Veggie Supreme

2008-07-31T16:00:00.003-04:00

Well, I didn't mean for this blog to die, but I guess it did. At least it was from natural causes.

Moving just sort of made me extraordinarily distracted and now, well, I'm expecting. That's sort of diverted a lot of my attention. And so.....until I post again.

Fizzy business

2007-10-11T10:36:00.000-04:00

I lurve seltzer water. Or rather, sparkling water with a hint of flavor. Not that over the top sweetness that comes via an artificial sweetener, but rather something like Poland Springs sparkling water with lime essence. That's my go-to drink at home. I like it because I feel like it is refreshing and not as bad for me as soda/diet soda and I know that water is important to drink. Do I feel bad about the amount of plastic bottles that pile up in my house? Yup. But at least I recycle them, right? There was an article in the NYTimes yesterday about this very phenomenon which presents a variety of ways you can make you own seltzer water at home. It's a bit pricey for me, but it's an interesting article nevertheless. Check it out here

Hi.

2007-06-17T15:23:00.000-04:00

I didn't mean to be so absent. But, alas, it happened.

Here's my update: I'm moving in 2 weeks! I'll be living in Durham, North Carolina. My husband and I closed on a house a couple weeks ago and we are anxious to settle in and start exploring the area more. I expect to be frequenting the local farmers' markets and finding lots of new watering holes.....And I expect to be posting more.

See you soon!

New things

2007-04-25T20:43:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple recipes I made recently, but forgot to post about. The first looks nasty. I'll admit it, it does. It's from last month's Vegetarian Times and it's called Black Bean Chilaquiles with Arugula Salad. Essentially you take some black beans, mix them in a blender with salsa, oregano and garlic and then heat it all up in a pan with some veg broth until it reduces a bit. Then you fold in tortilla chips until they are slightly soft. Serve with sprinkled cheese if you want. On the side is a yummy arugula salad with green onions, avocado, lime juice and tomatoes. Looks really gross, tasted pretty good.
The second is from the same week because I wanted to use up the arugula. It's another Spring recipe from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. This was super simple- chickpea patties with arugula salad. This time the salad was dressed with lemon juice and olive oil and it was the perfect complement to the slightly spicy patties. They were kind of like falafels, but slightly different and obviously not fried.

My obsession with all things salad continues. Right now the best salad in the world consists of:
baby greens, yellow pepper, red pepper, grape tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds), Sunergia's More Than Tofu pesto flavored tofu and last but not least, light italian dressing from Newman's Own.

Salad

2007-03-28T08:10:00.000-04:00

It may seem boring, but lately I've been obsessed with salad! I've found a good process that makes me way more willing to eat it daily. I buy a bag of baby greens at the beginning of the week, wash it and store it in the salad spinner in the fridge. I also buy a couple peppers of varying colors and a cucumber. I chop these up at the beginning of the week as well and store them in a container in the fridge. Then I might feel inspired to toast some pumpkin seeds or make croutons with leftover bread. Today I remembered I had a can of chickpeas and popped some of those in. I even cubed up some tasty pesto baked tofu I bought last week. Morning prep is simple when everything's ready to go.

Here's a picture of one of these salads.

I also made a yummy dinner of coconut rice with leeks and edamame last week. It was the first Spring recipe from A Year In a Vegetarian Kitchen (Jack Bishop) that I've tried and it was so yummy. But then, I'm a sucker for coconut rice!

I'm not going anywhere yet....

2007-02-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

I've just been overwhelmingly busy with thinking/planning for the move and working a new (temp) job that's 8:30-5:30. By the time I get home I'm beat! Of course I put looking for a new job on hold months ago when I knew this NC thing was in the works, but it's nice to have a pretty steady job for now. It's hard though working that extra hour a day. By the time I get home it's all I can do to boil water for pasta and throw on some Newman's Own marinara sauce.

I did do a little cooking this weekend though. I made the garlic and potato soup from the latest Cook's Illustrated. We had another vegetarian friend over and chowed down on it (I obviously substituted veg broth) and homemade whole wheat rolls. I didn't get around to taking a picture of the soup, but here's a shot of the rolls that we had leftover this morning:

They come from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook that my friend Molly gave me for my birthday. Very delish!

I interrupt this food blog for a special announcement

2007-01-27T17:20:00.000-05:00

I'm moving to North Carolina! My husband's employer offered to relocate him and the offer is just too good to pass up. And with me still temping.....it's hard to say no. It's not happening until late Spring/Summer but I'm probably going to be busy over the next few months.

Rice bowls

2007-01-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

I made a couple meals on top of rice this week. It's probably more rice than I've had in a while, but carbs are good for you, right? Probably would have been better with brown rice, but I've got a big bag of basmati so what ya gonna do?

The first meal looks fabulous, but it was hella salty and I didn't love it. It came from the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley which I got for Christmas. This was the first recipe I made and I'm not giving up easily since there seems to be a lot of interesting stuff in it. This is Sweet and Sour Tempeh with Spicy Peanut Sauce. There was just so much tamari in this that it had no chance of not being overly salty.

Then I made another recipe from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. This is Caribbean Black Beans with Sauteed Plantains. The beans are cooked with lime and orange juice and garlic. I was supposed to add a jalapeno pepper, but I didn't because I am lame. Still good though!

Here it is, my 100th post

2007-01-03T23:32:00.000-05:00

I got three new cookbooks this holiday season, but so far I've only cooked out of one of them. I've made a several recipes that I haven't captured on film from it that were pretty good, and one that was excellent. I got it, A Year In a Vegetarian Kitchen, from Lisa who already owned it and made some stuff out of it for me. The pasta with squash sauce is the best recipe ever and I think I could eat it for days. I'll post it next time I make it. I made it for Christmas, but with all the hecticness surrounding the holiday I didn't have a chance to take a picture.

So instead I'll show you the tempeh chili recipe that I made last week.
Since I had a lot of time off after Christmas and there was only so much tv/movies/gym/books to fill my time, I made a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread. Last time I made it my husband asked if I could add raisins next time, so I did.

Of course there was a giant whole in the middle of the loaf and I'm not convinced it wasn't the raisins fault, so I'll probably leave them out next time.

I also made aloo samosas from the Vegan Lunchbox book. They were really yummy and hopefully next time I have a party I'll have the time to make it. I think they need a yummy dipping sauce like you get at Indian restaurants, but we didn't have anything on hand. Otherwise, very yummy!

Quick post

2007-01-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

My mom alerted me to this story in the Boston Globe today. It's about a guy who collected 200 books about vegetarianism and recently sold them to the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe. It's a quick read, so check it out!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-22T23:44:00.000-05:00

Christmas means splurging on food I'd otherwise do my best to avoid, but luckily it only comes once a year. In that vein, I present my all-time favorite Christmas cookie, nutmeg logs. The secret is in the frosting which is a combination of powdered sugar, butter, and sherry. Mmmmm, sherry. Sherry is funny. Otherwise I find it gross, but in this recipe it brings the whole thing together. Without the frosting, the cookie is just kind of blah. With it, I'm transported to a magical place of perfect holiday memories. Ahhhh.

I hope you all have a fabulous holiday!

I will do my best to post more soon. I've already gotten three new cookbooks for Christmas so I should get my ass in gear and post pictures.

And as a teaser, I may have some big news in another month...

Thanksgiving

2006-12-02T16:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is a bit late....

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. It poured all day long here in Massachusetts, but it was still a nice day with the extended family. For the first time we all went out for dinner instead of going to someone's house because of various reasons. The restaurant was nice and I had some yummy roasted vegetable ravioli, but it just was weird eating out. I missed having all the sides I usually get. I had everyone over to my house after dinner for dessert because I couldn't miss out on my mom's homemade apple pie. I made a pumpkin-chocolate swirl cheesecake from the latest issue of Vegetarian Times. I should have cooked it in a water bath, but the recipe didn't suggest it and I only remembered after I saw the big crack in it. Oh well, it still tasted good.
A couple days later I was still craving all the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes so I went out and picked up easy versions of them and a vegan Celebration Roast. I made mashed potatoes and gravy (from veg broth) and we drank sparkling apple cider alongside. It was really nice.

Apples and Chickpeas

2006-11-18T18:06:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we had some friends over to watch a the Patriots' game , hoping it would be enjoyable. As always the company was, but the game was not. I still had leftovers apples from the apple crisp I made so I decided to try another old-fashioned dessert- Apple Crumble. Mmmmm, this was yummy. Lovely paired with vanilla frozen yogurt of course.

Also, I got my copy of Vegan Lunch Box the other day and after flipping through the entire cookbook I decided the first thing I wanted to make was the Cheezy Roasted Chickpeas. Not only am I a huge chickpea fan, as I've mentioned often, I just happened to have some nutritional yeast in the cupboard and I was ready to try it again. I also had a falafel salad from Whole Foods the other day that came with roasted chickpeas and I thought they were so good I was dying to make some myself. I was suitably impressed with nutritional yeast before, but seeing as I eat cheese there wasn't a huge need for it in many of my dishes. It worked really well with the roasted chickpeas and I liked the flavor which I didn't think was really all that cheesy. I can't wait to try more recipes!

Recent and new

2006-11-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Trader Joe's pizza crust, Muir Glen pizza sauce (yummy!), Trader Joe's mozzarella, green pepper, onion and Lightlife's Gimme Lean sausage.

Butternut risotto from Cooking Light. As you can imagine, I replaced the beef broth with vegetable broth. This was yummy and very Fall-like. We had leftovers tonight alongside our veggie burgers and salad.
Apple crisp! Just like my mom used to make. Chris asked for an apple pie and I thought this was much easier/quicker and I had been craving it lately. I used a mix of macintosh and courtland apples.

Slimcado?!

2006-11-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

I was at the grocery store this week looking for an avocado. Unfortunately, they all looked (or felt) horrible. Then I saw a green avocado in the next section over. They are much larger and greener and apparently go by the name "Slimcado." The name is because they have less fat. Uh, ok. The thing is, avocados have good fats- we all know that! But I bought one anyway because I wanted to make a standard dish around our house: cheese quesidillas, sliced/mashed avocado and tomatoes.

It tasted pretty much the same, I'd say. The pit was HUGE though. So huge I called my husband in from the other room to see it.

So, did you eat too much Halloween candy too?

Rainy night

2006-10-20T18:47:00.000-04:00

First off, turns out I'll be working tomorrow at the veg food fest- if you come, stop by the Primal Spirit jerky table and say hi!

I just hooked up my camera to download a couple pictures when I realized there were more on it than I thought. Whoops! Totally forgot. I'm temping now which means I'm not really on the internet during the day anymore and my downtime at home is spent mostly away from the computer. So here's a round-up of some recent meals.

BBQ tofu, baked beans and cornbread muffins

Apple spice vegan waffles from the wonderful Bakingsheet blog - these were amazing!!

Grilled cheeses cooking up in my cast iron skillet

And lastly, a pasta dish I made up with artichokes, wine, lemon juice, parmesan and shallots. I look forward to tweaking it for next time.

Quick reminder!

2006-10-11T19:04:00.000-04:00

Next weekend is the Boston Vegetarian Society's yearly food fest! It's a fabulous event, totally packed, and full of yummy samples. And this year I plan on actually going to see the speakers because the famous Isa Chandra Moskowitz, aka author of Vegan with a Vengeance, aka my favorite cookbook author, will be doing a demo! Even my husband wants to go (all that vegan food is working. shhhh.)

So don't say I didn't warn you.

A cake for in-laws

2006-10-06T10:25:00.000-04:00

My in-laws were staying with us this week (a first!) and earlier in the week I seemed to have a stomach bug so I either wasn't eating or we were eating out, but I did make dinner for us all last night. I wanted to make something that I would typically make for my husband to show them that I feed him well, but I also wanted to make something different to expose them to vegetarian meals beyond pasta. So I made the delicious jerk seitan, coconut rice and sweet potatoes meal from VwaV and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. Go wheat-meat!

Of course I made up for the fact that I served them zero animal products by making a Boston creme pie for dessert because it's a favorite of my mother-in-law. This was was from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. (and a certain someone out there will recognize the platter) Having never made one before, it was a bit daunting. Specifically, self-rising cake flour was something I couldn't find so I had to buy cake flour and google how to make it "self-rising". This meant adding 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for each cup of cake flour. Making the custard was also daunting because Nigella's directions are so vague, just heat it until thick. No time suggestions or hint about thickness...but I guess it turned out well anyway (even if it looks funny) because everyone enjoyed it, including me.

On the menu....

2006-09-27T19:08:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner was Italian tofu, risotto and sliced tomatoes with salt and olive oil drizzled over. Not only was this a first because I finally decided to make the Italian version of the baked tofu in VwaV (as opposed to Asian) but I also froze the tofu first to make it chewier. I've probably mentioned before that I've only really and truly been cooking for a couple years now so I'm still learning new basic things. I'd never tried freezing tofu because I hadn't even heard of it until this year. I definitely liked the results -- the tofu was denser and chewier. The risotto came from a box (gasp!) but it's so good and I just don't have the patience for making real risotto. Maybe someday, but when it's this easy and good it's hard to contemplate making the real thing.

I was in Brooklyn over the weekend (and yes, I did make those pumpkin cookies and they were very good) visiting a friend and we had dinner one night at V-Spot, a vegan place in Brooklyn. It was ok. I had the faux chicken parm and it was alright, but I didn't need all the pasta (which was only decent) that came with it. The faux chicken itself was pretty tasty, but then I was starving. Googling it does not produce a lot of positive reviews either. Oh well. Next time we'll have to try another place (or make the hike uptown to Candle Cafe).

Pumpkin yumminess

2006-09-20T17:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it got warm again. Like 80 degree warm. I love Fall so this was a major bummer for me, but it did not stop me from making pumpkin muffins this week. These are from VWAV (where else?) and are really yummy. Of course since I'm home a lot right now I just keep on eating them....which is not good. I don't think you can really tell from this picture, but I used adorable fall-themed muffin cups that I picked up over the weekend. I'm ready for sweater weather!

I have some canned pumpkin left over and I'm toying with the idea of making the pumpkin oatmeal cookies (also from VWAV) to take along with me this weekend when I visit my friend in New York....we'll see.

I really do need to break out from my VWAV rut, but it's such a tasty rut!

Recent stuff

2006-09-17T22:36:00.000-04:00

I made a really yummy dish from the latest Vegetarian Times a couple days ago, but I was in such a rush to eat it I forgot to document it. It was from an article by a local veggie hero Didi Emmons on goat cheese. Mmmm, so good. This particular dish involved making a sauce with goat cheese, garlic, cilantro, a chipotle pepper, and olive oil and then mixing it with cooked penne, corn and cherry tomatoes. Trust me, it was good. And both Lisa and Chris agreed.
And then on Friday I made pomegranate BBQ tofu from VWAV and roasted potatoes. I've never made it before and I really wanted to try it after being down in Tennessee and watching my husband consume great amounts of BBQ. This was good, but definitely on the sweet side since I didn't add any hot sauce (I'm super sensitive and can't handle too much heat, even the recipe mentioned above was hot to me). Perhaps if/when I make it again I'll pick up a bottle of Tabasco? I think I would have liked a little heat to balance the sweet. Anyone know any other uses for pomegranate molasses? Now that I have a bottle, I want to use it more!

Today we had my brother and his family over for an impromptu cookout. Chris made burgers a la Cook's Illustrated and I made that delicious pasta salad from Gourmet.After everyone was gone, Chris and I had cupcakes to celebrate his birthday, which was yesterday. Mmm, chocolaty. We went out to The Helmand to celebrate last night. I think I mentioned this place before- it's Afghani food and it's amazing. I'm particularly enamoured of the baked pumpkin with yogurt sauce. It's so freaking good, I cannot describe it. I want more! Turns out there is another Afghani place closer to our apartment, so we are going to have to try that place too. My longing for the baked pumpkin is strong.

The weather is starting to turn cooler

2006-09-12T20:33:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday was hot and in the mid-80s but as of Sunday it's been quite cool around here. As I made my grocery list this week my thoughts turned to warm, comforting foods. And so, I decided to make this chili recipe from Vegetarian Times that is cooked with the cornbread on top! We love cornbread so even though I halved the recipe I kept the cornbread quantities the same. It turned out great. My only comment on the link is that the list of ingredients is a bit messed up, but if you read the directions you should be able to figure it out.

Here's the chili in the pot, pre- topping

Then you put the (vegan) cornbread batter on top
And when it's done it looked so pretty (unless it leaks a bit)
Here's a peek at the inside of the chili pot pie
This turned out great and I would definitely make it again. I am always looking for the holy grail of vegetarian chilis and this is the closest I've come at home so far. It would also make a great meal to take to a potluck, and as I mentioned before- it's vegan!

A couple recent pictures

2006-09-07T23:13:00.000-04:00

I have been cooking a lot lately, but not documenting it all. Here are a couple from last week....
First up, savory.

Middle Eastern Lentil Bulgur Loaf from VT which was served up with garlic soy mayonnaise. This was very homey and comfort-foody, kind of like stuffing actually. I probably wouldn't make it again though because it was hella time intensive.Then, sweet.
On Labor Day my best friend Lisa and her husband came over for homemade cinnamon buns. I've made this recipe before (it's from Baking Illustrated) and it sure is a winner.

I think I was tagged with that meme going around, top 5 favorite foods. And so, here goes:

1. Peanut Butter. I really could not live without it.
2. Chocolate. I guess I could live without chocolate, but I don't want to.
3. Avocado. The fact that avocado, along with peanut butter, contains good fat is the best thing I ever learned from nutrition books.
4. Hummus/chickpeas. Again, chickpeas probably help keep me alive on a daily basis.
5. English breakfast tea. Mmmmm.

One more thing- if you are a regular reader of my blog and you have a blog that I haven't linked to, please post a comment. I'm horrible about updating my links (some of which I think are defunct) and I'd like to do a big clean-up and add some new people.

I'm back!

2006-09-03T15:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, technically I was back last week but things happen. I've been getting used to having no job, and mostly flip-flopping on what I want to do with myself now. I do want a new job, but I'm not sure what I want to do and I flip-flop between hunkering down and getting a temp job or perhaps trying to do something non-corporate for a while.

As for our vacation, it was great. We had a wonderful time and did tons of stuff ! We went to Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, and lots of places in between. We also popped into Mississippi and Arkansas briefly. Here's a sampling on the touristy things we did:
Chattanooga: Rock City, Chattanooga Choo Choo (includes the world's largest model railroad), Incline Railroad on Lookout Mt., and Ruby Falls inside Lookout Mt.

Nashville: Country Music Hall of Fame, RCA Studio B (where Elvis recorded many songs), Hatch Show Print, rockabilly at the Hillbilly Inn, the Parthenon in Centennial Park, the Grand Ole Opry/Opryland, and Ryman Auditorium

Memphis: Graceland!, Sun Studio (where Elvis first recorded), Civil Rights Museum, Stax Museum of Soul Music, Beale Street

The King's kitchen:
The King's dining room:

As you can imagine, it was kind of hard to find vegetarian food in Tennessee, especially because I wanted to make sure my husband got his fill of his beloved barbecue. We made a good team though- every time I had a sad meal (mac & cheese, corn bread and baked apples) while he feasted on BBQ he'd turn to me and say "you get to pick the next meal- whatever you want!" which was nice. I did eat a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches. I think it would be awfully hard to travel as a vegan in TN. But I love cheese, so that's not a problem for me. The hardest was being in between places (see above statement about grilled cheeses). All that being said, I did find some great veg food in TN.

There is a cool pizza chain in the south called the Mellow Mushroom. My husband knew about it because there is one in Boone, NC where he went to college, so when we found one in downtown Chattanooga he said we had to go there. And, oh my god, is that pizza good. Plus, they have tofu and tempeh on their menu and a bunch of veg sandwiches.

I found the most options in Memphis, which surprised me. Hell, I even ate a veggie burger at Graceland! The king is so accommodating. I would have thought Nashville would have been more veg-friendly because of Vanderbilt University, but it didn't seem so. Anyway, we had the best lunch at the Young Avenue Deli in mid-town (i.e. far away from downtown) where they had tons (and I mean tons) of veg options. I had the delicious California pita sandwich and I wish I knew where I could get such amazing pita bread. We also saw a Thai place (Sawadii) near our hotel that was advertising several tofu dishes on their blackboard, but we never got around to trying it.

So I guess the lesson learned is that it's really hit-or-miss in Tennessee. I either found nothing to eat or there were a lot of options all in the same place. At least there's always a Waffle House to be found around every corner. They do make some yummy waffles and hashbrowns.

Bye!

2006-08-19T14:31:00.000-04:00

I'm off to Georgia today and then we'll be in Tennesse Monday through Sunday. Back next week! Hope you all cook lots while I'm gone. And hopefully I'll eat more than a baked potato and cornbread while I'm there!