11/30/2011 1 Comment My recent cooking adventuresFirst off, from PV (That's what we call Crescent Dragonwagon's book, "The Passionate Vegetarian", around here) we have cornbread stuffed tomatoes with a tomato gravy. This was a stick-to-your-ribs kinda dinner. It was an especially good way to use up the end of the heirloom tomatoes with some leftover cornbread. I will be doing this again, but will probably not do it until the garden provides more tomatoes next year. I can't stand grocery store tomatoes. Tomatoes are NOT supposed to be crunchy!!! For lunch yesterday, I had Tandoori Tofu with eggplant. I ate it with some leftover basmati rice with green lentils. This I will DEFINITELY do again. Just be forewarned, if you don't like spicy, this is probably not for you. Dinner last night was from the new "Vegan Slow Cooker"Cookbook. Angel gifted this to me for my birthday. It's got some awesome sounding recipes. This is Garlic-Tofu Mushroom Lasagna. It was pretty tasty. Mods I made were to double the garlic, but I used roasted garlic instead of raw. I am all about roasting. It just adds so much flavor. I also used some vegan "mozzarella" rice shreds on top, just to make it seem more "cheesy". There was still some thin sliced eggplant left from making lunch, so I threw that in, too. This was worth doing again, but next time, I will make sure I have more "bechamel" sauce to put on top, as the top layer of noodles was a little dry around the edges, so was a little chewy. All in all, I liked this one. Next time I think I will saute' a few onions with the 'shrooms. The "bechamel" sauce. I didn't adhere to the vegan code at our Thanksgiving dinner, but I only ate a little turkey and ham. Combined, they equaled one normal serving. Then afterward, Ben, Shelly, W and I went hiking on one of the trails in the Buffalo National Forest. It was a beautiful day. Now to figure out what I am making next from the "Vegan Slow Cooker". There's a Chili Relleno Casserole that looks promising!
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So, the full-time gig is an awesome thing, but it also means I have been on the road. A lot. So, that means that sometimes you wind up eating odd things.
My first trip in November, I planned pretty well. I mapped out the route to the Kroger, and on the way to the hotel from the airport, I stopped and bought supplies for the visit. My hotel has a small fridge and microwave, so I bought some Healthy Choice steamer/pasta things and their frozen potstickers (they have no meat!), as well as some baby carrots, some fruit, whole wheat pitas, a box of salad greens, and some red pepper hummus. Silk has those four packs of soy milk, so I got one of those too. The Asian Kitchen noodle bowls are also pretty good. So, I managed to not eat in restaurants and I had fruit and peanut butter with my pitas in the mornings and carted my little soy milk with me and had a grand time. The second trip, I hauled some McDougall's vegan soup cups with me, and I planned on hitting the Thai place (which I did, twice). We had some meetings where folks were nice enough to order veggie sandwich for Angel from Panera (more hummus!), too, so work lunches were covered. A colleague took me to lunch for my birthday, too, so that was a big bowl of greens. And, I figured out that Bob Evans makes a pretty good bean soup (I know that stock was probably not vegan, but oh well). The Thai place supplied dinner for me four nights (big portions=two meals from each order), and I now have a desk drawer full of soup cups for future trips. The hotel leaves fruit out all day long, too, so I can grab a banana in the morning, an orange later, and an apple in the evening. Traveling is pretty easy, really, with a bit of planning. I spent roughly the same amount both trips on food, too. Gone are the days where being out of town is an excuse to eat poorly--when you eat right, you also don't feel like someone beat you up on your trip and there's no real "recovery" time when you get home, which is nice. 11/3/2011 2 Comments Try it, you'll like it!Remember how I said a few posts back that I was tweaking the pumpkin/squash soup? I am getting very, very close to what I want! I had a couple of Little Dumpling Squash and wanted to do a roasted squash soup with them. I started with this recipe, but it didn't take long before I totally changed it up, and I am pretty happy with the results. Of course, I veganized this recipe as well. I was going to use a quart of chicken stock I had in the freezer, but after thawing, its quality looked a bit questionable, so I didn't use it. It wasn't vegan, anyway; and that's what we're into these days! I am going to post it here for mutual usage (read: so I don't lose a stupid piece of paper upon which I have written said recipe). Try it out, and if you do, shoot me a message and let me know how you like it! Roasted Squash and Red Pepper Soup 2 Little Dumpling winter squash, cut in 1/2 and scoop guts out 2 onions, peeled and quartered 1 WHOLE bulb of garlic, wrapped in foil 2 whole red bell peppers (I used a couple I had already roasted and froze) Put these three ingredients on a cookie sheet, place in a preheated 350 degree oven for about an hour. Open the door a couple of times and say, "Ohmythatsmellssogood!". When the squash and onions are good and soft and starting to carmelize around the edges, remove from the oven and let them cool. After the squash are cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh into a food processor along with the onion, garlic and peeled roasted peppers. You will probably have to do this in batches. Put all of your puree into your soup pot. Add: 1 cup almond milk 2 cups vegan "beef" bullion (2 tsp powder mixed into 2 c water; not 2 c of powder!) 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1 1/2 tsp curry powder 1 tsp of Chipotle Tabasco hot sauce (Love this stuff!) Heat through, serve up with a garnish of fresh cilantro, or not. Cilantro is one of those herbs that people either love or hate! I love it and it adds a bright note to the soup. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
10/26/2011 3 Comments Yes, I am still here!Yesterday I went for my 4 week post-op check. The nurse practitioner took me out of my sling. No weaning. Just out. It was REALLY tender at first. When she asked me to lift my arm, not much happened! But I am ranging my shoulder and will go see my pal Jason back at the office so he can get me going. Already I am appreciating being able to type with both hands! So what have I been eating since you last heard from me? How 'bout some pics? I've been roaming the US. First, two trips to Michigan in September. Then a wedding in Dallas the first part of October, complete with a family visit to see Debbie, Michelle and Tony, and the little red-headed monkeys. Who knew that Puerto-Ruvian-Irish kids would be so cute? Then, we went to see my folks during Turkey Trot weekend.
Renee has had her good hand full; as you can see from her last post, she's still recuperating from shoulder surgery. She's also pulling big sister, good kid duty as Pops is under the weather and she's helping mom out and doing her best to keep Dad company when mom needs a hospital break. Debbie came up last weekend and headed home today, too. Given that Renee is so busy, it's a perfect time for me to write a blurb about my new cookbook obsession: The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester. If you have a kindle, get a copy today! These recipes are so good and so easy, you'll probably be as in love with it as I am. Here's what we've had so far: Chick'n Marsala Veggie Gumbo with Cheater Roux Chinese Eggplant (I fed this to Deb and she asked for the recipe, so it got more than my approval) Earl Grey Poached Pears I also cooked some navy beans in my new smaller crock and did some diced tomatoes to put in the freezer. My next plan is to try her sausage recipe and probably even try one or two of her seitan recipes. I love my Chicago Diner seitan recipe, and it worked well in the Marsala, but I'm always happy to try a new recipe! The only not-so-hot reviews of the cookbook so far complain of the faux meat used. I don't have a problem with faux meat--I like tasty protein and I don't have gluten issues. If you don't want to use gluten/seitan, she does suggest options like beans in some recipes and sometimes tofu or tempeh. I know some folks have soy sensitivities, but I really think that with a little planning you could work around both soy and gluten problems with this cookbook. Even if you aren't wanting to try seitan in place of meat, you could benefit from this cookbook. The gumbo, for instance, has a "cheater roux" that uses white beans and liquid smoke and six smoked almonds to thicken the gumbo--that means next to no fat whatsoever. So, if you just gotta have real meat in there, throw in some turkey sausage or chicken breast. I won't put you under vegan citizen's arrest, I promise. The Marsala would be tasty with boneless skinless breast cutlets too, if you're into that kind of thing. So, I would recommend this for meat eaters. Who knows, you might even be intrigued to the point you try seitan eventually! My plans for Halloween is to celebrate my Seitanic anniversary by making the Seitanic Log O'Greatness again. I first made it two Halloweens ago, and Renee's been mentioning it lately, reminding me how summer-sausage-like it was. It made awesome gyros, too. I also have been hankering for a seitan corned beeph (<<Dani's spelling). I guess I'm a little gluten crazy! Well, the shoulder is doing pretty well. It is a challenge, though, being at home. Food is calling. A lot. But today I have done fairly well. Healthy snacks, including a banana-blueberry smoothie (with almond milk). I got an HOUR in on the bike. I know, right? I have also been walking to the mailbox every day, been editing the book, washed my hair and finished reading Moby Dick. All of that without any pain meds...not even acetaminophen!
9/18/2011 3 Comments Cooking aheadSo, I have been doing a lot of cooking. First, some veggies about to be oven-roasted for a lovely oven-roased vegetable stock...carrots, onions, celery, garlic and parsnips. Parsnips? I didn't even know that I liked them! Some of the stock went into making a tasty Roasted Red Pepper and Pumpkin soup. It was good, but I will be tweaking this recipe and when I am happy, will share with ya'll here! I have been fortunate to find red bells on sale for a week or two now, so have been roasting them to use in various ways. There are so many benefits to roasting your own peppers. It makes the house smell wonderful, it's super easy to do and it adds so much flavor. Start with freshly washed peppers, put them on a pan under the broiler (on hi) and turn until all sides are black-ish. I know, you will think you have ruined them, but trust me, you haven't! Let them cool and then the peel will come right off. But don't throw the peels away. Keep them for the next pot of veggie stock that you make, because there is still a lot of flavor in them! (you can freeze them until you're ready.) I was going to post a pic of them here, but suddenly the Picture app is not working.
I made a bunch of Samosas, (from Angel's last post) and froze them. Also I made a tasty vegan Minestrone, which we ate and I froze the leftovers. In about another week I will be undergoing a shoulder surgery, and in order to keep up my current eating habits and hopefully NOT gain back any of the 20 pounds I have lost thus far, I will have to really behave myself! I plan on making some more falafels today, which will also be bound for the freezer. It will be much easier to cook with one arm in the microwave! Caio! OK, so this is a method more than a recipe when it comes to the filling, but I can give you the bread measures.
3 cups whole wheat or white whole wheat flour 1 tsp salt 1 T sugar (optional) 1 T. yeast (I use SAF instant, so I don't bother with the water proofing) 3 T. of vital wheat gluten (helps with the elasticity, but you don't have to have it in there) 1 1/4 cups warm water (give or take. with the VWG, you may need more) You want a dough you can knead, so I usually start with the cup and a quarter of water and see where I am. You can knead in more flour if necessary. Once you've got it smooth and elastic, let it rise until doubled. For the filling, saute: 1 chopped onion some garlic (I don't think you can have too much, but I generally do 2-3 minced cloves) a good bit of minced ginger root (Again, I don't think you can have too much. A note: Ground dried ginger is not the same, but it's doable if you're out of fresh) curry powder, salt, pepper to taste 1 diced sweet potato (skin or not, your choice), boiled til tender about 1.5 cups of cooked chick peas (a drained can's worth if you're in a hurry) Heat that all up and then kind of mash it about a bit (the sweet potatoes help this out). Add: Frozen green peas and lemon juice Taste throughout. You'll know when it's yummy to you. Cool. This is good over rice, too. Split your dough up into 12 pieces and start stuffing. I generally let the samosas sit for about 30 minutes after stuffing to let the bread proof a bit. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Great with chutney. I bet a good tomato relish would work too. On the heels of Renee's great news, I have been thinking about the things I do automatically that make the way we eat really easy. So, here are some of the must have-must do things that happen around here.
Must Haves Rice cooker: There are two things I'm consistently not good at in the kitchen. One is making biscuits, but that's ok, as I really shouldn't be eating them anyway (I do have a work around that is pretty good, though). The other? Making rice on the stove. I either get it too mushy or too al dente. With my handy rice cooker, I just load it, hit the switch, and go off and do something else. It shuts itself off, even. Sometimes, I make rice and portion it out so I can just pull out a portion and zap it later to go with leftovers. Strangely, with the rice cooker, brown rice cooks in about 25 minutes, so no excuses that brown rice takes too long. The rice cooker also works great for barley, quinoa, and other grains. Crock pot/Slow cooker: This is another great press button and walk away tool. A while back, I was really into using the crockpot to make seitan cutlets. The crockpot is also great for cooking large batches of beans without having to worry that the water gets too low and you burn them. I also make marinara in there, and have even used it to cook polenta. You can even carmelize onions in there for onion soup. I've also made lasagna in it, subbing in tofu for the ricotta (if you mix it with spinach, who can tell it's tofu?). Blender: I am still having a love affair with my Vitamix, although it got today off from breakfast duty. Smoothies are a great thing for breakfast, and I up the protein by adding hemp hearts (hulled hemp seeds). Even if you have a high powered blender, you probably want to make your vegan raw balls in your food processor. Stove-top Smoker: Renee asked me once how I manage to eat beans without that smoky flavor of ham. You can buy liquid smoke (I've got some in the cupboard), but you can also get a small stove-top smoker box for about $20 that allows you to smoke onions, tofu, or anything else you feel like putting in there. While smoked red onions look like worms in a pot of navy beans, they sure are good. What's in my pantry Beans: Red, white, black, chickpeas, lentils--you name it and it'll probably show up in my cupboard. I love cranberry beans (borlotti) sauteed in garlic with rosemary and crushed red pepper then served over soft polenta. Pinto and black beans make great burrito fillings, and I have yet to meet a chickpea I didn't like. Runner's World has a great lentil taco recipe, too. Make a batch of "cheez" and you can really go to town (Note: You can leave the added fat/oleo out of that sauce and you won't know. I'm currently hooked on making roasted green chile cheez sauce--I think it's better than the rotel version)! Grains and Grain Products: Brown rice, brown basmati, rolled oats, quinoa, whole wheat couscous, pearl couscous (also whole wheat), polenta, barley. I also have some red cargo rice up there that might be a bit scary right now. We're lucky to have a Chinese grocery that gets a wide variety of mixed rice blends that even contain lentils and other fun things in them. I also try to keep Three Ladies brand rice noodles in there, as well as rice vermicelli. Rice paper wrappers for summer rolls are a mainstay, and there's also seaweed sheets (I know it's not a grain, but I have been contemplating some black Thai sticky rice veggie rolls lately). Canned goods: Tomatoes, tomato paste, coconut milk (it comes in "lite"), mushrooms, and back up beans for meals in a rush. I also like to keep a can of emergency Herdez salsa around (when I run out of Renee's salsa verde). Fresh Produce: Of course, anything in this group is good. I do keep a bag of Walnuts in the freezer. I also always have carrots, celery, onions. I also try to keep a bag of baby spinach (the Popeye stuff from Kroger is cheap and good) and a big bag of mustard greens in there. I'm a mustard green freak. I eat the stuff raw, and my most common way to cook it is to saute it in garlic and crushed red pepper just until it wilts. Money saving tips I buy the bagged bananas and peel them, put them on a cookie sheet and freeze them whole for smoothies (if you don't have a Vitamix, you can slice them into chunks and then just bag them. If you cut every banana into the same number of chunks, you will know how many chunks=1 banana). I buy and use a lot of citrus these days. Keep an eye on the price per lemon/lime and make sure the bags are not actually more expensive than the individual ones. Oranges are almost always cheaper by the bag. My produce fellas start putting stuff on "clearance" around 10 in the morning. Often, I can score an eggplant that is perfectly fine for 89 cents just because it is older than the new ones they are setting out. The same is true of various peppers and the fancy little cukes. Normally, I'd warn against buying packaged things, but bagged greens like mustard greens can be a great deal--you don't throw anything away. Also frozen vegetables are awesome--they don't have the salt and again require no cleaning so there's no waste. I don't buy fresh broccoli or cauliflower unless it is majorly on sale, for instance. Artichoke hearts are a great freezer deal, too, and are great in pasta sauce. Frozen veggies also give you control over the "mush" factor. You can thaw them and throw them uncooked into pasta salads and the like, too. Make your own veggie stock. Save those carrot peels, onion peels, garlic cloves that are tiny, celery that goes wonky. Freeze it and when you have enough to fill your crock pot, add water and salt and a bay leaf or two and you've got some "free" stock from what was going in the trash anyway. I also save the cooking liquid from my seitan making. Why not? If you have a Whole Foods or other store nearby that sells in bulk, it's a great way to try out new things without committing to a big bag. You can just buy a cup of quinoa, for instance. When I lived in Auburn, I shopped at this little natural food store (Dayspring) that had five gallon buckets in the back with dehydrated hummus mix, falafel mix, nuts, seeds, spices, couscous, and even granola. I hit that store every pay day and had a good stock of "instant" fixes. I also recommend looking for Chinese and Asian grocery stores. Sam's Oriental in Little Rock is a great place to shop, as is the Asian Grocery in Ashley Square and the Indian Grocery on Rodney Parham across the street from Lily's Dim Sum. iHerb.com is also a great shopping resource once you figure out that you really do need a large can of nutritional yeast or that you don't want to drive across town and hit every store you can find for hemp seeds or other things. If you use my code, JIX581 on your first order, you get $5 off. And, if you order $40 bucks worth of product, shipping is free! Restaurants: Go Indian or Vietnamese and you're almost guaranteed a great meal. People often ask me if there is anyplace I am willing to eat; honestly, I can find something to eat just about anywhere, and there are lots of great guides out there for how to order veg when dining out. American-themed restaurants are the exception, really, but I probably won't be walking into Cheeburger, Cheeburger anytime soon (and even if I do, I'm sure they have a salad). I think the problem is not so much that there aren't options but that we often don't take advantage of them because we're afraid the other diners will look at us funny (or we say, oh, well, it's a treat). So sorry it's been awhile since I last posted. Angel probably thinks I have fallen off the face of the planet! I have a lot of catching up to do. First, last week I made Quinoa, Corn and Buckwheat Noodle Salad from The Passionate Vegetarian (which Angel likes to refer to as PV). It was my first experience with quinoa. It was okay, but I will be trying the other colors. This quinoa was the black variety. I found the beautiful red corn to add, and it was a very colorful and pretty salad. While I liked this okay, it was not my fave recipe to date. It also takes a little extra prep compared to other grains. You have to wash it, and wash it, and wash it again. The seeds have a coating of saponins on them, which is basically a natural soap. I should think that would not be too tasty. On another note, I went camping over the Labor Day weekend. By myself. I really needed a little peace and quiet. I had always wanted to go down to Hot Springs and "take of the healing waters". I went to the Buckstaff Bath House. For a mere $64, you can find a bit of sanity and calm. I was soaked, scrubbed, sitzed, whirlpooled, steamed, hot-packed and massaged into a limp noodle, which felt very needed and very wonderful. I came home feeling more like the real me than I have felt in a long, long time. And I must do it again....very soon. I had thought to do a post on emotional eating, as I did not honestly observe the vegan principles during my little camping stint. I even ate cheese. From a can. I haven't eaten cheese from a can since I was a kid. But perhaps we will explore this issue in another post.
So, what's the great news, you ask? Let me preface it with a brief refresher of why I let my baby sister talk me into trying this whole vegan experiment in the first place. My doctor didn't like how high my LDL was. I told her, "I am not going to take a pill". I used to eat an egg for breakfast every morning with a piece of cheese on a slice of bread. Yep, every day. Then there was usually meat and cheese at lunch, then some form of meat at dinner. Angel's challenge was this: cut back on the animal protein and see if it helps. It had helped Dani, after all, and it seems to help Angel as well. Now I might eat animal protein anywhere from 2 to 5 times per week. Big difference. Last week I went and had my blood drawn to see how the numbers were looking and sat down today with my doctor. I think it would be fair to say we were both astonished! On May 10th, my overall cholesterol was 238, today it was 209. Nearly 30 points! My LDL? It was 149 on 5/10; now it's 129. I am only 14 points from being in normal range! How awesome is that? She said, "I don't know what you're doing, but keep doing it! What are you doing, anyway? It's highly unusual to see that big a difference with diet alone. It usually takes medication to effect a change like that." I told her I was "veganish" and had really not felt deprived, as I have discovered a lot of new recipes I really liked. She said I needed to write a book (which is something Angel and I have batted about). I also told her that the longer I am in health care, the more I believe that the best medicine that we have is the food we eat. I have to say, that for me at least, that the proof is now in the pudding...I mean whole grain cereal! Thanks, Angel, for helping me make this change in my life. You just may have saved your big sister's life! |
The Two Fat SistersRenee and Angel welcome you to their blog. Hopefully we can change our name some time. In the meantime, watch as we try to get there. Archives
March 2018
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