A fun veggie dinner & Vegan Shoes!

Thanks for all the cookbook emails everyone! I'm going to make another batch this weekend, and I'll send them out soon!

We had a fun dinner of veggies tonight. I bought some nice big artichokes on sale at the farmer's market last weekend. I don't totally love artichokes, but it's fun a couple of times a year. Most of the nation's artichokes are grown around here, so they are also a neat local crop. Musty also got a big bag of brussel sprouts from our tax guy today (?? don't totally know how that worked! ), and so I made the *fabulous* roasted brussel sprouts with toasted garlic. This recipe single-handedly turned me from a brussel-sprout-pessimist into a brussel-sprout-fan! And, I also made the always delicious "Blitva s Krumpirom" (potatoes with chard). It was a very delicious meal!

Today I bought myself a cool new pair of shoes! These caught my eye a few days ago at our local "outdoorsy" store. I noticed that they looked neat and cozy, and were *leather free*!! Hoorah! They are BOGS brand, which I haven't heard of before. They're very comfortable. They are made of rubber, canvas, and neoprene. They have laces, but no "tongue"... actually there's an inner part that you just slip into (perfect for lazy me!). Plus, with all the rain we've been having lately, I can finally wear something besides my flip flops and my tennies with holes in them. :) here's to cozy feet!

My favorite piece of mail is when I open the mailbox and find the latest copy of "VegNews" - I LOVE that magazine! So, now I'm off to take a bath and do some veggie reading. I can't wait!

Stuffed Peppers & Black Beans & My Cookbook

I cooked dinner early this morning... which I don't ususally do! I mentioned yesterday that today was my day to cook for my friends with a brand new baby, and morning was the only time I had. Actually it was kind of fun! They're vegetarians, so it was extra fun to cook for them. I made a big batch of stuffed bell peppers & a big batch of black beans, and then gave them half and kept half for our own dinner.


For both of these recipes, I used the same "Vegetarian Suppers" cookbook that I used yesterday. These stuffed peppers had quinoa, fresh spinach, corn, jalepenos, cilantro, garlic, and some tofu ricotta in them (which I subbed in instead of feta)... and were served over a bed of caramelized red onions simmered in white wine. Aren't they pretty?? they're also very, very good.

The black beans were great! with cilantro, coconut milk, garlic, cumin, green bell pepper, and diced onion. These were spicy and very tasty!!

Here it is all on the plate. We also had a piece of toast and a big salad. What a feast!

We enjoyed our dinner, and I hope our friends did too!

Also, a few of you have asked me about getting a copy of my annual holiday cookbook. Every year for Christmas I make a little cookbook with some of my favorite recipes that I discovered that year. Most of them aren't recipes I made up (I'm not so good at making up recipes), but rather recipes from cookbooks. I draw little pictures to illustrate it... it's only 10 recipes or something, a little xerox number. Anyhow, if you want one, send me your actual name and mailing address and I will send you one! Here's my email address: ameyfm (at) yahoo.com

As an aside, I give out these cookbooks to all my friends and family and even all my yoga students. It's a nice homemade gift, and also it's a friendly little sneaky bit of vegan activism. I think I'll put up a little tutorial once the holiday season rolls back around. In the meantime, start keeping track of your new favorite recipes for this year! :)

Finally, a food photo day!

I've had two great meals the last two nights... but they were both out-of-the-house, and I was caught without my camera. Shucks!

But I made it up for it today...

For lunch I made myself a Tofurky Kielbasa sausage (with a dab of dijon mustard), some steamed Purple kale, a couple tangerines, and an apple. Yummy and quick. I hadn't ever bought the purple kale before, and I loved it. Sweet and nice flavor. Plus... the colors! It starts out with a deep burgundy color before you cook it. I was suprised when I opened the pot and saw some dark green leaves looking up at me. I was even more surprised when I took the strainer out of the pot and saw that the water left in there was a brilliant teal color.

And, then look at this picture... this is the color of the water left on my plate after eating the kale. Isn't that beautiful!? some purple, some teal. Sort of a weird thing to take a picture of, but I'm sure you'll all understand.

My little 1st grader nephew came over after school today and we spent the afternoon/evening together. It's pretty raining here today... so it was an inside day. I thought it would be fun to make a loaf of bread together, he hadn't ever done that before. I made the "Easy French Bread" from La Dolce Vegan. I've seen other blogs posting about it, and it seemed quick enough that a 7 year old could handle it. In truth, I don't like it that much. After the glory and majesty of the No Knead Bread, it's hard to imagine that much else can compare. Still, it was a fun thing to do together, and it's definitely yummy enough to enjoy. See how the bread split on the sides when rising in the oven? Funny, huh? It looks like a giant hot dog bun!

While the bread was rising for an hour and a half, we made some oatmeal raisin cookies. I followed the recipe from "Modern Vegetarian Kitchen" by Peter Berley. I was attracted to this recipe because it had lots of walnuts, raisins, and oatmeal; used only whole wheat pastry flour, and used only maple syrup and brown rice syrup as sweeteners. And was pretty lowfat. In the end, it turned out that my brown rice syrup had gone bad, so I subbed in some agave nectar and a bit of arrowroot to thicken it a bit. These cookies are GREAT! So tasty! Musty and my nephew and I all loved them. I'm making food for my friends who just had a baby tomorrow, so I wanted to be sure to have some dessert... which was my original impetus for making a big batch of cookies. It's always better if you've got someone to help you eat all that goodness.

On Saturday, my friend JJTWH came down for a visit... and while here, she went through my copy of Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Suppers" and marked her favorite recipes so far. I haven't used that book too much... but her comments inspired me. I'll be making a few things this week from it.

For starters, I made "Star Anise-Glazed Tempeh with stir-fried peppers," which my friend said was her favorite so far. Oh WOW! What a superb recipe. This is very very high on the yumminess scale. Fancy, elegant flavors, stunning and easy tempeh results... and actually a pretty easy meal to make, especially given how fancy you feel eating it. It's got Chinese 5-Spice (my first time ever using this delicious spice - yum!), mirin, soy sauce, & maple syrup in the glaze. The veggies are garlic, ginger, scallions, red & yellow peppers, red cabbage, and cilantro. And also toasted cashews. Also, you can see that I used the last of my green bamboo rice that i bought up in San Francisco back in January. mmmm. If you have this cookbook, I DEFINITELY recommend this recipe!

And of course, a dinner salad to finish things off: lettuce, pea sprouts, "micro greens" ( I really don't know what these are! I just buy them at the farmers market... some kind of tasty sprouts), english cukes, carrots...

Tostadas!

I saw this on someone else's blog (for the life of me I can't find the original post), and I was inspired to try it.

First, I put my tortillas in my little pyrex (1 at a time) and baked them for a few minutes until golden.

Then I put in a layer of refries. I used the non-fat veggie refries from Bearitos. I added in some fresh salsa and a big spoonful of cumin and cooked it up warm.

Then some faux-spanish rice. I had some old rice in the fridge, I heated it up in the pan with a little water, some more fresh salsa, some garlic powder (too lazy to mince another clove of garlic), and some paprika... yummy & spicy!

Next, I added some sauteed veggies. These had a bit of olive oil, garlic, red onions, broccoli, & carrots.

Then some fresh cabbage

and some fresh lettuce

Not pictured: a big mess of fresh salsa, and happily stuffed belly!

Raviolis, No-Knead Bread, & Salad!

First off... I made my second loaf of No-Knead Bread today. Well, I started it yesterday, and finished it today. I'm sure most of you have heard of it by now... It's a cool recipe that involves letting the dough sit for 18 hours! It's fun, and it makes AMAZING results!

Here is the bread dough, all sticky and bubbly after fermenting for 18 hours. I used 2/3 regular flour, and 1/3 whole wheat pastry flour. I am going to keep getting more and more adventurous with flour varieties.

Here is the dough after its rising period.

Here it is, still in the pyrex dish (my lame substitute for a proper dutch oven).

Here it is... in all its glory!

Sliced! Of course, I had to have a couple little pieces when it was still warm I don't get that opportunity very often. : )

Tonight for dinner I made some of these delicious Rising Moon vegan Garlic & Vegetable raviolis. Yumola. These are very good, and occassionally go on sale at my local health food store. I always grab up a box or two at such times!

In addition to the raviolis I made a nice big salad: with cabbage, julienned chiogga beets, julienned carrots, celery, and spring lettuce mix & arugula. I'm not really a huge arugula fan (too spicy!), but I recently learned that it's loaded with calcium... so it's another project for me! Also, you can see our beautiful piece of toast from the bread. OOOh that toast was so good! Musty and my mom and I were all raving about it.

Here's a cute little picture of the grapefruit that I had as a snack this afternoon. It had one seed, which I removed... see that funny hole? It was a great piece of fruit!

Persian Feast! & 5 Things

** UPDATE ** I brightened my Persian feast picture and added the brighter version too. Now you can see the tasty dishes a bit better.


I got the cooking bug today... I've been reading a lovely book about Iran ("Neither East Nor West"), and the author was writing about some of the dishes that her hosts were serving her... That was all the temptation I needed!

I had some tempeh and seitan in the freezer, so they came out to defrost & I got to work.

I made Fesejan using this recipe. Instead of "meat or small duck or partridge," I used tempeh. :) WOW! This dish is amazing! Such lovely and delicious flavors. A combination of sweet, sour, bitter, salty. Very complex, and just what I was in the mood for. The ingredients include: onion, turmeric, tempeh, walnuts, pomegranate juice, eggplant, and cardamom. Incredible! It was actually quite easy and quick... especially since I decided not to fry to the eggplant. I just steamed it quickly and then proceeded with the recipe. I'm sorry the picture is so dark (some of our lightbulbs are out), this would have made a gorgeous picture in the light of day. I cut the tempeh into triangles and they were so beautifully glazed. ahhh.


I also made Ghormeh Sabzi (vegetable stew) using this recipe. This is the dark green one on the right of the plate. Instead of meat, this time I used seitan. I also used canned kidney beans, cilantro, dill, chives, leeks, parsely, spinach, onion... and a few more ingredients. This dish was also amazing, even though I could tell I hadn't done it exactly right. I wasn't ever able to get all the herbs to lose all their moisture, as the recipe called for. I also left out the dried lemons, because I dont' have anywhere to find those around these parts. The dish had a great flavor, and since I was using seitan, I only had to cook it for about 15 min, rather than one hour like the meaty version called for... Another veggie victory!

To go with dinner, I made plain white rice. I LOVE proper persian rice, but a girl can only juggle so many things at once. :) I used this rice from TJ, and I have to say that I really recommend it. I love the way it cooks up - not too starchy, not too sticky. mmm

For dessert I took the idea of this recipe and made us each two special dates:
pit the date
stuff in half of a walnut half
roll in sesame seeds
roll in a mix of powdered sugar and cinnamon
enjoy!

I also made some pudding cups using this Oeteker's Butterscotch Pudding mix. As long as you use soy milk, it's all vegan. YUM.

**

Also, Chris over at Eat Air tagged me to write 5 Interesting Things About Myself. hmmm

* Over the last few years I have become aware of how damaging my various "identities" can be. I've noticed that once I identify as a "yoga teacher" or a "nice person" or a "serious person" or whatever... I instantly, and unconsciously, restrict my behavior choices to fit those self-imposed labels. Obviously, discipline and self-judgment are important, but in hindsight I've often realized that I didn't acknowlege something real that I was feeling or experiencing as a result. So, I don't know if that is interesting or not, but this exercise made me aware of those tendencies again.

* when I was two years old I finally said my first word, and it was "woof"

* I have been studying and practicing yoga for about 12 years. I started teaching yoga about 5 or 6 years ago. I practice almost every day, for at least an hour. Currently I am working toward a few specific goals in my practice: more mindfulness during practice, regaining strength after a 3-year long shoulder injury, deepening my backbends so that I will be able to drop back from standing into a full backbend (and back up again someday!!??), developing generosity and gratitude (trying not to be too selfish!), studying as much Anusara Yoga as possible to learn more about that, and - most especially - cultivating the elusive balance between discipline and JOY.

* Eight of my closest friends have known me since at least Junior high... and a few of them even go back to kindergarten. We are all still friends and get together as often as possible. Some people didn't get that lucky, especially in high school, so we are all very grateful for each other!

* So far, I really enjoy aging. Every year that I get older I feel more balanced, content, and generally skilled at responding to my emotions (and life in general). I think this is largely due to my loving boyfriend and my loving yoga practice and to all the wonderful people much older than me with whom I study yoga (with our teacher Kofi Busia). They have been such an inspiration to me, sometimes I wonder "How nice will it be when I'm 40?!". Ha ha! Maybe there is a cruel surpise ahead for me, but I don't think so!

Maybe that was interesting, maybe not! thanks for coming by either way. :)

Year of the Pig! Oink Oink!

Yesterday I went up to visit one of my best friends in San Mateo (south of San Francisco)... We had a great time. She's another vegetarian, farmer's market-loving, cooking fan - one of countless reasons that we enjoy each other's company.

We started off our visit with a trip to her farmer's market. It's always fun to go to another farmer's market and see the goodies. We got some produce, some 100% apple juice, some apricot-walnut bread, and a few other delicious goodies:

They have an Afghan vendor selling lots of tasty things, many of which are vegan. I got a packet of 2 spinach bolanis, 2 lentil bolanis, and 3 condiments: lentil curry, cilantro chutney, and eggplant pesto. OH YUM. The bolani is a thin bread with a layer of spinach/lentil/whatever inside, and folded into a half moon. I toasted up one and had it with the condiments for lunch today and it was exceptional. What delicious flavors!

I also stopped by the legendary Big Paw booth. Oh my! They sell the most amazing vinegars, olive oils, and other goodies. I bought a bottle of Apricot-Lavender vinegar which is just fantastic. I can use it as a fat-free salad dressing all by itself & it's wonderful. I also got two new items:
Fig Syrup - which is only boiled down figs and sugar. It tastes like fig molasses. AMAZING
Grilled Figs - with basil and balsamico. Deep, smokey, rich, sweet, complex... very interesting flavor!

Tonight for dinner I made some roasted veggies, just a simple dinner: roasted potatoes, beets, and butternut squash. We also had a big bowl of steamed chard. Simple and good.

For dessert, I wanted to make something special to celebrate the Year of the Pig... so I made these little marzipan piggies! Or, as Musty calls them, Marzipigs! I read an article in the newspaper about celebrating the Year of the Pig with a whole fancy pork-centric meal... Not for me, thanks!! I wanted something a little more pig-friendly. I had a little bit of marzipan in my cupboard from last month's big grocery trip in SF. These guys are pretty small, just a bite or two each. :)

As a side note, I really love pigs. They are such smart, and sensitive, and responsive creatures. They look so much like people... the skin, the eyes... I love them. So, let's all say a joyful "oink" in honor of the pigs!

Pasta, Pancakes & Pasta Casserole

Hee hee, a bit of a carb-y post! Tasty, though! Also, I finally responded to all your nice comments from the last post! :)

A couple of nights ago, I proposed making an old favorite of mine: "Pasta con aglio i olio" - or pasta with garlic & olive oil. I usually add a big handful of fresh parseley too. Musty suggested adding some roasted butternut squash (his current favorite food). What a good idea it was!! YUM. Here's a basic recipe:

Roast up the equiv of about 1.5 c of butternut squash
(tiny bit of oil, 450 degrees, 20 min, flip over/stir, 20-25 min more) Chop up in bits

Cook about 3/4 lb of pasta.

While the water is boiling, and the pasta is cooking... mince up 4-5 garlic cloves (depending on your garlic preferences) and saute it on medium heat in 1 or 2 T of good quality olive oil. Saute until golden. Add about 1/2 tsp salt. When the pasta is done, mix it up with the olive oil-garlic-salt mix. Then, add in the chopped up butternut squash bits. Add a handful of chopped up fresh parseley. Eat and enjoy!!


For Valentine's Day we had pancakes for lunch. Yummy treat! I used a nice recipe veganized from "Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe."

Tonight I made a fun dish, which I actually made up! Unlike all you clever bloggers out there, I don't make up my own dishes too often. I was a bit inspired by Jess over at Get Sconed. I chopped up a few little zucchini, an onion, a few garlic cloves, a red bell pepper, and a huge bag of fresh spinach from the farmer's market. I cooked up some macaroni noodles, and meanwhile, I sauteed up the onion & garlic, then added the zukes & peppers, then the spinach. I mixed up the noodles and veggie mix... then I added about 1/2 c of some "tofu ricotta" I had stored in the freezer (from Real Food Daily cookbook), some pine nuts, & about 1/2 a Jar of jarred tomato sauce. I spread it all into a casserole dish, sprinkled it with breadcrumbs & baked it at 375 for about 25 min or so.

I guess it sort of looks like a big bowl of slop, but Oh wow, it was great!!! I ate two big bowls of it. Not bad for a made up "use-up-what's-in-the-fridge-dinner"!

Hope you're all doing well. :)

My Fabulous Foodie & Yoga Trip to San Diego!

I returned home this afternoon, after a long weekend in San Diego. I went down for a yoga workshop, which was really really amazing. The whole trip was absolutely perfect and fun and flawless. I stayed with my friends Laura & Chris, which was super fun. I feel so blessed to have such kind friends. I always keep in mind that my choice to be vegan can be weird and inconvenient to others, but all my SD friends were so gracious and made sure to welcome me with loads of vegan tastiness. Thanks friends!!

On my first night in town, Laura and Chris started off by taking me out to a veg restaurant they knew of : Jyoti-Bihanga. It's operated by devotees of Sri Chimnoy, and is all veg, with loads of vegan options. I'm sure all you fellow vegans know how bizarre it is to actually have options when you go out! It was hard to choose! I finally settled on their vegan "Neatloaf" with a side salad.The neat loaf was neat indeed! It was made with grains and tofu, and had a nice flavor, especially with the dark, sweet sauce on top. It came with some crazy-good mashed potatoes and gravy, and some yummy toast. This is a fun thing to order out, because I don't often make something like this for myself. Those of you following my mushroom-adaptation-program will be interested to know that this was mushroom gravy and was insanely delicious. Hoorah!

And of course - dessert! It was a chocolate mousse pie with almonds. The crust was some sort of date-almond raw crust thing. It was very good, although not a great match with the mousse, which was also extra great. So, I took to eating the crust and the mousse in separate bites... and was quite happy indeed.

After dinner, Laura & Chris even took me out to the symphony with them - it was so wonderful!

Last month's issue of VegNews had a travel feature on San Diego and I used that as a guide for a lot of fun things to do and eat on my trip. The natural food coop and deli "People's" was close to my conference, so I went there both days for lunch. I had to eat early, and lots, in order to have stamina for the afternoon segment of the workshop.

On Day One of the workshop I got a vegan BLT, some bananas, a juice squeeze, a "mineral rich salad" (with chard, hemp seeds, and other deliciousness), and some seasoned tofu patties for a post-class snack. The patties were a little plain (but I still ate them!), but every thing else was downright yummy!

After class, I had just enough time to sneak over to an **awesome** store called "All Vegan"!!!!! How cool is that!? It's a retail store selling tee shirts, shoes, books, bumper stickers, chocolates, treats, videos, buttons, purses, wallets, and so on... all vegan! I was so happy I could hardly control myself. Luckily for my bank account, I had a time restriction - so I only walked out with three tee shirts, a box of vegan caramel chocolates, & two stickers. The owner was super nice, and took a picture of me in front of the store... see how I am beaming with joy?

That night our fellow friends Megan and Chris had us all 3 over for dinner. It was a wonderfully fun dinner party. First we played with their super sweet little twins, and after bedtime we had our dinner. Megan was so sweet and made a traditional lasagna as well as a vegan lasagna. (*side note: every year I make a little cookbook with some of my favorite recipes of the year, and give it to my friends and family... this lasagna recipe was from one of my past cookbooks and is probably one of my very most favorite meals of all times. It was a REAL treat to have someone else make me my own favorite dish!!). Here's my piece. I had two, actually!

Megan even got me a vegan cookie and some Soy Delicious for dessert - such a sweetie!

On day two of the workshop I went back to People's again and this time got some scrambled tofu with roasted potatoes, a cup of split pea soup, and some outrageously good Spinach-Hazelnut salad. The spinach salad was the clear winner that day. YUM.

And that night, Laura and Chris took me to another veg-friendly spot they knew: "Rancho's" This was also featured in the VegNews article. I can only say this : WOW!!!! What a freaking amazing place! They have a huge menu, and at least half the items have a (*V) symbol next to them, meaning that the item is or can be vegan! It's a mainly mexican food spot, with very fresh ingredients. They had so many veggie choices it was just awe-inspiring: shitake, tofu, tempeh, vegetable, avocado... the list goes on. I finally settled on an avocado-blue corn enchilada and a tempeh ranchero enchilada, both with red sauce, and a side serving of beans. Oh man, it was a truly delicious menu. I can't wait to go back.

This morning I got up early, since Laura and Chris were headed off to work, and decided to go for a hike at Torrey Pines State Park. Torrey Pines is one of my favorite places anywhere, and it was especially lovely on a quiet, cool, cloudy morning. It was so beautiful just walking around with the sages, cacti, and cliffs... ahhh.

After that little walk, I headed over to "Rancho's" other location - which isn't too far from the airport. Last night I had noticed the breakfast part of the menu, and that they made vegan pancakes! Shockingly, there is nowhere to get good vegan pancakes in all of Santa Cruz. Dharma's does make vegan corn "pancakes" - which are essentially just large disks of cornbread. Most unsatisfying. So, I ordered some vegan multigrain pancakes - and added in blueberries and bananas. You can't tell from this picture, but these were FULL of blueberries and bananas (on the underside). I also paid the extra $.95 for organic pure maple syrup. Oh yum yum yum. These were the fluffiest, hugest, and most delicious pancakes I have had since becoming vegan over 5 years ago. They were THAT good. I couldn't believe it. I literally left the store skipping down the sidewalk!

Just a quick note for those of you are fellow vintage kitchen ware fans... I only had about 10 minute to stop by my favorite vintage pyrex antique spot in the world. I was in such a rush, I didn't have much time to decide about purchases (I got one small refridgerator dish), but I did snap some pics of this lady's booth - it's just so beatiful. She groups all the dishes by color in some very enticing displays!

Lastly... my eating schedule was all weird on account of my flight today, so we ended up getting burritos at about 4:30 today. As a result we weren't too hungry for dinner. So, I just made us a big fruit salad. I broke down and bought plenty of non-local, non-seasonal, and a few non-organic fruits. Oh well. :) The salad had fuji apple, red d'anjou pear, manjo, fresh pineapple (very good one too!), blueberries, and oranges. mmmm. a nice treat.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Be sure to check these places out if you ever make to San Diego!