Sweet and Sour Seitan and Vacation Pictures

Tonight I made Seitan Baked in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. This is so delicious! I used the extra sauce to make a delicious stirfry of onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, cremini mushrooms, bok choy and zucchini. I subbed lemon juice for the vinegar, arrowroot powder for the corn starch, and chipotle powder for the chili sauce. I also left out the sesame oil. Yum!

Now, here are some lovely vacation pictures:



Here is a picture of our first glimpse of the ocean.

Now here are a few from various places in Olimpic National Park:







And here is a very brave deer. This deer let us get about 5 feet from her without even flinching.



And here is a banana slug. Banana slugs are only found in Olimpic National Park!



One last thing before I end this post: ever time I try to log in to my blog, I have to reset my password because for some reason my old password will not work. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions would be welcome.

No, I didn't give up on this blog...

I've just been really busy as well as lazy these last few months. Now there's so much to blog about! I worked really hard this last semester, but it really paid off! I finished the school year with excellent grades in all of my classes and completed my service hour requirements for NHS. In UIL, I made it to district and regional and came so close to making state in Science. At district, I got 5th place in Calculator and 2nd in Science, and at Regional, I got 5th in Science. If I had just got to 3rd place, I could have gone to state! Oh well, next year I will surely go to state! I also took three AP tests. I haven't gotten the scores yet, but I feel pretty confident that I did well, especially in Chemistry.

I have been out of school since May 25th. A few days after school ended, my parents, my oldest brother and I went on a three week long vacation to the Washington/Oregon area. My other brother stayed home with the animals. Not that he minded- he hates vacations! Too much driving! It was great, and I literally have hundreds of pictures, which I will probably post some of tomorrow. We saw Seattle, Portland, Olympic National Park, Orcas Island, and numerous beaches. It was a great vacation, but maybe it was a little too long. By the end we were all getting on each other's nerves.

Then, I came back to Texas. It has been raining and raining and raining ever since I came back! When my dad and I went to volunteer at the humane society today to find out that the dog area had flood with a foot of water last night! At least the rain has kept it much cooler than usual though. The highs have been only in the 80's since we came back, which is very unusual.

Also, guess what else? In April, my parents went vegetarian! They did this in honor of my 17th birthday and have been vegetarian even since! Unfortunately, they are not vegan. I honestly don't think my mother could ever be vegan. She really enjoys chocolate and candy and store-bought baked goods, as well as cheese, and doesn't like soy milk on her cereal. My dad might be able to though. Just have to wait and see...

I've recently bough three vegan cookbooks: Vegan with a Vengence, The Everyday Vegan, and Vegan Lunchbox! I also checked out six cookbooks from the library, so be prepared to see a lot of recipes from cookbooks in the next few weeks. Here are three recipes I have made over the last few days:

First up, Red Curry Vegetable Stir-Fry from Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott.





Very good and very spicy. Tofu, green beans, japanese eggplant, basil, red pepper, curry paste. I also added add handful of bean sprouts, though it was not called for in the original recipe. Served with steamed kale.

Next, Auntie Bonnie's Lively Lentil Stew from How it All Vegan! by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer.



This soup is really delicious. I really like lentil soups, and this one was no exception! I used several handfuls of spinach, rather than the half cup called for, and added in a few green beans we had layng around in the fridge.

And last but not least.... Lentils Rice Balls with Sneaky Momma's Tomato Sauce from Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer McCann.



These balls came together so well. They were easy to form and held their shape so well. And they were so delicious. The sauce was so flavorful! I used a can of crushed tomatoes instead of the tomato paste and whole canned tomatoes called for. I served the Lentil-rice Balls and Tomato Sauce along with some steamed broccoli for a lovely, delicious meal.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I will post tomorrow with more about the vacation as well as a delicious recipe.

Dal Soup and Raw Truffles

A few nights ago I made Chunky Red Dal Soup from the January/Febuary 2007 issue of Cooking Light. It has onions, garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin, red lentils, chickpeas, canned tomatoes, lemon juice, and chipotle powder. The original called for harissa, but I used the chipotle powder instead. Very good, especially coming from a magazine like that.

Yesterday my parents went to Central Market and bought a lot of dates, so I decided to make Raw Carob Truffles from Raw Pleasure. Here is the recipe:

Easy Recipe for Carob Truffles

Ingredients

1 cup almonds
½ cup dates (pitted)
1 tablespoon raw carob powder
2.5 tablespoons filtered water
Coconut to roll truffles in

Put almonds into food processor and process until crumbs
Add dates 1 at a time until mixed in
Add in carob powder and process again
Add water and process
Roll into balls and roll in coconut and keep in fridge or freezer

I rolled them in more carob instead of coconut. Very good, and very easy.

Red Beans and Sweet Potato Curry

Here we have Red Bean and Sweet Potato Curry from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. It's pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but good enough. That's all there is to say for now. The picture's not so great, but there are leftovers, so maybe I can take a better one tomorrow when I eat the leftovers and post it. Have a good day everyone!

Just Like Fish Without the Cruelty or Mercury

Well, the ice storm lasted longer than I expected. We didn't have to go to school Wednesday, and we went to school 2 hours later than usual Thursday! Wow, this was the shortest week of school ever.

Anyway, these past few days I have been eating leftovers, and on Friday we made another batch of lentil soup, this time using green lentils because we didn't have any french lentils left, and we made the whole recipe instead of half. Today, however we made what you see in the lovely picture above. This is Tofu Fish Sticks from Zenpawn. This was so good. The texture was perfect. The tofu was pressed under a heavy pan, then frozen overnight and defrosted, which improved the texture and made it soak up the marinade like a sponge! Now, I don't know if it really tastes like fish sticks because I (fortunately) have never tried real fish sticks. All I know is they're good! Behind the tofu sticks are sweet potato fries. Well, not fries, since they're not fried...hmm...bakes, maybe? To make them, just cut a sweet potato into strips, spread on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, (no spray needed if you use parchemnt paper), and bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, then turn them over and bake for 15 more.

A few days ago I discovered the Vegan Freaks podcast. If you haven't already, you should check it out. The online radio show discusses various issues related to veganism, from complaining about people's ignorance about veganism to teaching new vegans how to give up certain foods like cheese. It's a great show.

Quick and Spicy Quinoa and Black Beans

I enjoyed my ice day today. There was a little snow, so I gathered all the snow on my porch and sidewalk and tried to make a snowman with it, but it wouldn't stick together! I guess it wasn't powdery enough. There will probably be school tomorrow, though. I am dreading having to go back to school, but if we don't go tomorrow, we will have to make it up after the last day of school in May.

Tonight I made the recipe pictured above- without following someone else's recipe like I usually do. It was excellent. I could have been a little hotter, but I had to go easy on the spices because my mom is a spice wimp. The jalapeno peppers really added a nice flavor to it. Also, it's very quick and easy, great for when you need to get dinner ready quick!

Quick and Spicy Quinoa and Black Beans

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
half of a medium red pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced very small
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. cumin
.5 tsp. coriander
.5 tsp. paprika
1 TB salt-free tomato paste
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water
2 cups cooked black beans
chipotle powder, to taste

Put a little water in a pot so the bottom is just barely covered. Add onion, jalapeno, garlic and spices and saute until onions are soft, then add the red peppers and saute for a few more minutes. Then, add water, quinoa and tomato paste and cook covered for 15 minutes. Then, add black beans and cook uncovered until most of the liquid evaporates, leaving and thick, stick mass, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle on desired amount of chipotle powder and serve.

Two Soups

I just found out that school is cancelled tomorrow! Yeah! (Of coarse, now we will have to make it up on the Friday before Easter) There wasn't a lot of ice today, just a little in the early morning that never melted because it stayed below freezing all day. Tomorrow, however, it's supposed to be much worse.

Today I made two different soups. I wanted to cook a lot of things this weekend and freeze some of them so I would have a quick, easy meal for nights when I have a lot of homework or don't want to cook. One was great, and the other was terrible! The former is pictured above. It is French Lentil and Portabella Stew from Fat Free Vegan. My adaptions: I halved it because I only had half a cup of lentils, water instead of broth, crimini mushrooms instead of portabella, left out the celery, used Yukon gold potatoes, and didn't use the wine.

Now for the terrible soup. I took a picture, but the picture is so horrible I didn't want to post it. It is called January Out-Of-The-Cupboard Lima Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Soup from the Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. With a name like that, I thought it would be the perfect soup for a cold, icy January day like today. But I was wrong. It was edible, but just barely. The main problem was it was way too salty. I guess the su-dried tomatoes I used had more salt in them than I thought. I usually don't use salt or eat processed food that has a lot of salt in it, so I'm not used to salty food. This recipe might actually be tasty if fresh or unsalted tomatoes were used.

UIL, Squash, and "Burgers"

Yesterday I went to a UIL competition and competed in Calculator Applications and Mathematics. UIL stands for University Interscholastic League. It consists of various academic competitions, including speech, history, writing, and math. I did ok on the Calculator. I got a 103. In the calculator competition, you have to do very complex operations on the calculator. In the Mathematics, however, I did extremely well, the best I've ever done! I got a 180, and ranked 9th place. If I had answered just one more (correctly, of course), I would have gotten a 186 and ranked 6th or better, which would have gotten me an award! Oh well, I did well anyway. Maybe next time I'll get an award!

It is really cold here! Tomorrow it is very likely there will be ice or snow. We don't have school tomorrow anyway, but school might get canceled Tuesday if the weather turns out how they predict. We don't get this kind of weather very often, so when we do, even the tiniest bit of ice will get school canceled.

Tonight I cooked Red Bean-Chipotle Burgers. I didn't bother taking a picture because Susan already has a picture that is way better than my picture would be if I took one. These burgers stayed together very well! These are the first veggies burgers I have made that haven't fallen apart. We ate 4 and have 2 left over, which I'm going to try freezing for those days when I'm too swamped with school work to cook. To go along with the burgers, I made the squash you see above. This is adapted from Nuts and Bolts Squash from Dr. Fuhrman. I only had one acorn squash, so I only made half of it. Also, I used almonds instead of pecans, and added one nice, big, juicy Medjool date. I didn't use the orange juice either, and I the squash alone for 45 minutes (without water in the pan), then put the fruit/nut mixture in the squash and baked for 10 more minutes. It was really good, the dried fruit and nuts really seemed to compliment the sweet and creamy squash.

That's all for now. I hope I can post again tomorrow!

Spinach, Potatoes and Black Beans, Costa Rican Style

Hey, I'm back. I've been real busy with school this week, and had no time to cook anything interesting or blog. Fortunately, I have Monday off, so I get a 3 day weekend. Tomorrow I have to go to a UIL tourament, though. Anyway, tonight I made Spinach, Potatoes and Black Beans, Costa Rican Style from the All God's Creatures Website. I'm not at all religious (in fact I'm an athiest), but this site has some great recipes on it. Next to it are some baked zucchini slices. I also had this salad:


It has romaine lettuce, cucumbers, red and green peppers, jicama, red cabbage, and tomato. I eat a salad similar to this one every day, either with lunch or dinner. Simple, but delicious.

Ethiopian Soup and Sorbet

I'm so glad it's Friday! I'm already sick of school after only 3 days back! Anyway, today I made two things. The first was Ethiopian-Inspired Red Lentil Soup from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen for dinner. It was delicious, and pretty simple to make.

For desert, I made Persimmon Sorbet from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. To make it, chop up persimmons into chunks (the recipe calls for 4, but I only used 2). Place in the freezer until solid, which could take 3-4 hours. Then, process in a food processor with as little fresh orange juice as needed to blend. That's it. You have to use hachiya persimmons for this. They are large and acorn shaped. The other kind, Fuyu persimmons, are small and tomato shaped. They also have to be very ripe. They will be very soft all over when ripe, and will fall apart when you cut into them. This sorbet is so good and has a taste and texture similar to soft-serve ice cream (or at least how I remember it-it's been so long since I've eaten it!)