what the hell _does_ a vegan eat anyway?

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Dinner 3/16

Sweet and Sour Seitan
(seitan, onion, red bell pepper, carrot, pineapple with a sauce of ketchup, tamari, rice vinegar, water and cornstarch)

Chinese Long Beans wrapped in Grilled Eggplant
(seared/steamed long beans with tamari and hoisin. grilled eggplant brushed with tamari/hoisin/sake)

Napa Cabbage Salad
(shredded napa cabbage, scallions, daikon and carrot w/ yuzu vinaigrette)

It wasn't until the plating of the eggplant and long beans that I realized they should be combined somehow... ;)

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Raw Food Wednesday: Raw Pad Thai

Raw Food Wednesday 3/15

Raw Pad Thai
(young coconut, red bell pepper, red cabbage, daikon, zucchini, carrot, cashews, cilantro, tamarind sauce)

I noticed a few hits coming from the peta2 board the other day about raw food, so I thought we'd make one of the easiest to prepare raw food dinners, which doesn't take much advance prep (although you could make the sauces earlier). As always, recipe from Charlie Trotter / Roxanne Klein's "Raw"

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Dinner 3/14

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
(roasted zucchini and eggplant, tofu ricotta, thyme, tomato sauce, lasanga noodles)

Braised Fennel

Bistro Salad

Ciabatta

Liz has been talking about making a lasagna for a while and today she had some time to put it together -- and as you can see, it turned out really nicely -- the difference with this one was using soft japanese-style tofu (comes in a tube) in the ricotta (with the addition of vegan parmesan and herbs). It held together and easily spread between the layers...

Monday, March 13, 2006

Dinner 3/13

Broccoli Rabe with Pasta and Pine Nuts

Yellow Tomato and Potato Soup with Sage

Braised Brussel Sprouts

Ciabatta

what a couple of weird weather days with temps near 70° F. We had to leave the deck windows open during dinner despite the thunder and lightning -- it was either that or go look for the fan we usually keep in the kitchen during the summer ;)

The Broccoli Rabe recipe is modified from the April 2006 issue of Bon Appetit p.34 (just omit the pancetta or add sun-dried tomatoes)...

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Dinner 3/12

Stir-Fry
(tofu, abalone mushrooms, chinese long beans, baby corn, garlic sauce*)

Jasmine Rice

A new mushroom (for us) to play around with tonight -- the extremely large abalone mushrooms, and the always visually stunning chinese long beans. Tonight, we deep-fried the green beans, as well as the tofu to go along with the garlic sauce -- it's our yearly attempt to make our favorite (pre-vegan) restaurant dish -- Garlic Tofu -- from Lemongrass in Cleveland Heights.

* garlic sauce recipe

In a sauce pan over medium heat, add 2 tsp of canola oil and quickly saute 2 tbs of chopped garlic with a pinch of red pepper flakes until golden.

Then put 1/2 cup of mushroom stock, 1 tbs of tamari, 2 tsp of palm sugar, 1 tbs of lime juice, 1 tsp of freshly grated ginger. Bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Finally, mix 1 tsp of cornstarch with 1 tbs of water to dissolve. Add the resulting slurry to thicken the sauce at the very end.

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

More from the upcoming cupcake book from Isa and Terry... These were a great deal of fun to make with the swirling of the two batters together. I like the way they "pop" against the white backdrop and the grey marble...

going in...

...coming out

close-up with snakes

group shot

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Dinner 3/11

White Bean and Oyster Mushroom Stew
(cannellini beans, onion, roasted garlic, oyster mushrooms, olive oil, smoked salt, smoked paprika, black pepper)

Green Beans w/ Roasted Garlic

Pureed Cauliflower Soup
(onion, roasted garlic, veg stock, cauliflower, salt, pepper, parsley)

Baguette with Roasted Garlic

Can you sense the theme ingredient in tonight's meal? ;)

Friday, March 10, 2006

Dinner 3/10

Tofu Mole
(onion, garlic, mexican oregano, chipotle en adobo, dried ancho and pasilla peppers, tomato, molasses, mexican chocolate, salt and pepper)

Rice Pilaf
(onion, garlic, mexican oregano, basmati rice, salt and pepper)

Plantains and Soyrizo

We went up to the West Side Market today, stopped by Urban Herbs and bought some dried peppers and spices and decided to play around with a mole sauce -- it turned out brick red (as you can see) and was more of the delayed reaction / cumulative kind of spicy, which was exactly what we were going for...

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Dinner 3/9

Pasta with Tomato Sauce

Garlic Bread

Bistro Salad

Leftovers tonight, so no pictures of the food (but enjoy the leftover shot of the garlic). A quicky dinner as the school functions are starting to pile up...

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Raw Food Wednesday: Eggplant Ravioli Stuffed with Walnut Pesto topped with Tapenade, Zucchini Noodles, Dehydrated Oyster Mushrooms, Spinach Salad

Raw Food Wednesday 3/8

Eggplant Ravioli Stuffed with Walnut Pesto and served with a Raw Tapenade

Zucchini Noodles
(spirialized zucchini coated with salt, pepper, herbes de provence, olive oil and dehydrated for 30 minutes at 105F)

Dehydrated Oyster Mushrooms
(nama shoyu, olive oil, oyster mushrooms dehydrated for 2 hours at 105F)

Spinach Salad with Meyer Lemon Dressing
(spinach, dried cherries, raw pine nuts, meyer lemon zest, meyer lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper)

Here's a quick rundown on the eggplant:

The eggplant was cut into thin rounds on a mandoline, then marinated in 2 tbs. of lemon juice and salt for two hours.

It was then stuffed with the Walnut Pesto: a puree of 1 cup soaked walnuts, 1/4 cup of pine nuts, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup basil, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 cup kalamata olives, 1/2 cup manzanilla olives, 1 tbs. raw white miso, salt and enough olive oil drizzled in during blending to make a nice paste consistency (about 2/3 of a cup). This will make about twice of what you need for stuffing the eggplant -- either cut the recipe in half, or use it the next day on raw flax seed crackers...

After stuffing with the pesto, they were then put into the dehydrator at 105F for six hours (also, what they look like coming out of the dehydrator...).

Finally, they were plated with the Zucchini Noodles and topped with the Tapenade: In a blender, puree 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper, 1/4 cup of diced cubanelle pepper, one small diced tomato, garlic, salt and pepper, kalamata olives and with enough olive oil drizzled into the blender to make into a sauce -- about a 1/3 cup.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Dinner 3/7

Inside Out Eggplant Parmesan

Garlic Bread

About 5pm tonight, I finally snapped. Eggplant Parmesan, again.

Not wanting the kids to revolt, they had their's in the traditional way, but our's took a decidedly odd turn.

The eggplants were cut about 3/4" thick and then split in half again about 3/4 of the way through, creating a pocket. Then they were salted inside and out for 30 minutes, rinsed, drained and patted dry. The eggplants were then stuffed with sort of a modified cassoulet sauce (onions, garlic, soyrizo, white beans, tomato sauce, soy parmesan) and dipped into a Fritto Misto type batter (flour, soda water, salt, pepper, cayenne), and then into the deep fryer at 375F until golden (about 4-5 minutes), finally drained on paper towels.

They came out looking like a giant burger or an eggplant UFO, but inside everthing was cooked through, none of the ingredients leaked out and the batter stayed nice and crispy through out the meal with the addition of the leftover sauce on top of the eggplant...

Monday, March 06, 2006

Dinner 3/6

Cold Asparagus with Sesame Seeds
(asparagus, tamari, sesame oil, chile oil, toasted sesame seeds)

Steamed/Seared Bok Choy
(tamari and chile oil)

Stir-Fry
(tofu, red bell pepper, carrot, scallions over refried jasmine rice)

Garlic Soup
(roasted garlic, thin noodles, veg stock, chile oil, tofu, tamari)

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Dinner 3/5

Bindaeduk Cho Kanjang
(Mung Bean Pancakes with Dipping Sauce)

Hoisin Tofu Rice Paper Salad with a Yuzu vinaigrette
(napa cabbage, carrot, daikon radish, watermelon radish, red cabbage, cilantro, jalapeno, hoisin tofu)

Shiitake Mushrooms and Shiritake Noodle Soup
(yam noodles, dried shiitake mushrooms, mushroom and fennel broth, tamari, pepper, scallion)

the Korean style mung bean pancakes were fun -- rapid prototyping (i.e. failure with the first batch) saved them from all being lost ;) They just needed more time in the vita-mix and less liquid so that they held together...

For a change, I wrapped the rice paper salads -- usually Liz handles these -- and after about the third one the muscle memory finally kicked in. When we cleaned out the pantry last week we found five boxes(!) of the wrappers -- it's just one of those things we always pick up when we go to the market ;)

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Dinner 3/4

Manti
(dumplings in a roasted garlic broth with soy yogurt and mint)

Cretan Stew *
(seitan, tomatoes, unfiltered/unfined red wine, pearl onions, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, orange juice, orange halves,

Couscous
(couscous, ground cumin, cinnamon stick, turmeric, smoked paprika)

Braised Fennel

We just love this stew -- adapted from an issue of Saveur from 2000 -- the ingredients and flavors are just so different -- which is always a plus around here ;)

And as a bonus, more manti! We had leftover dough and filling and decided to make more as a soup in the broth tonight

* that's from the the island of Crete you, uh... cretin -- man, I'll bet they never get tired of that... ;)

update:

Here's the recipe -- we went back to the original and worked out the changes we made...

16 oz. of seitan (home-made or 2 8oz. packages)
2 cloves garlic chopped
20 black peppercorns
6-10 allspice berries
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 lb. small white onions (or pearl onions)
4 plum tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 cups unfiltered/unfined light bodied red wine (or use veg stock as a substitute)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 orange, washed and halved

Preheat oven to 375F

In a large Dutch Oven, cut the seitan into 1/2" cubes and sear over med-high heat in small batches with 1 tbs. olive oil, until a nice crust forms. Remove the seitan and place on a plate. Add 1 tbs of olive oil and saute the onions with a pinch of salt for 3-4 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and saute for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Put the seared seitan back into the pan and stir in the peppercorns, allspice, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Add the tomatoes, wine (or veg stock) and olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Squeeze the orange halves over the stew, then add the squeezed halves as well.

Cover and cook for one hour, remove cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes -- but check to see how much liquid is left, there should be a little left over.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Dinner 3/3

Manti
(dumplings stuffed with tvp, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, cooked in a herbed broth and served with soy yogurt, pepper and mint)

White Bean and Kale Soup
(cannellini beans, onion, roasted garlic, carrot, "red boar" organic kale, veg stock, smoked salt, smoked paprika, sumac, cinnamon)

Loubieh/Loubeh/Loubie/Loubie Bzeit/Loubie Bi Zeit *
(slow cooked green beans, onion, tomato and roasted garlic)

The Manti recipe is adapted from the new issue of Saveur -- we subbed out tvp for the traditional ground beef/lamb and used egg replacer for the dough. There's basic versions here and here to give you an idea...

* yes, rapidly approaching the numerous spellings of the all time champ poppadams/papadams/poppadoms/puppadoms/pappadams/pappadums ;)

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Dinner

Lyonnaise Potato Salad
(yukon potatoes, green lentils, carrot, onion. dressing: olive oil, red wine vinegar, shallots, mustard, salt and pepper)

Braised Brussel Sprouts

A simple warm potato salad and braised brussel sprouts with a hearty Syrah from Coturri and my evening was pretty much set... ;)

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Raw Food Wednesday: Lo Mein, Dim Sum, Star Fruit, Little Fluffy Cloud

Raw Food Wednesday 3/1

Raw Lo Mein
(noodles of zucchini, cucumber and butternut squash coated with a spicy tamarind sauce* and dehydrated for an hour @ 105F with hon-shimeji mushrooms, carrot, red bell pepper, scallion and cilantro)

Star Fruit

Raw Dim Sum
(Watermelon Radishes stuffed with Sweet and Sour Garlic Eggplant** on a bed of shredded Red Cabbage)

Little Fluffy Cloud
(spiral cut daikon salad with yuzu dressing, black and white sesame seeds and orange zest)

* Tamarind Sauce

2 tablespoons tamarind juice
1 tablespoons raw agave (or maple syrup)
2 tablespoons nama shoyu
1 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoons minced jalapeno chile
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

soak the tamarind for an hour or so, then puree with the agave (or maple syrup), nama shoyu, garlic, jalapeno chile, olive oil and salt.

** diced baby eggplant, salted, squeezed, marinated with garlic, raw agave, apple cider vinegar and red pepper flakes then dehydrated for 3 hours @ 105F

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Mardi Gras Dinner 2/28

Blackened Tofu on a bed of Braised Spinach and Sesame Seeds with a Mustard Cream Sauce

Okra and Tomato Stew on Jasmine Rice

After making gumbo and jambalaya last week, it was time for something different... it's amazing how much we love okra -- being northerners and all ;)

Monday, February 27, 2006

Dinner 2/27

Gazpacho Shooter

Pozole Stew
(onion, garlic, hominy, seitan, ancho chile, veg stock, cumin, mexican oregano, salt and pepper)

Arroz Verde
(Poblano Rice)

Roasted Vegetables in Banana Leaf
(carrot, turnip, parsnip, tomato, onion, butternut squash, orange juice, lime juice, achiote paste, salt, pepper and habenero pepper wrapped in banana leaf, baked for 2 hours @ 350F)

Tonight menu is a practice run-through with pairing of Stuart Cellars wines for an upcoming tasting on March 15 @ Riverside Wine and Imports. Winemaker Marshall Stuart makes very elegant (and unfiltered) reds that match well with the subtle heat of the rice and stew. Should be a great evening...

The roasted vegetables in banana leaf will be a really great visual centerpiece of the tasting -- tonight we just made a tiny batch in a pie tin, but it looks and smells fantastic when you split open the banana leaves and the aroma fills the room...

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Dinner 2/26

Gateau de Tofu aux Pommes de Terre et aux Artichauts *
(Tofu, Potato and Artichoke Cake)

Pasta e Fagoli
(onion, garlic, celery, carrot, stellette pasta, appaloosa beans, veg stock, parsley)

Adapted from Paula Wolfert's "The Cooking of South-West France" -- a potato cake encases a lovely stew of artichokes, eggplant and tofu... all cooked in a cast iron skillet, and finished in the oven.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Dinner 2/25

Focaccia Pizza #1
(focaccia bread, soy cheese, tomato)

Focaccia Pizza #2
(focaccia bread, roasted garlic, rosemary, portobello mushrooms, onions, sea salt and green olives)

Two focaccia enter... no pizza leaves uneaten ;)

Liz made the dough earlier in the day, and the kids picked out what they wanted on their pizza, and we picked ours. mmmmmm... roasted garlic.

Green Tea Cupcakes

Green Tea Cupcakes

testing complete on number six... going for sort of a "cherry blossom festival" type of print...

larger group shot

close-up

Friday, February 24, 2006

Dinner 2/24

Carbonnades a la Flamande

Braised Leeks

Boiled Potatoes

French Bread

The "Carbonnades a la Flamande" and Braised Leek recipes are both adapted from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1" -- which is one of my favorite books to "veganize" things...

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Dinner 2/23

Jambalaya
(onion, garlic, cayenne, cloves, bay leaf, basmati rice, veg stock, tamari, pepper, stir-fried tofu, soyrizo)

Gumbo Z'Vegan
(onion, garlic, celery, red bell pepper, red beans, parsely, collard greens, file powder, tamari, veg stock, smoked paprika, black pepper)

Mardi Gras comes early with our take on gumbo and jambalaya. The gumbo is based on the traditional Gumbo Z'Herbes with the heretical addition of red beans... ;)

The jambalaya is one that we made for a tasting two years ago -- the tofu and soyrizo replacing the ham/pork sausage combo -- this is probably my favorite rice dish.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Raw Food Wednesday: Meatloaf, Potato and Spinach Latkes, Bistro Salad, Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho, Lemon Pudding

Raw Food Wednesday 2/22

Meatloaf
(recipe here from Juliano's "Raw" p.138)

Potato and Spinach Latkes
(diced spinach, shredded red potato, rejuvelac, pureed macadamia nuts, pine nuts, flax seed powder, salt, pepper, paprika -- formed into latkes and dehydrated for 10 hours at 115F)

Raw Bistro Salad
(romaine lettuce, red bell pepper, scallion, cilantro. dressing: soaked cashews, vinegar, lemon, nama shoyu, garlic, onion, olive oil, salt, pepper)

Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho
(from Sarma, recipe here)

Dessert

Lemon Pudding
(soaked/ground cashews, lemons, diced dates, raw agave, vanilla)

yeah, we found a watermelon in February ;)

The latkes were nice -- the paprika really elevated it to match with the meatloaf, which contained the hottest jalapeno ever recorded. I walked by the cutting board not knowing and started one of those chile pepper coughing fits -- and Liz's left hand felt burned all day. But out of pain, comes good food ;)

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Dinner 2/21

Mashed Potato and Roasted Garlic Piergoi

Cabbage, Onion and Dill Pierogi

Braised Red Cabbage
(red cabbage, caraway seeds, salt, pepper, beer vinegar*, veg stock)

Mushroom and Barley Soup
(barley, carrot, celery, onion, crimini mushrooms, veg stock, tamari, pepper)

Comfort Food week continues with another round of pierogi -- this time, a mashed potato and roasted garlic batch in addition to cabbage, onion and dill.

* this is interesting stuff -- vinegar made with beer. It matches wonderfully with the red cabbage...

Monday, February 20, 2006

Dinner 2/20

Shepherd's Pie
(seitan, onion, carrots, celery, peas, veg stock/roux gravy, topped with mashed potatoes and roasted garlic)

Steamed Broccoli

These are wonderful things to have sitting in the refrigerator when you come home tired and hungry ;)

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcake numero cinco in a series of tests for Isa and Terry's cupcake book...

going in

coming out

the cut-away

the unwrapped (you can see how nice the cake turned out inside)

yes, I made the Aztec Sun stencil because I apparently have way too much time on my hands... ;)

the single

the duo

the group

Bottom Line: Spicy, yet the chocolate is still the star.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Dinner 2/19

Papusas
(dough: masa harina, cumin, black pepper, salt, water. stuffing: soyrizo, onions, garlic, soy cheese, cilantro)

Nachos with Roasted Garlic

Dessert

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

short and to the point: muy caliente! ;)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Dinner 2/18

Pierogi
(stuffed with cabbage, onion, and dill)

Borscht
(beets, apple cider vinegar, flour, veg stock, dill, soy sour cream)

The borscht has an otherwordly glow about it that's kind of frightening ;)