Rockport, a Few Meals and Other Happenings

My trip to Rockport was okay. We left on Friday the 18th and came back on Sunday. I had last Monday off and we were planning to stay until Monday, but by then we were ready to go home. The main reason was that it was too cold and wet to do anything other than sit in our tiny cabin and read. The first night we got there was rather unpleasant. We arrived pretty late, and the heaters in the place weren't working. We finally had to tell one of the managers about it. It turns out that the circuit was tripped. He was able to get them running. Meanwhile, it was pouring outside.




Saturday was a little better. It was still pretty cold, but it stopped raining. We went to a wildlife preserve and saw whooping cranes and armadillos. There were supposed to be alligators there too, but it was too cold for them to be out. On Sunday, we went home, but not without stopping at Green! It was so delicious (but not too healthy!). I ordered sesame chikin with brown rice and a salad. My dad had zucchini enchiladas, brown rice and sweet potato fries and my mom had the popcorn tofu po boy with french fires. My dish was fantastic! The brown rice was great also, and had lentils in it. I tried the sweet potato fries, french fries and tofu po boy, which were also great, though the tofu po boy was a little too salty for me. I did not try my dad's zucchini enchilada(dairy cheese!). I also got a soft serve soy ice cream for dessert, which wasn't very good. I prefer oatscreme from Dhaba Joy!


While we were there, we made Chickpea Ratatouille from Vive Le Vegan using Chickpeas we cooked in the crockpot. I didn't realize beforehand that it had to be baked, so we didn't have anything to cover it with, but it still cooked in the right amount of time. I left out the vinegar and oil. It was very tasty and we had leftovers that we had to haul home in our cooler.

A day or two after we got back, since we still had some chickpeas (we cooked two pounds!) and some spinach that was getting old, we made Chickpea and Spinach Curry from Vegan with a Vengance. My parents enjoyed it, but I found it rather bland and the spinach had a slimy texture. Maybe one reason for this was that the recipe called for 2 TB of fresh ginger, and we barely had 1 TB.

After that, we STILL had some chickpeas, so we made Curried Garbanzo Beans . If I was forced to pick a favorite recipe, it would have to be this one. I have made this recipe several times. It can be a lifesaver when I'm short on time but demand something flavorful. It can't get much simpler than this-heat some spices and garlic, add chickpeas, mash, cook for twenty minutes, cut up some lemon, cilantro and tomato while wait, then mix them in when it's done cooking; serve. That's it. You can even leave out the lemon, cilantro and/or tomato if you really need to. The spices make it very flavorful, and it has a nice, thick and mushy texture, sort of like a thick dal. After we finish all the chickpeas, we made Chipotle Corn and Black Bean soup again.

On Saturday, I had my first UIL competition of the year! Our team actually went to two before this, one in November and one in December, but I had to take the SAT 1 and SAT 2 and had to miss both of them! This meet had very difficult tests, and we had to compete against 5A schools. Normally we only compete against other 4A schools. I didn't place in any of my math events, but I got 4th place in Science. In fact, I tied with the 3rd place winner, but there was a tiebreaker. I have another competition in two weeks. There will be less schools, and no 5A schools, so hopefully I will do better.

Last night I had dinner with the members of Royal Co-op. Having dinner with them is part of their application process. If I go to UT next year, I definitely want to live either in this co-op or the House of Commons. It is a great alternative to the dorms. Most of the dorms don't even have a kitchen, and you're required to buy a meal plan if you live in the dorms. Plus, the co-ops are about $2000-$3000 cheaper a year, even if you have your own room! And, these two serve only vegan food! The only catch is you have to do 5-6 hours of housework a week. But that can include helping cook the meals, which I actually enjoy.

I was pretty nervous about the dinner, but it went well. I'm pretty shy. They seemed like friendly people, and since most of them are vegetarian or vegan, they probably have many of the same interests as I do. Plus, several of them are science majors! The meal served was delicious and pretty healthy- gumbo from Veganomicon, salad, brown rice. For dessert, they had pineapple upside down cake.

Soup!

Despite the cold weather, I haven't had soup in a long time. Until now! The day before yesterday I made a lentil soup recipe from one of my mom's magazines. I would post the recipe, but I can't find it right now! The original recipe called for ham (yuck) and celery, which we didn't have, so I left these two ingredients out. It also had carrots (which I doubled due to lack of celery), onions, garlic, spices, spinach, and a dried chipotle pepper. I thought I was going to be bland, but I was quite tasty.


Last night I made the Chipotle Corn Black Bean soup from Vive Le Vegan. Although the recipe said to blend it with a hand blend, I didn't do that because I like chunky soups. I liked it, and I especially liked the lime wedges squeezed over it. If you make this, don't leave that out!


At around noon today, after my mom gets out of work, my parents and I are going to Rockport. We'll be back Monday afternoon. See you then!

Lunch "Bowl" and Update on my Vacation

A few days ago, I made a "bowl" for lunch, inspired by Veggiegirl's bowl-meals. It had quinoa cooked with onions, garlic, cumin, italian seasoning, tomato paste and a little bit of pinto beans and topped with steamed brocoli and kale, raw carrots, and grilled eggplant. I didn't actually make the eggplant from scratch. At HEB they sell frozen grilled eggplant, so I heated some of that up in the toaster oven.


I liked the "bowl," but it it took longer to make than I expected, and I nearly burned the quinoa because my b(r)other wouldn't leave me alone and I was trying to make a one-serving portion of it. There was a layer of quinoa stuck on the bottom, just barely starting to burn, but the rest was fine.

I have a update on my California trip: we postponed it until spring break in March. The reason we wanted to go in January in the first place was that we got great deals on the plane tickets ($99/person each way!) and it wasn't available during spring break when we bought the tickets. But then my dad thought it might not be a good idea to go now because there are some pretty bad storms in California right now. So then we looked and saw that they now have tickets available for the same price during spring break, so we changed our tickets. And we can go for a few extra days now, since it will be during spring break.

So now what are we doing over the 5 day weekend coming up? We are going to stay in the HEB cabins in Rockport! It's free since my dad works at HEB.

Back To School

Today, in less than an hour, I have to go back to school. These past two weeks have gone by way, way too fast. Oh well, before I know it I'll be in California!



A few nights ago I made the Tomato-Olive Rice Bake from The Everyday Vegan. I left out the olives because I hate olives and the soy parmesan. It was tasty, but it was too watery and the top didn't brown, even after cooking it longer than it said to. Afterwards, I looked at the recipe and realized that I was supposed to drained the can of tomatoes it called for. Oh well. The next day we had leftovers, and when we reheated it, it wasn't watery anymore. This is definately one of those recipes that taste better the next day.



Last night, I made the Sweet and Simple Grain Pilaf from The Everyday Vegan. This was so easy to make! The recipe itself was flavorful, with lots of spices and sweet raisins. I used millet as the grain. I have never tried millet before. It was okay, but I prefer quinoa. I didn't really like the texture of the millet, it was kind of thick and sticky. But it only takes 20 minutes to cook, less time than brown rice.

Today is my brother's 20th birthday. I can't believe it! Now I'm the only teenager left in the family! Unfortunately, I'm not making him a vegan cake. He wouldn't touch it!

Happy 2008 From the World's Worst Blogger!

Wow, so I haven't updated for 5 months. Sorry about that. Things have been kind of hectic. I stopped updating in august because the computer wasn't working. Then, around august 26ish, it was fixed, just a few days before school started. I had a lot of pictures that it had been planning to post about once the computer was fixed, but by then, there were so many that I was too lazy to do it. Plus, the school year was about to begin...and not just any school year...my senior year! Yeah! Finally! So, there has been a lot of crap to keep me busy and not cooking, like SAT 1's and SAT 2's and college applications and essays and scholarship applications, my UIL stuff, and schoolwork. I only have 5 classes this year, but it sure doesn't seem like it! Especially with AP Physics C. Oh how I long for AP Chem! So much easier and more fun than Physics.
Anyway, as of December 31, I was officially done with all my college apps. I applied to UT-Austin, MIT, UC-Berkeley and Stanford. I was all set on applying to Rice too, but I thought it over and realized that I would not choose it over UT if I had to choose between those two, and I've already been accepted to UT (they have rolling admission, plus if you're in the top 10% of your class, which I am, and you live in Texas, they automatically accept you). Since I can only go to one school, I'll eventually have to narrow it down anyway, so might as well start now and save my $60 application fee. Unless, of course, none of the other schools accept me...which is quite possible with that list. Honestly, it is extremely unlikely that I'll get into MIT or Stanford. Berkeley...maybe. Anyway, maybe I'll be able to cook and blog about what I cook much more often now that I'm done with that. I'll try to blog at least once a week from now on!
And guess where I'm going on January 16th, after midterms? California! Since there is a good possibility that I will get accepted to Berkeley, and I am also applying to Stanford, my parents and I decided that I should go and see those schools. Since I have Friday and Monday off, no midterms on Thursday, and can take a "campus day" on Tuesday, we will have almost a week to be there! It's going to be so much fun! I promise to take pictures and post them here! By the way, anyone have any good restaurant recomendations in the bay area? (Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Palo Alto)
I do have a few pictures from the past few days. One New Years day, I made some Blackeyed peas with onions, garlic, chipotle powder and freshly ground pepper. It was pretty good, not fantastic or anything. I don't like blackeyed peas that much. Here it is with some steamed kale:



Yesterday, I made some cupcakes! I've never made vegan cupcakes before. When I was little, I probably helped my mom make some omni ones though. I used the Vanilla Agave Cupcakes recipe from VCTOTW. I used almond milk instead of soymilk and replaced the oil with applesauce and used WW Pastry flour. I only made a 1/2 batch because I do not want 12 cupcakes that only I will eat sitting around! (each of my parents would probably eat one, then I would be left to eat the other 10!) It actually only made 5 cupcakes instead of 6. I made some delcious frosting by mixing together 2 T of almond butter with 1 T of maple syrup. It made enough to frost 4 cupcakes, with a little bit left over for the other one. Here they are fresh out of the oven:


And after frosting:

And here's some with the wrapper off:




Here's one I took using the new camera I got for Christmas in "food" mode:

And this is my new camera!



My parents got me a camera for Christmas because next year when I go off to college, I can't just take theirs! They also got me a spatula and umbrella for the same reason. I haven't gotten my laptop yet, though. But sometime between now and august I will buy my very own laptop!

I will leave you with a picture of my dog Maggie taking a nap. (in "pet" mode on the camera!)

That's all for now, I guess. I wish you all a happy and healthy 2008!

Quinoa and Wild Rice, Black Beans and Rice

A few nights ago, I made Simple Quinoa and Wild Rice Pilaf from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. However, I made quite a few adjustments. I omitted the bouillion cube, margarine and scallions and instead added a chopped zucchini, a can of pinto beans that needed to be used up, and some cumin(one of my favorite spices), dried rosemary and thyme. Very simple, yet delicious.

Then, I made a Black Beans and Rice recipe I invented. I was great! Here it is topped with some storebought salsa.



And here is the recipe:

Cherry's Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups dry black beans
1 strip kombu
enough water to cook black beans

1 cup long grain brown rice
2 zucchini, chopped
1 ear corn, cut of the cob
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. chipotle powder
1/2 tsp. paprika

Soak the black beans overnight. Then, in the morning, place the water, black beans and kombu in a crockpot and cook on high for 2 hours. Then, turn to low and continue cooking until the beans are done and the kombu has disintegrated. Or, you can cook it on low all day if you're not going to be home to watch it.

Drain the water from the beans into a glass measuring cup and set the beans in a bowl. Add enough water to the drained bean liquid to make 2.5 cups of liquid. Pour this into a pot, add rice, bring to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the zucchini and cut the corn off the cob. After the rice has cooked for 15 minutes, add the corn, zucchini and seasonings and continue cooking until rice is done, about 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When rice is done, add the beans, mix well, and cook for 5 more minutes.

Stirfry Success!

Last night I made a different, simplier stirfry than the one a couple of days ago. Despite it's simplicity, it was much tastier! It had onions, garlic, fresh ginger, cremini mushrooms, carrots, 3 baby bok choy, zucchini, snow peas, and this wheat roast I bought at Wheatsville. The wheat roast is similar to seitan, since the main ingredient is wheat gluten, but it is much firmer and denser, and also has peanut butter, tamari and nutritional yeast. It is so good! I also used a tablespoon of this stirfry spice mixture, which has seasame seeds and various spices, and made a sauce out of vegetable steaming liquid, bragg's, and arrowroot powder(although much less arrowroot than the last strifry!) based on the Basic Chinese Sauce from Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. So now I see that you can have a very tasty stirfry without globs of agave nectar and arrowroot powder!

Chickpeas and Barley, Stirfry and Bowtie Pasta

Sorry I haven't posted for nearly a week. I was so busy reading some awesome books! I finished Food for Life a day or two after my last post, and since then I have been reading Beyond the 120 Year Diet, which I am now about halfway through. I really am enjoying both books, although at points I get annoyed that Roy Walford in Beyond the 120 Year Diet puts like to no emphasis or importance to vegetarianism, much less veganism. I think if you're planning to live a long life, going vegan is the first change in diet you should consider! Oh well...



Anyway, here's what I've been up to in the kitchen. First, I made Chickpeas and Barley in Red Lentil and Eggplant Sauce from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I used basil instead of the mint, which seemed to work well. I don't really like mint, especially after a particular experience a year ago, when I made a quinoa salad that had way, way, way too much mint. Anyway, this was very good. I think I made this recipe before and it was bland, but this time it was tasty. Maybe it's the basil?



Next, I made a stirfry. It had 3(!) baby bok choy, some snow peas, carrots, celery, cremini mushrooms, onions and garlic, as well as Sweet and Sour Tofu from VeganYumYum. I doubled the sauce since I was adding vegetables. Add I made several changes to the sauce: I used lemon juice instead of vinegar, agave nectar for sugar and molasses and reduced the amount, left out the ketchup and salt, and used fresh ginger. I also didn't use the eggreplacer and just used the moisture on the outside of the tofu to make the cornstarch stick. Also, instead of frying the tofu, I added it to the dry pan, adding very little water as necessary to keep the tofu from sticking and to help form that sticky coating. This recipe was okay, but it didn't turn out how I was hoping it would. There was WAY too much cornstarch, forming this great stick mess, hardly resembling a good stirfry, and the vegetables were a little over cooked, and the sauce didn't really coat the tofu like it should have. And the flavor of the sauce wasn't spectacular either. But don't let that discorage you from trying this recipe. I think I just screwed up a good recipe. I made a similar recipe before, Tangerine Seitan, except with tofu and no oil, and it comes out very delicious! I first made it in March and have made it at least three times since then. It is much more flavorful than this was, so from now on when I want tofu with that sticky coating, I'll just stick with this one!



After that, I made my own creation, and it was a success! I didn't really measure anything or keep track of how long it took for different parts to cook, but here's a general recipe:

Bowtie Pasta with Chickpeas and Vegetables

Ingredients:
5 oz. whole wheat bowtie pasta
water to cook pasta
about 1.5 cups of chickpeas
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, sliced
a handful of cremini mushrooms, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
a few handfuls of grape tomatoes
1 TB. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
large handful of spinach

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, put a very tiny amount of water into a pot and add the garlic, and cook on high for about 2 minutes, stirring often and adding more water if neccessary to prevent sticking. Then, add mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, italian seasoning, lemon pepper and crushed red pepper, stir to mix, add a little water if neccessary, and cook over medium-high until zucchini and carrots are tender. Add tomatoes, cook for about 2 minutes, then add chickpeas and spinach and cook for about 5 more minutes, until chickpeas are warmed. Drain pasta when it's done and add to the chickpeas and vegetables. Turn of heat and mix the pasta in well.

This was really great. I used to wonder how to come up with recipes of my own, but lately it's come so easily to me, and been pretty successful! I guess all it takes is some cooking experience and knowledge of different foods.

Vegetarian Harira

Yesterday I made Vegetarian Harira from the June issue of Cooking Light. I increased the amount of onions, cinnamon and fresh ginger because you can never have too much ginger and cinnamon. It was pretty good.

I've been reading Food for Life, and I'm really enjoying it, even though I already know most of the information presented in it. It's interesting to read books from slightly different perspectives confirming the value of a healthful vegan diet.

That's all for now. Have a good day everyone!

Black Beans and Yet Another Curry

A few nights ago I made Lentil Chili, which makes a huge amount (enough that my parents and I ate it three nights in a row and still had a good amount left over to freeze). Unfortunately, my camera still wasn't working, so I didn't get a picture.



I still don't know what was wrong with the camera, but it finally start working again two days ago, when I made yet another curry from Real Vegetarian Thai. This time I made Panaeng Curry with Wheatballs and Wild Lime Leaves, except I used tofu instead of the wheatballs because I'm lazy, and almonds instead of peanuts because we didn't have any peanuts. I used a little more curry paste than the recipe called for, maybe 1/2-1 tablespoon extra because that was all we had left and we wanted to use it up. BIG MISTAKE! This curry was way, way, way too HOT! It probably would have been flavorful, but it's hard to enjoy even a flavorful dish when your mouth and throat are on fire. I had to drink so much water during and after this meal. We also had some wild rice along with the curry. I forgot how much better wild rice tastes than regular brown rice. We had this bag of wild rice sitting in the cabinet and wanted to use it up since it has been there for who knows how long.



Fortunately, there were no leftovers from the curry, so last night we made a black bean recipe from the newspaper. The original recipe called for Cotija cheese, whatever that is, but we left it out. Also, we cooked the beans in the crockpot instead of the stovetop, and used some of the cooking liquid from the black beans to saute the onions instead of oil, and we made 1.5 of the recipe. It was pretty good, although it was a little bit too watery. I like my beans nice and dry and thick. It will probably taste better tonight and be thicker. Here's the recipe, with my adaptions:

Ingredients:
3 cups dry black beans
enough water to cook black beans
3 medium onions, chopped
2 T cumin
2 tsp chili powder
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1.5 cups cilantro, finely chopped

Cook the black beans how you would normally cook them, either on the stove or in a crockpot, whichever you prefer, or use an equivalent amount of canned black beans. Then, drain a little liquid out of the beans (about a tablespoon or two, just enough to keep the onions from burning), pour it into a large pot, and add to onions and cook them until translucent. Then, add the cumin and chili powder, mix and cook for two minutes, then add the cooked black beans and cook with the lid off for at least ten minutes, or until the bean reach the thickness and moisture level you prefer. Turn off the heat and garnish with the tomatoes and cilantro.

Yesterday I went to Half Price Books and bought Beyond the 120 Year Diet by Roy Walford and The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas, and I checked out Food for Life by Neal Barnard at the library. So I have a lot of read to do! And pretty soon I should probably start reading my summer reading book, The Poisonwood Bible, too.