this deserves it's own entry ;)
vanilla cake: adapted from Magnolia
bunny mold: Martha
eyes: jellybeans from Pangea
decorating tip: star tip
time spent decorating the bunny: 25 minutes (includes mixing the food coloring and decorating ears)
tip: after "gluing" the two halves together, insert two skewers lengthwise through the "body" to keep the head intact -- the extra weight from the frosting can make it unstable. just sayin' ;)
Rhombi Pasta with Smoked Eggplant, Zucchini and Tomato Sauce
Smoked Petite Potatoes
Part two of our continuing series in cooking with the smoker box yielded a much more controlled result tonight -- using less chips/dust made for a overall mellower flavor. The petite potatoes were phenomenal -- cut in half tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbes de provence and cooked on the stove top for 45 minutes with oak chips -- they melted in the mouth with a sweetness/depth from the smoke that was addictive. We ended up eating half of them before dinner as a snack. ;)
the eggplant/zucchini dish was an attempt of re-creating a restaurant dish we had about 15 years ago -- Basically, cut eggplant/zucchini into medium dice, and put into a smoker box with hickory chips and smoke for 10 minutes. After removing from the smoker, saute them in a couple of tbs. of olive oil for a few minutes until starting to show some color, add salt and pepper to taste. Finally add in the homemade tomato sauce (tomato, onion, garlic, basil, oregano and a pinch of sugar) and the cooked rhombi pasta to combine... the result was strikingly close.
French Lentil and Seitan Stew
(french lentils, seitan, onion, garlic, veg stock, herbes de provence, tamari, pepper)
Yukon Gold Potatoes
(boiled, with salt, pepper and soy margarine)
Braised Leeks
Spinach Salad with Smoked Tomato Dressing*
* so, we broke out the smoker box and started small -- some tomatoes that later were pureed with olive oil, salt and pepper and used as the dressing on the spinach salad.
The smoke flavor was pretty intense, we probably could have used 1 tsp of wood chips, rather than 1 tbs -- but the smoker box worked flawlessly, no excess smoke and easy clean up...
Chile Rellenos
(overstuffed with black beans, soyrizo and potato)
Arroz Verde
(poblano rice pilaf)
Chips
Chipotle and Hominy Soup
(carrot, onion, garlic, red bell pepper, hominy, smoked paprika, chipotle en adobo, veg stock, tamari, black pepper)
a great meal to kick off a long weekend, simple yet filling... now to start prepping for Easter dinner ;)
UnStir-Fry
(parsnip rice*, red bell pepper, carrot, scallion, zucchini cubes and bean sprouts mixed with puree of garlic, ginger, nama shoyu, sea salt, szechuan pepper, black pepper, e.v.o.o**)
Cucumber and Pea Shoot Rolls
(thinly sliced cucumbers, cashew cheese, pea shoots)
Romaine, Avocado and Cherry Tomato Salad
(meyer lemon, olive oil, fresh ground mustard seed, sea salt and pepper dressing)
* three diced parsnips put into the vita-mix (one at a time) and pulsed very briefly on high to break the parsnip into rice sized pieces. then they're tossed with 1 tbs. of nama shoyu and tiny, tiny bit of sesame oil and put onto a teflex sheet in the dehydrator for 45 minutes @ 110° F
** yes, kill me now...
Fusilli Pasta with Roasted Garlic, Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Onion and Tomato Sauce
A quicky dinner due to another after school function (book club, this time). Glad we had the roasted garlic and roasted red bell pepper on hand to speed things along ;)
Snap Peas with Red Bell Pepper
(wok-fried snap peas, red bell pepper with tamari, hoisin, szechuan pepper)
Hoisin Tofu
Ginkgo Nuts and Basil
(ginko nuts, carrot, basil, sake, tamari)
Stir-Fried Jasmine Rice
(jasmine rice, sesame oil, tamari, scallion)
different elements all coming together on a bed of jasmine rice make for an interesting (and colorful) stir-fry ;)
Mung Bean Tofu in a Five-Spice Sauce with Rice Vermicelli
(pan-fried tofu coated with vegan nuoc mam*, wrapped in mung bean sheets, pan-fried again, then braised in five-spice sauce**)
Gyoza
(napa cabbage, shiitake mushroom, mushroom sauce, ponzu dipping sauce)
Spring Roll Salad
(napa cabbage, carrot, mint, cilantro, jalapeno, yuzu vinaigrette)
* this quick vegan version of nuoc mam replaces the fish sauce with soy sauce, red chile pepper, lime juice, water, sugar and salt -- this was poured on top of the tofu at the end of cooking in the wok. spicy and pungent ;)
** the five-spice sauce is made of ground fennel seed, cinnamon, star anise, szechuan pepper and clove mixed with onion, garlic, sweetened rice syrup and soy sauce. this was poured on top of the mung bean wrapped tofu for a couple of minutes at the end of cooking. the cooked rice vermicelli was also put into the sauce at the end.
Pastina Timbale
(from Michael Chiarello, small pasta and tomato sauce in a mold)
Chickpea, Tomato and Soyrizo Stew
(chickpea, tomato, soyrizo, lemon juice, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper)
Mixed Green Salad with Dried Cherries
(with a fig vinaigrette dressing)
Here's the Pastina Timbale cutaway shot -- the ramekin is coated with breadcrumbs (to keep it from sticking when unmolding), although the kids didn't find that appealing at all ;)
Also, if you do check out the picture of the Chickpea Stew -- I had nothing to do with the bread, but we noticed right away as well...
For those reading via RSS or LJ -- about a week ago the atom.xml feed dropped the usual method of grabbing part of the first sentence of each entry and using that as the title. It now just displays the title of the blog -- so I've added the title field for each entry so it's not so mysterious ;)
Dinner 4/07
Saffron Crepes stuffed with Spicy Seitan Stew
(crepes adapted from VwaV -- stew: seitan, tomato, chipotle, veg stock, tamari, pepper)
White Asparagus with Roasted Garlic
(boiled, then pan-fried with olive oil, roasted garlic, salt and pepper)
Lima Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Purple Patatas Bravas with Red Bell Pepper
("fierce" sauce: ground cumin, garlic, red chile pepper, red wine vinegar, salt and black pepper)
Braised Cabbage with Soyrizo
(veg stock, saffron, cabbage, soyrizo)
Panade
(bread, onion, garlic, kale, veg stock, soy cheese, salt and pepper -- adapted from Judi Rodgers "Zuni Cafe")
Bistro Salad
Steamed Artichokes
We're coming to the end of panade season (although it did snow this week), so once more into the slow oven we go... ;)
Panade is one of the hardest things to take a good picture of -- it's one of those classic "tastes great, but photographs badly" kind of foods (stews, soups, casseroles, etc). In tonight's case, the natural light really helped...
Beet Ravioli Stuffed with Cashew "Cheese" over Zucchini Noodles
(the noodles were mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbes de provence and dehydrated for 1 hour at 110° F -- the beets were sliced paper thin on the benriner and marinated in olive oil, smashed garlic, salt, pepper and herbes de provence for one hour)
Grapefruit Salad with Arugula
(the dressing was meyer lemon juice, olive oil, fresh ground mustard seed, salt and pepper)
Dessert
Coconut Macadamia and Agave Cookies
(coconut, macadamia, raw agave, dates, salt, vanilla extract, dehydrated for two hours @ 110° F)
these beets made pretty (and tasty) plates -- a good combo with the zucchini noodles...
as far as dessert went -- we actually made two versions -- usuing the same dough as the cookies, one version went in a not-so-raw direction, and then... well, let's just say you can't leave me alone with food ;)
UPDATE: here's a rough approximation of the recipe:
1/4 cup dried coconut
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dates
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
about 2 tbs raw agave (to taste)
chop the nuts and dates coarsely, soak the dates if dry, process all the ingredients together in a blender/food processor and dehydrate (110°) the "dough" at least 2 hours (4-6 hours would be better)...
Black Quinoa Salad with Pomegrannate Tofu
(black quiona, mixed with a fig vinaigrette, spinach, topped with mango, green beans, smoked salt, cayenne and tofu glazed with tamari and pomegrannate molasses)
inspired by this post, we ended up making the dish and it turned even better than expected... and it was a nice change of pace as well...
White Bean Cassoulet over Farfalle Pasta
(onion, garlic, soyrizo, cannellini beans, tomato sauce, salt and pepper)
Braised Leeks
Russian Fingeling Potatoes
(with crushed fennel seed, oregano and smoked salt)
Back to school/work and time for a go-to recipe, the ever dependable (and quick) white bean cassoulet. This is the weeknight version without the benefit of slow cooking of the additional seitan, carrots and herbes de provence. We make this version in the wok -- actually, we probably use the wok(s) for 75% of our cooking these days... they're seasoned so well after 10+ years that we don't ever miss the non-stick pans we threw out. ;)
For example, the other night we even made the crepes in the flat bottomed wok*, and the stew in the "regular" one...
Saute the soyrizo until cooked, remove from pan and set aside, saute onion/garlic until golden, add back the soyrizo, cannellini beans (about 2 cans worth, plus liquid), 1 cup of crushed tomato (or sauce), season with salt and pepper, bring to a simmer until the tomatoes thicken. check for seasoning and serve hot...
The potatoes were the direct result of looking through the spice cabinet for something different and the aromatic combo worked -- they really "popped" on the tongue combined with the creaminess of the fingerlings and soy margarine.
The double starch combo of potatoes/pasta wasn't too pronounced, but make no mistake -- it is a hearty "stick to ribs" kind of meal...
* I'm sure there's a Queen joke in there somewhere ;)
Empanada
(plantain, onion, garlic and soyrizo)
Empanada
(seitan, onion, garlic, tomato, chipotle, tamari)
Wilted Greens with Chipotle Cream Sauce
(1/2 box soft tofu, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1/2 chipotle en adobo pureed together, then added to the wilted greens and reduced by half)
Black Beans and Chips
Two types of empanadas tonight -- the kids liked the plantain/soyrizo combo, we liked the seitan/chipotle ones...
it's still funny to hear kids say something like "more plantains!" ;)
* with daylight saving time, it's back to natural light food photography -- watch as I stumble with macro focus issues for a week...
Stir-Fry
(tofu, fresh water chestnuts, red bell pepper, baby corn, re-fried jasmine rice)
Green Beans with Red Miso and Sesame Dressing
(2 tbs. red miso, 1 tbs. ground sesame seeds, 3/4 tbs. mirin, 1/2 tbs. sugar worked into a paste which is thinned by the water still attached from the drained green beans)
Seared/Steamed Brussel Sprouts
(seared in sesame oil, steamed with 1/2 cup of mushroom stock, 1 tbs. tamari, 1 tbs. sake)
Bamboo Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms and Pea Shoots
(done in a risotto style: 1/2 rice, 2 cups of veg dashi -- 2 1/2 cups of water, a small piece of kombu and 1 tbs. sake brought to a simmer and reduced to 2 cups -- with a splash of shiitake mushroom stock at the end)
We picked up the bamboo rice a few weeks ago at Urban Herbs in Cleveland and finally had a night to try it out -- the rice is short grain and very green, but isn't techincally a sushi rice -- although you can probably use it without the sushi police knocking down your door ;)
The final result was extremely tasty, and well worth searching out...
Farfalle Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce
Butternut Squash Soup
(butternut squash, carrot, orange juice, shallot, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme)
Steamed Artichokes
Roasted Cauliflower with Pine Nuts
(broken into florets, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and into 400° F oven for 30-35 minutes -- depending on the florets size -- toss the pine nuts in with about 5 minutes to go)
Dessert
Lemon Pound Cake
recipe adapted from Cooking Light (!)
3 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup soy margarine, softened
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp lemon extract
3/4 box of soft tofu
1 1/2 tbsp grated lemon rind (about 2 lemons)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided
8 oz soy sour cream (or soy yogurt)
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350° F
Coat a 10-inch pan with cooking spray, and dust with the breadcrumbs.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; stir well with a whisk. Beat the margarine in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the granulated sugar and lemon extract, beating until well-blended. Add the soft tofu, beating well. Add grated lemon rind and 2 tbsp lemon juice; beat 30 seconds. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with soy sour cream, beating at low speed, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minute on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Combine 2 tbsp lemon juice and powdered sugar. Drizzle glaze over top of cake.
Wednesday Thursday 3/30
Pea Shoot Roll-ups
(zucchini, cashew cheese, salt, pea shoots)
Zucchini and Butternut Squash Spaghetti with Tomatoes
Romaine Lettuce and "Feta Cheese" Salad
We went shopping all day yesterday (hence the delay in RFW) and came across the pea shoots (at the Mustard Seed in Solon) which are just fantastic -- a nice chunchy texture and distinct pea flavor -- and they really made the zucchini roll-up's a taste and visual treat...
UPDATE: yes, I forgot the quotes around the "feta cheese" -- sorry ;)
it's a Charlie Trotter/Roxanne Klein recipe from "Raw" -- the link to the "cashew cheese" recipe is here...
Eggplant Frites
Tomato Sauce
Braised Brussel Sprouts
Tarragon Salad with Grapes
* due to our Spring Break schedule, Raw Food Wednesday has been pushed back a day...
sort of an instant re-run night -- this time longer eggplant fries, and the shot I should have taken last time...
Crepes Stuffed with Lentil and Seitan Stew
Steamed Artichokes
Bistro Salad
the crepes are from VwaV, while the stew is seitan, onion, garlic, fennel stock, green lentils... together though -- magic ;)
Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
more testing for the upcoming vegan cupcake cookbook from Isa and Terry -- a good cherry balance and the kids ate most of them after the photo session ;)
here's the eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was...
coming out...
macro
small group
overhead
cake plate
close-up
cupcake porn
Pizza 1
(tomato and soy cheese)
Pizza 2
(lion's mane mushrooms, red onion, green olives, rosemary, roasted garlic)
guess which pizza the kids had? ;)
Liz was busy today -- not only did she make the focaccia dough for the pizza, she also knocked out some more cupcakes (which you'll see here soon)...
Black Bean Burgers
(from Candle Cafe Cookbook)
French Fries
(cut russet potatoes soaked in cold water for 30 minutes, drained and rinsed, then blanched in small batches of peanut oil at 275° for 6-7 minutes. Let the potatoes rest for 15 minutes, then back into the peanut oil in small batches, deep-fried at 375° F for 2-3 minutes)
the kick-off dinner for spring break and our kids wanted burgers and fries, so that's what we got ;)
Panade
Chickpea and Collard Greens Soup
Steamed Big Heart Artichoke
Dessert
Peaches in Amaretto
The big heart artichoke was a surprise -- usually purple foods revert to green when cooked, but this kept the color and was really tasty to boot....
Also we pulled out the peaches in amaretto we had canned back in the fall of 2004 and had them over soy delicious vanilla ice cream -- well worth the wait ;)
Salad Nicoise
(green beans, cherry tomatoes, nicoise olives, romaine lettuce, olive oil, meyer lemon, sea salt, pepper and herbes de provence)
Raw Cashew Cheese and Flax Seed Crackers
Avocado with Raw Cashew Cheese
Raw Leek Soup *
* We wanted to have a French-style onion soup along with our niciose salad. But we learned our lesson from the raw borscht -- in which the beet makes up only 1/4 of the liquid (mostly for color), otherwise it overwhelms the palate.
We started with a base of 1/3 cup of soaked almonds and 1/3 cup of soaked cashews, drained and then added to the vita-mix with one cup of leftover rejuvelac liquid from the cashew cheese (or you can just use filtered water) and pureed them. Keep in the blender...
Then we juiced one leek (white part only) and 2 medium turnips (peeled). Out of that resulting juice, we took 1/4 cup of the leek/turnip mixture and mixed it in the blender with the cashew/almond milk, 1/2 tsp of sea salt and grated nutmeg (to taste). Leeks/Onions can get very bitter when juiced, so you might want to add the leek mixture 1 tbs at a time. Give it another quick hit with the blender and check for salt and strain (or not if you like the texture) into two small bowls.
Eggplant Frites
(eggplant rolled in seasoned flour, then a cornstarch slurry, finally in breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and soy parmesan. deep-fried at 375° F for 3-4 minutes)
Linguine
Spinach Salad
(spincah, radish, dried cherries, fig vinaigrette)
OK, so it's not quite the "inside out" eggplant parmesan thing, but close ;)
Stir-Fry
(tofu, carrot, daikon, jalapeno, lotus seeds)
Grilled Eggplant
(sesame oil, tamari, salt and pepper)
Deep-Fried Kale
Jasmine Rice
Lotus Root Chips *
oh, did I mention Spring Creek Tofu was back? There are few foods make me this happy ;)
* peeled lotus root, cut on a benriner/mandoline at a 45° angle, deep-fried at 375° F for about 2 minutes, then salted. A tasty looking snack that looks like "The Scream"
Tofu Stuffed with Roasted Garlic
(pan-fried with herbes de provence, salt and pepper, stuffed with roasted garlic, splashed with tamari, finished in the oven for 10 minutes @ 350° F)
Braised Brussel Sprouts
French Fingerling Potatoes
We probably missed an opportunity to gild the lily by adding wrapped potato threads around the tofu, but that just gives us something to shoot for later ;)
More importantly Spring Creek Tofu has made a return to our co-op. As Liz said, "Everytime we think they're gone, they keep pulling us back in!"
Dinner 3/28
Dinner 3/26![[Powered by Blogger]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tqfe60EBaPLJvkb-JkayxMCKvj47aoGe70AsVG1Kq0MB3cNN25MzTVc31ooYe4eo_t6NO_oe5aaLDrPVUPmeLYXkUqqdR4aVuiDMNenNnw=s0-d){kind=small}