TV Dinner

Sometimes we want to sit down and watch a movie and be lazy, but still have vegetables calling to us from the fridge nagging us about how they are going to go bad and we'll have wasted our money. On those days, we usually do all the chopping work in front of the TV - but this time, we took it to a new level and brought the plug-in pressure cooker out onto the coffee table, and did part of the cooking there too! If we were only making Ratatouille, we could have made the whole thing while watching a movie, but crazy me I wanted to make Ratatouille lasagna. There are a lot of vegetables here, but they do cook down. Even though it went above the recommended fill line, we jammed all the veggies in and it worked out fine. We have the Fagor 3-way 6 qt. pressure cooker/rice cooker/slow cooker. I have only used the pressure cooker feature, but I can't recommend this product highly enough to save time and hassle. We got Lorna Sass' Pressure cooking cookbook so we could take full advantage of it. Pressure cooking allows you to use less oil, and cook your food in half the time. Modern pressure cookers are extremely safe now as they have safety release valves so the pressure can't get too high.


Above is our chopping & cooking setup in front of the TV. Note our dog Leeta wondering if that onion is any good to eat :)

This will be an even more ideal recipe for about a month or so from now, when eggplants are widely available from the organic stands at the farmers market. Its a great way to get a variety of vegetables into your meal while not being too "healthy" tasting.

Ingredients:

12 Lasagna noodles
3 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch slices

For Ratatouille:
2 1 lb eggplants, peeled, 1/2 inch tall and wide matchsticks, 2-4 inches long
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 red bell peppers, de-seeded and sliced into 1/2 inch strips
1 lb fresh Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped plus 1/4 cup vegetable broth OR 1 32 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained, but with 1/4 cup of their juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil OR 2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 pinch red pepper flakes
3 gloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
2 tsp olive oil

For the Creamy Cheese Part:

1 TBS capers
1/2 cup pitted black olives (for best flavor, get the pricier brands that come in glass jars, not the canned type)
1 lb firm tofu, pressed
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt





Its no beauty queen, but it sure does taste good!

Preparation:

Place the tofu between two cutting boards, and place a heavy object with a wide bottom (like a cast iron pan) on top for 15-20 minutes. This squeezes any excess water out, so you'll want it to slant slightly towards the sink so the water goes into the sink rather than all over your counter. Chop all veggies for the Ratatouille part - keeping the zucchini separate from the rest. Put your electric pressure cooker on the 'Brown' setting (or if you have a cooktop pressure cooker, put stove on medium), put 2 tsp of oil in your pressure cooker and wait till its hot. Add onions and the dried spices (bay leaf, salt, red pepper flakes, and fennel seeds - if you are using dried basil rather than fresh, add that now as well), and garlic.

While that is sauteing and you are stirring occasionally, put a large bowl of water in the microwave until hot ~5 minutes. Pour the hot water into the lasagna dish, and place lasagna noodles in to soak for 20-25 minutes - no longer! While they are soaking, go back to your onions. Once the onions are translucent, add the other veggies (eggplant, red pepper, tomatoes - not the zucchini) and bring up to high pressure and cook at high pressure for 3 mins. Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Now to prep your "cheese". Break up the tofu into a few pieces, and place into a small food processor (not a large one, otherwise you won't be able to blend properly). Add your cloves of garlic, lemon juice, and salt. Now add the chopped olives and capers, close up the machine, and run until the olives and capers are really well blended and it all looks smooth and uniform.

Drain the water off of your noodles and slide them onto a separate plate, make sure pan doesn't have any remaining water. Place your first layer of noodles into the lasagna pan. Drain your Ratatouille but keep the fluid you drained off*. Find and discard the bay leaf. Then add 1/2 of the Ratatouille, then layer of zucchini. Now add half of the "cheese" and spread around the top till its fairly even. Add the second layer of noodles, and, if using fresh basil, put 1/2 cup chopped basil here. Then add remaining Ratatouille, and remaining "cheese" Then add the final layer of noodles. Then spoon enough of the leftover fluid from the Ratatouille over the lasagna that it comes up to almost the top but not quite. Try to pour along the edges so it goes down rather than sitting on top. You don't want fluid overspilling and messing up your oven, but dry lasagna is bad. You can always put a large jelly roll pan on the shelf below (not the same shelf) the lasagna to catch the drips if you are worried. Make sure the top layer of noodles is wetted down with the leftover Ratatouille fluid to prevent drying out too much. Place the lasagna in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes. The top noodles will have dried out some, but I just drizzled a little more Ratatouille water on them at the end and they softened up again.

*To be honest we placed our Ratatouille fluid in a large frying pan and reduced it until it was about 2/3 of what it started out. We were able to add most of the fluid back into the lasagne then - and reducing it concentrated the flavors. However, for ease of preparation, I decided not to put that in the recipe.

Banh Mi Salad (sorry no photos this time)

Okay, so it wasn't precisely low cal or healthy, and yet, still a salad. The green parts were healthy :)

1 package seitan
1.5-2 heads red leaf lettuce (depending on size)
1/2 cup chopped mint loosely packed
1 cup cilantro, chopped, loosely packed
1/2 medium red onion, sliced thinly, then chopped roughly
5 limes
1 daikon or similar volume of red radishes
2 carrots
6 TBS Sugar
1/2 cup cashews
Sriracha chili sauce
some water
Soy Sauce (couple of tablespoons)
Rice Vinegar (couple of tablespoons)

First, get someone nice like Jon to peel and thinly slice your carrots and daikon (set aside separately in a bowl), and chop your onion, cilantro, mint and lettuce. Juice your 5 limes and place the juice into a bowl with the daikon and carrots, along with up to 3 TBS of sugar (stir well), a few tablespoons of soy sauce (to taste), and a few tablespoons of rice vinegar (to taste, or in our case, till we ran out). Let them soak for 15 minutes in this, stirring occasionally.

Drain the seitan, then throw into a frying pan. Strain the fluid from the carrots & daikon into the seitan pan, leaving the carrots and daikon still in the bowl - set them aside. Turn the seitan up to medium high, and let 1/2 the fluid evaporate while stirring very occasionally (I practically ignored the seitan, we were watching Star Trek, after all). Then taste the fluid, and add about 3 TBS sugar, or until it tastes sweet enough to you. I don't like things too sweet myself, I like the tang. Stir to incorporate the sugar, and cook until the pan is almost dry, then take off the heat to let cool.

Take the 1/2 cup cashews, and place into the coffee grinder (make sure you don't have leftover coffee grounds in there, b/c you don't want coffee salad dressing). Grind until its a powder, and pick out the big pieces that didn't get ground. Put into a bowl, and add enough water so its kind of thick, then add sriracha to taste, then add more water till it gets to be the consistancy of a ranch dressing.

Mix the lettuce, mint, cilantro, and onion, then top with the pickled daikon/carrots, and then with the seitan. Put about 3-5 tablespoons of cashew/sriracha dressing on top. Yum! I wasn't planning to post this (obviously - no pictures), but Jon was so in love with this salad I decided I'd better record it in case we get in a banh mi mood, we'll know how we made it.

Dreaming of Pho

We ate at a lot of different restaurants during our honeymoon. The most memorable meals, for me anyhow, were the vegetarian Pho, the Korean, and a cashew pesto bagel sandwich. Jon loved the Tom Yum soup passionately, but it was too spicy for me. I decided the first meal I would try to re-create at home was the Pho.
I realize summer is not exactly soup season, but I feel Pho should get a special summer soup pass for the exceptionally fragrant, summery herbs. The Pho at Ban Le in Kona, Big Island had a mushroom broth as its base, so I included mushroom broth in mine. Jon said he didn't think the seitan added anything really, but I think its important to have some protein along with all those carbs, to help you feel full. Next time I might try marinated fried tofu instead, because that's what they had at Ban Le and it was good stuff.


For the Broth:

1 leek (green leafy part only)
1/2 yellow onion, cut into large chunks
1 4" chunk ginger, quartered
3 star anise (gives a mild licorice type flavor, can be omitted if desired)
3 cups mushroom broth (I used Pacific Foods Organic Mushroom Broth)
2 cups water
2 cups vegetarian beef broth (I use better than bouillon's not beef broth)
1-2 tbs soy sauce
1 cinnamon stick
6 cloves


For the soup:

1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 package seitan
2 TBS Hoison Sauce
2 Large Portabella mushrooms, de stemmed, de ribbed and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 pkg rice noodles (8oz) (look for a package that says banh pho, but if you can't find that, pad thai noodles will work)
1-2 serrano chilies, sliced thinly
1 TBS Sugar


For condiments:
2 cups Cilantro
1/2 cup Thai Basil or Regular Basil
2 cups Bean Sprouts (or if you can't find any as I couldn't, daikon, peeled and sliced thinly with veggie peeler)
1/4-1/2 cup mint
2 limes, cut into wedges
Sriracha Chili Sauce
Hoison Sauce


Preparation:

First, cut the white portion of the leek off, and save in the fridge for another dish. Wash the green tough leaves and place in the pot. Quarter the ginger and add to pot. Add the broths and water, cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise, and the 1/2 yellow onion. Let this boil for about 30-40 minutes while you get the other things ready.
Heat a cast iron pan with a bit of spray canola oil to medium high. Add the 1/2 onion which is sliced, and stir periodically until the onion is soft. Some parts should get a bit black and crispy looking, others a dark brown. If this doesn't happen, up the heat a bit. You want to get some blackened and dark brown bits for flavor, while not burning the whole onion. Drain the package of seitan, and check for any thick pieces. Take the thicker looking pieces and tear them up until they are in line with the majority of pieces which will be pretty thin. Once the onion looks soft all over, and somewhat translucent, reduce heat to medium, and add the portabellas and stir periodically until they are soft. Remove from the pan to a separate bowl, re-spray the pan with oil, and add your seitan. You want to get a slightly charred look to this as well, without burning. It will probably stick some, just use a good spatula every 2-3 minutes to scrape it off and stir it up. Don't stir constantly, you need continuous contact with the pan to get the darkened pieces. Once it looks darker tan, add 2 TBS of hoison sauce and stir to combine. Leave on the heat for another minute or two, then remove to the separate bowl.
Take a large glass or ceramic bowl, add 8 cups of water, and microwave for 8 minutes. Then add the noodles, and microwave for 4 more, stirring the noodles halfway through. Then drain the noodles and rinse under cold water.
Once your broth is ready, you can now use a slotted spoon to remove the onion, star anise, leeks, etc. Add the sliced serranos, drained noodles, seitan, onion and portabella to the broth. Add the sugar, stir well, and 1 TBS of the soy sauce. If it seems to need more salt, add a second TBS of soy sauce.
Now pour yourself a bowl of soup, and add your condiments. You want to add these only to each bowl of soup you serve, not the main bowl, because you don't want your herbs to get very cooked, just only slightly wilted. If you like things spicy, add a bit of Sriracha Chili Sauce. Do this before you squeeze a lime wedge or two into the bowl, because otherwise you can overdo the lime easily. Add lots of cilantro and bean sprouts, and less mint and basil. If your soup needs more flavor, you can add hoison sauce.

Not really that Korean Korean Tacos

We recently received our first issue of VegNews, which yes, I subscribed to because I want to submit our wedding later to get in their vegan weddings issue...but anyhow, they had a recipe, thankfully, which did not involve avocados and chocolate (you know those raw pudding recipes), or bananas - because Jon hates bananas and I recently had a bad avocado/chocolate pudding experience. Basically we had an extra avocado (I always get more in case I cut one open that's not really ripe), so I thought "why not take it to work, I have cocoa powder at my desk, and can use the sugar packets to make a pudding!". So yes, I ate an entire avocado with cocoa powder and sugar one day, and although it was good at first, I felt pretty sick by the end and I can't mentally handle the idea of a chocolate avocado pudding, possibly forever. Just like I can't ever eat a vegan sausage/cranberry stuffing ever again.

Where was I? Oh yeah, they had a Korean fusion taco with tofu, korean-esque flavors, and a pear cilantro slaw. We didn't have any tofu, but I thought - why not make Korean flavored chickpea cutlets (based on the V-con ones). We didn't have an asian pear or napa cabbage, or cilantro, but we did have purple cabbage, and apple, and mustard greens.

After gathering my ingredients, I realized we were out of gluten flour. I was pretty shocked, its like how do two food-obsessed vegans run out of a basic staple like gluten flour...its like when you run out of nutritional yeast or something. So here's where it gets wierd (um, its already wierd if you're an omni reading this). Instead of gluten flour/chickpea cutlets, they became quinoa chickpea cutlets with additional chickpea flour and bread crumbs, and Korean add ins like garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes, etc.

We really enjoyed this and Jon insisted I write down how it was made so we could replicate it again. Someday he will learn that there are pretty much only 2-3 things I ever want to make more than once. One of those is mushu vegetables, another is gardein & mushrooms stroganoff.

For the future, I would like to add more flavor to the cutlets so I could bake them instead (yes, you can cheat and have less flavor when you fry things), because quinoa absorbs a lot of oil while frying and so its not as healthy as you would hope. And they fall apart fairly easily. But lots a protein!

Quinoa Chickpea Cutlets (lets be real, they're patties)

1 1/4 Cups Chickpeas, mashed (a can of chickpeas will do)
1 TBS toasted sesame seeds
4 cloves garlic
3/4 cup dry quinoa, cooked
1/4-1/2 cup chickpea (besan) flour
1/2 - 3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup scallions
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2-1 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 TBS Low sodium tamari (less if using normal tamari - to taste)
1 TBS Brown Sugar
1.5 tsp dark sesame oil
1/8-1/4 cayenne pepper

Drain & rinse chickpeas, mash, then mix in quinoa and most everything else except for your chickpea flour and bread crumbs. They go in last because you add as much of them as will make your patties dry enough. I'm not sure why your patties need to be on the drier side, but probably there's a reason why most cookbooks don't have you throwing wet batter-style patties into oil. Maybe they absorb even more oil, who knows. Then heat peanut oil up on medium high, and fry your patties about 4-6 minutes per side.


Asian-Esque Slaw

This slaw is super awesome, and I love it. I didn't actually make as much as I'd wished I had, and so I will make more tomorrow, because yum!

1.5-2 cups Thinly Sliced Purple Cabbage (cut into 2 inch strips)
2 cups minced mustard greens
1/4 cup scallions
1 apple, shredded
2 TBS Rice Vinegar
salt to taste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Sriracha Chili Sauce, to taste (1/4 tsp to start in case you're not sure)

Just peel your apple, shred it, chop your mustard greens & purple cabbage, and chop the scallions, mix everything together except Sriracha - add a teeny bit at a time because if you add too much it'll ruin it. Perfect to eat right then. If you leave it sit overnight, you'll have to re-Sriracha it, because the salt makes the veggies lose some moisture, and this will drain to the bottom along with the Sriracha flavor.

In conclusion, while Jon loved the patties and the slaw, I think the slaw was the real winner. In addition to having fantastic flavor, I always feel extra proud of myself when I eat raw veggies and they are super tasty like this, I feel healthy and not in a "brown rice and steamed brocolli torturing myself" way. More like an embracing life and flavor, and health too, as a bonus way. :) Enjoy!

Creamy OrangeyRedYellow Chowder

This recipe is based upon one in the Color Me Vegan cookbook we recently purchased when attending Colleen's book signing. I of course made an ass of myself by screwing up the story of a friend of mine whose sister in law is a friend of Colleen's, and mixing up the ex-wife with the current wife. No wonder she looked confused at my story!

Anyhow, some of the recipes in the cookbook have like, 3 ingredients which always gives me pause, I am not sure (aside from broiled asparagus with tamari and toasted sesame oil), how a three ingredient recipe could ever be good, but this one had a lot of ingredients and so looked promising. Also, we had both roasted red peppers and carrots on hand. We also had a sweet potato, rather than regular potatoes so I decided to diverge somewhat from her recipe and do my own thing. Why normal rather than sweet potatoes are used in the "orange" chapter of the book is unknown.

It turned out super duper yummy and we both loved it a LOT!

So, the photo doesn't look so hot, but man, is this a GOOD soup.

Creamy OrangeyRedYellow Chowder




2 onions, chopped
1 tsp thyme
1 small sweet potato (about 1.5 cups diced) diced into 1/2 inch dice
4 cloves garlic
3 carrots, peeled & diced
2 roasted red peppers, seeded & chopped
1/2 cup vermouth
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups water
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup cashews ground into a powder

In a soup pot, place the onions, carrots, sweet potato, vermouth, salt, thyme and garlic and saute for about 10 mins. Then add the water and roasted red peppers, and simmer for about 20-30 minutes or as long as it takes your sweet potatoes and carrots to get tender. Then add your frozen corn and stir till its no longer frozen, and the 1/2 cup ground cashews. Then use an immersion blender to blend some of the stew, leaving some of it chunky. You will be happy to eat this soup, because its yummy!

Tostadas Mazatlán

These tostadas have absolutely nothing to do with Mazatlán, it just so happens I lived there for 6 months and these tostadas needed a name. My parents came over to stay for a night and I asked them what they were interested in eating for dinner. My mom said "remember that black bean mango thing you made that time?" I did not, but I whipped this up, and I think everyone was happy with it. I know Jon and I loved it, but you know when guests come they pretty much have to say they love what you make*. I know I'll be making it again someday, sooner if I wasn't such a weirdo who insisted upon eating recipes I've never made before all the time.

*for some reason vegan mac n' cheese does not fall into this category.

Tostadas Mazatlán



2 jalapenos, diced finely
2 red peppers, 1/2 inch dice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2-4 limes)
1/2 red onion, diced very finely
2 tsp cumin
1.5-2 cups mango, diced small
2 cups cilantro, chopped
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
8-10 flour tortillas (I chose Chili infused tortillas)

Wash and dry your cilantro (in a salad spinner or with paper towels). Chop. Put in a large bowl. Open your cans of black beans, drain and rinse. Peel and dice your mango (or, if using frozen mango, thaw in the microwave until not frozen but not hot and dice) and add to the bowl. Peel and dice your onion, and dice your red peppers and jalapenos and add to the bowl. Slice 2 limes in half and juice (you may need a 3rd or even a 4th depending on how juicy your limes are), and add 1/4 cup of the juice to the bowl. Add the cumin and cayenne pepper, and toss all the ingredients to mix. Salt lightly to taste. Mix again. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes as the flavors will strengthen a little with time. While those flavors are melding, put your flour tortillas in the toaster oven and toast - watch it though because you want it to get stiff and crisp, not burned. Once your tortilla is stiff and slightly crisp remove and do the same with the remaining tortillas.

Place about a cup of the mixture onto a toasted tortilla and serve.

Island Inspired Eating

I don't know why, but I've really been into fruit laden, spicy foods recently. From this craving, came the following two recipes. I made them for my parents while I was visiting them, and they got good reviews (*hopefully* not just because they are my parents). I think I might sub pineapple juice out for the water in the burger next time, and definately add hot sauce (I didn't when I made it). The burgers are super easy to throw together. The fries are more work, but if you have a good quality veggie peeler, like the OXO brand, and a very sharp knife (yes you, go sharpen your knife), you won't be slaving away for very long.

Caribbean Black Bean Burgers (makes 6 patties)




Oven at 375F
Beano* at the ready

1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion flakes
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely diced red pepper
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup finely diced mango
1 TBS Cornstarch mixed in a small bowl, separately, with 1 TBS water
4 scallions, rinsed, sliced thinly (white part and first 2 inches of the green part)
1/2 tsp hot sauce (if you like things spicy)

Since mango is a chore to peel and chop, you may want to save time by purchasing frozen mango and thawing it. I buy the larger green and red mangos because you get more mango for your peeling and chopping effort than the smaller, yellow variety.

Chop your red pepper, mango and scallions, and drain your crushed pineapple. Mix the water in a small bowl with 1 TBS of cornstarch and set aside. Put your black beans, bread crumbs, salt, onion and garlic seasonings in a medium bowl. Use a pastry cutter or a potato masher to mash the beans until there are no whole beans left, but its not a complete mushy paste, there will still be half beans in there. Add the cornstarch/water mixture, and hot sauce if using, and mix well. Then add your mango, pineapple, and scallions, and red pepper and mix again.

Use your hands to form patties, on the small side for a normal 'burger' size. They won't stick together terribly well until they are cooked, so be gentle with them. Spray a bit of oil on a cookie sheet, and arrange on the sheet.

Cook for 15 minutes in your oven which was preheated to 375, then carefully and gently flip them (they should looked dry and somewhat hardened on what was previously the bottom side, you need them to form a crust). Then give them 10 more, and check them. You can always flip them again for a few more minutes if they weren't quite done on the first side.

Usually english muffins aren't vegan, but these were a store-brand that happend to be vegan - yay! I sure do miss a crispy, crunchy, margarine soaked english muffin every now and again. The mister just doesn't dig 'em, so its not usually worth the trouble of hunting down a vegan english muffin.

*word to the wise: healthy eating means eating more veggies and beans, and that can result in some uncomfortable bloating. Beano is an enzyme that assists in your digestion and prevents gas. I contacted the company and their new product, beano meltaways, is VEGAN! Halelujah!


Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato "Fries"

(fries prior to baking)

Oven at 400F

Chipotle Spice Mix (a bit of kick to it):
2 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Alternative Spicing (not 'hot' spicy):
1 TBS Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1 TBS Chili Powder


Few Sprays of Oil
3 Sweet Potatoes

Make sure you have a really good vegetable peeler, and peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them into uniform matchsticks 3/4 inch wide and a little less than 1/2 inch thick. If there are any very thin parts where it tapers off and gets too thin, cut that off because its going to burn (you can put the misfits into a bowl and microwave with a bit of water till cooked through, and eat as a snack the next day). Put the good matchsticks into a bowl, spray a few sprays of oil, toss, then a little more oil, and then add your spice mix and toss until they are evenly coated. Place on a few cookie sheets - don't crowd them otherwise they will steam each other and wont' get at all crispy. Put into the 400 degree oven and check them at 20 minutes - if some of the edges look a little burned they're done, but otherwise you can poke them with a fork and it should slide in with no resistance - if not, give them 5 more minutes. Mine took 30 minutes till they were done. Some might get a little black on the bottom (that's because we didn't flip them at the 15 minute mark), but I just didn't want to fuss with flipping, they are already enough work! They were still super tasty.

Do you care about how many calories are in this meal? Yeah, me neither, but just in case...as a service to you, here ya go:

Calories in one Patty: 130
Calories in English Muffin: 120
Calories in 2 TBS Salsa: 20
Calories in 1 med. sweet potato: 103

Total Calories: 373