Burritos and Road Trip Goodies Double Post

Catching up...

VeganMoFo Day 28: Tacos vs. Burritos

Definitely burritos. I love how you can stuff them super full into big, fat rolls that make a meal in themselves.

 

These had brown rice, black beans, yams, pickled cabbage, avocado, pico de gallo, and jalapeños with a liberal splash of hot sauce.

Next up, VeganMoFo Day 29: What would you bring on a vegan road trip?

I don't go on road trips very often, but if I did, in addition to fruit and water I'd bring along some Panda Licorice.

The ingredients are molasses, wheat flour, licorice extract and aniseed oil. They have other flavors too like blueberry and raspberry, which are all vegan and good, but I like black licorice best.

Also, some Harmless Harvest Coconut Water to stay hydrated.

Some Hail Merry Macaroons, yum.

And for the savory side of things Kale Krunch,

and probably some Primal Strips.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the fusion ideas tomorrow for the last day of MoFo!

Family Lasagna

Vegan MoFo 2015 Day 20: Veganize an old family recipe.

If our family has a "recipe" it has to be lasagna. We had this lasagna every Christmas and Easter, many times during the year for Sunday dinner, and it was always what I requested for my birthday meal. Everyone in our family loves it, and my brothers and I all make our own versions to keep the recipe alive.

I've never seen a written recipe for it, because I don't think there is one. My paternal grandmother showed my mom how to make it when my folks were married and that was that. It's straightforward, and doesn't need much explanation, and it's also very easy to veganize.

Of course it's versatile. I often layer other vegetables into it and add other bells and whistles, but this  is our quintessential family version: just homemade sauce, ricotta filling, and either parmesan and/or mozzarella on top.

The original filling consists of ricotta, egg, grated parmesan, garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper. I make mine by blending ground almonds, extra firm tofu, lemon juice, garlic granules, salt and pepper in a food processor and then stirring in parsley leaves. As a kid, it was always my job to pick the parsley off the stems to put in the filling.

More often than not, I use nut parmesan for the topping. It's how my mom makes it--no mozzarella, just parmesan--this contains ground blanched almonds, minced garlic, and kala namak salt. 

There's a bit of rivalry between us siblings as to who makes the best version...as far as I'm concerned mine wins, if only for being vegan.

I'm bummed for having missed several MoFo prompts; I was thinking of going back and making up the ones I missed, but then I'd fall even further behind. Well done to all the MoFoers who have been posting everyday. It's difficult to do--your efforts are appreciated!

Sauerkraut and Seitan "Spare Ribz": A Meal from My Childhood

Vegan MoFo 2015 Day 2: Recreate a meal from your childhood.

If you asked me about the primary culinary influence that shaped my childhood I would have to say 'Italian'. My father's side of the family is Italian and my paternal grandmother gave my mom all her traditional recipes when my folks got married. Most of my childhood food memories revolve around homemade pasta sauce, ravioli, braciole, lasagne, and the list goes on...

However, my mom's side of the family is Polish, and my great grandmother was from a region on the border between Germany and Poland. This dish is a reflection of my mom's heritage, and a meal that we ate often in the fall and winter. This dish evokes memories of cozy winter nights around the dinner table with my family.

Seitan works great with this, but so would tofu, grilled portabella mushrooms, tempeh, or chickpeas. Slices of apple and a sprinkle of caraway compliment the kraut beautifully. When it's baking in the oven, the aroma is a divine mingling of sweet and savory; it makes me hungry just thinking about it!

This is simple to assemble: put a generous layer of your favorite sauerkraut (I used homemade) in a baking dish, tuck in some apple slices, and sprinkle caraway seeds over the top.  Be sure to pour in plenty of the sauerkraut brine too. (You probably won't need to season with any salt because of the sauerkraut, but add black pepper if desired.)

If you use ready-made seitan you can add it now, and bake at 375°F for ~30 - 40 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, the sauerkraut should be gently simmering in its juice. If you're making the seitan from scratch, you'll want to bake, steam, or braise it separately and then add it to the sauerkraut a few minutes before it comes out of the oven.  

I made may own seitan this time around; the flavor profile is tailored to the dish. Here's what I did:

"Seitan Ribz" 

1 cup cooked white beans

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (or a little less of regular soy sauce)

1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

pinch of onion powder

1-2 twigs fresh thyme, removed from stem

splash of white wine or apple cider (optional)

2/3 cup water

black pepper to taste

1 1/2  cups vital wheat gluten

Preheat the oven to 375°F (if you plan on baking or steam-baking). 

Put the vital wheat gluten in a mixing bowl. Put the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend into a smooth liquid. Taste the liquid for saltiness. You probably won't want/need to add any salt; the mixture should be quite savory, but not exceedingly salty. Add the wet ingredients to to the vital wheat gluten and mix/knead gently to get a elastic, non-sticky seitan dough. If the dough is too wet, add more vital wheat gluten as necessary.

Shape the dough into a round and cut into two equal parts. Roll each piece into an oblong shape to about 1/2" thickness. Score the "ribz". At this point, you can cook the seitan anyway you like. When I make thin cutlet-type seitan pieces like these ribz, I like to steam-bake it.

To steam-bake, place the seitan on a cooling rack (brush the seitan with a little olive oil at this point if you feel so inclined) and then place the rack in a cookie sheet. Add 2 cups of water to the cookie sheet and put the whole lot in a 375°F. The seitan will bake and steam at the same time. Check the water level every so often; you'll probably need to add another cup or two during the process. If the seitan is rolled out to 1/2" thickness, it should take about an hour to cook--turn the seitan over halfway through. When it comes out of the oven, the seitan should be soft and springy, but not doughy.

Seitan ribz in to steam-bake

This is a dish that sauerkraut lovers will enjoy. Served with potatoes and a leafy green salad, it excites the senses while being warming and comforting at the same time--perfect for autumn and winter evenings.

And finally, I wanted to end my MoFo posts with a mini round-up of posts from other MoFoers, but I can't find the blogroll. Some people are creating their own lists. I guess it's just taking them some time to compile it? I don't have a smartphone so can't do the # search on Instagram. Sigh...such is life.

Decadent Dishes for Dreary Days

Oh my, has it really been eight months since my last post? Yikes! I don't know where the time went. Other things just sort of took over my life lo' these past few months. I've been trying to keep up with all the blogs, and I apologize if I haven't been as consistent at that as I would have liked.  To top it all off, my camera broke! So, I don't have any pics of recent eats to post. These were the last shots I took before my camera died, back in September.

These were taken on a particular weekend when we got our first rain in quite some time. As a good Pacific Northwest native, I was really looking forward to a cozy, rainy weekend after a long stretch of dry weather. It put me in the mood for staying in, lighting candles, drinking a bit of wine, and most of all...cooking! I decided to make some butternut squash ravioli. Sometimes, you just need ravioli. It's in the same class as lasagne: an imperative of nature that just has to be satisfied.

For the dough, I used my standby pasta recipe from Vegan Dad. It's a great recipe: easy to make, easy to roll out, no bother. I don't have a pasta machine, so I roll the dough out by hand. If you let the dough relax for about 30 - 40 minutes after you combine it, the dough becomes very workable. A granite pastry board or similar is very handy  too, in order to keep the dough from sticking when you roll it out. I also have one of these ravioli molds, which turns ravioli-making into a breeze. If you're inclined to make ravioli, I highly recommend getting one of these:

Here's how it works: 

For the filling, I roasted a butternut squash, peeled it, and then mashed it with sauteed shallot, a bit of vegan margarine, and salt and pepper. It was a simple mixture, but I wanted it that way to highlight the flavor of the roasted squash, which is simply delicious on its own.

What's your favorite winter squash? I'm torn between butternut and delicata, although I like each one for different things.

For the sauce, I sauteed  garlic and diced yellow pepper in olive oil and tossed in some roasted garlic. Then to serve, I topped it with pine nuts, fresh parsley, and a drizzle of cold-pressed olive oil. We also had wilted kale and big green salad...yummy food for a rainy September evening.

I'm not big on desserts, but on this particular weekend, I decided to go all out and bake a pie. I really like to bake; I spent many years working in bakeries while I was in college and afterwards, but these days, I very rarely bake anything. Making a batch of something just seems like too much for two people to eat.

This was a blueberry pie with coconut crumble topping. The dough is your basic 2:1 pastry; two parts flour (by weight) to one part vegan shortening, a pinch of salt and a few tablespoons of cold water to bring it together. After sifting the flour, I like to rub the shortening in with my fingers. This however, warms up the shortening and is not strictly desirable. So, after I've rubbed the shortening into the flour, I put the mixture in the fridge for a while, so it can become nice and cool again before I add the cold water to combine...just my own quirky way of doing things.  Making sure the shortening is cold when you add the water helps produce a tender, flaky crust. Or, at least that's what I've always heard.

The filling was blueberries that I had frozen from the summer, about 1/4 cup sugar, and some corn starch. Then for the topping, I combined coconut spread, rolled oats, unsweetened shredded coconut, and some brown sugar. It had a mild coco-nutty taste from the coconut butter and the dessicated coconut...it was ok, but I wanted it to turn out crunchier somehow.

Before and after shots:

I thought it would take us a week to polish it off, but we were a bit greedy; it lasted two days. No magical, everlasting desserts around here, I'm afraid.

And finally, meet our newest family member, Barnaby the Bunny:

He's from the animal shelter, and he's been with us for about three months. He's only about nine months old, he's neutered and he's quite a tidy bunny with good litter box habits. He free roams in the kitchen and living room when we're home, and lives in the kitchen at night and when we're not home.

He's very clever, and has learned to come when I call for him.  I got him used to it by giving him a bit of carrot, apple, or strawberry whenever he came into the kitchen. So now, all I have to do is call out "kitchen bunny" and he comes running.

Barney's really a little darling and sits with us on the futon at night when we're watching a video and soaks up pets and gives us bunny kisses. The kitties were afraid of him at first, but now, they've gotten used to him. They still get a little spooked if he comes hopping up to them too quickly, but I'm sure eventually, they'll all snuggle together.

Whenever I open the fridge or bring in the groceries, he runs over to raid the veggies.

Rabbits are the third most surrendered animal at shelters after cats and dogs. Our municipal shelter is full of rabbits right now.  If you're in the Seattle area, and think a rabbit might be a good new addition to your family, head down to the Seattle Animal Shelter and check it out!  And, if you're interested, there's lots of good info about living with house rabbits at the House Rabbit Society.

Sorry, this turned into sort of a long post!

I hope to start posting again soon, whenever I can get my camera situation sorted out, until then...

Ciao for now

Homemade Taco Shells, Walnut Filling, and Shoes

I've always been under the impression that soft tacos are more traditional than the hard shell variety, which I have a feeling came about in this country as some sort of fast-foody invention. I've never been to Mexico though, so I don't really know what I'm talking about. However, I do know there are those of you who won't countenance a hard shell when it comes to tacos, and though I think that shows taste and distinction, personally, I can go either way.

I've never fancied buying those hard shells in the stores though...there's too much packaging so they won't break and they seem stale and unwholesome somehow. So, I came up with a way of making them at home. The title says homemade taco shells, which is a little misleading. I don't make the tortillas; I buy the Food for Life Organic Sprouted Corn Tortillas,  then make the shells by using an upside down muffin tin and baking them in the oven:

For best results, I  warm them up in a pan so they soften before folding them into the tin. I don't use oil or anything, I just throw them in a warm pan for a 30-40 seconds until they become soft and more pliable. Once they're in the tin, I bake them for about 8-10 minutes in a 375 F oven. If you check them periodically, you'll be able to tell when they've stiffened up enough. Sometimes, I brush them with a mixture of Bragg's Aminos and lime juice before hand, which makes them extra tasty. 

Onto the filling, which is the best part. To be honest, I rarely (like never) made tacos before I found the recipe for this filling.  I've posted about it before, but I'm posting about it again because it's just that good. (If you're interested, see this post for a better picture of the filling and a link to the original recipe.)

walnut taco filling; great for nachos too

The filling consists of raw walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes (I use dry ones reconstituted in some warm veggie broth until they're soft), a few black olives, ground cumin, nutritional yeast, a dash of hot sauce, black pepper, and a dash of sea salt. I used those old school kind of black olives...you know the ones you used to put on your finger tips at holiday parties...they're very mild tasting and not too salty. Any kind of olive you prefer would work great; if they're more salty, like say a kalamata, you'll want to taste the filling before adding more salt. Jalapeños would be nice addition too. EDIT not in original publication: I also add garlic! And just for clarification...you mix everything in a food processor and that's it, you're done. :) It's also really good on nachos!!!

As you might imagine, this filling is enormously versatile; you can add spices and other ingredients of your choice in order  to tailor it to the desired flavor profile. I've used it for many different dishes from moussaka to lasagne, but it really makes tacos shine in my opinion.

In addition to the walnut filling, these particular tacos also had a layer of drunken black beans and garlic,  and were topped off with the usual suspects: tomato, spring onion, avocado, black olives, shredded carrots and daikon, etc. I took the pics before piling on the salsa and hot sauce...truly, mouthfuls of deliciousness.

Now for shoes! People often think that being vegan must be difficult, but I know all you vegans out there will agree, that food-wise at least, it's not difficult at all. In fact, it's a true joy that non-vegans are really missing out on. But when it come to shoes...that has always been the hardest part of the vegan lifestyle for me. I can never find any shoes that I like!

Everyone's tastes are different of course, and some might find loads of vegan shoes that suit their tastes, but I rarely see any that catch my fancy. I often peruse the vegan shoe sites, and there's even a vegan shoe shop near my house, but I'm always disappointed in the selection. Buying shoes has become an infrequent activity for me, except in the case of running shoes and sandals, which I think are easier to find then other dress and casual shoes.

So, I was truly excited when recently, I scored a pair that I really like:

They look cute with trousers and skirts, and while they may not be everyone's cup of tea, if you're short like me, you'll probably understand the appeal of wedges; they give you a good few inches of height. The trick is finding ones that are actually comfortable too. If they're well made, a pair of wedges can be very comfortable indeed. These particular ones don't fair too badly on that count; I can be on my feet in them for about 7 hours before my feet start to complain.

I found them on a teeny-bopper site called ModCloth, where you'll find lots of funky teen glamour stuff, but I mainly look at the shoes. In the "More Details" section of the product description, they tell you what all the shoes are made from, and many of them are from all man made materials. Most of their stuff is imported of course (read outsourced), which I don't like, but finding anything made here a chore in itself. Here's hoping that there's enough impetus to make that change in the coming years. 

Molly in a Cupboard

That's all I got for now. I do have several other meals that I feel like posting about, but I'm thinking of switching over to Wordpress, so not sure whether I'll post much more here or just post them on the new blog when I have it set up. It all depends on how lazy I end up being about doing the blog transition. It sounds like a heinous project--precisely the sort of thing that I personally loathe, but I find myself wanting to move away from Google services, so I'm looking into it with fairly serious intent.

Ciao for now! :D

Stuff I Never Posted

Season's Greetings everyone! I haven't been too active here lately, so I thought I'd shake off my blog paralysis with some blasts from the recent past, some stuff I never posted. All the way from August, this was a white gazpacho: lemon cucumber, fennel, garlic, white onion, celery and blanched almonds. Seasoned with salt and white pepper and topped with smoked paprika and basil oil, it was very summery and refreshing, but I prefer tomato gazpacho.

From not quite so long ago, this was the main course I made for our Thanksgiving dinner. We were at my bro's house, and I brought these along for our vegan dinner. My niece, who's vegetarian ate them too. What are they you ask? 

Why, they're cashew, leek, and mushroom stacks of course. These were inspired by a recipe from a vegetarian cafe I worked at back in 03/04. The base is sprouted bread crumbs and cashews sauteed with garlic, onion, and herbs. The filling is the part I tweaked. I don't remember exactly what went into the filling at the restaurant, but I made this one by blending tofu, white miso, ume vinegar, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and some mushroom powder. The powder I made by grinding up some dried forest mushrooms; it imparted a great umami flavor, but a little goes a long way.  Then I stirred in some sauteed crimini and maitake mushrooms, shallots, and parsley to the tofu mix, and topped off the stacks with sherry-braised leeks and raw cranberries.

Once the cashew crust, tofu, and toppings were layered in these nifty open-bottom molds, they went into a 350 F oven for about 30 minutes. The cranberries cooked down, and once out of the oven, garnished with some ground hazelnuts or walnuts, these make a flavorful and festive little main course.

We also had some vegan stuffing: herbed walnut baguette, sourdough baquette, walnuts, apples, and wild rice along with the usual stuffing seasonings: onion, celery, thyme, parsley, veggie broth and Earth Balance. I served in a baked buttercup squash, which turned out kind of cute:

On to a quick mid-week lunch: one of MeloMeal's 3-ingredient bean burgers in an eggplant "bun" with sweet onion and ginger-tomato chutney.

The next item is truly a blast from the past: spaghetti squash casserole, based on the recipe from one of the first Moosewood cookbooks. One of my college roommates and I used to love this recipe and made it a lot. We were vegetarian back then, not vegan, but the recipe was easy to veganize by using olive oil instead of butter and cashew cream and tofu ricotta instead of the cheeses. 

It totally looks like a piece of carrot cake, especially with the extra cashew cream and ground walnuts on top. 

Finally, this was a fairly recent meal. I started of by sauteeing loads of sliced garlic, (like a full heads-worth) some red pepper flakes and oregano, then added collard greens, crushed tomatoes, and oven-fried tofu and let it simmer for about 40 minutes.

 It was simple, but so tasty.  Next time I make it, I'll use two bunches of collards instead of just one, just can't get enough of it! 

Happy holiday season to all! 

Thai Curry-Coconut Squash (and other eats)

This is such a simple and tasty dish. It's one of our favorites, and it makes a great side dish or a meal in itself along with a bit of brown rice and tofu or what have you...toss in some greens even. We like to eat it chunky, but you could also puree it into soup if you prefer.

Start with a kabocha squash...butternut would work too, but you want a nice sturdy squash that will hold its shape while gently braising. Cut  the squash into big chunks (if it's organic, I leave the skin on; it really becomes quite soft and palatable with braising, but it's up to you). Whisk together 2 parts unsalted veggie broth, 1 part full-fat coconut milk, and some Thai curry paste to taste. Bring the broth mix to a simmer then add the squash and let it cook gently over low until the squash is nice and soft, but still holding its shape.

Just in passing, I like Chaokoh brand coconut milk; it's good stuff, sumptuously thick and creamy. The only way it could be better is if it were organic...but hey, it's not a perfect world. Of course it's up to you, but, if you're inclined to buy light coconut milk because of fat/calorie concerns, my advice is: don't. Just buy full-fat and dilute it; you get twice as much for your money. (It stores fine in the freezer too.)

Use whatever type of curry paste you prefer. Green curry would be good too, but I prefer  a yellow or red curry paste. Heck, you could use more of an Indian style curry or whatever suits your fancy, so long as it's tasty.

These are rough estimates, but for ~2.5 lbs of chopped squash, I'll use 2 cups veggie broth, 1 cup thick coconut milk and 1 generous Tablespoon curry paste. (Adjust the paste to taste.)  Saltiness of prepared curries differ, so I recommend using unsalted veggie broth and then adding salt to the coconut/broth/curry mix if need be.

Serve with generous amounts of fresh squeezed lime juice, and garnish with chili sauce if you want more heat. Lime rounds out the flavor nicely. 

In other news, I don't blog about everyday eats very often, but here are some recent weeknight meals:

Big salad of lacinato kale, chard, and romaine along with shredded carrot, red cabbage, sweet onion, and cherry tomato, topped with some oven-roasted buffalo-style tofu. I made the buffalo sauce starting with tomato paste, vinegar, and coconut palm sugar, and garlic, then added water and a generous amount of Tapatio sauce. It was spicy!

After the pic, I dressed it with some vegan ranch dressing, (plain soy yogurt, cider vinegar, umeboshi vinegar, a pinch of kala namak salt and lots of garlic and herbs)...don't know whether ranch tastes like that dressing, but it was rich-tasting, garlicky and herby, and I thought it suited the spicy tofu well.

Another pile of greens, this time with roasted apple, brussel's sprouts, and Japanese sweet potato, green beans, pomegranite, hemp seeds, and tomato. Yam would have been nicer visually, but I can't resist Japanese sweet potato, they're so sweet and good. I think this was dressed with nut yeast, Bragg's aminos, and cider vinegar.

Very plain, but delicious nonetheless, lentils with Field Roast Italian-style Vegan sausage and kale. Saute base was celery/onion/ garlic and spiced with fennel seed, bay leaf, chili flakes and oregano.

And the true star of the bunch (in spite of being photographed in the drear of my kitchen) this sandwich was the farthest thing from dreary. It was one of the many sandwich creations sparked by Maud's enticing offering a while back. Seriously, versions of her sandwich did the rounds on the the blogs. My version ended up as balsamic-roasted eggplant, smoky white bean spread (basically hummus made with cannelini beans instead of garbanzos and a few drops of liquid smoke added), sun dried tomato pesto, baby greens, and sweet onion on a wheat/herb/walnut baguette. 

I'm really looking forward to the holiday season this year...(unlike in past few years for various reasons). The time for cozy nights and delicious harvest meals is upon us! What are any US vegans planning for Thanksgiving? I always look forward to seeing the many ingenious, sumptuous creations that end up on the holiday tables and shine at mixed gatherings!

Talk to you soon!