That's why its an even better idea to have a batch of
pie crust in your freezer for emergencies.
I still have an uncooked pumpkin in the kitchen, now
I need to decide if I'm gonna attempt pumpkin soup again
or if some pumpkin sweets are in order.
Oh well, I'll probably just make curry!

Juicer what?! Basically I'm getting at something raw

A short while ago I had the happy fortune to stumble upon
a juicer for $7 at a little tiny thrift store by my house.
Mwa ha ha, said I. Indeed.

A bit dusty, but I cleaned 'er up and she works like a charm.
(I love that expression)

I first just tried it out by making a little carrot juice
and was trying to think of how to use the remaining pulp.
So I whipped up these awesome raw-ish wraps that look
amazing as anything you'd see at a high caliber restaurant
and taste even better.

Ok they're not raw really at all, but the veg is pretty much
all raw inside and you feel so good after eating. Only raw
foods can make you feel that vibrant. Like coffee without the
crash or jitters. I also made an herbed tvp/soya crumble
by soaking it in vegetable broth and adding garlic salt
and Italian seasoning. In there as well were some black
beans, avocado, tomatoes, bell peppers, a wee bit of garlic
aioli and the carrot pulp left over from the juicer.

For the collards that they're wrapped in, I removed a slice
of the thick stem and soaked them in some warm water.
You don't even need to steam them or even cook them.
I just wanted it to absorb some of the warm water to
soften slightly-- easier to roll and bit. NARM!



To give the juice a kick and balance out the carrot a little,
I added an apple and a couple chunks of ginger! I don't know
why but this is so amazing to drink at breakfast.





To seal up the wraps I cut some strips off the edge of the
collard leaf and used it to tie a little package. So cute!
Plus, these are a great to use in packed lunches because
you can throw it all together and not have to worry about your
bread or tortilla getting soggy!

Tal Ronnen Book Signing in Pasadena

A little over a week ago we headed up to the Pasadena Whole Foods
for a awesome little demo and book signing with Chef Tal Ronnen,
the author of Conscious Cook. It was mainly a demo to feature
the new faux mean product he helped design, Gardein.

I don't want to say his claim to fame is cooking for celebs,
but... He cooked for Oprah when she did the vegan 'cleanse'.
(I don't watch TV) He did Ellen's wedding-- Awesome!
And continues to cater for them both, as well as do other
celeb weddings and such... I wonder if he did Zooey and Ben Gibbard's
wedding... I should have asked. Shoot.

He made a 'steak' teriyaki stir fry and a 'chick' with mushroom
sauce. Here is a link to his site recipes, which hosts a similar recipe
to what he made- except without the udon and pea shoots.



Gardein was very good compared to other faux meat products
I've had. It wasn't spongy like some cheap meat subs tend to
be when they're heavy in gluten and it actually contains more
protein than animal flesh. So if you know a carnivore that
is eating meat 'only for the protein' (and I think we've all
heard this) definitely suggest Gardein!
So far I've seen it at Whole Foods and Fresh and Easy,
its pretty much brand spanking new, so you may need to ask
your local health food stores to look in to it.



It was pretty awesome and mellow. We got to ask him about
culinary schools and how he dealt with going through the
Natural Cookery and the whole meat side of the education.
Its really only a matter of time, I know, for a real vegan
cooking school to emerge... I just wish it had been around
when I had been training. Granted there are a few places,
but not real schools,
more just classes.

So we got a few tips, had some yummy food, made some connections,
and got my book signed! I know he's still doing demos in CA
and for sure one for Follow Your Heart, so look them up and
definitely try to catch him if he's in your area.





Tee hee!