I’m making an attempt from now on to use capital letters and be a Proper Adult Blogger.  Well, that proper part is maybe a bit extreme outside of typing; I am really just afraid I’ll forget how to write by hand (although in that case I usually do the opposite of what I do here…I write in all capital letters likely as a remnant of my short-lived interior design schooling).

So, who’s hot?  I am.  I don’t mind the heat so much as the humidity, and living on the attic floor of an old house.  Usually I lose interest in cooking and subsist on water, smoothies, and going out to eat.  We hit about 88 on Sunday, the day of the first Twin Cities Vegan Potluck, which I think was at least partially responsible for the relatively poor attendance.  When I actually do cook, they are quick, stovetop items with at least a couple of fresh ingredients.

I’m quite certain that a plethora of vegan couscous and chickpea dishes exist; I’m sure many more than my rather unsuccessful Google search revealed.  This is my favorite way to make one, incorporating my current obsession with lemon zest.  I just can’t get enough lemon!  In my quest for healthier grains, I suggest whole wheat couscous if you can find it, but it would look awful pretty with the larger Israeli variety as well.  Adjust the crushed chili pepper to taste, and if you like it really hot, serve this with a crisp, fresh cucumber salad.  This is really lovely at any time of year (the spice will warm you on the colder days of fall and winter), but the short cooking time, simple ingredients, and fresh toppings make it a suitable summer dish, whether warm or chilled.

Zesty Lemon Couscous with Chickpeas and Tomato (serves 3-4):

1 c vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c couscous

1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp crushed red chili pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp allspice
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes
zest from one lemon (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c parsley, minced
1 scallion, sliced diagonally

Bring vegetable stock and olive oil to a boil.  Stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium pan.  Add the onion and garlic and saute until softened.  Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili pepper, and allspice and cook another minute or two, stirring constantly, before doing the same with the chickpeas.  Add the diced tomatoes and cook until heated through, then grate in the lemon zest.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and combine with the chickpea mixture, then season to taste with salt and pepper (the sodium content of the vegetable stock will affect how much salt you want).  Serve garnished with fresh parsley and scallions.

I finally made it to the garden again this morning, and was greeted by an explosion of growth and color.  I’m hoping to harvest some gorgeous kale tomorrow along with a few beets.  The sky just turned a strange yellow color outside and it began to rain.  I hope it cooled off this little kitty:

spinach salad with baked tofu, red bell peppers, sunflower seeds, and papaya poppyseed dressing

my regimen of not taking medication isn’t really working out for me. i feel worse today than i have so far, i think. but i’m trying to eat some healthy foods in the meantime (and sucking on some olga’s herbal pastilles for my throat). above was lunch before work today, and dinner consisted of my attempt to include ramps* in a pasta dish. however, i was having a bit of a battle with the ezekiel sprouted pasta. it states clearly in bold type (twice) not to overcook the pasta, which i didn’t do to my knowledge. however, most of it ended up clumped together and grossly chewy (and not very photogenic), which i suspect is partially just a characteristic of sprouted grain pasta. however, i’m taking a well-advised tip from katie about not showing a picture of this dish just because i made it. the gummy pasta really detracted from the otherwise delicious flavors going on.

what i did in shorthand is: tossed a drained can of chickpeas and a bunch of ramp bulbs and stems in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and roasted them at 400 until browned. i made the ill-fated pasta while sauteeing cremini mushrooms in a cast iron pan until brown and juicy, then threw in the ramp greens and a large handful of spinach to wilt. i tossed it all together, added a little more salt and pepper, and put a few drops of white truffle oil on my serving (seriously, is there anything truffle oil can’t make extra-wonderful?) along with a chiffonade of fresh basil.

so, for lack of a finished product, here is a picture of the chickpeas and ramps before going into the oven:

*what the heck is a ramp? it’s also known as a wild leek in the midwest, where it’s just come into season. tasting somewhat like a cross between garlic and onions, the roasting really toned down the pungency of this little woodland treasure. (last year i tried them for the first time and i think i let them sit around too long before throwing them into a stir-fry… kissing was not a top priority after that experience!) many places, especially in the south, have huge ramp festivals in the spring! a majority of traditional recipes are also laden with dairy and meat, so i had to go with my own concoction. hooray for wild vegetables

**i have TWO upcoming bread-type experiments fermenting right now that i hope will work out…one for a whole wheat/spelt herbed pizza crust, the other for a traditional swedish all-rye bread. wish me baker’s luck!

vegan bun: vietnamese noodle salad with fresh veggies, ezekiel sprouted grain linguine, cilantro-habanero-almond sauce, and sunflower-pecan nutmeat, garnished with basil and cilantro

no, it’s not that kind of bun. the baked roll-thing, i mean.

i’m deeply considering a raw fast this summer for the 10 days a is away on tour. so while looking for recipe-contenders for meal-planning (i need this kind of structure for that kind of dedication), i found a website called gone raw, with member-posted recipes. i have been drooling over the creations and feeling inspired to start incorporating some raw meals more frequently. what i came up with for dinner tonight isn’t entirely raw because of the sprouted pasta, tamari, and toasted sesame oil i used, but still ended up a fresh-ful and satisfying meal. so many textures, colors, and flavors! i highly recommend making some version of this meal (the nutmeat topping could be made from tofu or mushrooms, you could spiral-slice some zucchini or daikon as noodles, and possibly add some bean sprouts like i forgot to buy) to celebrate warmer weather.

bun (which refers also to a style of rice noodle) is a vietnamese dish generally consisting of room temperature noodles, large amounts of cool vegetable garnishes, and small servings of warm meat (usually beef) or stir-fried vegetables with a sweet and spicy fish-sauce and chili dressing. i strayed from a lot of these traditions in the necessity of making it vegan; also, mine was a chilled, mostly raw salad. you can use a less fiery pepper than habanero (or omit it completely) if you’re not a big fan of spice. there might be a few leftover vegetables depending on the size and how much you use in your salad - the measurements i am including are rough estimates. and feel free to switch up the vegetables; my choices reflect what i had on hand.

vegan bun (vietnamese noodle salad) (serves 2-3):

1/2 lb. wide pasta/noodles

1/2 c (raw) pecans (soaked if desired)
1/2 c (raw) sunflower seeds (soaked if desired)
1 garlic clove
3 tbsp (or more) tamari or shoyu
1 tbsp sesame oil

1 carrot, julienned
1/2 cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced thinly
1/2 c tomato, diced
1 c green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 bell pepper, julienned
2 tbsp green or spring onion, sliced thinly

1/4 c cilantro, loosely packed
2 tbsp fresh basil
1 garlic clove
2 tsp lemongrass, finely chopped
1/2-1 habanero pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp (raw) almond butter
1/4 c (or more) water

lettuce leaves for lining plates
fresh basil and cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

cook noodles according to package directions, then rinse with cold water and set aside. prepare your vegetables, placing them on a large plate (this makes it easier to keep them separate and not crowd your cutting board). in a food processor, pulse cilantro, basil, lemongrass, and chili pepper until finely chopped. add almond butter and enough water to thin the sauce to your liking and process until smooth. toss with cooled noodles and clean out your food processor for making the nutmeat. pulse garlic until chopped fine, then add the sunflower seeds and pecans and process to a coarse meal. add the sesame oil and tamari and process until well blended. taste and season with more tamari or salt as necessary.

line wide bowls with leaf lettuce, then pile on the dressed noodles and vegetables. garnish with fresh basil leaves and cilantro, and serve.

close-up on those crispy vegetables, creamy noodles, and scrumptious ground nut topping

unless it’s my day off, i’m not a big breakfast eater. this is bad. but when you have to be at work at 630am, those precious last minutes in bed are hard to let go of. in general (though with a few exceptions), i don’t think i’ve been eating particularly well lately, hence my relative lack of posts. i’m working to change this.  which brings me to breakfast scrambles.

first up we have the classic vwav tofu scramble… only here we added broccoli, green peppers, and snow peas to the cremini mushrooms, omitting the carrots. and topped it with salsa! and served it with toast. delicious sunday brunch.

and next up, ani phyo’s garden scramble with save-the-chicks pate. the only thing i changed was adding some nutritional yeast and chopped parsley, because that’s how i roll when i’ve got parsley to use up. i’ve never had a raw scramble before. this was filling, fresh, and pretty damn good. i’m interested to play around with the seasonings and vegetables some more in the future.

as a bonus, here is my first veganized swedish cookbook creation (since i recently decided to start veganizing some scandinavian cookbooks i have lying around). in swedish, mjölkstuvade makaroner, in english, milk-stewed macaroni. this is super typical swedish white food: macaroni cooked in milk and butter instead of water, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. i tried to make it a little bit healthier by using quinoa pasta and putting some chopped parsley on top, but who am i kidding? this is comfort food through and through. it was that kind of night.

vegan milk-stewed macaroni (serves 1-2):

1 3/4 c unsweetened, creamy, non-dairy milk (I used oat)
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 c macaroni
ground black pepper, to taste
dash nutmeg (optional)
chopped parsley, to garnish (optional)

heat “milk,” salt, and margarine in a medium saucepan until the margarine has melted. add the macaroni and let them cook over very low heat, uncovered, for 10-25 minutes (depending on the kind of macaroni you are using), or until they have become soft. stir occasionally to prevent them sticking to the bottom, adding more milk if necessary. add the pepper and nutmeg, and top with or stir in chopped parsley. serve warm.

i definitely promise that the next creation will be healthier, prettier, and maybe even a little bit fancy!

i’ve decided to post this recipe, so i have it written in a format that doesn’t involve small pieces of wax paper and a sharpie pen from work. but also, of course, in hopes that someone will make it and tell me how it worked for them… i want to make it again soon! but i’m going to wait until i have more time to devote to it. i don’t normally use meat analogues (and i make my own seitan, far cheaper!), but there’s not much i could think of to replace bacon with except “bacon.” try to avoid the temptation of using tempeh bacon; it is too fragile and will likely come apart during cooking. i’d imagine though, that (larger) cubes of tempeh could replace the seitan in the dish if you’re trying to avoid gluten.

i based this on a recipe from work which uses beef. this is about as authentically french and true-to-method as using seitan as a beef stand-in is. meaning: not very (at least, not according to the wikipedia article i just skimmed over). however, it tasted pretty damn good, and that’s all i really care about in the end, although i hope to tweak it some to really punch up the flavor even more.

seitan bourguignon (serves about 4):

2 tbsp vegan margarine
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 c vegan “bacon” (i used smartlife), chopped
2 c mushrooms, sliced (i used cremini)
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 c seitan, sliced or cubed
2 tbsp flour or cornstarch
3/4 c red wine (burgundy is fairly traditional)
1 1/2 c vegetable stock or vegan “chicken”-style stock
1 tbsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tbsp dried parsley

heat oil and margarine in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook “bacon” and onions until onions turn golden. add garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms soften and begin to release their juices. remove from pan and set aside, leaving oils in the pan. brown seitan, then sprinkle with flour and toss. return mushroom mixture to the pan, then add the red wine, stock, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and dried parsley.

bring mixture to a boil and stir well, then cover and reduce heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 30 minutes. remove bay leaf.  taste and adjust seasonings. serve over noodles (preferably with lots of wavy sauce-holding bits, like campanelle) or rice, or with bread or potatoes.

when i got home from work today i set straight out to make a batch of julie’s seitan
… only i used the basic measurements and changed nearly all the spices to make it asian-style for spring roll use.  once the dough was mixed up, i went into my supplies drawer to find one small sheet of recycled aluminum foil.  it was enough for a sausage.  so i dug out my cheesecloth for the the remainder and there was only enough for two!  bah.  two items for the restocking shopping list.  i had to make three large seitan sausages instead of 5-6, but it worked out fine (just steamed them a little bit longer).

we still haven’t mastered a dipping sauce for the spring rolls - ours have been too salty, too peanut-y, and too thin.  we need to get back to jasmine deli to try and dissect their recipe!  but as far as fillings go…delicious!  i stir fried some seitan pieces in tamari, sesame oil, and a splash of balsamic.  while a dealt with the cilantro, mint, and basil, i julienned carrots and mini sweet peppers, shredded red cabbage, and chiffonaded (is that really a word?) spinach.  we also cooked the necessary rice noodles, and got to work soaking rice paper.  a bit of a sloppier job on the rolling this time, but they still tasted yummy.  perhaps we need to make less.  when you have five apiece, the tummy swells!

a couple of hours after dinner i got a craving for cookies.  i flipped through extraveganza and decided on the coconut oatmeal cookies with pumpkin seeds.  however, i had no brown rice flour… simple! i’ll just use spelt.  then i pulled out the maple syrup… only a couple of tablespoons left!  i needed 3/4 cup.  this was a bit of a blessing too, because i’ve been wanting to finish off the horribly user-unfriendly tin of syrup i got months ago (it drips onto the top and makes the lid stick).  but i didn’t know what to do.  i ended up adding some agave nectar and then making up the rest of it with sucanat and a little water.  the dough held together well, and i also added some chocolate chips.  it baked well too.  but the taste… kind of boring.  there seemed to be pockets of tastiness in the cookies, but most of it was bland and not sweet in a satisfying way.  well, more maple syrup it will be when i get to the store next.  which, knowing me, will probably be tomorrow.  i don’t really need to eat cookies anyway.  not until i start a yoga class, that is.

i’ve heard it’s going to be -30 again by tonight. i can see and hear the wind blowing the leafless branches outside our 3rd story window. brrrr… so instead of dwelling on that, i’m going to conjure up fond memories of yesterday’s lunch and dinner; involving one of my favorite meal bases - noodles.

lemongrass, garlic, ginger, clementines, red peppers, scallions, pac choy, and carrots

first up we have a homemade creation - citrus peanut soba noodle saute. i bought a box of clementines that needed using, and also knew that the lemongrass i’d bought for dinner’s pad thai would be far from being all used. i realized i haven’t posted a recipe in ages, so here’s how it happened:

citrus peanut soba noodle saute (serves 1):

1 “bundle” soba noodles (one serving)
juice from 1 clementine (or half an orange)
1-2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp warm water
oil for sautéing
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1-in piece lemongrass, minced
2 tsp red chili pepper, minced
1 pac choy, roughly chopped
1 carrot, julienned
1 scallion, cut on the bias
toasted sesame seeds or gomasio, for garnish

cook soba noodles according to directions while you prepare the sauce and vegetables. drain, and set aside.

to make the sauce, “soften” the peanut butter with a little warm water in a bowl (depending on how “mixable” your peanut butter is - you may not need this step). add the citrus juice, rice vinegar, tamari and sesame oil and whisk together. set aside.

heat some oil in a saucepan or frying pan over medium heat. add the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, red pepper and carrots and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant (a minute or two). add the pac choy and continue cooking until pac choy begins to wilt slightly. add cooked noodles, sauce and scallions and mix well, then transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with gomasio. then eat!

i like the simplicity of soba noodle dishes like this. a nice sauce, some veggies, and no tofu or tempeh or seitan getting in the way. the softer bite of the soba noodles goes nicely with the crunch of carrots and cabbage. of course, it could be simplified even more, served hot or cold, and/or turned into a nice potluck treat.

getting back to that lemongrass i bought a week ago… i had been inspired to make some pad thai and have heard many rave reviews of vwav’s brooklyn pad thai. as i was flipping through extraveganza! earlier, i came across a vegan pad thai recipe in there too! since i’m on such a kick with that cookbook, and there were more vegetables involved with it, i decided to roll with it, even though that recipe didn’t call for lemongrass. i made it as is with the following changes: added lemongrass, subbed onions for scallions, subbed carrots for yams, omitted water chestnuts. i made a full batch, though i should only have made half because 1) we are only two and 2) i don’t have a wok and i ended up having to mix everything together in a glass mixing bowl. still, it worked, and was delicious! i liked that the bean sprouts were added as a saute ingredient rather than a garnish; that way they could soak up more flavor. i still want to try the brooklyn pad thai, but am certainly happy with how this one turned out.

there’s a fairly new indian restaurant on hennepin that serves vegetarian- and vegan-only food, where i first got to try a dish made with cream of wheat.  names seem to vary, but i think what i made closely resembles uppma (according to my copy of the art of indian vegetarian cooking), though i changed a few ingredients based on what i had at home and remembered being in the dish i had at mysore cafe.  it has a lot of curry-type spices in it that are sauteed with green beans, tomatoes, raisins, cashews, and pistachios, before being stirred into some prepared farina.  delicious!  i think next time i’d go with the green peas like the recipe asks for, because they have a more delicate bite to them than the green beans i used.

on sunday night, i made vegetarian pho with a and her mom who was visiting.  we love love love the pho at jasmine deli and this was my second attempt at recreating it.  the problem seems to be in getting the veggie broth right–jasmine makes theirs fresh daily and is full of toasted shallots and all sorts of goodness that i have no recipe for.  though this was better than the first time i tried (we accidentally got a veggie stock that had tomatoes in it–not the right flavor!), i still want to tweak this recipe a bit to get it better.  this had rice noodles, tofu, green cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, bean sprouts, cilantro, and mint… homemade broth next time!