New Year's Day in Food

The New Year transition in food:

New Year's Day was kind of weird. As I mentioned, our friends had to leave early. After a quick dog walk and goodbyes, I made some Buttermilk Pancakes for John and I. This is the 500 Vegan Recipes version with flaxseed for the egg replacer.

We pretty much hung out, cleaned a bit, watched TV. I did some yoga/calisthenics and before I knew it the middle of the day had arrived. 

For New Year's Eve dinner I had made this Penne Vodka from Veganomicon - Shannon you would love this and it's really easy. I use cashews instead of almonds because I think the creaminess is nicer. Also, I don't have an immersion blender so I just blend the nuts with a splash of water in the magic bullet until it's a cream and then add it in. The nice part about that is that then the tomatoes don't get as blended up and there's a little more chunkiness to it which I prefer. 

I made a double batch so we would have a lot of leftovers and we had it for lunch with some steamed broccoli.

For snack a little later was an apple.

I was still pretty hungry at 3ish, so we broke out some chips and salsa. This is the Sabra prepared guacamole, which is actually pretty ok for packaged dip, and the salsa is Monroe's, a local New Mexican restaurant. It's my favorite. 

After a fair few of those, I was sitting on the couch watching TV when I suddenly could not keep my eyes open anymore.

So at 4 PM I fell asleep. At 11 PM I woke up and moved to the bed, and then slept until 4 this morning. 12 hours, no big deal.

It makes perfect sense actually. I'd been sleeping about 3-5 hours a night for the past several days because I was having such a hard time switching my body back over to days from my night shifts last week. Usually it's a little easier to get back to days because I have to go to work and I just end up exhausted and it only takes me a couple days. I think because of vacation days I just wasn't feeling pressured to be well-rested and didn't want to miss anything, so I was sleeping very little.

So I feel much better. I definitely needed it. 

That said, I woke up starving of course because I slept through dinner, so I started my day this morning with a banana at 4 AM. 

John has to work today so he's about to leave and I'm going to head out for a run with Luna. 

Not sure what else I'll do today, but I'm just really trying to appreciate it because tomorrow it's back to work for the next straight 15 days. I'm so grateful for these 5 days I had for New Year's, but it is that much harder to go back. 

Veganomicon Mole Skillet Pie with Greens

It's been a little while since I last reviewed a Veganomicon recipe, but the book is still pretty much my favorite.

John and I decided to make something new for dinner on my day off last Sunday, and this was one I'd bookmarked but hadn't yet gotten around to.

Basically a chile chocolate mole sauce gets combined with cooked veggies and beans and topped with a fluffy cornbread crust.

In a word, awesome.

Pretty much any time I can individually portion something from the beginning, I love it, so we made this recipe in ramekins instead of an actual skillet. It's not going to stop me from calling it skillet pie. We were also rather unexpectedly all out of baking powder so we found that the baking soda/cream of tartar substitute works great, in case you were wondering. I forget the ratio exactly. That's googleable.

The recipe only uses 1 cup of mole sauce, so I have an enormous batch in the freezer now. Not sure what to do with it...but I'll find something. The book suggests you could use it instead of enchilada sauce, or top tacos with it. Never having had any mole ever in my life, I don't really know how it would be best, but I can tell you it seems very versatile. It's spiced but very mildly sweet.

Ratio-wise, we probably could have made 5 little ramekins pies with the amount in the recipe, but since we have 4 ramekins, I just filled each and split the crust between them. There was some leftover filling but we just ate it like an appetizer with chips.

And the best part? I think they were even better as leftovers. I have one more for dinner and I'm pretty excited about it.

One big pie or little individual portions? And what should I do with my extra mole sauce?

Vegan MoFo 3: Cooking Time Audit

First off, welcome to all the new readers. Whether old or new, introduce yourself. We're all one big Vegan MoFo family here.

One of the topics I wanted to cover this Vegan Month of Food is "Just how accurate are those time estimates in the cookbooks?" When it says 45 minute recipe, is it really? Does a 2 hour recipe actually take half the day?

I will find out. And report back, and then we will all know. I'm hoping to do this weekly, so here's #1.

In order to assess whether you can make a comparison of time for my cooking vs. yours, let me just break down my cooking experience:

- Easy non-cookbook "Yes EasyMac IS a reasonable meal for a college student" cooking experience: 13 years

- Recipe cooking experience: 3 years, with a steep increase in the past 1 year. 

- Baking experience: 1 year

So I haven't been really cooking that long - maybe you'll be faster than me. 

The first recipe to audit: 

Veganomicon Sweet Potato-Pear Tzimmes with Pecans and Raisins

I have a passionate love for the Veganomicon. If Fiance John's Girlfriend #2 is his iPad, then my Boyfriend #2 is the Veganomicon. And Ryan Reynolds.

I've never made this recipe before, because it seems like cheating to time audit something with which I'm already familiar, so here goes. 

Stated time estimate: 1 hr 15 mins total. 15 mins prep. 1 hr baking. 

Actual time spent: 1 hr 18 mins total. 18 mins prep. 1 hr baking. 

Proof:

Pre-oven.

Post-oven.

Considering the simplicity of this recipe, it was startlingly good. I'm pretty sure I'd like to make it a staple in my Thanksgiving or Christmas menu. It tastes like warm holidays, cinnamon and Grandpa's bad jokes around the fire. 

In terms of the time comparison, I take a little longer to prep than our brilliant cookbook authors estimate, but just a few minutes. It'll be interesting to compare in a recipe that has a longer prep time. Technically I took 20% longer to prep than estimated, so we'll see if that increases proportionally in a recipe that takes, say 30 mins to prep. Stay tuned for #2 coming soon. 

Any recipes you'd like to see time audited?

Veganomicon Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry

After my morning breakfast of new-to-me quinoa flakes, and my statement that I actually didn't love regular quinoa texture all that much, somehow we ended up with quinoa for dinner. However, this was an awesome decision. It may have even redeemed my opinion of quinoa texture.

Veganomicon never fails us. This was awesome. 


If you haven't listened to me yet, and therefore still don't own the book, the full recipe can be found here: Veganomicon Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry

My changes included:
1. Canned pineapple instead of fresh. This also supplied the juice necessary - it was about a cup.
2. Replaced mirin (a sweet rice wine) with another tablespoon of veggie broth.
3. Red bell pepper AND yellow bell pepper. I always add extra veggies. I just can't stop.
4. Half a serrano chile instead of the red chile - we just couldn't find red.
5. After the last 10-14 minutes of stir-frying, we cranked up the heat and gave it another few minutes to make it kind of fried and toasty.

Ingredients: Quinoa (after refrigeration in the pot), peas, peppers, veggie broth, pineapple, soy sauce, limes.

In prep bowls (clockwise from upper left): Basil and mint, scallions and garlic, toasted cashews, chile and grated ginger.

Chopping up that chile seemed easy, but after extensive exfoliation of my fingers my eyes and lips still burn if I touch them. It definitely didn't make the dish spicy, just be careful about touching it. 

I bought a new basil plant for the occasion. Johanna has plans for it. I sincerely hope it fares better than my last one.

The cashews, post-dry toasting.

Scallions and garlic. 

Plus chile and ginger.

Plus peppers and peas.

Plus everything else. 

Frying a little extra at the end. 

His and hers. Served with lime wedges. 

So. Good. 

What's your favorite pineapple dish?

Veganomicon Seitanic Red & White Bean Jambalaya

The Veganomicon does it again. I'm beginning to doubt that any other cookbook is ever going to surpass this one as my favorite. This dish combines beans, rice, seitan, and a world of vegetables and spices that gives a sort of risotto-textured comfort food dish that I think still tastes kind of fancy. I'm not really a huge fan of cajun flavors typically but I really like this.


The recipe can be found here, but as you know, I really think you should just buy the book. It's so worth it.

You can use store bought seitan or make your own. When I was making this recipe, I really wanted something that would take a long time and all of my attention - I like getting lost in the details of the recipe because it takes away all the worries about everything else. For that reason, I chose to make my own seitan, and used (what else?) a recipe also from Veganomicon.


You can find the Simple Seitan recipe here.

Tips, Thoughts and Changes

1. (Timing: MOST IMPORTANT) Using brown rice, this actually took almost 2 hours to bake instead of the 45 minutes in the book. Making the seitan takes a while, so overall it took about 4 hours to make this recipe. Most of it is simmering or baking time and you could do other things. Just know you have to start early. 

2. I used vegetable broth instead of the cooking sherry. 

3. Things left out: fresh thyme, celery seed, parsley - it still tastes well-spiced. 

4. Red pepper instead of green pepper. I just kind of hate green pepper.

5. Although it doesn't specify, I drained and rinsed the cans of beans. 

6. The recipe calls for a deep casserole dish, but all I had was a 9x13 lasagna pan. With everything combined this filled it up right to the brim, so I covered it with foil as dictated and I set it on a roasting pan for the baking. It bubbled over quite a bit, but the pan contained it fine. If you have two lasagna pans, I would split it. 

7. Just be sure to taste the rice before you pull it out of the oven - baking time varies but you definitely don't want to quit while the rice is still hard - it should soak up most of the liquid. 

All together now.

Diced veggies.

Spices.

Seitan simmering in the broth. 

Diced up homemade seitan. 

It looks real weird. I agree. But there's 54 g of protein in that chunk, and it tastes awesome.

Southern love on a fork. 

Veganomicon Mac Daddy

Mac Daddy with Veggies

I love my boyfriend, but if I could date a book, it would be The Veganomicon. Boyfriend's pretty okay with it, as long as I also feed him when it turns out something awesome (which is basically always).

This is a dish for all those moments when people ask me, "Don't you miss cheese?"

No. Way.

If you don't own the book (though obviously I think you should) you can find the recipe here.

Cook elbow macaroni.

Make cheesy sauce. 

Crumble and season tofu.

Put veggies, pasta and sauce in the pan with the tofu. Mix it up.

Top with breadcrumbs.

Bake.

Plate.

Try to savor it slowly. I dare you. 

My Recipe Notes

1. Size: It's written for a 9x13 pan. That's a lot for one person. I love leftovers, but not always for 8+ days straight, so it's easy to just halve the recipe and put it in an 8x8.

2. Additions and Modifications 

a. Vegetables: I love veggies and have since I was a baby. (Apparently mom used to just blend up the broccoli they were having for dinner and feed it to me.) 

You could toss in any cooked or frozen vegetables when you mix the noodles into the pan. I used 1 cup frozen peas and 2 cups frozen broccoli. Despite halving the recipe but keeping the veggies high, I thought it could do with a little less noodle and more vegetables, but that's how I like everything. In a full recipe (the 9x13 size) I'd definitely go for 6+ cups of veggies. 

b. Breadcrumbs: Just a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs over the top gives a nice crunch that baked pasta really shouldn't go without. 

c. Oils and Fats: I love healthy fats as much (more than?) the next person. Shoot, I put almond butter in my soup last night. However, there's so much other great flavor in these recipes that I cut the oil to a teaspoon pretty much anytime a tablespoon is called for in the book. Breezy low-fat cooking.  

3. Cooking Time: The recipe calls for 30 minutes, but I thought it needed about 45, and for the last ten, I turned the heat up to 400 and moved it to the top rack to make it nice and crunchy on top.

4. To Serve: Wait 20 minutes and it will not only be firm, but the perfect temperature. I sliced it with a spatula and then scooped it onto the plate. 

5. Nutrition: A quarter of the 8x8 pan (the pictured amount) is under 400 calories, and takes up a whole plate. More importantly, it combines protein, carbs, veggies and that comfort food feeling that is sometimes everything you want. That's a nutrient right?

___________________________________________

In other news:

- Finals completed: 5. (The final one this morning was really hard.) 

- Classes passed: Unknown. 

- Classes failed: Currently none. I'll take it. 

- Workout: Bike commute. Otherwise a rather lazy day.

Mexican Meal: Spiced Black Beans, Veganomicon Potato Enchiladas

Let's talk about vegan enchiladas. As regular readers may know, I pretty much love the Veganomicon, and have never been disappointed when I follow one of their recipes. 

No surprise: these Potato Enchiladas were awesome.

If you don't own the book, I'll refer you to this post from another food blog, because it seems silly to type it all again. 

Here are my notes: 

The original recipe: Potato Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce

Our version: Potato Spinach Enchiladas (with Enchilada Sauce from a can...still delicious.)

1. The reviews I've read of this recipe say the sauce really makes it awesome and I have no doubt that's true, but these were awesome with a canned enchilada sauce as well, so you know they're good. 

2. The recipe is written for about 12-14 enchiladas, but we used the following:

  a. 2.5 pounds potato (about 2 large)

  b. 1 pound spinach

  c. All the spices etc. were multiplied 1.5 times. 

  d. Total yield: 20 enchiladas, using medium-size corn tortillas. 

        (2 enormous trays, 1 pan was 9x13, one was even bigger)

3. When I tasted the filling before assembly, I was concerned there was a little too much lime, but it turned out great once we put it with the sauce and tortillas. 

4. We used up one 28 oz. can enchilada sauce, but some people thought we should have used more. Personally, I like the top of my enchiladas with a little crisp, but not everyone does, so amp up the sauce if you're in that camp. 

5. We topped one tray with cheese when we took off the foil for the last 10 mins. This made a crispy cheese topping, but add it even later if you just want it melty. (Just my thoughts on that - I didn't actually eat any with the cheese). 

6. There were 6 of us and we had about 8 leftover enchiladas - about 2 a person is a great serving. 

7. Nutrition - (without cheese) 147 calories per enchilada. 

We served this meal with: 

   - Evan's awesome guacamole

   - Chips

   - Spiced Mexican Black Beans - this recipe from Food.com. It was great, we just subbed vegetable broth for chicken, only used about 1/4 of a jalapeno, and no cheese. 

   - More cheese for the omnis (AKA everybody except me). 

Thanks to all of you who were willing to try this vegan enchilada experiment.