Salads! Word!

that is some classy servingware

(This one goes out to all the cubicle-dwelling desk-eaters out there)

(That's not people who eat desks, but rather people who eat at their desks)

I've been making lots of salads lately, but can you blame me? It's summertime and there's all this great produce to be had and it's too hot to cook all the time. Much better to cook for a little bit of time and then eat cold things all the rest of your days. All the rest of your days being until you run out of salads and have to make more salads.



Last weekend I made a new salad, Quinoa, Kale and Avocado Salad and it's so freaking green and good! The recipe came in my last CSA box. They always send along a newsletter thing with some recipes on the back, most of which are vegan, and usually all of them are vegetarian and therefore easily veganized. It was originally posted over at http://www.eatdrinkbetter.com/ and like I said it's awesome! You can top it with any salad dressing, I chose Trader Joe's Goddess Dressing (which I am fairly certain is exactly the same as Annie's Goddess dressing) and added some vegan pate that a friend brought to me from Canada last week. The pate adds some substance, but really this salad is so hearty you don't need it. I just really like the pate and have to put it in everything. If you keep out the avocado until right before serving and resign yourself to eating a whole avo with each serving (which I am more than okay with), this salad is super as leftovers for work, just cut up the avo and add it along with your pine nuts and dressing right before you eat. Not to mention, if you are a cube-dweller like myself, then knowing this salad is waiting for you at lunchtime makes going to work worth the effort. And don't we need all the help we can get on a Monday? Yes we do.

What You Need:
1 Cup uncooked quinoa
3 Stalks of kale
1 Sheet of dried nori
1/2 Cucumber
1/2 Cup pine nuts
1 Avocado
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
Salad dressing to taste

What You Do:
In a small pot combine one cup quinoa with 2 cups of salted water and bring to a boil. Cover, and lower heat, simmering for about 15 minutes, or until all water has been absorbed.

While the quinoa cooks, remove the stems from the kale. Discard and chop the leaves finely, adding them to a large bowl. The nori can be difficult to cut, so you may find it easier to just break off very small pieces to add to the salad. You can leave the skin on the cucumber, but remove the seeds and chop into small pieces.

Add the pine nuts and sesame seeds to the kale, nori and cucumbers. Add the avocado last (as you don’t want it to brown). Halve it, remove peel and pit, and chop into small pieces. Add to the salad along with the vinegar and lemon juice. Once the quinoa has cooked, stir it with a fork and transfer to the fridge to cool.

Also making an appearance recently are kittee's Tempeh Salad That's Like The Crack of Salads, and the aforementioned Spicy Tofu and Spelt Salad, except that instead of doing the baked tofu thing, I put in a can of garbanzo beans and it was fantastic! A great alternative to dealing with a hot oven in summertime, plus loads of fiber and spelt+beans=complete protein.

Next week the salads continue! The plan is to make Hannah's Cold Sesame Noodles which I guess are not technically a salad but...they have a vegetable and are cold so therefore I'm calling salad, and if I'm feeling adventurous the Asian Pear & Tempeh Salad with Wasabi Dressing as posted on Vegan. Chicks. Rock and much like her, never noticed in V-con in all the times I've gone flipping through it.

Taking a break from salads though, this morning I'm making my first ever solo loaf of bread! When I was little, I spent hundreds (maybe only dozens) of hours helping my mom with her baking projects, but haven't done that many myself. I remember I made pretzels once, but that seems different. That was in her kitchen with her ingredients and tools, so it was partially her food, this time it's all my doing, all mine. I'm using the Quick Yeast Bread recipe from the Dirty South half of the Hot Damn & Hell Yeah/The Dirty South Vegan Cookbook. I didn't realize how soothing kneading dough really is. You just get into this totally relaxed state and the 10 minutes flies by and I was a little sad I had to stop, really. And it was sort of miraculous (to a non-baker like me) that you mix the first ingredients and it's really wet and messy and you add the last cup of flour and it's just a crumbly mess and seems it will never come together and then *poof* 10 minutes later it's a beautiful smooth ball of dough. I love how it feels, smooth and cool like the underside of a forearm or a baby's cheek. Right now it's on it's first rise, then another rise in the loaf pan and then baking and then finally I will get to eat it. In the meantime I off to find a way to distract myself.


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Now playing: Smittens - Nate Is Straight
via FoxyTunes

Yay Independence!

Happy 4th of July, y'all!

No food today, today is like a bonus lazy day but plans this weekend include Apple & Zucchini muffins, tabouli, spicy tofu and spelt salad, something inside of a tortilla for sure, and popsicles. (Yay popsicles!)

Here's something fun, this is what my blog looks like after I ran it though Wordle: (Click to see it big-ified)



If you make one yourself I'd really love to see it. I find them mesmerizing.

Happy 4th again, have fun, be safe, and eat well!

Love,
Bea

Spicy Tempeh with Stuff and Other Stuff

This right here is where a picture would be if my camera wasn't being a son of a crap and out of commission AGAIN. Quarterly bonus time is coming up and work and who's getting a new camera? I think it's me. In the meantime, this here is someone else's pic of the dish.

Lately I have been feeling kind of like, you know, a failure on the challenging myself food-wise front. It's supposed to be the whole point of my blog and yet nothing has felt like much of a challenge, it's just so easy to stay in the habit of making food choices based primarily on how easy it is, which is not to say I've been making bad food so much as I haven't been making food I feel really proud of and can show to other food proclaiming "See this food, this is GOOD FOOD, suck it!" and imitating Nelson from the Simpsons.

So I was just the right kind of vulnerable while I was flipping through Veganomicon and the Spicy Tempeh with Broccoli Rabe and Rotini started winking at me suggestively in the photo section. I almost chickened out when I read the recipe, I mean, come on cooking things and then putting them aside and wiping the pan down and cooking them again?! Cooking three different things at once?!?! But then I looked closer, amazingly enough I actually had everything to make the dish so I thought "What the hizz." and got my challenge on. By the way, I'm fully aware that this recipe will not be such a challenge for most people out there, but I am pretty lazy. I think my laziness might end up being my legacy (along with my deep fear of birds). Like, if there were some kind of award I think I'd place in the top 5. Top 10 for sure. Assuming I was not too lazy to show up, of course. But, oh, my gods people, this ish is so good! There is nothing more gratifying than putting a lot of effort into a meal and having that meal be totally and completely worth it! It's nice and spicy, but not so spicy as to cancel out any other flavor. It was satisfying and felt healthy, and one of the best parts is that the cooking process leaves you these little pockets of time in which to clean up your dishes. I cook in a very small kitchen where counter space it as a premium, so not creating an ever-growing mountain of dishes that I will have to face later when I am in food coma is a gigantic plus for me. Specifically to the food though, it is so good I went to work today and said to at least three co-workers "Oh, my god, I made the best thing for dinner last night, I can't wait to have it for lunch." I got glassy-eyed responses which I choose to interpret at jealousy.

Here's some recipe action for ya, my changes are in the parentheses. Please, make, enjoy, savor. If you are like me, you will eat it while kicking yourself for returning Once before you could watch it again and instead watching Mystic Pizza.

Spicy Tempeh with Broccoli Rabe and Rotini

• 1/2 pound whole wheat rotelle or other spiral-shaped pasta (I used fusilli)
  

Spicy fennel tempeh:

• 1 (15 oz.) package tempeh, cubed
• 1/2 c. plus 2T vegetable broth
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 T. fennel seeds
• 1-1/2 t. red pepper flakes, or to taste (I went with just 1 tsp, I'm a spice wuss)
  
• 1-1/2 t. dried oregano
• 1/2 t. red wine vinegar

Broccoli rabe:

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, trimmed and chopped coarsely (I used regular old broccoli, the book has a little saying it's okay to)
  
• 2-3 T. white wine, water or vegetable stock
• 2 t. red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Boil salted water for pasta and prepare according to package directions. Drain, toss with a teaspoon or so of olive oil, cover and keep warm.

While pasta is boiling, prepare other ingredients:

Prepare the tempeh:

Place the tempeh in a large, nonstick skillet. Whisk together the remaining ingredients listed under “Spicy fennel tempeh.” Pour over the tempeh, stir to coat, and cook over medium heat until the liquid starts to simmer. Cover the pan and steam the tempeh, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Transfer the tempeh to a bowl and crumble about half the cubes with the back of a spoon.

Wipe down the skillet to remove any leftover tempeh sauce, return the skillet to medium heat and add two tablespoons of olive oil . Drop a cube into the hot oil to test the temperature — if it sizzles, the oil is hot enough. Add the rest of the tempeh and stir-fry for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until it begins to brown. If the pasta is ready, add the tempeh to the pasta, toss and keep covered and warm. If not, just transfer to a bowl and keep covered and warm.

Prepare the broccoli rabe:

Pour the remaining olive oil into the pan and add the sliced garlic. When the garlic begins to sizzle (be careful not to burn it), stir and cook for about a minute. Add the broccoli rabe, stir to coat with the oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and cover the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with about 2 T. of the white wine (or water or broth) and steam for 8 to 10 minutes, until the broccoli rabe is bright green and its stems are tender. **Bea's Note Time: If you are using regular broccoli I might suggest using more liquid, assuming that is why my broccoli turned out...shall we say...crispy on one side. Or maybe I should have turned the heat down below medium. Honestly I'm open to suggestion.**

Remove the cover and sauté for an additional minute or two, until any excess liquid is absorbed. Pour the cooked broccoli rabe onto the tempeh and pasta, sprinkle with red wine or balsamic vinegar, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and toss to combine.

This recipe was originally posted at Kindly Pog Mo Thoin

Cashew Curried Soy Curls Salad

sweet! my camera works again!

This salad was inspired largely by the Tempeh Salad I've talked about before (seriously, if it were crack, I would be Whitney Houston) but also by a friend of mine who shared some curry she'd made with me. I've never considered myself a curry fan and spent most my life before this past year turning the other way and running from it. But veganism has made me a lot braver on the food front, so now I'm giving curry more of a chance.

If you don't have Soy Curls, get some. Barring that, you could use steamed tempeh or fake meaty strips or baked tofu or something. Also, I think my finished version could have used *more* curry, how do you like that for a non-curry fan? So if you really like curry put in a lot more curry powder than what I tell you to.

Salad Recipe Time!
1 cup Soy Curls
Some chicken-flavored seasoning or chicken-flavored broth (I used Bill's Best Chick'nish)
1/4 cup cashews, chopped small
2-3 carrots, grated
3 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
3 green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
1/4 cup vegan mayo
1/4 tsp curry powder (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (I use some kind of grill seasoning)
salt to taste

Put the Soy Curls and the chicken-flavored seasoning in a large bowl and cover with hot or boiling water (or hot chicken-flavored broth). Let sit for at least 10 minutes while you chop your vegetables.

Drain the Soy Curls and combine the veggies, cashews, and parsley. While the curls are draining mix the mayo and the curry powder to your liking. When the curls are drained and cooled, roughly chop and add to the veggies, then add the mayo and salt to taste and stir it all together. Eat right away or let cool off a big.

Enjoy!

Oh, Sweet Gluttony

My camera is still having it's issue (I really must look into getting a decent one. Soon.) and I'm trying to get to 70% completion on the scarf I'm making so I'll keep it short. Plus Potato is being whiny for attention and just jumped on me.

Yesterday I made some fancy(to me)-ass food. I made the Onion and Leek Tart from Vegan Cooking School, which was my first experience with puff pastry and was very disappointed that Trader Joe's puff pastry is not vegan so I had to make an extra stop when I was out yesterday. It was so good! Kind of like a really light pizza and oniony and garlicky and I did the cream cheese on the bottom option and oh, so easy.

For dessert I finally got around to making kittee's No-Bake Strawberry Pie which did not turn out nearly as pretty as hers but was freaking delicious. Even more so when I had some for breakfast this morning. I used a pre-made graham cracker crust which I found on sale at Sidecar, and I would not recommend it, graham cracker crumbs do not like having cream cheese spread on them, and they don't care if it's vegan or not.

Today I've got some Red Beans and Rice from Fat Free Vegan going in the crock pot and I plan to make some zucchini bread with the lovely zucs that came in my CSA box last week, and another batch of the Tempeh Salad from pakupaku which I can never seem to get enough of, and I hope I never do.

I'm not at all sure how I'm going to fit out the door to go to work tomorrow but I'm pretty sure I don't care.