Favorite Cookbook

Day 12: Tell us about your favorite cookbook.

 

Eeny Meeny Miny Moe. I choose "Choices: Quick and Healthy Cooking" by Cheryl Thomas Caviness,  published in 1994. I've had my copy for 20 years. I bought it from a Seventh Day Adventist who came knocking on my door. Weird, right? And weirder still, another Seventh Day Adventist came knocking on my door last year and sold me a new edition of the same cookbook. That's not my religion and normally I shun people who knock on my door at random hours, but I guess I was feeling generous those two days. 

Why this book over all the others on my shelves? Well, just like the Moosewood cookbooks, this little gem taught me how to cook vegetables and grains. It's full of simple recipes for burritos and smoothies, which back in the day were totally unheard of to me! Who, before becoming vegetarian or vegan, had ever heard of putting a potato in a burrito? It was amazing to me! (I'm laughing as I type this!) And tofu! 20 years ago I didn't even know what it was. (Actually, 2 years ago I didn't know what it was! More laughter.)

Check out these photos to see how well-loved this cookbook is. 

I forgot about this recipe until just now - I'll have to resurrect it.
I used to think a cold rice salad was so 'fancy!'

My all time favorite pie crust recipe. I used to make chicken pot pie every week.... .time to revisit that idea also and make a veggie pot pie. 

I made 120 servings of this at Vacation Bible School in 2011. Blenders galore! 

Beet Mango Smoothie

Day 7: Focus on a nutrient

Gotta be honest and say I'm too lazy to learn about the nutrients in a beet. I know for a fact that they are packed with all the good vitamins and minerals and fiber that we're supposed to be eating every day. I figure, if you're eating a variety of foods, and every color of food, and lots of water and carbs and protein, you're good for the day.

"Where do you get your protein?" is the question that vegans all deal with. The first time I was asked this, I was sitting in a room full of people I had not seen since college - a reunion of sorts. They found is odd (or interesting? ) that I eat a vegan diet. When they questioned my protein intake, I admit that I stumbled in responding. I vaguely said, "Oh, beans and tofu." Lame. The room was completely silent, everyone was nodding as if now they totally understood a vegan diet, and I felt that I did no service to my new way of eating.

What I should have said is that the Standard American Diet is so chocked full of protein that many people actually suffer from protein related diseases! Have you actually ever heard of a vegetarian or vegan suffering from protein deficiency? No, I didn't think so. There is plenty of protein in a vegan diet, including beets! Yes, a beet has protein. Plus, plant protein is easier to digest and because it comes in a handy vegetable, you also get the bonus of all that glorious fiber. No fiber in animal products - not an ounce. Plenty of protein in plants.

Next time someone asks me where I get my protein, of course I'll say beans and tofu. I'll also state the there's great sources of protein in all kinds of plants. Hey, did you guys know, for example, that a gorilla eats only plants. They seem to get plenty of protein! :) 

And don't forget about all those beautiful professional football players that are vegan. I bet they eat beets. 

Almond Custard with Blueberry Sauce and Candied Almonds

Lots of steps, but worth it. I'm definitely making this again, not just for us, but for company.
Easy to make ahead and a great presentation.
Very light tasting.
Sauce was amazing.....I could have used lots more sauce! 

Day 10: Something blue

Thicken 1 1/2 C almond milk, 2 T cornstarch, 2 T brown sugar, pinch salt, 1/2 t almond extract.

Cool the milk mixture in an ice bath, stirring frequently to avoid a nasty skin. Find 1 C blueberries from the freezer. 

Cook the berries with 2 t sugar, 1 T water. Strain.  Add 1 T liqueur. Amaretto would have been perfect, but Hazelnut wasn't bad either. Continue cooking to reduce the sauce to a syrupy   consistency. 

This can cool in an ice bath also. 

1/2 C slivered almonds, 1 T agave, 1 T sugar, 1 t cinnamon, pinch salt. Cook LIGHTLY over low heat. (This amount of nuts is way too much for the amount of custard.... reduce amounts or plan to have leftovers to munch. ) 

These break apart easily. 

Put it all together in a logical way. Chill completely in the fridge. The custard will really firm up. 

Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheese

Iceberg is also very retro. 

Day 9: Most retro recipe.

To me, retro means comfort. Old jeans, 10 year old shoes that are only for the garden these days, hair parted down the middle, church clothes, martinis at 5:00. Total comfort.

Retro also brings to mind a feeling of comfort in the kitchen also. Ease. Home. Warmth. Casseroles. Carbs.

Today I present my very own version of mac and cheese.

Here's what you need:

1 small head of cauliflower broken into small bits

2 large carrots, peeled and cut in the same size and the cauliflower pieces

1 roasted red pepper (not a marinated one)

1/3 C olive oil

1/2 C nutritional yeast

2 T lemon juice

1/4 C almond milk or other plant milk

1/2 C water from the vegetables

salt

pepper

hot sauce

3/4 - 1 pound of elbow macaroni (this depends on how large your cauliflower is. Make your best guess and don't fret about it.)

Panko bread crumbs

This amount of sauce was good for 1 pound of pasta.
Half for this casserole and half for the freezer. 

Prepare your pasta according to the package and set aside.

Boil the cauliflower and carrots until very soft. Save some of the water.

Blend all the sauce ingredients in a high speed blender.

Pour over pasta.

Sprinkle Panko generously over the top and place under the broiler to toast the crumbs. Serve immediately. 

Tofu and Spinach Stuffed Shells (vegetariantimes.com)

Day7: Make something inspired by a book or film.

Best movie ever - Godfather II. Admit it. It's the best.

Best quote ever - "Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Wednesday." Boom! Car explodes and Michael's heart is broken forever. Isn't  this the turning point for poor Michael Corleone? His heart gets pretty hard and who can blame him. Hero or villain? That's a tough call.

And I love when Michael gets a cooking lesson from Clemenza. As if he has time to make Sunday Gravy for 20 guys. Michael has other things on his mind. Seriously.

Anyway, I could watch the Godfathers all day. And I could eat pasta all day. And if you're cooking Sunday Gravy the vegan way, here's your recipe.

This one is good enough for company, even Michael Corleone and Clemenza.

Tofu and Stuffed Shells (vegetariantimes.com)

18 jumbo pasta shells - cooked according to package directions. Drain them, rinse them and set them aside to cool and dry a bit.

12 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 C olive oil (or less to taste)

Gently heat the garlic and olive oil and allow to simmer, slowly and gently for about 15 minutes. Do not brown the garlic.

1 16 ounce block of firm tofu, rinsed, drained and dried.

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 t lemon juice

2 t white miso

Crumble the tofu into the bowl of a food processor. Add the olive oil, the vinegar, lemon juice and miso. Blend.

Wilt 6 cups spinach (or however much you want - I like lots more) in a bit of water over medium heat. Cool and drain and squeeze out as much water as you can. Add gently  to tofu mixture.

Spoon about 2 T filling into each shell. Smother in a high quality marinara sauce.

Sprinkle chopped green and black olives over. Bake about 45 minutes till bubbly.

Avocado Toast

Day 6: Recreate a restaurant meal.

Has avocado toast taken over the world? My gosh - it's literally everywhere! Even in my own kitchen.  It's the simplest of concepts: take an avocado and serve it on toast. But, oh, how wonderful that can be..... read on!

I recently devoured Toasted Avocado Tartine at Le Pain Quotidian in Georgetown, DC , and knew it would be the perfect restaurant meal to recreate at home.

While in DC, we toured the  Newseum which was fantastic for those of you who love to read newspaper headlines from American history. And when I say history, I mean all the way back to colonial times. I read with my own eyes the newspaper account of the Boston Tea Party written and published and printed the very week the event happened. This photo is from the deck of the Newseum - check out that view!

Le Pain Quotidian is very chic and hip....my kitchen is more simple and homey... .and I'm going to state clearly, that my avocado toast was equally delicious as the tartine in Georgetown.

1. Basically, take delicious bread (brown bread would be better, sliced very thinly) and toast it.

2. Spread some ripe avocado over the toast.

3. Arrange slices of avocado over the toast.

4. Make a simple salad of shaved carrots and baby kale. Dress simply with lemon juice.

5. Arrange salad over avocados.

6. Drizzle good olive oil over all.

7. Sprinkle sandwich with sea salt and chia seeds.

8. I see on the  LePain Quotidian website that they use cumin salt and lemon zest on their avocado tartine, but I don't recall those flavors. Both would be good, especially the zest.

Grilled Kale Chip and Roasted Tomato Sandwich with Tomato Mustard Vinaigrette

Day 5: Best Sandwich Ever

I'm the kind of person who could easily eat the entire pan of kale chips directly from the pan while they're still smoking hot. I usually regret not making two pans.... all for me.

Have you ever seen a better looking sammy? 

I can also eat my famous roasted tomatoes each and every day of the year-- breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don't care if it's Italian, Mexican, Asian, American, whatever.... I can squeeze in a roasted tomato.

I knew there had to be a  way to combine two of my besties into another favorite of mine: the grilled sandwich.

Friends, let me tell you, I have created the BOMB of the BEST sandwich EVER and I'm not EVEN exaggerating at ALL! If this were a contest, I'd win!

Straight from the freezer. Heat gently. SAVE the juice! 

Here's what you need:

Roasted tomatoes. You may not purchase these because the store bought type are much too oily. Basically, take the most perfect summer grown tomato, slice it about 1/2 inch thick, place on rimmed cookie sheet, drizzle (do not pour) olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake 300 for about 4 hours. I then freeze the entire cookie sheet and when frozen solid, I pop the tomatoes off and store in freezer bags for the future.

Kale chips. You may not purchase these because the store bought ones do not have the same qualities as homemade. Basically, take a bunch of kale, (enough leaves to cover a rimmed baking sheet, but the leaves may NOT overlap), wash and completely dry the leaves, remove the stems, massage one teaspoon of olive oil into leaves with your hands (do not use more that 1 t), liberally sprinkle nutritional yeast over the leaves and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. (no salt needed for these kale chips)

 Watch carefully. Flip them over if you must. Bake longer if they're still moist. Remove any smaller leaves that toast up earlier that the bigger leaves. Allow to cool.

Garlic toast. You must use a high quality bread like ciabatta. Butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano on one side. Grill buttery side down till golden. Flip over to lightly toast the other side.

Vinaigrette. Make a simple dressing from the juice of the roasted tomatoes (it's like tomato gold), lemon juice and/or red wine vinegar, Dijon, agave and olive oil. I think the basic rule of thumb is 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. the Dijon and agave (or honey) are just added to help emulsify the dressing. Whisk.

Assemble the sandwich and devour. Have some napkins handy :) 

Carrot Hot Dog (from Clean Eating Veggie Girl)

Super weird. 

Day 4: Tell about a weird food combo that you love

Today's Vegan Month of Food topic is a tough one for me. I mean, really, is there any food combo that's just too weird? It will be super fun to click around and see what everyone else in the vegan world considers 'weird.' (use #veganmofo or #vgnmf15 on instagram or twitter or facebook or google)

I kept tasting that weird little piece, just to make sure. 

I think a carrot hot dog might qualify as 'weird,' especially for you non-vegans out there. It's like combining all the totally nasty stuff in a 'real' hot dog with all the natural stuff in a carrot. Is that weird? Not too weird for me. I think it's WEIRD to eat the ingredients in a 'real' hot dog. Trust me, these little carrot weirdos are super tasty and completely free of all the 'weird' stuff you might encounter at a meat-eaters BBQ.

Naked! 

Here's what you need:

(from Clean Eating Veggie Girl)

2 large carrots, peeled, cut to the length of a hot dog bun

1/4 C soy sauce

1/4 C water

1 T rice vinegar

1 T sesame oil

1/2 T cider vinegar

dash liquid smoke

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 t dried ginger

1/4 t black pepper

1/8 t granulated onion powder

Here's what you do:

Simmer the carrots till fork tender, but not mushy. Whisk together the marinade and allow carrots to marinate for 24 hours. (Ziplock bag works great here)

Brown the carrots in a tiny bit of oil, drizzling in some extra marinade if desired. They should get nice and soft and brown, with small burned places.

Serve with the usual suspects. :) Weird, right?

Chickpea and Cashew Curry

 Day 3: Quick, easy and delicious

If you have a can of coconut milk in your pantry, then this recipe qualifies as quick, easy and delicious. If you don't have a can of coconut milk in your pantry, and you have to run to the grocery to purchase one, then this recipe qualifies as just easy and delicious.

In a nutshell:

1 C diced red or yellow potatoes, boiled till fork tender

1 chopped onion, sauteed with some garlic, fresh ginger, cumin seeds, chili powder, turmeric and cinnamon.

Mix all of the potatoes and onions with a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed), a generous handful of cashews, a can of coconut milk and some vegetable broth to thin it out a bit. You want lots of sauce - serve it in a bowl.

Serve over rice. Garnish with cilantro. Sriracha optional, but desired. 

Lentil Walnut Loaf

 Day 2: Recreate a meal from your childhood (This photo is my second helping.) 

Some of these Vegan Month of Food themes are easier than others.  Day 10's theme is Something Blue. That's a fun food theme. I'm planning on either blackberries from my garden or Le Puy lentils. I'm having a mental block over the theme for Day 5: Best Sandwich Ever. Seems like that'd be easy, but I don't want to simply say BLT and be done. (Although a vegan BLT can be killer.) The most daunting day is Day 23: Fusion Challenge! The exclamation point was not added my me; it's included in the day's challenge. That's a toughie for me.

(This photo is my first helping. Obviously I didn't let the loaf cool enough.... not too pretty!) 

Today was simple for me (and probably lots of other VeganMoFo participants who grew up in the 60s). Meatloaf. Meatloaf improved. Meatloaf x 10 on the flavor scale. Meatloaf that can be served to company. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.

(This photo is lunch the next day. Pretty, right?) 

I used *this* recipe and a modified fancy ketchup . (I loved ketchup as a kid and I love it more as an adult.)  I also found the same recipe *here.* Both sites give credit to Forks Over Knives for this recipe, but I could not for the life of me find the original recipe on the web or in any of my Forks Over Knives cookbooks. (If you have not viewed the Forks Over Knives movie, you MUST.) 

Here's what you need:

3 C cooked lentils

1 16 ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained

2 C chopped onion

1/2 C chopped parsley

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled

2 C raw walnuts

2 C oats (not instant), divided

2 T tomato paste

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1/2 t cumin

1 t poultry seasoning

Fancy Ketchup

1 C ketchup

1/2 C dark brown sugar

1/2 t allspice

1 t dry mustard

Here's what you do:

Mix the lentils, veg, onion, parsley, walnuts and 1 C oats in a food processor. Work in batches. In a large bowl, add the remaining 1 C oats, tomato paste, salt, pepper, cumin and seasoning. Mix well. Put mixture in a standard loaf pan. There's plenty to make two loaves. Mix all ketchup ingredients well and slather liberally over each loaf. Bake for about 1 hour.