Pasta E Fagioli from Veganomicon

  I made this today!

Super excited because it was easy, and delicious. 

Reminder: All good things you see are coming from Veganomicon.

I also made breakfast this morning. Basic tempeh hash. Super flavor, great texture.

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Last but not least. A classic Riley picture to remind you that there's always a place for silly hats.

A new adventure in vegan cooking.

I can't hide it anymore. I have a total vegan/creator crush on Isa Moskowitz. She's the creator of Veganomicom (as well as many other cookbooks,but that's my favorite). I am a consta-scanner of her Post Punk Kitchen as well as fervent fan on Twitter and Instagram. Am I starting to sound creepy? Cause sometimes it feels creepy. On top of all that, we live in the same damn city- so I even run into her at a few vegan hot spots in town. I get silent and stare-y EVERY time.
Back to the point though. I finally bought Veganomicon (and Vegan With A Vengeance) for my family. It's my gift to the vegan in my life. No more scouring the internet for recipes. 
So please, be expecting photos and links to the fucking amazing meals I am soon to make.
I should also tell you, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm sitting in the Whole Foods parking lot at 7:30 am waiting for them to open so I can make some breakfast.

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Follow @IsaChandra

Get creative with potato chips

I've been getting 8-10 little red potatoes per week in my CSA bag from Wenninghoff Farms . Lately I've been baking them in light oil. Creating either crispy dark brown chips or slightly soft potato slices.
I enjoy adding any number of spice combo. Tonight for about 5 thinly sliced reds I added:

1. 1/2 tsp garlic powder
2. 1/2 tsp cumin
3. 1/2 tsp curry
4. 1 1/2 c canola
5. 2 tbsp sea salt
6. Pepper to taste

Mix, coat, layer on baking sheet.
Cook for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Flip them halfway, and remove the smaller ones as needed.

Canning/Pickling Okra

Tonight, I'm pickling okra and canning it. For those of you afraid of canning, or fearful of slimy okra- be not afraid, for I am lazy and still manage to do it.

I'd like to say quality okra and great fresh spices are the key to great pickled okra. I'd also like to say I take the time to make cute little labels for each jar that have a 'made with love, eat with joy' caligraphy sticker label on them....

I used my brother's left over okra and last year's pickling spice mix for my canning this year. I do have some pointers on okra though.

1. Pick it yourself. I know there's a U-Pick field within 5 miles of you. Find it and utilize your local market.

2. If you can't get it from a field/ farmers market or backyard garden- get it organic. I always feel better when the food I eat is organic (especially when you eat the entire food, skins and all).

3. Size matters- You want pliable, softish okra that's no more than 3-4 inches long. My personal opinion is under 3 is optimal.
4. I freeze my okra before I put it in the jars. I don't know if it's just an old wives tale or not, but I do it every time. I think it makes them crispier. 

2 Ways to Prep your Jars

1. Wash in warm soapy water then rinse and set in a low temperature oven until ready.
    - I've seen any temperature from 100 degrees to 250 degrees called for. 
2. Run them through the dishwasher alone, no soap, heated dry. Don't touch them until you're ready to use them.

Okra/other ingredient prep:

• I like to include 2-3 garlic cloves per jar - regardless of what I'm pickling.
• I use either chilies or hot banana peppers, cut however you like. I like long slices.
• In each jar I'll use a dime-quarter size amount of Ball Mixed Pickling Spice
• My briney mix is 3 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water, 1/4 cup salt, little pinch of sugar(I forgo the sugar). 

Putting it all together!

1. Sterilize your jars, bands, and keep the lids in hot (not boiling) water.
2. Bring your briny mix to a boil.
3. Pull out 1 jar at a time and pack it as full as you can. Careful not to get your hands on the jar insides.
4. Ladle in the boiling briny mix until there's about 1 inch of space left at the top of the jar.
5. With tongs or a lid picker uper place the lid on the jar and the band over the lid.
6. Tighten it down to just what you can do with your fingers. Hot jar and clean lid mean you won't want to man handle the jar to get it super tight.
7. Place jars in your boiling water bather for 15 minutes.
8. Set them on a cooling rack or cutting board covered in a towel overnight.

The towel is to prevent air currents hitting your jars and making them crack. You'll hear the telltale lid 'POP' when they've sealed themselves shut!.

Vegan Cajun Risotto Bites- video!

Tonight, I was YouTube scanning. And happily enough I ended up watching The Vegan Zombie for about 20 minutes. My favorite- and also my dinner- were the Cajun Risotto Bites.

 Now, did I follow the recipe exactly? No.   I didn't follow through and fry the bites. I didn't use home made veg stock. Also, I used a little less rice and a little more stock. Oh, and I didn't make my own Cajun  spice.... But what I did use all came together GREAT!

Definitely for a quick and easy dish. Simple enough that I might even teach the husband how to make it.

Vegan Onion Fried Rice

I'm basically a lazy person. Deep down inside I have pep and spunk- but on a day to day basis I keep is pretty low key and lazy.

My simple weeknight meal that can be 3 ingredients or it an be 7 (depending on what's in the crisper) is:

Onion Fried Rice

2 - 2.5 Cups Cooked Rice
3 green onions (or more if you like), chopped
Minimum 3 cloves of garlic, sliced/chopped/minced
+/- 5 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2-3 Tbsp Cooking Oil

Optional:

dab of ginger paste
can of water chestnuts
1 c. frozen peas*
1/2 c. Shallots or Onions, chopped
1-2 tsp. Hoisin sause
Healthy dash of Sriracha

Directions:

Steam your rice.
In a bowl mix 2-3 Tbsp Soy Sauce, Onions, and Garlic
Heat oil in your wok, add Onion mix and saute until every thing's good and translucent.
Turn heat to low and add rice.
stir a lot if it looks too dry add a little soy sauce or even a good dash of water (2tsps)

*If you're adding peas wait until the very end when you add your rice.

Simple, Vegan, and easy to reheat the next day. It's great for clearing out the crisper and super cheap if you're on a budget.

It tastes so good ...

Today's amazing breakfast juice is
1 blood orange
3 carrots
3 apples
2 regular oranges
Handful of blackberries

Made 4 cups ish

If I survive the day...

It will be thanks to the amazing juice I made last night. I have a sickness in me that's trying to fill my brain space and lungs with snot. But my juice is lifting my spirits and laying the "beet" down on my cold.

We use a basic Jack Lalanne juicer. And keep in mind I made 4 cups, and that's a lot.
3 whole stalks of celery
2 LG braeburn apples cores and all
5 carrots unpeeled
1 beet with stalk
1/4 lemon unpeeled, which I think should've been peeled.

Its beautiful and tart. Usually I add lots of greens, but I don't when I intend to save it overnight.

Seitan- The Wheat Meat, 1000 possibilites

Fake meats creep me out. My husband's vegan sausages, meat crumbles, and chick'n nuggets are all gag inducing. Oddly enough, I've found seitan to be palatable. We've tried a few different brands and styles. So far, I like chicken style strips the best; Westsoy strips to be exact. The problem is, I'm a Googler, which means I found like a gagillion recipes and uses for seitan.

Seitan Recipe

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 cup of any vegan broth (I used vegan chicken broth)
• 6 cups of vegan broth + 1/4 cup soy sauce for boiling the seitan

Mix all ingredients

Let it rest for a few minutes, then knead the dough for about 2 minutes. The Internet told me to let it rest again for about 15 minutes then knead again. I didn't.

I pressed it as flat as I could then cut it into strips about 2 1/2 inches long.

Boil the strips/chunks/loaf in the 6 cups of broth for about 45 minutes to an hour. It'll expand quite a bit, so go extra on the sauce.

After an hour, pour it out into a colander in the sink. Kind of press it out. Don't go crazy with the pressure, but give it a good squeeze.

I stored mine in a ziploc bag in the crisper drawer.

Vegan Lactation Cookies

I've been making lactation cookies for myself for the last few weeks. I feel like they give me a little boost throughout the day. My poor vegan husband looked at my cookie jar longingly and with sad puppy eyes. So this time around I decided to make the few changes to make them vegan friendly.

Vegan Lactation Cookies

1 C soy butter
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
4 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp flaxseed meal

3 tsp Egg Replacer mixed with 5 Tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla
3 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 C Thick cut oats
2 C Chocolate chips (box of dates, raisins, toffee chips, butterscotch chips, etc)
2-4 T Brewers Yeast or Nutritional Yeast

                                               

1.   Preheat to 375  degrees
2.   Mix water and flax seed meal in small bowl and set aside.
3.   In large bowl cream butter and sugars
4.   Add Egg Replacer mix and Vanilla; mix well
5.   Sift together flour, baking soda, yeast, and salt- mix into creamed butter and sugar
6.  Fold in oats and chocolate chips
7.   Scoop medium size balls on well sprayed cookie sheets, kind of squish them down a little.
8.   Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Vegan Apple Butter- Slow Cooker heaven

Tonight I canned some apple butter. It's like a 24 hour process, but so simple and completely worth the wait.
Yes, apple butter is inheirently vegan- but labels are important.

• 5 1/2 lbs apples  (I use winesap or honeycrisp)
• 2 1/2-4 cups sugar
• 1c apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 c apple cider/apple juice/water
• palm full of cinnamon
• quarter size of ground cloves
• nickel size salt

1. Peel, core, finely chop the apple.
2. Toss all ingredients in a crock pot; it may be too tall for the lid but it'll go down after a few hours.
3. Cook on high for about two hours, stir occasionally (stir occasionally throughout the entire cooking process)
4. Turn down to low and let it cook for 15-24 hours. You'll know it's done when it's a deep brown and holds its form. It should have lost all of it's loose liquid.
5. The more you stir or whisk, the smoother it will be. I like mine pretty smooth. 

I canned mine, filling about 4 pint jars.  But Tupperware and freezing it is also an option. Don't be afraid to go heavier or lighter with the cloves and cinnamon, it's all about personal taste.
We picked our own apples this year at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. It was fun, we got to take the girls on a hayrack ride. And the fresh apples only cost us $1.50 a pound.

I apologize for not having pictures--Vegan Monkey Bread

Let me just start by saying I did something naughty in my pants after my first bite... It was that fucking good....

I stole this recipe from a very wonder blog, featuring some sweet recipes. I veganized it with soy butter and tofu cream cheese- but that was all.. I am going to forward you to FoodThoughtsOfaChefWannabe's recipe for Monkey Bread.

When you've made it yourself you can thank me. I took some into work today, let desk neighbor try it- I think she died a little and went to cream cheese frosting heaven.

But like I said, it's basically vegan except for the butter and cream cheese. And those are very easy switches.. My husband made me swear to not let him eat anymore (this was at 10:30 last night). His will power for my kitchen prowess was weakened by the ewwwwy goooey goodness.

Vegan Irish Comfort Food!

Champ!
I found one of those '50 best....' photo tickers of the best foods ever. I found this little Irish gem, Champ. Basically it's onions and potatoes with a shit ton of butter. Just the basic vegan switches and you'll have a fantastic plate of good feelings.

Ingredients- Vegan Champ

• 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and halved
• 1 cup soy milk- or veggie broth - or not chicken broth
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste (heavily salt your water to boil the potatoes, or add the bouillon the water for added flavor)
• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper to taste
• (I also added a big dollop of vegan sour cream)

 ---Make sure you heat the onions in the liquid of choice before you add them to the potatoes.
 ---And my ratio of green onion to potatoes is pretty high, I don't think you can have too many.
I serve it family style in a huge mound with the butter well in the middle, or smaller plates with same said butter well. 

Vegan chili and a beer!

Tonight's easy meal plan is vegan chili . It doesn't have a firm recipe, but there are some constant ingredients.
2 green peppers diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 onion diced
Hot chilies,maybe 2-3 depending on size.
2 cans diced tomatoes (I dig fire roasted or chili ready )
1 can each chickpea, dark kidney, black beans
Big can chili beans in sauce
Big can pumpkin puree

I saute the vegetables with some olive oil in a big pot. Drain and rinse all the non -sauced beans. Add tomatoes to big pot .add beans and puree. Then I gauge how much water it needs donr my personal tastes. Stir in my favorite combination of chili spices, Going heavy on the turmeric and red pepper flake!  Heat until bubbly.

It's not a very complicated recipe. It freezes great and is wonderful all year round. Tonight I'll be enjoying mine with garlic toast and a wheat beer!

W.I.P. and a vegan desert that went just okay

Right now I'm working on knitting SOCKS! I've finally mastered (I think) double pointed needles. I am using the book "Getting Started Kitting Socks". I haven't gotten past the cuff of the sock yet, but it's encouraging that I haven't screwed it up yet.

My vegan desert that only went ok was nectarine shortbread. It lacked two things, sweetness and a vegan cool whip. But here is the recipe I used:

 Dough

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 6 tbsp vegan butter (should've used the whole stick I think)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• c.a. 1/3 -1/2 cup soy milk (vanilla or plain)
• 3 nectarines sliced thinly
• 1/4-1/3 more cups of sugar for the fruit

1. Pulse flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder until the mixture looks like grated Parmesan cheese.
2. Add milk and pulse until dough slightly comes together
3. Take out blade
4. Grab palm size balls of dough and form rough loose-ish balls. Sprinkle a little extra sugar on top.
5. I baked at 375 for 12-15 minutes
6. In pan on low mix and simmer sugar and nectarines until a nice syrup develops and the fruit is soft.

When the shortbread is done just cut the balls in half, and top with the fruit and syrup. A healthy dollop of the whipped topping is a must! or vegan ice cream.

My Tribute to Breast Feeding Week, and the breakfast that almost wasn't

My tribute! That's right, it's Boobies made out of pancakes and bananas.