Chickpea Noodle Soup & Garlic-Dill Bread

This winter has been basically like winter in Los Angeles. I think we've had less than 10 cold days. It's weirdly disorienting and I'm going to be a little disappointed if we don't get a little snow or ice or something before the brutal Southern summer pops back up again. We had one chilly day today, sandwiched in between two full weeks of 60+ degrees, so I made the most of it with homemade bread and soup.

This garlic-dill bread is from Vegan Diner and was maybe the easiest bread I've ever made. No yeast! It took about five minutes to mix together and stick in the oven. It came out looking kind of like a huge biscuit, but the inside was moist and bready and delicious.

The soup is a Veganomicon recipe I've been trying to make for two weeks, but I kept forgetting to get the called for mushrooms at the grocery store. I went to the store today and forgot them again (seriously, why are the mushrooms in a completely different area from the rest of the produce?), but decided to go ahead and make it anyway. I added some celery to fill in for the bulk of the mushrooms and it worked fine. This is very reminiscent of good old canned chicken noodle soup, except without the massive amount of salt and weirdly gelatinous broth.

We have a fire in the fireplace and ate our soup and tomorrow it will be 62 degrees again.

Quinoa Puttanesca and Italian Tofu

This quinoa recipe is from Appetite for Reduction and is basically just quinoa in a spicy tomato sauce. There are supposed to be olives in there but obviously I left those little nasties out. I marinated the tofu (Veganomicon recipe) overnight and it was delicious.

I thought this dinner would be kind of boring but it very much exceeded my expectations. The quinoa was really interesting and held up well for leftovers the next day, too.

Curried Tofu with Arugula and Roasted Potatoes

This is a super basic curried tofu scramble recipe with some arugula mixed in. I roasted some tiny potatoes to go with.

I ate about six thousand extra calories (including the famous Northstar Veggie Burger which I totally failed to photograph myself) over the weekend at an Internet Friends Meetup in Columbus, so this was a nice light dinner to get back on track.

Moroccan Zucchini & Chickpeas

This is an Appetite for Reduction recipe I hadn't tried yet, chickpeas and vegetables in a cinnamony broth served over brown rice. It probably would have been more authentic to serve it over couscous, but brown rice can be microwaved from store-bought bags and, as far as I know, couscous cannot.

It was good! Very vegetabley.

Sauteed Collards and Chorizo with Yellow Garlic Rice

MMMMM I could eat this every day. I chopped up about ten cloves of garlic and used half of them for the collards & (Viva Vegan) chorizo and half for the rice. The rice is made yellow by the addition of a tablespoon of annato-infused oil. Other than the garlic, this is flavored only by salt & pepper. How is it so delicious?? I have no idea.

Tofurky

When you are a vegetarian, meat-eaters think it is super hilarious to say, "How was your tofurky?" after Thanksgiving. I've been a vegetarian for quite a few Thanksgivings in my life and had never had one. Last week Trader Joe's had them clearanced for $2.99, though, so I thought it was worth trying. (Note: They're still $24.99 at Whole Foods. TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS. Ben said we should buy up a bunch at Trader Joe's and sell them at a $10 mark-up in the Whole Foods parking lot. But we did not do that.)

I put it in the crockpot on low for about 5 hours, with some vegetable broth, thyme, rosemary, and half a chopped onion. Pretty easy! And then I roasted some potatoes and green beans to go with. We did not eat the gravy that came with the Tofurky because I'm not a gravy fan unless I've made it myself.

People on my vegan boards said it can be sort of dry, so I made sure to spoon some of the broth over it before serving. It wasn't bad! However, it wasn't terrific, either. My own food is way better and, unless you're getting these things on super clearance like I did, way less expensive, too. I'm eh on tofurky. But at least I can say now that I've had it.

Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes & Tomato-Carrot Soup

These Indian-spiced mashed potato pancakes and the apple cider chutney alongside are both from Vegan Brunch. They were both super good. I had to add extra flour to the potato mixture because my first "pancakes" did not work out well, but after adding flour they held up much better. The chutney is great - I'm having leftovers in my oatmeal this morning.

My BFF Anna made the carrot-tomato soup when she was here a few weeks ago - it's a recipe she learned from her Indian employer and it was really, really good. We froze it and I think that might have even made it better, letting the flavors really settle in. Or something.

I Made Cheese! And Empanadas!

Look at this crazy cheese I made from cashews! I am VERY excited about it. It has a smoky sesame flavor you can make it taste like anything you want and REST ASSURED I'm going to be trying some variations because this stuff was great with crackers.

I also used it to stuff a veggie burger. Glorious. If I'd known it was going to set up so firm I would have tried to pour it into the bowl with a completely smooth surface. Next time!

Then I made empanadas. This is a simple corn dough stuffed with black beans, rice, and plantains. You're technically supposed to fry them but we're on the post-holiday reduction plan so I baked them. I was a little worried about not liking the corn but it was good! I made cilantro-lime (tofu) sour cream to go with, which is about five times better than the very expensive store-bought plain version. And then a nice green salad with avocado & tomato and a citrus-cilantro vinaigrette on the side. It was a great healthy dinner!

I also learned that if you spill brown sugar on a hot burner it will immediately burst into flame. Happy New Year to me!

Potato-Kale Soup with Chorizo

We have now entered the Detox Phase of the holidays and I'm so glad. It's such a weird thing we do, eating like maniacs for a month straight. Whyyyyy?? I feel gross and am afraid to get on the scale.

So here's some soup. It's a Viva Vegan recipe and the chorizo (vital wheat gluten-based) is hers, too. I cut the total oil in the recipe from 5 tablespoons to 2, and we didn't miss it.

It was so good I think we're just going to eat leftovers for dinner tonight instead of making something new.

Freezer Enchiladas

These are called Freezer Enchiladas because my goal in making them was to get rid of as much stuff in my freezer as possible. It's getting out of control in there.

The filling is Viva Vegan red seitan, black beans, corn, chipotles, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and oregano. The first four ingredients were in the freezer. So was the green tomatillo sauce I poured on top. The tortillas, vegan sour cream and cabbage were sitting in the fridge, left over from other things. I felt very efficient! I did buy an avocado to put on top because Avocado = #1.

Christmastime!

It's Christmastime!!

OK so I am a couple days late. Ben and I had a very, very nice Christmas weekend together - I left work early Friday and we hardly left the house all weekend, except to take long walks. We did miss our families, but it's awfully nice to have a quiet Christmas every once in a while.

Christmas morning I made pumpkin pie oatmeal in Christmas ramekins! I haven't made this recipe for over a year and I have no idea why. It's super fast and delicious and it reheats wonderfully. I have some leftover canned pumpkin so I'm going to make some more tonight for weekday breakfasts. I used canola oil in place of butter in the oatmeal mixture, and earth balance for the topping. Otherwise, the recipe is already vegan.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I need to stop using my iPhone for blog pictures, probably.

Christmas dinner was chickpea cutlets with mustard sauce, herb-scalloped potatoes, kale, and cranberry sauce. I was going to make roasted baby carrots, too, but I was scared I wouldn't like them and realized I'd rather just eat an extra chickpea cutlet instead.

For dessert I made the Vegan Diner's Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding recipe, except I used a loaf of sour cherry chocolate bread I found at the grocery store. I also used full-fat coconut milk instead of light. Living on the edge! It was off the hook awesome and took no time at all to put together.

Let's wrap this up with some cat pictures. We are becoming increasingly insane about these guys.

Banana was curled up for his afternoon nap (usually 12:00 to 7:00 p.m.) and Benjamin thought he looked cold so he gave him a little blanket. Banana was not terribly amused.

But Papaya had a terrific time with all the boxes and paper left over from present opening.

Merry Christmas!

Roasted Root Vegetable Green Thai Curry

This is why I'm glad I decided to become a vegan cook - because never on my own would I have roasted some rutabagas, parsnips, and brussels sprouts and put them in a green thai curry sauce. (I'm 99% sure I'd never had rutabaga in my life until this.) It is certainly an unusual combination, but it worked. Ben complains a lot about not liking brussels sprouts, but he continues to eat them if I put them in stuff, so I mostly ignore him.

Also, I saw this stuff at the grocery store.

Yikes! I wondered why I hadn't seen that stuff discussed on my vegan message boards but then I read the ingredients and it contains whey (milk). Why vegetarian companies bother to make a complicated meat substitute and then don't make it accessible to vegans I will never understand. Although I'm not sure I want to eat fake shrimp scampi anyway. What IS it?? Scary, no doubt.

Seitan Katsu with Tonkatsu Sauce

I've put this recipe (from American Vegan Kitchen) on my weekly dinner plan at least three times but for various reasons never got around to it. And now I regret that because it was awesome. I used Viva Vegan white seitan and almost skipped the breading & frying out of laziness, but I'm so glad I didn't because breaded + fried is always a good idea.

The seitan is served with a simple cabbage & carrot slaw and an awesome sweet Japanese sauce, sort of like what is commonly on fancy sushi rolls. I put the whole thing over lo mein noodles to make it a complete meal.

Ben took one bite and said, "Well, you've really outdone yourself here." I feel bad taking credit when I'm just following a recipe! It was really good, though.

Green Deliciousness

This was a superfast thrown together dinner that gave me an excuse to eat mass quantities of the Green Goddess Dressing from Appetite for Reduction. It's just a bowl of quinoa, edamame, and broccoli with the dressing on top.

This week I brought a quinoa/black bean salad to work for our Christmas potluck and discovered nobody knows what quinoa is. Well, one person knew, and that's only because she's gluten-free so she's had to learn about wheat alternatives. I was so surprised! Quinoa is great and especially good for easy meals like this because it's full of protein.

Also, in other exciting news, Isa posted one of my favorite dinners on her blog: Hottie Black-eyed Peas with Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples. You should go make it right now. I'm serious.

Veggie Pot Pie Stew & Biscuits

Oh, look, it's another dinner from Appetite for Reduction! I made a few changes to both of these recipes, though.

The biscuits are in the book as Sweet Potato Biscuits, but I had some canned pumpkin sitting around, as well as some carrot/tomato/onion pulp leftover from making an Indian soup, so I replaced the mashed sweet potato with a mixture of those two things. It worked perfectly! They were delicious and soft and biscuity.

The stew is pot pie vegetables - potatoes, peas, mushrooms, carrots - cooked in a broth that is thickened with flour but also yellow split peas, which gives it some protein. I used half of my potatoes in something else a few days ago, so I used one big russet and one big sweet potato rather than all russets. The sweet potatoes broke down almost completely, but it still worked as a whole thing.



Ben said, "This is the perfect wintery dinner!" Too bad it is going to be close to 70 degrees every day this week. This has been the weirdest December ever.