Still Spring Soup

April is almost over, and I’m not sure it feels like spring yet. It seems like for the past two weeks, it’s been both rainy and stormy every day. And it’s been cold. So I took the opportunity to make soup. I considered making cookies, but soup won out.

I pieced together a few recipes for minestrone, and of course I did not measure. But this soup was perfectly delicious. Besides all the goodies in it, I think it’s the broth (Better Than Bouillon and pesto). This soup is made of:

• Onion, Carrot, and Celery
• Potatoes
• Green beans
• Cannellini beans
• Spinach
• Macaroni
• Diced tomatoes in sauce
• Better than Bouillon
• Amore Pesto Paste
• Maybe some other stuff I forgot to mention

Part of what I’ve been doing lately is kind of a pantry challenge, using up stuff I’ve had on hand for way too long. Sometimes those are interesting to read about, but mine seems a little scary.

The green beans were the last of a bag of frozen beans I’ve had a while, and I think the pesto paste was a Christmas gift year before last. Thanks to blog, I can tell you the macaroni was left over from November when I made mac and cheeze. I have been eating this soup for a week and I haven’t been sick. I think I have pretty good judgment when it comes to expired food.

I’m in spring cleaning mode – I’m also clearing out my closets. Cleaning out the pantry is more fun, though. I am too young to have so much junk I don’t want to think about. Have a great weekend, everyone!

My Thanksgiving

This is a typical Thanksgiving, for me. For the past seven years or so, I’ve pretty much done small Thanksgivings, either by myself (yes, really) or just with a few other people. This year, there were four of us - my parents, Alex, and me, at my house in my tiny kitchen.

It’s good when the plate is loaded with a variety of tasty eats, and this is one time of year that I don't mind my foods touching. I made many of the things my family typically enjoys, with a few changes to accommodate Alex’s requests, and of course everything was vegan. Clockwise, starting at 12:00 on the plate, we had:

• Cornbread dressing, made with cornbread, biscuits, celery, and onion
• Paula Deen’s corn casserole with vegan analogs (Better Than Sour Cream, Earth Balance, no cheese)
• Broccoli Casserole with a Daiya cheeze sauce similar to what I used as the macaroni and cheeze base, with cashew cream in place of soymilk
• Roasted sweet potatoes with maple and pecans
• Roasted Brussles sprouts
• Tofurkey with vegetables accompanying it during the roast (onion, carrot, celery)
• Cranberry relish
• Mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and mushroom gravy

All four of us enjoyed the meal. My parents even enjoyed the Tofurkey – my dad went back for seconds! I had offered to get some (pre-cooked) turkey for them, and thankfully they declined.

The cats are not enjoying the company; they’ve hidden themselves out of sight and are keeping each other warm in a bed built for one and have only come back into the open now that my folks have returned to their hotel:

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving, or a wonderful Thursday. I’ll share the details on the Derby Pie tomorrow – it was delicious! Right now, I have a lot to be thankful for, but on a lighter note - I’m thankful I’m not a Bengals fan. Cincinnati sports teams have broken my heart one too many times.

Chilly First of November

I’ve just returned from a whirlwind weekend trip to sunny California, so now the below-60 degree temperature in Cincinnati feels extra cold. This was one of those trips were I probably tried to do too much in too little time, and this was a trip that leaves me hungry rather than stuffed with good food. Hungry and cold, it was an easy choice to have soup full of vegetables for my first meal back at home.

I rehydrated dried mushrooms in hot water that forms the stock for the soup, and then I toss in the rest of my vegetables. This time I had fresh mushrooms, celery, carrots, cabbage, snap peas, green onions, and soba noodles and white miso. I tried not to put in too many vegetables because I’ve had so many soup pots and stir fries grow out of control when I keep adding everything I like. I managed to keep this to two really hearty servings.

Served with a side of baby bok choy, sauteed and seasoned with garlic and soy sauce, I feel like I’m caught up on my need for green vegetables. I’m warm and happy and just hoping I can adjust back to eastern time, get to bed early enough, and wake up and go back to work tomorrow.

Yeah, the trip? I was going to a football game with my brother and sister-in-law. We geared up in Titans wear and saw them fight it out but ultimately lose. By now, that’s nothing new as I generally choose the losing side. It’s different though, taking flack from the sore winners.

Here we are slightly sunburned but smiling after the game.

I’m also excited to participate in Vegan MoFo! Last year, I read lots of blogs but did not participate. Before that, I had no idea it existed. But I’ll be showing lots of stuff I make for myself that I don’t usually consider blog-worthy, just to show a more complete picture of regular life. I’m also going to try lots of new recipes and do something completely new at least once a week. I’m setting the bar low to guarantee success; it might be more often than that. Right now, I’m excited to see my reader fill up with great posts from other bloggers! I’ve said it repeatedly: reading blogs has been most helpful to me in finding new foods to eat and new ways to cook.

Soupy Soba and Broccoli Stems

Is there any reason that the tastiest foods don’t make for good photos? Maybe cupcakes and pizza and fresh whole fruit pose well, but soups and pastas just don’t.

I might be making several soups in the next few days while Alex is recovering from having his wisdom teeth extracted. This soup, though, was something I wanted to do for me. (I’ve already made a big batch of mashed potatoes for him.) Plus it feels healthy after a bad week for food so far. Last night for Alex’s last meal before the oral surgery, he chose Mac’s Pizza Pub so I enjoyed another delicious vegan pizza and some Magic Hat #9.

This soup is made from dried mushrooms and the soaking liquid, plus all my favorite soup vegetables, like cremini slices, carrots, celery, nappa cabbage, and broccoli.

I even used the broccoli stems, which I’ve never done before. I peeled them and sliced them like carrots – they were perfect and not too tough as I had always thought. I finished off the soup with some white miso, bean sprouts, and sriracha.

How did I forget to mention the soba noodles? I was worried that these noodles would soak up all my broth and become mushy, but they were perfect soup noodes.

I wanted to make this quick as I’m headed into work for a half day today, but I’m honored to have received a Most Versatile Blogger award from Bianca and Vegan Crunk. Super! I’ll think of a few things to share about myself and a few bloggers to pass this along to soon. Can you handle the suspense?

Falafel Feast and Quinoa Tabouli

The other day, I was having a serious craving for tabouli. This traditionally Middle Eastern salad is something I’ve only recently come to enjoy. I think I had a bad first experience with tabouli in a Lebanese restaurant where it was nearly entirely parsley and was just too much to chew.

Falafel feast with dilly tzatziki, hummus, quinoa tabouli, whole wheat pita, and fresh sliced cucumber, carrots, and celery.

Alex and I talked about going to Myra’s for dinner to enjoy some tabouli, but after having seen several bloggers making falafel recently, I decided to try this at home and make my own feast of falafel, hummus, and tabouli.

The first thing I did was to make tzatziki, and I adapted a recipe so much that I am putting my on tzatziki recipe below. This is something I came up with on my own that was good, though. Really good. I used dill, and I’m not sure that’s entirely authentic, but that’s a whole ’nother question about whether I can make any authentic food. Let me tell you, though, I bought a big bunch of fresh dill and I loved the smell. I think I’ll have to try growing dill next year.

I’ve made falafel before, but only from a boxed mix. The reason I tried making it myself again was because I figured I could bake it instead of frying it. I’m not against fried food, but it’s too much trouble for me at home, and it’s probably best it’s a special treat for eating out.

This was my first attempt in making “real” falafel, and I used a recipe I saw recently on Vegan Epicurean. This turned out wonderfully. I used a mix of garbanzo beans and soybeans and for green herbs I used both dill and cilantro, and I did use her suggestion to include raw sesame seeds. I mixed all the ingredients in my teeny-weeny food processor and it wasn’t too terribly difficult. Alex rolled them for me. He wants to make sure he gets credit.

Vegan Tzatziki

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegan mayo, I use Vegenaise
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh dill
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• dash cayenne
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Method:

Place Vegenaise, garlic, lemon juice, dill, paprika, and cayenne in blender. Blend until smooth. Just before serving, mix in cucumber and parsley.

Tzatziki is usually made with yogurt, and this is one of those things that gets stronger as it ages. I made this in the morning when I realized we would be having falafel, and it was just perfect by suppertime.

I also made hummus in the food processor. Actually, I made that right before I made the falafel and I didn’t worry too much about cleaning it in between.

The final component of this feast was the tabouli. Even though I was craving tabouli and I had bulgur on hand, I decided to veer from the tradition and make mine with quinoa. I used a recipe I found online, and I used red quinoa. Even though I only used one cup of dry quinoa, this made so much tabouli that we will be eating it for days. But hey, that’s what it might take to satisfy this craving.

My biggest mixing bowl, nearly full with quinoa tabouli. I’m adding the tomato a serving at a time, though, to keep it fresh.

Even though all these components were a lot of work, the ingredients went with each other (a few lemons, a bunch of parsley, a bunch of dill, cucumbers all over the place, sesame in the falafel and tahini in the hummus, and so forth). And I’m not going to pretend that this is authentic by any means, but it’s good. Good, good food, and that is the reward for all this work.

Oh my, I feel like I’ve fallen to peer pressure. Again. Do you get cravings just by seeing what someone else is eating?

Tempeh not-chicken salad

We’ve been eating a lot of sandwiches lately. Typically we’ll reheat some leftovers for lunch, but now that summer has arrived in full force, I don’t always want something warm in the middle of the day. I also think warm weather encourages lighter eating anyway.

Enter tempeh salad, in the style of chicken salad. There are recipes for this all over the web, but it’s also easy to just throw together whatever you like. What are your top toss-ins for a salad like this?

Start by crumbling or cutting the tempeh. I left mine large, but next time I’ll make it smaller for easier chomping in the sandwiches. Although you can eat tempeh straight from the package, if you steam it will become a little more tender and lose some of the bitter bite. It’ll still be chewy and firm. You can either use a steamer basket for about 15-20 minutes, or do it right in a pan. I put mine in my trusty pan you’ll see in many stovetop photos, put in some water, covered it and let it boil and steam for 5 minutes, then removed the lid and continued to boil until the water all evaporates.

Important step: let the tempeh cool! I made this on Sunday afternoon and had no problem just letting it sit while I did other things. I love cooking that has true downtime when you don’t have to worry about anything possibly burning.

Prepare your dressing and any goodies you want in your salad. Then toss it together and have it on hand to eat cold, whenever you’re ready. I used carrot, celery, green onions, walnuts, and dried cranberries. I made the dressing with prepared Vegenaise and added a kick of red wine vinegar and some cayenne pepper. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, I only used the carrot because I had one in the fridge that needed to get eaten.

It’s been so warm recently that my cat has taken to sleeping in the bathroom where the AC vent for the small room and the tile keep things cool. I hope summer is treating you well, wherever you are!

This is my kitty Little Fuzz, or Fuzziweena*, sniffing at the vent blowing cool air.

*spelling of the cat's name is yet to be determined

Patty Day: Garbanzo Bean Burgers

Did I ever talk about why I’m working through burger and patty recipes? The biggest reason is simple: popularity. Veggie burgers are visible on menus, at cookouts, and in your grocer’s freezer. They’re easy to serve and somehow less threatening than tofu, seitan, or unfamiliar whole grains. When I talk about my cooking to friends and coworkers, they’re typically most interested in how I made a veggie burger. And, importantly, Alex loves the burgers. This is like an adventure for the semi-adventurous.

I’m beginning to get an idea of how to get patties to hold together, and I’ll work on some flavors next. These garbanzo patties were pretty good. I found several similar, simple, recipes scattered on the web. Alex dressed his up on a bun and was singing its praises. I ate mine by itself, proudly forking solid foods, even if they’re mushed and re-formed foods. It was a little bland on its own, but I guess a patty is really intended to be dressed.

I mixed one can of garbanzo beans, a stalk of chopped celery, a carrot, about a quarter cup of diced onion, about a quarter cup of wheat flour, a few spices, some salt, and a splash of water as it was pretty dry. I actually just mashed the beans with everything else; next time I might puree at least half so some get a finer mash and others are left whole.

I took a tip I learned and put the mix in the fridge for a while before forming them into patties. This really helped them stick together! I formed the whole mix into three large patties. They were probably too large, so I’ll remember that for next time. I cooked them on the stovetop, in a small amount of oil for about 15 minutes, and they browned on the outside and warmed on the inside.

This attempt left me feeling pretty good. I think I’m ready to start thinking about my next patties already!

Ebony & Ivory Salad

I’m in yet another lull between trips, guests, and holidays, so I perused some cookbooks in search of new recipes to try. I’ve been looking for new salads because I love cold salad greens, but I’m always interested in new ways to eat them. For this, I made my own dressing and topped lettuce with beans, bell pepper, celery, and onion.

I adapted this recipe from The Passionate Vegetarian, a gigantic book my mother gave me a while ago. The dressing is called “Simple Vinaigrette with a Bite .” It has a kick, but I found it very pleasant. I blended cider vinegar, garlic, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and olive oil (I left out the basil as I don’t have anything but teeny-tiny sprouts right now).

I marinated the black beans, cannellini beans, red onion, and celery in the dressing and then mixed with the salad greens and red bell pepper just before serving. I used raw bell pepper for two reasons. Honestly, I didn't read the recipe closely and didn't notice that it called for it to be charred. I think I prefer it raw anyway.

I have a lot of left over beans, but I don’t think that’s a problem in this case because it’s so delicious.

Buffalo Seitan and Potato Skins

I love snacky food. Like just about everyone else in the country, we watched the Superbowl and wanted some special snacky food to eat along with. I wanted things that I normally wouldn’t eat, and I don’t mean chicken wings and bacon. Our main dishes were buffalo seitan and potato skins.

I used this recipe for oven-baked potato skins. It was pretty easy, if a little time consuming.

1. Scrub and bake your potatoes. Slice in half, then scoop out enough potato to leave a quarter-inch shell.
2. Coat the insides with a mix of oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
3. Bake at a hot 475F for 7 minutes (so they crisp).
4. Turn and coat the jackets with the same mix and bake another 7 minutes. If I were to do this again, I’d probably just spray the outside with Pam or brush with oil and leave it at that, although I’d still bake the 14 minutes to get them nice and crispy.
5. Fill cups with cheese or facon or other toppings and bake until melty, about 5 minutes for mine. Serve immediately.

Alex made some Morningstar bacon strips while these guys were baking, and we filled the potato skin cups with shredded cheddar cheese, and a half stick of bacon each. On our plates, we topped with sour cream and chives. It’s been a while since either of us has had potato skins, and we both enjoyed these a lot. Alex commented that these were less cheesy and more potato than he had at restaurants. I liked how crisp they got as well as the flavor of the spice rub.

Buffalo seitan, the way we make it, is really easy. We simply used packaged seitan and doused it in store-bought wing sauce, heated it one the stove, and that’s it. Served with some of that celery I was worried about using up and some Ken’s bleu cheese dressing.

Cream of Celery (and Carrot) Soup

I just got my first Farm Fresh Delivery order Wednesday night. I have been impatiently waiting for this, ever since I decided to start ordering with them. You should have seen me all day Wednesday, waiting on it to come, checking out the window and the front door. I also had my camera ready. The bin finally arrived after I'd gone out for the night and Alex unpacked it while i was gone. The idea behind the service is that you get a bin of fresh, organic produce delivered weekly or bi-weekly and you can add other products (eggs, grains, etc.) from their market. This is a great idea, and I'm certainly happy with the results, but it's one of those marks of privilege that I can even consider doing something like this.

One downside to doing this (although it’s a true “opportunity” in the buzz-word sense) is that I don’t get to choose exactly what I get. Instead, I just get a certain amount of fruits and vegetables. This week, I got mushrooms, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, shallots, apples, oranges, and tangerines.

Of all that, I found the celery most challenging to use. Typically I keep some in the fridge and use a stalk or two at time to put in soup or casseroles, or even to eat raw with peanut butter or dips and salads. Well, I already had some celery in the fridge and when I got this new delivery, I searched for ways to use it. I found this recipe for cream of cauliflower soup on Food Network’s website. I made it almost exactly, although I substituted cashew cream for cow’s milk cream.

It was pretty good. I don’t know that the un-pureed chunks of carrot and celery added much, so I might not bother with cooking those separately in the future. That just made things more complicated and dirtied another pot. And like some of the comments mention, using orange carrots turns the celery soup orange. I liked it, though. So did Alex, and we have just enough for one bowl leftover. I really, really, really like it when we eat almost all our food so we’re not looking at it for days on end trying to finish it.