...not me!!!
This weekend was the 2nd Annual Athens' Farmers' Market "Squash It!" Cooking Contest. In an attempt to get over my fear/phobic inability to try things at which my success is not guaranteed, I decided to enter.
As far as first cooking contests go, it was pretty fun. I like the idea of cooking for unknown diners. It gives the time I spend in the kitchen prepping everything an exiting immediacy. It raised money for the "Friends of the AFM," and since the squash had to be bought at the market, it also helped out the local growers. Once at the judging tent, I enjoyed seeing the different entries (though everyone's 'go-to' squash recipe seemed simply to be covering said squash with cheese and bread crumbs and baking it - or some variation thereof).
I, however, wanted to make something with squash as the dominant flavor rather than a filler for something else. I think I came up with a delicious little soup (though the judges begged to differ). All asterisked ingredients were bought at the AFM.
No-Prize Winning Spicy Butternut Soup with Roasted Red Pepper Cream
for the soup:
3-4 cups butternut squash, peeled and chopped**
2 tablespoons safflower oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped**
2 large garlic cloves, minced (I pulled out all the stops this time and used real garlic!)**
2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1 1/2 granny smith apples, cored and chopped
2 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish**
for the cream:
1 vacuum-packed box of extra firm tofu (I used Mori-Nu)
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 large red pepper, roasted**
to prepare:
Turn the oven on to broil. Wash the red pepper well and place on a cookie sheet under the broiler. Turn often until the pepper is blackened all the way around. Remove from the over and place in an air tight container for about 15 minutes to continue steaming.
While the pepper is broiling and steaming, chop the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and set aside. Chop the squash, carrots, apples, and celery and set aside. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Saute until the onion is soft.
Add the apples, squash, carrots, celery, and broth to the pot. Bring to a rolling boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 20-25 minutes or until all the veggies are soft.
While the soup is simmering, remove the skin, stem, and seeds from the roasted pepper. Place the cleaned pepper, the tofu, paprika, and salt into the blender and mid on high until smooth. Set aside in a separate bowl and rinse the blender.
When the soup is done, transfer in batches to the rinsed blender. Blend well and return to the pot over low heat.
Serve in bowls with a dollop of cream and a sprinkle of the parsley.
Roomie loved this soup, but he predicted I wouldn't win. "It's too spicy to win," he guessed. And for as warm a day as Saturday was, he was probably right. This soup has a great kick to it and would be better served in early winter rather than late summer. Maybe serve it in bread bowls so there's plenty of starch to balance the heat. You could probably cut the amount of jalapeno or chipotle to temper the spice too.
Despite not winning, I took consolation in the fact that mine was the only vegan entry and the first soup to be finished by the public taste-testers. Both the other soups had chicken stock as the base, one with cheddar and one with creme fraiche. I had to laugh when a taster asked if the other soups were veg-friendly and the guy next to me said, "yeah it only has a little chicken stock in it."
My final judgment: I failed at my first cooking contest but I still like them. I think I'll keep at it until I have a couple of ribbons. If at first you don't succeed, cook, cook some more.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Kitchen Harlotry
Prostitution has always been a pet interest of mine.
Vivian Ward, Fancy, Ophelia in Trading Places; I've written a seminar paper on The French Lieutenant's Woman, one on the archetype of the "fallen woman" in Victorian Literature, one on Mukherjee's Jasmine...hell, I'm Catholic! We get a whore built right into the Easter story! I just find the whole stereotypical "mother-madonna-whore" triptych fascinating.
Especially the whore part.
So how delighted was I to learn that the puttanesca sauce I decided to put my vegan spin on is literally, Italian for 'whore's sauce!?'
Delighted like the only whore in town on payday, that's how much.
But on what to put my slutty sauce?
Open the cupboards and there was the box of strange, off-brand orzo from Odd Lots that had been sitting way in the back of the top shelf since I had bought it with visions of orzo-and-ground-veggie-beef-stuffed green peppers dancing in my head. As with most of the visions I have of foods stuffed into other foods, the peppers never materialized. But the orzo remained. Thus was born one of the best Sunday night meals I've made in months.
One Pot Whore-Zo
1 16 oz box of orzo
4 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 heaping tablespoon cheater garlic
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) crushed red pepper
1 can (4 oz-ish) sliced black olives, drained
3 tablespoon capers (not too much brine)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 (at least) tomatoes, chopped (optional for topping/garnish)
Vivian Ward, Fancy, Ophelia in Trading Places; I've written a seminar paper on The French Lieutenant's Woman, one on the archetype of the "fallen woman" in Victorian Literature, one on Mukherjee's Jasmine...hell, I'm Catholic! We get a whore built right into the Easter story! I just find the whole stereotypical "mother-madonna-whore" triptych fascinating.
Especially the whore part.
So how delighted was I to learn that the puttanesca sauce I decided to put my vegan spin on is literally, Italian for 'whore's sauce!?'
Delighted like the only whore in town on payday, that's how much.
But on what to put my slutty sauce?
Open the cupboards and there was the box of strange, off-brand orzo from Odd Lots that had been sitting way in the back of the top shelf since I had bought it with visions of orzo-and-ground-veggie-beef-stuffed green peppers dancing in my head. As with most of the visions I have of foods stuffed into other foods, the peppers never materialized. But the orzo remained. Thus was born one of the best Sunday night meals I've made in months.
One Pot Whore-Zo
1 16 oz box of orzo
4 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 heaping tablespoon cheater garlic
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) crushed red pepper
1 can (4 oz-ish) sliced black olives, drained
3 tablespoon capers (not too much brine)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 (at least) tomatoes, chopped (optional for topping/garnish)
Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onions and sautee until soft.
Add the uncooked orzo to the onions and stir to coat. You're more or less toasting the orzo, but make sure not to burn it or let it get too stuck to the bottom of the pan. This should take between 5-10 minutes. Halfway through, add the garlic.
When the orzo is toasted add the vegetable broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Let boil for about a minute or so and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally. The orzo is going to absorb the broth (like rice) but it's also going to get very creamy because the starch molecules from the pasta are not getting washed off or rinsed away in cooking water. If it seems like all the broth is absorbed but the orzo is still too chewy, just add more broth and cook a few more minutes.
When the orzo is full cooked (it should have a thick, oatmeal-like consistency), add the red pepper flakes and stir. Add the capers and olives and the parsley. Stir to evenly distribute.
Serve topped with the chopped fresh tomatoes (and maybe a grating or two of fresh parmesean if you swing that way). Ecco la buona cucina!
Just don't forget to leave some money on the dresser when you're done.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Those Who Can, Do
Those who can't, teach.
And those who don't really want to do anything remotely resembling real adult life just yet, adjunct a night class or two at their grad school alma mater.
What can I say? If refusing to get a job that I can't schedule around my running, cycling, yoga-ing, swimming, lifting, spinning, and cooking schedule is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.
Still, the start of fall quarter is always busy. Roomie is back in classes, back to coaching, back to competitive rowing training full-time. And even though teaching isn't the center of my world, I'm still spending a lot of time planning/prepping for my classes.
Knowing that this hustle-bustle was approaching, I spent Labor Day turning the last of the mouldering, fresh fruit in my fridge into something resembling edible baked goods. And, if I may be so bold, they turned out pretty damned good.
Forever Young Tropical Fruit Bread
"when the fruit has matured, but you refuse to"
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 tbs wheat germ
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup vegan butter, very soft
2/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs flax seed meal mixed in 6 tbs warm water (equivalent of 2 eggs)
1 cup very ripe, very black-skinned, very mashed bananas
1 very ripe mango, chopped
1 tbs pineapple juice
Sift together the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
Place the chopped mango in a bowl and cover with the pineapple juice. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and flax seed mixture and mix well.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar, mixing well.
Add the bananas and mangos and mix thouroughly.
Pour the mix into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350ish degrees for about 45-50 minutes depending on your oven's temperment.
This bread is so sweet and soft it's practically a cake. If you made it with white flour instead of wheat it probably would be. Add a glass of hot dandelion root tea and a stack of student response papers and you've got yourself a fairly decent Tuesday night.
Sugar-Coated Berry Cakes
"like how adjunct actually means bitch...you know, sugar-coated"
1 1/4 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tbs lemon juice
1 egg worth Ener-G egg replacer
1/2 stick vegan butter, melted
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries and on-the-verge-of-spoiling strawberries
1/2 tsp orange zest (optional, but worth the effort)
1/2 cup or more of raw sugar (for sprinkling)
Mix the milk and lemon juice together and set aside for at least 3 minutes (this makes buttermilk).
Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
Mix the Ener-G, butter, zest, and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Fold in the fruits, distributing evenly throughout the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased or paper-lined muffin tin, filling the cups about halfway. Sprinkle the tops with raw sugar and bake at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes.
Tops all crinkly and sugary, insides hot and fruity...there's nothing not to love. Serve these warm with a cold glass of milk (Roomie's partial to chocolate) and you can face even the most dead-eyed class of freshman.
And continue to refuse to grow up.
And those who don't really want to do anything remotely resembling real adult life just yet, adjunct a night class or two at their grad school alma mater.
What can I say? If refusing to get a job that I can't schedule around my running, cycling, yoga-ing, swimming, lifting, spinning, and cooking schedule is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.
Still, the start of fall quarter is always busy. Roomie is back in classes, back to coaching, back to competitive rowing training full-time. And even though teaching isn't the center of my world, I'm still spending a lot of time planning/prepping for my classes.
Knowing that this hustle-bustle was approaching, I spent Labor Day turning the last of the mouldering, fresh fruit in my fridge into something resembling edible baked goods. And, if I may be so bold, they turned out pretty damned good.
Forever Young Tropical Fruit Bread
"when the fruit has matured, but you refuse to"
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 tbs wheat germ
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup vegan butter, very soft
2/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs flax seed meal mixed in 6 tbs warm water (equivalent of 2 eggs)
1 cup very ripe, very black-skinned, very mashed bananas
1 very ripe mango, chopped
1 tbs pineapple juice
Sift together the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
Place the chopped mango in a bowl and cover with the pineapple juice. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and flax seed mixture and mix well.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar, mixing well.
Add the bananas and mangos and mix thouroughly.
Pour the mix into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350ish degrees for about 45-50 minutes depending on your oven's temperment.
This bread is so sweet and soft it's practically a cake. If you made it with white flour instead of wheat it probably would be. Add a glass of hot dandelion root tea and a stack of student response papers and you've got yourself a fairly decent Tuesday night.
Sugar-Coated Berry Cakes
"like how adjunct actually means bitch...you know, sugar-coated"
1 1/4 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tbs lemon juice
1 egg worth Ener-G egg replacer
1/2 stick vegan butter, melted
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries and on-the-verge-of-spoiling strawberries
1/2 tsp orange zest (optional, but worth the effort)
1/2 cup or more of raw sugar (for sprinkling)
Mix the milk and lemon juice together and set aside for at least 3 minutes (this makes buttermilk).
Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
Mix the Ener-G, butter, zest, and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Fold in the fruits, distributing evenly throughout the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased or paper-lined muffin tin, filling the cups about halfway. Sprinkle the tops with raw sugar and bake at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes.
Tops all crinkly and sugary, insides hot and fruity...there's nothing not to love. Serve these warm with a cold glass of milk (Roomie's partial to chocolate) and you can face even the most dead-eyed class of freshman.
And continue to refuse to grow up.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Fair is Fair
Oh, to be 3 and drinking a milkshake made from milk you saw leave the udder.
Much like national spelling bees, YouTube clips of children playing instruments, and the little sugarplum dancers in The Nutcracker...going to the fair makes me feel like I have wasted my life. There are 9 year olds who can shoe and ride horses! I saw a toddler milking a goat! I can't quilt. I can't knit. I'm afraid of chickens (their horrible pointy faces and scale-y feet just creep me out). I may have a green thumb but I'm terrified of bugs so I'll never know.
But I try not to dwell on it. Instead, I remember that I can turn the fruit that someone else has grown into delicious vegan treats. Maybe someday I will enter them into a fair contest and there will be a big ribbon pinned to my plate. Until then, enjoy these recipes and get yourself to your local fair.
Ribbon -Worthy Apriberry Muffins
4 apricots, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons warm water
Toss the apricots and blueberries with the lemon juice and set aside.
Mix the flaxseed and warm water in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the milk and butter to the flax seeds and mix well.
Add the wet to the dry and mix then fold in the fruit.
Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.
Let cool in the pan for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack. Sprinkle the tops with a little cinnamon sugar and enjoy.
Oat-Plum Upside-Down Tartlets
In a blender, puree enough plums (skins on) to make about 1 1/2 cups.
Mix 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons warm water and set aside.
Cream (a hand-held mixer makes this easier) 1 softened stick of vegan margarine with 1 cup of brown sugar.
Add 1 cup of the pureed plums and the flax mixture to the butter and sugar and blend well.
Stir in 1 teaspoon each salt, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Add 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats and stir until just moistened.
Place a few pecan halves in the bottom of a Pam-greased muffin tin.
Spoon the oat mixture over the pecans until the cups are 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes.
While the muffins are baking, mix the rest of plum puree with powder sugar until it reaches a thin, frosting-like consistency.
When the muffins are done, invert them onto a rack while still hot.
Cool for about 5 minutes then spoon enough frosting onto the muffins so some drizzles down the sides.
Serve warm with a big scoop of vanilla rice dream. Or cooled down (they get pretty cripsy) with a big glass of soy milk.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Elbow Bone's Connected to the Vegan BBQ Rib Bone
There is currently a WinTech racing single spanning the length of my living room and jutting into my kitchen.
Does this lack of space deter me in my quest for delicious vegan food? Of course not!! I've already mastered the art of cooking on a stove with only one full-sized burner, what's a little less elbow room?
On the menu this weekend (after what was unfortunately my first trip to the Athens' Farmers' Market) was barbeque. Fresh corn, fresh green beans, fresh peppers, fresh potatoes. It doesn't get much better. Prepping the tempeh takes a little extra time so prep it a day before or the morning of. Having everything chopped and blended ahead of time also helps. Or you can do like I do. Take time to enjoy the cooking process and keep the ice cubes at the bottom of your gin&tonic from getting too dry.
So here's the menu for my soon-to-be-famous "Don't Bump the Boat Barbeque Feast." Fresh lemonade or a citrus-forward wine or beer (a NZ sauvignon blanc or maybe Conundrum; something like Oberon or Shock Top or Magic Hat #9) would have rounded this meal out nicely.
Elbows In Tempeh Cutlets
Cut a package of tempeh into strips and place into a pot of rapidly boiling water. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10-12 minutes. This takes out some of the bitterness and readies the tempeh to soak up the marinade.
While the tempeh is cooking, mix together until very smooth:
1/4 cup warm water
2 tbs peanut butter
1 tbs soy sauce or tamari
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
Pat the tempeh with paper towels to absorb some of the water. Place in a 9x9 Pyrex dish and pour the mixture in, turning the tempeh to make sure all the sides are coated. Cover with saran wrap and let sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
When you're ready for dinner and while you're making the barbeque sauce, potatoes, and salad (see below), bake the tempeh at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn and bake for another 10. I leave the timing up to you. These don't really dry out so you can leave them warming in the oven for a while and the longer they cook the crispier the PB marinade gets. I started these cooking while the sauce was simmering.
BBBQ Sauce (the extra B is for bitchin')
Saute in a medium sauce pan:
2 tbs oil
1 onion, chopped
1 heaping tbs cheater garlic
Stir in:
1 cup fresh tomato puree (I blended up three from JSK's garden. Yum!)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup water
1 tbs molasses
1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cayenne or chipotle pepper
Bring to a boil and add:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbs soy sauce or tamari
Bring to boil again, reduce heat to simmer, and very slowly (to avoid any lumps) stir in about a teaspoon of cornstarch until the sauce thickens slightly. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
While I was cooking the sauce on the full-sized burner, I had a frying pan of oil heating on small burner. When the sauce was ready to simmer I presto-chango! switched their places (with only one small oil-burn to show for it!) to begin cooking the Tri-Color Potato Hash
2-3 potatoes, chopped into bite-sized or smaller pieces
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
2 ears of raw corn, cut off the cob
Fry the potatoes in a pan of oil. I have been eating fried potatoes for longer than I can remember (homefries and homemades, smothered in ketchup? The ambrosia of my youth). Yet I still cannot figure out how to fry potatoes on my own without most of the potato sticking to the bottom of the pan in a black mess. Is it because my frying pan sort of bows in the middle so it's hard to coat it evenly with oil? Is it because I don't put enough oil in to begin with? Is it the fact that I am usually impatient to start eating and try cooking the potatoes over too high heat? Just another culinary mystery that we may never solve.
After opening a window and fanning the smoke away from the beeping bedroom smoke alarm, transfer the cooked potatoes to a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the raw peppers and corn to the bowl, stir to mix and cover with a plate to keep the heat in and slightly steam the raw veg just a bit. You could saute the veg in the potato pan if you prefer but I like a little crunch. And there was far too much charred potato on the bottom of my pan to use it again.
We rounded out the meal with microwave-steamed green beans (I may get cancer from the plastic steamer basket but it's a helluva time saver) and a microgreens, spinach, and shredded carrot salad topped with my gramma's secret recipe vinegar & oil dressing. No you can't have it, but I'd be happy to make it for you sometime. Just invite me over for dinner.
Other than about 2 cups of left over BBQ sauce (most of which Roomie has earmarked for tuna sandwiches) there was nothing but alot of dirty pots and pans left in the kitchen at the end of the night.
Well, that and a giant, red boat.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Back and Better Than Ever
Roomie and I triumphantly returned to Athens last Friday and were met with throngs of well wishers tossing flowers into the path of the van, singing songs of jubilation, and sounding trumpets to herald our arrival after so many months abroad.
What I mean by that, of course, is a stuffy, humid apartment that had not been properly cleaned since before I left for the beach and a barren refrigerator.
The former was remedied with a two-day cleaning-stravaganza; the latter by a mega-trip to Kroger which I could barely afford.
I guess the vacation is over.
It hasn't all been real-world responsibilities though. Kev came to stay for a few days while he finished up his illustrious undergraduate carreer; and any time a guest (even one so un-guest-like as Kev) comes to stay is an excuse to cook.
Monday night I jazzed up that old favorite Mock-soto!! by subbing walnut oil for the Enova and adding a bag of frozen carrots, celery, and onions. Delicious and filling.
Tuesday was Italian night, inspired in part by the huge bag of tomatoes from my BFF JSK's garden. Possibly the best tomatoes I've ever eaten. Since the pasta was the cheap, "comes-from-Sam's-in-a-6-pound-bag" kind, I decided to class up the evening with appetizers. Tomatoes are delicious with salt (as a kid, my gramma and I used to eat them straight from the garden like apples, sprinkling salt on them inbetween giant bites). Olives are salty. I just happened to have a deli container full of olives that needed eaten. I love it when dishes come together so seredipitously
Kalamata-'Mater Bites
3 cups Kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
handful-ish of chopped fresh parsely
1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
Blend everything but the olive oil in a high-speed blender. Slowly add the oil until the mixture is smooth. If you can, make this a day ahead of time (or at least a few hours) so it can sit in the fridge for a bit. Don't worry if the oil separates from the olives; just stir it back together.
We spread this onto hot slices of take-and-bake mutli-grain french bread and topped with bite-sized pieces of tomatoes and spinach shreds. Add a moderately priced Chilean CabSauv and music from True Blood and you've got yourself a dinner party. Very classy.
Today I wasn't really in the mood to be standing in the kitchen...or wearing anything but a bathrobe and my PJ's or putting my contacts in... (we closed the Oak Room down last night) ...so it was my crock-pot to the rescue.
Pyjama Day Lentils
1 pound lentils
1 onion, chopped
1-2 tbs of cheater garlic
1 can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 carrots, chopped (or you can just throw in the half-bag of baby carrots languishing in your crisper)
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp sage
1/8 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
Throw everything in your slow cooker/crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until the lentils and carrots are soft and have absorbed the liquid. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will be. I threw an extra fresh tomato in the mix as well and if I had had any celery on hand I would have chopped some of that in as well. Occassionally stir the pot if you'd like or just let it go while you lounge in a recliner all day watching Starz and facebook stalking and rehydrating.
This was so hearty and very filling. Serve over rice or noodles (Roomie made tri-color rotini) or raw vegetables; garnish with ketchup (or catsup), hot sauce, or cheddar cheese.
And continue to lounge the day away remembering why you no longer close down bars.
It's good to be back .
What I mean by that, of course, is a stuffy, humid apartment that had not been properly cleaned since before I left for the beach and a barren refrigerator.
The former was remedied with a two-day cleaning-stravaganza; the latter by a mega-trip to Kroger which I could barely afford.
I guess the vacation is over.
It hasn't all been real-world responsibilities though. Kev came to stay for a few days while he finished up his illustrious undergraduate carreer; and any time a guest (even one so un-guest-like as Kev) comes to stay is an excuse to cook.
Monday night I jazzed up that old favorite Mock-soto!! by subbing walnut oil for the Enova and adding a bag of frozen carrots, celery, and onions. Delicious and filling.
Tuesday was Italian night, inspired in part by the huge bag of tomatoes from my BFF JSK's garden. Possibly the best tomatoes I've ever eaten. Since the pasta was the cheap, "comes-from-Sam's-in-a-6-pound-bag" kind, I decided to class up the evening with appetizers. Tomatoes are delicious with salt (as a kid, my gramma and I used to eat them straight from the garden like apples, sprinkling salt on them inbetween giant bites). Olives are salty. I just happened to have a deli container full of olives that needed eaten. I love it when dishes come together so seredipitously
Kalamata-'Mater Bites
3 cups Kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
handful-ish of chopped fresh parsely
1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
Blend everything but the olive oil in a high-speed blender. Slowly add the oil until the mixture is smooth. If you can, make this a day ahead of time (or at least a few hours) so it can sit in the fridge for a bit. Don't worry if the oil separates from the olives; just stir it back together.
We spread this onto hot slices of take-and-bake mutli-grain french bread and topped with bite-sized pieces of tomatoes and spinach shreds. Add a moderately priced Chilean CabSauv and music from True Blood and you've got yourself a dinner party. Very classy.
Today I wasn't really in the mood to be standing in the kitchen...or wearing anything but a bathrobe and my PJ's or putting my contacts in... (we closed the Oak Room down last night) ...so it was my crock-pot to the rescue.
Pyjama Day Lentils
1 pound lentils
1 onion, chopped
1-2 tbs of cheater garlic
1 can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 carrots, chopped (or you can just throw in the half-bag of baby carrots languishing in your crisper)
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp sage
1/8 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
Throw everything in your slow cooker/crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until the lentils and carrots are soft and have absorbed the liquid. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will be. I threw an extra fresh tomato in the mix as well and if I had had any celery on hand I would have chopped some of that in as well. Occassionally stir the pot if you'd like or just let it go while you lounge in a recliner all day watching Starz and facebook stalking and rehydrating.
This was so hearty and very filling. Serve over rice or noodles (Roomie made tri-color rotini) or raw vegetables; garnish with ketchup (or catsup), hot sauce, or cheddar cheese.
And continue to lounge the day away remembering why you no longer close down bars.
It's good to be back .
Thursday, August 13, 2009
On the Road Again
Hi to the ello friends and enemies.
It's been donkey's years since I've posted. The main reason? I've been travelling. It's kind of hard to be whipping up delicious vegan meals when you're eating out of a cooler in the back of a van.
I left Athens the last week of July to stay with my parent's for a few days to celebrate my mom's birthday. My gift was homemade sangria that we started drinking around noon.
Mom's 57 Golden Sangria
2 bottles (750ml) white wine (Nothing too expensive; I used Frontera Sauv Blanc once and Bohemian Highway pino grigio the next time)
4 tbs of lemon juice
2-3 tbs agave nectar
3/4 cup Grand Marnier
2 cups fresh, chopped pineapple
3 nectarines, chopped (get organic and leave the skins on)
1 pint of raspberries, frozen (see below)
Mix everything but the fruit in a large pitcher until the agave is disolved. I have one of those in-fridge jars with the spigot on the bottom which works quite nicely.
Add the pineapple and nectarines to the jar. Stir well. Add a couple handfulls of ice and let sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
While the the sangria chills, place the raspberries on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet/plate in the freezer until solid. You can freeze these ahead of time too.
To serve, fill a wide mouth wine glass with equal parts wine and the wine-soaked fruit. Garnish with a few of the frozen raspberries (a mint sprig if you're feeling saucy) and a spoon. My mom has some very excellent milkshake spoon-straws (spraws? stroons? Nicer than the ones at this website but similar) which work wonderfully for this sangria. Let me tell you, you haven't had pineapple until you've had pineapple that's been soaking in wine and GranMar for 48 hours. Word.
After the birthday merriment, I was off to Cleveland for a night with my cousins, J & The Demon Baby. The latter got a trampoline for her third birthday. They wanted my to join them on said trampoline and I did but I was probably the least fun trampoline-jumper in the history of trampolines. My imagination is far to vivid for me to enjoy a bouncy length of tarp stretched between some springs. My brain kept sending up pictures of snapped necks and broken legs. Hardly conducive to, "jump us higher!! jump us higher!!"
From Cleveland, I pointed Frankenstein in a north-easterly direction to meet up with Roomie in St. Catharine's, Ontario for the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. I was let into Canada by a man that I'm convinced was simply posing as a border guard. His questions were cursory at best and upon leaving Canada, I was told that I should never have been allowed to enter the country with the amount of fresh produce that I did. Most of the fresh produce was eaten in a hotel room with a very nice, duty-free bottle of Canadian wine.
From Canada, Roomie and I drove back to his sub-let in Philadelphia. I will summarize this road trip simply by saying: wind turbines unsettle me in a vague, undefinable way. I can't look too long or too directly at them without experiencing a very acute and potent kind of vertigo.
Philly was great. The car remained un-broken-into this time (the battery died instead), and we spent three hours walking around museums. Modern art is far easier to appreciate when you've had a strongly mixed Beefeater and tonic. Thank you again Philly Museum of Art's "Art After 5." Also delicious: water ice. It's the Philadelphia version of italian ice; kinda like a thicker slushie with way better flavors. Nothing rounds out a 6 block walk to the liquor store like an orange-creamsicle-flavored water ice.
From Philly, Roomie and I have returned to Marion for a week or so of being kids again. Translation: free room and board, no real responsibilities, and plentiful dinner that neither of us has to cook or pay for.
Soon, though, I'll be back in Athens having to feed myself, teach some college frosh, and writing all about it.
Wish as I might, it just can't be summer vacation forever.
It's been donkey's years since I've posted. The main reason? I've been travelling. It's kind of hard to be whipping up delicious vegan meals when you're eating out of a cooler in the back of a van.
I left Athens the last week of July to stay with my parent's for a few days to celebrate my mom's birthday. My gift was homemade sangria that we started drinking around noon.
Mom's 57 Golden Sangria
2 bottles (750ml) white wine (Nothing too expensive; I used Frontera Sauv Blanc once and Bohemian Highway pino grigio the next time)
4 tbs of lemon juice
2-3 tbs agave nectar
3/4 cup Grand Marnier
2 cups fresh, chopped pineapple
3 nectarines, chopped (get organic and leave the skins on)
1 pint of raspberries, frozen (see below)
Mix everything but the fruit in a large pitcher until the agave is disolved. I have one of those in-fridge jars with the spigot on the bottom which works quite nicely.
Add the pineapple and nectarines to the jar. Stir well. Add a couple handfulls of ice and let sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
While the the sangria chills, place the raspberries on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet/plate in the freezer until solid. You can freeze these ahead of time too.
To serve, fill a wide mouth wine glass with equal parts wine and the wine-soaked fruit. Garnish with a few of the frozen raspberries (a mint sprig if you're feeling saucy) and a spoon. My mom has some very excellent milkshake spoon-straws (spraws? stroons? Nicer than the ones at this website but similar) which work wonderfully for this sangria. Let me tell you, you haven't had pineapple until you've had pineapple that's been soaking in wine and GranMar for 48 hours. Word.
After the birthday merriment, I was off to Cleveland for a night with my cousins, J & The Demon Baby. The latter got a trampoline for her third birthday. They wanted my to join them on said trampoline and I did but I was probably the least fun trampoline-jumper in the history of trampolines. My imagination is far to vivid for me to enjoy a bouncy length of tarp stretched between some springs. My brain kept sending up pictures of snapped necks and broken legs. Hardly conducive to, "jump us higher!! jump us higher!!"
From Cleveland, I pointed Frankenstein in a north-easterly direction to meet up with Roomie in St. Catharine's, Ontario for the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. I was let into Canada by a man that I'm convinced was simply posing as a border guard. His questions were cursory at best and upon leaving Canada, I was told that I should never have been allowed to enter the country with the amount of fresh produce that I did. Most of the fresh produce was eaten in a hotel room with a very nice, duty-free bottle of Canadian wine.
From Canada, Roomie and I drove back to his sub-let in Philadelphia. I will summarize this road trip simply by saying: wind turbines unsettle me in a vague, undefinable way. I can't look too long or too directly at them without experiencing a very acute and potent kind of vertigo.
Philly was great. The car remained un-broken-into this time (the battery died instead), and we spent three hours walking around museums. Modern art is far easier to appreciate when you've had a strongly mixed Beefeater and tonic. Thank you again Philly Museum of Art's "Art After 5." Also delicious: water ice. It's the Philadelphia version of italian ice; kinda like a thicker slushie with way better flavors. Nothing rounds out a 6 block walk to the liquor store like an orange-creamsicle-flavored water ice.
From Philly, Roomie and I have returned to Marion for a week or so of being kids again. Translation: free room and board, no real responsibilities, and plentiful dinner that neither of us has to cook or pay for.
Soon, though, I'll be back in Athens having to feed myself, teach some college frosh, and writing all about it.
Wish as I might, it just can't be summer vacation forever.
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