Healthy Hedonist Holidays

I've got an awful lot of cookbooks... one entire bookshelf that's already overflowing, not to mention two or three drawers in the kitchen that are also stuffed full of cookbooks. I'm a cookbook person, I guess.

Of all of those, two of my all-time most favorites are Voluptuous Vegan and The Healthy Hedonist, both by Myra Kornfeld. I got Voluptuous Vegan as a gift from my cousin Eliza, way back when I was still reasonably new to cooking vegan food. I found it intimidating and shoved it in the cupboards. Thank god I rediscovered it eventually, because now I have made and LOVED so many recipes from that book... it's just crazy. In fact, VV is the most frequently sited cookbook on my blog. The Healthy Hedonist came along later and includes some recipes featuring fish and chicken and eggs... but also plenty of delicious vegan recipes or vegan options in non-vegan recipes. So, when I saw "The Healthy Hedonist Holidays" on sale a while back, I bought it right away. However, I didn't make anything from it for quite a while. HHH is, again, not a vegan book, but features some vegan recipes (fewer than Healthy Hedonist). The book is laid out by holiday and features a large menu with everything from appetizers to entrees to desserts for each holiday. I finally broke it open last Christmas and made a polenta casserole that was super delicious. So, in an effort to use the nice cookbooks I already have, I recently decided to sift through HHH and see what I could pull together for some regular weeknight dinners.

The first thing I picked was the Tofu Leek Tart with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs. As you can see, I decided to skip the crust... mostly just to keep the calories down. I didn't quite crumble the tofus enough for the dish to hold together perfectly, but the flavor was really great. The filling had tofu, leeks (lots!), garlic, miso, tarragon & basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and a few other things... a great combination of ingredients I generally have on hand (except the fresh tarragon, which required a special trip to the store!).

A few nights later I made the Golden Squash and Chickpea Soup with Roasted Chickpea Nuts... which was a huge success! It's actually a pretty simple recipe, but somehow the flavors came together in an elegant way. The soup is rich and velvety, and the roasted chickpeas are just about the yummiest thing EVER. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats was pretty freaked out by how delicious those chickpeas were. He suggested it should now be officially against the law to ever eat chickpeas in any other format... but I'm not ready for that sort of draconian measure against my favorite bean. I'll definitely make this soup again - it was wonderful!

That's all for now, but I plan to continue exploring HHH and seeing what other recipe treasures I can find in there!

Ethiopian Dinners & Homemade Injera

I mentioned a little while back that I've been doing some tester cooking for Miss Kittee's upcoming xgfx zine (all gluten-free, all vegan, all delicious!). She's got a big section of the zine devoted to Ethiopian cooking, and her recipes are amazing! So many exciting and interesting flavors and spice combos. We don't have an Ethiopian restaurant here in Santa Cruz, and before trying Kittee's recipes, I had only had Ethiopian food once before. Honestly, I didn't like it all that much. But, luckily, my sense of duty as a tester drove me forward... and I'm glad it did, because Kittee's amazing recipes have definitely converted me!

First up are some Ethiopian Red Lentils, and Ethiopian Beets (at Kittee's suggestion, I used a combo of root veggies)... plus some steamed kale on the side (not necessarily Ethiopian. but yummy & healthy). The Ethiopian Red Lentils are thick, heavily stewed, and seem like an exotic first cousin of Indian food... nicely spiced and savory. The Ethiopian Beets Plus are so delicious, it's a total freak-out situation. SO GOOD. I've made them many times already.

Here's a picture of my beets and root veggies pre-roasting... just because veggies are beautiful!

AND... drumroll please... homemade injera! Kittee has a really ingenious recipe for these injeras, which makes them both gluten-free, and quite dependably delicious. Homemade injera can be quite a task, but these were easy and perfect and very, very tasty. Any injera fans out there in the world will definitely be stoked on this recipe!

Another night I made Ethiopian Lentils with Okra and Sausage Patties. As you can see, I was all out of injera batter, so I resorted to white rice this time. This was such a super great dinner. The flavors and textures of the sauce, spices, okra, and sausage chunks all combined perfectly for a major flavor fest. Mr Vegan Eats and Treats was ooohing and aaahing his way through dinner. I think we ate the whole batch in one night... like little piggies!

Here's a close up the sausage patties all on their own. In case you are wondering, they are even more delicious than they look. They are sooo good. Quite a few of these little cuties disappeared down my pie hole before they could make their way into the final stew. Mr. VE&T is particularly obsessed with these little taste bombs, and he wants me to come up with a million different recipes involving these, so that we can have them for dinner every night.

Keep your eyes out for Kittee's new zine... word on the street is that she's busy with pre-production layout! Huzzah! Soon, you too can be eating homemade sausage patties and injera!

Airplane Food, Orlando Eats & More!

We just returned from a trip to Florida to visit Mr. Vegan Eats & Treat's family. Our flight landed in Orlando, so Mr VE&T had the good idea to grab some vegan yumminess in Orlando before driving over to his hometown, which - suffice it to say - doesn't have any all-vegan restaurants located down the street from any all-vegan markets and around the corner from any all-vegan bakeries, the way that Orlando does. Who knew Orlando had such glorious vegan offerings!?
While we were driving around downtown Orlando, looking for our restaurant, we just happened to drive past an all-vegan bakery I'd seen on Happy Cow, called Rhapsodic. Of course we had to stop!!! Mr. VE&T made some selections of his own - which disappeared down the legendary Mr. VE&T Pie Hole far too quickly for a proper photo shoot. I think he got a lemon cupcake and some kind of banana cookie? They were down the hatch in a flash!

I picked out a Mocha Cupcake, a Lemon Ginger Cupcake, and a Double Chocolate Cookie. I thought the cookies were just so-so, but the cupcakes proved to be deeeeelicious. I gobbled up my mocha cupcake right away, and brought the lemon cupcake along and ate it later on our trip... when it was very much appreciated! I love the idea of combining a lemon cupcake with candied ginger chunks and I think I will steal this idea in the future.

Having done a little research (on Happy Cow and on the PPK forums), I decided we'd go to Ethos for dinner. Isn't it funny how usually you only have one or two options when you go out to eat (best case scenario!), and so when you find yourself in an all-vegan place it's just completely overwhelming!!??

After much deliberation, we got two entrees and shared them between us. We got the Sheep's Pie, which is like a Shepherd's Pie, but meat-free (obviously!). I thought this was pretty good, but I would have like it a lot more if were a little less oily, had more gravy, and had some seitan or beans or something protein-y in it. Definitely tasty, but I was glad we had another entree on hand too.
The other thing we got was the Black Bean Burger, which was HUGE and super delicious. We were both super stoked on this giant fella, and in fact, it has come up in conversation a few times since then. I may need to investigate some good black bean burger recipes.

Also, even though we had just gotten sweets at the other bakery, we got some more cookies, because we are not stupid an they looked positively amazing. We got a cowboy cookie and an orange sugar cookie. YUM. Perfect delicious cookies, 100% worth every penny. I wish I could go back for more!

Once we made it to our final destination (Vero Beach), we had fewer stand-out vegan moments. But one night we had a lovely family dinner with two of Mr. VE&T's nephews (including this sweet fella, Evan). Their mom had borrowed a copy of Viva Vegan from a friend and made the Feiojada and also a big wonderful orzo salad with broccolini and cherry tomatoes. It was all so delicious and such a treat! It's so special to have a home-cooked vegan meal that you didn't have to cook yourself! I was really grateful. :)

By the way, did you know that Alaska/Horizon Airlines has an all-vegan, all gluten-free meal option available for purchase on all their flights?? How awesome is that!? Multigrain chips, olives, hummus, almonds, fruit leather, and a chocolate. Right on, Alaska Airlines! That is really rad. I didn't buy one, because we were on this particular flight at 7:00 am, and I already had a carry on full of carrot sticks and sugar snap peas and hummus packets and luna bars. You know how it is... A vegan never travels with an empty carry-on!

The People Demand Hot Cross Buns

So many of you kind souls asked for the hot cross buns recipe I mentioned in my last post, that I thought I'd just put my recipe up online for all the world to enjoy!

Hot Cross Buns

makes 12

tweaked from a recipe of unknown origin!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp dry yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

2/3 warm non-dairy milk (about 110 degrees F)

1/2 c warm water

1 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. flour (I use 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c sugar

3/4 c currants or raisins

1/3 c candied citron fruit

1 vegan "egg" (I used EnerG egg replacer: 1 1/2 tsp powder whisked with 2 Tbsp water)

1/2 c Earth Balance/soy margarine

Frosting:

Powdered sugar + Earth Balance + non-dairy milk

To Prepare:

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar, warm non-dairy milk, warm water, and 1 c of flour. Mix it well, and then set it aside to proof, about 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar. Add in the currants and candied citron and whisk it another few times.

In a small bowl, stir together your Earth Balance and vegan egg substitute.

Add the EarthBalance+Egg Replacer mixture, and the yeast mixture to the big bowl with the flour and candied fruits. Combine it all, and then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 8-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.... adding more flour to the kneading surface as necessary.

Rinse out your big mixing bowl, clean it and dry it. Gently oil the inside of the bowl, and then place the dough in the bowl. Cover with saran wrap or a moist dishtowel, and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, or until about doubled in size.

After the first rise, punch down the dough. Separate the dough into quarters, and then separate each quarter into thirds, for a total of 12 buns-to-be. Shape your blobs into nice little balls, and then set them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or a silpat). Cover with saran wrap or a lightly damp dishtowel, and set aside in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

While they are rising for the second time, preheat your oven to 400F. Once the buns have risen for a second time, take a SHARP knife and gently slice an "X" on the top of each bun. Then bake the buns for 15-20 minutes, until golden.

Remove from oven, and transfer to a cooling rack. Once they are more or less cool, you can make your frosting. If you rush it and put the frosting on right away, it will just melt off and make a mess. So, have a little patience, please! I don't have an exact recipe for the frosting - I just pour some powdered sugar into a cereal bowl, add in a Tbsp or so of Earth Balance, then a tiny little bit of soymilk or almond milk. I start stirring and if it's too liquidy, I add more powdered sugar and more EB. If it's too thick and dry, I carefully add another tiny little bit of milk... until I get the texture I want. You can use fresh lemon juice or orange juice for some/all of the liquid for a nice citrus-y zip. Put the frosting in a zip lock bag and zip it shut. Cut a hole in one corner of the zip lock bag, about the size of a pencil eraser. Squeeze the frosting into the "x"-shaped crevasses on each bun.

Eat and rejoice!

A Spring Brunch Party

Okay, so technically, this was Easter Brunch... but I didn't really want to admit just how far behind I am in my blogging! Even with a late post, it's worth it, because my family and I had a really awesome brunch.

The first thing I made was the Shiitake Dill Frittata from Vegan Brunch. Actually I made two! I love this recipe, it's quick, easy, and so delicious. The dill especially makes the whole thing very Spring-timey. We gathered at my cousin's house, which has a beautiful backyard with a little stream going through it. So I held up my frittata by the window, so that it could enjoy the view while having its photo taken.

Also, I made Hot Cross Buns! But of course! Yum yum yum yum. I love these delicious, slightly sweet, yeast-risen, candied-citron and current-laden treats! I only make them once a year and the whole family looks forward to them. In fact, this year all the leftover buns ran home with other people before I could get my hands on any! ha ha!! Well, that's fine, since I can always make myself more if I need them.

Also, this year I made English Muffins, which I haven't done in a while. I have an old recipe that I first saw in the newspaper, which makes really great english muffins. I even rushed the rising time (2 hours?? really?? I did one hour), and they turned out AMAZING. Next time I'll try the recipe from Vegan Diner, which was my original plan, until I realized that my powdered soy milk was Vanilla-flavored, and decided that would be super nasty. So, I went back to my old favorite recipe, with great success! I really should make these more often, they are such a wonderful treat.

My aunt Laura brought along some delicious roasted Asparagus, an absolute must for any self-respecting Spring Time Brunch. Even the resident veggie avoiders in our family all love asparagus. I mean, come on, it's asparagus!!!

I loved the beautiful baby carrots with greens that my aunt Sara put out as a center piece. A sweet little nod to Easter... which is not really a holiday that any of us celebrate, other than by having brunch together!

Here's just part of the giant spread, looking resplendent!! Strawberries, Fruit salad!, nuts, raisins, veggies, baked goodies... it was so delicious!

You can see that my little nephew CW is a big fan of the strawberries. Back when he was a little tiny guy, sometimes that was all he would eat. This year he also branched out into pineapple and asparagus (!!).

And here's my plate - complete with tangerine juice and hot coffee... Mmmmmm... too bad I have to wait another year for Easter to come around again! I want it all over again!

Yummy Yoga Retreat Eats

Watch out friends, there is a major onslaught of Vegan Eats & Treats posts coming your way! I've been a naughty little blogger, so I have lots of great foodie fun to share!

A few years back, my awesome friend Delana invited me to co-teach a yoga retreat with her, and now it is an annual event. Our retreat is held right nearby at a great retreat center in the middle of the redwoods. It's so peaceful and quiet and beautiful ... we had great sunny weather and the flowers were blooming and there were even cool white spiders hanging out in the calla lilies.

I like to think people come to our retreats for the glorious yoga experience, but I'm pretty sure the delicious food has something to do with it too. The food is all vegetarian, but they make it all vegan for our retreats (by request, obviously!). For breakfast, there is a plentiful oatmeal and/or granola bar with all sorts of great things you can add to your morning munchies: ground flax, walnuts, raisins, brown sugar, soy milk, dried fruits, peanut butter, jam, and so on. Plus toast, fruit, OJ, and coffee. I'm not usually a caffeinated coffee person, but I always wake up around 5:15am during the retreat to make sure I have time for my own practice, so I was stoked for a little extra boost at breakfast! Plus, at home I never buy bananas, so that was special treat for me.

Lunches are the biggest meals at the retreat center... and they can be pretty amazing! There's always a huge salad, which is totally rad. This day there was also a broccoli stir-fry of some sort, a roasted beets - walnuts - kale concoction that was totally glorious, and some stir-fried tofu & mushrooms (in the top right) that was soooooo good. Plus brown rice. Seriously, I could eat this kind of food all the time. Colors, flavors, textures, nutrients, yums! All in one!

The only problem with lunch is that they don't provide dessert! What the heck!? Ha ha. So, now it's a tradition that I make cookies and bring them along for lunch. I made some oatmeal raisin cookies from "Cookies for Everyone," and it was my first time using that book. All the recipes are soy-free, vegan, & gluten free. I had to add a little extra flour, but other than that - they were just great! Definitely encourages me to explore that book some more!

Here's lunch on our second day. I apologize for that semi-unappetizing saucy photo, but this food was too good not to mention. It was an amazing Jerk Tempeh (with extra jerk sauce), delicious black beans, and then a rice with kidney beans. I haven't had Jerk Tempeh for quite a while, so I was super stoked. Plus, I am such a bread freak that I pretty much don't let myself ever buy bread at home, so I go all crazy on the bread at the retreat! Bread with breakfast lunch and dinner!!

Here's a dark picture of dinner. Dinners at the retreat center tend to be lighter, which is especially nice when you are doing so much yoga. This night was a hearty minestrone soup and a delicious side salad. One thing I like is that they make all their own salad dressings and the dressing is different each time... keeps it fun! They also always make dessert, but I guess I was too busy eating to photo document it - we had some great banana bread one night, and then some oatmeal lemon bars the next night. Yay!

Here's our group of happy, well-fed yogis gathered together in the meadow!

Dosas & Uttapams Freak Out!

Lately I've been helping my sweet pal Kittee (of Cake Maker to the Stars and xgfx.org) with some tester recipes for her upcoming all-vegan, all-gluten-free zine, which will be a follow-up to her glorious first zine, Papa Tofu. Kittee is wonderful, and makes wonderful recipes, so it is a joy and honor to help her out with tester recipes.

When she sent out a recipe for making dosas, I printed it out almost immediately. You may have noticed from other recent posts, that I really love dosas. Really. But there are no places here in Santa Cruz to go get a dosa. So, if you want one, you are on your own. Which, until now, meant no dosas for Amey.

Kittee's recipe is great and easy (just requires the patience of fermenting time)... and makes a lot, thank god, because this will give you an excuse to eat dosas non-stop for a few days.

Just look at that beautiful dosa!! Honestly, I could not believe that I made it. It was perfect! Perfect taste! Perfect texture! Not so hard after all! A miracle! The next day, my mom came over to help me with some yard work, and I just whipped up two more dosas for lunch! Amazeballs! Not pictured, but verrrrry important is the coconut chutney that goes with the dosas. Yums.

So, then I had a whole bunch of batter sitting around and I started going crazy! I made more dosas! Then... I made uttapam! An uttapam is made with the same batter as a dosa, but is thicker and usually has the goodies cooked right into it. I am really crazy about uttapam. I ate a ton (literally, they are serious gut-bombs!) of uttapams in India back in January... So the discovery that this is something I could make in my very own kitchen for my very own self has been a revelation to say the least.

Back in January, while eating one of the many aforementioned uttapams at a restaurant in Pune (India), my friend Jane and I were dreaming up other uttapam variations - especially dessert uttapams. What about a coconut and pineapple dessert uttapam?, we wondered. That would be so good! Well, folks, you know what I did with my uttapam batter! And when Kittee's next zine comes out, you'll be able to get it and find my recipe for Tomato & Onion Uttapan and Pineapple & Coconut Dessert Uttapam, and make some for yourself.

Unleash the monster! There is no going back!