Spinach and Cashew Cheese Bisque

I rarely follow a recipe exactly, but I actually got out my measuring spoons for this soup.  It just looked and sounded so perfect that I didn't want to change anything!

The recipe comes from the Sept/Oct 2011 issue of Eating Well magazine- Spinach and Goat Cheese Bisque.  Now, obviously, I didn't follow the recipe exactly since I used cashew cheese instead off goat cheese.  But I'm pretty sure it's just as good.  If pureeing cashews with a little salt and lemon juice makes cashew cheese good enough to smear on crackers, it must be good enough for this soup!

It seems like every recipe I read in Eating Well looks phenomenal.  I love the focus on fresh vegetables and avoidance of processed convenience foods.  And the articles are intelligently written and based on real research!  There's no celebrity chef crap or fluffy little articles.

The recipe says it makes about 8 cups, but I got closer to twelve.  Not sure how that happened... But I'm happy to have lots of this soup for my lunches this week!

The base of the soup is caramelized onions, potato, broth and over a pound of spinach.  In case you didn't know, a pound of spinach looks like a ton.

 Just look at all this spinach!

This looks a little bit weird, but when I poured the pureed cashews & soaking liquid into the soup, I knew  this soup was going to be amazing.  Once pureed, it's velvety creamy & smooth, with a bright spinach-y flavor.  The only down-side to this soup is that it's not very filling.  I'm going to pack some crackers and fruit along with it...and maybe something else I've been baking up.  

Best Day Ever + Bok Choy Salad

Today was basically a perfect day.  I just started a 4-day weekend.  I woke up early with the itch to start gardening before breakfast.  Why not?  I can always take a nap later!  (And I did).

I spent about 6 hours in the yard: digging up weeds, planting new plants, spreading straw mulch and transplanting some stubborn columbine and ferns that keep sprouting up in our stone walkway.  I called and got estimates (all in one day!) from 2 tree services to remove the scrubby mugo pine that is dying in our front yard and a maple being destroyed by chestnut borer.  I took breaks to watch Jeopardy, take a nap and lounge on the deck.

Lunch was a crunchy, fresh bok choy-peanut salad and dinner was scrambled tofu on toast.   Even though it's technically work, I enjoyed reading a couple chapters of Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappe while I ate.   What a fantastic day!  Sure, I did a lot of hard work.  But it was all relaxing and fun. I even got my new issue of Bon Appetit in the mail! The best part?  I have 3 more days like this coming right up.

Here's the recipe for this really easy bok choy salad.  We made this on Tuesday night and the kids loved it! I made it again today with a bit of leftover bok choy.

Bok Choy Peanut Salad
You could do a lot to fancy this dish up or give it more color.  But I love how easy it can be!  This makes enough for 4-6 people.

1 package thin rice noodles (I like the maifun brown rice variety by Annie Chun)
1/2 cup peanut butter
3-4 Tbsp. tamari or Bragg's aminos
1 cup hot water (reserved from cooking noodles)
1 head bok choy, thinly sliced
(if this is a giant head, use about 1/2)
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Cook rice noodles according to package instructions.  Usually this involves simply soaking the noodles in boiling hot water for about 2 minutes.  Reserve 1 cup of the hot water.  Rinse noodles in cold water.

In a pint jar, combine peanut butter, tamari and 1/2 cup of the hot water.  I like to use an itty bitty wire whisk for this task.  At first it'll look like it won't dissolve, but the hot water will melt the peanut butter and this will become a thin, salty, creamy sauce.  Add more hot water if needed. Don't worry if it seems too salty, you're mixing this with a lot of noodles and bok choy.

Combine cooled noodles, sauce, bok choy, onions, carrot and cilantro in a large salad bowl.  Use tongs to toss until everything is coated in the peanut sauce.  If you want to serve this later in the week, just refrigerate the salad and dressing separately and mix it up just before serving.

Serious Vegetables

It's time for some serious vegetables.  For the past 2 weeks I've tried to only purchase fresh foods from the co-op.  I'm king of doing a pantry challenge, but instead of NO grocery shopping, I'm buying plenty of fruits and vegetables to pair with my various pantry items that need to get cleared out.

One of my current vegetable loves are the new microgreens from Finally Farms in Minnesota.  I really enjoyed this micro arugula with a little lemon and olive oil, but it really doesn't even need any dressing!  In the background there is a broccoli, mushroom and tofu scramble.

Here's the easiest make-ahead salad ever.  I cooked up a huge pot of quinoa and used about half in a salad and reserved half for other meals during the week. For the salad I added chopped up cucumber, carrot, parsley, basil and onion to the quinoa and dressed it with a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.  So simple and so good.  We had this for dinner one night and brought it in our lunch boxes, too.

Persian Stuffed Grape Leaves

When a coworker loaned me his old copy of Food of Life: A book of ancient Persian and modern Iranian cooking and ceremonies by Najmieh Batmanglij, I made a few copies of the recipes before I returned the book- And I'm so glad I did!  Turns out the book has been out of print for a while, but now is being republished in Feb 2011.  Judging from this recipe, I think it'll be a winner.  

Of course, there aren't too many vegan recipes in the book (except the pickles!).  But most are easily vegan-izable, like these stuffed grape leaves.  I LOVE Greek dolmas, the simple rice and dill stuffed grape leaves usually served cold with lots of lemon.  These are similar in that they use dill and lemon, but are much more filling because they have split peas or lentils in them, too.  I think these would be lovely with a tomato sauce on top, but I also enjoyed the unusual lemon and sugar coating.  

A recipe isn't totally necessary here, since nearly anything would taste good in grape leaves, in my opinion.  But here it is, with all of my modifications.

Stuffed Grape Leaves

1 cup white rice 

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup red wine

1 "Not Beef" bouillon cube

1/2 cup dried tomatoes (chopped if large)(dried apricots would also be good)

1/2 cup split peas or lentils

1 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Juice of 3 lemons

1/4 tsp. black pepper

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

50 (approx.) jarred grape leaves, rinsed

2 Tbsp. Earth Balance or olive oil

2 Tbsp. sugar

Start by cooking up some white rice and some split peas or lentils.  For the rice, combine rice, water, red wine, bouillon and dried tomatoes in a saucepan, cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until rice is tender- very slightly underdone is okay.  Meanwhile, cover the split peas or lentils with water and simmer until tender.  I used chora dal (split white lentils) and they were done about when the rice was.  But depending on the legume you choose, it could take longer.  Drain the lentils if needed.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked rice and lentils, salt, onions, fresh herbs, the juice of 2 of the lemons reserve one), pepper and cinnamon.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed before stuffing leaves.  

Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare a 9 x11 inch glass baking dish by oiling lightly and placing 2 layers of flat grape leaves in the bottom.  

Then take 2 grape leaves, overlapping, and place about 1-2 Tbsp. of filling on one end.  Tuck in the sides of the leaves and roll towards you until the filling is sealed inside.  Place stuffed leaves in the baking dish, seam down.   

Once all the leaves are stuffed, dot the top with bits of Earth Balance or sprinkle with olive oil.  Pour 1 1/2 cups of water over the leaves and cover with foil (or an oven safe lid, if you have one).  Bake for 45 minutes at 350F.  

Meanwhile, mix together the remaining lemon's juice with the sugar until dissolved.  I know it sounds weird, but it's super good!  The final dish doesn't taste sweet, the sugar just cuts the acid of the lemon slightly.  Pull the grape leaves out of the oven after 45 min. and pour the sugar-lemon mixture over the top.  Cover and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.  Then the leaves should be tender and the liquid mostly absorbed.  

I recommend serving with something.  I didn't really plan out what to have as a side dish until I put these on the plate and realized how naked and boring it looked.  I threw together a mildly Middle Eastern salad with olives and herbs.  This would have been great with a really fun salad with pomegranate seeds and walnuts or something.  Or some bread.  

But for a quick snack, the leftovers are fantastic!  I've eaten them cold out of the fridge for a very satisfying mini-meal.  They've got grains, protein and greens all in one little package- pretty perfect.  Also, I'm confident that you could prepare everything in advance and just do the baking later in the week for an easy meal.  

On an altogether different note: 

The pantry challenge of 2010 is over.  I refilled my bulk jars (or at least many of them) today.  I'm proud to say that I was able to empty nearly all of them and get them washed- so this end-of-year pantry eating is pretty practical for a fresh start in the new year.  Now I'm pretty excited to have enough flours and nuts to do all the baking I want!!!

Coconut Collards

Now's the time of year that we have to harvest all the greens from the garden for freezing and using all year.  It's one of the few things that I can grow enough of to last us nearly all year.  Green beans come close.

This year I grew lacinato kale, Scotch curly kale, collard greens and mustard greens.  We already have about 3 lbs of mustard greens and 8 pounds of curly kale washed, chopped and frozen in the chest freezer.  But all of the lacinato and collards are still out in the garden waiting to be processed!  Please don't freeze, please don't freeze...

Here's Mike all bundled up, harvesting the curly kale in our big cooler.  It makes a great kale transporter!

Until we can do another big harvest, wash, chop, freeze assembly line, I'm trying to eat as many fresh greens as I can.  Tonight we had some awesome coconut collards.  This is my favorite way to prepare collard greens- I thought I had posted the recipe already, but then couldn't find it.  So here's the recipe as I made it tonight.  It's a little different every time.

Coconut Collards
Serves 4-6


1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 fat carrot, diced
1 lb. collard greens, thick stems removed and sliced into ribbons
1 large tomato, diced
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp. dried ground ginger (or use more fresh ginger)
Sea salt to taste

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil.  Add onion and carrot and cook until onion is transparent and beginning to lightly brown.  Add collard greens, tomato, coconut milk and ginger. Stir to combine and then put a lid on the pan.  Turn down the heat to medium-low.  Simmer the greens for 20 minutes or so.  You don't want to cook them into oblivion, but they should be tender and the coconut milk thickened.  Add salt to taste.

Tonight I served these greens with wild rice and roasted vegetables on the side (or all mixed together if you're Mike).  These greens are also really nice over basmati rice with some dal.  I really like to add some hot red pepper to the mix, but the kids would never stand for that.  They did, however, devour these collards!

Quiche with Shiitakes and Chard

I've been craving pie lately, but not sweet pies. So today seemed like the perfect time to try Isa's Caramelized Vidalia Onion Quiche. The co-op has some gorgeous locally grown organic sweet onions! I decided to make it in a tart pan instead of a traditional pie pan (mainly because my pie pan appears to be missing...) and ended up with enough crust to make a mini pie!

I used a 3-inch springform pan for my mini pie and it was totally dreamy having a "whole" pie to myself! The crust was super flaky- hooray for Earth Balance and white flour!

On the side I had some chard. I'm a little obsessed with Mississippi Market's new recipe for sauteed chard. It has pinenuts and raisins and garlic and lemon. I know, I know. Raisins sound weird in there. But they're really good and I'm a raisins-in-things-hater.

I cooked my chard a little differently tonight, but I did include raisins!

Sweet and Savory Shiitakes and Chard

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

6-8 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

2 bunches of red chard, stems finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. chopped black or kalamata olives

3 Tbsp. chopped raisins

Dash of Bragg's Aminos or soy sauce

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add red onion and saute until onion is nearly transparent. Add garlic, shiitake slices and red chard stems (not leaves). Continue to cook for a minute or two, stirring frequently to prevent garlic from browning. Add chard leaves to the pan and cover (shove them all in there and use the lid to keep 'em in place. The pan will be very full!). When chard has wilted, but is still bright green, remove from heat and add lemon juice, olives, raisins and a dash of Bragg's or soy sauce. Serve immediately.

First Food from the Garden '09!

I'm not really sure how I survive all Winter without gardening.  There's something about being outside, dirt caked under my fingernails and smeared up my legs, that makes me feel alive.  I'm not sure if it's the actual act of planting, watering, and growing food or just the fact that I'm outside touching the Earth that makes me feel this way.  

And, really, it doesn't matter why it makes me feel so awesome.  But if you want, you can pick apart the dirt and analyze why it makes people happy...

Those of you familiar with the Minnesota growing season may wonder what the heck I'm already harvesting from my garden when it was 40 degrees just a few days ago.  Well, it's actually not food I planted.

When we moved into this house there was a empty spot next to the garage covered in large pavers and surrounded by stinging nettles.  After stinging myself silly and breaking my weed whacker, I resorted to guerilla weeding techniques to remove them.  [Maybe gardening makes me feel better because I can take out any aggression on weeds?]  A machete would have come in handy.  

Now that nettle patch is filled with raspberries, blackberries and strawberries slowly waking up after the Winter.  The nettles are nothing like they once were, but you can never really get rid of nettles.  

Honestly, though, I don't really want to get rid of ALL of them.  

They're the first thing up in the spring, filled with iron, calcium, and vitamin K, and can help treat allergies.  Sure, they hurt a little when you pick them.  But the good outweighs the bad, especially when you pick them when they're young and not as stingy.  

Once you have a basketful of young, tender nettle leaves, just wash and dry them.  Heat some Earth Balance in a small saucepan and toss in some garlic scapes (just chop off a few tops of your garlic plants) and the nettles.  About 10 seconds later, they're done.  Still bright green and wilted to about 1/118 of their original size.
These are amazingly delicious.  Rich and buttery from the Earth Balance and fresh and spinachy-tasting like Spring should be.  So go out to your yard right now and do a little weeding.

Question for you cat lovers:

Has anyone else seen a cat that stretches out completely on its belly like Trouble cat?  It looks like her legs are broken, but she just stretches out like this all the time!

Green Tamales

Tonight's meal was brought to you by the sweltering summer heat and an oven turned up to 400F.

I'm currently trying to avoid buying anything at the store, as I've already surpassed our grocery budget for the month. So everything in this meal was already in our garden, pantry, or fridge. Feel free to substitute things that are in YOUR house when you make this.

I was going to just make some collards, some beans, and some polenta...but decided to put it all together inside the collard leaves for a tamale-like dish. I love how it turned out!


Green Tamales (serves 6)

12 collard leaves

Filling
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 mild chile, finely chopped
2 cups polenta
4 cups water
1 tsp. salt

1 cup cooked kidney beans (I pressure cooked some)

Sauce
1 red pepper, seeds removed
2 medium tomatoes
1/2 sweet onion
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. salt

Start by preheating the oven to 400F. To prepare the filling, heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and mild chile, stirring as it cooks to prevent any burning. When the garlic is fragrant but not browned, add the polenta, water, and salt. Stir to completely combine. Continue stirring until you have a thick, pudding-like polenta- about 10 minutes should do it. Stir in the cooked kidney beans and remove from heat. Taste the mixture (careful- it's really hot!) and adjust salt to your liking.

Fill a wide, shallow skillet about 1/2 way up with water and heat until simmering. Then wash 12 collard leaves and remove the largest part of the stem- about 1/3-1/2 of the way up the leaf.

Then drop the leaves in the shallow pan of simmering water for, oh, maybe a minute. The leaves should still be bright green. Now it's time to assemble your rolls.

Place about 1/2 cup of filling closer to the stem end of the collard leaf.

Fold in the two lateral sides of the leaf.
The fold up the stem end and continue rolling up and over the filling. Roll them tightly for a nice looking finished dish.
Pack the rolls into a lightly greased 8x11 baking dish. Then prepare your sauce.
Puree red pepper, tomatoes, onion, smoked paprika, and salt in a food processor or blender until smooth. Spoon over the collard tamales and bake, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes.
We had ours with some tasty sweet corn smothered in Miso-"Butter".
Here's an inside shot:
As you can see- the polenta firms up nicely to mimic a tamale. Except with these tamales you can eat the wrapper!

A proper Southern meal

This is how I want to eat every day. This is simple food that is rich, satisfying and highly nutritious.

I pressure cooked some black-eyed peas and then seasoned them with Bragg's and a little liquid smoke. For the greens, I fried up some little pieces of marinated tofu, onions, and garlic and then added an assortment of collards, mustard greens, and overgrown lettuce from the garden.

The cornbread is the Southern Style cornbread I always make from Gluten-free cooking school. I eat my cornbread with my meal because I like savory cornbread. Mike and the boys like theirs for desserts, smothered in maple syrup. They were a little bit mad at me for serving the peas on top of the cornbread, but I really wanted them to try it. Instead, the kids scraped the peas off and saved the cornbread for last.

Cucumber "Pickle" Salad

4-5 pickling cucumbers, roughly chopped
2 small cippolini onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. minced fresh dill
1 pasillo chile (or other chili you like- these are mild), minced
1/2-1 tsp sea salt (salt to taste)
1-2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

Stir everything together and let it marinate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Sprung

Spring has officially sprung when we get ramps, fresh peas, and sorrel in at the co-op. I really wanted to make a side dish that combined all three of these lovely spring vegetables- so here's my creation:

Spring Sorrel and Peas

1 Tbsp Earth Balance
6 ramps, chopped (green portion discarded)
1/2 cup fresh English peas, shelled
1 bunch sorrel (about 2-3 cups)
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
black pepper
sea salt
1 tsp. Veganaise (optional)

Heat the Earth Balance over medium heat in a small saute pan. Add the ramps and the English peas and cook for about 3 minutes. Then add the sorrel and thyme and cook another 3 minutes, or until sorrel has wilted. Finish with several grinds of black pepper and salt to taste. If the sorrel is too lemony-tart for your taste, try stirring in a tsp. of Veganaise. The creamy texture works well with the peas and cuts some of the tartness of the sorrel.



The surprise standout of the meal, however, was not the sorrel and peas (Duh, Liz, these kids are 8 years old).

But it wasn't the pasta and "meat" balls (made from leftover blackeyed peas and rice) either. It was the roasted green beans and carrots! We all loved these and were so sad when we couldn't have seconds...So I suggest making a lot.

Roasted Green Beans and Carrots

About a pound of green beans, trimmed and cut in half
2 carrots
2 Tbsp. olive oil
coarse sea salt
black pepper
a touch of fennel seed, crushed (optional)
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Heat the oven to 400F (perhaps for "meat" balls, too?). Cut carrots crosswise into 3 sections, then thinly slice them lengthwise. Toss the carrots and green beans with the olive oil in a cast iron skillet or other oven-safe dish. Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper, and just a pinch of crushed fennel seed. Roast for about 5 minutes- or until carrots and green pepper are just tender. Finish with balsamic vinegar and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Meemaw's Saffron and a Chipotle Omelet

Tonight I made the Revolutionary Spanish Omelet from Vegan with a Vengeance, but with some great variations. Instead of potatoes, I used a mixture of garnet yam and sweet potato. In addition to saffron, I added a chipotle pepper with some adobo sauce. Then instead of the roasted red peppers in the almond sauce, I used chipotle peppers and a little soy yogurt. I used firm silken tofu, not soft regular tofu because that's what I had on the shelf.

Now technically these two varieties are really sweet potatoes. The "yam" variety of sweet potato isn't a yam at all, it's an orange-fleshed variety of sweet potato that is different from the true yam that is native to Africa. The USDA requires that all "yams" also bear the name sweet potato. Names aside, they're both delicious!

Now this recipe calls for saffron threads and in the past whenever a recipe calls for saffron, I omit it... but not because I don't have any.

Years ago, (perhaps 15...oh, jeez...) my meemaw gave me some spices she got in Grenada. She saw I had an interest in cooking and knew I would appreciate these fine and (then) fresh spices. I treasure these spices. I treasure them so much that I have not used them in 15 years. Instead of appreciating them by using them, I've hoarded them and carted them from Texas to Minnesota, taking them out only to look at their faded labels and imagine how my meemaw also treasured these little bags, including the valuable saffron. But today I used it! After all these years, the saffron still has a great scent, rich flavor, and beautiful color. Amazing.


I sauteed some red chard to go on the side of the omelet and dressed it with salt, pepper, and some lemon juice.The little chipotle pepper in the omelet is very mild so that the other flavors (including the saffron) can sing through. The Chipotle Almond Sauce, however, has a good spice and zing to it.

I'm baking a Mulberry Pie for dessert, but it's still in the oven. I'm trying out an oat crust, so I'll post pictures if it's any good. I've got to use up all the mulberries in the freezer before the tree starts to bloom again!

Clogging, Planting, and Jackfruit

This weekend the weather was warm and I was feeling restless. So I started some new things. Last night I decided I wanted to learn to clog Appalachian style. Now anyone who knows me knows that I really can't dance (except the jitterbug and the Charleston). But I'm so fascinated by clogging and everyone says it's really easy. So I found a how-to guide online and learned a few steps last night. If nothing else, it's good exercise.
After that organic farming conference I can't stop thinking about Growing Power's growing methods. They don't have tons of land or really warm weather, but they found a way to grow tons of amazing food all year round in a sustainable way. The temptation to try growing food in my basement got the better of me today. So off I went to Menard's to get some grow lights. An hour later I had everything I needed to start my seeds indoors.


Now I know this set-up is pretty common around these parts for starting seeds. And I have good advice online. But I'm really wondering if I can use this method to grow full sized lettuces in my basement in the winter. I've got great lighting, soil, and water...


So we'll see how it turns out. Of course, growing indoors requires more electricity...and our electric/gas bill is already too high. I'm hoping this won't add too much to the bottom line.
Now to set this grow center up in the basement I had to haul an entire carload of stuff to the Goodwill. I had moved everything I wanted to give away into the basement for storage until Spring, thinking that I'd have a garage sale or something. Realistically, I know that garage sale will never happen.

And just in case you're wondering, it's not a good idea to make a huge pile of clothing, packing peanuts, and electronics in the basement of a 100 year old house. We'll just call that pile Mousie Hilton and I'll let you imagine how fun it was to clear it all out.

Now for the food:
The stories of barbecue jackfruit have been circulating around vegan blogs for a while now, but I haven't been completely convinced of their deliciousness until I saw Sara's from Vegangelical. I had to try this. It is the perfect solution for someone who can't have gluten, but is craving that texture that usually only seitan (or meat) can give.
So I sauteed some onions and cooked up my jackfruit.


Then I mixed up some barbecue sauce and simmered it until my kale, smokey navy beans, baked potatoes, and Oat/Cornmeal biscuits were done. Yum! I can't believe how tender and delicious that jackfruit is! It's exactly how I remember barbecue brisket or pulled pork being.



Now I have to let all that food settle so I can do some more clogging. Something tells me I shouldn't do that with a stomach full of barbecue.

Celebrate!

Just in case you haven't celebrated the most wonderful day of the year yet- you still have a few hours left. Today is 2-17, otherwise known as Liz day.
{If you turn the numbers 217 upside down, it spells LIZ}

Here's how I celebrated:
White Chocolate Cashew Cookies (gluten free)
These are based off of Dreena Burton's gluten free chocolate chip cookies from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free)
Blackened Tofu, Spirals and Cheese, and Garlicky Collards
The Blackened Tofu is from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. The Cheese sauce is freestyle.

So it looks like I celebrated Liz Day with Dreena's recipes. I also celebrated by not getting out of my pajamas for two days (including grocery shopping), watching over 5 hours of The Office on Netflix (thanks, Mom!), and eating a pint of Rocky Road So Decedent Ice Cream.

And really, aren't these things all what Liz Day is all about? It's important to remember the real values that are behind holidays, like being lazy and indulging in everything you want.

Recreating the Caravan

One of my fond memories from college is sitting on a floor cushion at the Caravan Serai, eating the vegetarian platter while doing homework (and sometimes watching the belly dancer). I could sit there for hours, scooping up the dal with my naan and enjoying the atmosphere.

An Afghani restaurant in an aging building in the early post-911 days spelled some hard times for the restaurant and it is now long gone. But years later I'm left craving the vegetarian platter: yellow lentil dal, subzi paneer (spinach with soft yogurt cheese), bademjan borani (eggplant and tomatoes), aromatic rice, and yogurt.

Tonight I attempted to recreate the recipes- but vegan and lower in fat.


Creamy Subzi, sans Paneer

1 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/2 tsp. asafoetida
16 oz. of frozen greens (I used 1/2 spinach and 1/2 kale)
1/2 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

Heat canola oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, and asafoetida (watch out for those pepper fumes!) and saute until onions are translucent. Add greens and cook until hot throughout. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, cornstarch, lemon juice, salt, and yeast until smooth. Add to spinach and simmer until liquid has thickened considerably and spinach is creamy.

Bademjan Borani

I'm usually a fan of lightly cooked vegetables, to preserve nutrients and texture. But I remember this eggplant dish as being cooked so long it fell apart into a rich, buttery eggplant mash. This version can be fat free, so it is not quite so rich. It is, however, just as delicious. Feel free to drizzle with flax oil after baking to get a more rich texture.

1 medium eggplant, sliced 1/4 inch thick and quartered
1/2 onion, sliced
1 tsp. cumin seed
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. fennel seed
3/4 tsp. salt
1- 14.5 oz can organic tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp. flax oil, optional

Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss everything together (except flax oil) in a glass baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Then remove foil cover and bake an additional 10-20 minutes, until liquid has evaporated and eggplant is falling apart. Drizzle with flax oil if desired.

Yellow Split Pea Dal

Everytime I make dal I use a different made-up recipe. Here is today's recipe which uses a pressure cooker. It makes enough to pack in your lunches all week. And I know it has kind of a lot of oil in it- but it really carries the spices' flavor.

2 cups split peas
4.5 cups water
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. cumin seeds

Combine peas, water, ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, and 1 Tbsp. oil in a pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure release slowly to finish cooking. Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and red pepper flakes. Cook until seeds begin to pop and then remove from heat. When you open the pressure cooker, pour the hot oil and spices over the dal. Stir to combine and adjust salt to taste.

Fragrant Brown Rice
I know, I know. Long grain brown rice is not very authentic. But it's what I had in the kitchen and it's so good for you!

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp garam masala
1.5 cups long grain brown rice
3 cups water
1/4 cup raw cashew pieces
2-3 Tbsp. raisins
1-2 Tbsp. cilantro (optional)

In a dry saucepan, toast the cashews until fragrant and lightly browned. Remove the cashews and set aside. Add the oil, rice, and garam masala and heat until rice is coated in oil and smells fragrant. Then add water and cover, brining water to a boil. Then reduce heat to simmer rice for about 40 minutes or until tender. When done, stir in cashews and raisins. Garnish with cilantro.

Here's how beautiful the spices look when you are frying them in oil for the dal:

Homegrown Lasagna

It's days like these that I'm thankful we put up so much of our garden's harvest. Just when the stores have the fewest local veggies, I can pull out our homegrown ones. This lasagna features garden grown squash, collard greens, and pesto- along with olives cured by my co-worker/friend Nick. The Three Olive tomato sauce really is something special. The olive oil, olives, and then sun-dried tomato infused olive oil work together to make rich layers of flavor. Plus, it's a great use for the olive oil left over after I used up my sun-dried tomatoes from last year! I know this recipe has a lot of steps. The good news is that any of these mini recipes are good enough to stand on their own.

Homegrown Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles

1 batch of Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon

Roasted Squash

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 6 cups)

4 Tbsp olive oil

6 cloves garlic

1/2 onion, sliced

1 tsp. salt (I like a blend of Hawaiian red clay and French sel gris salts)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss squash, onions, garlic, salt and pepper in the olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes, until squash is tender and onions are beginning to brown. (I removed the garlic for another recipe). Lightly mash with a fork, leaving plenty of chunks.

Triple Olive Tomato Sauce

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

6-8 big green olives (I used home-cured garlic olives)

32 oz can tomatoes (I used diced)

1 tsp. salt

dash of cinnamon (just a little!)

2 Tbsp. dried Italian herb blend

2 Tbsp. olive oil from oil packed sun-dried tomatoes

Directions: Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Saute the onions until beginning to get translucent. Add garlic, olives, tomatoes, salt, and herbs. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes with a lid on. If needed, you can add a bit of water to thin out the sauce. Partly puree to form a thick sauce. Stir in the sundried tomato infused olive oil to finish.

Pesto Collards

4 -6 Tbsp. pesto (I used 4 ice cubes worth of frozen pesto)

2 bunches of collard greens (either frozen or still wet from washing)

Salt to taste

Directions: Cram the greens into a large skillet with the pesto. Put a lid on them and steam/cook until bright green and tender, about 5-8 minutes. Salt to taste- depending on the saltiness of your pesto.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cook lasagna noodles as directed

In a 9X11 inch baking dish, layer noodles, ricotta, squash, greens, and tomato sauce. End with tomato sauce on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

I dropped my lasagna noodles and ended up with little pieces. So I made the lasagna in a 9X9 pan and used the little pieces in a mini lasagna in a lunch sized glass bowl. When I'm at work I can just pop it into the toaster oven or microwave. Yum!

What I've been eating

I haven't blogged in a few days, so here's the update on some things I've eaten:

Tonight- Taco Salad. Local hydroponic lettuce with Spanish rice, black beans (from the pressure cooker!), avocado/lime/cilantro, and salsa ranch dressing.
A few days ago I made these lima beans with lemon juice, carrots, tomato paste, and fresh marjoram. I've never had fresh marjoram before I got some slightly too old stuff from work. I love it! I've always dismissed marjoram as inferior or secondary to herbs like oregano and basil. WRONG!
Last weekend I made the Southwestern Corn Pudding from VCon. I love this stuff- and it's a great way to use up a 1/2 can of coconut milk left over from making ice cream.
I made some greens that I really enjoyed, too. I sauteed garlic and onions in some olive oil, then threw in cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander. Then I added 16 oz of canned diced tomatoes and about 1/2 of a gallon baggie worth of chopped, raw frozen collard greens. I simmered them longer than I usually cook greens, about 20 minutes. But even the stems were so tender! On the side is some barbecue tofu cubes.
New kitten, Trouble, seems to be getting along swimmingly with Hannah and Billie. They even snuggle together! (This may be due to necessity since our house never gets above 62 and I think that is a gross over-measurement of the temperature. Yet somehow the heating bill is nearly $300...). At least all the animals have taken to snuggling with us through the night.