Sandwich Monday (I know its Tuesday)

I just finished my thanksgiving leftovers and if I thought I was over potatoes Friday, I CERTAINLY am today....


I need something green... Kale where are you?

There is a great post every monday on NPR called Sandwich Monday and I think it is definitely worth a read. Always entertaining and then horribly frightening as you realize its not a joke...

This week... the toast sandwich

my personal favorite from the archives -the-land-sea-and-air-burger be scared... be VERY scared....

gobble gobble hangover

So much starch.

Ouch.

I had a delightful thanksgiving with the fam. The cooking was more of a group effort this year, because my poor mother, much to her dismay, had major surgery a week before. She begrudgingly handed over the cooking to my sibs, dad and me. 

Our family has some pretty amazing chefs, so dinners are typically delightful. Though apparently we were all inspired by the potato... My aunt made traditional candied sweet potatoes, K/A conjurred up some creamy mashed potatoes, and I threw together mashed spicy, gingered, red garnet yams and apples. Delicious, but needless to say, I am potatoed out. 

My tofurkey turned out the best this year. I really can't follow recipes very well, but whatever I did this year made it way tastier. I updated the tofurkey recipe post to reflect what I might have done... 

But here is a very vegan thanksgiving....

This being the first year, in many moons, I have been home for pie bake.. I went a little crazy and made three.

My awesome nephew Cam acted as my sous chef for pie time. He peeled apples and stirred caramel and did it all with a smile... amazing.


The first is a Curried Macaroon Pie (from Vegan Pie in the Sky), with gingerbread crust. This is the spiciest pie... Cam and I eyeballed the curry measurement and while it is super tasty... I think we accidently doubled it... twoops. Rich, good in very small quantities...

 Traditional Basil Peach Pie. 

I've developed a reputation in my family of taking perfectly normal things and adding all sorts of things so they are less normal. I call it improvement... oh well. The basil is actually a really cool addition to this, not over powering in the slightest, just a nice note.

Apple-Cranberry Galette
Overwhelming favorite of my Dad and baby Jack. 

Traditional, not too sweet and really pretty easy.

you take the lime and the coconut

Post thanksgiving always leaves me wanting something 1. green 2. not seasoned with sage or thyme 3. not involving potatoes.

I love leftovers, really, but I like to break up the potato, cranberry, stuffing monotony with something crazy....

So although my fridge is packed with the remnants of a tofurky and spicy sweet potatoes and other festive treats, I decided to recreate MY FAVORITE DISH:::the Jamaican bowl::  from my FAVORITE BAR  ::: the sweet hereafter ::: This delightful vegan bar happens to be located a convenient 7 blocks from my apartment... What is does to my wallet and bank statements--- not so sweet.

This bowl is great, if I do say so myself.... My version has coconut kale, black beans, jerk tempeh over a bed of rice. Just the right mix of spicy and salty and green.



JERK bowl  Serves 4-6

• 1 1/2 cups rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained.
• 8oz tempeh
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube dissolved in 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 2-3 tsps Jerk seasoning ( I like Trader Joe's "Jamaican me Crazy" )
• 2 bunches dinosaur kale, stalks removed, chopped 
• 3 tbls olive oil
• 1 tbl flour
• 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 yellow onion, diced
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14oz can light coconut milk
• 1 tsp salt (more to taste)

Preheat the oven to 350F

Start your rice (the beauty of a rice cooker really shines in this situation)

Once you are confident your rice can cook on its own, move on to the tempeh.
Cube tempeh into small bite size pieces and place in one layer in a small lightly greased casserole dish. Pour boiling vegetable bouillon mixture over tempeh and then sprinkle with jerk seasoning.
Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes.

While tempeh is cooking, start the kale krazy.
Heat oil in a large deep saute pan for 1-2 minutes. Add diced onion, red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat until onion begins to soften (about 5-7 minutes) Add flour and stir until dissolved. Pour in coconut milk and mix. Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat.

Rinse and chop your kale. You'll have a lot, but it will cook down!
Stir coconut milk occasionally, it should start to thicken.
Add kale to mix and stir to incorporate, Sprinkle with salt. Turn heat to low and cover pan. Let kale cook down for 5-10 minutes until bright green or tender.

let the kale is do its thing and check on your tempeh. I realize that your timer has probably gone off, but if your are like me, you've probably ignored it. thats great.
Remove tempeh from oven. Carefully pour off marinade into small bowl and set aside. Turn your oven up to 400 and place tempeh back in oven. Its okay to throw it in while preheating, you just want to get it crispy. Let it cook for another 5-7 minutes, flip over and cook for another 4 minutes. There is no exact science to this... clearly...

Rinse your black beans and set aside. Because I'm lazy and have no desire to make yet another dish, I just add these guys to the bowl at the very end.

Okay hopefully everything should be done. Check your kale-- tender? smells good? need salt? Check tempeh-- lightly crispy? spicy?  Check rice-- did it survive on its own?

great you did it!

Okay layering is each persons own preference, but i like half cup of rice, 1/4 cup black beans, 1 cup of kale business, topped with 2 oz of tempeh. Drizzle some leftover marinade over the top and sprinkle with salt and jerk seasoning.

festive frosting fail

Frosting has never been my strong suit.
Actually cookies in general... never been my specialty...
I forget key things... like ingrediants or mixing properly, never something so stupid as sugar... twoops...

Tonight my cookies turned out fabulously! (see recipe below) They were my first stab at sugar cookies and I am delighted by their rollability and cuttability (those are technical cookie-master words)

If you haven't picked it up, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the holiday season. In my extra festive state, I decided to hand cut my cookies into turkeys. These guys are waiting to go into the oven....

 

But it was after this festive frenzy that I let the food coloring and frosting get the best of me.

ORANGE!

Please note the ghetto cookies behind my orange hand. I thought that perhaps if I added more color to these orange and brown frostings disasters, they would be more festive and less frightening... did I mention I was making these to welcome our new neighbors?

Still with an abundance of dough, i tried my hands at letters...

My lovely roommate found my absurd cookies adorable and totally neighbor worthy... still debatable but I presented them with this plate of treats. Or rather I awkwardly left them in the common room with a note that says "heres a ghetto treat..." I am undoubtedly the most awkward, yet cheery person you will encounter...

Made with love...


So happy Turkey day to all.

Oh and if my story scared you off too much, the cookies tasted good, as did the frosting, my presentation is just lacking..

trashed-browns

It took me two hours to make breakfast this morning....
Not because I was concocting anything particularly difficult ( I pressed go on my cuisanart a few times.) but I was rather overwhelmed by the options in front of me.... raw root vegetables falling from the fridge, leftover popcorn and salsa and empty bottles littering the counters.

Quickly ruled out the popcorn and booze... Don't get me wrong, last night's popcorn for dinner really hit the spot. Unfortunately the manhattans hit me harder.

I was determined to eat a real meal.

I now understand my neighborhood's obsession with going out for brunch. If you party with these kids the night before, you need someone else to make you crazy potatoes and scramble the next day. It just really isn't productive to try it yourself. 

Alas, I do not fall into the category that can afford a twelve dollar meal, that may or may not make me feel worse.
So in my foggy stupor, I decided to battle breakfast...
Overwhelmed by the contents of the refrigerator and the absurd meals I'd had in the past 24 hours (cookie, slice of pizza, an apple, and popcorn= dinner, breakfast, lunch dinner),

I needed something that didn't come from cardboard box or taste like the cardboard box....

I pulled down the cuisanart and started shredding root vegetables. I'd made some tasty Autumn Latkes a while ago, which was my inspiration for this potato-y treat I am now calling trashed-browns.

 

Trashed browns & chard tofu scramble, covered in nooch sauce.

IT'S THE TURKEY FAIRY!

Unbelievable. Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

For the first time since moving to Portland, five years ago, I do not have to work or panic about finding time off. I actually get to drive (thanks dad) to Puyallup (Pew-al-Up) Tuesday night and stay until leftovers are gone and Dad is tired of Moe-the-dog til Saturday.

Truth be told I have the coolest family, so I am absurdly excited to go home for Pie-Bake, Turkey Day and Christmas tree hunting (I want the one by the stick).

This year, as I have for the past two years, I am bringing tofurkey....

Now I don't mess around with that store made, tofurkey dinner in a box. I prefer to do things the more difficult and labor intensive way, and well the box/processed/pre-browned thing freaks me out. (It's like grill marks on the boca burgers, when you know they have NEVER seen a grill).

Though admittedly the process of crafting my own tofurkey is a bit disturbing.

I could, and probably to my siblings wishes, bring a delightful fall dish and scrap the mound of marinated tofu, BUT I am fiercely traditional. Thanksgiving=Turkey. Or since my veg conversion many moons ago: Thanksgiving=Tofurkey.

For those adventurous folk who want to try their hand at making a tofurkey, I've included a recipe below... though I rarely follow it to the T, it really depends on your taste/texture preference.

My recipe is a combination/interpretation of several different tofurkey recipes on VegWeb (which is a fabulous recipe resource). And since I haven't made this for a year... I'll probably post updates after my own 2011 tofurkey adventure.


Tofurkey turkey
(This makes A LOT)
Roast
5 blocks extra firm tofu, pressed and drained
1/4  cup fresh chopped herbs, a combination of savory, rosemary and thyme is delightful
2 tbls vegetable stock powder or vegan chicken stock powder
2 tbls nutritional yeast (nooch)
1 tsp poultry seasoning, or more to taste
2 tsp salt, to taste
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Marinade
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil or sesame oil
2 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tablespoon veg stock powder dissolved in a 1/4 cup of hot water
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbl nutritonal yeast
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Stuffing
(This is just one version, I may try using Isa Chandra's Polenta Stuffing from Appetite for Reduction this year, because it is oh so tasty)
But here is last year's concoction.
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 large yellow onion, minced
3 stalks celery, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 teaspoons celery seed
2 tbls soy sauce
2 tbls balsamic vinegar
2 cups vegetable broth

salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups dried stuffing mix (check those ingredients! Most grocery stores sell bags of dried bread cubes for stuffing.I recommend that.)

Directions

Okay, not to scare anyone off, but this is an ordeal. To make your life easier, I would recommend starting the tofu the night before and cooking day of.

Press tofu and drain excess water.
Blend the bricks of tofu in food processor until smooth. You may need to do this in batches.
Transfer to a large bowl, stir in herbs, broth powder, nooch, and seasonings. Taste for salt and pepper.

Line a deep, round bottomed colander with cheese cloth or a VERY clean, non-fuzzy,dish towel. Coffee filters work too, but use the unbleached kind. Otherwise you  may be an idiot like me and cook paper with tofu later its difficult to find them to peel off.

Pour the tofu mixture into the colander and fold cheese cloth over the top. If you are lucky enough to have a plate that fits snuggly in the collander, place that over the tofu mixture. Set colander in a shallow bowl, and put weights (five pound dumbbells work great) on top on the plate to press excess water out.    Put in the fridge and press for at least 3 hours, but I highly recommend overnight for texture issues.

After you feel your tofu bowl is sufficiently pressed, start your stuffing.

Saute the oil, onions, carrots, celery, and pecans in a large skillet over medium-heat for 3-5 minutes. Add mushrooms and a dash of salt and continue to saute until carrots begin to soften. Add garlic, seasonings, soy sauce and vinegar. Mix to incorporate. Your kitchen should smell amazing. Add dried bread cubes and turn heat to low.


Preheat oven to 350F

Now for the fun part....
Remove weights from top of tofu and peel back cheese cloth. Starting two inches in from the edge of the mound- scoop out innards and set aside separate bowl., leaving about an inch at the bottom,  You are creating a cavity for your stuffing! Look at you go!
Fill the cavity with stuffing. Using the tofu you set aside, smear tofu over the top of the stuffing to close the cavity. Fold cheesecloth back over tofurkey, set plate on top and press down firmly.

After pressing and with the tofu still in the colander, scoop out the center, leaving about an inch of tofu around the edges. Place your stuffing in the cavity. Put the tofu mixture you scooped out over the stuffing and press down firmly.
Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. Flip the tofurkey concoction from the colander onto the cookie sheet (good luck).
You should have a delightful mound. Remove cheese cloth, or coffee filters, again good luck. If there are any cracks just smooth over with a spatula.


In a small bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients. Taste and adjust to your liking. 

Brush whole tofurkey with marinade and place in preheated over.

Cover with foil and cook for an hour. Remove foil, brush with more marinade and cook for another hour, brushing with marinade every 20 minutes or so.

This thing can really cook for however long you need it too. It really depends on texture preferences. I like to turn my oven up to 400F for the last half hour, so the outside gets crispy. BUT beware, the tofu will crack if you overcook it... (It doesn't really matter, but it looks less appealing)

Who doesn't keep ten pounds of cranberries in their freezer?

I have ten cans of pumpkin and  at least 8 pounds of frozen cranberries occupying my apartment....I admit it.
I am an ingredient hoarder.

But I have reason! About two years ago- mid February-, I got a hankering for some of Isa Chandra's pumpkin scones. I strolled on over to my local Freddy's for a few necessary ingredients (like pumpkin). And really I can't resist the pumpkin cranberry combo--- so those made the list too.

ALAS-- no pumpkin! no cranberry!


I scoured New Seasons, whole foods, Trader joes, but no one could provide the pumpkin.
Sorely disappointed, I vowed never to run out of such NECCESSARY staples again. Thus like a mad woman, the following September, I piled the grocery cart high with cans of pumpkin, bags of cranberries and things that might bond those two items together....

Now you can imagine that my lovely roommates did not appreciate the giant bags of berries taking up valuable freezer space and the copious cans of pumpkin stored in bookshelves, drawers, closets, under the sink, totally appropriate and not at all ridiculous places in the dining room, living room, bathroom, kitchen.

But the point--- due to the mass supply of these two coveted items, I started incorporating them into every meal: breakfast scones, pumpkin soups, cranberry chutney etc etc.

I only managed to write down a few recipes... check out pumpkin cranberry muffins and cranberry applesauce.

Hungry

I am starving.

Well not really. Not in the please-feed-me-ten-pounds-of-carrots-and-peanut-butter-now, sense (hey don't knock it, till you try it)

I wile my days away trapped in the cage of a cubicle I call home (don't get me wrong-- I actually do enjoy my job).

But I think, wouldn't it be cool if my job was to write about food-- vegan cooking, politics, recipes, health issues!

**stomach rumble**

It feels weird stating that food is a passion of mine, but I suppose it is. I am fascinated by food politics, the American diet and the reliance on overly processed foods. But mostly, I love to cook and create.
I will not claim to be any sort of chef extraordinaire--- that is covered in my family (please see my amazing sister's cupcake stylings.)

Mostly, I hope to use this space to share my vegan kitchen adventures from fires* to failures**  and hopefully a success story or two.

*not everything should be "cajunized"
**Note: Potato Bread should not actually weigh as much as a bag of potatoes, nor should it still contain whole potatoes.

So stay tuned for recipes, articles and well anything else I might find entertaining to share....