CSA this week

red leaf lettuce
dinosaur kale
roma tomatoes
butternut squash
delicata squash
sapote
oranges
tangerines
lemons
hachiya persimons
cauliflower
persian cucumbers
parsley

Day of Cooking

The other day, I made a Chili from the Vegetarian Times Web site, but with 1 package of Yves Meatless Ground Meat instead of 2 packages of seitan, and ate it with Smart Dogs as Chili dogs. I've eaten this for the past 3 days. Yum. Eating normal food, but vegetarian is great.

My CSA had a bunch of cilantro and parsley and I've been DYING to make these lentil snacks, so I decided to the lentil snacks as falafels and make pita sandwiches. The parsley would be used to make tabbouleh and the cilantro would be used to make hummus.

But one problem was that after making the chili, I had no more canned beans. I had some dried garbanzo beans, which i thought would be perfect, but i only had about 1/4 c when I decided to make the hummus.

White beans to the rescue. And I have been wanting to try this "No Soak, 90 minute" bean recipe, which intrigued me.

So in went the beans, salt, water. Brought it a boil for 15 minutes and into the oven for 75 minutes. At 45 minutes, I checked the water level. Meanwhile, I made the tabbouleh, lentil snacks, and then finally, the hummus, once the beans were done.

And were they done. The no-soak method is amazing. I'm so glad for it.

Now with the pita bread, I have a feast waiting for me for dinner!

Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - a test

My CSA gave these flame grape raisins last week. I still had a bag of them from last time. What to do with too many raisins? I googled "vegan oatmeal raisin cookies" and chose VeganYumYum, because i like her style! She was actually testing VeganFamilyFavorites.com recipe, and I trust them as well, so gave it a whirl.

I only had 3/4 cup margarine. Still made them with 1/4 cup less oats. First batch went in the oven looked really dry. So with the remaining dough, I added applesauce to make it more moist. Baked the second batch.

The results:

First batch came out looking really dry and unappetizing, but after they cooled, they were actually not! They were delicious! The flavor was very buttery and chewy like a non-vegan cookie would be.

The second batch came out looking excellent - they browned around the edges and looked very moist, and they were, but i thought the applesauce was too prominent. They were definitely more cake-like.

In the end, I discovered looks are definitely deceiving. Even though something may not look appetizing, they turned out really good and better than expected!

My Breakfast Ritual

Once I get to work, I usually have a giant cup of warm water with a lemon slice. Once I finish 3/4's of it, then I get to start on my green smoothie.

I've been having a green smoothie every day (usually weekday) for breakfast and it's getting to be a part of my daily fuel. Lately, I've been buying frozen spinach and wild blueberries and other assorted frozen fruits from TJ's like mango, papaya, pineapple, and I individually portion them in ziplocs (which I reuse) to make things faster in the morning. What takes time is adding the extras. But this is what I have been drinking lately, every since I got the beautiful VitaMix 5200 that I got from my family for a mixed birthday/xmas gift:

1 stalk celery
frozen spinach
frozen blueberries
frozen papaya
1/2 frozen banana
almond milk
hemp protein powder (only $10 at TJ's!)
3 tablets of spirulina (TJ's)
flax seed

sometimes 2-3 dates
water

= YUM! I good til lunchtime!

After my smoothie, my drink of choice is yerba mate. I've grown accustomed to its earthy, smoky taste.

Purple Cabbage

I got a cute little purple cabbage in my CSA yesterday, and didn't know what to do with it. Browsing the internet sent me the idea of roasting it (why didn't I think of that!). I love roasted cauliflower, roasted brussel sprouts, roasted kale (really kale chips!)...pretty much all roasted veggies =) So I wasn't surprised to love the roasted cabbage that came out of the oven. YUMMY! It was like a large brussel sprout - I should have guessed...roasted cabbage, where have you been all my life?

To round off the roasted cabbage, I made Wednesday Food Blogging's "Maple Mustard Tempeh" and instant mashed potatoes from Whole Foods with a little vegan chicken broth powder, earth balance, fresh thyme and dill.

It was yummy!

Roasted Cabbage: from Martha Stewart
Ingredients

Serves 6
1 red cabbage, (about 3 pounds)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I didn't use this)
Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut cabbage into 12 wedges; remove thick core and discard. Pull wedges apart; toss on a large rimmed baking sheet with oil, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Cover sheet tightly with foil. Bake until cabbage is crisp-tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove foil; continue cooking, tossing occasionally, until tender and browned in spots, 20 to 25 minutes more. Toss with vinegar.

Maple Mustard Tempehfrom Wednesday Food Blogging

1/2 lb tempeh, cut in 8 triangle shapes
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup or brown rice syrup
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs (the dried style, like panko)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola oil or rapeseed oil)

First, marinate the tempeh: Combine the tamari and the garlic powder and the onion powder in a small dish. Place the tempeh pieces in the dish. Let marinate for 1-4 hours, turning halfway to marinate the other side.

In a small bowl, combine the mustard and the maple syrup with a small whisk. or a fork. Set aside. Place the flour and the bread crumbs on a plate. Pour half the mustard sauce onto a plate; reserve the rest to serve later.

Over low-to-medium heat, heat the oil in an 8-inch saute pan. Dredge the tempeh pieces in the flour, then the mustard sauce. Then place them in the bread crumbs and coat with bread crumbs.

Fry the pieces over medium heat until brown on each side. You may have to brown them on the sides as well to get even browning. If the oil is too hot, the tempeh will brown too quickly.

Serve with the mustard sauce.
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My notes on the tempeh:

I only had around 1/4 cup dijon mustard left in the jar, so I added a little hot water to the jar and shook it up to get every piece that I could. Then I added the maple syrup, less than cited above because I had less mustard.

Fried the suckers in the ol' cast iron pan.

I didn't think the tempeh needed that much sauce - I ended up having extra.
The tempeh was delicious! Very yummy!

* This was a really good meal =)