to begin: W.W.G.G.W.E. stands for, "Which Will Go Great With Everything." I think wwggwe is an underlying philosophy of my cooking. garlic would fall into the wwggwe category, although it's not a recipe.
to continue: this recipe came to me via sean, who adopted it from his ex, who is - I hear - a formidable cook in her own right. if I were to judge based on this recipe, I would heartily agree.
you will need:
*one package of extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
*1/3 cup whole wheat flour
*1/3 cup cornmeal
*1/3 cup nutritional yeast
*salt to taste
*seasoned salt or garlic salt to taste
*plain soy milk
*olive oil
*a ziploc bag
combine the cornmeal, nutritional yeast, whole wheat flour, and salts in the ziploc bag. odds are that you'll want more salt than you'd think to put in, but that amount varies for everyone. if you're the sort of person that needs specifics, start with a tablespoon and go from there. seal the bag, shake so that everything is mixed, and set aside.
slice the tofu as you see fit. when dealing with a block, I like to slice it in half width-wise, creating two half-inch high rectangles. you can either make tofu "fingers" or cubes - whatever tickles your fancy. the important thing is to make sure your cut leaves the tofu with sides large enough to batter and brown. slivers won't work here, darlings.
pour the soymilk into a dish or tupperware container. you'll want enough in there so that you can coat the tofu. the exact amount will vary based on the size and shape of your dish. take about half of your tofu slices and coat all sides with soymilk. they don't need to be saturated, just wet enough so that the batter will stick. the tofu pieces go from the soymilk into the ziploc bag. pop the suckers in, seal the bag, and give it a good shake. you may want to do a little...massaging to make sure that every piece is getting coated on all sides.
heat a healthy amount of olive oil in a large, low saucepan. when the oil is hot, drop the tofu in. cubes can be done in two batches, tofu strips will need more than that. after a few minutes, flip one piece over. if it's golden brown on the bottom, flip the rest. cook for a few more minutes and then remove when the second side is a similarly wonderful golden brown color.
it make take a few tries to get the process down. I end up coating the second batch while the first one cooks, but if you have a partner in crime, you can have a continuous loop of coating and cooking. this recipe is so yummy. it is wwggwe for seri.
Showing posts with label yummy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yummy. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
sarah elisabeth's oatmeal
I often eat oatmeal for breakfast. I use regular oats - not quick - and it's still fast enough for me to do before work unless I'm in an uber-rush. I've been meaning to share oatmeal with the blog for awhile, but I kept forgetting, but since I'm on a roll here, I present to you my morning oatmeal for one.
Take a half a cup of oats and 1 cup of water and pour into a small saucepan (I usually use a different pot, but it was in the dishwasher. I also usually buy my oats in bulk at whole foods, but I was out and bought a box of quaker oats and stop and shop the other day, so that's what's in the pictures. I think it's a little gooier, but it's fine.)
The rule for oatmeal is like rice - for every unit of oatmeal add twice as much water. (1 cup of oatmeal, 2 cups of water, 12 cups of oatmeal 24 cups of water, 3/4 cup of oatmeal 1.5 cups of water) Usually I just add the oatmeal first, and then whatever container I used to scoop the oatmeal, I use to measure out the water.
Turn the heat on high - but watch closely so that you can turn it down as soon as it bubbles. while you're waiting and watching, add a handful of sliced almonds, a handful of raisins, and 8 shakes of cinnamon. Stir it (I usually use a wooden spoon, but the regular spoon you're going to eat it with is OK too.)
When it bubbles, turn the heat down as low as it goes. Stir often, almost constantly. I get out the bowl, spoon and sweetener at this time, stirring between each getting.
After about 5 minutes the oatmeal should not be liquid-y anymore, and it should start to almost stand up in the pot if you build towers of it with the spoon. Some of it will inevitable stick to the bottom - don't stress about this. If it starts to burn then you either have the heat up too high, there's not enough water, you didn't stir enough, or it's just done and you should eat it!
Spoon/pour the oatmeal into a bowl. -- a word on sweeteners here. In general I rotate between three different sweeteners - applesauce, brown sugar, and maple syrup. If you are using brown sugar or apple sauce, I recommend putting them in the bowl first and then spooning the oatmeal on top of them. I was using maple syrup this time though, so I poured it on top.
Now stir and eat. it's good for you.
In terms of modifications - they are infinite. You can add pretty much anything to oatmeal - fruit and dairy products particularly lend themselves, but I've seen success with other things! My grandmother likes blueberries and milk, some folks are fans of bananas, when I was hiking we used to add GORP to the cream of wheat - and sometimes to the oatmeal too. M&Ms or chocolate chips, peanuts, dried cherries, butter, cubed apples, soy milk, whatever you like, really.
Take a half a cup of oats and 1 cup of water and pour into a small saucepan (I usually use a different pot, but it was in the dishwasher. I also usually buy my oats in bulk at whole foods, but I was out and bought a box of quaker oats and stop and shop the other day, so that's what's in the pictures. I think it's a little gooier, but it's fine.)
The rule for oatmeal is like rice - for every unit of oatmeal add twice as much water. (1 cup of oatmeal, 2 cups of water, 12 cups of oatmeal 24 cups of water, 3/4 cup of oatmeal 1.5 cups of water) Usually I just add the oatmeal first, and then whatever container I used to scoop the oatmeal, I use to measure out the water.
Turn the heat on high - but watch closely so that you can turn it down as soon as it bubbles. while you're waiting and watching, add a handful of sliced almonds, a handful of raisins, and 8 shakes of cinnamon. Stir it (I usually use a wooden spoon, but the regular spoon you're going to eat it with is OK too.)
When it bubbles, turn the heat down as low as it goes. Stir often, almost constantly. I get out the bowl, spoon and sweetener at this time, stirring between each getting.
After about 5 minutes the oatmeal should not be liquid-y anymore, and it should start to almost stand up in the pot if you build towers of it with the spoon. Some of it will inevitable stick to the bottom - don't stress about this. If it starts to burn then you either have the heat up too high, there's not enough water, you didn't stir enough, or it's just done and you should eat it!
Spoon/pour the oatmeal into a bowl. -- a word on sweeteners here. In general I rotate between three different sweeteners - applesauce, brown sugar, and maple syrup. If you are using brown sugar or apple sauce, I recommend putting them in the bowl first and then spooning the oatmeal on top of them. I was using maple syrup this time though, so I poured it on top.
Now stir and eat. it's good for you.
In terms of modifications - they are infinite. You can add pretty much anything to oatmeal - fruit and dairy products particularly lend themselves, but I've seen success with other things! My grandmother likes blueberries and milk, some folks are fans of bananas, when I was hiking we used to add GORP to the cream of wheat - and sometimes to the oatmeal too. M&Ms or chocolate chips, peanuts, dried cherries, butter, cubed apples, soy milk, whatever you like, really.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
chard risotto -- vegan (or not!)
I bought some rainbow chard at the stop and shop yesterday because it looked good and seemed right for the season. I knew I was making dinner today, but had no idea what I would make! At work I looked up recipes that had swiss chard and I was thinking I wanted to make soup, but most of the chard soups had anchovies in them - and I wasn't interested in making that tonight. But then I found a list of recipes including chard and abelandcole.co.uk - and it had a cool risotto recipe in it in addition to a soup with anchovies, so risotto it was! The recipe is here: http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/content/recipes/chard.htm#recipe6 - all of the chard recipes are on that page, and it made me want to try some more!
Once the chard was cooked I spooned it into a bowl to cool. I deglazed the pan with some white wine so that I could take advantage of the chard juice that was left over.
when the onions looked soft I added half a cup of risotto rice and stirred it in so that it was coated with the oil and onions and garlic and cayenne. Then I poured my delgazing wine from the saute pan over it and added 4 cups of vegetable stock to the pot. I turned the heat up to medium high until it bubbled.
While I was doing that, sarah emily chopped the now-cool chard into small pieces. after about 40 minutes, with occasional stirring, the rice started to seem cooked and it really thickened up - I was worried it wasn't enough rice - but a little goes a long way! when it was thick but still a bit liquid-y I stirred in the chard and added some pepper. after about 3 minutes it looked hot and good and it was ready!
I set out some fake and some real parmesan and the four of us ate everything. it was really pretty good!
First I took a bunch of rainbow chard and cut out the stems - I'm saving them for later - but not sure what I'm doing with them! then I tore it in large pieces and put it in a colander and washed the leaves.
Then I put the chard leaves still with some water on them in my saute pan and turned the heat on medium and put the lid on. Every so often I used some tongs to stir it around.
I chopped an onion and sarah emily chopped 4 cloves of garlic. I added those with two shakes of powdered cayenne pepper to a soup pot with the bottom covered in olive oil. I put the heat on medium low and stirred.
Once the chard was cooked I spooned it into a bowl to cool. I deglazed the pan with some white wine so that I could take advantage of the chard juice that was left over.
when the onions looked soft I added half a cup of risotto rice and stirred it in so that it was coated with the oil and onions and garlic and cayenne. Then I poured my delgazing wine from the saute pan over it and added 4 cups of vegetable stock to the pot. I turned the heat up to medium high until it bubbled.
While I was doing that, sarah emily chopped the now-cool chard into small pieces. after about 40 minutes, with occasional stirring, the rice started to seem cooked and it really thickened up - I was worried it wasn't enough rice - but a little goes a long way! when it was thick but still a bit liquid-y I stirred in the chard and added some pepper. after about 3 minutes it looked hot and good and it was ready!
I set out some fake and some real parmesan and the four of us ate everything. it was really pretty good!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
creme caramel
A few weeks ago, my friend Chloe and I made creme caramel aka flan to be the finale of our taco dinner. (I'll try and post about the tacos later.)
My mom taught me to make this - my favorite desert - when I was in high school. You can make it in individual cups, but it is easier, and I think more fun, to make one big creme caramel. The recipe we use is basically the recipe from cooks' illustrated.
The easy part is making the custard. From the Cooks' Illustrated recipe:
1.5 c. whole milk
1.5 c. light cream
3 lg. eggs
2 lg. egg yolks
2/3 c. sugar
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Heat milk and cream, stirring occasionally, in medium saucepan over medium heat until steam appears and/or an instant-read thermometer held in the liquid registers 160 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes; remove from heat. Meanwhile, gently whisk eggs, yolks, and sugar in large bowl until just combined. Off heat, gently whisk warm milk mixture, salt, and vanilla into eggs until just combined but not at all foamy. Strain mixture through fine mesh sieve into large measuring cup or container with pouring spout.
Sometimes the flan has a lot of bubbles in it. This is not ideal, but I am not sure how to prevent it - my theories are that you need an evenly temperatured oven or that you have to be very careful not to make the custard mix foamy. Really though, I have no idea.
The caramel, for me, is the tricky part. I generally make my flan in a bread-loaf pan. it's nice because you end up with a "loaf" of flan - easy to cut, easy to plate, and pretty elegant looking. However, my mom's vaunted strategy of making the caramel in the loaf pan did not work for me at all this time. I think my burners were just not wide enough - some of the sugar was burning while other parts hadn't even melted.
We deviate from the cook's illustrated version somewhat on this because we don't use water. For the moment, I advise making the caramel in a saucepan and then pouring it into the pan you'll make the flan in. you can do this the day before if you want.
For the caramel, put 2 tablespoons of corn syrup in the bottom of the pan and try to spread it around evenly by tipping the pan around (don't put anything in there - corn syrup is really sticky!). Then add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice. Finally spread 1 cup of sugar evenly over the top. Now put the saucepan over low heat and watch it like a hawk. Do not stir. the mixture should start to liquefy and darken. You should swirl the pan around a bit so that all parts get cooked pretty evenly. as soon as everything is liquid, as long as it is at least a little bit brown - it is done. Turn off the burner, and immediately pour the caramel into the pan you're going to cook the flan in. If you burn the sugar, you are screwed - you should start over. I should point out that while making flan this time, we burned three sets of caramel before we got it right. Chloe was very saintly about cleaning out the loaf pans. also, at one point, I caught a paper towel on fire. It was kind of awkward.
let the caramel harden in the bottom of the loaf pan, then pour the custard mixture on top of it.
Now you have to prepare the flan for cooking.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
pull out one of the shelves in the oven and place a large roasting pan (or in my case this time, a rectangular casserole, onto the shelf - first lining it with a dishcloth folded to lay flat on the bottom.
Set a full tea kettle to boil.
set the flan in its loaf pan in the center of the casserole dish. When the water in the kettle boils, pour it into the roasting pan until it goes about 2/3 of the way up the flan. then push in the rack and bake for 75 minutes.
when the flan is ready, remove it from the water bath, set it on the counter/stove, and let it set for a few minutes. Then put it in the refrigerator so that it can cool further. when the pan is cool to the touch, it is probably ready. it is fine to give it more time though. *Just* before serving you should unmold the flan. run a very sharp knife around the edge of the flan. With some assistance, if possible, lay the platter that you plan to serve the flan on on top of the loaf pan. Flip the platter and loaf pan over so that the open side of the loaf pan, which is touching the top of the platter, is facing down. Let it sit for a few moments and then gently shake flan until it comes free and is laying on the platter, caramel side up. pour any remaining caramel over the flan (it should sort of swim in it.)
Now you can slice the flan and serve it. make sure to spoon lots of caramel on top! I will have to make this again soon so that there can be pictures. It was really yummy though!
My mom taught me to make this - my favorite desert - when I was in high school. You can make it in individual cups, but it is easier, and I think more fun, to make one big creme caramel. The recipe we use is basically the recipe from cooks' illustrated.
The easy part is making the custard. From the Cooks' Illustrated recipe:
1.5 c. whole milk
1.5 c. light cream
3 lg. eggs
2 lg. egg yolks
2/3 c. sugar
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Heat milk and cream, stirring occasionally, in medium saucepan over medium heat until steam appears and/or an instant-read thermometer held in the liquid registers 160 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes; remove from heat. Meanwhile, gently whisk eggs, yolks, and sugar in large bowl until just combined. Off heat, gently whisk warm milk mixture, salt, and vanilla into eggs until just combined but not at all foamy. Strain mixture through fine mesh sieve into large measuring cup or container with pouring spout.
Sometimes the flan has a lot of bubbles in it. This is not ideal, but I am not sure how to prevent it - my theories are that you need an evenly temperatured oven or that you have to be very careful not to make the custard mix foamy. Really though, I have no idea.
The caramel, for me, is the tricky part. I generally make my flan in a bread-loaf pan. it's nice because you end up with a "loaf" of flan - easy to cut, easy to plate, and pretty elegant looking. However, my mom's vaunted strategy of making the caramel in the loaf pan did not work for me at all this time. I think my burners were just not wide enough - some of the sugar was burning while other parts hadn't even melted.
We deviate from the cook's illustrated version somewhat on this because we don't use water. For the moment, I advise making the caramel in a saucepan and then pouring it into the pan you'll make the flan in. you can do this the day before if you want.
For the caramel, put 2 tablespoons of corn syrup in the bottom of the pan and try to spread it around evenly by tipping the pan around (don't put anything in there - corn syrup is really sticky!). Then add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice. Finally spread 1 cup of sugar evenly over the top. Now put the saucepan over low heat and watch it like a hawk. Do not stir. the mixture should start to liquefy and darken. You should swirl the pan around a bit so that all parts get cooked pretty evenly. as soon as everything is liquid, as long as it is at least a little bit brown - it is done. Turn off the burner, and immediately pour the caramel into the pan you're going to cook the flan in. If you burn the sugar, you are screwed - you should start over. I should point out that while making flan this time, we burned three sets of caramel before we got it right. Chloe was very saintly about cleaning out the loaf pans. also, at one point, I caught a paper towel on fire. It was kind of awkward.
let the caramel harden in the bottom of the loaf pan, then pour the custard mixture on top of it.
Now you have to prepare the flan for cooking.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
pull out one of the shelves in the oven and place a large roasting pan (or in my case this time, a rectangular casserole, onto the shelf - first lining it with a dishcloth folded to lay flat on the bottom.
Set a full tea kettle to boil.
set the flan in its loaf pan in the center of the casserole dish. When the water in the kettle boils, pour it into the roasting pan until it goes about 2/3 of the way up the flan. then push in the rack and bake for 75 minutes.
when the flan is ready, remove it from the water bath, set it on the counter/stove, and let it set for a few minutes. Then put it in the refrigerator so that it can cool further. when the pan is cool to the touch, it is probably ready. it is fine to give it more time though. *Just* before serving you should unmold the flan. run a very sharp knife around the edge of the flan. With some assistance, if possible, lay the platter that you plan to serve the flan on on top of the loaf pan. Flip the platter and loaf pan over so that the open side of the loaf pan, which is touching the top of the platter, is facing down. Let it sit for a few moments and then gently shake flan until it comes free and is laying on the platter, caramel side up. pour any remaining caramel over the flan (it should sort of swim in it.)
Now you can slice the flan and serve it. make sure to spoon lots of caramel on top! I will have to make this again soon so that there can be pictures. It was really yummy though!
Monday, February 11, 2008
get a farm share with stone soup farm!
OK y'all. our friend Jarrett Man has started a fabulous new farm called Stone Soup farm out in Belchertown, Mass. The farm will have a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) component where a weekly delivery of the harvest will be made in return for your financial support of the farm.
This is Jarrett:
I know Jarrett and his farming skills well, and I have nothing but the utmost faith in him and his farm. I'll definitely be signing up for a full share to share with my roommates (a full share easily feeds three and can really feed four with no problem). If you're at all interested, check out the sign-up sheet at: http://stonesoupfarm.googlepages.com/CSASignupform2008take5alllocations.pdf (it's a .pdf) or you can learn more about the farm in general at http://stonesoupfarm.googlepages.com
The food will be fresh, local, and grown without chemicals. If you've had a tomato from a local farm, you'll never be able to eat one from the supermarket again. it's the same with carrots. The vegetables just taste completely different.
Snazzy farm logo:
To top it all off, you'll try things you've never had before, and you'll eat things that you wouldn't think to buy.
Financially, it's a great deal, at least if you eat a lot of vegetables. I pretty much eliminated my food bills from June until November last year. and if you split your farm share three ways, even paying on the higher end ($500) of the sliding scale, it's still less then $200 for an entire season of vegetables - and it's enough vegetables that except for some rice and pasta, and maybe some protein, you don't have to really have anything else!
The pick-ups in Boston will be in Harvard Square and near South Station. There's also one out in Leominster or Lunenburg or somewhere like that, and plenty more opportunities out in W. Mass. If you have questions - email Jarrett at stonesoupfarm@gmail.com (tell him Sarah sent you) or you can get in touch with me - but I might not have an answer :)
I really can't recommend this enough. really!
This is Jarrett:
I know Jarrett and his farming skills well, and I have nothing but the utmost faith in him and his farm. I'll definitely be signing up for a full share to share with my roommates (a full share easily feeds three and can really feed four with no problem). If you're at all interested, check out the sign-up sheet at: http://stonesoupfarm.googlepages.com/CSASignupform2008take5alllocations.pdf (it's a .pdf) or you can learn more about the farm in general at http://stonesoupfarm.googlepages.com
The food will be fresh, local, and grown without chemicals. If you've had a tomato from a local farm, you'll never be able to eat one from the supermarket again. it's the same with carrots. The vegetables just taste completely different.
Snazzy farm logo:
To top it all off, you'll try things you've never had before, and you'll eat things that you wouldn't think to buy.
Financially, it's a great deal, at least if you eat a lot of vegetables. I pretty much eliminated my food bills from June until November last year. and if you split your farm share three ways, even paying on the higher end ($500) of the sliding scale, it's still less then $200 for an entire season of vegetables - and it's enough vegetables that except for some rice and pasta, and maybe some protein, you don't have to really have anything else!
The pick-ups in Boston will be in Harvard Square and near South Station. There's also one out in Leominster or Lunenburg or somewhere like that, and plenty more opportunities out in W. Mass. If you have questions - email Jarrett at stonesoupfarm@gmail.com (tell him Sarah sent you) or you can get in touch with me - but I might not have an answer :)
I really can't recommend this enough. really!
Monday, February 4, 2008
superbowl dip
We had a superbowl party, and in its honor I made a big casserole dish full of many-layer dip. This is pretty infinitely modifiable.
Preheat the oven to about 350 degrees F.
in a casserole dish of some kind:
spread one can of vegetarian refried beans across the bottom
spread a jar of salsa over the beans
tear two corn tortillas into pieces and spread evenly over the salsa
spread a large container of premade guacamole over the salsa
sprinkle a bag of shredded cheese (sharp cheddar is good) over the guac
spread a can of black beans over the cheese
tear two more corn torillas and spread them over the beans
spread a container of sour cream over the tortillas
chop one large tomato and spread over the sour cream
spread another layer of refried beans over the tomatoes
sprinkle another bag of shredded cheese over the top
put it in the oven for about 45 minutes.
take it out and let it stand for about 5-10 minutes so that it solidifies either dip chips right into the dip or use a spatula/cake server to but hunks of dip on plates for mobile chip dipping
This recipe is infinitely modifiable. I think this version could use more cheese maybe more salsa, maybe less sour cream. more black beans and a layer of mango salsa would change it up completely.
Another option is to add the guacamole and sour cream after it has cooked or put them in separate containers. I like them in it though.
Preheat the oven to about 350 degrees F.
in a casserole dish of some kind:
spread one can of vegetarian refried beans across the bottom
spread a jar of salsa over the beans
tear two corn tortillas into pieces and spread evenly over the salsa
spread a large container of premade guacamole over the salsa
sprinkle a bag of shredded cheese (sharp cheddar is good) over the guac
spread a can of black beans over the cheese
tear two more corn torillas and spread them over the beans
spread a container of sour cream over the tortillas
chop one large tomato and spread over the sour cream
spread another layer of refried beans over the tomatoes
sprinkle another bag of shredded cheese over the top
put it in the oven for about 45 minutes.
take it out and let it stand for about 5-10 minutes so that it solidifies either dip chips right into the dip or use a spatula/cake server to but hunks of dip on plates for mobile chip dipping
This recipe is infinitely modifiable. I think this version could use more cheese maybe more salsa, maybe less sour cream. more black beans and a layer of mango salsa would change it up completely.
Another option is to add the guacamole and sour cream after it has cooked or put them in separate containers. I like them in it though.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
norwegian raisin buns - vegan style
My mom made raisin buns all the time when I was a kid, and I would always complain because she didn't put enough raisins in them. When I found this recipe for a vegan version, I decided to become master of my own destiny. Raisins galore!
I borrowed the recipe from here: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=291
I took 1/2 cup of earth balance and put it in a saucepan on low. Then I added 1.25 cups unsweetened soy milk to the saucepan. Careful not to let it boil!
In a bowl I combined 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cardamom, and a packet of dry yeast and stirred.
Then I poured the earth balance/soy milk mixture over the dry ingredients, and added a little more than a cup of raisins. Then I kneaded it with my hands for about five minutes. I set it, in the bowl I had kneaded it in with a handtowel over it, on top of the stove (the oven was preheated to 430F so the stove was nice and warm) for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes I dumped the sough out on a cutting board coated in flour and kneaded it for another 3 or 4 minutes. I kneaded it into something of a flattish square, and then I used a sharp knife to cut it into about 20 pieces - 4 slices one way and three the other. I took each little dough square and mushed into a ball and set it on a cookie sheet.
Finally, I had prepared a mixture of a few tables spoons of sugar in some warm water on the stove. I brushed this over the top of each bun. ("brush" may not be the word - lacking any kind of pastry brush, I used a spatula.)
Then I put them in the over for about 12 minutes.
When I took them out they required some spatula-ing off of the cookie sheet (maybe I should have greased it) but sliced in half and spread with some earth balance - they tasted exactly like they should.
Fair warning - these aren't a dessert so much as a snack or something to have with coffee. They're not super sweet. yummy though ;)
I borrowed the recipe from here: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=291
I took 1/2 cup of earth balance and put it in a saucepan on low. Then I added 1.25 cups unsweetened soy milk to the saucepan. Careful not to let it boil!
In a bowl I combined 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cardamom, and a packet of dry yeast and stirred.
Then I poured the earth balance/soy milk mixture over the dry ingredients, and added a little more than a cup of raisins. Then I kneaded it with my hands for about five minutes. I set it, in the bowl I had kneaded it in with a handtowel over it, on top of the stove (the oven was preheated to 430F so the stove was nice and warm) for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes I dumped the sough out on a cutting board coated in flour and kneaded it for another 3 or 4 minutes. I kneaded it into something of a flattish square, and then I used a sharp knife to cut it into about 20 pieces - 4 slices one way and three the other. I took each little dough square and mushed into a ball and set it on a cookie sheet.
Finally, I had prepared a mixture of a few tables spoons of sugar in some warm water on the stove. I brushed this over the top of each bun. ("brush" may not be the word - lacking any kind of pastry brush, I used a spatula.)
Then I put them in the over for about 12 minutes.
When I took them out they required some spatula-ing off of the cookie sheet (maybe I should have greased it) but sliced in half and spread with some earth balance - they tasted exactly like they should.
Fair warning - these aren't a dessert so much as a snack or something to have with coffee. They're not super sweet. yummy though ;)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
getting saucy
my cooking can arguably be described as variations on a theme: I cook some vegetables up and serve them on brown rice or whole wheat pasta. sometimes I throw some polenta in there but mostly I don't. however, even I sometimes want a bit of variety. and that's where the sauce comes in.
I don't like heavy sauces because the whole point of my cooking is that I want to know what my food tastes like. but I do want a sauce that will make my veg taste like super exciting versions of themselves. and, if possible, I want to make it myself.
there is an art to the sauce. I am aware of that, although I have no idea how to access that art. for me, sauces are still in the lab stage - I mix some things together and hope that nothing blows up. (I've finally learned to do my mixing outside of the dish in which I'm cooking.) but I like this experimentation. I don't get a white lab coat - a long-standing dream of mine, but I do get to feel like I'm creating a dish versus enabling one.
last night's sauce recipe: 1 healthy teaspoon of red chili paste, 1 healthy pinch of brown sugar, and 1 slow pour of soy sauce. mix in a glass. mix with the carrots, broccoli, and red cabbage over medium high heat. get a little reckless and splash some red wine out of your glass into the pan. enjoy over brown rice.
I don't like heavy sauces because the whole point of my cooking is that I want to know what my food tastes like. but I do want a sauce that will make my veg taste like super exciting versions of themselves. and, if possible, I want to make it myself.
there is an art to the sauce. I am aware of that, although I have no idea how to access that art. for me, sauces are still in the lab stage - I mix some things together and hope that nothing blows up. (I've finally learned to do my mixing outside of the dish in which I'm cooking.) but I like this experimentation. I don't get a white lab coat - a long-standing dream of mine, but I do get to feel like I'm creating a dish versus enabling one.
last night's sauce recipe: 1 healthy teaspoon of red chili paste, 1 healthy pinch of brown sugar, and 1 slow pour of soy sauce. mix in a glass. mix with the carrots, broccoli, and red cabbage over medium high heat. get a little reckless and splash some red wine out of your glass into the pan. enjoy over brown rice.
Monday, December 10, 2007
lentil soup
I work at Downtown Crossing near the Filene's Basement building. When I used to buy my lunch (that is a no-no now, since I am not spending money) I would go to this amazing place that was literally a hole in the wall of the Filene's building called Mediterraneo (sp?) and I would buy their lentil soup and it was amazing. It was agreed in my office that it was probably the best lentil soup
*ever* - but I was truly the strongest adherent. It also came with mouthwatering warm pita - for which I broke my whole grain oath. This was an oath-breaking kind of place.
The Filene's building and everything in it have closed until 2009 or some other godforsaken time when I will probably not be working here anymore. Mediteraneo didn't make it, and so my lentil soup life has been really lacking. I've looked for substitutes, but they're just not right. Nothing in a can compares. The Whole Foods one is too watery, the Bagel Plus one is too oily. I haven't even tried the Finagle A Bagel one because it's too expensive.
So it's been many months since I had good lentil soup, and in the summer and when it was still warm, that was sad but OK, but now I am just over it. So I decided to try to make my own. I read like 18 recipes on the internet, and finally decided to use Post-punk Kitchen's French Lentil Soup recipe as my base: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=105
I managed to make it without going to the store too - everything I needed was in my house! yay simple food.
I drizzled some olive oil in my big stock pot, and then added a whole chopped yellow onion and a huge cubed carrot both from the farm share. I added the onion first, but I let the whole thing saute for quite a while - till it almost smelled like it was burning (but then not quite). Then I chopped pretty much an entire head of garlic (6 cloves?) and added it in, along with a teaspoon and a half of paprika, a teaspoon and a half of thyme, a big dollop of Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon, there was a theory in my office that the secret ingredient in Mediteranneo's soup was mustard) and a teaspoon and a half of salt and probably two teaspoons of pepper (I would have added less salt, I think). after about two minutes I plopped in half of a one of those very large cans of crushed tomatoes and stirred. Then I covered it and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, I uncovered the pot and added 4 cups of water and two veggie bullion cubes and brought it to a boil with the cover on. Then I took the cover off and added 2 cups of generic lentils from stop and shop and 2 bay leaves to the soup and stirred. I let it cook for about an hour with the cover on and then added about 1.5 cups more water. Then I brought it to a boil and let it cook for about 15 minutes with the cover on, and then another half an hour or so with the cover off.
I think I took some pictures, but I don't have them uploaded yet. I'll add them when I get them.
The soup came out really well, it was very thick, which is what I prefer, and I served it with some warm crusty bread, which is always a plus, It reheated well with a tablespoon or two of water added per serving before reheating in the microwave. It wasn't quite mediteranneo - I think it was a little too tomato-y, but I think the mustard gave it the right kick.
I'm going to make it again soon, I think!
*ever* - but I was truly the strongest adherent. It also came with mouthwatering warm pita - for which I broke my whole grain oath. This was an oath-breaking kind of place.
The Filene's building and everything in it have closed until 2009 or some other godforsaken time when I will probably not be working here anymore. Mediteraneo didn't make it, and so my lentil soup life has been really lacking. I've looked for substitutes, but they're just not right. Nothing in a can compares. The Whole Foods one is too watery, the Bagel Plus one is too oily. I haven't even tried the Finagle A Bagel one because it's too expensive.
So it's been many months since I had good lentil soup, and in the summer and when it was still warm, that was sad but OK, but now I am just over it. So I decided to try to make my own. I read like 18 recipes on the internet, and finally decided to use Post-punk Kitchen's French Lentil Soup recipe as my base: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=105
I managed to make it without going to the store too - everything I needed was in my house! yay simple food.
I drizzled some olive oil in my big stock pot, and then added a whole chopped yellow onion and a huge cubed carrot both from the farm share. I added the onion first, but I let the whole thing saute for quite a while - till it almost smelled like it was burning (but then not quite). Then I chopped pretty much an entire head of garlic (6 cloves?) and added it in, along with a teaspoon and a half of paprika, a teaspoon and a half of thyme, a big dollop of Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon, there was a theory in my office that the secret ingredient in Mediteranneo's soup was mustard) and a teaspoon and a half of salt and probably two teaspoons of pepper (I would have added less salt, I think). after about two minutes I plopped in half of a one of those very large cans of crushed tomatoes and stirred. Then I covered it and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, I uncovered the pot and added 4 cups of water and two veggie bullion cubes and brought it to a boil with the cover on. Then I took the cover off and added 2 cups of generic lentils from stop and shop and 2 bay leaves to the soup and stirred. I let it cook for about an hour with the cover on and then added about 1.5 cups more water. Then I brought it to a boil and let it cook for about 15 minutes with the cover on, and then another half an hour or so with the cover off.
I think I took some pictures, but I don't have them uploaded yet. I'll add them when I get them.
The soup came out really well, it was very thick, which is what I prefer, and I served it with some warm crusty bread, which is always a plus, It reheated well with a tablespoon or two of water added per serving before reheating in the microwave. It wasn't quite mediteranneo - I think it was a little too tomato-y, but I think the mustard gave it the right kick.
I'm going to make it again soon, I think!
potatoes!
remember those breakfast potatoes referred to in the earlier post about breakfast in Norway? I made them the other day to bring to brunch at Max and Lyssa's. And someone thought to take a picture!
I had carrots from the farm share, so I threw those in, and I bought a red pepper and used the potatoes and onions I had from the farmshare. I used oil in stead of butter to enhance vegan-ness. also, heavy on the pepper, and long on the cooking. I put the lid on at the end too. mmmm mmmm.
I had carrots from the farm share, so I threw those in, and I bought a red pepper and used the potatoes and onions I had from the farmshare. I used oil in stead of butter to enhance vegan-ness. also, heavy on the pepper, and long on the cooking. I put the lid on at the end too. mmmm mmmm.
Monday, December 3, 2007
minimal minestrone. as in, where's the broth?
I decided that I wanted to make minestrone soup. I was having an unknown number of people over to play games, and I have never made minestrone soup. So I found a recipe, and then didn't follow it. yay! The recipe, like most of them, came from allrecipes. The original is at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corrigans-Minestrone/Detail.aspx
It involved a lot of chopping. Luckily, I had help. and lots of potatoes and carrots. yay farmshare!
I chopped 4 big carrots and sarah emily chopped 4 big potatoes. We also chopped a yellow onion and a lot of garlic, I don't remember how much. We put that all in a big pot with some oil oil and started sauteeing.
Then I added a can of tomato paste, a can of red beans (kidney?) and white beans (canellini maybe?) and a can of corn from gina marie's cubpoard. then I stirred. then I added a can of vegetable broth and a 1.5 quarts of water. and then some more water. (another two cups?). This soup ended up suffering from a lack of broth, so I think it would have been appropriate to add even more water at this point. maybe in total 2 cans of broth and 2 quarts of water.
I am trying to remember what spices I added, but since this was 10 days ago, it's hard. I remember that I had fresh oregano, I think, and gina marie chopped that, I think, and we added a lot of that. also salt and lots of pepper, and I bet I put some dried basil in too, because that's yummy. I think probably whatever you like works well. at that point I think it looked like the picture to the left.
I let it simmer for about 45 minutes at this point - I wanted to make sure the potatoes were nice and tender. I added some more water too.
Finally, I added a package of whole wheat elbows and cooked it for another 15 minutes or so. Then Mark stirred.
Then people ate lots of it with crusty bread that Lyssa and Max brought, which was excellent. And then there was very little broth left, and it looked like the picture to the left. Luckily though, people brought more food to the potluck, so the joy did not have to end!
Kristin brought yummy salad with special candied nuts and amazing brusselsprouts, as demonstrated below.
The salad is a little blurry, but it had amazing nuts and was pretty colors and very tasty. and she did not bring it on a pink plate. I just only have pepto pink plates because that's what I got from my grandma when she moved to Cali. the brusselsprouts were seriously to die for. so good. am I spelling brusselsprouts rung? blogger is upet with my spelling.
There was also a serious desert option, which was insane because we were all so full and had played celebrity, mafia, and I think something else too, before we even got to desert. also there was cider and whiskey. obvi. I bought Jim Beam for the occasion even though I'm not supposed to be spending money.
Christopher, in a moment of devious awesomeness, made a blackberry thingy (crisp? buckle? compote with topping?) in the casserole that I made blueberry buckle in to take to his potluck and then left the dish at his house. so we took matching pictures. except we didn't have vegan condoms this time. c'est la vie. it was yummy. but not vegan because he used strawberries and cream instant oatmeal packets for the topping. which I think is hilarious.
There was also leftover pumpkin chocolate chip squares, but you'll have to get that recipe in another post!
It involved a lot of chopping. Luckily, I had help. and lots of potatoes and carrots. yay farmshare!
I chopped 4 big carrots and sarah emily chopped 4 big potatoes. We also chopped a yellow onion and a lot of garlic, I don't remember how much. We put that all in a big pot with some oil oil and started sauteeing.
Then I added a can of tomato paste, a can of red beans (kidney?) and white beans (canellini maybe?) and a can of corn from gina marie's cubpoard. then I stirred. then I added a can of vegetable broth and a 1.5 quarts of water. and then some more water. (another two cups?). This soup ended up suffering from a lack of broth, so I think it would have been appropriate to add even more water at this point. maybe in total 2 cans of broth and 2 quarts of water.
I am trying to remember what spices I added, but since this was 10 days ago, it's hard. I remember that I had fresh oregano, I think, and gina marie chopped that, I think, and we added a lot of that. also salt and lots of pepper, and I bet I put some dried basil in too, because that's yummy. I think probably whatever you like works well. at that point I think it looked like the picture to the left.
I let it simmer for about 45 minutes at this point - I wanted to make sure the potatoes were nice and tender. I added some more water too.
Finally, I added a package of whole wheat elbows and cooked it for another 15 minutes or so. Then Mark stirred.
Then people ate lots of it with crusty bread that Lyssa and Max brought, which was excellent. And then there was very little broth left, and it looked like the picture to the left. Luckily though, people brought more food to the potluck, so the joy did not have to end!
Kristin brought yummy salad with special candied nuts and amazing brusselsprouts, as demonstrated below.
The salad is a little blurry, but it had amazing nuts and was pretty colors and very tasty. and she did not bring it on a pink plate. I just only have pepto pink plates because that's what I got from my grandma when she moved to Cali. the brusselsprouts were seriously to die for. so good. am I spelling brusselsprouts rung? blogger is upet with my spelling.
There was also a serious desert option, which was insane because we were all so full and had played celebrity, mafia, and I think something else too, before we even got to desert. also there was cider and whiskey. obvi. I bought Jim Beam for the occasion even though I'm not supposed to be spending money.
Christopher, in a moment of devious awesomeness, made a blackberry thingy (crisp? buckle? compote with topping?) in the casserole that I made blueberry buckle in to take to his potluck and then left the dish at his house. so we took matching pictures. except we didn't have vegan condoms this time. c'est la vie. it was yummy. but not vegan because he used strawberries and cream instant oatmeal packets for the topping. which I think is hilarious.
There was also leftover pumpkin chocolate chip squares, but you'll have to get that recipe in another post!
Monday, November 12, 2007
beef stew - are you tired of my weekend yet?
So here comes, finally, the beef stew I've been threatening to make for ages. I just realized I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but you'll just have to deal with seeing the process.
Also, will someone please buy me a digital camera? the phone camera sucks.
Once again, as with the spaghetti sauce, this is my dad's recipe. but all mistakes are mine :)
For starters you need 1.5 pounds of beef. I like to just buy the precut stewing beef, because then you don't have to trim it. I still cut it into smaller pieces though. If you can't get it precut or it's much cheaper not too, get a nice piece of beef and trim off the fat on the outside and cut it into cubes about 3/4 inch.
I bought stewing meat, so I just made the pieces smaller and then dumped them into my big pot and turned the gas on about medium. I stirred every so often until the meat was pretty brown on all sides. This creates some nice juicyness and drippings that will make the stew taste good. add some salt and pepper at this point as well. while it's cooking chop one small-medium sized onion or half a large onion. when the meat is pretty brown, add in the onion. and then it will look like this:
Next it's time for spices. lots of spices. add dried thyme, basil, and marjoram (marjoram is key - it's totally what makes it taste/smell like stew!) I usually add about 1-2 tablespoons of each - but mostly I just play it by ear. whatever I have enough of. Stir.
Then comes the tricky part - not that tricky, but my dad made it sound tricky when he was first explaining it to me. add 2 tablespoons of flour, like this:
stir the flour until the meat and onions are nicely coated. this is what will thicken the broth into a tasty, thick stew.
next add water. I like to add a lot. the general rule is 2 cups of water for every bullion cube that you are going to add, and you need to bring the water level up at least as twice as high as the meat, but I like to bring it up much higher. This time I added 6 cups of water, but then I added more later, so it might be prudent to add it all at the beginning. now turn the heat up to high. then I added 3 beef bullion cubes - however, these were extra large bullion cubes, and I think made the stew a bit saltier than I liked it, so if you used extra large bullion cubes, I'd go with 8 cups of water for 3 bullion cubes.
Next use a wooden spoon to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot so all those nice drippings the meat made earlier get mixed into the broth.
Add a bay leaf.
now lower the heat so that the soup is simmering, not boiling. just little bubbles. Let it sit on the stove simmering for about an hour. if you only have half an hour, that's ok, but longer is better.
While it's doing that chop your vegetables. My dad always says 3/4 cup of carrots and 3/4 of a cup of potatoes, but I always add more than that because that's my favorite part. I think I chopped 1 1/2 cups of carrots and 2 cups of potatoes (peeled first) and it was about right.
The carrot was actually all one carrot, because it was an enormous carrot from my farmshare. the potatoes were also from the farm share, but unlike the carrot, were not so spectacularly large as to require me to take a picture of them:
Look how big that is!!!
After an hour, add the carrots, and stir.
let the carrots simmer for ten minutes in the stew, and then add the potatoes.
finally, add the secret ingredient:
2 tablespoons of plain tomato paste, and stir. You will see that this completely changes the color of the stew, and makes it amaaaaazing.
cook until the potatoes are nice and tender - but take it off the heat before they get mushy!
You can check the salt and pepper at this time and adjust to taste as needed. I say less salt, but sometimes really peppery stew is excellent.
you can serve it right off the stove once the potatoes are done, but it is best 1-2 days later out of the fridge. if the broth has dissipated, feel good about adding a fair bit of water to it before it hits the stove/microwave for reheating. The leftovers are always better than the original.
Also, will someone please buy me a digital camera? the phone camera sucks.
Once again, as with the spaghetti sauce, this is my dad's recipe. but all mistakes are mine :)
For starters you need 1.5 pounds of beef. I like to just buy the precut stewing beef, because then you don't have to trim it. I still cut it into smaller pieces though. If you can't get it precut or it's much cheaper not too, get a nice piece of beef and trim off the fat on the outside and cut it into cubes about 3/4 inch.
I bought stewing meat, so I just made the pieces smaller and then dumped them into my big pot and turned the gas on about medium. I stirred every so often until the meat was pretty brown on all sides. This creates some nice juicyness and drippings that will make the stew taste good. add some salt and pepper at this point as well. while it's cooking chop one small-medium sized onion or half a large onion. when the meat is pretty brown, add in the onion. and then it will look like this:
Next it's time for spices. lots of spices. add dried thyme, basil, and marjoram (marjoram is key - it's totally what makes it taste/smell like stew!) I usually add about 1-2 tablespoons of each - but mostly I just play it by ear. whatever I have enough of. Stir.
Then comes the tricky part - not that tricky, but my dad made it sound tricky when he was first explaining it to me. add 2 tablespoons of flour, like this:
stir the flour until the meat and onions are nicely coated. this is what will thicken the broth into a tasty, thick stew.
next add water. I like to add a lot. the general rule is 2 cups of water for every bullion cube that you are going to add, and you need to bring the water level up at least as twice as high as the meat, but I like to bring it up much higher. This time I added 6 cups of water, but then I added more later, so it might be prudent to add it all at the beginning. now turn the heat up to high. then I added 3 beef bullion cubes - however, these were extra large bullion cubes, and I think made the stew a bit saltier than I liked it, so if you used extra large bullion cubes, I'd go with 8 cups of water for 3 bullion cubes.
Next use a wooden spoon to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot so all those nice drippings the meat made earlier get mixed into the broth.
Add a bay leaf.
now lower the heat so that the soup is simmering, not boiling. just little bubbles. Let it sit on the stove simmering for about an hour. if you only have half an hour, that's ok, but longer is better.
While it's doing that chop your vegetables. My dad always says 3/4 cup of carrots and 3/4 of a cup of potatoes, but I always add more than that because that's my favorite part. I think I chopped 1 1/2 cups of carrots and 2 cups of potatoes (peeled first) and it was about right.
The carrot was actually all one carrot, because it was an enormous carrot from my farmshare. the potatoes were also from the farm share, but unlike the carrot, were not so spectacularly large as to require me to take a picture of them:
Look how big that is!!!
After an hour, add the carrots, and stir.
let the carrots simmer for ten minutes in the stew, and then add the potatoes.
finally, add the secret ingredient:
2 tablespoons of plain tomato paste, and stir. You will see that this completely changes the color of the stew, and makes it amaaaaazing.
cook until the potatoes are nice and tender - but take it off the heat before they get mushy!
You can check the salt and pepper at this time and adjust to taste as needed. I say less salt, but sometimes really peppery stew is excellent.
you can serve it right off the stove once the potatoes are done, but it is best 1-2 days later out of the fridge. if the broth has dissipated, feel good about adding a fair bit of water to it before it hits the stove/microwave for reheating. The leftovers are always better than the original.
blueberry muffins. so not vegan.
On Sunday morning I woke up and made blueberry muffins. blueberries were on sale at wholefoods, but still ridiculously expensive. nonetheless, I powered through - I combined two recipes from the internet and then modified them - because I'm awesome like that.
I hadn't made muffins in ages, so I was a little worried, and I ran into several snafus, but then gina marie told me they were the best muffins she's every had, and then I felt good about it. they are really freaking good.
so first I went to whole foods in my pajamas and slippers because I had forgotten to buy muffin cups. I am now the proud owner of 60 organic unbleached muffin cups.
then I sprayed the muffin pan with Pam and spread it around in there with a paper towel. Then I put a muffin cup in each little round. I had 4 foil cups yet so I used those to see if there was any measurable difference - there wasn't.
then I began the long and arduous process of making the muffins, which was a pain in the butt because I have no mixer (it turned out I had my hand blender, but I couldn't find it at the time.)
because of the lack of mixer, I but a stick of butter (1/2 cup) in the microwave for 20 seconds so that it would be somewhat beatable, then I added 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and went to town with a wooden spoon for about twenty minutes. (read some new york times and checked my email while I was doing it). When I felt like I couldn't stand to make it any "fluffier" I gave up and mixed 1 3/4 cups white flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder in a separate bowl. I decided against buttermilk because, really, who needs buttermilk? so I measured out 1/2 cup of organic 2% milk and I alternated mixing in spoonfuls of the flour mixture and pours of milk until it was all well blended with my eternally useful wooden spoon.
I was feeling saucy so I also added a little more than 1/2 a teaspoon of lemon flavoring to the batter, just to see what would happen.
I had 4 of those little-bitty plastic containers of blueberries. I mashed one of the containers in a bowl with the back of a spoon, and stirred it into the batter. I took the other 3 and tossed them with a 1/4 cup of flour in a larger bowl. then I took the flour-dusted blueberries out of the bowl and mixed into the batter what was left of the flour I used to coat the blueberries. Finally, I gently folded in the flour-dusted blueberries.
Then I used my wooden spoon and my blueberry crushing spoon and dumped a sizeable amount of batter into each muffin cup (there were 12) and tried to keep it even until I had used all the batter (they get very full! - it's ok!)
Finally, I sprinkled the tops with sugar.
Then I put them in the preheated 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes - really I just waited till the tops were light brown because my oven timer didn't work (I'm kind of incompetent with that.
The results... mmm...
yay! aren't you proud of me?
I hadn't made muffins in ages, so I was a little worried, and I ran into several snafus, but then gina marie told me they were the best muffins she's every had, and then I felt good about it. they are really freaking good.
so first I went to whole foods in my pajamas and slippers because I had forgotten to buy muffin cups. I am now the proud owner of 60 organic unbleached muffin cups.
then I sprayed the muffin pan with Pam and spread it around in there with a paper towel. Then I put a muffin cup in each little round. I had 4 foil cups yet so I used those to see if there was any measurable difference - there wasn't.
then I began the long and arduous process of making the muffins, which was a pain in the butt because I have no mixer (it turned out I had my hand blender, but I couldn't find it at the time.)
because of the lack of mixer, I but a stick of butter (1/2 cup) in the microwave for 20 seconds so that it would be somewhat beatable, then I added 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and went to town with a wooden spoon for about twenty minutes. (read some new york times and checked my email while I was doing it). When I felt like I couldn't stand to make it any "fluffier" I gave up and mixed 1 3/4 cups white flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder in a separate bowl. I decided against buttermilk because, really, who needs buttermilk? so I measured out 1/2 cup of organic 2% milk and I alternated mixing in spoonfuls of the flour mixture and pours of milk until it was all well blended with my eternally useful wooden spoon.
I was feeling saucy so I also added a little more than 1/2 a teaspoon of lemon flavoring to the batter, just to see what would happen.
I had 4 of those little-bitty plastic containers of blueberries. I mashed one of the containers in a bowl with the back of a spoon, and stirred it into the batter. I took the other 3 and tossed them with a 1/4 cup of flour in a larger bowl. then I took the flour-dusted blueberries out of the bowl and mixed into the batter what was left of the flour I used to coat the blueberries. Finally, I gently folded in the flour-dusted blueberries.
Then I used my wooden spoon and my blueberry crushing spoon and dumped a sizeable amount of batter into each muffin cup (there were 12) and tried to keep it even until I had used all the batter (they get very full! - it's ok!)
Finally, I sprinkled the tops with sugar.
Then I put them in the preheated 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes - really I just waited till the tops were light brown because my oven timer didn't work (I'm kind of incompetent with that.
The results... mmm...
yay! aren't you proud of me?
Vegan Blueberry Buckle
On Saturday I had a vegan potluck on my list of things to do, and I had promised to make a dessert. This was maybe not the best idea since I am no vegan baking expert, but I turned to the internet, which is always my friend in times of baking crisis. On the Post-Punk Kitchen website (created by the same vegan chef extraordinaire referred to in sarah emily's last post) I found a user-submitted recipe for blueberry buckle.
I have never made a buckle before, and certainly not a blueberry one, but it seemed like a good adventure. My roommate was using the cake pan to make Jello (she offered it up to me, but I decided I would just be crazy) so I decided to make it in a casserole pan. Why not?!
Here's what I did (lightly adapted from this recipe:http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=278):
I used my hands to rub earth balance around the inside of my casserole pan.
In a big silver mixing bowl I mixed:
1/4 cup corn oil
1/2 cup sugar (so maybe some vegans won't eat that. so sue me. I'm not about to waste by buying sucanat when I have white sugar sitting in my kitchen!)
1/4 cup soy yogurt (plain plain plain unsweetened)
1 pinch of salt
I mixed these with my very incompetent whisk-that-is-missing-a-handle. It worked ok though, this was not hard to mix. It smelled good too. Like yogurt.
Then I added 1 cup of whole wheat flour and beat that in with the special whisk.
then I beat in 1 teaspoon of baking soda and an additional 1/3 cup of soy yogurt (who knew soy yogurt was useful for anything??)
I spread my dough in the greased casserole with a spoon
then I dumped a little more than 2 cups of frozen blueberries on top and tried to even them out with my hands and not have frozen blueberries all over my floor for stepping on.
Finally I had to make the topping. the vegan topping presents some challenge - vegan fake-butter melts so easily that it is hard to make it crumble. I tried, and failed, but it came out ok anyways:
I scooped 1/4 cup of Earth Balance out of its tub with a measuring spoon and put it in my measuring cup since that was already dirty anyways.
Then I dumped in 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour, and a 1/2 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, ground coriander, and ground ginger. This smelled really good.
Then I mushed it around with my (clean) fingers and tried to make it crumbly, but then I realized that the more I worked it, the more my fingers warmed it up, so I gave up and just sort of tried to crumble it evenly over the top of the buckle.
Then I put the casserole in the preheated 350 degree oven and left it there for just under an hour (but for a bit more than the 50-minute recommended baking time because I was worried that since my pan was deeper but not as big that it might not cook ok in the middle.)
Finally I took it out, put a lid on it, and put it in a bag and took it on the T to porter square, where it was eventually consumed :).
Here are some pictures (thanks Hilary!):
me eating the buckle because I wanted to try it before I had to go:
with vegan condoms:
also, fyi, a buckle seems to be something with a cake-y bottom, a pie/cobbler middle/ and a crisp/crumble top. Make sense? In theory this was supposed to be cut into bars, but since I made it in a round casserole, that was not happening. Plus then it would cool too fast. but the point is, the bottom is solid and thick and full of soy yogurt-fortified cake, so you could cut it into bars.
Get ready for more posts soon. this was a hard-cookin' weekend.
I have never made a buckle before, and certainly not a blueberry one, but it seemed like a good adventure. My roommate was using the cake pan to make Jello (she offered it up to me, but I decided I would just be crazy) so I decided to make it in a casserole pan. Why not?!
Here's what I did (lightly adapted from this recipe:http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=278):
I used my hands to rub earth balance around the inside of my casserole pan.
In a big silver mixing bowl I mixed:
1/4 cup corn oil
1/2 cup sugar (so maybe some vegans won't eat that. so sue me. I'm not about to waste by buying sucanat when I have white sugar sitting in my kitchen!)
1/4 cup soy yogurt (plain plain plain unsweetened)
1 pinch of salt
I mixed these with my very incompetent whisk-that-is-missing-a-handle. It worked ok though, this was not hard to mix. It smelled good too. Like yogurt.
Then I added 1 cup of whole wheat flour and beat that in with the special whisk.
then I beat in 1 teaspoon of baking soda and an additional 1/3 cup of soy yogurt (who knew soy yogurt was useful for anything??)
I spread my dough in the greased casserole with a spoon
then I dumped a little more than 2 cups of frozen blueberries on top and tried to even them out with my hands and not have frozen blueberries all over my floor for stepping on.
Finally I had to make the topping. the vegan topping presents some challenge - vegan fake-butter melts so easily that it is hard to make it crumble. I tried, and failed, but it came out ok anyways:
I scooped 1/4 cup of Earth Balance out of its tub with a measuring spoon and put it in my measuring cup since that was already dirty anyways.
Then I dumped in 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour, and a 1/2 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, ground coriander, and ground ginger. This smelled really good.
Then I mushed it around with my (clean) fingers and tried to make it crumbly, but then I realized that the more I worked it, the more my fingers warmed it up, so I gave up and just sort of tried to crumble it evenly over the top of the buckle.
Then I put the casserole in the preheated 350 degree oven and left it there for just under an hour (but for a bit more than the 50-minute recommended baking time because I was worried that since my pan was deeper but not as big that it might not cook ok in the middle.)
Finally I took it out, put a lid on it, and put it in a bag and took it on the T to porter square, where it was eventually consumed :).
Here are some pictures (thanks Hilary!):
me eating the buckle because I wanted to try it before I had to go:
with vegan condoms:
also, fyi, a buckle seems to be something with a cake-y bottom, a pie/cobbler middle/ and a crisp/crumble top. Make sense? In theory this was supposed to be cut into bars, but since I made it in a round casserole, that was not happening. Plus then it would cool too fast. but the point is, the bottom is solid and thick and full of soy yogurt-fortified cake, so you could cut it into bars.
Get ready for more posts soon. this was a hard-cookin' weekend.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Breakfast in Skurdalen, from the one who makes it.
Sarah emily posted a bit about breakfast in Norway. The breakfast that she and others have eaten that I make in the cabin in Skurdalen (pronounced, roughly, "skrewdallin,") is influenced by the smorgasbord-y breakfasts common in scandinavia, the bread, cheese and eggs that they consume constantly, and my dad's awesome cooking skills, straight outta southern california.
Basically, the key is, use everything in the little cabin refrigerator, including whatever is left of last night's fish dinner. It's important to have at least one hot "centerpiece" - this is to satisfy the American in me.
Usually, it's potatoes. To make the potatoes:
scrub a buncha little potatoes (you can peel if you want, but I never do) - either red or white
cube the potatoes
cube one small-medium sized onion
finely chop or crush 4 cloves of garlic
put a 1/4 stick of butter or (for vegans, lactards, and the rest of the butter-averse) a bunch of oil (vegetable or olive) in a frying pan
add onions on medium heat
add garlic
saute about 2 minutes
add in potatoes
stir pan with spatula every 1-2 minutes
dice 1 red, yellow or orange pepper (optional)
dice 1 zucchini (optional)
(you can add pretty much any vegetables you have, they will change it up a little, I have found peppers and zucchini particularly satisfying, but carrots, broccoli, etc can also be good - or you can skip the extra veggies altogether and just revel in starchy goodness)
after potatoes have been in pan for about 10-15 minutes, add zucchini and pepper
add salt & lots of pepper
add garlic powder if you feel like it
cook - stirring often to avoid burning, and adding more butter/oil (especially necessary when using butter) whenever it seems prudent.
you can now be done, if you wish. Vegans must finish here.
optionally, you can scramble/fry an egg into the potatoes.
to do this, whisk an a few eggs, and optionally, some milk in a bowl.
pour the mixture over the potatoes and stir it around.
it's done when the eggs are cooked to your liking.
AND/OR
add cheese!
you can grate it or just break off hunks. In Norway I almost always use gulost (yellow cheese - which is sort of like a mild cheddar) or jarlsberg (a mild swiss-like cheese) for this.
add chunks of cheese liberally with the heat on medium low and stir until it melts.
when the potatoes are done, put them in a brightly colored bowl with some kind of ikea utensil for serving.
Moving on from the potatoes,
another key element is the boiled egg.
you need an egg cup for everyone
boil the eggs to their liking (softer is better for this purpose).
put each egg in an egg cup.
when it's time to eat the egg, tap your knife on the side of the egg near the very top to crack it a little, and then slice off the top.
if you like, add a little salt and or pepper to exposed egg.
now using your little bitty spoon, scoop the egg out of it's shell to eat it. you can eat it off the spoon, or you can put it on bread as part of your smorbrod assembly.
which brings us to smorbrod, the real heart of the breakfast. "Smor" in Norwegian, means butter. "bord" means table, thus, smorgasbord, buttertable. smorbrod is what norwegians eat for breakfast and lunch - butterbread. basically, you take some bread - usually a pretty heavy one with lots of seeds and stuff in it, and you spread some butter on it, and then you spread more stuff on it. the "smor" (butter) has come to mean more than just bread, so the smor is the spread, whatever you spread on it, and that's what we but on the smorgasbord (spread table!)
Here are some typical things for the smorgasbord:
bread, sliced in a basket sitting next to the toastmaster (person sitting next to the toaster is the toastmaster. they toast bread on request for the rest of the table) you might have a graabrod, very rough bread, "loff" (pronounced "loof") which is yummy white bread, solskinnbrod, which is sunshine bread and has sunflower seeds, and whatever other bread you baked or picked up at the bakery. Also in the breadbasket there may be Wasa crackers or other breadlike objects that you can spread things on.
cheeses. set them out on a wooden board with a knife and a cheeseslicer (norwegian invention!). I usually but out all the kinds of cheese in the fridge, usually at least one yellow cheese, one brown cheese (usually geitost, a brown sort of sweet caramelly goat cheese - geit means goat), something kind of creamy and/or stinky, and then whatever else you picked up.
veggies. usually a tomato (tomat), a pepper (paprika), a cucumber (agurk), put on a board with a paring knife so people can slice their own. these are key.
meats/fishies. salami or other sliced meat, any leftovers. often I poach the fish (fisk) that we catch in the lake, and if you make it nice the night before it's very yummy the next day. sometimes I reheat it by sauteeing it in a little parsley butter (persillesmor) just before breakfast. (there is no microwave at the cabin, which is why the food always tastes better). also, jars of little fishes, brined and pickled - herring mostly. These are not my favorite, but sometimes I put them out so folks can try. Norwegians also like to eat little shrimps (reker) and breakfast. I can't usually afford it, but smoked salmon is also a biggy. and yummy. sometimes also there is bacon, but the norwegians have nothing to do with that :).
Boiled eggs. I know we already had them in our eggcups, but it's important to also have them hardboiled for peeling and putting in the eggslicer (another norwegian invention!), which then makes perfect smorbrod slices.
also key are butter, jams (syltetoy) (the norwegians are big on blueberry), nutella or other chocolate (sjokolade) spread.
then everyone sits down with their hot beverage, their cold beverage, and gets started on their eggcup, the bread gets toasted, people have some potatoes, and then the spreading begins. At this point it is also key to *make your lunch* - which you do by spreading your bread (all open face sandwiches in norway) and then putting a piece of wax paper between each piece of spread bread. then you wrap it in more wax paper - or if you're modern like me, a plastic bag.
then you go swimming in the lake and fall asleep with your book on your face.
Basically, the key is, use everything in the little cabin refrigerator, including whatever is left of last night's fish dinner. It's important to have at least one hot "centerpiece" - this is to satisfy the American in me.
Usually, it's potatoes. To make the potatoes:
scrub a buncha little potatoes (you can peel if you want, but I never do) - either red or white
cube the potatoes
cube one small-medium sized onion
finely chop or crush 4 cloves of garlic
put a 1/4 stick of butter or (for vegans, lactards, and the rest of the butter-averse) a bunch of oil (vegetable or olive) in a frying pan
add onions on medium heat
add garlic
saute about 2 minutes
add in potatoes
stir pan with spatula every 1-2 minutes
dice 1 red, yellow or orange pepper (optional)
dice 1 zucchini (optional)
(you can add pretty much any vegetables you have, they will change it up a little, I have found peppers and zucchini particularly satisfying, but carrots, broccoli, etc can also be good - or you can skip the extra veggies altogether and just revel in starchy goodness)
after potatoes have been in pan for about 10-15 minutes, add zucchini and pepper
add salt & lots of pepper
add garlic powder if you feel like it
cook - stirring often to avoid burning, and adding more butter/oil (especially necessary when using butter) whenever it seems prudent.
you can now be done, if you wish. Vegans must finish here.
optionally, you can scramble/fry an egg into the potatoes.
to do this, whisk an a few eggs, and optionally, some milk in a bowl.
pour the mixture over the potatoes and stir it around.
it's done when the eggs are cooked to your liking.
AND/OR
add cheese!
you can grate it or just break off hunks. In Norway I almost always use gulost (yellow cheese - which is sort of like a mild cheddar) or jarlsberg (a mild swiss-like cheese) for this.
add chunks of cheese liberally with the heat on medium low and stir until it melts.
when the potatoes are done, put them in a brightly colored bowl with some kind of ikea utensil for serving.
Moving on from the potatoes,
another key element is the boiled egg.
you need an egg cup for everyone
boil the eggs to their liking (softer is better for this purpose).
put each egg in an egg cup.
when it's time to eat the egg, tap your knife on the side of the egg near the very top to crack it a little, and then slice off the top.
if you like, add a little salt and or pepper to exposed egg.
now using your little bitty spoon, scoop the egg out of it's shell to eat it. you can eat it off the spoon, or you can put it on bread as part of your smorbrod assembly.
which brings us to smorbrod, the real heart of the breakfast. "Smor" in Norwegian, means butter. "bord" means table, thus, smorgasbord, buttertable. smorbrod is what norwegians eat for breakfast and lunch - butterbread. basically, you take some bread - usually a pretty heavy one with lots of seeds and stuff in it, and you spread some butter on it, and then you spread more stuff on it. the "smor" (butter) has come to mean more than just bread, so the smor is the spread, whatever you spread on it, and that's what we but on the smorgasbord (spread table!)
Here are some typical things for the smorgasbord:
bread, sliced in a basket sitting next to the toastmaster (person sitting next to the toaster is the toastmaster. they toast bread on request for the rest of the table) you might have a graabrod, very rough bread, "loff" (pronounced "loof") which is yummy white bread, solskinnbrod, which is sunshine bread and has sunflower seeds, and whatever other bread you baked or picked up at the bakery. Also in the breadbasket there may be Wasa crackers or other breadlike objects that you can spread things on.
cheeses. set them out on a wooden board with a knife and a cheeseslicer (norwegian invention!). I usually but out all the kinds of cheese in the fridge, usually at least one yellow cheese, one brown cheese (usually geitost, a brown sort of sweet caramelly goat cheese - geit means goat), something kind of creamy and/or stinky, and then whatever else you picked up.
veggies. usually a tomato (tomat), a pepper (paprika), a cucumber (agurk), put on a board with a paring knife so people can slice their own. these are key.
meats/fishies. salami or other sliced meat, any leftovers. often I poach the fish (fisk) that we catch in the lake, and if you make it nice the night before it's very yummy the next day. sometimes I reheat it by sauteeing it in a little parsley butter (persillesmor) just before breakfast. (there is no microwave at the cabin, which is why the food always tastes better). also, jars of little fishes, brined and pickled - herring mostly. These are not my favorite, but sometimes I put them out so folks can try. Norwegians also like to eat little shrimps (reker) and breakfast. I can't usually afford it, but smoked salmon is also a biggy. and yummy. sometimes also there is bacon, but the norwegians have nothing to do with that :).
Boiled eggs. I know we already had them in our eggcups, but it's important to also have them hardboiled for peeling and putting in the eggslicer (another norwegian invention!), which then makes perfect smorbrod slices.
also key are butter, jams (syltetoy) (the norwegians are big on blueberry), nutella or other chocolate (sjokolade) spread.
then everyone sits down with their hot beverage, their cold beverage, and gets started on their eggcup, the bread gets toasted, people have some potatoes, and then the spreading begins. At this point it is also key to *make your lunch* - which you do by spreading your bread (all open face sandwiches in norway) and then putting a piece of wax paper between each piece of spread bread. then you wrap it in more wax paper - or if you're modern like me, a plastic bag.
then you go swimming in the lake and fall asleep with your book on your face.
Friday, October 19, 2007
meat sauce for spaghetti. like bolognese. but different
So I made my spaghetti sauce for the first time in two years last night - it came out pretty good I thought! Could have used some more kick, but overall, it worked out. I make a lot so that I can freeze more than half of what I make and then thaw it out of nice little meal appropriate containers when I'm ready. It tastes better after it sits around for awhile anyways.
Here's my recipe. I'll try and take some pictures next time I thaw...
Go to Super Stop & Shop and buy all the cans of tomato products you need for cheap
Go to Whole Foods and buy 1 to 1.5 lbs organic grass fed not-too-lean ground beef. the 90% lean stuff is not juicy enough. And I'm afraid of beef that's not all yuppie and expensive.
This is totally my dad's recipe. He taught me to cook it, and mine will never be as good as his.
Brown the beef all by itself (no oil or anything) in the bottom of the big pot you're going to make the sauce in.
When the beef is half way to brown, add 1/2 a big or 1 small chopped yellow sweet onion. stir it up.
Add some salt and cracked pepper. be liberal.
When the meat is all cooked through (all brown, no pink) add about 1 teaspoon of finely chopped or crushed garlic (usually about 3 cloves in the garlic press) and keep sauteing.
Stir and then immediately add 2 tablespoons of dry basil, 1 teaspoon dry thyme and 1 teaspoon oregano. Don't brown the garlic! turn down the heat a little to avoid this.
after about 4 minutes with the garlic and spices in there, return the burner to high heat and add 2/3 cup of red wine and cook it on high for 2-3 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Reduce the heat and add a regular-sized can of chopped tomatoes and stir,
add 2 regular-sized cans or one of the mega cans of tomato sauce (plain tomato sauce made by Heinz or whatever that comes in a can, no fancy jars or ragu necessary.) Add one little can (a little more than 2 tablespoons usually) of tomato paste and 2 large bay leaves and stir.
Sometimes at this point I add a little water by running the same half can of water through all the cans of tomato sauce of used and stirring that in. reduces waste, helps cleaning, and adds a little liquid.
Reduce heat so that the sauce is simmering but not boiling - no big bubbles. Leave it for 1/2 an hour to to 2 hours. I think at least an hour is ideal. Then you can eat it on pasta! Freeze the rest unless you're eating it tomorrow, in which case put it in the fridge. the more days on, the better it will be.
Here's my recipe. I'll try and take some pictures next time I thaw...
Go to Super Stop & Shop and buy all the cans of tomato products you need for cheap
Go to Whole Foods and buy 1 to 1.5 lbs organic grass fed not-too-lean ground beef. the 90% lean stuff is not juicy enough. And I'm afraid of beef that's not all yuppie and expensive.
This is totally my dad's recipe. He taught me to cook it, and mine will never be as good as his.
Brown the beef all by itself (no oil or anything) in the bottom of the big pot you're going to make the sauce in.
When the beef is half way to brown, add 1/2 a big or 1 small chopped yellow sweet onion. stir it up.
Add some salt and cracked pepper. be liberal.
When the meat is all cooked through (all brown, no pink) add about 1 teaspoon of finely chopped or crushed garlic (usually about 3 cloves in the garlic press) and keep sauteing.
Stir and then immediately add 2 tablespoons of dry basil, 1 teaspoon dry thyme and 1 teaspoon oregano. Don't brown the garlic! turn down the heat a little to avoid this.
after about 4 minutes with the garlic and spices in there, return the burner to high heat and add 2/3 cup of red wine and cook it on high for 2-3 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Reduce the heat and add a regular-sized can of chopped tomatoes and stir,
add 2 regular-sized cans or one of the mega cans of tomato sauce (plain tomato sauce made by Heinz or whatever that comes in a can, no fancy jars or ragu necessary.) Add one little can (a little more than 2 tablespoons usually) of tomato paste and 2 large bay leaves and stir.
Sometimes at this point I add a little water by running the same half can of water through all the cans of tomato sauce of used and stirring that in. reduces waste, helps cleaning, and adds a little liquid.
Reduce heat so that the sauce is simmering but not boiling - no big bubbles. Leave it for 1/2 an hour to to 2 hours. I think at least an hour is ideal. Then you can eat it on pasta! Freeze the rest unless you're eating it tomorrow, in which case put it in the fridge. the more days on, the better it will be.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
toast, hash browns, and big plans
So last night at just before 11pm gina marie and I rolled up to Super Stop & Shop to buy cans of things. I managed to buy only *1* item requiring refrigeration because I am classy. And that item was crescent rolls that come in that little metal & cardboard cylinder, again, because I'm classy.
The reason I bought crescent rolls, and a whole bunch of cans of tomato products, is because I am gearing up to make meat sauce for spaghetti and to make beef stew. I've decided that if I go to Whole Foods and buy organic, grass-fed, insanely expensive beef, that I will not get mad cow disease, and I will be able to make yummy food that lasts awhile. I love making food that tastes *better* the next day.
It's really not so in line with the macrobiotic plans, although it is all dairy free... but I don't know how to make any really good vegan soups, and I miss this stuff now that it is getting cold. Any recipes for vegetable soups (including stock and stock recommendations) especially soups with beans and lentil soup, are much appreciated.
In the meantime stay tuned for the beef stew experience and results (the secret ingredient is tomato paste) and for the meat sauce (the secret ingredient is...my dad's recipe?).
The other exciting thing about Super Stop & Shop was that they had my whole grain raisin bread! I had been looking for it for ages since they stopped carrying it at Whole Foods, and I had despaired and all but given up. But now, glory be, I had yummy whole grain raisin toast with earth balance this morning.
And then I got to work and had hash browns from burger king. gross, but satisfying in that oily potato way, but still gross.
The reason I bought crescent rolls, and a whole bunch of cans of tomato products, is because I am gearing up to make meat sauce for spaghetti and to make beef stew. I've decided that if I go to Whole Foods and buy organic, grass-fed, insanely expensive beef, that I will not get mad cow disease, and I will be able to make yummy food that lasts awhile. I love making food that tastes *better* the next day.
It's really not so in line with the macrobiotic plans, although it is all dairy free... but I don't know how to make any really good vegan soups, and I miss this stuff now that it is getting cold. Any recipes for vegetable soups (including stock and stock recommendations) especially soups with beans and lentil soup, are much appreciated.
In the meantime stay tuned for the beef stew experience and results (the secret ingredient is tomato paste) and for the meat sauce (the secret ingredient is...my dad's recipe?).
The other exciting thing about Super Stop & Shop was that they had my whole grain raisin bread! I had been looking for it for ages since they stopped carrying it at Whole Foods, and I had despaired and all but given up. But now, glory be, I had yummy whole grain raisin toast with earth balance this morning.
And then I got to work and had hash browns from burger king. gross, but satisfying in that oily potato way, but still gross.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
salsa salsa salsa...
Sometimes you don't just want to eat plain salsa.
There are two things that you can do. one is kind of gross. both taste really good.
This first one I learned as an exchange student at Mt. Holyoke. The girls there get all crazy at about 3am because there are no boys there. They get a wild look in their eyes and start screaming "Queso!! Queso!!"
Then they take a block of velveeta and a jar of salsa
put them in a bowl
and put it in the microwave.
stir.
Now dip things in it. yummy. mmmm cholesterol.
The much classier salsa I like to make is:
1 can of black beans, drained
1 ripe avocado, chopped
2-4 tablespoons of that salsa in the back of your fridge that you need to use
stir.
dip away. This keeps ok for the next day too. You can also add other things... chopped carrots, cilantro, canned corn, whatever you need to.
There are two things that you can do. one is kind of gross. both taste really good.
This first one I learned as an exchange student at Mt. Holyoke. The girls there get all crazy at about 3am because there are no boys there. They get a wild look in their eyes and start screaming "Queso!! Queso!!"
Then they take a block of velveeta and a jar of salsa
put them in a bowl
and put it in the microwave.
stir.
Now dip things in it. yummy. mmmm cholesterol.
The much classier salsa I like to make is:
1 can of black beans, drained
1 ripe avocado, chopped
2-4 tablespoons of that salsa in the back of your fridge that you need to use
stir.
dip away. This keeps ok for the next day too. You can also add other things... chopped carrots, cilantro, canned corn, whatever you need to.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
let's talk about vegan cheese
I have only ever had one vegan cheese product that I liked. I like the "Grated Vegan Topping" in the purple salt-shaker sized container. the other few I have tried are all real gross or weird or just not worth it.
I stopped eating most dairy products because they made me congested and I think my body has to work too hard to process them. Cutting down on cheese has been good for my congestion, weight fluctuation, amount of energy, and avoiding processed foods (lots of dairy products, weirdly). I really miss cheese though.
Ironically, parm is probably one of the more innocuous cheese products - hard cheese are usually minimally problematic for the lactose intolerant, you don't eat as much of it as, oh, cream cheese on a bagel, or giant blocks of cheddar in the woods, and it has a lot of bacterial breakdown goodness. It's weird then that it is the only thing that I have found an acceptable (I wouldn't make risotto with it) substitute for.
Does anyone have any recommendations for cheese substitutes? or suggestions for what I should eat when I'm splurging? (I've been eating a lot of mint chocolate chip ice cream. oops.)
I stopped eating most dairy products because they made me congested and I think my body has to work too hard to process them. Cutting down on cheese has been good for my congestion, weight fluctuation, amount of energy, and avoiding processed foods (lots of dairy products, weirdly). I really miss cheese though.
Ironically, parm is probably one of the more innocuous cheese products - hard cheese are usually minimally problematic for the lactose intolerant, you don't eat as much of it as, oh, cream cheese on a bagel, or giant blocks of cheddar in the woods, and it has a lot of bacterial breakdown goodness. It's weird then that it is the only thing that I have found an acceptable (I wouldn't make risotto with it) substitute for.
Does anyone have any recommendations for cheese substitutes? or suggestions for what I should eat when I'm splurging? (I've been eating a lot of mint chocolate chip ice cream. oops.)
Monday, October 8, 2007
fake butter makes yummy cookies, or the secret of successful vegan eating
oh, gina marie. I have to disagree with your quick dismissal of fake butter. I mean, I had the cookies and yes, they resembled Hagrid's rockcakes more than chocolate chip cookies - which is perhaps the one time in my life that I've been disappointed by a Harry Potter moment. however, I must argue that fake butter can make amazing cookies, but only if you go in with this essential piece of knowledge:
vegan food products are totally not substitutable for their non-vegan counterparts.
you see this error a bunch with tofu. just like chicken! the package will declare. tastes better than bacon! the ads will claim. well...not exactly. tofu is not the substitute teacher for the class of twenty-first century vegetarians. tofu is best when it's taken for exactly what it is.
take this lesson into dairy-free cookies. fake butter does not work the same as real butter and will really only leave you disappointed and grumpy if you treat it as such. however, fake butter falls under the vegan but if you set out to make dairy-free cookies and use a smart vegan recipe, you'll have crazy awesome cookies.
interestingly enough, most of my vegan cookie adventures have not required fake butter at all. I'll post a recipe later for the practical part of the class.
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