It's November / veganmofo wrap

I meant to do my Vegan Mofo wrap-up before October ended but here it is only one day late. This was my first mofo, and the most I've ever blogged in one month. The part that was most exciting for me was finding and reading so many blogs I'd never seen before. It was thrilling to discover so many vegan blogs with wonderful recipes and gorgeous photos. I had no idea there were so many. My reading list is now stuffed with even more great blogs than before. As others have mentioned, it was hard keeping up with reading and commenting on so many posts; sometimes the comment would be in my head but I was just too tired to type it. I want to thank those responsible for organizing the event and posting the recaps. I followed many of those recap links to find new blogs. I especially want to thank all the vegan bloggers for sharing so much creative energy. Now all those intriguing recipes await!

Speculoos smoothie, veganmofo 2009

When I was a child, once a year my mother used to buy ginger snap cookies in an rustle-y orange paper sack. These cookies were only available in October. They were large and flat and crackled on top.



They seemed very hard and crunchy on the outside but when I started chewing them, they got tacky, and stuck to my teeth. My mother and I loved these spicy cookies, looked forward to them every year and lamented the fact that we couldn't buy them whenever we wanted.



I would open the bag and inhale their spiciness. The fragrance was so strong I could almost taste the cookies before they touched my lips.



Today I added speculoos spice blend and a small amount of agave nectar to my almond milk-banana-mango smoothie, and when I took my first mouthful, I heard the rustle of that orange paper sack, smelled the gingersnaps, and saw my mother's smile.

Breads and speculoos / veganmofo 2009

I want to say upfront that I haven't been sent a review copy of the cookbook I'm about to mention (darn - I'd love to review it). It's just that the authors have developed a bread baking style that fits perfectly with the theme of this blog. Following their method couldn't be easier, and I've been playing with their recipes since their first cookbook, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" was published. I used their technique, but made the recipes healthier by using whole grains, less salt, etc. Now they've come up with a new book called, "Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day," and of course I watched their video, and made bread. I haven't actually seen the new book yet, but I know it has recipes using whole grains, fruits and veggies, plus a chapter on gluten-free baking. It's not a vegan cookbook, but probably easy for a vegan cook to adapt the recipes.

The bread pictured above was made from the basic recipe. I didn't have any unbleached flour on hand so I subbed semolina flour. For the topping I used a mix of sesame seeds, caraway seeds, dill seeds and crushed red pepper. The bread was delicious with the kind of springy texture I love, and it looked very pretty.



The dough - a rather wet dough - is mixed and stored in a container in the refrigerator, and taken out in blobs whenever a bread is needed.



Tonight I needed to make a bread with the speculoos spice mix I got from Mihl's blog. (Are you reading this, Mihl?) I grabbed a blob of dough and rolled it into a rectangle. I mixed one tablespoon of speculoos spice mix, one tablespoon of cocoa, three tablespoons of evaporated cane juice and about 1/2 cup of raisins, and spread it onto the dough. The dough was then rolled up and the edges sealed. You can see from the photo I didn't do a very even job - perhaps I was rushing - but the taste is delicious.

The authors will be in Seattle Monday night to do a reading and book signing and I hope to be there. I doubt they'll be talking about speculoos!

Buffy / random food / veganmofo 2009

Buffy got groomed today and she looked so cute I had to give her some blog space. Buffy is at least 16 years old and holding her own quite well. She's still sweet and playful. I found her at the Humane Society when she was three, and she's been with us ever since. She was adopted to be our beloved Starr's sister so he would have company during the day, and they had a lot of good years together. Now Buffy lives only with humans but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, at this stage of her life she's not that into other dogs anymore, though she still gets excited to see a cat. Lucky for her, two of her human brothers have cats, and sometimes she gets to visit them.


Buffy reclining regally (and hoping I'll go away and stop taking her picture).



At the secondhand store yesterday I found two really nice little white CorningWare dishes. They're rounded rectangles about 5 inches by 7 inches, and the perfect size for heating up and serving a single portion of lunch. I was envisioning them as handy little serving dishes for spreads or olives at a party. They were only fifty cents! Here you see one filled with leftover quinoa pasta (my favorite) and stir-fry from the previous night's dinner.



My son has been making himself humongous burritos with different fillings. I wanted today's potato-carrot-pea-chipotle-tofu filling but not the tortilla so I made a salad and put the filling on top for a burrito salad. It was great. Below you can see one of the burritos.

Bottoms up / veganmofo 2009

Oooo. Edemame, corn and spicy potatoes - my fave.

Only one more week of vegan mofo, and I really haven't exploited the cute baby pix opportunities at all. So here we go. Babycakes (a.k.a. my granddaughter) was at our house all day Saturday, and in addition to puzzles, books, ball throwing, singing, dog petting, walk taking and discovering rotten apples in the dirt, etc., I got to try out my "microwave cake-in-a-cup making activity for those with short attention spans" (no age requirements). Apparently, even five minutes start to finish is too long for some.


Bottoms up! Cheers and all. Sure do love this almond milk.

I shared all the ingredients and told her what the final product would be but she just wanted to put her hands into everything and toss it around. Cool. Once the batter was on her fingers she didn't put them into her mouth as I thought she would, and I just managed to wipe them off before she ran out of the room to join her Uncle Jordan. The one ingredient she was most excited about (it wasn't the coconut) was the almond milk. When I was putting the almond milk into the measuring cup, she wanted some, so I gave her a little in a cup. She loved it, and drank quite a bit before spilling it onto the floor. She had some with her lunch, too. She's still too young to make the leap from ingredients to final product, but I can assure you she was quite pleased with that final product when she consumed it with her lunch. "Kek," she said. Cake, indeed.



On Friday night I found myself alone for dinner. My husband was traveling home from a meeting in D.C., and my son was working. When I cook for myself the food choices tend to be based on availability and convenience. That usually means: what's in the fridge and can it be cooked in a wok? There was lacinato kale, a small slab of tofu, leftover brown rice and some red pepper. Fried rice with good seasonings and a dab of cashew cheese made my perfect dinner. And maybe a little leftover kek.

note: How to cut lacinato (dinosaur) kale for a stir-fry or salad: Remove the center stems from the leaves with a scissors or by "stripping" the leaves with your fingers. Gather all the kale into a wad and roll up into a tight roll. Slice thinly across the roll with a santoku or other sharp knife.

It's Friday it's late / Veganmofo 2009

I've got quite an unrelated variety of foods here representing everything from serious and healthy to ridiculous but healthyish. First the ridiculous. Some time ago Diann posted a five-minute microwave chocolate cake-in-a-mug on Eat'n Veg'n. A similar recipe was also in a cookbook I reviewed. I was mildly interested in trying it just to see if it would work, but we didn't have a microwave at the time so I forgot about it. I don't know what triggered the memory in my brain, but I was about to watch Mad Men one night and suddenly I wanted chocolate cake, and remembered Diann's post. WE HAVE A MICROWAVE in this house was all I could think of. Now, I'm not sweet obsessed, and rarely ever have dessert unless we have company. My husband usually has an apple for dessert. But suddenly I was obsessed with microwave cake. I don't even like microwaves, but I had to do it. This led to a series (I'm too embarrassed to say how many cakes were in the series) of microwaved cakes, all of which got eaten before they could be photographed. Me and the apple-eater gobbled 'em up. Not that they were photogenic, understand, as they didn't necessarily come out of their mugs, bowls, dishes, etc. in one piece.

One of the reasons I've been trying so hard to get this right (one of the reasons, uh huh) is I want to make this cake with my tiny granddaughter, and the speed and ease of assembly and nearly instant gratification fits well with her attention span. This cake is basically done about 5 minutes after you start. I had to make a non-chocolate version because her mom doesn't like her to eat chocolate, and I think I'm ready for our play date tomorrow!

As Diann said, this won't replace a carefully made "real" cake, but it works great for a sudden dessert craving. The taste and texture are really good, especially served still warm. It's kind of like a big, soft muffin. Add some jam, ice cream or whatever, or just eat it plain.
Instant microwave cake - chocolate version (easily serves two)

• 4 tablespoons whole spelt flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 3 tablespoons evaporated cane juice
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 5 tablespoons soymilk (or other milk)
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• splash of pure vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar and baking soda. Mix well.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips to coat with flour.
3. In a glass measuring cup, place the soymilk, then vinegar. Stir in the oil and vanilla.
4. Add liquid to dry and mix thoroughly but gently.
5. Lightly grease a mug or small bowl. Add cake mix.
6. Microwave for 3 minutes.
7. Carefully remove from microwave (it will be hot) and allow to cool for several minutes. Loosen edges and turn onto a plate. Let cool a little.
8. Serve while warm.

Instant microwave cake - coconut version (easily serves two)

• 5 tablespoons whole spelt flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened dried shredded coconut
  
• 3 tablespoons evaporated cane juice
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon chocolate chips (optional)
  
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 4 tablespoons almond milk (or other milk)
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• splash of pure vanilla extract
• apricot jam

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, coconut, sugar and baking soda. Mix well.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips (if using) to coat with flour.
3. In a glass measuring cup, place the almond milk, then vinegar. Stir in the oil and vanilla.
4. Add liquid to dry and mix thoroughly but gently.
5. Lightly grease a mug or small bowl. Add cake mix.
6. Microwave for 3 minutes.
7. Carefully remove from microwave (it will be hot) and allow to cool for several minutes. Loosen edges and turn onto a plate. Let cool a little.
   
8. Serve while warm, with jam on top
   

Notes: I know almost nothing about microwaves but they seem to vary a bit so cooking times may be different. I think the one here is 850 watts, if that means anything to you. Err on the side of too little cooking so the cake isn't dry. You can always put it back in for another minute. It may appear to be moist at the edge but if the rest seems springy and done, it's OK.


Cashew cheese with toasted sesame oil

Now for something a little more serious. I've been eyeing recipes for cashew cheese for a while but can never remember to soak the cashews, and then we end up eating them before I get around to making the cheese. Well, I finally soaked some, and made an uncooked cashew cheese. I was pretty surprised to find that after five hours of soaking, some of the cashews had actually started to sprout! You can find endless variations for this delicious cheese online so it seemed pretty safe to deviate from the recipes and make this stuff based on the ingredients I happened to have. I didn't add any herbs, choosing instead to flavor the cheese with a fruity vinegar and toasted sesame oil - two additions I didn't come across in my recipe search. This stuff is sublime and I can't wait to make some as a starter next time we have company. It would be a perfect dip with crisp raw veggies.

Cashew cheese

• 2 cups raw cashews plus water to cover
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (or more to taste)
• very small clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon unpasteurized mellow white miso
• 1 to 2 teaspoons fruity vinegar (I used balsam cherry)
• a few drops of toasted sesame oil (more to taste)
• water as needed to process
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• paprika

1. Soak the cashews 4 to 6 hours. Drain and rinse.
2. Place cashews, garlic, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Process until very creamy and smooth, adding water as necessary for processing, keeping mixture as thick as possible. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
3. Add miso, pepper, vinegar and oil. Process to mix well.
4. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave out for 2 to 4 hours until preferred level of sharpness has developed. Then refrigerate.
5. Before serving, sprinkle with paprika and more black pepper.

Here's a link to another cashew cheese recipe you might want to try. It's baked. And here's another. More ideas here.

update: I added jalapeño hot sauce to the cashew cheese on Saturday, and also recommend adding chopped parsley and/or chopped green onions. The cheese got very firm and spreadable in the refrigerator overnight. Next time I make it I plan to use umeboshi paste and tahini instead of the miso.


No-knead whole-grain bread with barley flour and sesame seeds

Today I made a no-knead bread using white whole wheat, barley flour and sesame seeds. It was baked on a stone and had a wonderful taste and texture - nutty from the barley and rich from the sesame seeds. I used one cup of barley flour to four cups of white whole wheat. I originally needed the barley flour to make blondies from Sweet Freedom. My husband does the shopping, and he bought a large bag of the stuff. Even though I've made the blondies three times, I still have a ton of the flour left so I've been adding it to my baked goods with good results.


Oatmeal with a side of news

I'll leave you with my healthy breakfast (from Wednesday) just to show that I am occasionally responsible and sensible. I need to counteract the completely silly things I've been doing with the microwave. (FOOD things!) The picture above shows a wonderful bowl of oatmeal with coconut, raisins, cashews and rice milk. The only thing that could make a breakfast like this more perfect would be to come downstairs and find it already made. I seem to be the only one in the house who wants oatmeal in the morning but I love it.

Eggplant this and eggplant that / veganmofo 2009

Roasted eggplant and garbanzo bean soup

We managed to accumulate a lot of eggplants this week - good deals at the market that we couldn't refuse. Since I seem to have a soup thing going, I decided to combine the eggplant with the soupathon and make roasted eggplant and garbanzo bean soup. I'd been wanting to make this ever since I first got my hands on Love Soup. I also wanted to try roasting an eggplant on the stove top (gas stove) like our cooking class teacher did. I mean, I've roasted peppers on the burner, but an eggplant is so much bigger.

I roasted one eggplant in the oven and one on the stove burner. And I made quite a mess on the burner. But now that I've roasted another eggplant (story below) I know what I did wrong the first time. I kind of ignored my roasting eggplant a little too long on a flame that was a little too high, and by the end I was certain I was going to set off the smoke alarm. By the time I remembered to turn the eggplant there was goo oozing out and turning to charcoal all over the burner. I got the eggplant cooked, but yuck, what a mess. I used a scrubber to VERY CAREFULLY clean the burner while it was still hot and everything came off in a snap so it turned out not to be so bad, but it can be better.

We combined the two eggplants for the soup because I was hoping to give the soup an edge of smokiness, but the soup just tasted like regular oven-roasted eggplant to me. The soup was delicious, but I could have saved myself some trouble by just using the oven.



For eggplant roasting experience number two, I played smarter. I turned the eggplant often so it would char evenly rather than get too cooked on one side and burst. The whole thing only takes about 15 minutes so there's no excuse for not sticking close by and doing it right. The flame was on the lowest simmer. The hardest part is cooking the thicker bottom but setting the eggplant upright for a couple of minutes did the trick. There was still a small spill but nothing like the first one. When the eggplant was soft, I set it in a bowl for a while to drain out the bitter fluids, and cool a bit.



The next part involved cutting it in half and scooping out the flesh, carefully retrieving all of the eggplant that was clinging to the charred skin. This was easy, easy. Next I used my chef knife to chop the eggplant into a purée, which I mixed with tahini, lemon juice, sea salt and finely minced garlic to end up with baba ghannouj - smoky and fabulous, just like it should be. I think this is the only way I want to have baba ghannouj from now on.


Baba ghannouj

Creamy broccoli mushroom bake / veganmofo 2009

Bear with me here. I'm going to start with one thing and end with another but it really will all tie together in the end, you'll see. And all of it involves food. It all started with an email from my son asking if I knew about AmazonFresh. Well, no, I didn't, but soon after the email arrived I was on my way to placing my first-ever delivered-grocery order. Said son had a coupon code for 25% off the first order and we both decided to try it out of curiosity. Naturally, I was overcome with guilt about ordering from a subsidiary of giant Amazon instead of shopping at the local coop, but I used weird logic to calm my nerves. The delivery service is associated with Amazon but separate from it and operates only in Seattle - not even the whole of Seattle. The organic veggies I was looking at were from Washington and Oregon. Still. Is this OK? We went to the farmers market AND the coop in addition to the order, but still.

So I went online and made up a shopping list. I chose a pre-dawn delivery time for Sunday morning and waited in suspense. The next morning there was a stack of plastic bins on the porch, filled with our food. All we had to do was put it away. We felt very strange about this but kind of liked it too.



In addition to food and other items usually found at a grocery store, you can add certain other things usually found at Amazon - need a CD with your groceries? A pedometer, maybe? A cookbook? A cookbook. Well, actually, Vegan Yum Yum had been in my Amazon cart for quite a while, and it just happened to be available at AmazonFresh. So I added it to the list. And that brings me to the next part of the post. When the food was delivered, so was the cookbook. It's a gorgeous cookbook filled with wonderful food pictures, and tonight we tried one of the recipes. My husband made creamy broccoli mushroom bake. All I can say is, "yum yum."

Surprise box

It was a gray and gloomy day. There was wind. There was rain. It was damp and chilly. "Bleh. Is this what I have to look forward to?," was the thought in my mind as I arrived home. Five more months of weather forecasts that predict, "rain at times, chance of showers, rain and then showers, rain with sun breaks." Sun breaks? Might as well check the mail, I thought, a bunch of junk mail will make the day complete. But in addition to the junk mail, sitting on the landing was a box addressed to me from Lindsay from Cooking for a Vegan Lover. My mystery box had arrived, and suddenly the day seemed a lot better. (Not sunnier or drier, mind you, but better.) Lindsay had held a giveaway contest a few weeks ago and I was the lucky winner. I love surprises almost as much as I love sunshine.



Here's what was in the box: There was a one pound bag of crunchy veggie chips, and



a piney bar of shea butter soap that smelled just like the North Woods (of Wisconsin, even though it was made in N.Y.).



There was a bottle of vegan Worcestershire sauce.



There was a spicy jar of peanut butter with several kinds of hot peppers.



The box also contained two gnu bars, rosemary and sea salt flatbread, parma, hummus, Heart Thrive energy bars and green tea. Thank you so much Lindsay for all these special vegan treats.

Lindsay is doing a care-package swap. Click here for more information on how to participate.