Sunday

Best Lunch Ever

Okay, so maybe I was really hungry after cleaning the house and doing Tae-Bo, but this lunch blew my mind. It basically consisted of random items from the veggie drawer as well as some leftovers, and it was so incredibly delicious I had to post about it.

The key, roasting everything. I know, I know, everyone knows roasted veggies are so wonderfully sweet and delicious you can hardly believe they are the same items you eat steamed or cooked into soups. I eat and enjoy lots of vegetables, but often don't bother to roast them. I really don't know why. In about an hour I had an incredible lunch and enough veggies for several more meals. I was planning on making a stew but once I tasted the veg I just wanted to eat them straight. Threw in a little leftover brown rice and half a veggie sausage for some protein.The veg: half a red cabbage, half a container of grape tomotoes, one red pepper, and half a bag of baby carrots.The seasonings: cumin, salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, TJ's seafood grill and broil mix, and red pepper flakes.

I chopped everything up, tossed it in a big salad bowl with a couple of tablespoons (maybe only 1) of high quality olive oil, and stuck in on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Stirred a few times, and took them out when they looked a little brown and fairly soft.
Round two is delicata squash, onions, yams and sweet potatoes. Too full to eat any now, but will make a black bean dish with all the veg tonight or tomorrow and post some follow-up recipes if I can be patient enough to get out the camera before gobbling them down.Cheap, easy, healthy, and delicious.

Faux Meats Top Ten (or Five)

In searching for a reference to share with my mom regarding meat substitute products, I find the web to be lacking. Rather than spend much more time refining my search I decided to post my own favorites, since other people might be interested. As my mom knows, lots of yummy veggie meals don't require a meat substitute, since there are good ways to get protein from beans and legumes, enriched whole grains, and nuts. But sometimes you want to up the protein and flavor of a dish, and/or have the quick and easy convenience of a prepared protein source. So, here are my top five fakes, and how I typically use them. They are not in order of favorites, as they all serve a different purpose from one another.

1. Quorn naked cutlets. These basically can serve as a substitute for chicken breasts in just about anything. They are not a soy product (so a good alternative if you use a lot of other soy-based drinks and products) and they are frozen and therefore easy to have on hand. I like to steam/fry them to keep them moist -- a little olive or canola oil in the frying pan, brown both sides quickly, then turn down the heat and cover the pan to keep the moisture in and finish the cooking. They also can plunk right in a soup and are perfectly tasty without browning. I eat them on salad, in sandwiches, soups, stews, wraps, and "chicken" and dumplings. 1 cutlet has only 80 calories and 2.5 grams of fat, but 11 grams of protein.

2. Field roast. My favorites are the apple sage sausages, the smoked tomato deli slices, and the celebration roast. The sausages are incredibly flavorful and high in protein, but I tend to use a small amount because they are also high in fat and calories. But one sausage can be enough for a whole batch of soup or risotto because they are so rich and delicious. The deli slices are great for sandwiches or just a grab and go snack. I like the "roast" in sandwiches as well. My five year-old likes all of these items straight up as part of a meal or a snack, so it is a great way to make sure she's getting the protein she needs. Not sure on the others, but pretty sure that the sausages are 244 calories a pop, 10 or 12 grams of fat, and a big fat 19 grams of protein.

3. Yves Jumbo Veggie Dogs. I tried to like veggie dogs for a long time with no success. Every brand I tried was limper and more disgusting than the last, until, at long last, I discovered Yves Jumbo Veggie Dogs. To be honest, I don't like the other kind of Yves dogs, and I used to only like the hot and spicy version of the jumbos (no longer available here), but this one, great. Great as a dog in a bun, sandwich, or tortilla (think bagel dog only healthier). Great in midwestern comfort food hot dishes (with rice and cheese, baked beans, etc.). Surprisingly good as an added protein boost in the unexpected (cuban black beans, tomato soup, leftover thai food). These pack a wallop protein-wise but not with fat or calories. One dog: 110 calories, 3 g fat, 16 whopping grams of protein.

4. Gimme Lean: Kind of a sticky mess from the tube, but this stuff is very flexible as you shape it and cook it as you like. They also have a ground beef type product, which I seem to recall is good but I don't tend to think of ground beef when I am cooking so I don't tend to get it. Sausage, however, is great for breakfast, with stuffing, pasta, soups, pizza . . . well, you know, times when you would use sausage? I tend to fry this as it has no fat on its own and the consistency presents a challenge if you don't have at least a little bit of oil to help you out. I think you could probably bake it on a lightly oiled pan, and certainly microwaving or popping it in a soup works. 1 serving: 60 calories, 0 g fat and 7 grams of protein.

5. Soyrizo: This is a recent discovery for me, as I was not really a consumer of chorizo in my meat-eating days, and so was not looking for a replacement. I only use this one in chili and soup, because try as I might to follow the guidelines on the package, getting any sort of browning or shape to this sausage eludes me. I think you might be able to deep-fry it into submission, but it is already very heavy on the oil so I hate to think what that would do to the fat. Well, I stand corrected, as I look at it the fat content is only 4 grams per serving (88 calories, 9 grams of protein), so maybe you could fry it up without too much guilt. But I like the flavor and heat of this one, and it would be too hot without cutting it with a lot of beans, tomatoes and greens.

While all of these products could be linked to a meat product (e.g. Quorn as faux chicken, Gimme Lean as faux sausage), I find it much more helpful to look at them as their own entity. Never having been a huge fan of meats (with the exception of Kopp's burgers, really greasy pepperoni and Thanksgiving turkey), I am not really drawn to traditional meat-centric meals. But many of the items listed above are essential in adding protein, flavor, and convenience to the meals I cook. They are not meat and would probably not fool any meat-eater into thinking that is what they were eating, but the point is that the stand on their own as tasty in their own right. I still feel like the best vegetarian cooking relies on whole foods and good seasoning, but realistic cooking in a reasonable time frame and with the kind of variety we tend to want is very much enhanced by the inclusion of some "faux" meats. Bon appetit!

Farm to Table, Part 2

I settled on enchilada casserole for the main dish, with fresh salsas, avocado, chips, and spice-rubbed tofu for appetizers. We'll have a big salad with heirloom tomatoes and peas from the farm for our greens, and the tofu chocolate mousse for dessert. So, for the enchiladas, most of the cooking is really going into the sauce, since that will make the dish. First I seeded and quartered 4 red peppers (yellow and orange being considered red here) and 2 anaheim chilies. Adding a walla walla sweet onion and a couple of small red salad onions, I gave everything a light coating of olive oil (I used my sprayer, but a brush coat or fingers works fine, too) and salt and popped it into a hot oven (I'd say around 400, but since my oven has no numbers on the dial its always a guess). Basically, you want to roast them for about 20 minutes or until they look pretty charred but not totally black.


For this recipie I went a little lighter because I was not planning on peeling them after. For others, a more thorough char assists in the peeling. Next I threw some fire-roasted tomatoes in my skillet with garlic, cumin, smoked paprika and some fennel seed which I had seared for a minute in hot olive oil. I used about 6 cloves of garlic and about a tablespoon each of the cumin and fennel. Just a small amount of the paprika. I used a 32oz can of Muir Glen tomatoes but I also like to roast my own when I have them, using the same technique as the peppers. I saved about half the can to blend and put half in with the chard so there will be some good chunks of tomato in the final dish.
Cook the chard down with a cover to steam it, should only take 5 minutes or so and look like this when it's done.
Prior to the sauce I actually used the same spices to season the tofu cutlets, first searing the spices on their own and then adding the tofu for a quick fry before baking them.


I removed a lot of the spice rub before baking so it wouldn't burn, and put them in a 250 - 300 degree oven for about 30 minutes. They can go shorter or longer, but too long and they will get dried out. They are kind of good that way, but more of a cracker than a cutlet!

These will be good with the salsas and chips, just cut into bite-sized pieces for a little protein with our snacks. I didn't photograph the salsas but I made one with heirloom tomatoes and one with mango and pickled jalapeno. Will try to get shots for part 3 if it works out.

When the peppers and onions were done roasting, I put them in a bowl and blended them with the rest of the tomatoes plus a little extra tomato sauce (about 1/2 of a 16 oz can). I added a pressed clove of fresh garlic and some salt and pepper, but the veggies were so sweet and smokey that the sauce really needed very little seasoning at all.


Since we're travelling to the coast and the meal isn't until Saturday, I put all of these items in containers to assemble when we get there. Given that I will be using corn tortillas in the casserole I decided it would be too mushy if it sat, and if I baked it today it might get dried out or over-baked when re-heating Saturday. In case I don't get any final photos, I intend to layer the sauce with corn tortillas, cheddar (for one dish, and almond rella for the vegan version), and thinly sliced quorn (faux chicken cutlets). Served with the salsas, avocado and salad, I think it will be a good spicy meal on a hot night.

Farm to Table, Part 1

Today Adelaide and I returned to Farm Kids at South 47 Farm for another wonderful morning of exploring. She wanted to go off with the group of kids and the farmer without me, so I got a knife and scissors from the farmers at the farm stand and headed out into the U-pick veggies with my bags. I had a menu in mind for the weekend meal I'm preparing (needed to be vegan and wheat-free to accommodate the group I'll be feeding) but I also knew that the farm would tell me what we should be eating right now. For example, these were a must:
Next was some rainbow chard and cilantro. Lucky for me, the farm stand had cukes, onions, and a few other items ready even though U-Pick isn't available on them yet. When Adelaide was done she joined me at the berries, and then we went to see the animals. She got to pet a chicken and feed the goats and alpacas, and hold a warm fresh egg.








When we got home, we started cooking together. Adelaide is a great sous-chef, doing all the tasks like peeling garlic, shelling peas, and chopping anything that can be chopped with a butter knife. She also likes to pull a chair into the kitchen to get a top-down view of things cooking on the stove, blending, or getting a rinse in the sink.













I enjoy watching her interact with good food and learn some of the basics of cooking. Of course, I do think the chocolate mousse preparation was her favorite. She does a fine job of clean-up on spoons and bowls when chocolate is involved.The rest of the prep involved either sharp knives or the stove and oven, so I sent my sous-chef off to do some art and listen to her book on cd while I moved on to the next steps. I will post part 2 with photos and the menu separately, and then perhaps if the mood is right on Saturday I will add a part 3 with the actual meal. Given that it will be 8 hours of yoga into a yoga retreat and beach walking weekend, I may be too mellow, tired and/or hungry to bother getting any photos!

Fruits of the Grill

Tonight it was the stovetop grill, easy and so tasty. All the veggies carmelized, the tofu crisped up and got a little smoky flavor, and while things were grilling I had time to slice up the tomatoes and cook the quinoa.The veggies: japanese eggplant, zucchini, asparagus and tomato.
The seasoning: fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and balsalmic.
The add-ins: feta, dash of olive oil, and the tofu.
The diners: satisfied!

Roasted Yam and Sweet Potato Rounds with Gorgonzola and Roasted Pecan Slaw

Today's lunch idea started with a hankering for Agua Verde yam tacos, and morphed into these savory, nutty, sweet, soft and crunchy little pieces of heaven. I sliced and roasted the yam and sweet potatoes into rounds, brushed with a light coat of olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. While they were roasting, I sliced the cabbage and tomatoes, and mixed them with some gorgonzola, sour cream, cream cheese (to cut the gorgonzola), garlic and roasted pecans.

Filling and delicious.

African Peanut Soup

Two rainy days and a refusal on my part to concede and fire up the furnace again = a need for hot, spicy soup. I was jonesing for PCC's African peanut soup but the soup bar failed me, so I whipped up something similar on my own. Spiced with fresh ginger, cumin, curry powder, coriander and jalepeno, and mellowed out with almond butter, sweet peppers, onion and fire-roasted tomatoes, this one is hitting the spot. Threw in peanuts and some leftover rice for texture and it is a great "heat up the house from the inside out" meal.