Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Roasted Potatoes & Sausage

Couldn't be easier. Just chop, toss, bake and eat.

4-6 cups various potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch chunks or smaller
2 Tofurkey Italian Sausages, chopped (or homemade pinto bean sausages)
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 tsp dried sage
hefty sprinkle of salt & pepper
3 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp stone-ground mustard

Combine everything in a covered oven-safe dish (I used my cast-iron Dutch oven) or a foil packet. Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and serve.

Curry Pumpkin Soup

This is a thick, spicy, creamy soup. Perfect for fall evenings.

1 onion, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp each chili powder & garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Thai red curry paste
2/3 c apple cider
4 cups cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup chickpeas (optional)
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp peanut butter (optional)
1 cup plain soy milk

Saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add the spices and salt and cook for another minute. Add the cider and pumpkin, lime juice and chickpeas and cook for 5 minutes or so. Lower heat to low. Stir in the peanut butter and soy milk and stir just until heated through. Taste and adjust seasonings as you like. I sometimes add applesauce, agave nectar, orange juice, etc. to balance out the sweet and tart tastes.

Sweet Chili Tofu & Roasted Broccoli

1 block super-firm tofu (I use Wildwood's High-Protein), cut into 1/4-inch-thick triangles
1 cup sweet chili sauce
a drizzle of roasted sesame oil
a hefty sprinkle of salt
1 handful sesame seeds (optional)

Lay the tofu triangles in a baking dish and put everything else on top. Marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight. Put the whole shebang in the oven at 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

1 head broccoli
hefty drizzle of olive oil
hefty sprinkle of salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a covered oven-safe dish (or a foil packet) and put in the oven with the tofu. Cook for 15 minutes, or until tender.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Vegan MoFo Survey

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
I'm a big fan of hemp milk, but it's so expensive that I usually end up with vanilla Silk soy. If I weren't so lazy, I'd make my own more often.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Pumpkin curry soup, sweet chili tofu w/ roasted broccoli and the Veganomicon chickpea patties.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Chipotle Tobasco and sugar.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
There have only been a few things that were so awful we literally could not eat them. I've blackened the bottoms of things a few times.

5. Favorite pickled item?
I heart pickles so much. Picking a favorite is really difficult. I like spicy garlic dills, and chow chow, and those little tiny bumpy pickles.... mmm.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
It's a hodge-podge of e-mails, text files, Google Reader favorites, our own custom database, and cookbooks.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
All three, but the garbage disposal much less than the other two.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods… what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
Avocado, peanut sauce and tamarind.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
My mom would make angel food cake and order in pizza on my birthday. I loved both of those things, and we never had them any other time.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Purely Decadent’s Cookie Dough, bar none.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My stick blender is the most amazing accessory ever.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Fresh basil.

13. cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
The Better Homes and Gardens plaid book. It was always in our house growing up.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Strawberry-rhubarb, though I'm enjoying the chipotle and basil flavored jellies we got this year. Ooh, and garlic jelly is divine.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
My vegan sticky buns are legendary. The boy loves to serve tofu & gluten w/ tomatoes on soba. It's totally out there for omnis but oh so delicious.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan. Love it love it.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Like most everything else, I prefer to cook in the afternoon, when I have the most energy.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Cabinets!

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Pumpkin, sweet corn and bananas.

20. What’s on your grocery list?
I very rarely make lists unless I have specific recipes in mind. That said, we are dangerously low on salsa and canned beans.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Gateway Market in Sherman Hill.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
Popeye's chicken strips. Fried spicy crunchy deliciousness.

23. Food blog you read the most. Or maybe the top 3?
Slashfood, Yeah, That Vegan Shit, Post Punk Kitchen

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
I'm totally addicted to vegetarian gummi bears.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Hmm... I buy my food pretty cheap, but I splurge on wine and fancy jellies.

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Corn smut.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

This photo inspires me.

This photo inspires me. I’ve been doing a lot of cooking once a week lately… it saves my sanity and makes sure my ravenous boy has things to snack on. I’ve been seriously thinking about a batch of Veganomicon chickpea patties lately. I could freeze them and have them for quick dinners throughout the week.

I also have to confess that lately, I’ve been really craving the PPK’s pinto bean sausages. I sense a day of cooking in my future….

via Cookin’ For The Weekend at Don’t Eat Off The Sidewalk!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Pumpkin-Chevre Empanadas & Spiked Honey Cider

1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 tsp each cumin & chili powder
1 can black eyed peas OR black beans
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup frozen corn
1-1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
1 can diced green chiles, drained (optional)
2 oz. Northern Prairie Chevre (Summertime Salsa flavor preferred)
1 batch Gateway Market pizza dough or 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
cornmeal for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 425. Sprinkle a pizza stone with cornmeal and roll/stretch out the dough into 1 large or 2 medium-sized discs (you can make as many as you want, but I'm lazy and only do two at most).

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the cumin & chili powder, beans, salsa, corn, chiles and pumpkin and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until heated through.

Place dollops of the goat cheese down the center of the pastry. Top with the bean/pumpkin mixture, and fold the dough over to seal into half-moons. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

***

Spiked Honey Cider

Mix equal parts:
Sutliff apple cider
Summerset mead

Add a tablespoon of grenadine, if desired. Serve hot or cold.