Does a body good.

Beyond the time it took to slice the onions, this soup was quick and very easy to make. I found and borrowed this recipe from fellow runner/foodie blogger (never home)maker. I’ve made french onion soup before since going vegan, but I don’t remember it being spectacular. THIS recipe is just about spectacular. I swear, it’s the olive oil/whole wheat flour roux at the end. (Unsure what a roux is? Read up here!) If you’re anywhere in California or the PNW, you’re likely experiencing some nasty winter weather. I know we are. This soup, along with some lightly toasted bread croutons, is the perfect winter evening soup.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

• Bag of yellow onions (2 pounds), sliced thinly
• A couple cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• Wholegrain sourdough bread (or your favorite), cubed

Instructions:

1. After you’ve sliced your onions, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 8 to 10 minutes — stirring often — until softened.
2. Add in the maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Stir well — being careful not to burn the onions — for 20 minutes, until golden.
3. Add in the garlic, coriander, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 30 minutes.
4. During those last 10 minutes of waiting, heat the olive oil into a shallow pan on medium-low and wait for the it to get to a hot, but not too hot. Don’t let it smoke!
5. Add the flour to the 1/4 cup oil and stir continuously for 10 minutes — until the roux is deep brown and smells nutty.
6. Add roux to the soup, stir well and let cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve with cubed bread and enjoy!

I’m curious how this recipe compares to omnivore versions with beef broth. Try it out and let me know!

I’m going to say right up front here that I’m not the genius behind these tortillas. They were adapted from this recipe, and Lucio is the tortilla master. All the gorgeous gluten related things in our household come from him. I will take credit for all of the photos in this post though.

If you’re anything like me, nothing beats warm tortillas, beans and rice. But dang man, flour tortillas at the store get expensive, especially when you can hoover down a few a day. It may seem intimidating to make your own flour tortillas, but it’s actually a very easy process. The dough kneading and rolling out of tortillas is time consuming, but completely worth it. They really do taste better than store bought, and are a lot of fun to make. You don’t need fancy cooking stuff like a tortilla press or other tortilla heating contraption – we use a wooden rolling pin, and cook the tortillas in a simple cast iron skillet.

Go get your gluten on!

Handmade Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of unbleached flour (we’ve used regular ole white flour and a “best bread” white flour – both with great results)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4-6 tbsp. vegan butter/margarine
• About 1 1/4 cup warm water

With that, I vow to bring this blog back to life this year. I’ve certainly ended 2011 and started 2012 on a foodie kick.

For example:

My Thanksgiving plate: Fennel "Sausage" Stuffing, Green Beans with Miso and Almond, Mashed Potatoes and Tarragon Mushroom Gravy

Cranberry-Orange Chutney with Cumin and Fennel Seeds

Did I make/eat vegan monkey bread for Christmas? Is it rude if I say “Duh!”?

Monkey'ing around.

My bestest dude has revolved to bake every day this year.

Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?

Not only have I been treated to freshly baked artisan bread daily, I’m getting treated to homemade pasta delicacies like this.

Handmade roasted Hubbard squash ravioli in an arugula cream sauce.

So you can obviously see that I’m not starving here, nor starving for inspiration in the vegan foodie realm. My wonderful mother outlaw gave us a gorgeous new knife set for Christmas, and let me tell you: A set of really nice knives makes a world of difference when you cook. Truly.

Not only did I do it up right around the holidays, but I’m doing a really good job of making the most out of our bi-weekly produce orders. I made this “kitchen sink” barley/Yukon gold/collard greens/carrot stew last week, and this week I’ve been picking away at the monster Hubbard squash we got.

Oh, you haven’t heard about old Mother Hubbard? (I literally just came up with that joke/reference. How sad) I do the ordering for our produce co-op, and I thought Hubbards were normal size squashes, something like an acorn? Maybe delicata? WRONG!

Trying to wrestle the beast into submission

It’s a bit tough to tell from photos, but this squash was huge. Maybe 20 pounds? It definitely weighed more than our Boston Terrier. Anyway, long story short, after those glorious ravioli made their way into my stomach, I threw together a nice, simple roasted squash soup, and tonight we’re going to make rice in the new rice cooker (thanks Mom!), along with a roasted squash/lentil curry. Innovation!

I love sharing delicious food and recipes with folks, and vow I’ll have something to say/share here at least once per week. Once a day is pushing it (I have a life, you know), but I’m back, and I’ve got goodies to share.

Onward and eat well!

This is one of those “what do I have in the fridge” meals, and I feel could easily be adapted using a different green, type of potato, mushroom or bean. The tahini sauce and mashed potatoes are really what make this meal memorable.

Chickpea and Shiitake Mushrooms with Tahini Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the meal:

• 1 pound of fingerling potatoes, cut in half
• 1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cups of sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas, or one 15 oz. can
• your favorite non-dairy milk, “butter” (I like Earth Balance) and S&P to taste

For the sauce (adapted from La Dolce Vegan):

• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. tamari or soy sauce
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup water combined with 2 tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot

Instructions:

1. Prepare a pot of salted water over high heat. Once boiling, add potatoes and cook until easily pierced with a folk. Drain and return to pot. Mash cooked potatoes with non-dairy milk, Earth Balance and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Saute onions and garlic on sesame oil in a small sauce pot over medium heat until translucent.
3. Blend onions and garlic in blender with everything from lemon juice through vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.
4. In same small sauce pot, warm blended sauce over medium/low heat. In a small bowl, whisk 1/4 cup water with 2 tbsp. cornstarch. Pour cornstarch mixture into sauce. Stir often, letting sauce thicken, for about 10 minutes.
5. In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook until soft, 8-10 minutes. Add chickpeas and cook until warm.
6. Divide chopped romaine evenly among 4 bowls. Add some mashed potatoes, add the mushroom/chickpea mixture, and drizzle warm tahini sauce on top.

I’ve mostly worked with miso paste when making my tried-and-true “sickie” soup Chickpea Noodle Soup (a la Veganomicon), so I was excited for a chance to try a new paste variety. I’ve used and loved brown rice miso in the paste, because it has this fantastic, fermented, almost earthy flavor. I wanted something a little lighter yesterday, and went with organic “mellow” white miso.

For vegetable additions, I went with: carrots, green onion, porcini mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts and spinach. Hearty yet light, and feels like a kick of health straight to the booty.  If you’re feeding more than one person for more than one meal, I recommend doubling the recipe. Enjoy!

Miso Soup

(Recipe courtesy of 101 Cookbooks)

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces dried soba noodles
• 2 – 4 tablespoons miso paste (to taste)
• 2 – 3 ounces firm tofu (2 handfuls), chopped into 1/3-inch cubes
• a handful of watercress or spinach, well washed and stems trimmed
• 2 green onions, tops removed thinly sliced
• a small handful of cilantro
• a pinch of red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. Cook the soba noodles in salted water, drain, run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking, shake off any excess water and set aside.
2. In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and remove from heat. Pour a bit of the hot water into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste – so it thins out a bit (this step is to avoid clumping). Stir this back into the pot. Taste, and then add more (the same way) a bit at a time until it is to your liking. Also, some miso pastes are less-salty than others, so you may need to add a bit of salt here. Add the tofu, remove from the heat, and let it sit for just a minute or so.
3. Split the noodles between two (or three) bowls, and pour the miso broth and tofu over them. Add some watercress, green onions, cilantro, and red pepper flakes to each bowl and enjoy.

I am also an editor by nature, and I like picking things apart to see what’s not working. Combine that with cooking and you get being a recipe tester! I’m very excited to have been chosen to assist Denise Balcavage, author of “Urban Vegan“, with her up-coming cookbook (along with some other folks) and test her delicious new recipes. I’m averaging about 2-4 recipes per week, and am shooting to get at least 25 tested by the time her deadlines rolls around. Frustratingly, my nice camera’s USB card reader is broken, and until I get a new one, the pictures I’m shooting will remain on my chip But, I’m hopeful the comments I’m gathering and providing are proving useful and informative.

I’d love to write a cookbook of my own someday. It’s interesting to look at the vegan cookbook market and see what’s been done already. To me, it doesn’t seem that there are many family-friendly vegan cookbooks out there currently, and I wonder how many of those available focus on locality and seasonality. I’m no saint in this department by any means, but I really try and focus on working with local, seasonal produce. Anyway…maybe L and I will put our heads together someday and pitch an awesome family vegan cookbook to a great publisher.

For now, I’m enjoying contributing to the success of someone else’s cookbook! Thus far, I’ve tested:

Clementine-Sweet Potato Halwah

I was excited about this one, because I had a ton of sweet potatoes on hand. Unfortunately, my smaller food processor was being a huge pain in the arse and wouldn’t grate the sweet potatoes, so I ended up doing it by hand with what’s really meant to be a microplane grater. Whew. A huge undertaking. I was also making this while creating some Portuguese soup recipe of my own, so it felt like it took forever. I wouldn’t attempt to make it again without a properly functioning food processor or at least a huge box grater and some Popeye arms. The actual recipe, grating aside, was pretty simple, but my clementines were also being lame, and they simply did not want to yield their grated peel. Jerks. Where I wish I’d done things differently was the nutritional yeast on top (though it’s called for). The majority of flavors in this dish are very sweet and spicy (in the way that cloves are spicy), and the nutritional yeast and maple syrup on top brought out a lot of contrasting flavors, and not in a good way. I’ve come around to like the dish ok (especially topped with some homemade mango chutney) but I would make it again sans nut yeast on top.

Enlightened Guacamole

I loved this recipe, and as I noted on Facebook, making it with frozen peas reminded me of how much I love peas. I cook mine and then dump generous hot sauce and nutritional yeast on them. Heaven. But I digress. This was a really easy twist on traditional , avocado based guacamole, and I thought it was a great recipe. With a few clarifications in the recipe, this is an ideal dip or spread for any occasion. Not to mention healthy and delicious. And did I already say it had peas in it? Peas. Yum.

Tanzanian Curried Chickpea Banana Soup

I’m a huge soup person. When I’m stumped about what to make for dinner, I just look at what I have on hand and imagine it simmering in some veggie broth with spices and BOOM! there’s my new recipe/dinner concoction. Ask L: Soup’s just my go-to thing, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’ve tried soups of all shapes and sizes, and even tried one with plantains, but never one with bananas. I wasn’t skeptical-I was intrigued. And I wasn’t disappointed. The flavors are wonderful, and the bananas are a sweet contrast to the curry and red pepper flakes. I would love to see it bulked up a little bit (I also admit that I tend toward liking more stew-y and thick soups) by adding another can of chickpeas. Lucio baked up some easy flatbread, which he makes with pizza dough, and with the bread and a porter, the meal was lovely.

Baklava

I can’t officially speak to this one yet, because a-I literally had nothing to do with it and b-I’ve only seen how beautifully it came out of the oven. It’s still cooling. My ambitious and bake-loving boo made his own filo dough, so the recipe took awhile, and he ended up putting the filo in diamonds on top of the baklava. That combined with the pistachios in three lines across the dish made for beautiful presentation. Smelling it smells more strongly of rose water than I remember in past baklavas, but I can’t wait to have a taste. (checks watch impatiently). *note: I tasted it. And omg. Just as delicious as it is beautiful. You can definitely taste the rose water, but it’s not overpowering. The nutty goodness makes me want to make sure we give plenty away to coworkers so it all doesn’t end up padding my already-round belly.*

I look forward to putting more test recipes under my belt and into my belly this week!

For as long as I can remember, my family always had monkey bread (aka pull apart bread) every Christmas morning. We’d always open one present on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning was this awesome excitement of stockings, exchanging gifts and nomming on monkey bread and oranges. My mom e-mailed me the recipe, which I will happily share with you all.

Monkey Bread-timeless family recipe

Monkey Bread Recipe

• Oil a bundt pan
• Mix 1 package (probably larger size) of regular Butterscotch Pudding with 1 1/2 C. brown sugar and 1 C. chopped walnuts or pecans (*Note: Mom recommends pecans and I used vanilla pudding mix)
• Melt 3/4 C. butter (vegan margarine)
• Slightly thaw 2 loaves frozen bread dough cutting the dough into small pieces (*Note: I had L make me his homemade bread dough and used that after its first rise in the bowl)
• Sprinkle 1/2 C. sugar/pudding mix in bottom of pan, place 1 layer of dough over sugar mix, then sprinkle sugar mix over this 1st layer, then drizzle with some melted margarine; repeat the layers until all the dough/sugar mix/ butter are used.
• Cover with a towel and let rise in regrigerator overnight or at room temperature until double in bulk or to near top of pan.

Bake at 350 degrees 35-45 minutes (cover lightly with foil if it browns too early ) and enjoy!

Tofu Scramble

Tofu scramble is so easy and versatile. I love it.

Dinner was one of those fun affairs that lasted all day, in the sense that we lazily cooked it all day. I love days where you can take the time to do that, and do it with family and friends around you. A home and store run did need to get made, but I prepped my mashed potatoes early on, did a lot of the prep for the shep’s pie, and so on. I definitely recommend checking out the shepherd’s pie recipe-it’s a winner.

The evening looked a little something like this

Wild mushroom soup

Broccoli rabe and haricots verts with garlic paste

Shepherd's Pie

Port. Yes please.

Hope you all are staying warm, dry, safe and happy. I’ll be spending the first part of my New Year testing recipes for Dynise Balcavage of Urban Vegan fame (check our her drool-worthy 1st cookbook) and am super excited about that.

My very best and loveliest wishes to you and yours. Now go give someone a hug.

Mushroom hunting, specifically for the highly sought-after chanterelles, is very popular up here on the North Coast. A friend of a friend was kind enough to share some of his chanterelle haul, so we wanted to make the best of the gift and create a delicious masterpiece. That said, this meal would probably be a little more costly if we weren’t working with some free mushrooms. While I loved having the chanterelles in the recipe, they did get a little lost among the other mushrooms, so this recipe could easily be as delicious with just two varieties of more affordable fungi, like cremini and shitake.

I am supremely spoiled and did get to use a loaf of Lucio’s freshly baked sourdough bread, but I’m sure any bread would be great here.

Mushroom Bread Pudding

Mushroom Bread Pudding

Adapted from Kitchen Konfidence

Ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh bread cubes (1 inch cubes)
• 1/2 pound fresh chanterelle mushrooms
• ¼ pound fresh cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed
• ¼ pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed
• ½ cup finely chopped shallot
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 3 garlic gloves, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups vegan creamer
• 1 cup silken tofu
• 1/4 cup homemade vegan Parmesan cheese (recipe below)+extra to sprinkle on top
• Whole Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Place a rack in the middle of the oven.

Spread bread cubes in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake until golden-brown (about 20 minutes).

Chop cremini and shiitake mushrooms into ¼ inch thick pieces.  Tear the chanterelle mushrooms into similar sized pieces.

Warm butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften (about 3 minutes). Add mushrooms, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.  The mushrooms will give off a lot of liquid.  Cook the mixture until all of the liquid has evaporated (about 15 – 17 minutes).  Add parsley and garlic and continue cooking for an additional 2 minutes, stirring occasionally (don’t let the mushrooms start sticking to the bottom).  Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, while the mushrooms are cooking, make your “cheese.” In a food processor, combine 1 cup Brazil nuts, 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Process until fluffy. Recipe courtesy of Cafe Gratitude’s book “I Am Grateful.”

Preheat oven to 350, if you turned it off earlier. In a large bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. Add in vegan creamer, 1/4 cup Brazil nut cheese  salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and whisk until combined. Stir in the mushroom mixture and bread cubes.  Fold gently until the bread cubes are well coated.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

While waiting, lightly butter (aka Earth Balance) a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Spread the mushroom-bread mixture evenly into the buttered baking dish and bake until firm and golden brown (about 45 minutes).

Spoon a serving into a small bowl and garnish with parsley leaves.

Makes 8 servings.

Dig in and enjoy!

If you’re curious, we served this with a simple arugula salad. The dressing was just olive oil, lemon juice and salt. It was the perfect accompaniment to the bread pudding.

Also, if you’re curious about Lucio’s sourdough recipe, he usually uses this one.

Big ups to the best cooking buddy ever.

Mi amor cocinar

Stuffed Seitan Roast

It’s almost that magical time of year again, when family and friends gather together to honor a bunch of white folks and Wampanoag Indians getting together and devouring bountiful food. Just like is still customary today, the original Thanksgiving attendees were noshing on a whole bunch of meat: venison and wild fowl to name a few. When you’re vegan, obviously meat isn’t a part of the game plan.

I have had the great fortune of being a part of an all vegetarian/vegan Thanksgiving, and I’ve also been to a few non-vegan Thanksgivings over the past few years as well. In either situation, some thoughtful planning and action is required to make a Thanksgiving meal that doesn’t revolve around a giant hulking bird carcass. Many thanks to my Twitter friend @veganyogini who inspired this post of vegan Thanksgiving tips!

When Attending a Traditional (aka non-vegan) Thanksgiving

1. Communicate with your host. Don’t expect them to make something special for you, but get in touch with them, let them know you’re vegan and ask if they minded if you contributed a dish or two.
2. Try and bring at least two dishes, seriously. They might be the only things you can eat.
3. At dinner, if things look like they might not contain animal products, don’t be shy about asking who made the dish. Most cooks love talking about what they made, so find out why made that gorgeous salad and get the scoop on its ingredients.
4. Be mentally prepared for lots of questions. If you’re eating with a familiar group, they might not give your half naked plate a second glance, but folks who aren’t familiar with your eating choices might start peppering you with the all-too-familiar questions for vegans. “So what DO you eat?” This might be annoying, but be gracious. You might just open up some minds.
5. Bring your own booze. Wines and beers may seem harmless, but many are cask conditioned (read: fish oil) or contain other non-vegan ingredients. I highly recommend checking out Barnivore-they have a very extensive list of vegan and non-vegan beers and wine, including their communications with the various companies.

Planning Your Own Vegan Thanksgiving

1. Do your homework! There are countless vegan Thanksgiving recipes out there. Start planning your recipes now. You can browse vegan recipes sites and build your own menu, or you can work from some of the set menus out there. For example, I cooked mainly from Robin Robertson’s Thanksgiving menu last year, and this year I’m really excited about picking up a Vegetarian Times to read Bryant Terry’s recipes from last year. If you Google “vegan Thanksgiving recipes,” there is a smorgasboard of information out there.
2. Collaborate. My rad friend Sarah hosted our all vegan/vegetarian Thanksgiving a couple of years ago (miss you terribly!), and she and I were in communication right up to before I left the house and who was making and brining what. We still had a few blips, but knowing what the other was up to was key.
3. Delegate. If you’re hosting, don’t by shy about putting people to work when they arrive. You can’t expect to pull of a big Thanksgiving meal all by yourself. Well, you probably can, but it might be a lot of work and unnecessary stress.
4. Poll your guests. Even though you’re creating a vegan meal, you might have people coming who have gluten or wheat allergies. Ask ahead of time, and try and make dishes to accommodate their special needs. Any time I’ve gone somewhere and a host has gone out of their way to prepare something vegan for me, it really means a lot. Pass on that simple kindness.
5. Footnote. I’ve had people ask me so many times “Oh, where did you get that recipe from?” and the I have to remember to go back in find it in my e-mail, look it up online again somewhere, or something else equally tedious. It might be helpful to have a little list of all your URL’s, books, articles, etc. that helped make the meal, and just have it out so your guests can see it and write down the source themselves.

Enjoy this wonderful time of year. For those who love to cook and eat, it’s a wonderful time to share a meal with your friends and family and have a blast making the kitchen a total disaster zone. I have awesome memories from last year’s night-before-Thanksgiving, staying up until 3 am with L, prepping all the vegan dishes we were going to take to our Thanksgiving meals.

Bon appetite!

But between working 50 hours a week (I started working an additional job at a kickass non-profit to teach teens to teach younger kids about cooking, healthy eating and nutrition), having dogs and trying to have some other semblance of a life, I haven’t had the time to cook/post here like I used to.

I suspect that will change though. Because even though Lucio and I will soon be adding marathon training into all that madness, it’s daylight savings tonight, and winter will officially be upon me. And I spent a lot of delightful time last winter cooking, experimenting, photographing and posting.

So stay tuned, and I promise that Vegan Rah Rah will be back in full effect, soon!

-Tara

For now, enjoy this cute picture of my muse, Meatball

Mom, get your butt back in the kitchen!