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.

Spanish Rice and Carob Fudge Cake

On Friday night, I made Spanish Rice with Fresh Cilantro from Mother Nature's Garden by Florence Bienenfeld, and Sauteed Green Beans with Mushrooms from VwaV. One of my mom's coworkers brought vegetables from his garden to work to share, so my mom took some of his green beans. I didn't know what to do with them, so we decided to make the green beans and mushrooms because we also had some mushrooms. I just left out the wine and used more vegetable broth. Both dishes were pretty good.




On Friday I also baked this Carob Fudge Cake from the All Creatures website. Oh my god... this cake is so delicious! It tastes like it is so bad for you! But guess what? It's not! It has no refined sugar, oil or white flour! It's sweetened with bananas and dates, and the only fat comes from the peanut butter in the frosting. The only bad thing about it is that it's very hard to stop eating it! I finished it this morning. Fortunately I didn't eat the whole thing myself! I had help from my parents, who thoughly enjoyed it. If you make it, only make half of the frosting though. I only had about 3/4 cup of carob powder, so I only made half the frosting, and there was plenty of frosting. I'm glad I didn't make the full amount because that would have been way too much! I didn't get a picture of the inside of the cake after it was cut because my camera suddenly stopped working correctly, but there's a picture on the All Creatures website.

More Curry and Muffins

Last night for dinner, I made another lovely, spicy curry from Real Vegetarian Thai. It was the Red Curry with Eggplant and Sweet Peppers. It had much more flavor and variety than the other curry I made from this book, but the other curry was good in it's own way too. My mom didn't like it too much because it was too spicy for her. She really hates spicy food. It had lime leaves in them, which have a real strong flavor, so maybe that was too much for her too, but I liked it.



I also made the Banana Date Walnut Muffins from the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blog. I knew about these muffins since Susan first blogged about them, but I never considered actually making them until I read about how much VeggieGirl enjoyed them. So, yesterday afternoon, when there was yet another pile of brown bananas sitting on the table threatening to ferment, I decided to make the highly rated muffins. I made a few minor adjustments to the original recipe: I used all whole wheat pastry flour, I used unsweetened almond milk + 1/2 tsp vanilla instead of vanilla soymilk, and used 1/3 cup of date sugar instead of 1/2 cup of white sugar. Even with these modifications, they turned out wonderful! They were so moist and sweet, and the tops seemed to rise more than most of my previous attemps at making muffins have. The only problem was at first the muffins stuck to the paper muffin cups I used. However, I had one today and for the most part, I was able to get the paper off without parts of the muffin stick to the paper. I think the muffins just needed to sit and firm up more.


Today I finished my first week of my ACC class, and I am so glad it's over. I'm so sore! I bet I'll get used to it though. Have a great day everyone.

Scrambled Tofu!

Yeah, the title's working again!




Last night, I finally tried scrambled tofu for the first time ever. I'm probably the only vegan in the world who waited for 2 years and 7 and a half months after becoming vegan to make scrambled tofu. I never knew what I was missing! This stuff is so delicious, and very healthy too. I used the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, and added some tomatoes and spinach in addition to the mushrooms, carrots, onions and garlic already in the recipe. It was great, but next time I make it I'm going to add some Bragg's, because I think that would really perk it up and greatly improve the flavor. Also, I might put it on a tortilla, maybe with some salsa. Still, it was great, and really quick and easy to make. I bet it would be great on a weeknight during the school year!

I guess that's all I have to say for now, but tonight I will be making yet another curry from Real Vegetarian Thai, and soon I think I will make muffins too, so I will probably post again tonight or tomorrow about that. Have a great day everyone!

First, before I tell about the curry we had tonight, I have some wonderful news. Today I finally got my AP scores! I've been waiting so long for them, worrying that I would score as well as I expected. Well, I had absolutely nothing to worry about! I scored exactly what I had expected and wanted to score! I got a 5 (the highest you can score) in Chemistry and US History, and a 4 in English Language and Composition! I was so happy and relieved, but really, deep down I always knew I scored well. I worked hard all year and studied, and all that effort payed off.

Also, today I start my 5 and a half week Stretching and Flexiblity class at Austin Community College. This class is just what I need to get into shape. I already walk and or jog for about an hour nearly every day, but I don't do any strength training or stretching, which is what I really need, so this class is perfect. But, the class is nearly two hours long for four days a week, so I may be really tired afterwards. Also, I need another half credit of P.E. in order to graduate next year, and this class counts as a P.E. equivalent, and it's only fourty dollars. This way, I can have just 5 classes this year, and two off periods, and avoid the horrors of high school P.E. as a senior.



Anyway, here was what we had for dinner tonight: Red Curry With Tofu, Sweet Red Peppers and Snow Peas. We used unsweetened Almond Breeze instead of coconut milk. Even with almond milk, it was still great. It was very light and fresh, with the peppers and snow peas still delightfully crunchy, yet flavorful and spicy at the same time. I got the recipe from Real Thai Vegetarian by Nancie McDermott.

For dinner tonight, I made Spicy Garlic Toss from How It All Vegan!. Along with it, we had whole wheat linguine, cooked lima beans, and grilled zucchini from the farmer's market last Saturday. I've never grilled zucchini before, and it didn't get any black grill marks or get really dry. In fact, it just barely got brown. I put it on a piece of foil because I really don't want to put it directly on the grill, since the grill is also used to grill meat for my brother (not at the same time, but still, it grosses me out). It still tasted pretty good, though. The garlic toss was very flavorful too. Overall, it was a very quick and easy meal to make, and pretty tasty.

For some reason it won't let me make a title. I don't know why. Anyone else having this problem?

Lentil Vegetable Pasta

For dinner tonight, I made a recipe of my own, making it up as I went along. I was trying to use up a lot of odds and ends in the frig, especially the HUGE zucchinis we bought at the farmer's market. It didn't really come out how I had wanted it to, but it still tasted great. Here is the recipe:

Lentil Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients:

For Lentils:

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
3 cups water
1 tsp. each: cumin, bragg's, and garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne

For Vegetables:

1/2 a large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TB fresh ginger, minced
3 stalks celery, sliced
2 TB tomato paste
1 tsp bragg's
1 tsp each: dried basil, oregano, thyme, ground cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 cup diced sweet potato
1 very large zucchini, sliced
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 handful cherry or pear tomatoes

8 oz. spaghetti or other pasta
water to cook pasta

Mix all ingredients for the lentils in a pot, bring to a boil, them simmer for 30-45 minutes, until lentils are tender. When lentils are done, drain them over a sauce pan so all the excess liquid goes into the pan, and set the lentils aside. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions, and drain when finished.

Add onion, garlic, ginger and celery to the sauce pan that you just filled with liquid and cook on medium-high for a few minutes. Then, add tomato paste, bragg's, and seasonings, mix in the pan for a minute or two, then add the sweet potato, zucchini and corn. Stir to mix together, then put the lid on and cook over medium for 10 minutes, until sweet potato is tender. Then, add tomatoes and cooked lentils, place the lid back on and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add pasta to lentil-vegetable mixture and mix well to combine.

Variation: to make it quicker and less "stew-like," use canned chickpeas instead of lentils, or leave out completely.

Banana Bread and Stuffed Pattypan Squash

Remember those bananas? Well, yesterday we had a few left (about 10 or so), so I stuck some in the freezer and used the rest for this banana bread because there was no way they were going to make it any longer without fermenting. So, I made the Banana Bread from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, using agave nectar for the sugar/honey called for. The result was out of this world! It was so moist and sweet, and had a lovely aroma!




And then for dinner tonight I stuffed the pattypan squash I got at the farmer's market on Saturday. I used Susan's recipe as a guide. However, instead of using her stuffing, I stuffed it with Kieran's Favorite Rice from How it All Vegan, which is a great big, messy but tasty mixture of rice, vegetables, beans, seasonings and tofu, and added in some of the scooped out squash. Here it is with the flesh scooped out and ready for the stuffing:

Now with the stuffing, before baking:

And here it is after baking:


It came out really tasty! I really enjoyed the squash itself, and the filling was great too. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Spicy Thai Stew

Tonight I made Spicy Thai Stew from The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton. Now I know the picture doesn't look great. However, the picture does not do this stew justice. This stew is delicious! It tastes very rich and creamy, but is very nutritious and filled with a colorful variety of vegetables- red and yellow peppers, orange sweet potatoes, green celery, green and red swiss chard. It could have been a little more spicy, but that in no way took away from the overall appeal of this tasty stew. I used cashew butter instead of the almond butter called for, and it worked perfectly. I suppose the nut butter is intended to imitate coconut milk, but with much less saturated fat.

Banana and Mango Parfaits

Yesterday morning my dad and I went to the farmer's market and bought lots of luscious, local produce. In the picture above are organic cantaloupe, zucchini, red tomatoes, yellow pineapple heirloom tomatoes, organic red and yellow pear tomatoes, white pattypan squash, and peaches. In addition to what's in the picture, we also bought organic red and yellow and green peppers, organic cucumbers, and blackberries, but I was too lazy to take them out of the frig for this picture.



Where did I get so many bananas? Well, at the HEB closest to my house, whenever they have a lot of single bananas or they start to get a little bit too brown for the average customer, they fill a big, brown paper bag with them and sell the whole bag for $2! The bag probably has 15 pounds worth of bananas! So, of course, my father, who can never pass up a great deal, has to buy one whenever they have them! What you see in this picture is probably about half of what was originally there. So what to do with them?




Make banana sorbet, of course! To make the banana sorbet, first you have to peel ripe bananas, break them into 2-3 inch chunks, and freeze them for at least 24 hours. Then, you put the chunks in the food processor with some kind of liquid. Usually I use fresh orange juice, but this time, I put a few chunks of cantaloupe in the processor first, process, then add the banana chunks. This really worked well, making the sorbet creamier than it ever was with the orange juice. I made the mango sorbet in the same way, except I bought a bag of frozen mango instead of freezing fresh mango. The banana sorbet was delicious, although the mango sorbet was only so-so. It was not as sweet or creamy as the banana. To make these parfaits, I alternated layers of banana and mango sorbet and fresh sliced strawberries. Then, I put a fresh cherry on the very top. Yum!