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!!

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!

Everyone's favorite....Curry Squash Soup

I LOVE pumpkin and its cousins, the other winter squashes. In fact, I make all of my young students sing this silly little song about "Mr. Pumpkin" every year:

"Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin
Round and Fat, Round and Fat,
Harvest time is coming, Harvest time is coming
Yum, yum, yum! Yum, yum, yum!"

Amid the giggles, we discuss our favorite pumpkin (and by extension... squash) based foods. While they all say pie and perhaps bread, I amaze them all with things like soup, purees, smoothies, pancakes, french toast etc... Somehow my students seem to think of pumpkin only as a sweet food. Not me, I love how versatile this vegetable is!

So it is with great joy that I made my first squash soup of the year! This one is not for the faint hearted. To help my congestion due to fall allergies, I made it heavily spiced. So... feel free to go easy on the spices. Its still absolutely delicious!

Curry Squash Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sake or white wine
1/2 onion, chopped
small piece of ginger, chopped
1 large carrot chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 TBS curry powder
3 cups water
1 vegetable bouillon cube
4 cups cooked squash
1 cup almond milk

Method:

1. In the wine, saute the vegetables.
2. Stir in the curry powder, then add water and bouillon.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. As soon as bouillon is dissolved, add squash.
5. Turn down heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
6. Puree soup with an immersion blender.
7. Stir in almond milk and gently reheat.

This soup is good topped with toasted squash seeds, tiny crackers or croutons.

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!

take me out to the ball game!

Last night my husband surprised me with baseball tickets. The Red Sox are in town and he is a HUGE fan. So we had great seats for a game that started at 7 PM. Here is a wierd thing about Baltimore Baseball: Normally you can wander down to the game and get in without any problem because people here do not support the Orioles.

When the Sox or those dreaded Yankees (sorry, I have to be loyal because my DH is loyal to the Red Sox) are in town, it can take forever to work through the stadium because their fans follow them here.

This meant we were supposed to have dinner at the game. This ought to be fun... a vegan eating ballpark food in Baltimore. I am a big believer in planning ahead and doing everything you can to take care of yourself, so I packed myself a quick baseball meal of Vegan Mabo Tofu, Brussels Sprouts, and Kabocha Squash. It was very quick and pretty tasty. The Mabo Tofu I made using this sauce mix which according to the packaging (and ingredient list) was totally vegan!



It couldn't have been any easier. Simply snip the sauce packet and put it in a pot with cubed pressed tofu. Simmer for a few minutes. I thought it was pretty good, but if I hadn't been in a bit of a hurry I would have tried to doctor the sauce a bit. It was pretty spicy but didn't have a depth of flavor that I usually like in Asian sauces. If I can find it again, I am definitely going to give it another try, this time with time to play with the seasonings.

The Brussels sprouts were great. I simply sauteed them with a little oil (very little) and lots of garlic and pepper. Then I finished them with a little low sodium soy sauce.

The Kabocha squash I quickly steamed in the microwave and ate with salt and pepper.

The game was great and I had plenty of good stuff to eat, since I brought it from home. At some point a drunk fan from behind shouted: Brussels Sprouts! At a ball game!! Really?!!

I only wish I had some left, so I could have offered him a few!

Vegan lunch fit for a queen!

I am not a lunchbox blogger... I enjoy reading lunchbox blogs and try to pack myself healthy delicious bento-style lunch boxes but I tend not to write about them. Let's just say that it is not my "shtick"

(If you want to read an excellent vegan lunchbox blog check out: vegan lunch box by cookbook author Jennifer McCann or cafe veg news by the staff of Veg News Magazine)

However, today's lunch was just too good to pass up sharing. Today I picked up some wonderful produce at the store with no idea what I was going to do with everything. I have a tendency to do this. It's a bit of a problem... My typical solution is to place everything on the counter and treat it like a puzzle. I try to figure out how it all goes together.

After this trip I came home with (among other things) zucchini, yellow squash, portobello mushrooms, an assortment of peppers, sweet onions, and a small "Sicilian" eggplant. Hmm... there are some obvious choices I could make here but I was really craving a sandwich. After some digging around in the drawer where we keep bread, chips, cereal and things I unearthed some hot-dog buns... not exactly the basis for a gourmet meal but they got me thinking. Finally, I came up with a marinated vegetable hoagie on toasted buns with vegan cream cheeze. Feel free to replace the very plain (and less nutritious) hot-dog buns with a different type of bread. Later when I could find some brown rice tortillas I enjoyed the leftovers again and they were just as good!

Marinated Vegetable Hoagie

Ingredients:
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 small eggplant
1 red pepper
1 cup chopped portobello mushrooms

for the dressing:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup oil (I used canola)
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 TBS crunchy whole grain mustard
garlic powder
basil
freshly ground black pepper
(all to taste)

bread of your choice
vegan non-hydrogenated cream cheese

Method:

1. Chop all vegetables and put in a Tupperware container.
2. Mix dressing ingredients carefully, check and adjust seasoning.
3. Pour over vegetables and allow to marinate for at least one hour.
4. Pour vegetables and marinade in a 3 quart stock pot and simmer on low until vegetables are cooked to your preferred level on doneness and marinade is slightly reduced.
   
5. Strain veggies out of marinade and reserve for later if desired.
   
6. Toast bread, smear with cream "cheeze" and top with warm veggies.

Note: This makes enough for 6-8 sandwiches depending on the size and type of bread. I left my vegetables in the marinade while I was storing the leftovers.

When I took my lunch to work I didn't reheat it, I just ate it lukewarm. It was still delicious and tasty! The vegetables were satisfying, with a little sweet, tart tang from the vinegar and a creamy rich mouth feel due to the cream "cheeze".