Blackened Broiled Tofu, Jerk Asparagus, Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits & Veggie Potpie Stew

In other words, I've taken pictures of some of what I've made in the last four days and have lagged in actually loading them onto my computer.

Sunday was Easter. Duh. (I wrote Eater first. How appropriate.) I wasn't super spectacularly excited, as I had an Easter Dinner for lunch and one for supper (hell on the whole 'eat less exercise more' frame of mind). As it turned out, however, it was just fine. Easter Dinner was a potluck at a church I've been working at. As I'm the only vegan, I can't believe I didn't make the connection way earlier that I would have limited food and, therefore, limited caloric intake, ergo no worries in that department. Just super healthy salad foods. I made the Collard Greens & Pineapple from Appetite for Reduction. I've never had Collards before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I think the best that can be said is that I've remembered how much I like pineapple. Collards (perhaps just from the garlic/ginger I put on it in cooking) have a little too much spicy bite to them to make me happy. I also forgot to take a picture. Even though this wasn't exactly a photogenic dish I was bringing.

So first bust from AFR for me. I attempted to make the Pumpkin Risotto from, I believe, Urban Vegan. I just remember getting really, really pissed at it. Which was mostly my fault, as I didn't truly understand what making a Risotto meant. ...Which was why I made the choice to use Brown Rice (am I the only one who always has to self-correct to say brown instead of whole wheat?) instead of white. And I didn't raise the temperature and I didn't wait long enough.. and the list of mistakes I made could go on. and on. and on.

SO, for dinner on Sunday night (as the main meal was salad w/cheese and some kind of weird looking meat dish for the rest of my family), I had bread with earth balance. Yummy and totally balanced right there. :)

To make up for it, I made dinner on Monday Night. Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits and Veggie Potpie Stew  (Which my sister wonders why potpie was in the name, since if it's pot pie, it has to have pie crust. Despite the fact that this stew has the exact same consistency as normal potpie middles).

Personally, it was a really great taste and texture. I'll definitely make it again. Maybe in the late summer or early fall? I think it's an early fall kind of dish. or a winter one. Yeah. Winter. I always seem to find recipes in the wrong season. Which really means I should start a list in a notebook of recipes I think fit with particular seasons.

These are the sweet potato drop biscuits. The Sweet potato just adds a little sweetness to the savory carb-y goodness of these little things. Very good. I had to force myself not to eat more than one. Another win from AFR.

Today, for lunch, I was feeling like it was time to cook. So I made Broiled Blackened Tofu and Jerk Asparagus (which I've made before to great delight (to me)). I was surprised at how delicious it was. I always have a block against tofu.. Despite showing myself time and again, just how delicious it can be in a not soaked in soy sauce marinade and baked... Can you tell I really don't like the soy sauce/teriyaki sauce marinade that I was first exposed to with Tofu? Nope. Not at all. (That is to say, when you bake tofu in the sauce until it reduces to practically nothing).

Personally, I would reduce the amount of hot spices in the coating, as it was a tad on the hot side for my taste, but the whole dish was amazing. I'll just let you guys see how delicious it is:

Earth Day

Hey all,
Since it's Earth Day, I just wanted to share a link to another blog, Beyond Willpower. She has an amazingly coherent argument for going vegan for the environment, as well as for your health.

Go here.

I'm going to be like Popeye

I had another crisis over what to make today. This time, I only knew that I did NOT want soup AGAIN.

...This seems to happen on regular occasion. I'll make a soup or a stew for a few evenings and then, BAM, I can't stand the thought of stew/soup to the point where I can't stomach the thought of eating it for lunch the next day.

So I ended up making the Spinach & Chickpea curry from Vegan With a Vengeance and roasted (WAY TOO MANY) potatoes in garam masala and cumin. It was delicious, filling and nutritious.

And, best of all, I have pictures!

Apologies for the blurriness. But they were delicious and everything I wanted in a meal tonight. Even if the curry was a little *too* souplike than what I was hoping for... And I over cooked/didn't stir the potatoes enough so that they didn't form uniform crispy outsides with soft insides. Sadness. Overall 3.5/5 stars. (Though the curry was bang on what it was supposed to be)

Davis Square

...is quite possibly the most amazing place near boston (besides Union Square, which has Peace O' Pie-Vegan pizza!!! & Grasshopper-Vegan Thai!!!). It has a great atmosphere with all sorts of interesting, quirky restaurants and shops. One time I went there to write in a cafe and traffic was held up because THERE WERE ALTERNATIVE MARCHING BANDS PERFORMING. Ones with funky outfits and playing peace activist songs and things like that. I didn't even know such a thing existed!!

Also, another reason I'm a fan of Davis Square? It's home to a Buffalo Exchange-used clothing/fashion store and Diesel Cafe.

Diesel Cafe is just about my most favoritest place in the world right now. And they're hiring-so I submitted an application. (Cross your fingers!) Today, I got the tempeh burger without swiss cheese, on rosemary focaccia instead of Brioche. I was a numbnuts and forgot that Brioche has tons of dairy and egg and the guy at the register was like "Are you trying to make this vegan" and I was like "yeah" and he was like "well the brioche-" and I was like "OH SHIT! Thanks!" and he was all like "No problem. We look out for ya and ourselves. We have french bread and whole wheat and rosemary focaccia" and I was like "I'm so all about the rosemary focaccia."

I'm pretty sure like half the staff there is vegan which explains why there are so many vegan-friendly sandwiches (most are not actually vegan, but you just have to take away the cheese to make it vegan). And they have vegan baked goods (which I had to force myself to not get since I'm forgoing processed sugar).

Anyways, I practiced mindful/meditative/FRENCH eating on this sandwich by taking a bite and savoring the texture of the focaccia and tempeh, the slide of the avocado, how long it took to chew the focaccia and the flavor of the salsa mixing with the avocado and the tempeh. It was divine. I have not had an experience like it in a long while. I would then put the sandwich down and wait for a moment, paying attention to my level of fullness. I ate past my level, but only just. My legs were starting to do the "lets get movin'" signal, which apparently is one way your body starts to signal satiety. (According to the Self-Compassion Diet)

I started soaking black beans last night, so when I got home this evening, I went through a bunch of books, looking for a simple vegan black bean soup. No such luck, there was a chili, there was a chipotle corn black bean stew among other things, but not the simple black bean soup I was looking for (I was craving Panera's black bean soup). So after some cajoling, I made my own. No pictures, sadly. Way more colorful than Panera's, since it had spinach, cilantro & tomatoes in it. But delicious anyways. I added a tiny bit of liquid smoke to it (which I've never used before) and I feel like it added a lot of flavor, really enhanced the black beans in a way that I was looking for.

I also made spelt rolls. (Half white and half spelt flour) They were decent, but I didn't use nearly enough yeast. I had added a cup of sourdough starter, hoping that would help, but my starter isn't very strong, so it didn't rise all that much. They still tasted good though.

What'd you eat for dinner?

Sweet Potatoes Make Everything Better

I have long been of the opinion that Sweet Potatoes make any meal better instantly. I mean, just look at it:

It's SO orange and inviting. Of course, at this point in the year, I AM eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first spring crops of vegetables so that I can get away from all these heavy, winter-y foods. But Sweet Potatoes are a balm on this bleak time of year. 

I made the Ginger Mashed Sweet Potato and Apple from Appetite for Reduction (I have a feeling most of my cooking is going to come mainly from this cookbook in the next few weeks. It is just that AMAZING). 

I know it doesn't look all that appetizing (and my camera sucks!),  but it tasted awesome. Lots of sweet potato and apple with a hint of cinnamon and ginger. The texture was a little strange, but it didn't throw me off too badly, thankfully. I feel like, when it comes to fall, I'll start making this with a vengeance. It's probably going on the mini-thanksgiving feast for me so that I can have thanksgiving while the rest of my family & family friends devour turkey and all sorts of things I can't eat. Not that I'm thinking about it. Much. (First Vegan thanksgiving, but I've done thanksgiving at least 6 times while vegetarian)

The main dish for dinner was the Lotta Veggies Lentil soup (~that title) from AFR. ALSO amazing. I mean, just look at that gorgeous spinach mixed in with the lentils and carrots (I can't even taste the zucchini.. which is good since I'm not a huge fan of zucchinis all on their own). 

It tasted delicious and it was ridiculously low in calories, so I know I"ll be making it again. perhaps when the zucchinis actually come into season?!

At last minute (I was already running late, since the fams had to eat before 7pm) I decided to throw together some corn muffins. I won't post the recipe since it was a super basic recipe-oil, egg replacer and almond milk, etc. But they tasted really good. Very, very sweet, so if I did it again, I'd probably increase the corn meal and reduce the sugar. 

But still, quite good. 

Yes, my camera decided the cd's in the background were far more interesting than my muffin. Whatever. 

All in all, a FANTASTIC dinner. I'll definitely make all of it again. 

Baked Falafel

I've been out for the last several nights and haven't (unfortunately) had the opportunity to make dinner. Tonight, I finally did. I went with the Baked Falafel from Appetite for Reduction. I also made pita bread from a bread book. Yum. It was SO sunny today, so I ended up leaving the chickpeas soaking outside in the sun for about 6 hours just to see if it made a difference (it kind of did). The bread didn't take a really long time and it tasted good (I added half a cup of spelt flour so it was 3 cups of white flour and a half of spelt. It made it taste a little richer). I LOVED the falafel. It was such a great texture without all of the oil frying.

Yes, that DOES look super delicious. Yes, I DID just gobble it right up. In fact, it's making me hungry all over again.

Apple-Ginger Cookies

As an individual, I have always loved foods. Unfortunately for me, until recently, I've loved foods that haven't loved me back. Sweets, salted foods. When I turned vegan at the beginning of this year, the trend continued as I discovered vegan baking. I'm still baking, but I'm more aware of my calorie and nutritional intake thanks to nutrimirror, so I'm not eating quite as wildly anymore. I'm attempting to balance what I'm eating, focusing more on beans, on vegetables and fruits, unprocessed sugars (eg fruits such as Dates). Of course, I failed tonight when I made Vegan With a Vengeance's (VWAV) Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Blondie bars. They are crumbly-delicious. They're funk-tastic looking and I don't have the best of cameras, so no pictures, sorry.

A few weeks back, (after having made Isa Chandra's Seitan Smothered in Apples and Ginger (found here), I started using ginger a LOT in my cooking. One night, I wondered if I could make Apple-Ginger cookies. So I did.

They came out pretty muffin-like. Very very ginger-y (2 teaspoons) and couldn't taste the apple. Still delicious however. It's been a little while, sadly, since I've made these, but I'm going to write out the recipe as I remember it.

On this past Sunday, I was at work. They had these left over dishes for lunch available to the members of the meeting. One of them looked like it was Sweet Potatoes and Black beans. Since I wasn't sure if they were vegan, I had to forgo them. Since then, I've been seriously wanting to partake of this delicious looking dish. So I made my own version tonight with black beans & sweet potatoes & corn & peas. 

Apple-Ginger Muffin-Cookies
2.25 cups white flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 of an apple, peeled & diced into very small bits
1 teaspoon ginger (I used two, but one should be way better)

Mix all of this together (I've never been a fan of dirtying two bowls by preparing dry/wet ingredients separately and mixing everything together at one time doesn't really seem like an issue to me, but if you want, you can mix the wet + sugar together first than the dry in) and form into balls. Put on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for ~12 minutes. Preheating a little is good, but you don't have to get it all the way to 350 before putting them in.


Sweet Potato Black Bean Mix
1 large Yam/Sweet Potato, cut into small cubes.
1.5 cups black beans pre-soaked/cooked (canned is good, I suppose, but I use dried beans soaked and then boiled for an hour and a half or so)
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup frozen corn
1 medium-large onion (I used about 1.4 medium onions-the other .6 went to a different recipe)
1 large clove of garlic
1 teaspoon canola oil
[Mix the spices together in a small bowl]
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup vegetable broth (I used homemade, but I'm sure bouillon cubes would work well too) Water works as well, I would assume.

Saute the onion and garlic for 3-5 minutes until soft. Add the spice mix, constantly moving the mixture until it's mostly covering the onions. Deglaze with 1/3 cup of vegetable broth (or water) and add the sweet potato and stir for several seconds. Add the rest of the broth and cover with a lid for several minutes, stirring every so occasionally. When the sweet potatoes have become tender-not quite soft enough for your liking, but closing in, add the black beans. Stir to mix in and cover again.

A few minutes later, add the corn and peas, stir for a minute or two then turn off heat and cover again.

Eat delicious black beans and sweet potatoes!