Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sunday in the Kitchen

I turned 35 (!) this week and my present from Ben was this baby. (If you look closely you can see the reflection of my red snowflake pajama pants in the bowl. What? It's almost Christmas.)



He didn't seem sure at all that I would even like it. WHAT!! The only reason I've resisted buying one up until this point is that I historically have not been all that into baking and didn't feel like I needed it. I've surely been wanting it, though, especially since I've realized that none of the decent bread available in grocery stores is vegan.

So the first thing I made, naturally, was basic white bread. I used a recipe from the little instruction manual (just replacing the called-for butter with Earth Balance) because I wanted to be sure to mix it for the right length of time on my first attempt. It was super awesome to bypass the mess and hassle of kneading! And the bread turned out great.



I made this Pesto Soup with Gnocchi, Beans, and Greens to go with. I've had it mentally bookmarked since I first saw it on the PPK blog, but I never feel much like making soup until it gets cold. This was just as good as I hoped - Ben was doubtful about the cauliflower but you can't even taste it after the soup is pureed.



I also made another PPK recipe today, because biscuits and gravy + bread + soup + seitan (not pictured) apparently didn't give me enough time in the kitchen today. The recipe is for Chocolate Pumpkin Bread, but I turned it into muffins in the interest of portion control. Both the texture and flavor are amazing, moist and also somehow light and fluffy despite being, you know, a chocolate muffin.



Biscuits and Gravy

I'm a total biscuits & gravy snob. Even before I was a vegetarian, I never ordered it in restaurants because it is never even close to as good as my family's homemade version.

I was flipping through Vegan Diner recently and noticed she had recipes for both fluffy homemade biscuits and a sage & pepper gravy, so I thought I would give both a try. I don't think I've ever made homemade biscuits of any kind from scratch, and I kind of couldn't believe how easy these were (and how great they turned out).



And the gravy! It totally worked! I mixed in some browned Gimme Lean Sausage, which is always reliably terrific, and the whole thing was just excellent. I'm super excited to have biscuits & gravy back in my repertoire.


Friday, October 28, 2011

Dad's Chili

I've always loved my dad's chili - probably because it's not spicy in the least, but is instead flavored with paprika and vinegar and sugar (in addition to the standard chili powder). I've been making a vegetarian version for years using Morningstar Farms crumbles. Sadly, however, the majority of Morningstar's products are not vegan, so I've had to switch to Boca. Still good, though.



I've decided to start trying to veganize regular recipes for baked goods once in a while rather than baking exclusively from vegan cookbooks. I thought the cornbread would be a good place to start with this, because I tried a vegan recipe a few months ago and was not a fan. I made this one from one of our favorite things, the cornbread topping from a Cook's Illustrated Tamale Pie recipe. Did you know Cook's Illustrated doesn't make their recipes available online?? I just learned it five minutes ago. Anyway, all I had to do was replace the butter with Earth Balance, the eggs with Ener-G, and the buttermilk with soy milk, and it worked great.

This was the perfect dinner for our first truly chilly night of the fall.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Tofu

I've made this (from Appetite for Reduction) once before but I used a package of pre-marinated baked tofu. This time I followed the direction and marinated and sauteed the tofu myself.



The dressing is made from agave, lime juice, soy sauce, and hot sauce. I'm proud because I actually used the full amount of hot sauce and it wasn't too spicy for me! It was perfect.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Sesame Tofu, Collards, and Rice

Usually I plan out our meals for the entire week and do one huge grocery run, but the last couple of weeks I've just been winging it, making smaller trips and buying stuff at random and figuring it out later. This is kind of stressful for me but so far it's working out all right.

Last night I baked some tofu that had been marinated in an Asian-y mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, white wine, ginger, and garlic. I dumped some of the marinade in my electric skillet with a huge pile of collards I'd gotten at the farmer's market, and made some white rice with a little salt & sesame oil mixed in. Everything went together great! I could eat this meal every single day for a long time before I got sick of it.



Sunday, October 23, 2011

Nachos

I've read about this vegan queso a few times on the internet but just assumed it wasn't available around here, because it seems like all the good vegan stuff isn't available around here. Then when I saw it written up somewhere again this week, I thought, "Oh, I'll just check," and then discovered they have it at my Whole Foods. This is GREAT because I have been craving some nachos something fierce.


We had a small test run with chips yesterday to make sure it was good - Ben was scared to try it but I made him. Like most vegan cheese sauces, it's nutritional yeast based, but is also super spicy, which somehow makes it seem more cheese-like.

Other stuff on the nachos included black beans, chopped Viva Vegan red seitan, tomato, lettuce, and cashew ricotta to stand in for the sour cream. Totally delicious.



Friday, October 21, 2011

Tomato Basil Ricotta Tart

This dinner was inspired by my friend Kristin, who made a non-vegan version earlier this week. Instead of real ricotta, I used Veganomicon's cashew ricotta, which is absolutely delicious. I have never been a fan of ricotta cheese, but I can (and do) eat this stuff straight from the bowl.

I got some frozen puff pastry and let it thaw, then topped it with a layer of ricotta, then chopped garlic and basil, then more ricotta, then some tomatoes I'd pre-roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes.

This was the last of our basil plant for the year, I think - some of it looked a little damaged from the cold and this weekend it's going to get down into the 30s.



I put a little more basil on top, and then drizzled with some balsamic vinegar.



It was sooooo gooooood. Such a great idea. I'm going to be making variations of this thing all the time.



Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Vegan Gourmet

Sometimes you just want some chicken nuggets and tots. Luckily, Boca's fake chicken nuggets are vegan!


They're also kind of pricey, so I usually just watch the stores and stock up whenever they're on sale. Perfect for quick dinners!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Butternut Squash & Black Bean Enchiladas

My sister visited this weekend so I wanted to make some tried-and-true things, and we also had to stick to soy-free since my 5 month old nephew is apparently soy intolerant. I decided to go with this Vegetarian Times recipe I've been making for a long time. I always add a can of black beans (drained & rinsed) for protein and also because it cuts the sweetness of the squash a little bit. I leave off the cheddar now, obviously. And I made the Cashew Crema from Viva Vegan to go on top.



For dessert we made Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. It seemed a little weird going into the pans - the batter was kind of thick - but the end result was fantastic. It's like carrot cake except without the carrots!



Very Berry Chocolate Chip Cobbler

On Friday I received both a new iPhone and Vegan Pie in the Sky in the mail, and I may have been equally excited about both. Within a few hours of the book's arrival, I had the Very Berry Chocolate Chip Cobbler in the oven.



Adding chocolate chips to the cobbler batter is GENIUS. Can't wait to try the other 74 recipes in this book.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Veganing It Up at the State Fair

I have never gone to the State Fair before and everyone is always like, "You've never gone to the State Fair?" like this is totally incomprehensible. This year my sister and nephews planned to be in town at the same time as the fair so I thought that would be a good opportunity to check it out. It was total and complete insanity, exactly as I expected. SO MANY PEOPLE.



Griffin threw a fit and hid in his stroller for a few minutes.



Uncle Benny did a good job of carrying Sully, though.


So here is the important part: the food. We got some ribbon fries first. Dripping with oil. Totally delicious.



And then we found this place that had a whole platter of Greek food! Mediterranean is always good when you're trying to be vegan. It was all great, too.


Hillary had a huge turkey leg but that is not pictured because poor little turkey! We also ate some deep fried Oreos.

State Fair: Success.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Pumpkin Baked Ziti

None of the pictures of this dinner turned out very well, but I'm posting it anyway because it's something I make all the time and forget to upload. This is another of the really popular recipes from Veganomicon, and one of the first vegan things I ever made. Cashew-tofu ricotta is mixed with canned pumpkin and caramelized onions and pasta, then topped with homemade sage bread crumbs and baked. It's funny to think back to the first time I made this because I remember it being total chaos, but I've got it all down now and this thing was ready to go in the oven in less than a half hour.



The especially good thing about this pumpkin ziti, in addition to the deliciousness, is that it makes the perfect amount for two 8x8 casseroles - so I bake one and freeze the other, and we have a super easy awesome dinner ready to go in the freezer.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Unfried Rice with Tofu & Broccoli

There is not much I love more than a big bowl of fried rice. This is based on an Appetite for Reduction recipe and is a bit healthier than the restaurant version. I cubed tofu into very small pieces and fried it in a little sesame oil, then added soy sauce, garlic, ginger, shallots, and broccoli. The rice is mixed in at the end with some green onions, so is actually not fried at all - I think using brown rice makes it sort of SEEM fried, plus is healthier than white rice anyway.


It was yummy.

Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits

This is a famous (you know, amongst certain circles) Veganomicon recipe I've been wanting to try for months. And it's finally starting to feel like cassoulet weather in North Carolina! And soup, too. I'm excited for winter food.

This is basically a leek, potato, carrot, and white bean stew that cooked on the stove top and then baked with biscuits dropped on top. I thought it might be a little overambitious for a weeknight but it ended up taking not much time at all.



Ben was a huge fan of the biscuits (which contain, er, Crisco - someday I will run out of it and buy not-as-bad-for-you Earth Balance shortening). The whole thing was pretty danged good. Even better the next day for lunch leftovers.



Sunday, October 9, 2011

Trip Report! Day 10: Edinburgh

We spent our last real day of touristiness in Edinburgh, beginning with the castle.

On the way we passed the Scott Monument, which is very impressive. It stands along Princes Street, which is sort of the border between Old Town and New Town. (New Town is not actually very new, having been built in the late 1700's, but I guess it's new when you consider that people have been living in the Old Town part since at least the Bronze Age).



Edinburgh Castle is, like Stirling, a small city enclosed in walls with amazing views of the surrounding areas.



The oldest building on the grounds is St. Margaret's Chapel, which dates to the 1100's. Almost a thousand years old!







The castle sits at the top of the Royal Mile, at the other end of which is Holyrood Palace (and the modern Scottish Parliament building). The Royal Mile is where we spent most of the day, wandering around and seeing the sights. It is all very old.



St. Giles Cathedral is about halfway down.



You were supposed to pay 2 pounds for a photography permit, but I'm bad and just snuck pictures anyway.






It was a very warm and sunny day. Ben got mad at me for taking this picture. Classin' it up in the NASA cap.



Further down the Royal Mile.



We stopped for lunch at Maxie's, a restaurant overlooking this winding street that leads down into the Grassmarket (a pub district today, but they used to sell cows and execute people there). We initially got a table on the patio but it was too hot, plus there was an extremely loud woman at the table next to us. So we went inside.





The interior was awesome. Again I had to remind myself that this building is genuinely old, not fake American old.



We got deep fried brie. Imagine how awesome you think deep fried brie might be, and that is exactly how awesome it was.



Then we wandered down to the Grassmarket, via a street that went behind the castle. From this view the natural rock hill was pretty impressive.





This is across the street from the castle. Yuck.



We popped in to the free National Museum of Scotland just because it was there. The interior was unexpected! Outside it looks like any other standard medieval stone building. The museum itself was a pretty strange collection of science and history and culture stuff from all over the world.



On the way back to the hotel we passed the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books!



And then we spent a couple of hours relaxing before dinner at David Bann, which was really our only splurgey meal of the trip. It was worth it! Their smoked tofu was amazing.



Ben got a beet & blue cheese souffle and reported that it was great as well.


The next morning, we got up and took the train back to London, then had a grueling hour-long tube ride to Heathrow, then had a comedy-of-errors type situation in which none of the bus drivers knew where our hotel was, but finally we arrived at the Park Inn Heathrow for our last night in the UK. The hotel was nothing special, just your average airport hotel, but it did have air conditioning which was a blessing since it was unseasonably hot in England. The next morning we took a bus to the airport and flew back to Raleigh and that was that!

THE END!