African Peanut stew & a little soap box....

As is so often the case in life my professional and personal lives overlapped in tonight's dinner. My students are currently learning about the music from the continent of Africa. Dinner to night was an African Peanut Stew. Both of these things, dinner and music class illustrate a key problem we have in public perception. Africa is a CONTINENT full of many different countries and cultures. So to call something African is about as definitive as to call something European.... it doesn't really define the culture that it is from nor (since Africa is so large) does it really even pinpoint a region. Is it from Egypt? Ethiopia? South Africa? Nigeria??





Before you assume that I am going ballistic over something as simple as the name of a stew, please understand that I see this as symptomatic of a larger problem. We (and I am including myself in this) simply lack knowledge about the vast continent of Africa. Perhaps this is due to the way Africa is portrayed in the media, educational bias, or lack of exposure. However, once we are aware of such a vast hole in our knowledge; the appropriate thing to do (in my humble opinion) is not to sit back and be content in our ignorance but to work to correct it. So I am learning new information about Africa along with my students this month.





And I hope to share some of that (the food stuff) with you! So for your information and possible enlightenment, here we go! Nearly every vegan cookbook worth it's salt has a version of an African Peanut Stew which is made with veggies (such as Yams) and peanuts.

Yams (often replaced with sweet potatoes) are common throughout West and Central Africa. In Nigeria (according to one of my kiddie books) they are commonly served fried as a snack.

Peanuts are also common throughout Western Africa and are the main crop of Senegal. In fact though, it seems peanuts were not native to Africa or North America. The versatile peanut was first brought to Africa by Portuguese Travelers from South America.

(FYI: If you want more information about African food crops, this website is incredibly informational!)





Where did the "African" stew actually originate though? Is there really such a thing? Or is it a North American creation based on African ingredients? Well.... that's an interesting question. It seems that many of the West African Countries have some sort of Peanut Stew tradition: Senegal, Nigeria & Ghana just to name a few. My recipe seems to be most similar to the Senegalese version. So I think that the name could be more specifically West African Peanut Stew OR Senegalese Peanut Stew. Take your pick. (If I am wrong and you know differently, I am happy to hear about your experiences.)




This was a lot of talking, when you probably just wanted a recipe.... So I will now put away my soapbox and pull out my oven mitts!

West African/ Senegalese Peanut Stew

Ingredients:

1TBS oil

1 Large onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 inch of ginger, finely chopped

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

2 heaping tsp cumin

1 tsp tsp coriander

hot chillies (minced to taste** see note)

1 can chick peas

28 ounces canned diced tomatoes

water

2 bouillon cubes, veggie or not-chicken flavored

4 sweet potatoes or yams

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 cup frozen spinach

corn starch, if necessary

Method:

1. 
   
   In oil saute onion until translucent then add red and hot peppers. Saute 2-3 more minutes.


2. 
   
   Stir in garlic, oil, and spices. Saute one minute (be careful not to burn garlic!!) then add tomatoes and bring to a boil.


3. 
   
   Add bouillon cubes, sweet potatoes, and beans. Add enough water to cover and bring to a boil.


4. 
   
   "Dissolve" the peanut butter into a small amount of the boiling liquid and add to stew.


5. 
   
   Cook until sweet potatoes are done.


6. 
   
   Stir in spinach, heat through.


7. 
   
   Thicken with corn starch, if necessary.

(** Note, I cheated on the hot peppers and used a very hot pepper puree that I had already prepared. The flavor was still great and prep time was reduced.)

A full day's worth of yum!

Today was a busy day as I had both an audition and a rehearsal. Plus they were nowhere near each other, so I decided it was a good time to try out a new convenience food I picked up: Trader Joe's Vegetable Masala Burgers.








When you take them out, they resemble round frozen hash browns!! The box says "fully cooked, just heat and eat" but then directs you to brush them with ghee or oil prior to cooking them. Well thanks to the excellent influences of the vegans over at Fat Free Vegan, I have been trying to avoid as much unnecessary added fat as possible. Well I am very glad I did because check out how much oil "oozed" out of the burger while it was sitting on the plate:



I decided to fix it in a pita with a avocado sandwich spread that I whipped up the other day. It was basically the flesh of a VERY ripe avocado, garlic and onion powder, almond milk to thin the mixture and lime juice to help prevent browning. It is pretty good on sandwiches as a mayonnaise alternative. Here's the finished sandwich:


After my audition, I whipped out my trusty lunch box and ate my burger. It was lukewarm and very tasty, BUT with 8 grams of fat, only 2 grams of protein and only 1 gram of fiber (wasn't this thing supposed to be ALL vegetables?) it won't be replacing my regular lunches very often.



Dinner was much better. For one thing, it wasn't room temperature! And I didn't eat it in my car! Learning about the benefits of Allium veggies (onions, garlic, leeks etc...) during yesterday's health videos gave me even more reasons to load up on the garlic. So I made my FAVORITE Brussels's sprouts, which are simply broiled with salt, pepper and tons of garlic until they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I used to hate the sprout until I had it this way, now...Yum!

(Seriously, I was the only one home for dinner and this pan had been full!)

To go with it I made Seitan stew. I had no set recipe, instead I sort of "winged it" as I went along.




I sauteed onion, celery, carrot, red pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Then I added chopped seitan and seasoned liberally with thyme, rosemary, red pepper, black pepper and a pinch of salt and sage.

Next I stirred in about a cup of white wine and boiled for a few minutes to cook out the alcohol. Then I added 2 cups of water and bouillon cubes to match the volume of water (I chose to use a vegan chicken flavor).

After letting this cook for a while, I added about a cup of almond milk, returned everything to a boil and then thickened it with cornstarch.

For a quick, spur of the moment dinner it turned out tasty and filling!


On a separate note, please send me happy, warm thoughts for tomorrow as I am singing on a benefit for Haiti. It would be nice to not only provide a good concert but also to help earn a decent amount of money to send to our charity, Save the Children. We got a write up in the paper if you want more information: www.examiner.com .

Some food porn for you....

Just thought I'd share my lunch with you: Vegetable risotto (mushrooms, carrots, pumpkin and spinach) from the Vegetarian Time's Thanksgiving Cookbook. Yum!!

Nothing beats the cold like a good soup!

I hope it is not as cold where you are, faithful readers as it is here! It seems like the cold is following me. When we left Baltimore, there had just been a blizzard, once we arrived in Connecticut they were having a cold snap (running in 12 degrees?! really??!!) and now that we are back home it is cold and windy again (Now I am running in the 20's with extreme winds...). Luckily I am becoming used to the cold and beginning to develop techniques for handling it better. In addition to clothing tricks (layers, layers, and more layers) and common sense stuff (don't go out with wet hair!), I have discovered just how much I love a good hot soup! In fact nothing seems to warm me up like a good soup.

Luckily vegan soups abound. They are easy, tasty, nutritious and warming. In the few days since our return I have already made two! The oyster mushroom stew was my first attempt at using oyster mushrooms in anything. In fact, I bought them without really being sure what I was going to do with them. Then I found this recipe on the site http://www.veg-world.com/recipes/oyster.htm. Let me tell you.... I was not disappointed... this stew was reminiscent of the chowders my mother used to serve in the winters, but without dairy, meat or seafood! It was delicious! The mushrooms were slightly chewy, meaty and with the faint flavor of shellfish (like an oyster or clam) without being overwhelming. The broth was creamy, rich and flavorful as well. As I was eating, it occured to me that I hadn't had a good cream soup in years!

Oyster Mushroom Stew

Ingredients:

• ¼ tbsp. olive oil
• Small onion, diced
• Stick of celery, diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, diced
• 3½ cups (28 fl oz, 840 ml) vegetable broth
• ½ cup (4 oz, 110 g) silken tofu
• 2 small potatoes, diced
• 4 large (11 oz, 330 g) oyster mushrooms, diced
• liberal amounts of red pepper!
• 3 tbsp. dried parsley

Method:

1. First in a pot of salted water boil the potatoes. Drain and set aside.


2. In as little olive oil as possible (or to make it truly fat free- use wine) saute the onions celery and garlic.


3. Once onions are translucent add the oyster mushrooms and saute for a few minutes before adding the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and then stir in the potatoes, parsley, red pepper and (if desired) salt.


4. Return to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer.


5. In a blender or food processor, puree the tofu until creamy and then stir into pot. Heat through, taste adjust seasoning if necessary and then serve with your favorite little tiny oyster crackers!

This next soup is an Italian favorite that my husband and I love! By turning it into a crock pot recipe, it it now both delicious and simple! If you have never had it, Escarole is a bitter Italian green that looks similar to leaf lettuce.

Erin's Escarole Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 Stalk celery
• 1 carrot
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 can white kidney (canellini) beans
• 2 small heads of escarole
• 1 cup white wine
• water
• Red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper
• Bryanna's Homemade Chicken Bouillon Powder
• Optional: rice, cous cous or small pasta

Method:

1. Peel, wash and dice all veggies and put in crock pot.
2. Season with Salt, red pepper and pepper.
3. Add wine and stir well.
4. Add enough water to cover veggies (be sure to pay attention to how much you add!!) and the corresponding amount of bouillon powder.
5. Cook on low all day and enjoy.
6. Optional pasta directions: I like to add the rice or small pasta already cooked so that it doesn't soak up to much broth. If you don't please pay attention to the amount of water you add to be sure you have provided enough!

Note: Since Bryanna's broth powder is so tasty and well seasoned (I always add extra garlic and thyme to mine....) I didn't add any additional spices. If you use a commercial bouillon or vegetable broth this will probably need some additional spices. May I recommend: Parsley, sage and thyme.

Well there you have it: Not one but TWO easy and delicious soups for a cold winter's day!

Indian Feast!

My husband and I regularly go out for Indian food but it is so much more fun (and so much cheaper!) to eat at home... so tonight I tried my hand at a few new dishes: Palak Tofu, Dal and a cumin scented salad. The salad and the Dal were great, the Palak tofu needs some tweaking before I share it with the world.


The Cumin Scented Salad was inspired by the lovely pile of cucumbers and tomatoes that I always see beside the buffets at Indian restaurants. Because my DH doesn't care for tomatoes though, we altered it slightly to include peppers instead. Be sure to set out some vinegar for anyone who wants it. (My husband's suggestion!)

Cumin Scented Salad

Ingredients:

3 small Persian cucumbers (or one English Cucumber)
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1/2 small onion
2 TBS olive oil
3-4 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cut all veggies and place in bowl
2. Toss lightly with oil and spices.
3. Enjoy!

Dal

Ingredient:

3 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup dried red lentils

Pam Spray OR small amount vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and Pepper to taste


Method:

1. Bring broth to a boil in a three quart sauce pot and add lentils. Cook to desired done-ness.
2. In a separate pan, saute the onions until translucent.
   
3. Add garlic and spices stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes and heat though before adding to lentils.
5. Cool mixture and then puree about 1/3-1/2 of the mixture in batches before adding back to pot.
6. Reheat and serve with rice or bread.

If I ever get that Palak Tofu just right I will be sure to share it with you!

Dinner thanks to Bryanna and organic fall goodness

In Baltimore it has been unseasonably warm lately and things haven't felt particularly fall-like. It is hard to believe that we just had Halloween and that Thanksgiving is around the corner. As a result I am not really craving the traditional (and heavier) fall foods that I usually eat this time of year as much. I am still on my summer schedule of lightly steamed veggies, rice and Asian foods.

How much can one person really write about the joys of miso soup?

But fear not! Tonight I had a delicious, seasonal dinner worth writing about! I picked up a beautiful organic acorn squash at Trader Joe's as well as some frozen organic spinach. I also had some of Bryanna's Breast of Tofu marinating in the fridge. The combination was exquisite!


I'll start with the tofu. A member of the Yahoo Group: Fat Free Vegan recently drew my attention to this easy preparation. Now that I have tried it, I will probably always have a block marinating in the fridge. It was wonderful. I very lightly dusted the tofu with seasoned flour and "pan fried" it in a green pan (which is non-stick) with very little Pam Spray. As a result the tofu had a crisp outer skin and was chewy on the inside. The Flavor was great too... so good in fact that I am planning on having the leftovers tomorrow in a sandwich for lunch.

The Acorn Squash was a snap. I steamed it in the microwave. It was so sweet that it barely needed salt and pepper. What a treat!

I sauteed the spinach with minced garlic, raisins and a small handful of pine nuts in another one of my green pans with a tiny bit of earth balance. Although the green pans are wonderful for reducing the need for excess fats, I felt like the spinach needed a tiny bit of earth balance to improve the overall flavor.

So dinner was fall-like, tasty and best of all... it was a snap!

Zines, Greens and sausage made with beans!

Today I had the free time to go to both the farmer's market and the Baltimore book festival which, depending on how you look at it, is conveniently located within walking distance of our apartment. This meant I was able to pick up lovely farm fresh vegetables AND independently published vegan zines. This also meant dinner was fabulous... but more on that later.

The two zines I picked up at the radical books tent* were:



Hot Damn and Hell Yeah is supposed to be two cookbooks in one. With my southern heritage, I couldn't pass this one up. It has recipes for tons of sauces, breads and deep fried everything. This flavor palate is one I recognize but get excited about anyway. Highlights include a vegan Worchestershire sauce, country fried tofu, biscuits and apple enchiladas.









In search of lost taste is a collection of recipes loosely tied together through a Sci-fi adventure (of sorts) that always seems to come back to cooking. The recipes look great. There are things like spicy cold tomatoes in a sake venaigrette, vegan fish recipes and then fun drinks and desserts too. I am very excited about the way Joshua Ploeg plays with flavors throughout this little zine.





If you want to purchase these zines (or others like them) check out: microcosm publishing. Right now they are having a $20 special entitled "go vegan" which includes these two titles plus several more!

* Before we move on, a note on those radicals selling books... they also were the only tent with good coffee, soy milk and vegan treats (you guys should know by now that I have a regrettable sweet tooth....)!

Now on to dinner....


At the farmer's market I got all sorts of good stuff, including awesome red chard and my favorite squash: spaghetti squash! For those of you who haven't had the good fortune to ever eat spaghetti squash, you are truly missing out. It looks like a normal squash until you cook it, then it's flesh shreds into tiny angel hair size shreds of squash-just like pasta. It's unbelievably easy too. Spaghetti squash is good with sauces, obviously. But when it is this fresh, we like it simply steamed with a very little earth balance, salt and pepper. Delish!

The Chard I served sauteed with lots of garlic, red pepper flakes and a splash of wine.

To go with all of the vegetable love, we had vegan chorizo sausages from Isa's new cookbook that I recently purchased. They were easy and quick to put together. They were also soy free. I love soy, but I eat so much of it that I sometimes imagine I am nearing some unknown limit... who knows what might happen then!

Here is what the sausages looked like right out of the steam basket:





I liked them, but didn't think they tasted like chorizo... My husband said they tasted like lemony, chewy bread. Hmm... Now it's been awhile since I had a real sausage, so I'm not sure how valid my opinion is. Still, I thought they were pretty tasty. They were savory and toothsome with hints of tomato, heat and yes... lemon.

Perhaps these need to go into the same file as vegan lasagna.. something I love that my DH won't touch.

As I make other recipes from Vegan Brunch, I will try to post some pictures as this looks like a very promising cookbook!

Easy Weeknight Dinners Series presents: Southwestern Wow!

Since my week doesn't seem to be getting any easier... this is the second installment in my new series of simple family dinners for weeknights. Tonight's meal has a slightly higher sodium content than I would like but it is still has a fat free option and is quite tasty. This is so simple that it is almost silly but I was able to throw it together in about 30 minutes and the bulk of that time was spent just letting the rice cook which makes it a definite plus in my book.

Southwestern Wow!

Number of tools: 5 (pot, cutting board, knife, spoon, can opener)
Time: Approximately 30 minutes

Ingredients:
olive oil or extra broth for sauteing
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBS dried oregano (or you can just give it a good sprinkle...)
2 chipotle peppers*
1 cup uncooked rice (I set this for white because that was what I had, brown rice would be awesome, just adjust the water/vegetable broth)
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 can of low sodium corn (15 ounces)
1 can of black beans (15 ounces)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach

Possible stir-ins and additions to make it fancier:
Vegan cheese
Vegan sour cream
guacamole
tortilla chips

Method:

1. In a tiny amount of olive oil or broth saute the onion and garlic until slightly translucent.
   
2. Add the chipotles and oregano stirring constantly.
3. Stir in the dry rice for a few seconds until everything is well mixed then add the water.
4. Bring to a boil, add corn and beans.
   
5. Return pot to a boil then reduce heat.
6. Simmer mixture until rice is done (mine took about 25 minutes) adding the spinach a few minutes before serving in order to heat through.

* A note about those chipotles: Two make it pretty spicy so you may want to reduce them amount or omit them all together. Also if you don't have chipotles on hand DO NOT even consider going to the store. This is supposed to be quick and easy! Use some other type of hot pepper or a small sprinkle of hot sauce.

Fat-free southern vegetable saute.... and sinful peanut butter cookies

This week traffic has been HORRIBLE!! I have been getting home around 7 PM or later due to accidents and rubberneckers. So tonight I chose an easy, fat free, one pot dish: a southern vegetable saute. It was a combination of potatoes, beans, carrots and a local staple....kale! It was tasty, simple and fairly balanced nutritionally.

Southern Vegetable Saute

Ingredients:

3/4 cup wine (I used white)
1 cup double strength vegetable broth
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 small red-skinned potatoes, cut into slices
2 carrots, thickly sliced
1 lb kale, washed and chopped
1 can black-eyed peas, drained
salt& pepper
red pepper flakes
generous pinch each of: rosemary, sage, thyme

Method:

In order to keep this dish fat-free, pick a non-stick of a surface as possible (such as a green pan or well seasoned cast iron pan). Using a tiny amount of the wine to prevent sticking, saute the garlic. (Throughout this process add wine (up to 3/4 cup) and then broth (up to 1 cup) as necessary to continue to prevent sticking.) When the garlic begins to brown add potatoes, carrots, red pepper flakes and spices. Stir carefully and continue to add more liquid if necessary. Cook for a few minutes until the potatoes gain some color and begin to soften before adding the kale. Wilt the kale before adding salt and pepper to taste. Once kale is throughout wilted stir in black eyed peas and heat through. Adjust seasonings as necessary and serve with hot sauce on the side.



The other night we were dying for something sweet, so after perusing lots of cookbooks I came up with these peanut butter cookies. It was wonderful because I didn't have to make a special run to the store for anything...They are NOT low fat but they ARE delicious. We enjoyed them with big glasses of almond milk.

Sinfully Good Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 1/4 cup other sugars (granulated / brown)
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated vegan shortening
1/2 cup silken tofu
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

Method:

• Using a hand mixer, cream together peanut butter, sugars and agave nectar.
• After they are well combined, mix in shortening.
• Add silken tofu and mix well. There should be no visible lumps of tofu.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda.
• Stir flour mixture into peanut butter mixture. Mixture will be stiff.
• Using a tablespoon, drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork, leaving criss-crossed lines.
• Bake in a preheated 375 oven for 9 minutes. Allow to rest on the tray for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.

Southern Vegetable Goodness!!

Tonight's dinner started as I was thinking about those hoecakes.... I was sitting in traffic pondering their crunchy goodness and realized how much they made me think of fritters. There are so many varieties of vegetable fritters out there, so I decided to try to create some based loosely on the hoecake recipe. The resulting fritters are crunchy fried vegan morsels which are not at all healthy! They are pretty tasty though. I decided to "do penance" for the little greaseballs by having a very healthy assortment of vegetables (still in a very southern style) to fill the plate. In the end tonight's menu was:

• Southern-Style vegetable Fritters
• cucumber salad
• roasted tomatoes
• pickled beets with onions
• simple garlicky greens

The Cucumber Salad was the first "recipe" that I remember successfully following as a child. I told my father I would make part of dinner. This is what I made: thinly sliced cucumbers (my favorite little ones are still in season!!) and onions in a weak vinegar brine with salt, pepper, sweetener and dill. Although simple, its still light and refreshing....Yum!

Since my husband doesn't care for dill we had Pickled Beets just for him. He likes them with some sliced onions, basil, oregano, salt, pepper and a mixture of two vinegars (balsamic and red wine) and olive oil.

The Roasted Tomatoes were out of this world. I combined sliced tomatoes with balsamic vingar. olive oil, basil, LOTS of garlic and salt and pepper. Then I roasted everything for about two hours at 300 degrees. Besides some very occasional stirring, the hardest part was chopping the tomatoes. Over the course of two hours the garlic mellowed, the vinegar reduced and sweetened and the basil intensified, leaving a side dish that is more tempting than candy!

The Garlicky Greens were a sauteed combination of baby napa cabbage and spinach sauteed with garlic, salt and pepper. It was really simple, healthy and tasty.

Finally the intended piece du resistance...

Southern Vegetable Fritters

Ingredients:

1/4 cup silken tofu

1 cup unsweetend soy milk

splash vinegar (white, rice or white wine)

1-2 TBS Texas Pete hot sauce

1 TBS nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup orange pepper, finally chopped

1/4 cup corn kernals

small handfull chives, finely chopped

1/8 cup sun dried tomatoes (roasted in oil), chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup cornmeal

peanut oil, for frying

Method:

• Add vinegar to soy milk and let sit aside for a few minutes.
• Using a handmixer, fork or potato masher mash tofu. Combine tofu and surdled soy milk, mixing well to remove all lumps.
• Stir in hot sauce, Nutritional yeast and garlic powder.
• Stir in all vegetables. Add salt and pepper.
• Sift baking powder (or mix with a fork) into cornmeal and then fold this mixture into soy/ vegetable mixture. The resulting combo will be fairly stiff.
• Drop by tablespoon into hot peanut oil to fry.

Notes: You could probably use any comination of vegetables that you prefer. I personally would have liked these spicier in the future and will go heavier on the hot sauce.

In the end the only thing that was missing was some form of okra and we would have had a true southern vegetable review....

The Great Vegan Cook-In

This morning, my husband's good friend (and our neighbor) showed up with assorted meats for the grill (remember folks... I'm married to an omni, it happens sometimes), so we had an impromptu party. While they did their thing I was left to fix a vegan cook-in for myself and another neighbor who decided to eat veggie that night ( yay!!). I'm calling it a cook-in because although much of the food was grilled or is traditional cook-out/picnic food, we live in Baltimore and have no real yard to speak of. In fact the grilling was done on our teeny-tiny balcony on a tailgate-style grill. We ate all of the food indoors in the air-conditioning around a table.

The menu du jour:

• Vegan Boca burgers on kaiser rolls
• Compassionate Collards
• Potatoes and Peas in a dijon vinaigrette
• Corn on the cob
• Mint Iced Tea
  

The potatoes and peas were a twist on potato salad made with a vinaigrette instead of a mayonaise based dressing. I wanted to try something different since I have been eating so much potato salad lately. It was ok, but a bit to mild for my palate. My husband said he definitely prefers my usual potato salad, but it was worth a try. Since it wasn't too noteworthy I am foregoing sharing a recipe for it.

The Collards were a total success though and so perfectly seasoned that no one requested any hot sauce, vinegar, or even salt & pepper! They were perfectly done, smoky, spicy and not a bit watery. Plus they were the ultimate no-fuss side dish. I threw them in the crockpot and walked away. Besides stirring them every hour or so, I didn't think about them again until dinner time. I named them compassionate collards because unlike the southern tradition of seasoning greens with meat, these were wonderfully meat free. Here is the recipe:

Compassionate Collards

Ingredients:

For each bunch of collards you will need:
1 sweet onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3 chipotle peppers ( from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
1 packet imitation ham flavoring (I used the goya variety...if you read the ingredients it is meat free) or some liquid smoke

Method:

Clean your collards really well but do not spin dry, you want a little water clinging to them.

Prep the collards by removing the center stem and chopping into bite-size pieces. (this is really easy to do if you stack several leaves and roll them tightly before chopping)

Place in a large crockpot, put all other ingredients on top of the collards. Do not add additional water!!! As the vegetables cook down they will give off some of their own water which will season the collards without causing them to be watery.

Turn Crockpot on high and let cook until done to your desired tenderness (for me that was about 4-5 hours...)

See... Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!!

Note: I left the chipotles whole so that people could see them and not bite down on one if they didn't want too. They could be chopped or even pureed if you wish.

By the way, when I went to pick up the Boca Burgers I noticed that Morningstar farms now offers a grill-style chick patty, that is TOTALLY VEGAN!! I usually don't even think twice about their stuff because it has eggs or milk... but this was exciting. So even though my friend requested the boca burgers, I bought a box of the Morningstar Grillers Chick'n for later.

I would say the cook-in was a success as everyone cleaned their plates of all their veggies, one of my friends asked of he could have some collards to go and people lingered late into the night. Now if I could just find a way to fit us all of that small balcony so we could have a proper cook out!

Sunday Dinner

Most of the time Sunday dinners are big at our house. Since we have been traveling, we have been eating alot of takeout, fast food and other less than tasty stuff, so I wanted to be sure that we had a good dinner today.

Today's menu was: Veganomicon's Chick Pea Cutlets (for me... DH had a different protein), mashed turnips bought fresh from the farmer's market, Asian style greens (seasoned with mirin, crushed pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, kecap manis and sesame oil) and a carrot puree.

The picture didn't come out too well but everything tasted great. I always love the chick pea cutlets because they are chewy and have a great crust to to them. The other veggies were all well seasoned and tasty as well. Although turnips seem like a fall or winter vegetable, the ones that I get at the farmer's market this time of year always seem to taste sweeter and have an excellent texture. Also since they are my husband's favorite vegetable, any time I can get them we eat them.

I always love my greens sauteed and seasoned with soy, ginger, garlic, pepper and sesame. This time the greens in question were labeled "Chinese Brocoli" and were a lovely green with tiny yellow flowers. The carrots were a new attempt for me, which I adapted from a soup recipe. They were delicious, both sweet, spicy and rich without being heavy or fatty. The basic recipe is at the bottom of the page.





For dessert we had Blackstrap ginger bread with lemon sauce from Vegan Lunch box. It wasn't very sweet, but with the lemon sauce it hit the spot.


The carrot puree was an adaptation of a soup recipe from the cookbook A Vegetarian's Ecstasy.

Indonesian Carrot Puree (LOW FAT)
(adapted from A vegetarian's Ecstasy)

Ingredients:

8-10 Carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 of a medium banana, sliced
1 clove garlic
1 spoonful minced ginger
1 TBS soy sauce
pinch each of : crushed fennel seed, crushed red pepper, clove powder, wasabi powder, curry powder and turmeric

sweet white wine and soy milk (I used vanilla)

Method:

Put carrots, banana, garlic, ginger soy sauce andspices in a two quart sauce pot. Pour in enough wine to cover the carrots and boil until carrots are soft enough to mash and the wine reduces. Remove from heat and puree using immersion blender or food processor. When carrots are fully pureed, stir in 1/2- 1 cup of soy milk. Season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.