Bringing Pizza Back

No doubt you my have heard countless vegans name pizza as one of their most missed foods from B.V. (Before Veganism).  Pizza and probably Macaroni and Cheese, the latter being my most missed.

In B.V. times, I would order just extra cheese — no toppings — on my pizzas, but all that changed when I gave up cheese.  Along with the peace of mind that goes with the cessation of stealing calves’ milk, I also changed my pizza habit — tons of veggies toppings, and no cheese — if and when I had pizza at all.

At home, I would do the same on my pizzas, complete with veggies on tomato sauce and a whole wheat crust.  Then one day I discovered Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheeses.  These cheeses satisfied my husband’s craving for cheese, but were still a bit of a pain for me to grate by hand — at this point I had gone without cheese pizza for so long that it didn’t seem worth the trouble of all that grating.  Furthermore, the taste was just OK, and the melting was one step up from competing vegan cheese makers.

And then there was Daiya.  I first discovered it at the Vegetarian Summerfest I attended this past July in Johnstown, PA, where in addition to other ridiculously delicious foods three times per day, we were provided with pizza — lots of pizza — at both lunch and dinner.  I had a slice at every meal — probably to make up for lost time!

Daiya melts — it melts – it really melts!!  Daiya really tastes more like mozzarella, or cheddar, more so than other brands.  Daiya is already grated when you buy it in a small package.  Yes!  Daiya has brought pizza back to many of us now, and the beauty of it is that it mostly tapioca starch — it’s actually soy- and gluten-free, which means it can be embraced by people with allergies too.

I have had to travel far to get my Daiya, since my nearest Whole Foods is 45 minutes away, and no one else by me sells it. But I have good news:  I went to my local health food store and was speaking to the owner, and I asked him directly if he had heard of it.  He actually had not heard of Daiya but immediately offered to order it for me.  Within three days, he had a box of it!  No more traveling for Daiya!

One bag will yield me enough cheese to satisfactorily cover two pizzas, each with an approximately 12 inch diameter.

So this weekend I made four pizzas for a party at my house:  a grilled zucchini and eggplant, a onion and mushroom, a “meaty” one with Tofurky Kielbasa and Yves Pepperoni slices, and a just plain cheese mix of both cheddar and mozzarella Daiya cheese.

Of course, I wouldn’t eat pizza every day, but it is great to have an alternative that I can confidently recommend to other vegans, and most importantly the uninitiated veg-curious.  Truly, now there is nothing missing from the vegan world!

Below are some pictures — unfortunately with a house full of people, I did not get a chance to take the pictures until after they had already had slices pulled from them:

Appetizers and Snacks

My Mom’s Classic Potato Salad, made with Vegenaise

What was left of the cheddar-mozzarella cheese pizza!

Eggplact Zucchini Pizza

“Meat” Lovers with Yves Pepperoni Slices and Tofurky Kielbasa Sausage

Mushroom and Onion Pizza

Dessert: Banana Cake with a Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting. The truffle on the side were made with the excess frosting, crushed walnuts, and chopped dates, rolled in a cocoa powder/confectioner’s sugar mix.

Orange You Glad For Black Beans?

Don’t get me wrong — I love hummus, and believe chick peas (garbanzo beans) are the world’s most perfect bean.  However, every now and then I like to try something else for my veggie dip or spread.  Lo and behold, I had the opportunity to test a new recipe for a black bean dip by vegan cookbook author Robin Robertson.  As a tester, my job is to prepare a recipe exactly as directed by the author, and write feedback on its taste, practicality, portion size, and directions.  While I have permission to photograph and blog the recipes, I cannot reveal the exact recipe — you’ll just have to wait for Ms. Robertson to publish her next book!

The recipe I tested was called Spicy Black Bean Hummus with Orange — intriguing.  Spicy and citrusy?  I had to sign up to try it!

I gathered all my ingredients, which basically would include black beans, tahini, jalapenos, salt, cumin, garlic, and cilantro.

The beauty of this recipe is that it was remarkably quick using the food processor.  First, I put in the garlic, jalapenos, and salt.

The orange flavoring would come from the zest of an orange.  I love using a microplane in order to zest.  I usually do it over a small bowl or plate, so I do not lose any of the zest.  I did not zest it directly over the other ingredients, because I needed to measure a precise amount for this recipe.

With the zest ready and the garlic and jalapenos already chopped, I added the remaining ingredients and whirled it around in the food processor.

The bean dip was meant to be garnished with cilantro, which I cut on a board with a chef’s knife instead of using a food processor.  Years ago, I used to get lazy and use the food processor for both my parsley and cilantro, much to my mother’s chagrin.  She insisted that it ruined the herbs, and I wouldn’t listen until I finally tried cutting them instead and tasted the difference.  Yes, indeed, the food processor cilantro or parsley ended up pulpy and watery, while the hand-minced herbs retained a better texture and flavor.  When chopping cilantro, I always include the stems too, because they are just as tasty!

A final garnish around the black bean dip.

Delicious!  I can’t wait to read what the final version of this recipe will be, and try it again in the future.

Persephone’s Folly — how the heck do you open a pomegranate?

Pomegranate.  Lately, it’s all the rage, with its flavor added to teas, juices, and even vodkas.  Tiny bottles of pure pomegranate juice can be purchased at a high cost, but are credited with providing high amounts of antioxidants and even fighting prostate problems in men.

There are plenty of products offering pomegranate juice or its flavoring, but what if you want the real thing?  A real pomegranate.  Its juicy little seeds tricked the Greek goddess Persephone into staying in the underworld, but I’m sure that if she had had to cut up the fruit herself, she would have told Hades to forget it.  So what do we mortals do when we want pomegranate seeds?

First, soak the pomegranate in a bowl of water for about an hour or so, to soften it up and make it easier to work with.  But if you don’t have time to soak it first, it’s still possible to continue.

Next, put the pomegranate on a cutting board and use a large knife to cut around the fruit into four pieces.  Cut first around its equator, then through it’s stem.  The juice is dark red, so don’t let it bleed all over the counters.

Put the pomegranate pieces back into the bowl of water, and use your fingers to peel back the white pith away from the seeds underwater.  If you don’t do this underwater (or at least right above the water), the seeds will pop out and fly all over the place, or break and stain you, your clothes, everything.  Underwater, they will simply float, intact.

Work your fingers into the fruit until all the seeds are out and in the bowl.

Discard the white pith.

Once you have all the outer skin parts of the pomegranate gone, your seeds should have all sunken to the bottom of the bowl.  If there are any more traces of the pith, they will float to the top of the water, where you can skim them off the top.

Gently rinse the seeds in a colander, and you are finished.

Now what do you do with pomegranate seeds?

You can eat them as they are, because they make a great tarty-sweet snack.  Otherwise, add them into fruit salad, a greens salad, a smoothie, on top of a dessert, the bottom of a martini glass, or make a relish or sauce.

For tonight, I just threw them into a salad of baby greens, tomato, balsamic vinaigrette, and Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders, which I tried for the first time.  I was pleased to see them carried at BJ’s Wholesale Club, of all places, and was eager to try them.  Typically, BJ’s does not carry any vegan meat substitutes (they have veggie burgers, but all have egg in them).  But I do shop there for a good price on 5 lb. bags of organic carrots, organic baby greens and spinach, tofu, Sabra hummus, and Clif bars and two-packs of the Arnold’s Whole Wheat Soft bread my husband likes.

As the instructions indicated, I cooked ten pieces at 400 degrees in the toaster oven for 15 minutes.

Then, on my cutting board, I cut them each into three chunks to be divided among two salad bowls.

A warm and yummy addition to a fresh salad with pomegranate seeds.  These two ingredients certainly made my salad a lot more interesting tonight!  The Gardein Crispy Tenders were definitely delicious — to the point where my husband put four more in the toaster oven just for himself!

Dunk WHAT in chocolate milk?

Yesterday, I blogged about the veganized Shepherd’s pie I made for my husband so that he could enjoy a childhood favorite — even if he was one of the only kids in his school that actually liked it.  Most of his friends hated it!

In thinking of what gross food combinations I enjoyed as a child, one in particular stood out:  ham and cheese sandwich dipped in chocolate milk.  If you are like most people with whom I’ve confessed this oddity, you are probably thinking, “Gross!” and not just for the obvious fact that there was pig’s ham and cow’s cheese in it.

I’m not sure how it started, but I do remember I was six years old and in first grade in Florida.  The school bus would drop me off at the intersection down the road from my house, and I’d walk what seemed to me to be a mile long trek.  Now, with the advent of Google Maps, I was able to confirm that my home at the time was in fact only four houses down from the bus stop — not such a big deal — but after a long day at school, walking the length of four houses in the Florida sun could be a lot for a six-year-old.

So when I arrived, there was always my ham and cheese sandwich to look forward to, complete with chocolate milk.  I do remember my mom making these sandwiches for me most of the time, but I actually have a faint scar on my hand from when I attempted to do it myself.  It was simple enough to prepare, but when I reached in to the toaster oven, the sandwich was very hot.  My reflexes pulled my hand away by snapping up and right into the toaster oven’s upper element, leaving a 2 inch burn that still exists on the back of my hand as a soft mark slightly darker than the rest of my skin — but it wasn’t pretty when it happened!

What was so good about this after school snack that would have me coming back for more even after burning myself?  It was simple:  white bread, a slice of ham, and a slice of individually wrapped cheese.  Once toasted, my mom would cut off the crusts, resulting in a perfect rectangle of toasty bread, warm ham, and melting cheese.  I was a huge fan of Nestle Quik, and managed to prepare my own chocolate milk with no injury.  Sometimes I would drink it cold, and sometimes warm in the microwave.

Of course, I would be horrified to eat a ham sandwich now, and I probably would have been at age six if I really understood where that ham came from.  Nevertheless, the comfort of happy memories can make one long for a similar experience.  And so today I attempted to make a vegan version of my ham and cheese in chocolate milk creation.

Although I would have preferred wheat today for the bread, all I had was some of Food For Life’s gluten-free rice flour-based sliced bread on hand that actually resembles white bread (which I haven’t bought in my last 12 years of adulthood).  I also have Galaxy Nutritional Foods Rice Vegan American Cheese and Lightlife’s Smart Deli Baked Ham veggie protein slices.  And although I don’t make a habit of buying it, I couldn’t resist a coupon last week for Silk’s Light Chocolate soy milk.  Everything was there… how could I not take this opportunity to recreate that childhood experience?

There really is not a lot of cooking to be done here.  I simply put a slice of the “ham” on one side of the bread, and a slice of the “cheese” on the other.  Given the fact that vegan cheese doesn’t melt the same way (if at all) as cow’s cheese would, I first put the breads in the toaster oven separately so that more of the cheese’s surface area would be exposed to heat.  I set the toaster oven’s timer for 5 minutes, then flopped the “ham” bread onto the “cheese” bread and left it in the toaster oven for 1 more minute.

Using my wooden tongs to safely remove my sandwich (yes, I am still traumatized!), I was ready to enjoy it with my glass of chocolate soy milk.

Cutting the sandwich into two triangles, I happily dunked each bite into the chocolate soy milk.  Yummy (to me)!!!!!!!

I’m fairly convinced that there is nothing that can’t be veganized — even the weird, quirky, and sometimes gross stuff we do as kids.

The Shepherd Has Freed The Flock

Sometimes, children like the most unusual foods.  I think almost everyone has a food they loved as a child, that perhaps seems gross now as an adult.  Perhaps it’s an unusual combination of ingredients, or possibly something too sugary to withstand as an adult.  It could also be associated with certain childhood memories.

For my husband, it was the dreaded Shepherd’s pie in his Catholic school cafeteria.  Most students hated it, but apparently he and only one friend loved it.  Usually it was only offered once per month, but sometimes to their delight, it would suddenly appear every week on the menu.  The boys cheered while others groaned when they heard the morning announcements proclaiming Shepherd’s pie on the menu.  My husband and his friend ran to their seats in the cafeteria, then sat quietly with their hands folded, waiting for one of the nuns to approvingly send them to the lunch line.  With glee, they dug into the mess of meat and instant mashed potato flakes, while other kids just pushed it around into alien formations on their plates.

Well over twenty years later, my husband sometimes asks fellow alumni if they remember the Shepherd’s pie and if they too liked it.  He hasn’t had any luck finding more fans —  most people either don’t remember it or hated it.

What could have possibly been so delicious about this Shepherd’s pie to these two elementary school students?  What was in it?  Apparently, just ground beef, corn, and mashed potatoes.  Nothing else — and that does mean nothing! I learned that the hard way the first time I attempted to replicate it.  I decided to get fancy and add carrots, edamame, and chopped broccoli to the corn layer, much to my husband’s disappointment.  Actually, he does like carrots, broccoli and edamame, but not in his Shepherd’s pie!

This time I promised to stay true to the recipe of his childhood school cafeteria favorite.

So I started by immediately cheating and reaching for an onion!  How could I not put an onion in it?  The flavor of a sauteed onion is too much to give up!  Thus, I began by dicing and sauteing a large onion.

My favorite ground meat substitute is Lightlife Smart Ground.  I use it for shepard’s pie, sloppy joes, pizza, lasagna, and chili (in which it has totally fooled meat-eaters at parties, and even a chili contest!)  Sometimes my grocery store runs out of it, so very often I buy several at a time because they do keep in the freezer well.

Whether you store it in the freezer or refrigerator, it is a good idea to crumble it completely into a bowl first, so that you do not have clumps.

Sometimes, I do the mise en place thing and put my herbs and spices into a bowl first.  Today I used dry parsley, oregano, basil, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper (more cheating!).  I did not measure it, but I can say the dried herbs were about 1 tablespoon and the spices were about 1 teaspoon each.

Once the onions were sauteed to the point in which they began to appear translucent, I added the Smart Ground, herbs, and spices.

After blending everything together and sauteing for a minute, I added Annie’s Worcestershire Sauce, which is vegan (many other brands are not!)

I stirred some more, until everything was incorporated.  I find that keeping a cup of water nearby and occasionally adding water prevents sticking, if necessary.

Once I was satisfied with a taste-test of the Smart Ground, I layered it thickly along the bottom of a glass casserole dish.

My next layer was frozen corn.

My final layer was a thick layer of mashed potatoes (Click here for the recipe).

I baked it in the oven at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Then I turned the broiler on for about 3 minutes, but unfortunately it browned unevenly, as you can see here.  Maybe it’s my oven, but I am just not a fan of the broiler.  However, my  husband wanted it brown on top, just like when he was a kid.

After letting it cool a bit, we served large portions of it.  My husband enjoyed two hearty servings and never noticed the other ingredients outside of the corn, mashed potatoes, and Smart Ground!

Truly a mess, but ultimately a good comfort food, which brought some happy blissfulness and nostalgia for my husband.  I liked it too, although I can’t say I would have liked the original school cafeteria version.

In thinking about this meal and the story behind it, I’m going to provide a sneak peek at tomorrow’s blog:  I’m going to write about my favorite gross childhood food.  It involves chocolate, bread, “cheese,” and “ham.”  You’ll have to stay tuned!!

Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck

Thanksgiving… rich and decadent foods, full tummies, great laughs, and good company.  For most vegans, however, we may not get to indulge in all the foods when with our families.  Thus, our local vegetarian/vegan group had a 100% vegan meal with traditional foods.  We were a total of 10 people and all brought different foods, which we planned earlier this week.

My contribution:  a Tofurky roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, and fennel with a basting of soy sauce, agave nectar, maple syrup, walnut and sesame oil, as well as rosemary, sage, cumin, salt and pepper.

“Three sisters” salad:  corn, lima beans, and zucchini with tomatoes, dill, cilantro, salt, pepper, olive oil, apple cider and red wine vinegars.

Roasted red pepper hummus and chips.

Butternut Squash soup.

Pasta salad with broccoli, olives, beans, corn, and tomatoes.

Creamy mashed sweet potatoes

Cranberry relish with crystallized ginger and orange zest.

Stuffing with three different mushrooms.

Homemade vegan gravy

Vegan cheesecake with apples and pecans.

My plated butternut squash soup.

The beautiful and satisfying entree!

Desserts!  Cheesecake, chocolate cake, and sweet potato pie.

The Vegan Ilk of Milk

Vegans have the glorious choice of not one, but at least six milks most dairy-drinkers often don’t even know about.  Most people have heard of soy milk, and in fact many coffee shops including Starbucks now carry it as an alternative to dairy.  However, there are also additional delicious choices such as almond milk, rice milk, hemp milk, oat milk, and coconut milk.  Each has a distinct flavor and consistency.  Some are sweeter than others, and thus serve some purposes better than others.

Typically, coconut and rice are the sweetest choices, which are excellent for desserts, but not uncommon in entrees such as curries.  Neither one, in my opinion,  is particularly good to drink straight from a glass, if not mixed with coffee or in a smoothie.  Soy milk and almond milk are more flexible, and are good for use in baking recipes, or to simply drink plainly.  My only experience with oat milk so far is in baking and using for cereal.  As for hemp milk, it is more expensive than the others, so usually I just enjoy it by drinking it with cocoa powder.  Either way, they are all enjoyable and worth trying.

The question for today, however, is which one would be most delicious and effective in making  creamy mashed potatoes?  I decided to try all of them (except coconut — that one I know would be way too sweet).

To prepare the potatoes, start with scrubbing the skins with a vegetable brush. I never peel my potatoes — it’s a waste of time!  But if you want your mashed potatoes to be completely white, then go for it.  I prefer mine “dirty” and less time consuming.  While you’re at it, be sure to put water in a large pot to boil.

Cut the potatoes by first steadying it on its side and cutting it lengthwise in half.  Then take the two halves and set them flat side down. Depending on the size of the potato, cut it lengthwise into two, three, or four slices. Then cut perpendicular into 1.5″ chunks.

Once the water is at a rolling boil (not just sputtering bubbles), put the potatoes in.  The rolling boil will stop, but the potatoes will be cooking.   When they return to a rolling boil, check them after 15 minutes.  The timing may vary depending on the amount of water and potatoes, so keep checking.  If you can poke right through them easily with a toothpick and they break apart, then they are pretty much done. If you taste one, it should fall apart in your mouth.

Once the potatoes are finished, let them drain in a colander for a few minutes so that all the water is out. Then put them back in the pot and mash them.

Once they are broken up, you can use an immersion blender.  Mine is a Proctor Silex. I love using it for pureeing soups, without the bneed to transfer messy hot liquids to my blender.

Add Earth Balance (about 4 tablespoons) to the potatoes, as well as salt and pepper, to the taste.

Now it is time for the milk taste tests.  I put five dollops of potatoes each in its own bowl and added 1 tablespoon each of the test milks.  I used a small whisk to incorporate the milk into the potatoes.

After trying all the samples twice, I resorted to using process of elimination to narrow down my choices.  I quickly took out both hemp milk and soy milk out of the running, as their flavors were too strong and interfered with that of the mashed potatoes.  Next I eliminated the oat milk because it also had a noticeable taste.  Finally, I really couldn’t make up my mind between the almond milk and rice milk.  Rice milk seemed like the most neutral taste, but also appeared thin and runny.  Therefore, I decided to mix equal parts rice and almond milks in this particular batch of mashed potatoes.  Thus, I added 1/2 cup of each and used the immersion blender once again to mix everything.  The result was smooth and creamy!

Food Paparazzi

As I loaded my plate yesterday at Mumbai Bistro’s buffet-by-the-pound, I eagerly took out my camera to photograph it before eating.  As the flash flickered in the dining room, I paused and wondered, what am I doing?  Who takes pictures of their food?  Why?

As I asked myself these questions, I also had one answer — I do, I take pictures of my food, and so do many of my vegan/veg-curious friends.  I have definitely been in vegetarian restaurants in which our whole table whipped out cameras to photograph beautiful meals as they arrived.

What compels me, as well as my other vegan friends, to take these pictures?  I have yet to meet or dine with a nonvegetarian who does the same thing.  As I think of my relationship with food, I realize that I simply view it differently now, as a vegan, than as I had before.  I plan menus at home around seasonal produce, and note the passage of time as these fruits and vegetables come and go.  My bookshelves have completely been overrun by vegan cookbooks, pushing out my English and Spanish literature books long ago.  My travel plans include decisions about where to eat — even a trip to New York or Philadelphia is ten times more exciting now, with the anticipation of eating at a vegan restaurant.  My memories are anchored around what I ate and where: “Remember that day when we had that chocolate infused chili on vacation?”

Years ago, when I still ate cheese, if I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich or mozzarella sticks at a diner, the food was not so fascinating, colorful, or tasty enough to remember.  I ordered, I ate, I left.  But now my experience with food has changed.  Many times, especially in the beginning, my restaurant food choices were very limited (iceberg lettuce and tomato, anyone?). But as time has passed and a few new restaurants have sprung up in my area, I have improved my ordering skills.  I peruse the menu for ingredients, and often design my own satisfying dish.  These are my memories and experiences that I enjoy documenting and sharing as other people might photograph vacations and dance recitals.

As a vegan, my food choices may have limited me from the animal products world, but in turn it opened up the vastly larger plant world.  I look forward to trying new vegetables and fruits unknown to me, but also rejoice in recreating the familiar ones in more and more ways with each season.  Ethnic foods in particular have added diversity to my palate, and have become an exciting option for when I cannot find a vegetarian restaurant.

Having this much significance in my life now, my conscious eating is something I experience daily and thus becomes central to my life.  Of course, not all vegans care this much about their food, and I’m sure there are plenty of meat-eaters that will claim the same joy I’ve described.  I can only speak for myself and for my fascination with food’s power.  Chosen poorly, it has the power to harm; chosen consciously, it has the power to heal.  Its flavor has the ability to bring joy or disappointment.  It brings people together to connect over their celebrations and common desires.

After thinking about it last night, I decided today to go through my picture files for other examples of foods I’ve either cooked myself or ordered at restaurants over the past few years, and describe what I remember.  Here are some photos of some of the foods I’ve made or ordered and felt were important enough to photograph.  (Some of the images are low quality, especially if I took the picture with my phone camera, so I do apologize — I am no photographer!)

Vacation Pictures

My honeymoon in Saint Martin.  Left:  my favorite mango daiquiri drink garnished with a starfruit and gooseberry.  Right:  Ital food from a Rastafarian restaurant called Freedom Fighters Ital Shack, serving an all-vegan natural menu.  Cucumbers, avocados, sprouts, plantains, barley, and seasoned TVP.  It was served with home-brewed sarsaparilla tea, somewhat visible in the corner.

“Second” honeymoon in Jamaica.  My options at this resort were very limited, since they were cooking everything with butter.  I was actually sick for three days before realizing it.  Then I just ate mostly fruits and fresh salad for the rest of the week, along with unlimited rum.  Left:  a fruit called guinep.  It’s eaten by biting the skin so that it cracks open, removing the pulp and sucking on it, then spitting out the seed.  We bought two bunches and kept them in our room to snack on throughout the week.  Right:  typical decorative fruit displays at the resort restaurant.  I would have chowed down on it if I could!

Washington, DC.  Lunch at the National Museum of the American Indian, where the cafeteria serves many native foods categorized by region.  This meal included purple potatoes from Peru, as well as wild rice and mushroom entrees.  It was my husband’s uncle’s idea to eat here, and it was fantastic!

Lancaster, PA.  A wonderful family trip in which ten of us stayed for President’s Day weekend.  It happened that Valentine’s Day also fell on the same weekend.  Left:  my Valentine’s Day meal of capellini pasta, marinara sauce, grilled veggies, and an edible orchid — which I did eat, and found to have a surprisingly buttery texture!  Center:  huge fruit salad for breakfast at a neat little cafe.  Right:  an awesome fried tofu, hummus and veggie wrap served at a brewery.  It was amazing, but unfortunately when we returned the following year, they no longer had it on the menu.  After anticipating it as I planned the trip, and of course thinking about it all day while sightseeing, it was quite disappointing to not have it that night!

Lititz, PA.  A great mid-week getaway just this past summer, where we stayed at the Speedwell Forge Inn and Wolf Sanctuary.  It was quite an awesome bed and breakfast, which deliciously accommodate vegan guests (or any dietary needs) — the food was terrific but I had forgotten my camera for breakfast.  Instead, this picture is of a chocolate chili and wild rice risotto I had at Cafe Chocolate.  They have several delicious vegan entree options, and some of their chocolate is vegan — like their amazing truffles!  We also had chocolate-strawberry shakes with chunks of dark chocolate floating in them.  These were my best memories of this trip!

Restaurant Pictures

Green Cuisine in Stone Harbor, NJ.  Eggless “Egg Salad” on pumpernickel bread with fresh fruit.  Yum!

Thai Basil in Piscataway, NJ.  A vegetable yellow curry.

Horizons in Philadelphia, PA.  Peruvian Mushroom Crepe with squash, really big Lima beans and a really yummy sauce.  Perfect restaurant to celebrate our second wedding anniversary.

All the Way Live in Philadelphia, PA.  A  medley of five raw appetizers on a bed of baby greens.  Green wakame salad with sesame seed oil, nutmeat made from walnuts and savory herbs, BBQ baby bella marinated mushrooms, quinoa with cilantro and fresh vegetables, and black bice with kale, onions, peppers and burdock root.

Careme’s in Mays Landing, NJ.  The second all-vegan gourmet dinner co-sponsored with American Vegan Society.  Read about the third one here.  (In order from left to right) first: butternut squash soup with pumpkin-spice croutons garnished with vanilla almond milk froth and baby watercress.  Second:  green asparagus tempura with pickled radish lime zest, and a warm tamari chili soy sauce.  Third:  ruby beet tartare with watercress, endive, green apples, pistachio nuts, and Dijon mustard.  Fourth:  garbanzo bean panisse with young carrots, sweet onions, cumin, crispy shallots, barley, and tomato-currant relish.  Fifth:  dark chocolate caramel sorbet with chocolate streusel, puffed rice, and an almond milk froth.

Potlucks!

Tons of fabulous food at a raw food potluck this past summer.  Left:  the salads and savory foods.  Right:  the awesome desserts!

(In order from left to right) first:  potato salad.  Second:  mac and (not) cheese!  Third:   peanut butter chocolate pillows from a Vegan Cupcakes Invade Your Cookie Jar recipe.  Fourth:  chocolate orange spice cake with dulce de batata from a Viva Vegan recipe.

Celebrations

First wedding anniversary party.  Left:  a huge spread of all vegan appetizers including cabbage salad, fennel salad, cucumber salad, hummus, vegan ranch dip, guacamole, fresh salsa, fresh veggies, and tons of other stuff that aren’t even in that picture.  Right:  the top of my wedding cake (vegan) from the previous year, and just peeking in the bottom of the picture are two desserts from recipes in Ani’s Raw Desserts.  Those desserts were much better than my cake.  On our wedding day, the caterers gave us our cake top sealed in a cardboard box, which we kept in my in-laws freezer for the year.  When we opened it, I realized it hadn’t been wrapped in plastic or anything — it just sat in the cardboard for a year and tasted awfully freezer burnt!!  We ate a bite anyway, just to celebrate, and moved on to the good (and fresh) stuff.

For my thirtieth birthday, my husband made this tempeh chili for the party — all by himself using a recipe he found on the Internet — and he ordered this vegan gelato cake from Dreamz Cafe in Millville, made with mango and strawberry flavors.

At Home

Some random foods I’ve made in the last year or so.  (From left to right) first:  butternut squash and orange soup.  Second: pumpkin waffles.  Third:  veggie pizza with Daiya cheese.  Fourth:  ”meat” lovers pizza with Daiya cheese, Smart Ground, Tofurky sausage, Yves Pepperoni slices.  Fifth:  grilled Daiya cheese and tomato made with a panini press.  Sixth:  Chocolate banana cake with chocolate ganache on top.

Now with this blog, I intend to continue documenting good vegan food in my own kitchen as well as in restaurants in and around New Jersey.  With opportunities three times per day, I’m sure I’ll never run out pictures for this blog!

Three Minute Vegan Ice Cream

At a Veg Meetup a few weeks ago, I described my vegan ice cream recipe that I’ve been making for a few years.  To some, it seemed to involve a lot of work, but to me it only takes about five minutes, or three minutes if I rush.  The trick is to always have the ingredients on hand, of course, and multi-task the preparation and clean up.  Today, I actually set my stopwatch and finished the whole job (with pictures) in 2 minutes, 58.2 seconds!

Very often, I have an insatiable desire for chocolate, and sometimes it’s in the form of ice cream.  In the summer, it’s every day!

Vegan Ice Cream does exist and is available for sale in both health food stores and regular grocery stores like Shoprite — however, it still has fat and sugar comparable to cow’s ice cream.  As much as I love Coconut Bliss, So Delicious, and Purely Decadent chocolate ice creams, I can’t afford to eat the calories (or pay the price) every day.

But a banana, ice cubes, almond milk, and hemp powder can be a surprisingly rich stand-in for these higher-calorie ice creams, and very easy to make.  As I mentioned in my smoothie post, I always keep frozen overripe bananas on hand.  I usually buy them at Acme, where they sell them for $0.25 / lb. in paper bags.  Before they get mushy, but after they are very yellow and have quite a few black spots on them, I peel them and freeze them in a plastic ziplock bag.  Provided I have these bananas, some cocoa powder, and almond milk on hand, I’m set!  You don’t need the hemp powder, but I have been adding it ever since I discovered that I’d much rather have chocolate ice cream after a workout than a protein shake.  Thus, I put my hemp powder in the ice cream, with the added bonus that it does add a subtle nutty flavor and some body to the ice cream.  Now I add it all the time, even when I haven’t worked out.  All in all, the result is a delicious ice cream eating experience that really amounts to no more calories or regret than having eaten a banana!

Following a recipe based loosely on Alissa Cohen’s Living on Live Food and in observing banana whips in progress at Bashful Banana (Great veg-friendly food!) in Ocean City, New Jersey, I devised a strategy using the tools and resources I have.  Bear in mind, as pictured, my food processor has a hole on the top of the lid with a removable cup.  Once the machine is running, I safely add most of my ingredients through there to avoid wasting time, but you might want to stop yours in between ingredients (today I had to stop it in order to take pictures).  I also suggest washing some of the tools while the food processor works, but for the first time, you may want to keep your eyes on it instead.

1. Set up and plug in food processor.

2. Put 3-4 ice cubes in the processor and start running it.

3. While the ice is chopped up, grab a knife, cutting board, and a banana from the freezer.  Cut it into round slices about 3/4-inch thick.

4. Add these slices to the food processor (I actually throw them in through the hole on top and keep the machine running).

5. While these get chopped up, wash off your knife and cutting board, and grab the almond milk, hemp protein (if using), and cocoa powder from the fridge.

6. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of the almond milk (eyeball it) through the hole on the top.

7. Add about 2 tablespoons each of cocoa powder and hemp protein.

8. Put the hemp protein, cocoa powder, and almond milk in the fridge while the food processor is running.

9. When the mixture is thick and smooth but not liquified, stop the food processor.  Immediately wash the food processor lid.

10. Remove the food processor bowl and careful take out the blade.  You can use a small rubber spatula to push off the ice cream.  Immediately wash this blade too.

11. Don’t waste time or dirty any more dishes!  Take that same small spatula and eat your ice cream right out of the food processor bowl!

12.  When finished, wash the bowl immediately to avoid sticking.

Mmmmmm!!!  Tastes great, and if you multi-tasked, you really don’t have dishes to wash or stuff to put away.  Five minutes later, it looks like nothing happened in your kitchen — nope, no sneaky snacks at all!

However, the only catch is that you really do need to eat it on the spot before it melts, and it won’t keep the same texture if you freeze it.  Thus, for real vegan banana ice cream, you’d have to use an ice cream maker and more ingredients.

Here are some suggested add-ins I’ve used in the past (add to the finished ice cream and pulse the blade a few times to incorporate it):

1.  Almond or peanut butter (be sure it is room temperature).

2. Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

3. Vegan Graham Crackers, Sweet and Sara Marshmallows, and chocolate chips (My response to the Phillies Graham Slam flavor put out by Turkey Hill).

4. Coarsely chopped Oreos (I usually get Newman-O’s).

5. Peanuts or almonds.

6. A teaspoon of agave nectar and a drop of vanilla extract (especially if your bananas weren’t that ripe and sweet).

7. Chunks of brownie or cookie dough if I happen to be making some.

8. Carob powder instead of cocoa powder.

Substituions, if needed:

1. Frozen chunks of mango also work as well as bananas, but I wouldn’t put cocoa powder in it.

2. Almond milk is my favorite for this recipe, but really any non-dairy milk will do.

3.  You could always skip the cocoa if you don’t like chocolate.

****If I get a Flip video camera for Christmas, I promise I’ll repost in the future with a video to prove how fast this recipe can be made!  In the  mean time, enjoy!

Wow, those are some big bananas! (Tostones: fried plantains with rice and beans)

If you’ve never seen a plantain, you may be surprised to see it looks like a prolific banana.  In fact, when I taught Spanish and brought them to my class, it drew quite a bit of attention from the immature minds of my high school students.  In addition to the inappropriate comments, most students said they had never seen such big “mutant bananas” and others thought they might have been rotting since even the green ones had some spots on them.

Interestingly enough, most people don’t know that our sweet beloved bananas are the real mutant.  The original fruit is the starchy plantain that can be traced back thousands of years to Southeast Asia, and is usually cooked when eaten.  And although the most popular banana we eat today is the sweet yellow one, the truth is that the banana mutation occurred in 1836 in Jamaica, when discovered by Jean Francois Poujot in his plantation.  After that, entire nations were developed due to the rising power of the banana industry.

Bananas are indeed delicious, and had a significant influence in world history, but today I acknowledge its parents, the plantains.

When purchasing plantains, you may see they are often sold either green (platanos verdes — unripe) or yellow (platanos maduros — ripe).  If you want them ripe for other recipes, you could also buy the green ones and wait several days.  But for today’s tostones, green is good.

Way before I started preparing the plantains, I planned ahead for my rice and beans.  Both needed to be soaked several hours before preparation, so I did that first thing in the morning.  But note the difference:  the beans should be soaked in boiling water, and the rice should be soaked in cold water.

Both rice and beans from dry packaging require rinsing to remove any dirt or powder.  In addition, the beans should be examined to be sure there are no tiny rocks or twigs (I have found rocks!).  For improved digestion, rice should also be soaked in cold water because it will release its phytic acid, which can interfere with the absorption of protein and certain minerals.  Beans should be soaked in hot water because it helps to break down indigestible sugars known as oligosaccharides (known to cause gas!)  Also, in both the rice and the beans, the time soaked contributes to the cooking time, thus resulting in a faster preparation later in the day.

The rest of the rice and beans preparation can occur right before you fry the plantains, or during, if you can multi-task.

For the beans, be sure to drain the soaking water and rinse them completely to wash away the oligosaccharides and any remaining dirt.  The best way to cook them is in a pressure cooker, but it could be done in a regular pot too if you give yourself more time.

If you have a pressure cooker, put the beans in it with enough water to cover approximately one inch above the beans.  Add bay leaves, and some spices to your liking.  Today, I used about 1 tsp each cumin, annatto, chili powder, dried cilantro, and garlic powder because I was going for some of the Latin flavoring.  The measurements for these depend on how much beans you’re cooking (I only had about 2 cups).  Put the lid snugly on the pressure cooker as per the directions, and set the burner on high.  Your pressure cooker may vary in its directions, and it will also vary with your choice of beans.  I used black beans, so they only needed about 15 minutes of cooking after the pressure cooker reached the point of pressure.  Unless your pressure cooker has a specific way of identifying this status, you may just need to rely on what you see and hear happening.  With mine, I start to hear a rise in a hissing sound, until it’s making quite a fuss and blowing some steam through a hole in the lid.  Then suddenly it stops and I hear a quiet rumble and hiss.  That’s when I start the timer.  When time’s up, I wait for the pressure to drop and check the beans.  If the beans are soft, then they are done.  Don’t worry if there is extra water.  You can leave the beans in that water, because this water is OK to save or even use in another dish.

Meanwhile, the rice can be drained and rinsed, and then prepared in another pot.  With the exception of the presoaking part, I still make my rice as my sister-in-law showed me using sauteed onions in the pot first, then adding the rice and mixing it all together with water and a boullion cube.  A quick trick to quickly chopping an onion:  cut the onion in half down its vertical center (not its equator!), then make several slices perpendicular to it’s root, but not all the way through so that it does not come undone.  Then slice parallel to the root and the onion will magically appear chopped into little squares.

Since the rice has already been soaked, I just use a 2:1 ratio of water to rice, instead of the 2.5:1 recommended for dry brown rice.  Once the water is on the rice, it really shouldn’t be stirred because the starches break up and make the rice mushy.  Leave it to boil until you notice that enough water has evaporated and you see sputtering holes in the rice’s landscape.  At that point, lower the burner to a simmer, and keep a lid on it for 20 more minutes.

When finished, you can mix the rice and beans together in a bowl, if you don’t mind the color of the beans running into the rice (like a dirty rice), or keep them separate and plate the rice with the beans on top or on the side.

Now the plantains!  Peeling green plantains can be a challenge.  I try to cut lengthwise along the natural creases and peel them.  If you have a very hard time, it could help to cut them first into 1.5 – 2 inch chunks and cut the skins off by tilting them on their sides and cutting downward where the plantain meets its skin.  There’s actually a great step-by-step explanation with pictures here.

Once you have these chunks, you are ready to deep-fry.  Yes, I did say deep fry.  But don’t be alarmed!  If done correctly, deep-frying can result in less oil absorption than other forms of frying.  Some general tips:

• Use an oil that can stand high temperatures, like safflower oil, and always monitor it with an oil/candy thermometer.  Oil that is too cold will be absorbed into the food.  If it is too hot, it will obviously burn the food and also release carcinogenic compounds.
• Use tongs to both place and remove your food from the oil, so you do not splash hot oil on yourself or your stove (it’s hard to clean).
• Do not put all your foods in at once — that will cause the oil temperature to drop.  Regulate the oil by monitoring your burner at all times.  370 degree is generally a good temperature (recipes vary), but it should never go above 400 for most oils — also, depending on your oil thermometer, watch that the temperature doesn’t go anywhere near the maximum number, because it will break!  If you see it rises high, just pull the thermometer out so it can cool in the air, but never put it into cold water.
• After frying, rather than setting the foods on the paper towel (where they sit in their own oil), put them on a cookie cooling rack instead, with paper towels or a cookie sheet underneath to catch the dripping oil.

To make tostones, they must actually be fried twice.  The first time, they are fried in their chunk forms only until the outside is golden and you no longer hear crackling — just sizzling.  As you fry each batch, make sure they are on a cooling rack , and keep them in some kind of order so that when you are ready for the next step you start with your cool ones first and don’t burn yourself!

Next they will be squashed with a beautifully simple device called a tostonera.  Place the fried plantain chunk onto the circular indent and close the handle onto it.  You need not smash it completely to smithereens — just enough to make it into a patty.

Once your patties are ready, they go back in the deep fry oil (check the temperature!) and continue to fry until they have become a crispy golden patty.  Remove them from the oil and drain them once again on cooling racks.

Sprinkle the tostones with coarse salt and serve with the beans and rice.

Delicious!