Vegan Reuben Burger

I've been craving a Reuben sandwich lately, and today we decided to try our hand at a vegetarian version. Surprisingly, rye bread was nowhere to be found at the grocery store. I guess it's an exotic ethnic food around here (picture me rolling my eyes)? So we used individual ciabatta rolls instead. I made some vegan Thousand Island dressing with Vegenaise, ketchup, sweet pickle relish, white wine vinegar, and threw in some caraway seed to try to make up for the absence of rye bread. It worked!

We used vegan Boca Burgers, topped them with sauerkraut and the dressing, and Brad had swiss cheese on his while I kept mine vegan.



It was good! The sauerkraut, caraway and Thousand Island dressing are, for me, what makes up the essence of a Reuben, so I was happy. I actually took my Boca Burger off midway through and gave it to the dogs, and just ate what amounts to a Sauerkraut and Thousand Island sandwich, and enjoyed it even more that way. Next time I might roast up some veggies like eggplant and zucchini, and put them on in place of the Boca Burger. I bet it would be good!

Stir-Fried Vegetables and Tofu with Jasmine Rice

Brad and I are taking a History class together for fun this semester -- The World Since 1960. It's an absolutely fascinating class, and our professor is a phenomenal lecturer. I swear, each class session is as entertaining and interesting as going to movies, and we look forward to Tuesday and Thursday mornings with happy anticipation. So far we've covered the history of intelligence gathering, the arms race, Vietnam, Israel and the Middle East, China, and today we started on Western Europe. I love this class! In discussing China, we've been reading Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Chen, the story of her arrest and imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution. I highly recommend it if you have a chance to read it. The subject matter is sobering, but in reading it last weekend, she mentioned a bowl of rice with steaming vegetables piled on top, and something about that stuck with me, and inspired tonight's dinner: Stir-fried Vegetables and Tofu with Jasmine Rice.

This is one of those recipes that's hardly worth typing out. Cook a pot of jasmine rice. Toast some sesame seeds in a hot, dry skillet, and set aside. Stir-fry green beans, onion, red bell pepper, mushrooms and tofu with ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Fill a bowl with rice. Pile veggies and tofu on top. Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. Devour.

Yum!

Election Food

It's election day! Did you vote? I voted this afternoon, and only had to stand in line for about 20 minutes. I cast my vote for Obama, and I'd like to say that I did so happily, but knowing that Louisiana is almost certainly going to McCain didn't do a lot to make me feel that my vote actually mattered. I think it's high time we did away with the electoral college. Who's with me? I've never lived in a swing state, so I've yet to feel that my vote really mattered in the grand scheme of things, but at least I voted!

We're prepared to camp out in front of the TV tonight, half working on homework, and half watching the election results come in. And of course we need sustenance for that! We had yummy, peanutty noodles based on this recipe from use real butter. This is an easy, fresh and filling meal that's deeply satisfying. It doesn't even really require a recipe. I just soaked some rice noodles in hot water, filled a plate with shredded carrots, cucumber matchsticks, bean sprouts, baby spinach, tofu and cilantro, and whisked together a batch of peanut sauce. All that remains when it's time to eat is to put some noodles in a bowl, pile on all the veggies and tofu we wanted, and top it all with peanut sauce and a sprinkling of crushed red pepper. Toss it all together, and there's your dinner! We ate ours cold, but I'm sure it would be equally as good heated through. I plan on taking some to work tomorrow for lunch. Yum!

Weekly Menu - week of November 2nd

Ok. So I didn't actually cook last week. Granted, there were only two nights that I was even going to be able to cook due to our schedule, but I think we just ended up eating veggie burgers or cereal those days (I honestly don't remember), but I seriously AM determined to do some cooking this week!

I did make some cute cookies on Thursday for a Halloween baking swap at work. Check them out! Unfortunately, though, I didn't get to eat any because they weren't vegetarian. They're just made from a chocolate cake mix, eggs, peanut butter and water. I bought the cheapo, local, generic cake mix, which I was really excited to see did not contain dairy, only soy. Hooray, right? WRONG. Upon closer look, after the cookies were in the oven, I discovered that the cake mix contained vegetable shortening, "including one or more of the following: beef fat, lard, tallow". Ugh!

But they sure were cute, weren't they?



And as long as we're on the topic of cookies, I just have to share some really neat cookies that Lydia, my 10 year old, decorated at our friends' house. Aren't the adorable? I love how she did the eyes! She made them with frosting and black confetti sprinkles. Clever!



These pumpkins look like Veggietales!









And now for my menu for this week!

Sunday - veggie burgers

Monday - we have class, so we'll eat on campus (either vegetarian sushi or a veggie burger)

Tuesday - Cold noodle salad with peanut sauce

Wednesday - Margarita night with girls from work (fun!)

Thursday - Stir-fried sesame veggies with jasmine rice

Friday - Gnocchi with herb sauce, french bread, spinach salad

Saturday - not sure yet if we're going to the game, watching it at home, or going out to watch it somewhere

Weekly Menu - week of October 26

Dude, I have been so out of it lately, it's not even funny. Busy and sick and stressed and exhausted. UGH! But I've dropped one class, I've cut back my hours at work, and I've removed myself from a very big source of stress, frustration and "hate headaches", so I feel much better now. Whew!

I have been a very, very bad vegan lately, I'm sad to say, and I'm slow and sluggish as a result. I haven't eaten meat, but I have eaten a lot of cheese and eggs, and I'm not proud of it. I have long maintained that the hardest thing about being vegan is the time and effort that it takes. There are so few convenience foods that are vegan, and as sick and as busy as I've been, I just haven't had the time to do the necessary planning. Now that things have settled down somewhat, though, I'm more committed than ever.

Sunday - leftovers

Monday - something simple before class, like a pb&j

Tuesday - chickpea salad, spinach, french bread

Wednesday - Thai tofu & veggie pizza (no cheese)

Thursday - going over to friends' house

Friday - Halloween! Going over to friends' house again

Saturday - football game

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies have been in my mom's cookie line-up for years, and deservedly so. They have an unexpected cake- or bread-like consistency, leading my brother and his college roommates to debate whether they were cookies, cake or bread. The recipe surprisingly doesn't call for eggs, and everything on the ingredient list is nonperishable, so it's easy to keep the ingredients on hand for whenever you feel like making them. Mom used to send them to me in care packages at college, and my floormates went nuts over them.

I made these tonight because we have some friends coming over to watch the LSU-Florida game. Brad made a big batch of his killer chili, which we're going to serve over Fritos. That's a great dish for Fall, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies just seemed to make sense with the cooler weather theme.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter flavor Crisco
2 c sugar
1 15-oz can pumpkin
4 c flour
2 c chopped walnuts (optional)
2 tsp vanilla
2 c chocolate chips
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients together. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Weekly Menu - week of Oct 5

Sunday - grilled chimichangas with refried beans, onion, salsa and Cholula Sauce

Monday - veggie burgers with avocado and sprouts, french fries

Tuesday - crispy Chinese noodles with eggplant and peanuts, bok choy

Wednesday - goulash, french bread, salad

Thursday - Thai tofu & veggie pizza with peanut sauce

Friday - red beans and rice, french bread, salad

Saturday - undecided, but probably leftovers

Responses

No food to blog about tonight, since we ate a very late lunch. At work we had Izzo's fabulous burritos catered in, but they were all pre-wrapped, and they all had beef or chicken in them. Doh! So I called Brad, and on his way home from class, he swung by Izzo's, got us a couple vegan burritos, and we ate lunch together at my office at 2:00. What a sweetie!

Tonight we are taking the kids to see LSU Theater's production of High School Musical. Should be fun! Brad is dreading it, but the kids and I are looking forward to it. I'll admit, I hated the movie the first time I watched it with the kids, but it has totally grown on me, and I love the songs now.

To keep the Vegan MOFO theme going, though, I wanted to share some of the stranger comments I've received since going vegan.

"What are you...a PETA freak?"
- bank teller

"Shame on you!"
- my boss (I KNOW!)

"You can still eat chicken/fish/pork/seafood, right?"
- many, many, many people

"Wow, you're the first actual vegetarian I've met in real life!"
- a colleague

"I've heard of vegetarian before. What does it mean?"
- grocery store cashier

"SOY milk?? What's a soy?"
- woman at the grocery store

"What kind of foods does a veejun eat?"
- various people

"You don't eat meat or dairy? What DO you eat?"
- even more people

Hey, at least people are becoming somewhat informed from my answers, right? I'll admit to having some of the same attitudes about it in the past, so I can't really judge. Turnabout is fair play, right?

More veejun food to come later this weekend! ; )

Musurir Dal

Ok. So this has been a long, difficult, stressful day. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate being gone all day long, and then fighting horrible traffic home for over an hour. YUCK. But this dinner was perfect for a night like tonight, when I'm worn out, sleepy and frazzled. It came together in a snap, with minimal effort, and was great comfort food when it was time to sit down and eat. So hooray for Musurir Dal!

I found the recipe here, and modified it slightly to work with the ingredients I had on hand.



We ate this with leftover naan and onion pickle from last night. The Musurir Dal, while delicious, tasted nothing like I expected it would from reading the recipe. For lack of a better description, it kind of tastes like a spiced up split pea soup. Wild.

And now, I'm signing off so I can veg on the couch and wait for the Vice Presidential debates to come on. I fucking hate Sarah Palin, to the point that I can hardly stand to listen to her talk, but I don't want to miss these debates, either.

Oh, and please excuse the awful photo today. Like I said...it's been a long day.

Bye!

Musurir Dal
Onion Fragrant Red Lentils

3 cups water water
1 cup red lentils
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t salt
1/2 tsp agave nectar
2 T vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 t garam masala
2 T fresh lime or lemon juice
1 T finely chopped fresh cilantro/coriander

Bring water to boil in a pan over medium heat. Add lentils. Add turmeric and simmer, covered until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. They should break easily when pressed between thumb and index finger. Add salt and agave nectar. Set aside, and keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium low heat. Fry bay leaves and red pepper until the pepper darkens. Add cumin seeds and fry for a few seconds. Add the onion and fry until richly browned but not burnt, 15 to 18 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in jalapeno. Add to the lentils. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in garam masala, lime juice and cilantro.

Vegan MOFO: Aloo Palak with Naan

Ok, so I haven't officially signed up to participate in Vegan MOFO because I'm afraid they may reject me since I'm not 100% vegan 100% of the time. But I'm going to participate on my own, if not part of the official group. So here is my first post for this Vegan Month of Food. Even if this blog event doesn't sway everyone to go vegan or vegetarian, my hope is that it will at least encourage people to cut back on the amount of meat they eat on a regular basis. That's how Brad and I got started on this adventure. A few years ago, we decided to try the so-called Flexatarian mode of eating, which just means we made it a point to prepare meat-free meals several times each week (in fact, I think we may have started out with just one or two days, to tell you the truth). That went so well that we decided to eat vegetarian at home when we moved here, and only eat meat when we were out. Admittedly, we fudged a few times and had some pork chops, hot wings, and a few other meatful meals, but overall I'm proud of us for sticking to it as much as we did.

Through that process, and all the information I came across while looking for vegetarian and vegan recipes online and in books, I was blown away by all the evidence that pointed to a vegan diet as the healthiest way one can eat. Wow! I really never knew nor expected that! I also was shocked to learn so much about the global ramifications of a meat-eating diet, the way animals-for-food are raised and treated. Given that, and given that I have led a fairly unhealthy lifestyle up until now, and given that I need to lose a LOT of weight (and by "a lot", I mean more than 100 pounds), it just made sense, and I decided to go primarily vegan back in mid-June. Since then, I have lost 30 pounds, and feel better than I ever have before! I do still eat dairy on occasion, I'll freely admit, but I stay vegan a good 95% of the time, if not more. Looking back and seeing how I have progressed to this point, though, I imagine it won't be long before I'm completely dairy-free. But I'm content to take it one step at a time. Even one year ago, I never in a million years would have seen myself where I am now. I was one of those who said vehemently that "I could never give up meat", or "I would die without cheese", and yet here I am. And I'm so glad I've made the choice to do so!

Now, let's talk about tonight's dinner! It was so delicious! I did heavily modify the Aloo Palak recipe that I found here, and I combined several naan recipes I found around the internet in order to come up with what you see here. I'm immensely pleased with the naan -- it's the best I've had homemade to date -- and the Aloo Palak was incredibly satisfying and delicious...although with all the changes I made to it, I don't know if you can even call it Aloo Palak anymore. I'll just call it "good". I also made another batch of the Spicy Onion and Carrot Pickle we had last night, albeit minus the cilantro, since we were out. Great dinner!



Here are the recipes:

Aloo Palak

2 large potatoes
2 Tsbp olive oil
1 tsp olive oil
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 bags baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1 cup soy milk (or more or less, as desired)

Scrub potatoes, poke several times with a fork, and microwave 10 minutes on high (or you can bake them, but nuking is faster). When cool enough to handle, slip off the skins, and cut into large chunks, about 1" square.

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add potato chunks. Cook and gently stir until lightly browned. Remove from skillet and set aside.

In the same skillet over medium-high heat, heat remaining 1 tsp olive oil. Add jalapeno, ginger, chili powder, cumin and turmeric. Cook and stir several minutes, until jalapeno begins to soften. Add spinach. Cook and stir until spinach begins to break down. Puree using an immersion blender, if desired. Gradually stir in soy milk, until desired consistency is reached. It should be fairly thick, not runny, but not solid, either. Just go with what looks good to you.

Add potatoes and gently stir into the spinach mixture until heated through. Serve with naan.

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Naan

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 pkgs yeast
1 Tbsp agave nectar
5 Tbsp soy milk
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 to 5 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
additional olive oil

Sprinkle yeast over warm water, stir to dissolve, and set aside for 10 minutes, until yeast is foamy. Stir in the agave nectar, soy milk and olive oil. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 4 cups of the flour, the salt and baking soda; stir together. With the mixer on low, and using the paddle attachment, add yeast mixture to the flour mixture. When flour is thoroughly incorporated, switch from the paddle attachment to the dough hook. The dough will be very soft and sticky. Add additional flour as needed to form a very soft dough. It should still be soft and fairly sticky, but should form a smooth ball. Continue to knead with the dough hook for 5 minutes. Shape dough into a ball, and place smooth side down in a greased bowl, turning to coat (the smooth side will be up at that point). Cover with a clean dishcloth and let rise 1 hour, until doubled in bulk.

Place a pizza stone in the oven, and heat oven to 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes, to heat the stone thoroughly. After 30 minutes, turn the broiler on high.

Punch down the dough, and knead 20-30 times. Pull off a baseball sized chunk of the dough, roll to a little thinner than 1/2-inch. Lightly wet your hands with water, and pat the dough between your hands to moisten slightly. Drape the dough onto the pizza stone, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Brush lightly with olive oil, flip over, and bake 1 to 2 minutes longer, until golden brown. The naan should still be somewhat soft. Remove from the oven, and brush lightly with a little more olive oil if desired. Repeat with remaining dough.

Yield: 6 to 8 naan.

Punjabi Chana, and Spicy Onion and Carrot Pickle

I don't remember how I came across this recipe for Punjabi Chana on the VeganMania! website, but I'm sure glad that I did! I have a bit of a love affair going on with chickpeas these days, so this recipe immediately jumped out at me. The ingredients, aside from spices, are minimal, so it was a very inexpensive meal. I already had all of the spices, onion and garlic on hand, so all I had to buy were chickpeas. Seriously, does it get any better than that? Actually, it does! Not only is it inexpensive, it's also really simple to make!

I know I say this a lot, because we love spicy food, but I should probably warn you that this dish IS very spicy. If you're not into food so hot it makes your tongue burn and your eyes water, you'll probably want to cut back on the cayenne pepper, or even omit it. We, however, loved it!

I also mixed up a quick batch of Spicy Onion and Carrot Pickle to go along with the Punjabi Chana (scroll down for the recipe). The pickled veggies are spicy, sweet and tangy all at the same time, and are a great, fresh contrast to the strong flavor of the Chana. I found the recipe here, and modified it a little by adding Sriracha hot sauce to make it spicy, some carrots to add some crunch, and a little fresh cilantro for some extra zip. Yum!

And it's all vegan! Woohoo!



Punjabi Chana
(simple and spicy Indian chickpea dish)

2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cups cooked chickpeas (two cans, drained and rinsed)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cups water (or more)
salt to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat, and add the mustard seeds. When they have finished popping, add the garlic, ginger and onion and sauté until tender.

Add the remaining ingredients except for the salt and allow to simmer over medium low heat until most of the water has been absorbed and the chickpeas are uncommonly soft and rich in texture. Salt this dish liberally.

Serve over rice.

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Spicy Onion and Carrot Pickle

1 red onion, sliced
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
6 Tbsp white vinegar
6 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp Sriracha hot sauce
1 tsp salt

Rinse the onion slices in cold water, then pat dry.

In a microwave safe small mixing bowl, combine vinegar, sugar, hot sauce and salt. Whisk together, and microwave 1 minute to help sugar dissolve. Combine onions, carrots, cilantro and vinegar mixture in a mixing bowl (I put mine in a gallon size Ziploc bag). Toss to combine. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Weekly Menu - week of Sept 28

Here's my plan for this week! There are a bunch of Indian recipes I've been dying to try. Can't wait!

Sunday - dinner out with Brad's mom

Monday - we have class until 9:30pm, so we will just grab something on the way

Tuesday - Punjabi Chana, rice, salad

Wednesday - Aloo Palak, naan

Thursday - Musurir Dal, rice, salad

Friday - potatoes in spicy peanut and sesame paste, peanut rice, salad

Saturday - date night!

Weekly Menu - week of Sept 21

This is a little late, but here it is, nonetheless.

Sunday - leftovers

Monday - dinner out (we have class until 9:30pm)

Tuesday - baked ziti

Wednesday - leftover baked ziti

Thursday - ziti with marinara sauce

Friday - veggie burgers and fries

Saturday - at the football game!

Lentil Orzo Salad

Another new recipe!

You know, sometimes I wonder if maybe there's something wrong with me, that I have such a strong aversion to repeating recipes. Yeah, there are a few go-to recipes that I come back to, but they're few and far between, and outside of those, I really prefer to try something new than go with something tried and true. What's up with that? My friend Susan (hey, lady!) told me several years ago about a friend of hers who had been in a competition with her sister and mother, to see who could go the longest without repeating a recipe (dinner only, I think, but I'm not sure). I believe that she said the sister won, by going something like two years without any repeats. A woman after my own heart! I have a ridiculously long list of new recipes I want to try, and more are added every day. I find them on blogs, Tastespotting, in cookbooks and from friends. Given that, it almost seems silly to repeat recipes very often, because how else will I work my way through that list?

So here's one from the list! It's a salad made of lentils and orzo, with some fresh veggies and a delightfully perky curry-spiked vinaigrette. This was good enough that we ate it two nights in a row, even! It was delicious with a little french bread on the side.



Lentil Orzo Salad

4 cups cooked lentils, drained (do not overcook; you want them to hold their shape)
4 cups cooked orzo, drained and rinsed with cold water
1 medium red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1 handful cilantro, chopped
2 lemons, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp agave nectar (can substitute 2 Tbsp sugar)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

In a large bowl, combine lentils, orzo, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno and cilantro. Mix gently. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour over lentil mixture and toss gently to combine. Chill before serving, if desired, or serve at room temperature.

Baked Ziti with Basil Bread Crumbs

This recipe is a spin-off of the Pumpkin Baked Ziti I made when my mom was here in August. Brad's not a pumpkin fan, as I've mentioned before, so I wanted to tweak that recipe into something he would enjoy. It was creamy, delicious, and thoroughly satisfying. Yum!

For the ricotta cheese, I used the almond-tofu ricotta recipe from Veganomicon (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: go get yourself a copy of that cookbook! It's the best!), and I made fresh bread crumbs from a loaf of Italian bread. Brad stirred some crumbled feta cheese into his serving, but I ate it as-is.



I don't think I've blogged about this yet, but I'm extremely happy to announce that, since switching to a primarily vegan diet in mid-June, I've lost 26 pounds! And Brad has lost 10 pounds since he got back from Japan last month, and became a full-time vegetarian! That's without altering our lifestyle at all, aside from no longer eating meat. I'm thrilled about that! I still have a long way to go to meet my long-term weight, health and lifestyle goals, but I'll get there. I'm off to a good start! I feel fantastic, and so much lighter (no wonder!). I've been hauling a heavy tote bag to class with all my books and notebooks in it, and on a whim the other evening, I weighed it to see how much it weighed compared to how much I've lost. It came in at 15 pounds -- a little over half of what I've lost -- and was an excellent tangible way to see how much I'm no longer hauling around every day. No wonder I feel better!

Baked Ziti with Basil Bread Crumbs

1 pound ziti
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
2 cups vegan ricotta cheese
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp dry basil
1 tsp dry oregano
2 cups fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook ziti per package instructions.

While pasta is cooking, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and basil; cook and stir until onions are deeply browned and caramelized. Set aside.

Drain pasta. In a large mixing bowl, combine pasta, onion mixture, ricotta, tomato sauce and tomatoes, mixing thoroughly. Pour into prepared baking dish; set aside.

With a paper towel, wipe out the skillet used for the onions. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat, then add basil and oregano. When the herbs begin to sizzle, add the bread crumbs and walnuts, tossing to coat with oil. Cook and stir several minutes, until the mixture begins to brown. Spread evenly over the pasta mixture.

Bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Tomato-Feta Chicken Tofu with Couscous

This has been one of my go-to recipes for over ten years. I found this recipe in a magazine when I was pregnant with Lydia, and it's been a menu staple ever since! There are only 5 ingredients, and it cooks up in minutes. You can't beat that!

It's one of Brad's favorite things that I cook, so I wanted to try to vegetarianize it for him. Instead of browning chicken breasts in a skillet, I grilled tofu on the Foreman Grill. I also used plain couscous instead of the parmesan variety, and I left the feta cheese off of my serving, but Brad happily smothered his with it. I can't blame him. I love (and miss) feta cheese!

The verdict? It was good. I do prefer chicken to tofu when it's cooked this way, but the tofu was still a fine substitution, and one I was glad to make. And I missed the feta, but there was still plenty of flavor in the tomatoes, so it was still good without it. I'll count this one a success!



Tomato-Feta Chicken with Couscous

4 chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 box parmesan couscous
1 bag fresh spinach
1 pack tomato-basil feta cheese

Pan-fry the chicken breasts in a little olive oil till nicely browned on both sides, then add the can of diced tomatoes (juice and all). Cover and simmer till the chicken is done.

Meanwhile, prepare the couscous and steam the spinach.

To serve, make a bed of spinach on each plate, then top with a piece of chicken and spoon some tomatoes and sauce over top; serve the couscous on the side. Sprinkle a little tomato-basil feta cheese over all.

Pineapple Habanero Salsa

This is the fabulous salsa I made for yesterday's football game. It's super spicy, so consider yourself warned! The only habanero peppers they had at the store yesterday were itsy, bitsy, tiny ones, each about the size of a dime, so I used three. Yowza! Those three tiny peppers packed a wallop! I really love the salty-sweet-tangy-spicy nature of this salsa.

I mentioned in yesterday's blog that I would like to try roasting the pineapple next time. I bet it would taste great!

Pineapple Habanero Salsa

1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
Reserved pineapple juice
1 small red or green bell pepper, diced
3 medium green onions, thinly sliced
1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp agave nectar (can substitute honey, molasses or sugar), to taste

Mix all ingredients, including reserved pineapple juices, in medium bowl. Cover and let stand at least one hour at room temperature. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

Weekly Menu - week of September 14

Sunday - leftover football food ; )

Monday - dinner out, since I added a night class to my schedule and will be gone from 7am to 10pm Mondays. I must be out of my mind!

Tuesday - Grilled tofu, spinach, tomato, and couscous

Wednesday - Baked ziti, salad, french bread

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Lentil-orzo salad, flat bread

Saturday - Peanutty Noodles

Football Food!

Because the weather is crummy, and we don't have a babysitter, and it's not supposed to be the most exciting game, we decided to stay home and watch today's LSU game vs. North Texas at home today. We're having some friends over to watch the game here, and are making yummy football food to munch on. Should be fun!

I made a few tried and true recipes: Pineapple Habanero Salsa, Monterey Nacho Snack Mix, and a BBQ Chicken Pizza (minus the chicken).

The salsa was inspired by a salsa of the same name that we had in Hawaii the last time we were there. It was almost painfully spicy (just the way I like it), and sweet and tangy. This recipe calls for fresh pineapple, but some time I'd like to try roasting the pineapple first, which I think would add a nice smoky depth to the salsa. We loaned our propane tank to the in-laws after our power came back on last Sunday, so maybe next time!

The Monterey Nacho Snack Mix is something I've made at least a half dozen times over the past several years. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com awhile back, and have tweaked it somewhat to make it much spicier. I use about 10 times as much Tabasco Sauce as the original recipe calls for, as well as several tablespoons of crushed red pepper.

I've blogged about BBQ Chicken Pizza before. It's one of my favorite ways to eat pizza, and is good with chicken, seitan, or grilled tofu, or just minus all of those, as I made it today. Red onion, cilantro and BBQ sauce are the key ingredients that make this recipe awesome, so adding a meat or meat alternative is just extra. I love this pizza!

I also made a plain cheese pizza for the kids, because come on...who doesn't love a cheese pizza?

Hooray for football food!

Black beans and rice

Tonight's dinner is so easy, it's almost embarrassing. I'm glad for it, too, because I was gone 12 hours today for class, and was hungry when I got home! This dinner utilized leftover pico de gallo from last night, which was an awesome, easy way to flavor the beans. Brad roasted a couple sweet potatoes for me before I got home, so I diced one up and added it to my beans and rice. Awesome, instant nutritional boost, and it tasted great!



Give this recipe a try if you find yourself with leftover pico de gallo, and are pressed for time. It's delicious!

Black Beans & Rice

1 tsp olive oil
1 to 2 cups pico de gallo
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
cooked rice, hot
1 cooked sweet potato, diced (optional)
Tabasco sauce (optional)

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add pico de gallo, beans, chili powder and cumin. Cook and stir until heated through. Serve over rice. Top with sweet potato and season with Tabasco sauce, if desired. Dig in!

A first

If you ask me which foods I don't like, my answer is always squash and sweet potatoes. I've always been a very open-minded eater, even since childhood, but a love of squash and sweet potatoes has eluded me. I've made some progress over the years, and in adulthood I learned to love zucchini, summer squash, pumpkin, and tempura slices of kabocha, but that's about it. Every year at Thanksgiving, I give sweet potatoes another try, but I have never enjoyed them. It's frustrating, because sweet potatoes are packed with good-for-you stuff, and are super cheap, and easy to prepare.

Now, though, I am really determined to learn to love sweet potatoes. My parents love them just roasted in the oven, eaten piping hot with either butter and salt, or butter and brown sugar. I figure either of those ways is too "in your face" for hater like me, so I figured I would try to factor them in supporting roles in dishes. Today I bought one and roasted it in the oven, planning to cube it and add it to my burrito. I got sidetracked with the other dinner prep, however, and forgot about it until we had already finished eating. Woops. I turned to some friends online, one of whom gave me a list of ideas for cooked sweet potatoes. I opted for a slight variation on one of her ideas, and pureed the sweet potato with my immersion blender, stirred in some maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice, then quickly toasted some chopped pecans, and stirred them in.



And you know what? It was actually really good! This is a huge first for me: enjoying a sweet potato! It wasn't exactly healthy, what with the maple syrup, but hey...it's a start!

Pinto bean burritos

What a satisfying dinner tonight! I have really been missing fresh foods, so tonight's dinner was particularly enjoyable. I'm so glad to have power again! Earlier today I mixed up a quick batch of pico de gallo, and for lunch I had a flour tortilla wrapped around a big ol' scoop of pico de gallo.

The burritos this evening were simple...just some canned pinto beans, drained, rinsed, and heated with a little chili powder and cumin; corn browned with chili powder; as well as sauteed onions, pico de gallo, and avocado, all wrapped up in a big flour tortilla.



On the side, I had one of my favorite treats: an avocado half, lightly sprinkled with salt, and filled with a bunch of fresh pico de gallo. Just dig in with a spoon, and eat it up. Delicious!

Weekly Menu - week of September 7th

This menu will use up a lot of the canned beans we stored up prior to the hurricane. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but it's surprisingly difficult to find shelf stable vegan food. I hadn't realized how much we factor fresh and refrigerated foods into our menu, but living without power for a week really made that clear. I am so sick of processed foods right now, and can't wait to start drinking my fresh fruit and veggie smoothies for breakfast again, and have fresh veggies with dinner!

We have a bad habit of not using foods we buy ahead of time in bulk, and then we end up tossing them because they've gone bad, which is essentially the same as just throwing our money in the trash can. When we moved here, we were determined to not stockpile food in our pantry, fridge or freezer. Over time, though, our fridge and freezer gradually began to accumulate more and more stuff, and while it wasn't that much food on an absolute level, it was still more than we wanted to amass. Thankfully we were able to eat 90% of it before our power went out, including some stuffed bell peppers that I made and froze several months ago, but it really sucked to have to throw food away when the power went out. We're that much more determined now to not let it happen again. Our plan now is to only buy groceries for a couple days at a time. Yes, we'll have to go to the store more often, but it's on our way home from work and class, so we won't have to make additional trips out of the house, and small shopping trips are so much faster than big ones, plus there will be less likelihood of things spoiling in the fridge before we get around to cooking them. We'll see how it goes!

Here's our planned menu for the week. As I said, it heavily features beans. ; )

Sunday - veggie kebabs, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, chips (bbq with the in-laws)

Monday - pinto bean burritos, pico de gallo

Tuesday - black beans and rice, pico de gallo

Wednesday - baked beans, bread, salad

Thursday - black-eyed peas, sweet potato, kale and rice casserole

Friday - leftovers, most likely

Saturday - tailgating before the football game!

I'm back!

I'm back! This past week has been challenging, to put it mildly, as we were without power for 6 days. In the brutal heat and humidity of Louisiana, it's not easy to live without air conditioning, not to mention we couldn't run our garbage disposal, do laundry, vacuum the carpets (our dogs shed like crazy), get online, watch the news, or a million other things we take for granted. It was an awful, awful week, and I'm so thankful that we finally have power back! I know there are other hurricanes looming out there, and they may hit us, but I'm not going to worry about that until I have more solid information. It's not worth stressing over. Let it be said, though, that if this does happen again, we're seriously considering transferring to UW, putting about 70% of our stuff in storage, throwing the other 30% in a U-Haul, and moving to Seattle. So we'll see.

We obviously didn't do a lot of cooking this past week, and with many stores still being out of power, I'm not sure how much we'll do this week. About half the area is still without power, so while ours is back on, it's going to be awhile yet before things get back to normal. Please don't give up on me in the meantime! I know posting has been sparse this past month, but that won't always be the case!

We stocked up on beans, beans and more beans before the storm, so we're going to work our way through those for awhile. Tonight the plan is black bean burritos with fresh pico de gallo. Thank goodness our local produce stand is open! Once I get a better handle on the grocery store situation, I'm going to put together a weekly menu. Stay tuned!

FYI

We are in the path of Gustav, so in the event power goes out and I can't blog, you'll understand why. Hopefully it will blow by and things will be back to normal before too long, but we are well prepared in case it's worse than that. We have plenty of water, nonperishables, flashlights and lanterns, so we aren't too concerned about how we'll fare. If things are too bad in the aftermath, at that point we'll pack up and head to some friends' house, but our hope is that we can just stay here at home.

And can I mention how difficult it is to find vegan nonperishable food??? Yikes! Our pantry is stocked with bread, canned beans, cereal, rice milk, peanut butter, apples and oranges. Not the most exciting stockpile of food, but it'll do what it needs to do, and it's stuff we will use in the long run anyway.

I'll be back when everything is back to normal!