American chop suey | tangy carrot and cabbage salad

My mother grew up during difficult economic times, and money was tight in her household. I don't know exactly what her diet was like, but I do know she developed an aversion to foods she thought of as the foods one would have to eat if one were poor. She despised foods she thought of as "filler foods" which generally included things like grains or pasta. Pasta was not comfort food to her, it was something you had to eat if you couldn't afford to buy anything else. When we ate at Chinese restaurants, for example, I was told not to fill up on the steamed rice, and when she made things like meatloaf or hamburgers she never added breadcrumbs or other fillers. She added eggs and seasonings.

During the early years of raising a family, my parents didn't have much money. My mother ran the household on a strict and tight no-frills budget. I wore a lot of hand-me-down clothes from my cousins (which I loved, by the way). However, the one thing my mother wouldn't compromise on was her idea of what we should eat. My mother trimmed corners in other areas in order to put meat on the table nearly every night. We had good cuts of meat every evening that my father was home for dinner, and chicken, hamburgers or occasionally fish when he wasn't. My mother favored eye roast, steak, pot roast, chops and such — no spaghetti on our plates. There also was always a fresh salad, and sometimes frozen or canned vegetables. (I didn't even know fresh vegetables existed.) She seldom spent food budget money on soft drinks, chips or other junk food, saving it all for the good stuff. Lucky me, right?

Naturally, all I wanted was noodles, and for that I had to turn to my father. My father was not much of a home-arts kind of guy (this is an understatement in the extreme) but there were a few things he would cook if hounded enough. He could make pizza from scratch (learned from owning an Italian restaurant), grilled chickpeas (learned from his mother), and American chop suey (learned when he was a cook in the army). American chop suey was a mix of ground beef, tomato sauce and macaroni that I believed was something only my father made, and I loved it, though my mother wouldn't touch the stuff. I recently had my memory jolted by a post on Mitten Machen in which Mary provided a description and veganized recipe using tempeh, for this homey dish. What a shock! Naturally, I had to make it as soon as possible, and although I only had linguine instead of the small pasta traditionally used in the recipe, it was fabulously delicious. (Both Mary and I used quinoa pasta for this dish. Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta has become my husband's and my favorite pasta, and we use it for most of our pasta recipes.) You can see the American chop suey in the photo at the top of this post, and you should visit Mary's blog and make some! Thanks, Mary.

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As I've been mentioning lately, we've had a bit of company, and our last guest, my brother, left Monday morning. On Sunday evening our son and d-i-l hosted a dinner for the family, and prepared some wonderful food.



Our d-i-l made Jamaican red bean stew (from Robin Robertson's "Quick Fix Vegetarian") in the slow cooker she found at our last Goodwill excursion. It was really great — spicy, fragrant and filling.



Our son made his excellent version of long beans and tofu. And I brought a salad. I hadn't actually planned to post a recipe so I didn't measure anything, but the salad turned out so well I wanted to share it. It was both beautiful and delicious, and I've reconstructed it as best I can, estimating when I didn't know exact amounts. It's the kind of recipe where a little more or less of one ingredient or another won't make or break the dish — lots of room for improvisation and customizing to your taste!



Tangy carrot and cabbage salad serves 10

• 3 to 4 large carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 1/2 small purple cabbage, core removed, finely shredded
• 2 to 3 green onions, cut fine
• 1/2 to 1 small cucumber, sliced into thin spears (opt. but refreshing)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  
• 5 to 8 ounces mixed baby salad greens
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• zest and juice from 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 to 3 teaspoons umeboshi vinegar (to taste)
• 1 to 3 teaspoons agave syrup or other sweetener (to taste)
  
• fresh ground black pepper and salt (if needed)
  

1. One to two hours ahead, prepare the carrots, cabbage, onions and cucumbers. (The cabbage should be halved lengthwise, leaving you with two identical halves. You will only need one half.) Place the carrots, cabbage, green onions, cranberries and cucumbers into a large bowl and combine.
2. Make a dressing from the oil, lemon juice and zest, mustard, vinegar and agave. Mix until smooth, then mix the dressing into the vegetables. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.
3. Just before serving, add a few grinds of black pepper to the slaw mix and stir in. Taste for seasonings and adjust if necessary.
4. Add the fresh salad greens to the bowl and carefully but thoroughly mix the salad together.

Recipe testing / tofu and cabbage /Texas caviar

Where oh where has the week gone? Wherever it went, it went quickly. I can't even remember eating but I've got the photos to prove we did. I tested more recipes and threw together random meals, and I'll share those with you but as far as personal, creative cooking. Ha. Nothing. At the top of the page you see a butternut squash-pasta bake tester recipe.



Above you see a super-fast baked seitan tester. Too bad I can't share this!



Some of the seitan was used to make a seitan and kale stir-fry that was delicious. It was served alongside the baked pasta and squash.



This was a thrown together lunch of humble origins but wonderful taste. I stir-fried extra-firm fresh tofu cubes with a small amount of tamari. When the tofu was sizzling and brown, I added a prodigious amount of grated ginger and some finely sliced green cabbage. The cabbage was cooked to the crisp-tender stage and the the dish was further seasoned with a grind of pepper. You can really pull a lot of flavor out of simple ingredients when necessary.

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Texas Caviar: black-eyed pea salsa

Way back back in 2007 when I first started blogging, I ran a recipe for a traditional black-eyed-pea dish that's supposed to bring good luck if you eat it on New Year's. You can find the original post here. I hope the two people who may have read that post will forgive me for posting it again. I love this dish and think everyone should make it!

Texas Caviar
2 cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
4 scallions, finely sliced
3 jalapenos, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1/4 cup olive oil,
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Fresh gound peppercorns

Rinse and drain the beans and place in a bowl with the scallions, cilantro and peppers. Put the oil, vinegar, lime juice and salt in a one cup glass measuring cup and mix together. Add the liquid to the beans mixture and combine. Place in a shallow glass (or other non-reactive) dish. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours or a few days. Mix occasionally to distribute the marinade evenly. Grind some peppercorns over the top just before serving.

notes: I thought the mix looked a little too green and beige so I went looking in the refrigerator for a few grape tomatoes to chop up. They were gone so I got a few slices of the tomatoes I dried last summer (and keep in a sealed freezer bag in the fridge). I chopped those up and added them for color and tang. I also used jalapenos from last summer's garden. I always freeze bags of whole, hot peppers from the garden to use in cooking during the rest of the year. This was the first time I tried to use them uncooked. Couldn't tell they weren't fresh.

Fresh squeezed lime juice makes a superior salad but I would understand if you kept a bottle of lime juice (like Santa Cruz organic) in your refrigerator for "emergencies." The beans will still taste great.

I like to rinse and drain canned beans in a wire wok skimmer that I got in an Asian market years ago because I liked the way it looked. It's easier to clean than my fine mesh strainers and holds about one can of beans at a time.




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Today we're heading south towards warmer and, hopefully, dryer weather. I won't be cooking much but I'll photograph our culinary adventures to share when we return. Until then have the happiest of holidays and remember to share your bounty with those who have less.

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Oh, and by the way, we watched the original version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and I wasn't scared witless. In fact, I slept very well after seeing it. Still, it's a cool, cult classic that you might want to watch.

The day I decided to be vegan / veganmofo 2009

I showed my husband this blog post and told him I really wanted pasta for dinner and he said he'd been planning to make some anyway. When he finally said dinner was ready, I was starving. As I was eating I noted that the sauce was especially good, and asked if he'd made it himself or used a jar. "I made it," he answered, "from your blog."

Ah... I knew there was a reason I was writing this blog!



But why am I writing a vegan-centric blog? Why did I decide to be vegan? Some time ago I did a post about the day I became a vegetarian. At the end of the post was a promise to write about the day I decided to become a vegan, a slightly more personal story involving health issues. Here goes...

My husband and I had been vegetarian for several years before I became pregnant with our first child. We were asked lots of questions at the time about whether I intended to stay vegetarian during the pregnancy (yes), and whether we planned to raise our child as a vegetarian (well, duh). The pregnancy and delivery went well, and our babe was perfect and healthy - only two eyes, not three, as I think my parents expected. Everything was great until about two weeks after the birth, when I got horribly sick. My doctor told us to meet her at the emergency room - she was worried about a post-delivery infection since my fever was so high. I'll never forget the reaction of the medical staff when we entered the room with that tiny baby. It was as if they all went ridged on signal, and started moving towards us. I realized right away what they thought, and told them the baby was fine - I was sick. As quickly as they had reacted to seeing the baby, they instantly relaxed. I was a little miffed at their sudden lack of concern, since I felt so sick.

It turned out I had mastitis, a breast infection. I was given antibiotics and sent home. The infection was like a horrible case of flu with miserable aches and pains, and high fever. When I finally recovered, I tried to be really careful not to let it happen again. But I suffered a long series of these infections, prompting me to seek alternative care, as the antibiotics were exhausting me. There was a homeopathic and herbal pharmacy a block from our house, and from the owner I learned to treat the infections early with the herbs mullein and lobelia . The herbs worked better than the antibiotics, with no after effects, and although I dreaded having an infection, I managed to deal with them, and they became much less frequent as the baby got older.

When our second baby came along, I was hoping not to repeat the infection routine but that was not to be. Not only did I suffer, the baby always seemed to be congested, and he had a series of ear infections. I treated the ear infections with garlic and herbs, and it worked great, but I found the continuous cycle of infection disturbing and frustrating. One day at the herb store the owner asked if I wanted to end the infections instead of just treating them. I asked him how to do that, and he responded that I needed to give up dairy products. I saw visions of pizza floating before my eyes, and told him I already was a vegetarian, and couldn't possibly give up dairy. (Actually, my husband and I been in the "thinking stage" of giving up eggs and dairy products for health and ethical reasons, and were pretty much there with eggs, but couldn't quite make the leap over mozzarella.)

He assured me I could do it, and suggested I give it up for two, preferably three, months - one month to clear it from my body, and another one or two to see if it had an effect on my and my baby's health. Two months seemed perfectly do-able, and I gave it a try. At first I was startled to see how many food products contained some form of dairy. Avoiding it required extreme vigilance, but I was used to reading labels and being vigilant so I adapted.

The first thing I noticed, in addition to not having any infections, was that for the first time my baby's nose was clear. He didn't make snuffly noises when he breathed. After the two months were up, and everything was going well, I attended a parenting group I belonged to, and a friend in the group had baked a cake especially for me. It was made with whole wheat flour and no refined sugar - a big leap for her. I asked if it had milk in it and she said it had a little, but not wanting to hurt her feelings, I had a small piece. I really didn't think eating a small piece of cake with a little milk in it would make any difference. On the third day after the cake ingestion, I came down with mastitis, and the baby had an ear infection. "Weird," I thought. Maybe I could be neurotic enough to cause myself enough stress to bring on a breast infection, but my nursing baby was unlikely to be fretting over a piece of second-hand cake. But still...could dairy really be the culprit?

I went back to my dairy-free, infection-free life. But part of me just had to know if the cake incident was a fluke. I decided to do a little experiment and again eat something with a bit of dairy. The result was the same as the first time. Then there was a third (accidental) slip-up with the exact same result, and I was convinced. That was the day I decided to be vegan. And I've never looked back.

Although a health issue was the motivation I needed to give up dairy, there was really more behind the decision than just health. The cruelty and suffering inflicted on farm animals, and the harsh impact of animal farming on the environment were both factors. I'd been concerned about these issues during the years my husband and I were vegetarians but had not been quite ready to make the leap. Sometimes the truth we know about an issue isn't enough to counteract the strong cultural habits we've acquired. Now when I think of being vegan, the issues of animal cruelty are strongest in my mind. Next comes the environment, and last is health. I think all three are compelling enough reasons to choose a vegan lifestyle.

Pasta with tomatoes and artichoke hearts

What can I say? I was listlessly thumbing through a Parade Magazine one lazy Sunday when something caught my attention. Although it wasn't labeled as such, there was a great-sounding vegan pasta dish filled with artichoke hearts. I immediately went for the scissors and cut it out because you can never have too many recipes containing artichoke hearts.

As it turns out, the dish was as good as I hoped it would be, though I think it should be served over linguine, which is my favorite pasta shape. We had ours over whole wheat penne rigate with a side of kale.


Tomatoes and artichoke hearts with pasta (adapted from a recipe by Sheila Lukins)

• 12 oz. oil-marinated artichoke hearts
• 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 28-oz. cans plum tomatoes, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
• juice and zest of one small lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (evaporated cane juice)
  
• 12 oz. package dried pasta, cooked (linguini recommended)
  

1. Drain the artichokes and cut them in half lengthwise.
2. Sweat the onions in the oil for 10 minutes. (Cook over low heat in a heavy, covered pot, until translucent) Add the garlic during the last two minutes.
3. Stir in the crushed plum tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, rosemary, sugar and red pepper flakes. (Rub the herbs quickly between you hands to release their oils, before adding)
4. Simmer, uncovered for 45 minutes.
5. Add the artichoke hearts and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in the parsley and lemon. Add salt and pepper if needed. Adjust sweetness, if needed.

Vegan cooking class with Chef Paul Tseng

The last cooking class we took at the Willy St. Coop with Chef Paul was a Chinese cooking class with vegan options, and it included seafood and chicken. This class was called "Vegan All the Way" and it was pretty amazing. I'm trying to remember the order of events, but when I think back to the class it seems like Chef Paul was doing five things at once, so I'll do my best to describe what he did. On the menu was polenta with toasted almonds and herbs served with roasted red pepper sauce, roasted vegetable moussaka with tempeh, and braised belgian endive with tofu, fresh pineapple and summer vegetables. Also, marinated mushrooms with fresh lentil pasta.


The ingredients ready to go

Paul made the pasta dough early on because it needed time to rest before being rolled out. I've never see pasta like this before - it contained cooked, cooled red lentils.


The chef works the lentils into the flour.

After the dough had rested, covered with a damp towel, it was rolled into a thin circle, sprinkled with flour, rolled up into a tube shape and cut into about 1/4" wide strips. More flour was sprinkled, the noodles were flipped around to unfurl them and they were cooked in a large pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes. The button mushrooms were quartered and marinated in soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, scallion, sweetener, salt and pepper. These were probably the best noodles I've ever tasted with a texture that was both chewy and tender.


Fresh lentil pasta with marinated mushrooms

Somehow, at the same time he was kneading the pasta dough, Paul also had slices of eggplant and zucchini for the moussaka roasting in a hot oven, and polenta cooling in the fridge — and a red pepper charring on the gas stove. For the polenta, coarse cornmeal was cooked in vegetable stock until thick. After removing it from the heat, lemon zest, toasted almond slivers, olive oil, minced fresh herbs, minced shallot, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper were added, and the mixture was packed into a large, shallow, round pan and placed in the fridge to set up. Roasted red peppers, minced garlic and olive oil were pureed with a stick blender, and then enhanced with fresh herbs, salt and pepper. The polenta, still slightly warm, came out of the fridge, got cut into triangles and was served with the sauce. Delicious and elegant.


Polenta triangles with roasted red pepper sauce

On to the moussaka. Onions and garlic were sautéed then cooked with cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, seeded and diced tomatoes, chopped tempeh and lemon juice. It was simmered to reduce the tomato liquid. The roasted eggplant and zucchini (mentioned earlier) were layered with the tempeh mixture in a glass baking dish. The dish was topped with a mixture of garbanzo flour, dried herbs, oil and bread crumbs. The moussaka was baked until the topping was golden.

The end of the moussaka. It's hard to remember to
photograph things when they look and smell so good.

The last thing on the menu was braised vegetables. This dish contained fresh ginger, garlic, jalapeno, fresh pineapple, carrot, brussels sprouts, summer squash, asparagus, firm tofu and vegetable stock. (It was supposed to have endive and not brussels sprouts but a substitution was made to accommodate availability.) It's intended to be served over steamed rice but we ate it straight up. This was really delicious.

Braised vegetables

The layers of flavor, gorgeous appearance and heavenly aroma of the food prepared in this class were an inspiration.


Our teacher seeding tomatoes and saving the juice

One of the things we also learned in class was not to waste anything. For example, even the tough stems that are snapped off the bottoms of asparagus stalks can be peeled and cooked! And all of the vegetable trimmings can be made into stock or composted.

Don't forget that tomorrow is the deadline for posting comments about why you would like to own a copy of "Peta's Vegan College Cookbook." I'll announce a winner on May 21.

Lentils with linguine

I had a friend who could only make one vegan dish. Whenever we went to his house for dinner or he came to ours for a potluck, he prepared that recipe. It was a lentil and elbow macaroni casserole and it was delicious, so I truly looked forward to our dining together. We didn't get together that much, and I decided I wanted to have the casserole more often, so I asked for the recipe. Imagine my shock when I saw that the casserole contained a half cup of olive oil. No wonder it tasted so good! I felt like I'd been stuffed and marinated. I tried to make a slimmer version but it just wasn't the same, and eventually the recipe disappeared from my collection.

Recently my husband found a recipe for lentils and pasta in the New York Times, and he's made it a couple of times. It's easy to make, has lots of flavor and reminds me of that yummy but rather high-fat version we enjoyed years ago. We like to make it with Whole Foods whole wheat linguine, our favorite whole wheat pasta of the moment. It would also be especially great with some nice thick udon or with rice pasta.



Lentils with linguine (adapted from a recipe in the NY Times)

• 1 cup brown or green lentils, washed and picked over
• water (or half water and half low-sodium vegetable broth)
  
• 2 onions, one cut in half, the other finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cut in small dice
• 1 zucchini, in small dice
  
• 4 large garlic cloves, 2 cut in half, 2 minced
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoons ground cumin
• Pinch of cayenne (or more to taste)
  
• Freshly ground pepper
• 12 ounces whole wheat pasta (especially linguine or udon)
  
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley

1. In a heavy saucepan, place the lentils, halved onion, halved garlic cloves and the bay leaf, and add enough water (or water and vegetable broth) to come 1 1/2 inches above the lentils. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 to 45 minutes, until the lentils are tender but still whole. Place a strainer over a bowl and drain the lentils, reserving the broth.
2. Begin heating a large pot of water for the pasta.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat and add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the red pepper. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender and the onion is beginning to color, another 5 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook a few minutes more. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, the garlic, coriander, cumin, and cayenne. Continue to cook, stirring, for a minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Stir in the broth left over from cooking the lentils. Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid slightly, then stir in the lentils. Add pepper, taste and adjust salt, if needed. Keep warm while you cook the pasta.
4. Cook the pasta according to package directions to al dente. Check a few minutes before the end of the suggested cooking time. Drain and toss with the lentils. Add the cilantro, and serve.

Buffy, the reluctant model

Greek-style cannellini beans and veggies with orzo

I've been spending a lot of time looking through my recipe collection, and it's bringing back old memories of food and cooking. Back in my early days of vegan cooking, when cookbooks were very limited and nut-roasts and lentil-walnut casseroles were the latest, I was thrilled to find a recipe in my Country Life cookbook for a loaf with unlimited variations. As long as one followed the basic proportions of grains, beans, veggies, herbs, crumbs and liquid, an infinite number of combinations were possible, and countless delicious dinners awaited. To celebrate this momentous discovery, we invited friends for dinner, and I couldn't wait to show off scrumptious loaf variation #1. My friend Deborah and I were each preparing food for the meal when her husband looked at the loaf and declared, "everything you two make is brown." He had a grin on his face and I don't think he meant any harm, but I felt like I'd just been hit over the head with a 20 pound mushroom. Everything...I...make...is...brown? Could this be true? Brown? Brown? Brown? Why yes, I believe he may be correct. Everything is brown TONIGHT, but was everything brown yesterday? Will everything be brown tomorrow? I was stunned, deflated, sad.

It reminded me of when I was in high school and was following an upbeat directive from Seventeen Magazine to discover my favorite color. "Just look in your closet," the magazine cheerfully encouraged, "your favorite color will be there." Will it be ruby? pumpkin? cerulean blue? I looked in my closet and there it was - my favorite color - brown! Even then, I was a nut loaf covered in mushroom sauce.

By the time the Moosewood Collective published "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home" in 1994, vegetarian cooking had become much more original. My friends Alan and Claire have been rediscovering recipes in their copy of Moosewood and I decided to take another look at mine in search of colorful and tasty food. I asked my husband to pick out something interesting and here's what he came up with. Is it brown? My husband says emphatically, "NO." I say maybe just a little beige, but in a very colorful way. It's a homey, comforting everyday dish that we really enjoyed.

Greek-style cannellini beans and vegetables

• 2 quarts water
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 carrots, chopped, chopped
• 1 red or green pepper, chopped
• 1 cup orzo
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh mint (1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced dill (1 teaspoon dried)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh marjoram (sprinkle dried)
• 5 artichoke hearts, drained and sliced (14 oz. can)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked cannellini beans (15 oz. can, drained and rinsed)
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups stewed tomatoes or fire roasted canned tomatoes
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• red wine vinegar

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the orzo to al dente. Drain and stir in 1 tablespoon of oil.
2. While the orzo is cooking, saute the onions and garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil. When the onion softens a bit, add the carrots and pepper. Cook for several minutes and add the zucchini. Add the herbs and artichoke hearts. Gently stir in the the beans and tomatoes. Simmer for several minutes. When the veggies are hot and cooked, stir in the orzo and season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of red wine vinegar (or serve at the table in a cruet).
3. Serve with olives, bread and a green salad with toasted walnuts and dates.

This may not be a Greek addition, but I think that dried crushed hot red pepper adds a nice flavor to this dish.

Kale, cauliflower and pasta with pomegranate

When I was a child, my mother would always buy a few pomegranates when they came into season, even though she couldn't really afford them, and she and I would share the jewel-like fruit. There was only one problem. My mother believed that the seeds, like grape seeds, were inedible, so we would chew the juicy pulp off and spit out the seeds. When I was on my own, I thought wistfully of those pomegranates, but didn't want to deal with the piles of gnawed seeds, so I never bought any. Now I know better. You eat the seeds, of course!

In addition to being delicious, pomegranates and their juice contain very high levels of antioxidants and vitamin C, and have been the subject of much research over the past few years.

According to HealthCentral.com:

... Researchers report that [pomegranates] are rich in antioxidants that can keep bad LDL cholesterol from oxidizing (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2000). This degradation of LDL seems to be an initial step in the development of atherosclerosis. In addition, pomegranate juice, like aspirin, can help keep blood platelets from clumping together to form unwanted clots."

Does this make any difference clinically? More recent research has found that eight ounces of pomegranate juice daily for three months improved the amount of oxygen getting to the heart muscle of patients with coronary heart disease (American Journal of the College of Cardiology, Sept. 2005). Other researchers report that long-term consumption of pomegranate juice may help combat erectile dysfunction (Journal of Urology, July 2005).

Research has also suggested that pomegranates may have possible health benefits in preventing prostate cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, and helping osteoarthritis sufferers.

Pomegranate juice tastes so good that when I get my hands on a bottle of it, I end up drinking it before I can even contemplate using it in a recipe. The same was true of the whole fruit until I was recently given a large number of pomegranates. Here is what I did with one of them.

Kale, cauliflower, tempeh and pasta with pomegranate

• one large bunch of kale, washed, thick stems removed, thinly sliced
• one head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
• four ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup raisins
• seeds and pulp from one pomegranate
• eight ounces tempeh, cut into one inch by one inch by 1/2 inch pieces
• eight ounces small pasta (like bowties), cooked according to package directions and tossed with two tablespoons olive oil
• olive oil
• sweet mustard sauce (one tablespoon dijon mustard, one tablespoon agavé syrup or maple syrup, one teaspoon tamari or natural soy sauce, one teaspoon balsamic vinegar, three tablespoons water or no-salt vegetable broth)

1. Make the mustard sauce by mixing the ingredients listed, in a small dish. Set aside.
   
2. Toss the cauliflower with a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy ceramic baking dish or cast iron pan. Roast in a 450˚ oven for 20 minutes. Stir and continue roasting until softened and starting to brown around the edges.
3. Meanwhile, in a wok, stir fry the tempeh in one tablespoon olive oil. As it cooks, sprinkle evenly with one–two teaspoons tamari and turn frequently. (Be careful when adding the tamari. It can splatter.) When the tempeh is starting to brown, add the mushrooms. When the tempeh is browned and the mushrooms are cooked, stir in the raisins and remove to a bowl.
4. Add the kale to the wok, cover and steam in the water left clinging to the leaves from washing. (If necessary, add one or two tablespoons water to keep from burning.) When the kale is bright green and tender, add the tempeh and two tablwspoons of the mustard sauce.
   
5. Toss the cooked pasta with one–two tablespoons olive oil and the remaining mustard sauce. Place the cooked and seasoned pasta on a large, oval serving platter. Mound the kale and tempeh along the center. Surround the kale with the cauliflower. Spread the pomegranate seeds over the top of the kale.

How to get the seeds out

Cut off the flower end. Make five evenly spaced shallow incisions in the skin from the top to the base. In a large bowl of water, break apart the fruit along the incisions. Push out the seeds with your fingers. The seeds will sink and the membranes will float. Remove all the skin and membranes and drain the seeds.

Kasha varniskes soup

I've never entered a blog challenge before, but this No Croutons Required event on Tinned Tomatoes caught my attention. It's for soups or salads involving pasta, with an eye to comforting dishes to ward off the chilly weather ahead—or already here depending on where you live! Now some people might consider mac and cheese their comfort food, and others (misguided others?) may name meatloaf, but when I think of comfort food for cold weather, I think of kasha and bowties, or kasha varnishkes.



Just the sound of the word "kasha" makes me think of blazing fireplaces and cozy sweaters — and my warm and wonderful grandmother. And bowties just seem thicker and mouthier than regular noodles, with a chewy twist in the middle of each one.

Traditionally, in Russia, kasha means porridge and can be made from any whole grain or combination of grains. To me, it means buckwheat groats, and kasha varnishkes is buckwheat and noodles, specifically bowtie noodles. Kasha varnishkes is a traditional comfort food brought to America by Russian Jewish immigrants.

Buckwheat is actually the seed of a fruit, not a grain. (You can read all about buckwheat and its possible appropriateness in gluten-free diets here.) It is very nutritious, delicious and quick cooking. Hulled, raw buckwheat is called buckwheat groats, and that's what I'm starting with in this recipe. After it's toasted in oil, it's called kasha. I've never encountered it in a soup before but thought I'd give it a try.



Kasha varnishkes soup

• three medium onions, halved and sliced thin
• two medium carrots, peeled and sliced thin
• 2 cups sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 inch slices
  
• two cloves garlic, minced
• four green onions, sliced thin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• two-three tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup hulled buckwheat groats
• one cup frozen green soybeans (edamame)
• two tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• eight ounces dry bowtie noodles, cooked and drained
• six cups low-salt vegetable stock or water or a mix
  

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside.
   
2. In a five quart Dutch oven sauté the sliced onions, carrots and mushrooms in two tablespoons of oil until onion is soft, about five minutes.
3. Push the onions aside and add the paprika, garlic and buckwheat to the pan. Cook, stirring, until buckwheat is fragrant. If the pan is dry, you can add a little oil.
   
4. Add the 6 cups of water or stock, and return to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, add tamari and cook 12-15 minutes until buckwheat is tender.
5. Add noodles. Add green onions, reserving some to sprinkle on each serving.
   
6. Add a few grinds of pepper and additional salt if desired.
   

Not only did this soup meet my expectations as a comfort food, the whole house smelled fantastic for hours. We had this soup with teeny tiny steamed brussels sprouts and imaginary muffins. Next time real muffins!

Rice pasta with kale and olives (gluten free)/Polish tomatoes

My daughter-in-law, Taryn and her mom, Judy are both great cooks who rely on instinct rather than recipes. I've been a guest in Judy's home and can tell you first hand that the food she prepares is fantastic and she makes it look so easy it's disconcerting. Judy has no problem cooking in any dietary style from omnivore to vegan and Taryn has obviously inherited her mother's skills. While I was visiting her last month, we were having a video chat with her parents when the subject of dinner came up, and Taryn asked for some advice. She wanted to use the red russian kale that was ready to harvest from her garden. They discussed what ingredients would work well and a plan was made. Judy suggested steaming the kale before sautéeing it but the kale was so young and tender that it wasn't really necessary. With older, tougher kale, it's a good idea to steam it first. The resulting dish was so good that we devoured it before I remembered to take a photo. I brought the recipe home and my husband finally got around to making it last night.

We served it with the simple but amazing Polish Tomatoes from one of the first vegetarian cookbooks I ever bought — "The Vegetarian Epicure" by Anna Thomas, published in 1972. This salad seems so easy you might wonder why a recipe is needed. That's what I was thinking the first time I made it. It's the perfect example of how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! If you are flooded with tomatoes as we are, this is the perfect way to use some.

(As a side note, in addition to writing several cookbooks, Anna Thomas is mainly a screen writer and producer. She won an Academy Award for best writing/screen play written directly for the screen for El Norte, and additional kudos for My Family/Mi Familia which she co-wrote and produced. She was also a screen writer on Frida as well as other films. She wrote "The Vegetarian Epicure" while in grad school.)



Rice pasta with cannelini beans, kale and olives (serves 4)

• 1 pound organic brown rice pasta (Trader Joe's makes a good one)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup sliced black olives, drained
  
• 1 to 2 tablespoons capers
• large bunch red Russian kale or other hearty greens, roughly cut
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil to sauté kale and garlic
• splash of white wine or rice vinegar
• 15 ounce can of cannelini beans, rinced and drained
  

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
2. Sauté the garlic for a minute or two in a large pan and then add the greens. Cook until greens are nearly done.
3. Add the olives, beans and capers.
4. Splash in the wine and cook a minute more.
5. Add the cooked pasta and heat gently until hot.
6. Add freshly ground pepper to taste and salt if needed.

Judy says, "My Northern Italian family favored greens sautéed with garlic, olives, canneloni beans, white wine and pepper flakes. Escarole was a popular favorite as well as broccoli rabe."



Polish tomatoes adapted from "The Vegetarian Epicure" by Anna Thomas

• About 6 firm, ripe tomatoes (Beefsteak tomatoes make a superior salad. I like to grow Brandywine, an heirloom, and Beefmaster, a hybrid.))
• 1 small onion, minced
• fresh sweet basil, crushed or chopped
• fresh dill weed
• salt and pepper
• fresh parsley
• 2 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons wine vinegar

1. Cut the tomatoes into thick slices. Place them in a large shallow bowl with the onion, basil, dill, parsley, salt and pepper.
2. Toss to coat the tomatoes with herbs.
3. Add the oil and vinegar to taste, and toss again.
4. Refrigerate until well-chilled before serving.
   

This is a very flexible recipe. We had lots of basil but very little dill. This simple salad always tastes great no matter what herbs you use, as long as you use good quality tomatoes.