Easy Weeknight Dinners Series presents: Veggie Pasta Presto!

This has been one of those crazy weeks where there haven't been nearly enough hours in the day to accomplish even half of my to-do list. I am lucky if my husband and I eat one balanced meal-a-day (I wonder...do cheerios even count as a balanced meal?) and takeout menus are scattered across the dining room table instead of dinner plates plates heaped with nutritious and lovingly cooked meals.

This is a sure sign that I need an intervention...

As I was pondering with great distaste my lack of both time and tasty vegetable concoctions it occurred to me that many people were also probably suffering from similar time constraints. After all, I can't possibly be the only person with a long commute, large to-do-list etc... Thus I was inspired to start this little series:

Easy Weeknight Dinners

Nothing you'll find within this series could ever pass for gourmet. But it is all quick, simple and nutritious. Best of all, the recipes shouldn't require any special trips to the health food store for weird ingredients.

Without any further ado... here is the first installment.

Veggie Pasta Presto!
Number of tools: 6 (2 pots, cutting board, knife, spoon, strainer)
Time: Approximately 35 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb penne pasta
1 lb frozen broccoli
olive oil or white wine for sauteing
additional olive oil/ vegan butter for pasta (optional)
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
generous sprinkle basil
generous sprinkle marjoram
1 can plum tomatoes (28 ounces)
1 cup frozen peas

Method:

1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil for pasta.
2. In a tiny amount of olive oil or white wine (for fat free version) saute onion, carrot and garlic.
3. When onion is nearly translucent add basil and marjoram and saute for about a minute more.
4. Add canned tomatoes (including liquid) and bring to a boil. Break up tomatoes using the spoon and boil for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary (if you like a sweeter sauce, this would be the time to add sweetener... though I don't advocate it)
5. By now the water should be boiling, add the pasta and cook according to package directions, adding the frozen broccoli for the final few minutes of cooking time.
6. Drain the pasta and broccoli and return to pot.
7. If desired, stir either olive oil or vegan butter through pasta (to prevent sticking) and broccoli and season generously with pepper and salt if necessary (skip this step for fat free).
   
8. Stir in vegetable mixture and serve.

Note: My husband actually likes this dish as it stands in step 7 with LOTS of pepper and olive oil. He calls it "Macaroni and Greens". This is what it looks like.

Red Emmas.... Anarchist bookstore? Internet Cafe? Vegan Restaurant?

It depends on who you ask....

One thing is true though, whenever I feel like a small treat: coffee, a bagel with hummus or a vegan doughnut, I head to Red Emma's which is a "worker-owned and collectively managed bookstore and coffeehouse". I lifted this description directly from their website, because if you ask the average Joesephine on the street, these are the range of possible descriptions you might get:

"Oh... you mean the communist book store?"

"that place is run by a bunch of hippies"

"That's a vegetarian internet cafe"

"I think its some sort of anarchist coffee shop... they have meetings and stuff"

Regardless of what people call it, Red Emma's is a pretty cool place. The menu is vegetarian with many vegan offerings. They offer tons of good coffees and teas. My personal favorites include their wide selection of vegan baked goods from Brunie Bakery,especially the cupcakes, doughnuts and now the vegan cinnamon rolls!!

I also imbibe a ton of their iced coffee and enjoy their bagel sandwiches. If I am going to eat hummus in a restaurant this is one of my top two places to go! The food is never fancy but it is tasty and their prices are fair.

They have a small selection of books, magazines, "zines" and CDs as well free internet. The overall vibe is cozy and laid-back.

Plus they even have their own wikipedia entry!

Everything but the kitchen sink....

Have you ever wanted something sweet... I mean really CRAVED something sweet? Craved sweetness in a way that a banana or a bowl of cereal can't solve? That was my problem today. So I decided to make muffins, which are essentially cake without the added fuss of frosting. Except I couldn't seem to make up my mind, vanilla-coconut muffins, blueberry muffins, banana muffins.... why not all three?

As a result I ended up with these oddly pale little muffins that actually sated my sweet tooth. I still have no idea what I was thinking when I look at the ingredient list...

Everything but the kitchen sink muffins
(if you have a regular muffin tin this should make about 24 muffins)

Ingredients:
3 TBS Earth Balance, or other vegan "butter"
3 TBS vegan non-hydrogenated shortening
2/3 cup sugar
1 medium banana
5 TBS ground flax seed + 8 TBS cold water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 1/2 cup coconut milk (not the canned kind, the kind in a carton such as "So Delicious" brand)
1 cup blueberries

Method:

• Preheat oven to 375.
  
• Cream butter, shortening and sugar.
• Add banana and combine until well mashed.
• In a blender combine flax and water, then add to butter mixture.
  
• Add vanilla.
• In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
• Gradually add flour mixture alternating with the milk until everything is combined.
• Stir in blueberries by hand.
• Bake in muffin tins 35-40 minutes.

Ever considered going vegan???

Have you ever considered going vegan but feel that there are too many obstacles in your way? Perhaps you are nearly there, but need to give up butter or cheese... well the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine is about to give you the support you need!

Beginning September 8th, they encourage you to jump-start your health by trying out a vegan diet for twenty one days. By signing up for their free program they will send you support, recipes and motivational web posts to help you try living life as a vegan, as you experience how it affects your health and mindset.

If you have ever considered a vegan diet and lifestyle, I encourage you to give it a try!

You can find more information at:

http://support.pcrm.org

Curry in a hurry!

Tonight I got home from work to a fridge full of unrelated veggies and a growling stomach... what to do? Curry! Curries are fast and always seem to bring together the best dinners out of odds and ends of vegetation. I have a rice cooker, so usually I can have dinner done in the time it takes for the rice to cook!

Curry #1: Spicy Thai Panang Curry
(this one is great for when you have a stuffed nose)

Ingredients:
the tiniest amount of vegetable or peanut oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 inch of ginger grated
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans of panang curry paste
1 cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
juice of one lime
2 cans coconut milk
small hot dried peppers, to taste (a normal palate will not need these as panang by itself is very hot)
assorted veggies (good choices: carrots, snow peas, broccoli, summer squash, zucchini, green beans, tofu, english peas)

Method

• In a saucepan fry onion, ginger and garlic in oil. (Use as little as possible)
• Stir in curry paste and stir constantly until paste is well mixed with aromatics and you can smell the spices, stir in basil leaves.
• Add lime juice and coconut milk.
• If using throw in dried peppers and bring to a boil.
• Add veggies and cook until they are done.

Curry # 2 Indian Style Aromatic Tomato Curry

Ingredients:
(please note: spice measurements are approximate, please adjust to your own tastes!)
1 tsp. Coriander
1 TBS Garam Masala
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp clove powder
1 tsp cardamom powder
pinch red pepper flakes
tiny amount of mild oil such as vegetable or peanut
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
1 small onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled & cubed
1 carrot, chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 cup chopped okra
1/2 cup frozen english peas
Method:

• In a very hot, dry pan toast spices.
• Add a small amount of oil and saute onion, garlic and ginger.
• Add potatoes and carrots and continue to saute, stirring constantly.
• When potatoes have browned slightly add canned tomatoes and bring to a boil.
• After boiling for 5 minutes, stir in remaining vegetables and cook until potatoes are done.
  
• Taste and add salt if necessary.

Serve both curries with a high quality basmati rice.

A review of Paul Chen's in Baltimore

Anytime we want Chinese takeout here at home we order it from Paul Chen Hong Kong Restaurant. They have one of the most extensive vegetarian menu's for Chinese takeout that I have even seen. In fact... their menu is so extensive that it has ruined me for other restaurants.

When I am forced to eat at other Chinese restaurant's I am stunned that they do not offer as many choices! The have vegan springrolls and dumplings, four vegan soups and mock meats galore. If yu check out the online or in-house menu they have also labeled the vegetarian options throughout the regular menu (be sure to remember to get your fried rice without egg). They even offer brown sticky rice!!

Of the vegetarian delight entrees, the only thing I am pretty sure is not vegan is the pancakes in the Monk's Mu shu chicken. So I order the dish without pancakes. Nearly everything is perfect and low on the grease and delivery is almost always prompt. My husband and I love this place and I encourage you to give them a try. My personal favorites are: Monk's beef with Broccoli, Monk's Mu-shu chicken (no pancakes), Monk's Kung-Pao Chicken, broccoli in hot garlic sauce and the Sno Peas and Bok Choy with Mushroom. I also almost always get spring rolls.

Delicious!

phee phi pho phum....

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So this whole saga started when I saw an innocent looking cube of "pho" bouillon at H-mart (my local asian grocery). I had no idea what pho was but my curiosity was peaked! It turns out that pho is basically the national dish of Vietnam and apparently totally tasty and totally not vegan....

Well I can't seem to walk away from a challenge to save my life so I decided to give it my best shot. I read all I could about Vietnamese Pho, including articles about how it should never be vegetarian and articles describing how it could be made vegetarian occasionally... I finally came up with this one.

At first I was afraid to even take a bite because the broth was a mysterious blackish color... but I was brave. Boy was I glad I was because it was was great. The flavors were rich and warming. Not only did I enjoy it but my husband (remember... the non-vegan) and my neighbor loved it too!!

I cannot attest to its authenticity, so if I made some critical misstep (besides the obvious ones... i.e. no fish sauce) feel free to let me know but please understand that this is pho-inspired more than actually pho. I have never had real pho and probably never will since it seems impossible to find a vegan version in a restaurant. Regardless I encourage you to be brave and wade into the murky blackness because the taste was exotic and delightful. It wasn't too difficult either!!

By the way if you want a lighter broth, strain it through cheesecloth or find whole components of all of the spices in the chinese 5 spice (ie whole cinnamon sticks, whole star aniseed etc..)

Vietnamese Pho, sort of

Ingredients:

Broth:
4 shallots
3 inches of ginger
25 basil leaves
12 cloves of garlic (DO NOT BE AFRAID... THEY WILL MELLOW OUT!!)
1 cup asian cooking wine
1/2 cup dried shitakes
2 heaping tsp chinese 5 spice blend
1 tsp dried cilantro
a lot of fresh ground black pepper (I used 30 cranks on my mill)
6 cups vegetable broth or water

1 block baked marinated tofu (I used a store bought "asian" flavor), cubed
1-2 cups napa cabbage chopped
2 green scallions chopped
1/2 cup basil leaves chopped

4 ounces rice pasta (the medium size that looks like linguine), soaked/cooked according to package directions

Optional garnishes:
chopped peanuts
hoisin sauce
Siracha sauce
Chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges


Method:

• Place all ingredients for broth in a large pot and bring to a boil.
  
• Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for an hour, stirring occasionally.
• Strain out solids, reserving liquid.
• Return the liquid to stove and add napa & tofu cooking 2-3 minutes.
• Stir in basil and rice pasta and heat through
• Toss in scallions and serve with various garnishes on side

Like I said... be brave and try it!! It wasn't even difficult!