Vegan fast food

It doesn't look like much:
but it is so, so good. I've made about seven batches of Curried Chickpea Spread so far, and I'm sure that I'll be making seven more soon. It is my vegan fast food. It takes just minutes to make and is good for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

One day not too long ago, I made a recipe from the Happy Herbivore for a chickpea spread. It was good; I enjoyed it (as I do all her recipes). Then it got me thinking... I used to eat a curried chicken salad sandwich (on a grilled rye) at my local dining establishment. I LOVED it. But I don't eat chicken anymore. I thought that maybe I could replicate it with chickpeas. And I did, and I love it, and it is even better than the chicken.

Curried Chickpea Spread

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed

1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder
curry powder

mayo

Puree the chickpeas well. Mix in a bowl with the onion and garlic powders. Mix in enough mayo to make it creamy. Then start adding the curry and tasting until it is just right. Mine takes a lot of curry, more than I'd use in a hot dish.

I eat mine on well-toasted rice tortillas. Absolutely delicious.

Lent

I'll be back after lent when I'll share, among other things, what I think of the sweet potato frosting recipe.

Maybe I'll make a Friday vegan dinner for Catholic friends...

Book review: You Won't Believe It's Vegan!

I'm happy that I bought You Won't Believe It's Vegan! by Sher and Doherty. The recipes are quite a bit of work, but the results are usually worth it. If you don't have much time to spend in the kitchen, then it's not a cookbook for you.

I made the Spinich Salad with Beets...and then the Stuffed Collard Rolls.

I made the Tofu Hot Wings twice. They are tasty, but a little too fried-foodish for me. I felt the same way about the Tofu Nuggets, which I guess are supposed to replace chicken nuggets. They were tasty, but I can live without them. I'll keep the sauce for the Hot Wings though, now that I know how to make it properly.

The socca became an instant favorite...easy, tasty, versatile. The last recipe that I made from the book, after coming home from my trip away last weekend was the Leaf Wraps. These are in the Live Foods section. I started out with a Sun-Dried Tomato Pate:
It was the bottom layer. On top of the pate was layered avocado and spinich. I skipped the sprinkle "cheese". There were no good tomatoes in town, so I had to skip those too. These are very tasty treats.

The recipe makes a lot of pate, so some of it got shoved into black olives. Those sat on the counter all day being nibbled and getting tastier as the day went on.

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I still want to try the Mushroom Tapenade and the Zucchini-Pecan Mini Pancakes, although I'll be substituting walnuts because pecans and I aren't getting along these days.

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The cookbook is slim, but it does contain 200 recipes. The format is nice too: The ingredients are on the left in a grey box and the cooking instructions are numbered. The numbers helped me stay on track, esp because the recipes had many steps.

Mardi Gras plans

Mardi Gras is next week. We are having a guest chef, but I'll still make something because she's heartless and takes no pity on the poor, the weak, the vegan and the gluten-free. A good possiblity would be the Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes seen above with some Creamy Cajun Rice on the side. Both are from Vegan Dad, who is probably a dreamboat...what with all that cooking he does. There is also some Creamy Creole Sauce waiting for something to top and a recipe for Smothered Cajun Squash, along with a locally grown squash...all waiting patiently.

And then there's my dreamboat...

Mardi Gras makes one think of New Orleans (if one is American). Long ago and far away, Sebastien and I ran off to New Orleans and got hitched. I was a vegetarian at the time, and I clearly remember restaurant after restaurant with nothing for me to eat. Surely times have changed. But there are no travel plans to find out. I'm pretty happy here at home.

I ate a burger

How do you people with children and jobs find time to cook? It appears that I can manage two of those things, but not all three. The bulk of my work is done, so now I have time to get a haircut and blog.

At the beginning of my busy week, I made these burgers. They contain sweet potato and quinoa and blk beans and carrots and onions and garlic, and they are really good. One recipe made 17 burgers, and I was so happy that I had them to eat all week. I didn't have time to do a whole lot more. Lots of folks have been making them, because I'm seeing them pop up on many blogs. I baked mine, but most were frying.
I was delighted to find some gluten-free buns at the store, but was then a little disappointed in them. They were too much. The bread overpowered the burger. I'm not used to eating bread or flour products anymore. When I do eat them (like my birthday cake which finally got baked today), I feel like I'm eating filler.

The burger recipe led me to the omelette recipe. This was a surprise! I filled it with portobellos, onions, and spinich.

This made a huge amt. What you're seeing is about 1/2. I think that it's a recipe built for two. I could get it all down if I ate slowly, but it didn't leave any room for something fresh and alive. That doesn't feel right to me.

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I really, really like the omelette. It is better than eggs. It cooks up just right, creamy but not like pudding or custard. I want another just thinking about it. I had to cook mine longer than the recipe states. You can also leave it sitting in the pan, covered, on low for a long time. It doesn't get overdone like eggs would.

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On Friday I went to the big town for an overnight trip with a new teenager. We had a lovely time. I highly recommend mother-daughter get-aways. I ate at this restaurant the whole time. For dinner the first night, we got take-out from different restaurants. I paid extra for a take-out container:

It is rather adorable. There is a large bottom compartment (holding my brown rice, beans, scallions, salsa and avocado), a "plate", then the top compartment (holding my spinich-beet salad), with a lid and a handle holding it all together. This dinner was delicious. I had rice and beans left over which I warmed up for breakfast to go with some fruit and juice from the hotel comp breakfast.

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And to make it through that busy week, I made Pam's Sweet Potato Pancakes and plenty of fake sushi. And now I have a big, delicious birthday cake to eat.

Veggie Crisps

The chips below are Veggie Crisps (eatsmart line) made by Snyder's of Hanover (known for pretzels). There aren't many chips in the stores that do not contain corn or gluten, so I am delighted to have these.

Whole Foods sells a similar chip that is puffier...it's better for eating alone, very tasty. These Veggie Crisps have less taste, but they are really good for scooping up guac and salsa and dips. And they are available locally, although expensive.

Gluten-free veggie socca

I experimented with the socca and came up with this:
I added one grated, medium-small zucchini and one grated carrot and about 1/2 of a small white onion (diced) to the basic socca recipe. I baked it at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. It was very good. It needs spices though; it would be a little bland without. It goes with anything and can be cut up into small squares for finger food. It can also be topped with anything.

I love it because it is gluten-free and satisfies my bread cravings. It also has chickpeas in it, so it's a good way to add some protein in my day in a light, tasty way.

Here is the basic recipe (note that I changed cooking temp when I added veggies to it):

Socca

2 cups chickpea flour
1/2 t salt
herbs of your choice (I used basil, sage, oregano, thyme)
3 cups warm water
1/2 cup olive oil

Combine flour, salt, herbs. Add water and whisk. Whisk in oil. Cover and let sit for one hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Whisk batter again (it is very, very wet) and pour into greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Cook for about 25 minutes. It should get crisp at the edges.

If you add in veggies, put them in right before the final whisking. And I hear that you can make your own chickpea flour by grinding up dry chickpeas in a food processor or blender.

Green breakfast

I took the leftover bean puree (white beans, parsley, roasted garlic, olive oil) from the socca dish and made patties with it. We have bean patties all the time, made out of many different beans. These were our first green ones though.
To make the patties, I just mix mashed beans with spices and breadcrumbs. All I did to the puree was add basil and breadcrumbs. Then I had tasty little morsels that I ate for breakfast (with my green veggie/fruit juice which is like caffeine for me):

and also for lunch and dinner. The roasted garlic made this really good.

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I also visited my friend who is a gourmet cook and borrowed a potato ricer and a couple of pizzelle makers. She has everything (oh, and I do mean everything), so the handsome man around here suggested that I try things out before I buy them.

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The pizzelle maker was a big hit. The pizzelles were different than what I remember as a girl with an Italian mother. If I can find an electric, easy-to-clean one that makes the pizzelles that I remember, I'll get it. Actually, I'll ask my mom today is she still has one. And then I'll try adding shredded veggies to socca and see how it turns out...and then I'll pick a paint color for the bathroom...and then I'll do my volunteer work...and then I'll do my real job...

This one's a keeper

I find myself cooking from a new recipe almost every day. Yesterday I made the Maple-Mustard Potatoes from Vegan with a Vengeance (and they were really good) and today I made Chickpea Socca from You Won't Believe It's Vegan.

I would believe it's vegan simply because there isn't anything in there that makes me think meat or cheese or eggs. It's really good. This is the socca:

I'd never heard of socca before. The book says that this is Italian street food made healthy and fancy. I'm the daughter of an Italian. Never heard of it. It is simply chickpea flour and water and oil and salt and herbs. It is fabulously delicious on it's own, esp to someone who doesn't eat bread anymore. Calvin says that it tastes like chicken. Oh-kay. He's a little odd. I plan on taking the socca recipe and seeing if I can add stuff to it--like grated veggies--to mimic some old Midwestern dishes that I miss.

The next step was a white bean, roasted garlic, parsley, olive oil puree:

Pretty basic; not too exciting. What was exciting was the roasted garlic: my first successful attempt. My local gourmet cooking expert called me yesterday to see if I did indeed die (because I didn't visit her to celebrate MLK day on Monday). While I had her on the phone I pestered her with my cooking questions and was then able to perfectly roast garlic. (Take the head; chop of the tips; pour in some olive oil; wrap in foil; roast in 350 degrees for 1.5 hours; let cool until you can handle it; squeeze it all out.)

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The final dish with a side salad of peas and grated daikon (because I just can't get enough peas right now):

There was square of the socca, a layer of bean puree, marinara sauce, and then sauteed onions and spinich. I had to substitute onions for leeks...and the recipe calls for something hearty like kale or collard, not spinich. This was perfect though, so I'll stick with my spinich.

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I am terribly happy to have found this thing called socca. I can't have bread...I can't have cornbread...I can't have polenta. This makes a good substitute for all those. At least to me. And it's cheap and easy.

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I have a lot of this left over, so if you are local and don't mind a house full of cooties, come on over.

At least I try

I decided to save $ by shopping on week one and making do with pantry foods on week two. On week one we have new recipes, lettuce salads, and veggies like green beans and broccoli. On week two we have whatever I can make out of what is in the pantry and the freezer, and root veggies.

That is why last week we had banana-nut pancakes and smoothies (from frozen fruit) for dinner one night. The only problem is that it was way too cold for smoothies.
Spinich Noodle Kugel was another week two dish, using frozen spinich. Frozen peas and a few grated radishes made up the salad (and onion)...and we split the last veggie burger from the freezer.

Falafel is a good pantry dish. Those are the totally inedible collard greens and some mushroom risotto from the freezer.

It's all very good eating...and it makes me feel creative...but I can't see that I'm saving any $ at all. I just spent $250 (which is way more than my paycheck) on food at the grocery store. And that is after buying veggies at the good stores late last week.

I guess that it is impossible for us to save $ on our food budget. At least I can be sure that nothing is going to waste.

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On another note: Sebastien bought me a chef for a night. Any suggestions on what we should have him make?

Cake!

And God smiled down on her from heaven above and said, "My sometimes good and faithful servant! Let her eat cake!"

After four months without cake, I was finally able to partake. My whole married life--17 yrs--I've wanted a bundt cake pan. I never bought one because it was just too extravagent. Why do you need a bundt pan when you have regular cake pans? And muffin pans? Two weeks ago I found this pretty green one at my favorite resale shop; it appeared to be brand new. It was $1.

Because of the gluten-free sentence imposed upon me, I had only used it to defrost fruit for smoothies. Then the Happy Herbivore posted this recipe and assured me by email that using my gluten-free all-purpose flour would work. It did!

And I ate cake. Of course I got horribly ill (not stomach related) soon after and couldn't enjoy my cake fully. Of course. But everyone else in the house likes it (except for the boy who doesn't like choc cake); it's not going to waste.

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It is a really good coffee cake. We eat it without a powdered sugar (because it contains cornstarch) dusting or a light glaze or frosting. Don't want anyone to get too spoiled. It contains two bananas, two cups of shredded zucchini and a cup of applesauce. The flavor changes subtly each day, and each day it is really good.

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I find myself making more and more of the Happy Herbivore's recipes. I don't know how she comes up with this stuff!

Vegan dinner party

We've had many dinner guests, but these are the first ones to be treated to a vegan feast. My friend Elizabeth, her husband Kevin, and their daughter Heidi were supposed to join us for dinner. But they live an hour away, it was very cold, and Elizabeth was tired and getting sick from a busy work load (attending 8 homebirths in 3 weeks; she's a doc). I had already made the two main dishes, so I called up our pinch hitters, Bryan and Sabra.

I knew that Sabra would be fine with vegan food. She cooks vegetarian dinner five times a week for her family of five (with another on the way). I wasn't sure about Bryan though. Would he eat the tofu? Then I recalled that he lived in South America for two years. People who have lived abroad are more adventurous diners.

That's Jesus in the window above my head. He blesses our meals. There is a painted gourd over Seb's head; it blesses nothing.

I didn't realize that Seb and I were dressed so brightly until I saw these photos.

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While the children ate at the table (soup, sandwiches, salad and veggies), the adults reclined in the living room with homemade Orangina. I had served it to my students earlier that day (studying France), so the seltzer was a little flat. Next time I'll open up a fresh bottle for company. I make it by mixing seltzer with orange juice. The version that we can buy in this country has corn syrup in it, so we have bit it adieu.

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Then we sat down to the table and dined on...

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Carrot Bisque from Vegan with a Vengeance

Cauliflower-Mushroom Potpie with Black Olive Biscuit Crust from Veganomicon

Tofu Hot Wings from You Won't Believe It's Not Vegan

Pea/Green Onion/Grated Radish Salad of my own invention

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Dessert was Angela's Hot Cocoa and Sabra's Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies.

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In this photo, Sebastien is explaining "how it all works". What it is, I have no idea.

This is hospitality #2 for 2009. I have resolved to have 24 of these this year. So far, so good.

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My harshest critic (pictured below), said, "That dinner was actually good. I expected it to be lacking, but it wasn't. Maybe it was because I drank so much." He only had 1/2 glass of white wine.

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Our guests seemed to like the dinner, even saying so in text. Of course they are much, much too polite to say anything negative. I think.

Fancy food

I've made three recipes from You Won't Believe It's Vegan! by Sher and Doherty. First off was the Spinich + Roasted Beet + Spiced Pecan Salad. It was a lot of work. Although we like all those items, the salad itself wasn't anything special. I had a similar, but much better, salad in Vegas on the 2nd worst vacation of my life.

The 2nd recipe I made was Collard Rolls Stuffed with Quinoa, Sweet Potato and Carmelized Onions. This one was a lot of work too. I was afraid that I would be disappointed (I was with the lentil sause that it was served on), but the Stuffed Collard was good. Not great, just good. It was difficult to stuff, so I'll leave it all separate next time. The collard leaves were very tasty; it was my first time. The stuffing itself is a good main or side dish anytime.

Then I made the Tofu Hot Wings. They are fabulous! Angela, I think that you'll like these. I made mine kind of mild and put out the hot sauce for Sebastien to spice his up. You'll probably want yours spicy.

What else we've had recently at lunch...watercress salad on Donna's plate which will probably be confiscated very soon because something really bad happened despite our Jedi powers:

And my first try at gluten-free baking...pumpkin-walnut pancakes:

They turned out great, but the maple-walnut cookies didn't. At least I have my pancakes.

Book review: Becoming Vegan

When you leave out the animal products, you replace them with good stuff like fruits and veggies. Here is a list of the fruits and veggies that I ate today:
sweet potato
onion
beet
carrot
shiitake mushroom
daikon
collard green
avocado
banana
orange
black olive
cucumber
watercress
tomato
potato
pickle
celery
green juice (made from fruits and veggies)

I only ate a bit of this and a bit of that, but they are all healthy and it all adds up.

Becoming Vegan: The complete guide to adopting a healthy plant-based diet is not what I expected. I expected a book talking about stocking my pantry...making my meals...eating out...satisfying cravings...etc. What I got was a book full of information about why vegan eating is healthy. It is pretty deep...citing study after study...showing graphs and tables...covering all kinds of vitamins and minerals. It is pretty convincing to read the studies. According to the research my risk of heart disease has gone down 26% and my risk of stroke 30%. My risk of diabetes is down 55%, and my risk of all cancers has gone way down.

This is a good book, just different than expected. I took a long time to read it, working through each chapter learning about how the body uses different nutrients and where to find them.

If you aren't sure about veganism or if you aren't sure that you are getting enough protein, calcium, etc., than this book would be a good read. If anyone wants to borrow mine, it's up for grabs.

What Seb ate

Long ago and far away, I was a nanny to two little girls around five yrs old. At Christmastime we made tons of Christmas ornaments with salt dough and painted them with acrylic paint. It was fun; they turned out really well (the ornaments; I hope that the girls did too).

I sent a bushelful (well, maybe a dozen) to Sebastien in Canada. He was my dreamy beau at the time; now he's my dreamy husband. I visited him after Christmas and learned that the ornaments had been on the tree until his father ate them, paint and all. He said they were good.
So, what did Seb eat with his cafe au lait? Freddy's foam gingerbread man ornament. Children watched and squealed and told him not to as the gingerbread man disappeared limb by limb.

The dish fairy stopped by

This blog now has a Prop Mistress and look what she brought:
There will now be a festive air to the blog...sort of a gala or Fiesta feeling to it. How does the Creamy Tomato Soup look?:

And how does it look with the new plate? Mighty fine, I think.

We've used every one of the plates and bowls so far. And have broken nothing. Isn't Donna fab? She declined my offer to stay and help me scrub out the frig. Party pooper. She was on her way to the store to buy a skateboard. That must be how she stays limber and youthful, attracting attention like flies to honey while I hang out with horses who don't brush.

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Some plans for those plates: a roasted beet and spinich salad...stuffed collard greens...hot wings...a kugel...falafel...and another dinner party.

Carrot Soup

What has my lovely pot been up to? Carrot Bisque from Vegan with a Vengeance.
This recipe was perfect for Using What I Have Week. It contains carrots, onions, broth, spices and cococut milk. I always have carrots and onions, and I bought a can of coconut milk a couple of weeks ago. It is really, really good. There was dash of maple syrup in it. I left it out for the first serving (Seb doesn't like sweet things...except for me), but put it in when I reheated it. It was better. Very tasty. I'll surely make this again. It's rich and think and interesting.

Lunch one day: Carrot Bisque, the last lentil/rice pattie, and some toasted seaweed waiting for a cold mixture of quinoa/onion/cilantro mayo.

Hey, Calvin!

Since you have nothing better to do than read little kids' books, why don't you help me make some cookies?
He did, and they are so good! They are still warm and we are enjoying them while listening to Rick Springfield sing about Jesse's Girl. I guess that song qualifies as an Oldie now. My bored sis sent me a text one day (which means she was sitting outside a preschool waiting for a little boy) asking me if I wanted to go see Rick Springfield at a roller rink or some such institution near her home. But back to the cookies...

These cookies are just perfect. They seem underdone, too soft, when they come out of the oven, but they firm up just enough on the pan. They are chewy and delicious. And vegan. All the young'uns love them. The adults too. If the other employees at my husband's meeting this afternoon don't like them, then they just don't know what's good!

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Maple Walnut Cookies

from Vegan with a Vengeance (and, yes, I do have permission to post recipes)

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1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 T molasses

1 t vanilla extract

2 t maple extract

3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup)

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1/4 cup rice or soy milk (I used vanilla rice and omitted the vanilla extract.)

2 T tapioca starch or arrowroot or cornstarch (I used arrowroot.)

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1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup wheat.)

3/4 t salt (I used less.)

1 t baking soda

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1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

3 dozen walnut halves to press into the cookies before baking (I left these out.)

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Preheat to 35o degrees.

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Combine oil, syrup, molasses, extracts, and sugar; stir until well combined.

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Add milk and starch; stir until starch is dissolved.

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Add flour, salt, baking soda; mix until well combined; fold in chopped walnuts.

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Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet, 12 per sheet (lined with parchment or greased).

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Bake 8-10 minutes; remove from oven and let cookies sit on baking sheets for two minutes before removing to cooling rack.

What I got

I ended up cleaning out the basement (well, most of it) in my unsuccessful search for the Christmas tree ornaments.
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I found lots of good stuff for the kitchen: Much needed glasses that were put down there for safe-keeping; some tiny doll-sized tea sets, the cups of which now hold vitamins; and several small appliances. Some are sitting in the laundry room waiting to be cleaned up and used. This one, however, was scrubbed and put into use immediately:
It has been used every day. Today it pureed salsa. On Christmas Eve, it helped make my curried carrot dip from Veganomicon. It chops all our nuts now and makes our breadcrumbs too. It works much better for small amounts than the food processor. My parents bought it for me when I was making baby food, years and years ago. I didn't use it much then (a fork worked well enough for me), so I am making up for lost time.
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And this lovely pot from Williams-Sonoma was under the tree:
A French pot from a French man. Seb wouldn't let me use it until after present-opening time. Yesterday I used it to make Cholent from Veganomicon (which was good, of course). I loved cooking in it! I have no idea why, but the onions browned better, the garlic too. The dish had to simmer for a long time, and I only had to use the tiniest bit of heat to keep it simmering. I think that my dreamy husband has spoiled me. Donna has her Fiesta; I have my Le Creuset.

Surf & Turf (and more)

It was the winter solice, the shortest day of the year, so I slaved over a hot stove cooking up a grand meal (and making the weekly tortillas)...
I was too busy working on dinner to notice that I had no leftovers for my lunch. So, I whipped up this artichoke dip with my handy hand blender--that I found while shopping in my basement last week--and ate it while reading Brain Child magazine...

And then dinner time arrived. It was time for the surf and turf special. The surf was a mixture of butternut squash and bean threads (or whatever they are called...they are translucent, which makes them look like worms that live in the deep water) and cilantro and cucumbers wrapped in nori. We won't be having it again.

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The turf was a wild rice and mushroom soup from my favorite cookbook. It was not good. Bland. The broth was like tasteless dirty dishwater. What went wrong? How could something with onions and garlic and mushrooms and wild rice be bland? And homemade veggie broth? It's still a mystery to me. I won't fault the recipe; I couldn't follow it because I couldn't find the fancy mushrooms.

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It was just one big disappointing evening.

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So the next night I sauteed more garlic and onions and loaded 'em with thyme. Then I threw in some of the leftover soup (and I had a giant pot of it) and let it cook for a long while.

What we ended up with is a cross between a risotto (which the man doesn't like) and fried rice. It was really good. The day was saved with no food wasted. Butternut squash, cucumber salad, mushrooms & wild rice.

And what's that? A new plate? Isn't it pretty? Not quite Fiesta, but on sale and not from China. Isabelle stated tonight that she doesn't like the new plates; they ruin the atmosphere. Yep, they ruin the ATMOSPHERE. She refused to eat our Italian feast because of it.

Went Christmas shopping...

and I bought new dinner plates!!!!!!!!!!!! Calvin scrubbed them; I put them away; they will make their appearance soon. Unfortunately, they are HUGE. I'm afraid that my little portions are going to get lost or lonely or cold.

A kugel, a helper, a Caesar

The kugel is the Cauliflower-Leek Kugel from Vegan with a Vengeance. I found it a little bland. I'm finding all the recipes in that book a little on the bland side. It seems like they need a few more veggies and more spices. I'm still making the recipes though; I haven't made enough to review it yet. Here it is before heading to the oven, when my kitchen was still full of natural light to make photographing a snap (hahaha).
The helper is the boy who had a snow-day on Friday. He got to hang with me and make three batches of cookies for Isabelle's party. And do a lot of other assorted jobs. I learned that day that I LOVE having a helper in the kitchen. The young'uns will help me with a task if I ask, but this was a real cooking partner. I LOVED it! Seb and I have cooked together maybe twice in the last 20 years. Maybe he will read this and become my cooking partner. But probably not.

A day after I quizzed a class of 5th graders on who the caesar was when Jesus was born (and what a caesar was), I made a caesar salad dressing. I've made it before; I'll make it again, next time with a little less garlic (my cloves were the husky kind).

Caesar Salad Dressing from Veganomicon (still my favorite cookbook)

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1/3 cup slivered or sliced blanched almonds

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3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

12 oz silken tofu

1/2 cup olive oil

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3 T fresh lemon juice

1 heaping T capers (I love capers!)

4 t caper brine

1 t sugar

1/2 t mustard powder

salt

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Pulse almonds in food processor until crumbly; transfer to bowl.

Blend garlic, tofu, and oil (in processor or blender) until creamy.

Add lemon juice, capers, caper brine, sugar, and mustard powder; pulse until blended.

Adjust lemon juice and salt to taste.

Pour into bowl with almonds; whisk to combine.

Refrigerate at least 30 min, optimally 1 to 1.5 hours.

Sushi surprise

Well, I don't know if it is sushi, but that's what I'm calling it.
Yesterday morning I went running. I am trying to work my way up to running a mile. I've done it before, so I think that I can do it again. I have exercise-induced asthma, and it's really bad right now because of forced inactivity over the last two yrs. I cannot run because of it, but I want to.

So, anyway, I ran. Then I was so hungry that I ate everything in my house except the Christmas tree. When dinner rolled around, I wanted something really light and made this sushi. It was surprisingly good. I was loosely following a recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, but I had to make many substitutions to use up leftovers and get around the whole rotten mango issue. And also the issue of the local stores not carrying a lot of Asian stuff.

What I ended up with was quinoa, cilantro, & cucumber mixed with a little mayo and eaten rolled up in toasted seaweed (from my Sushi Party package...Donna, want to come over to party with me?). It was really, really good. Surprise, surprise.

And before we move on to the next item...I am looking to hire a food photographer who will work for food. It is a two minute job each day at 6 PM.

Fried rice, Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes from Vegan with a Vengeance, and avocado salad.

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The rice and the salad were a perfect combination, taste-wise. And the croquettes added a nice little something to the side. The croquettes were good, but I found them a little lacking in spiciness. I'll be increasing the spices next time.

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The salad is just a vinagrette made with mashed avocado in place of some of the oil...and some chopped cilantro. It's delicious.

Weekend cooking

I made a ton of food on the weekend...I just can't remember all of it. On Saturday for lunch we had an endive/frisee salad and Spicoli Burgers from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan:
They were good, but not outstanding in any way. I must say that all these burgers (the ones that I make intentionally and the ones that I make out of dishes that I'm not crazy about) are much better than store bought veggie burgers.

The real star of the weekend? Pumpkin Walnut Pancakes. Delicious! The last can of real maple syrup was hiding on a low shelf, so we had these with very little syrup and they were still good. Throughout the day we ate them cold or popped them in the toaster. If you are living in the Great White North and want to send me a Christmas present, make it maple syrup. We used to get it from relatives and customers, but the supply has run down to that one lonely can.

Pumpkin Waffles (or pancakes) from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Isa is working on her new book Vegan Brunch. I thank God for her. Truly.

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2.5 cups all-purpose flour

2.5 t baking powder

.5 t baking soda

.5 t salt

2 t cinnamon

1 t ginger

.5 t nutmeg

.25 t clove

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2 cups rice milk (or any other kind)

1 15oz can pureed pumpkin

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 t vanilla extract

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Sift together first bunch of ingredients; in separate bowl whisk together (vigorously) 2nd bunch of ingredients until well emulsified; pour wet into dry and mix; make your waffles or pancakes.

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These are thicker than your average waffle. I threw the nuts in for extra taste and protein. We all really, really liked them except for Mr Picky Boy who wouldn't try them.

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And lastly we have Calvin:

It wasn't the weekend (Freddy is wearing his school uniform), but it was food. The first time we had a pomegranate, I made Calvin and his buddy pull it apart. Now it is Calvin's job. He did this one for fun after dinner, and the seeds were gone in an hour. (Those are choco-zucchini muffins on the counter cooling.)