Food Glorious Food!

Food: it's a tricky subject. Not just because vegans never get tired of hearing the, often incredulous and high-pitched, question 'But what do you eat????' but also because - to be honest - this vegan eats way too much of it.

Waaaaay.

Toooo.

Much.


I will confess: I am a foodaholic. I just love it, and it loves me. It must do because even the merest caress of a cupcake and it's with me forever. At my side, on my hips, for all eternity. And so this year I am taking myself in hand and am going to eat more healthily: not just healthy for the animals, but healthy for me too!

Under the gentle guidance of my friend, C, (you know who you are!) I am refocusing my diet to eat more whole foods and fewer processed things. I really need to drop about 40 or 50lbs so I see a whole heap more beans and vegetables in my future and am kicking the cookies and cupcakes to the curb. Yikes, that's the plan anyhow! :)

So, here was my start yesterday - my delish brunch at my favorite hangout in all the world: The Green Bean.






It's their signature 'Greens, Beans and (brown) Rice' and not only did I feel virtuous in choosing it, I also radiated health and energy all day. Well, perhaps I am making that last part up for dramatic effect, but I honestly certainly enjoyed it! See:





Yeah, it's clear I really had to force that down, right!?!?


Get healthy, get happy and stay vegan, friends! :)

A Trio of Treats

After the last post, I really have to write something fun and frivolous. And so, here's a trio of treats for you...as long as you are 'of the canine persuasion'.



'Up the Apples and Pears'


You will need:

2 cups wholewheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup brown rice, cooked and cooled
1 cup finely chopped apple
1 cup finely chopped pear
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup hot water
2 tbsp peanut butter

1. Pre-heat your oven to 325.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, apple, pear, rice and cinnamon.

3. Dissolve the peanut butter in the hot water to make a thick sort of slurry. (OK, it won't actually 'dissolve' as such, but you'll make a thin paste which allows the peanut butter to disperse more easily into the dry ingredients.)

4. Mix the wet into the dry and bring together to form a thick dough. If it's tough going with a wooden spoon, feel free to channel your inner child and get your hands in the bowl and squeeeeeeeze the dough together. Go on, it's very therapeutic!

5. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and roll into a large circle.

6. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

7. Cut into bite-size pieces and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes. At the end of this second 30 minute stint, turn the oven off leaving the cookies inside to dry out completely.

Once they are cooled, perform a taste-test with your favourite furry companion...s/he'll love you forever!


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'The Top Banana!'

This is a favourite of Darwin (The Beagle) Dog who seems to fancy himself as something of a top banana....


You will need:

2 1/4 cups wholewheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
1/4 cup dried banana chips, chopped
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp peanut butter

1. Pre-heat your oven to 325.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, rolled oats, chopped peanuts and chopped banana chips, reserving one whole banana chip per dog.

3. Dissolve the peanut butter in the hot water to make a thick sort of slurry. (See above recipe for long-winded caveat/explanation of this process...)

4. Mix the wet into the dry and bring together to form a thick dough.

5. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and roll into a large circle.

6. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

7. Cut into bite-size pieces using a knife or a pizza wheel. Because it's a chunky sort of recipe, it doesn't really lend itself to cutting out cute dog-bones or hydrant shapes, so just go with the strips or squares...your dog really won't care!

8. Return to the oven for a further 30 minutes. At the end of this second 30 minute stint, turn the oven off leaving the cookies inside to dry out completely.

But what of the reserved banana chip of step #2?? Well, since the cookies will be too warm to eat for a while after they come out of the oven, it might be prudent to have a little something to assuage the anxiety of the eventual recipient....it works for me!


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'The Utterly Nutterly'

In honour of Humphrey The (Wiener)Hound who is, it cannot be denied, somewhat nuts...but in a good way....possibly.....

You will need:

2 cups wholewheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup ground peanuts
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp peanut butter

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, rolled oats, ground peanuts and sunflower seeds.

3. Dissolve the peanut butter in the hot water to make a thick sort of slurry. Add to this the peanut oil.

4. Mix the wet into the dry and bring together to form a thick dough.

5. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and roll into a large circle.

6. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

7. Cut into bite-size pieces using a knife or a pizza wheel and return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes to bake hard.


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Sprinkle the cookies liberally into the life of your favourite canine/s. Accompany each serving with a hug, chin tickle or simple pat on the head. And enjoy....

Stay vegan, friends!

Please check your brain in at the courtesy booth....

Who says Friday night in with a burger and fries can't be a great vegan experience? Well, whoever it was was sadly deluded....Last Friday My Beloved and I were just completely exhausted from the week as a whole and all we wanted to do was check our brains in at the courtesy booth, sink our behinds into the sofa and our teeth into a big, juicy, cheesey burger. So that's exactly what we did....



and the full thing:



The cheese was a slice of the rice milk cheese and doubled really well for the standard American Cheese. The rolls were onion and herb, the salad fresh and crisp and the burger (hiding modestly in the pic above) was a giant portabello mushroom, sauteed off in a little Braggs and olive oil. 'Meaty', juicy, succulent and really hearty, this burger paired very nicely with some oven baked 'fries' (potatoes, olive oil, salt, papper, chilli flakes, a dash of paprika....) and a large glass of red wine. Ahhhh, the weekend...it's a beautiful thing.....

Yesterday, we opted for something just that little bit less 'junk food-ish' and, having spent the day tramping around a muddy farm in the cold New England drizzle, we had a bit of a blow out at dinner. Finding organic butternut squash on sale for $1.49lb, we selected one that would have fed a small army never mind the two of us and stuffed it with a mix of black and mahogany rice, kidney beans, canellini beans, red onion, carrots, tomatoes and various herbs (I forget now which ones...) and served it up with some garlicky green beans and a small side of scalloped potatoes. This is not the best pic, but it gives the general idea.



I swear either I have to get a better camera or maybe just read the manual for the one I have. Sheesh!

OK, so that was the main course. We went a bit overboard and also indulged in a spoonful of dessert too: an autumn fruits crisp with Tofutti vanilla ice cream. I got the base recipe from The Peaceful Palate but added pears to the apples and cranberries and just a touch of ginger.





The topping originally called for 3/4 cup walnuts but, having none, I subbed in a mix of sunflowers seeds, sliced almonds, chopped dates and pistachios. Added to this is 3/4 cup maple syrup, a pinch of salt and a cup and a half of rolled oats.



And so here it is with some yummy ice cream....



On reflection, I suppose that this really is one of the few advantages of being in New England in November - the abundance of beautiful fall produce and the sheer inevitability of gorgeous desserts. OK, so I know you can get apples, pears and cranberries on the gloriously sunny west coast but, when it's 80 degrees outside and the AC is running, who wants 'fall fruit crisp'?

Right, am off now to thaw my bones in front of the fire.

Vive le weekend!
And, until next time, stay vegan, friends! :)

On Weird Types, Curries and Cookies Sandwiches

After a bizarrely stressful day, culminating in some random man shouting at me on the street*, I arrived home tonight to find that My Beloved had made dinner. He'd started out with Sarah Kramer's Eggplant Bharta recipe, discovered we didn't have enough eggplant, combined it with an aloo concoction of some shape and description, added mushrooms and a side of chewy brown rice. And it was great. No real recipe, just good, honest, off-the-top-of-your-head kind of food. Like this:



A close up:



So to make some kind of contribution - unused as I am to having dinner fully made for me when I roll in from work - I decided to use up the chocolate-citrus cookies I'd made. Fortunately there were enough for all three of us, so I made cookie sandwiches with some Tofutti Vanilla Almond Bark Ice Cream, served with a side of fresh strawberries. Thus:



An easy, quick and fun dessert. And a way to strategically use up cookies which really need to be eaten, before I can make more!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

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*OK, so here's the story. I went into Northampton to collect a bottle of my father-in-law's favourite tipple, Tio Pepe. Having parked, thrown 10c in the meter (for 12 minutes!), I made my way to the local wines/spirits store. On the way, I noticed a man having problems with 2 bags of groceries - the handle of one had broken and spilled his stuff all over the road. So, feeling like I didn't want to walk on by, I crossed over the road and asked him if he needed help. He turned to face me and said 'Are you talkin' to me??? Are you talkin' to ME???' in that kind of cinematic way. (I forget which movie it sounded like, but whatever that well-known movie was....)

I replied, 'Yes', because I was indeed talking to him....he being the one potentially in need of help.....To which he graciously replied 'Don't talk to me. Don't talk to MEEEEE! I don't talk to people!!!!!!'

And off he stalked.

'Oh, right', was pretty much all I could say in response. And then I wanted to burst into tears. Because it's pretty much been a day like that today. Full of weirdness. And silliness. And people jumping up and down about nothing at all. And questions screaming in my head along the lines of 'Why?????'

Why don't you talk to people?
Why do you eat a MacDonald's in front of me?
Why do you not see the connections?
Why don't you accept help you clearly need?
Why do you ridicule my choices?

Und so weiter. Und so fort.

One Down, Three to Go

Squash. Everywhere I look in our (admittedly compact and bijou) kitchen I see squash.

And so I took it into my head to bake one of the cheeky little things for dinner and this is the result:



In essence, all I did was to split an acorn squash in half, drizzle the inside with a little olive oil, scatter on some salt, pepper and a tad of garlic powder, invert both halves onto a baking sheet and bake until soft.

While that was happening, I roughly chopped an onion and a pepper (colour = your choice) and sauteed them off in a little oil basil, oregano and thyme. I added some Gimme Lean (sausage-style), chopped mushrooms, sliced sun-dried tomatoes and a baby bok choy that struck me as a novel ingredient. (Although I guess celery would have been more appropriate!) As a side, I threw a mix of brown and forbidden (purple!) rice into a pan with boiling water and let it cook until chewy and beautiful to behold!

Pulling the end result together was simplicity itself: rice is rice, say no more. I spooned the stuffing mix into the hollowed out, baked squash and was dissuaded from topping with grated Vegan-rella by My Beloved who felt it would have been overkill.

And that was that. A really nice meal, pulled together fairly quickly (even quicker, I guess, if you microwave the squash - although I've never tried that so I can't really recommend it, as such) and perfect for a Wednesday night.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the other three squash gracing the vegetable rack.....

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Fun and Puns with Poppadoms

Susan, over at FatFreeVegan has an inspired-looking lentil and cauliflower curry dish I simply had to try out. The only problem? My Beloved turns a perculiar shade of purple when confronted by members of the brassica family. In this instance: cauliflower.

As a child, I was never overly partial to the white florets, but these days I find myself increasingly interested in getting my gnashers around those tender little morsels. Be that as it may, I knew that hiding the cauliflower amidst the lentils and calling it good would not fool My Beloved, so I substituted potato instead and this is the result:



It is served here with a simple white basmati rice (yes, brown basmati is infinitely preferable, but sometime you have to pick your battles...) and poppadoms! Eons (well, at least a couple of months) ago, one of My Beloved's colleagues gave him a poppadom cooker. It's a little mesh-type device with a handle and you sit it on top of your stove flame to cook the poppadoms. Well, we'd never quite had the nerve to test it out, assuming that there was some trick or technique that you had to learn at your mother's knee, but this proved to be a fallacy.

On a trip to the local asian grocery store, we happened upon some poppadoms in the raw (as it were) and so gave it a go.

And it is simplicity itself!

All you do is lay one on the mesh, pop it over the flame and watch as it blisters beautifully. When it's almost all blistered, flip it over to complete and stack high!

I am perplexed as to why these are not given away in Indian restaurants as a courtesy, they are that simple to make! Yes, if I were Queen of the World, there'd be a free poppadom on every plate!

Vote for me in '08 and Stay Vegan, Friends!