Living Free

Brunch at Portobello

2011-10-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

We made it to Portobello's new brunch yesterday. Unfortunately it doesn't start til 11am, so it's solidly brunch and not breakfast. It was tough to eat a very light breakfast at home and then wait til they opened to have a real meal.

We arrived at a quarter after 11, and although the tables were about two-thirds full, it took about twenty minutes before we were seated. The menu is tiny, but custom for the day, and the entrees each sound amazing. We opted for the sweet waffle* and the savory waffle, and split them (*full disclosure-- the sweet waffle was not gluten free).

The sweet waffle was described as "roasted sweet potato, rootbeer, rum waffle with soy-free earth balance, maple syrup and roast stone fruits." The savory waffle was a "savory cornmeal waffle with spicy red beans, cashew ricotta, pickled red onions, roasted corn, and tomato sauce."

Both were amazing. I wouldn't have guessed rootbeer for the flavor of the sweet waffle, but it was sweet without being cloying, rich, buttery and amazing with the hot grilled peaches. The savory waffle was piled high with fresh-tasting toppings and much more filling.

Even Erik was impressed. Our bottomless French press coffee was thick and strong, just as I like it. And the bill came to only twenty dollars! The only downside is that it took nearly two hours overall, which doesn't seem maintainable. Hopefully they're streamline service a bit, and maybe even open earlier. I can't wait to go back to taste what they come up with.

Tofu Bo Bun

2011-10-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to help test recipes for Terry Hope Romero's upcoming cookbook. Her most recent, Viva Vegan, is fantastic. There is an amazing variety of dishes from cuisines I thought I knew, and each recipe I've tried has surprised me with really solid results.

The upcoming cookbook has quite a mix of dishes. The first one that caught my eye was "Seitan Bo Bun," a variation on my very favorite Vietnamese dish, bun bi chay or vegetarian noodle salad. Of course I didn't make the tasty-sounding Five Spice Seitan; instead a pressed and marinated tofu to easily make the dish gluten-free.

It took more than an hour, but I was really impressed with the results. Everything came together beautifully and the sauce elevated the entire dish. I'm so excited for this cookbook!

Upcoming

2011-10-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

Well I used yesterday as my "free day" (I've allowed myself one weekday a week off from MoFo this year, because damn, I need it) but clearly I needed another one today.

Yesterday I made burgers for dinner, possibly the laziest meal we do around here. This time I pan-fried the patties with Daiya on top and cut them in half to roll up in a tortilla with Veganaise, spinach, pickle slices and BBQ sauce; we were out of bread. The burger wraps were great, though, because I'm usually overpowered by the bread and eat all of my sandwiches open-faced.

Last night I also started falling asleep on the couch at 9pm, although I had to get up and do things so I didn't get to bed til 11, which is still early for me.

Fresh off six hours of sleep (not all at once of course, but that's pretty good for me) I thought I'd make something MoFo-worthy tonight, no problem.

Then plans changed and we went to a bar straight after work... Followed by takeout from Los Gorditos, because what else do you eat when you're starving after going to a foodless bar?

So all I have for tonight is to tell you that I am super excited for the weekend to try out the jackfruit brisket recipe from Sunny Days in Texas and a couple of testing recipes from Terry Hope Romero's upcoming cookbook. Hurrah! Hurry up and get here, weekend.

THE chocolate chip cookie

2011-10-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

Stop the press. I finally found the gluten-free chocolate chip cookie. It's easy to make soy-free, too. I just made a double batch of dough, hoping that this one will yield enough for me to share with friends. Unfortunately, I can't seem to bake enough at a time that there are any available for photos, but luckily Angela of Oh She Glows provided us with the recipe, photos, and an explanation of different ingredients she tried. I usually prefer big, soft oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but these have an amazing chewy bite, even though they're thin, which provides an almost caramel texture. The flours are oat and almond: common, healthy and well-known (no questions like "What the heck is sorghum?"). The oats, ground in the blender, lend their flavor subtely, while the almonds create richness. Go mix up a batch!

Peanut butter in the morning

2011-10-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

There's no better way to start the morning than a hot breakfast, especially now that the mornings are a bit crisp. Usually I eat still-warm toasted bread with hummus, but lately I've had one slice with peanut butter and jam. When I ran out of bread, cold cereal seemed too cold, and we were out of toaster waffles, I suddenly remembered oatmeal and a tip from my pb-loving friend Kristen.

I always have oats around-- to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, of course-- but I rarely think of having oatmeal for breakfast. It just seems like it takes too long.

Well, I was wrong. Rolled oats (not gluey quick oats) are the best of both worlds. You can microwave them in three minutes (in one minute increments) and have a delicious hot breakfast, fast. I like to use half water and half milk-- coconut, almond or rice.

While the oatmeal is still piping hot, stir in a tablespoon or two of peanut butter. It will melt into the oatmeal and distribute nicely. You can also add maple syrup and cinnamon (best!), jam (PB&J oatmeal!), dried cranberries (trail mix) or chocolate chips (decadent). It's amazing how many variations of peanut butter oatmeal you can come up with. Plus you can lick the spoon you use to scoop the peanut butter. Have a good morning!

Off the Griddle

2011-10-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went with a friend to Off the Griddle, a solar-powered all-vegetarian food cart in Southeast Portland serving mainly veggie burgers. I've eaten there about three times before, and what stands out is their inconsistency. I've had a delicious, fully-flavored sandwich and I've also had a bare and boring burger. Tonight was something in between.

I had the special, which was a pumpkin curry falafel burger with tahini sauce, fresh tomato and lettuce. Their house-made OTG burger patties are gluten-free, and gluten-free bread is available for a dollar extra.

I wanted to love it. It was pretty good, but not great. The burger had a nice pumpkin flavor, but I wouldn't have known there was curry except that I was told. The tomato and lettuce were beautifully fresh, covered in the thin tahini sauce, and went well with the thin, soft, whole-grain bun. The sauce was nicely savory, but could've used a bit of a kick-- maybe more salt or lemon juice.

Just a burger wasn't enough for me, either; I had to get dessert later to fill up. While this visit wasn't memorable, I really like the idea of this cart, so I will likely be back. It's nice to have options when I don't have time to cook!

Garden fried rice

2011-10-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

After making lots of rice for two previous dinners, I had a lot of leftover rice. Hurrah! That means fried rice for dinner.

The problem is that we are very low on produce. There was only part of a red bell pepper in the fridge. No garlic, onions, or fresh veg. I had frozen peas, a can of pineapple, and some faux ham tube.

That's when the garden came to my rescue. I went outside to forage and found onions, broccoli and poblano peppers. The beauty of fried rice is that you can clean out the fridge, the pantry and/or the garden-- just use what you have! Since I wasn't able to use fresh garlic, I added fried garlic-- a Thai/ Vietnamese product-- as a garnish. It adds a mellow garlic flavor and nice, crunchy texture.

Note: Make sure to use a big wok, huge stirfry pan, or a really big pot. This dish is extra big because the rice is a part of it in cooking, and the ingredients need to move around.

Garden fried rice

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp peanut oil
2 shallots, chopped small
2 cloves garlic, pressed or diced (I didn't have garlic, but I would use it if I did!)
1 1/2 C faux meat if desired. Ham tube is the best in this dish, if you can find a wheat/gluten-free one.
Veggies! I used broccoli, poblanos, red pepper and peas. Comfort food veggies like peas, carrots and broccoli are my favorite for this dish.
4 C cooked, at least day-old rice
15 oz can diced pineapple (or chunks)
1/4 C wheat-free tamari
1/4 C mirin (sweet cooking sake)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Directions

Add oil to pan and stirfry onion over medium heat til just golden. Add garlic and stirfry for 1 minute.
Add faux meat and brown.
Turn up the heat and add veggies in order of what needs the most time to cook first. Should take no longer than 5-7 minutes.
Add the rice, stirring thoroughly and breaking up any sticky chunks. Turn up heat a little if the bottom isn't sizzling. Stirfry for about 5 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients one at a time, mixing in thoroughly. The rice should be very separated, and all of the liquid absorbed. Give it another 3-5 minutes stirfrying on high heat. Serve with sriracha!

Thai and True Panang curry

2011-10-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

Curry paste is a great base for a quick weekday meal. If you're intrepid you can make your own and freeze it for later use, but jarred and canned versions work great, too. It can take some research to find a vegan one, but lucky for me Food Fight has done the work by carrying locally made Thai and True curry pastes. Panang is my favorite for its rich, even flavor; it works equally well with sweet or salty/savory ingredients. Stirfry with aromatics, a ton of veggies, and a little bit of seasoning and you have as big and hearty a meal as you please. Serve over rice, or rice noodles for a change of pace.

Thai and True Panang curry

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed or diced
*1 C faux meat (tofu, tempeh, etc) if desired
3 tbsp curry paste (Thai and True Panang)
Veggies! I used broccoli, potato (boil for 10 minutes to soften), red pepper and peas. Pineapple chunks taste amazing in this dish, too.
14oz can coconut milk
2 tbsp wheat-free tamari
2 tbsp brown sugar
juice of 1/2 lime
*1/4 C cilantro, chopped
*1/4 C green onion, chopped
*1/4 C peanuts, chopped

*optional

Directions

Add oil to pan and stirfry onion over medium heat til just golden. Add garlic and stirfry for 1 minute.
Add faux meat and brown.
Add curry paste, stir for 3 minutes.
Add veggies, turn up heat a bit, stir til broccoli starts to cook. It'll look brighter green; about 4 minutes.
Stir in coconut milk, tamari and sugar til everything is mixed. Let the sauce come to a simmer and thicken, about 5 minutes.
Turn off heat and add lime juice, cilantro, green onion and peanuts.

Baked sweet potato black bean chipotle burritos

2011-10-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't call this a recipe-- it's more like a flavor combination that's more than the sum of its parts. Black beans and sweet potato are amazing together. You can stick with the basics, or add complements like corn, peppers, tomatoes, spinach... the list goes on. Since I had poblano peppers from the garden, I fire-roasted them to add in. Usually I use whole black beans, but this time I only had refried and it was great. Time to clean out the fridge and make burritos!

Baked sweet potato black bean chipotle burritos

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

olive oil
1 medium sweet potato (the orange kind), chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed or diced
1 can of black beans (whole or refried)
2 tsp of sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo. Add a chili if you like spicy.
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp salt
1 lime
4 tortillas (corn or other gluten-free)
2 C cooked rice
*1/4 C cilantro, chopped
*1 fire-roasted poblano pepper, chopped
1/2 large red pepper, chopped
*1 C crumbled tempeh bacon
*2 C raw spinach
*1 C cheeze (I used the orange Daiya)

*optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put about 1 tsp olive oil on a baking sheet, toss sweet potato til coated. Bake for 15 minutes then set aside.
Fire-roast the pepper if you haven't yet. Here's how.
Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat, about 5 minutes. Add garlic.
Add spices, salt, black beans, sweet potato, and other optional veg: tempeh, corn, peppers, etc. Cook for about 5 min, turn off heat and add lime juice and cilantro if using.
Fill each tortilla with 1/2 C rice, a quarter of the black bean & sweet potato mix, 1/2 C spinach, and 1/4 C cheeze.
You can use the same, already-oiled baking sheet from roasting the sweet potato-- roll up burritos, using a toothpick to hold them closed if needed. Sometimes I spray them with a little bit of oil for better browning. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. Eat with your favorite salsa. I suggest roasted tomatillo!

Quick red posole

2011-10-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Sadly, although we had maybe four weeks of summer total here in Portland, autumn has already arrived. The only consolation is that it becomes mandatory to wear scarves, cuddle cats on your lap, and eat soup. One of my favorites, since the first time I had it a couple of years ago, is pozole (or "posole"). It's a hearty Mexican stew-- either tomato- or tomatillo- based-- with hominy and other veggies, garnished with loads of fresh things like lime juice, cilantro, oregano, radish and avocado. I've only made it myself a few times, but far and away the best results have come from the "Quick red posole" recipe from Terry Romero's amazing Latin cookbook, Viva Vegan.

Yes, you can make this filling stew in half an hour. I added a faux meat and served it over spinach to add some green. Garnished with fresh cilantro, chopped avocado, and a dab of Tofutti faux sour cream, this meal was memorable. The hominy maintains its chewy bite, the lime juice added at the end pumps up the sweetness of the tomatoes, and the fresh garnishes add a layer of green pop. I am so excited to eat these leftovers. Heck, I might have posole for breakfast!

Aloo Tikki Channa

2011-10-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight we grabbed food from Bombay Chaat House, an Indian food cart downtown. I got the Aloo Tikki Channa: garbanzo beans, onions, spices, special fried potato tikki. They are super-accomodating to vegans and left the yogurt out of this dish for me.

I asked for medium spicy, and it was pretty hot! The channa was thick and sweeter than I'm used to, almost barbecue sauce-like. The fried potato patties hidden underneath were a nice treat, although I wish there was something green in there: broccoli or spinach.

Although I haven't been here in a while, this is my favorite place to get Indian food. It's consistently good, and the spices are fresh and authentic, and the prices are cheap. Can't beat a filling dinner for $4.50. If I had bought rice, this would've been an even-cheaper two meals.

Blackstrap gingersnaps

2011-10-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Dinner was spaghetti with tomato sauce that Shetha and I made (and she canned) a few weeks ago. So I had to do something a little more interesting with dessert-- which is easier, of course, once the baby has gone to bed. I was in the mood for something with spices. With a quick flip through "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar," I found a nice, short recipe for Blackstrap Gingersnaps. Yum!

To make these gluten free, I used 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/2 C coconut flour, 1/2 C Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour, and 1/4 C buckwheat flour (for the 1 3/4 C all purpose flour). I'm not sure how much nutmeg I used, but it was fresh grated and smelled amazing. Fresh really makes all the difference.

Since I like chewy gingersnaps, I didn't squash the balls of dough flat. They stayed soft, but didn't quite cook all the way through. I tried a second round flattened, lowered the heat and baked them for a couple additional minutes, but they got a little dark around the edges. Oh well, they still taste great!

Savory autumn bake

2011-10-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

With the first dark, damp mornings and the smell of chill in the evening breeze, it's time for something simple, rich and comforting: casseroles! This dish was inspired by my garden abundance of potatoes and delicata squash; the creamy, delicate flavor of scalloped potatoes; and an awesome coconut milk-based casserole from Slappy Cakes, a breakfast spot here in Portland.

The idea was for a scalloped potato base or "crust" to a mix of autumnal vegetables in a light, creamy sauce. This didn't come out exactly as I had planned, and Erik didn't really like it, but the leftovers made a pretty darn good lunch. Hopefully I can revisit the spice mix and making the potatoes crispy at the edges.

Although prep takes a bit of time, most of this recipe is just dumping everything together and then baking for a while, so it goes quickly.

Savory autumn bake

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

2 C potatoes, sliced thin, about 1/8" (preferably on a mandoline so they're even)
1 delicata squash, chopped (leave the skin on-- yay, delicata!)
1 bunch lacinato kale, chopped, about 4 C uncooked
1 C crumbled sausage-- a local brand, SortaSausage is vegan and soy- & gluten-free and Food Fight carries it. Tempeh also works well
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can coconut milk (usually around 14oz)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp Trader Joe's South African Smoke Seasoning
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp ground yellow mustard
1/4 C Daiya white cheeze, to top

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a deep nine inch cake pan.
Slice potatoes and arrange in the pan, layering to cover.
Mix delicata, kale, sausage and bell pepper together in a bowl, then cover over potatoes in the cake pan.
Whisk the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl for the sauce. Pour evenly over the ingredients in the cake pan. Sprinkle Daiya on top.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes, or broil til golden brown on top. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to set.

Iron Chef Challenge: Smoky chickpea, feta and quinoa salad

2011-10-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Just what I needed-- a challenge and inspiration! The secret ingredient for the first Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Challenge was chickpeas. We spent the weekend at the coast, so I knew I'd have to make something quick for dinner when we got home Sunday evening. Nothing new there. On the car ride home I developed a craving for feta. A salad seemed in order, and a filling, nutritious base of quinoa seemed perfect. The flavors came together beautifully-- tart feta, smoky seasoning, sweet tomato sauce, and hearty chickpeas make a light but filling meal.

Smoky chickpea, feta and quinoa salad

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

1 C vegan feta (I used this recipe, without the rosemary)
1 C uncooked quinoa
1 C vegetable broth
1 C water
1 C tomato sauce
1 tsp Trader Joe's South African Smoke Seasoning or smoked paprika
1 tsp smoked salt
1 can chickpeas
2 stalks of green onion, thinly sliced
spinach or salad greens of your choice

Directions

Make the feta.
Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander. I like to toast it by dumping it-- still damp-- in a pot over low heat, shaking it every few minutes until it dries and starts to turn golden and release a toasty fragrance. Add the broth and water, raise heat to bring to a boil, cover tightly, and turn heat to low. Let simmer for 15 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes before removing the lid.
Mix tomato sauce, spice and salt into the quinoa. Add chickpeas and green onions.
To serve, spoon quinoa mix (about a cup) over a bed of spinach (or other greens) and top with feta to taste (about 1/4 cup). It's delicious warm or cold!

Sizzle Pie

2011-10-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

It seems to be a theme for my MoFo this year, but once again we were out running errands (buying new running shoes before a long run tomorrow morning) late after work, and needed a quick dinner. We decided on Sizzle Pie, because it was nearby-- the original is on East Burnside, and now there's one on West Burnside where Rocco's used to be across from Powell's bookstore.

This was my second pizza from Sizzle Pie. My first, the intriguingly named "New Maps Out of Hell" (creamy basil cashew spread, soy curls and three veggies. I chose spinach, pineapple and tomato) was a little disappointing. The spread was sparse, not creamy or particularly flavorful. The crust was also bland: not crisp, thin, flaky, thick or toothsome. Just medium all around.

Despite that lackluster experience, the pies have such inventive combinations that I was eager to try again. We ordered a "Steve Caballero"-- marinara, pepperoni, Italian sausage, green peppers, onions and Daiya cheeze. Fresh from the oven, it was painfully hot and tantalizingly fragrant. The pepperoni was rubbery and the onions weren't well cooked (I hate raw onions), but overall it was really satisfying and tasty. I will definitely try another of their plentiful, creative, vegan combos again soon.

El Nutri Taco

2011-10-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had to be boring adults and take the car to be DEQ'd (that's "smogged" if you're in California, or "emission tested" elsewhere). Because we were short on time, we grabbed dinner at a cart on the way home.

I had heard good things about El Nutri Taco for a while, but to be honest, the name was offputting. Seriously, it sounds like they put nutria (a large aquatic rodent) in there. Plus, the location was never convenient, until the recent move to NE Alberta Street. We drove by recently and were excited to see the words "vegan" and "chimichanga" on the sign. Sadly, they were closed at the time, but we got some awesome deep fried onigiri at Yogio, a nearby Korean-inspired cart instead.

This time the were open, but unfortunately it was so dark, rainy and cold that I didn't get any photos. Maybe next time (and there will be a next time). At the El Nutri Taco cart, the menus are posted on either side of the window: vegan/vegetarian on the right, and something else I didn't pay attention to on the left. There are some creative special burritos as well as nachos, sopes, huraches, and a long list of vegan sides. Daiya cheeze, Tofutti sour cream, and Earth Balance are all used to make items vegan. For many of the items, you can choose potatoes, tempeh, soyrizo or tofu-- awesome!

We got a tempeh and black bean chimichanga coverd in Daiya and Tofutti, and a grilled burrito filled with all sorts of veggies. The chimichanga was definitely the favorite-- crispy on the outside, filled with a nice blend of crumbled tempeh and smashed black beans, served with a little salsa fresca on the side. I will definitely be back! It's also just a couple of blocks away from Back to Eden, an irresistible dessert stop.

Hits and misses

2011-10-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I warmed up for MoFo with a few smaller items. Some of them-- revisiting old friends-- worked, and some of them-- unknowingly putting a new spin on said old friend-- didn't.

This summer was a pisser in Portland. I think it only got into the 90s (Fahrenheit) twice. Hell, it only got into the 80s a handful of times. My tomatoes suffered.

To me, the best use of a few tomatoes is a fresh (aka lazy) tomato sauce. You just roughly chop tomatoes, onions, garlic and simmer for as long as you've got. The tomatoes melt into a bright, sweet sauce that's perfectly summery. I made some earlier in the summer, and a few weeks ago with Shetha-- that one was a lovely big batch with gorgeous tomatoes from her garden, not my sad, piddling amount. Well someone at work brought in a bunch of good, sturdy plum tomatoes, and I thought I'd make more fresh sauce.

Lest you, too, think this is a good idea, allow me to point out the glaring problem: plum, or paste, tomatoes must be skinned. My previous fresh tomatoes worked because they were eating or slicing tomatoes with thin skins. Tomatoes meant to make sauces are drier, with thicker skins that never disintegrate in the heat of simmering. So my sauce had chunks of tough skin. Ew. That one's the miss.

My other two little cooking projects shown here are the hits. They are, respectively, peanut butter cups and roasted tomatillo salsa. Go try those recipes immediately-- you can't mess them up!

Martin Yan-inspired long bean stir-fry

2011-10-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again-- Vegan Month of Food! The timing couldn't be better. We're finally falling into a bit more of a routine now that I've been back to work for two months, the baby is five months old, and he's settled into daycare. It's also the best time of year for cooking, when it gets cooler out so the oven can stay on for longer, and produce is at its peak in the Pacific northwest. While I don't have a plan for the MoFo, the name of the game (where the game == dinner) is now fast and easy.

On Sunday I went to Lents International Farmers' Market for the first time, which was tiny and charming. As a bonus, the mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, was there and announced that the market would move to Friday nights starting June 15-- with a beer garden! The market specializes in unusual veggies that you normally wouldn't find in an American supermarket, and the first thing that caught my eye were gorgeous bunches of Chinese long beans.

My first thought, of course, was a Chinese dish-- from my trusty Martin Yan Quick & Easy. I found several recipes with long beans, notably "Long bean & tofu stir-fry" and "Fish & long bean stir-fry. I used the simple sauce from the former, and faux fish as a nod to the latter. The sauce consisted of veg broth, fish sauce (I used gluten-free tamari), chili garlic sauce (I was out, so I used sriracha and pressed garlic) and sugar. It was a bit mild in flavor for me, but I enjoyed trying more traditional methodology.

Pumpkin muffin tops with pecans

2011-07-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I couldn't be any more free, I've had to eliminate soy, beans and legumes for the week. Egads! Although I enjoy the vegan and gluten-free challenge, soy was not something I wanted to do without.

My first day, Monday, was a bit painful. I mostly ate single foods, like cherries for a snack and boiled butterball potatoes (with olive oil, smoked sea salt and freshly ground pepper) for lunch. Not enough to fill my belly or satisfy my appetite. So of course I turned to baked goods.

The recipe calls these "pumpkin hermits," but I've never heard that term. As soon as I read the description and ingredients, I knew I had to make them-- and they're more like muffin tops than cookies.

Here are the substitutions you will need:

2 cups all-purpose flour: 1 C of Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour, plus 1/3 C each quinoa flour, coconut flour, and tapioca flour or potato starch, plus 1/4 tsp xanthan gum

You could also use 2/3 C each of the single-source flours.
1/4 cup butter: 1/4 C soy-free Earth Balance
1 large egg: 1 Ener-G egg (follow package instructions and whisk til foamy)

You could also try ground flax seed or mashed banana.

I left out the dried fruit and added about 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg. They turned out delicious and wonderfully spiced, great for breakfast, a snack or dessert!

Pad Thai Salad

2011-03-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

One of my new year's resolutions is to make at least one recipe from every cookbook I own. Hopefully reading through and trying so many new recipes will inspire my cooking creativity and expand my go-to recipe repertoire.

Technically, this doesn't count because I've already made a dish from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's latest book, Appetite for Reduction. But I've barely had time to cook at all, and mostly been making my simple, recipe-less go-to meals (burgers and sweet potato fries, flavored mac & cheez, various pizzas, etc), and it was a full month ago that I pulled out the stops to make a lovely meal of TWO new recipes to impress my favorite dinner guest.

While the other dish was much more involved (I'll post that one separately) this was the favorite of the evening. It's straightforward but with bold, recognizably Thai flavors that really make for a stand-out salad. And I'm decidedly not a salad person, especially at home. Add rice noodles and baked, marinated tofu (or tempeh), and this would be a very satisfying meal. I will make this salad again, likely for esteemed guests or to take to a party.

Gretchen's Cuban bowl

2011-03-03T17:04:00.000-08:00

Gretchen often asks me about recreating the Cuban bowl from Laughing Planet. The basic ingredients are brown rice, black beans, plantains, sweet potatoes and pico de gallo, and I always get the tempeh add-on. Usually when I make this at home it's because I have plantains that are about to go bad-- I like them sweet and so I wait til the last moment to use them up. They're not always available at my grocery store, either, so if I see them I usually buy them.

This particular incarnation got a fancy three-part treatment, a real work out for my sole non-stick frying pan. The first and second layers are straight forward: brown rice and fresh spinach. The next is tempeh that has been steamed, dredged in a little bit of egg-replacer slurry and then in seasoned (cumin, coriander, chile powder, chipotle powder, salt) store-bought gluten-free breadcrumbs, and fried.

On top of that we have fried sweet plantains, and then a layer of a quick sofrito (onions, garlic and bell peppers sauteed until soft and caramelized) and Trader Joe's incredibly handy canned Cuban-style black beans. Top with fresh cilantro, avocado, and your favorite salsa (I'm a sucker for anything with roasted tomatillo). Now that's a Cuban bowl!

Tempeh cutlets with creamy tomato-pepper spaghetti

2011-02-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

One of my new year's resolutions is to make at least one recipe from every cookbook I own.

I bought American Vegan Kitchen for the appetizers-- namely the Spicy Balsamic Maple Wingz. Well I made that recipe; it was one of those ones where you have to make three other foundational recipes first, and the whole thing takes more than one day. It was delicious, but it was also the meal that sealed the deal-- Erik had a bad reaction to it and right afterwards we learned that he is gluten-intolerant.

I hadn't picked up the book since then, because everything seemed very seitan (and gluten) -centric. Looking for something that was easy to make substitutions on, the tempeh cutlets stood out. Only the flour (I used potato starch), soy sauce (wheat-free tamari) and pasta (quinoa-corn pasta) needed replacing. The recipe calls for a can of tomato sauce-- of course I had to make a big batch of my own, and I hadn't prepared beforehand by marinating the tempeh, so this meal took just over two hours to make.

Overall it was good, but I probably wouldn't use the recipe for the creamy tomato-pepper sauce again-- it's just sauteed peppers, soy milk, and tomato sauce. The tempeh cutlets were nice, but I ran out of red wine vinegar and used balsamic for the remainder, so they were sweeter than they should've been.

My interest in this book has revived, and I will definitely try de-glutening some of the other recipes.

Spicy soba noodles

2011-02-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

One of my new year's resolutions is to make at least one recipe from every cookbook I own.

I can't say that I watched many cooking shows as a kid, but there weren't many on back then. In fact, the only one I remember is "Yan Can Cook." The star, Martin Yan, was so animated-- always moving, telling stories, making jokes, and turning out some really exotic (for the early 80s) cuisine. In fact, the show started the year I was born, so I really did grown up with it.

One day a couple of years ago, Martin Yan came to the cafeteria at my place of work and signed copies of his most recent cookbook. There was a little bit of snow, which is a big deal for Portland, so no one was around. I bought the book, had it signed, and posed for a photo with him. It's a terrible photo-- I was having a really bad hair day-- so I'm not going to post it here, but the cookbook has been more sentimental than utilitarian... until last week.

I needed a super-quick dinner, but stir-fry can be so boring. Searching for inspiration, I saw the unusual combination of sauce ingredients in the "Spicy soba noodles" recipe: soy sauce (use gluten-free tamari!), sweet chili sauce, lemon juice, fresh ginger, and turmeric. Intriguing!

Although I used rice noodles, stir-fried a number of vegetables-- Chinese cabbage, asparagus, carrots, onions, garlic-- and tempeh, and served the dish hot, the sauce really shines through. Erik loved it and had the leftovers for two lunches in a row. I will definitely make this again and look to Martin Yan for more new twists on classic meals.

Spinach and chickpea sabzi

2011-01-26T07:09:00.000-08:00

One of my new year's resolutions is to make at least one recipe from every cookbook I own.

Erik and I discovered the concept of Indian burritos when we lived in the Bay Area in 2000-2001, at Avatar's Punjabi Burritos in Mill Valley. The combination of savory curry, delicately spiced rice, crisp sour pickles, and sweet chutney... it's divine.

Usually we make them at home with channa masala, fresh spinach, and plain rice. Tonight I thought I'd branch out and use a curry recipe from 30-Minute Indian. I bought the book a year or two ago after reading raves about it on someone's blog.

The spinach and chickpea sabzi was nice and simple-- mostly just cumin and coriander, with a bit of chili powder, lime juice, sugar, and amchur powder. I also mixed up a quick raita with plain soy yogurt, paprika, cumin, salt, green onions and cilantro. With a richly spiced rice (steamed with a cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cardamom pods and saffron) and mango chutney (made and canned by my mom) it was a delicious, complex combination.

Unfortunately the brown rice tortillas fell apart and had a terrible texture, so they had to be ditched. The sabzi was good in combination with the condiments, but a bit plain on its own. I'll try a few more recipes from the book, though, since they really are quick to make.

Chickpea and leek soup

2011-01-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

One of my new year's resolutions is to make at least one recipe from every cookbook I own.

I was in a soup mood and needed something quick. The copy of Jaime Oliver's The Naked Chef that Erik bought me when it came out in 2000-- never used-- stared at me, producing much guilt on my part.

I had already flipped through and made note of several promising recipes, but the chickpea and leek soup really stood out. With its simple handful of ingredients and a pair of leeks barely clinging to life in my fridge, I knew this was it.

And it turned out great. I only had two leeks instead of the recipe's five, and I added some faux ham for heartiness. That's it. Chickpeas, leeks and potatoes are indeed a winning combination.

Earlier in the week I also made the more-involved green pozole from Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan. I had made the simpler red pozole previously and was ready for the challenge. The perfect reason was my ladies book club, which is really just an excuse to get together, chat (usually not about the book) and eat. Too bad I never got a photo of it. Just as well, really, since I completely forgot all of the garnishes (salt, avocados, cilantro) I had for the soup and just served it out plain and ugly. Sorry ladies!

Tamarind BBQ tempeh and sweet potatoes

2011-01-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

First up: Isa Chandrea Moskowitz's latest book, Appetite for Reduction. I made the Tamarind BBQ Tempeh and Sweet Potatoes and added chopped raw kale before baking. It turned out really well and was easy to make.

My one complaint is my own fault-- when reading the recipe I saw the numerical "25 minutes" and skimmed right over the additional, written-out "half an hour," so we ended up eating dinner way too late. What I love about the cookbook is that just about every recipe that isn't inherently gluten-free offers suggestions at the top to make it so. Lovely touch!

Holiday menu

2010-12-24T19:55:00.001-08:00

It's been a nice long break after Vegan MoFo, and now I am revved up for a holiday feast. After lots of research and hearing what family members are bringing to the meal (at my brother-in-law's house), I'll end up making a pretty huge spread on my own. Here's my plan.*

Appetizer: Pumpkin Arancini

http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/baking-burn-out/

Bread: butterflake rolls

http://www.inspiredeats.com/vegan-butterflake-rolls/

Roast: Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-meatless-loaf.html

Gravy: Silky chickpea gravy

Appetite for Reduction

Potatoes: Kale and olive oil mashed potatoes

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001566.html

Veg: green beans*

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/vibrant-tasty-green-beans-recipe.html

Dessert: Chocolate peanut butter pretzel tart

http://lazysmurf.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/vegan-chocolate-peanut-butter-pretzel-tart/

*Note: Green beans (and fresh dill) were unavailable, so I bought asparagus. I'll probably just roast it in tamari and agave, or try to find a simple recipe tomorrow.

Game plan

Friday

Make mashed potatoes
Make roast; don't bake
Make gravy

Saturday

Start rice in rice cooker
Make chocolate tart
Make rolls; don't bake
Make appetizer; don't fry
Make asparagus
Bake roast
Bake rolls
Fry appetizer

Vegan in Kauai, part 2

2010-11-30T22:43:00.000-08:00

Final Vegan Mofo post! I really enjoyed the inspiration and motivation to post every weekday for a month, even if I missed one day and had two slacker days on vacation. Overall the experience has really given new life to my cooking, eating, and blogging.

Yesterday, on the way to Waimea Canyon, we ate at Hanapepe Cafe. I think it bills itself as vegetarian, but they do have a few fish items (fish sandwich, tuna melt) on the menu. I had a Boca burger with teriyaki sauce and pineapple on it-- quite nice-- and they had gluten-free bread for no additional cost. While I know Bocas are not gluten free, it was nice to have the bread for lower-gluten content (if that's an option for you). A true vegan, gluten-free option would be their roasted veggie sandwich on the gf bread, and it looked delicious. They also had a couple of gluten-free bakery items, though none were vegan. Erik really enjoyed their gluten-free brownie.

Tonight's dinner was pizza at Hanalei Pizza in the Ching Young Village Shopping Center in Hanalei. I had a caramelized onion, pineapple, and caper pizza that was really nice-- the highlight was the nice tomato sauce made with shiraz. Sadly, they do not have a gluten-free crust. They serve the pizzas on baking stones, a nice touch that keeps the crust crispy.

My favorite food here has definitely been shave ice. I've currently tried four different places, but none have yet earned my loyalty. Best so far was the place next to Kauai Outfitters where we were kayaking today, although I had it only once, on our first full day here. Second place so far is Brenneke Deli, suggested by our kayak guide and enjoyed today. I'm sad to have missed the two best places on the south shore (our first few nights), but we're close to two now here on the north shore (our last few nights) that I hope to try.

Aloha!

Vegan in Kauai

2010-11-29T21:38:00.000-08:00

I'm in Kauai for a nice, long week, so I missed a few days posting for Vegan MoFo. While I'm not cooking here (unless making stovetop popcorn and putting together sandwiches count), I am eating, so I thought I'd post about some of the places we've had good meals. Unfortunately I've been remiss at taking photos of food, but I did manage one snap of a particularly good dish, most of the way through. Hey, I'm on vacation!

This lovely dinner was a special vegan plate made up for me at Josselin's Tapas Bar & Grill in Koloa, in the fancy shopping center near our condo. A couple of the tapas might have been vegan-izable, but I was very happy to have a big plate of well-roasted/grilled veggies, including potatoes, heirloom carrots, squash, eggplant, and fresh tomatoes served over naan bread. They originally brought a plate loaded with mushrooms, which I unfortunately had to send back (I had specified that I'm allergic). $21 for a huge, satisfying meal is not bad at all in Hawaii, especially at a fairly fancy restaurant. Without the naan, this would be gluten-free.

Another memorable meal was the tofu satay plate at Mermaids Cafe in Kapa'a. Erik and I shared the large plate of brown rice, chewy fried tofu and veggies in a nice, mild peanut sauce. They also have Thai iced tea available with coconut milk. Service was slow but it seemed to be because the place was so popular. There's a coffeeshop next door with a sign proclaiming vegan and gluten-free treats, but they were sold out when we were there-- around 2pm on Sunday. Hopefully we'll swing by again and get to try them.

Aloha!

Kitchen sink stirfry with peanut sauce

2010-11-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

Please forgive this post in advance. I'm writing it from my phone, at the airport. In an effort to prepare for this vacation, I cooked and baked up a storm, trying to use everything in the fridge that might go bad while we're away-- namely all the produce.

The night before, I chopped up an unbelievable amount of broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, cabbage, green onions... and the kitchen sink. Just kidding, but it sure felt that way. With all the prep work done, all I had to do for dinner was whip up a sauce, boil noodles (or rice), and stirfry the veggies. I also made a huge batch to try freezing it; this dish is a good candidate for long-term saving. We'll see how that turns out.

Quick peanut sauce

vegan, gluten-free

serves 8

Ingredients

1 tsp sesame or peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, run through press or diced
1/2 C peanut butter
1/2 C wheat-free tamari
1/3 C rice wine vinegar (I like mine tart!)
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin

Directions

Fry garlic in oil in a small saucepan over medium heat til fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Stir in peanut butter til warmed through and more pliable. Add the rest of the ingredients, one at a time, mix thoroughly.
Mixture will thicken. Slowly add water, about 1/4 C at a time, stirring to incorporate. When you reach desired sauce consistency, turn off the heat. The sauce might continue to thicken, but you can keep adding water a little bit at a time.
Prepare stirfry and rice or noodles. Add sauce to stirfry pan and stir to coat.

Apple pie- crumb cake muffins

2010-11-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

We were at Costco when I saw a giant box of my very favorite, short-season apples: honeycrisp. And they were local. But we were leaving town in a few days. What to do?

Well, I bought them with plans to eat one a day (check) and make an apple cake or muffins (check, although I still have eight apples). Turns out the cake involved making applesauce first, which I didn't have time for. So after much internet and cookbook research, I decided to make the temptingly-named apple pie-crumb cake muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance.

To make these gluten free, I saw that the recipe called for a total of 1 3/4 cups of flour. So I mixed 3/4 C of Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour, plus 1/4 C each quinoa flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, and white rice flour. After thoroughly mixing those, I took out 1/4 C for the crumb topping, then added 1/4 tsp xanthan gum to the rest of the flour, to be used for the muffins.

To make fluffier mufins I used about 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in with the 3/4 C apple cider in the recipe. I also used about four times the amount of apple called for-- I just diced two big apples. It seemed overwhelming in the batter, but you can barely taste the apple in the muffins, so I'd use that much again. Although the "crumb" topping was runny at first and seems to have be absorbed back into the muffins, I will definitely make these again-- just using my own crumb topping instead.

Baked tofu and broccoli slaw

2010-11-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

I will never forget the night my sister-in-law (hi Shetha!) had us over for dinner and served this meal. I had never heard of broccoli slaw so I thought she spent hours julienning veggies, and it tasted like she sprinkled magic into the sauce. Something really comes together with the flavors and textures in this meal, and makes more than the sum of its parts. Erik and I ate an unseemly amount of it, and I vowed to recreate it at home.

This recipe is a simple one but it requires some prep work. I highly recommend pressing the tofu. If you do that the night before, you can marinate the tofu in the morning and it should be ready to bake when you get home from work.

Baked tofu and broccoli slaw

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

1 box firm, water-packed tofu (should be about 14 oz. You can use extra firm or soft if you like.)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, run through a press or diced
1/4 C wheat-free tamari
1/4 C brown sugar
juice of 1 big lime
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 C uncooked short-grained rice (white or brown)
1 bag broccoli slaw (approximately 12 oz)
sesame seeds and sliced green onion for garnish

Directions

Press the tofu overnight. You can use a tofu press or fold a few paper towels above and under the tofu, and weigh it down with a plate and a couple of cans.
Mix everything from the sesame oil through the rice wine vinegar in a wide, shallow container. Slice tofu into 12 equal slabs, place in mixture and marinade for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 375.
Cook the rice according to package directions.
Oil a baking sheet, place tofu in a single layer, with plenty of space around each. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, bake for 15 minutes more.
Pour reserved marinade and broccoli slaw in a bowl, mixing carefully to coat. Mix again every 10 minutes while the rice is cooking and the tofu is baking; this will help "cook" the slaw a little.
Serve a scoop of rice, three slices of tofu, and a bunch of slaw, drizzled with extra marinade. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.

Black bean and roasted corn soup

2010-11-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

For my soup this week, I was ready to branch out and go non-Latin. Then my father-in-law brought over a huge bag of fresh sweet corn (corn on the cob). How else to use six ears of corn but to make soup?

My first thought was a nice roasted corn and black bean soup... but we only had refried black beans. So instead of a chunky black bean soup, this is more of a pureed (although it's not), smooth soup. That means it goes even better with a grilled cheeze sandwich!

Black bean and roasted corn soup

vegan, gluten-free

serves 6

Ingredients

6 ears of corn (or about 2 C frozen)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, run through a press or diced
1 can refried black beans (or just black beans)
1 can chopped green chiles (the small ones-- about 4 1/2 oz)
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 C vegetable broth, stock, or water
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp chipotle powder
salt

Directions

Prep the corn. If you have fresh ears, remove husks and stringy bits, place cobs on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and salt, and roast for about 20 minutes (turning halfway through) on 375. After the cobs cooled, I grated them into the soup at the appropriate step. It's a pain, but it's really nice to have only the digestible part of the corn, and it keeps the smooth texture of the soup. You can also slice the kernels off with a knife. If you have frozen, roast for 5-10 minutes (or until golden brown) on 375, try to flip as many kernels as you can, and roast on the other side til golden brown-- much shorter, about 3-5 minutes.
Saute onions in olive oil in a large pot on medium heat until they start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, saute another 2 minutes.
Pour in refried black beans, stir until everything is well-mixed and the bean mixture is heated through.
Stir in chiles and tomato paste.
Slowly add the vegetable stock, stirring to keep things smooth.
Bring to a slow boil and simmer for 10-20 minutes, until soup thickens to a consistency you like.
Add the fresh lime juice, spices, and salt to taste. Garnish with fresh cilantro if you like.

Restaurant review: Portobello

2010-11-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

Really, this post isn't fair. I didn't take my camera and I didn't take any photos with my phone. That, and I've been to Portobello, a vegan trattoria just at the end of my street, quite a few times. Tonight we were there to celebrate Ann's birthday, and if I were going to be around for mine, we'd be eating there again.

Portobello is amazing-- the menu changes constantly, you can get small or large portions to facilitate sharing, and gluten-free (and soy-free and nut-free) options are clearly marked on the menu. They have a few pasta dishes, but emphasis is often on seasonal and unique vegetables, and other types of Italian cuisine. Tonight we had a pan-fried polenta appetizer with an amazingly fresh tomato sauce, and Erik had a gluten-free pizza, while I went gluten-y and got the pumpkin rustic ravioli in cashew cream sauce with hazelnuts and sage. It's difficult to not just always get the gnocchi, because theirs is tender, pan-fried, and obviously handmade with love and care. In fact, I can't remember a single dish I've eaten there where the love of the ingredients and final product doesn't shine through.

Save room for dessert, though. A stand out is their toasted pound cake with cherry ice cream and marcona almonds. Hot and cold, soft and crunchy, this dish has everything. I order it every time it's on the menu. The wine list is also good, and the alternative drinks are quite inventive. Really, you can't go to Portobello and come away unhappy. It should be a first and frequent stop if you visit Portland, and especially if you live here.

Choosing cheezes: sharp cheddar

2010-11-18T23:50:00.000-08:00

For my third homemade cheeze, I wanted to find an agar agar based recipe, something very different from the three-day-long process I've used for cheezes so far. Years ago I took a class through the community college called "David's Vegetarian Kitchen" focused on such cheezes, but when I found the cookbook I bought from the class, there were no such recipes.

After a quick web search, I found a good candidate. I whipped it up while waiting to pick up some friends visiting from Alaska, and put it in the fridge to set while we were at dinner. We ended up going to a movie, so I just now got home with only 30 minutes to get my Vegan MoFo post in! Hence the truly un-artful photo.

The flavor of this cheeze is amazing-- spot-on sharp cheddar. The coconut oil gives it a full, fatty mouth-feel. The texture of is very much like soft, artificial Velveeta. Next time I'd use more agar agar to make a firmer texture. Actually, I would use this recipe without the agar agar for cheeze sauce-- it tastes great! I really like the way the author breaks down the "macros" of why dairy cheese tastes the way it does, and how to recreate that with non-dairy items. That intense scientific method pays off. This is the best cheeze I've had yet.

Sweet potato chipotle bisque

2010-11-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

After making quinoa-corn chowder from Viva Vegan!, I had to go back and make the recipe that first caught my eye: sweet potato chipotle bisque. Mine's not really a bisque as I didn't blend it smooth, preferring to leave some chunky texture. I made it on Sunday but we didn't get around to eating it until tonight, when Ann came over to watch The Girl Who Played with Fire. First we had a roasted baby beet, spinach, hazelnut and feta salad while we waited for the gluten free baguette that Ann brought from New Cascadia bakery to warm up in the oven.

I topped the soup with marinated, pan-fried tofu to add some substance, and a dollop of Tofutti Sour Supreme (also brought by Ann). This soup is really good-- spicy, sweet, and the addition of white potatoes adds an earthy complexity. I will definitely make it again, maybe with chickpeas or another bean, spinach or a hearty green, and cilantro.

Open-face veggie burgers

2010-11-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

Although I spent five hours in the kitchen on Sunday, I made mostly smooth, saucy things that don't photograph well: tomato sauce, sweet potato chipotle bisque (from Viva Vegan), pureed roasted pumpkin, and chocolate chip cookies (from Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix). And tonight when we got home at 8pm, we needed dinner fast. It's not very photogenic either, although it sure beats purees. So here are the open-face veggie burgers (SprouTofu Veggie Burger) I had for dinner-- on a spelt bagel (we're trying spelt, although it's related to wheat, to see if Erik is sensitive to it), with Veganaise, spinach and pickle slices. One burger has barbeque sauce on it and the other has salsa. Served with frozen waffle fries, which are the reason this is a 15 minute dinner rather than a 10 minute one.

Coconut chana masala

2010-11-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

Chana masala is our favorite Indian curry around these parts, but we wanted something a little different. Less tangy, more creamy. I decided to use coconut milk instead of the usual tomato and margarine base. It's a bit more mild and came together even quicker. The coconut adds a subtle, exotic flavor so this seems more of an Indonesian curry than an Indian one. You can use your favorite beans instead of chickpeas, and any vegetables you have around.

Coconut chana masala

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

1 can coconut milk (I used light)
1/2 large or 1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, run through a press or crushed
2 tbsp curry powder (use a pre-made chana masala powder or make your own)
1 tbsp amchur powder (or a squeeze of lemon or lime for tartness)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can chickpeas
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 C spinach, chopped
2 C faux chicken, torn into bite-size pieces
salt

Directions

The fatty part of the coconut milk will have risen to the top, so be careful not to shake it up when you pour just enough to cover the bottom of a medium pot. Heat on medium til the center starts to bubble.
Add onions and saute til soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, saute another 2 minutes.
Add curry and amchur powders, mix in and let cook for 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste, mix, and cook another 1-2 minutes.
Add chickpeas, stir, cook til heated through or about 2-3 minutes.
Pour the rest of the coconut milk in, mix thoroughly, and bring to a simmer.
Add red pepper, spinach, and pre-cooked faux chicken.
Salt to taste. Garnish with fresh cilantro if you like.

Choosing cheezes: Veg Times almond feta

2010-11-12T17:50:00.000-08:00

There are very few things I miss about dairy, especially with the amazing assortment of good vegan parallel products. There's just one little thing... something so seemingly insignificant that it's most often treated as a garnish. Feta! Stinky, salty, tangy goat cheese. This void is why, after dipping my toe in with last week's cashew cheeze, I was very excited to try Vegetarian Time's almond feta. Mostly because I've been dreaming of a roasted baby beet, spinach, hazelnut and feta salad dressed with fancy olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

This cheeze was much easier to make than the previous one. With more water added at the blending stage, I got a beautifully smooth, fluffy whipped cream consistency. It also gave up a lot of water from the cheesecloth stage, and emerged quite cleanly in a cohesive ball. Baking gave it a nice, crusty texture. I skipped the whole herb oil part, but that would add a nice fatty mouthfeel and earthy herb flavor. Despite the amount of salt, my finished product tasted strongly tangy from the lemon juice, not salty at all. I will definitely make this again-- with more salt and less lemon juice.

Oh yeah, I also made these No-Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies. I'd never made a no-bake cookie before, and after a run with Ann during which we discussed peanut butter confections at length, these sounded perfect.

I didn't have quick oats, so I used regular rolled oats. I only made a half batch (but didn't halve the cocoa powder) just in case they didn't turn out. These were ridiculously easy to make, but absolutely must be refrigerated before consumption. I loved the creamy, salty peanut buttery fudge acting as glue to hold the oats together. The oats were a bit chewy and al-dente, which would probably be solved by using the called-for quick oats. I might make this again without the oats, just as fudge. It would be nice if it stayed solid at room temperature though.

Quinoa-corn chowder with aji amarillo

2010-11-11T15:44:00.000-08:00

Viva Vegan! has been getting lots of praise lately. I preordered the book but haven't made more than one or two things from it-- basics, really, not even a full recipe. But then I saw Lisa from Sweetpea's post, and remembered that I had planned to make one soup a week during Vegan Mofo.

I leafed through the cookbook and saw a number of recipes that looked good, but most of them required ingredients that exhausted me with the thought of trying to acquire them. That is, until I saw the quinoa-corn "chowder" with limas and aji. I had three of the year's last ears of sweet corn crying to be used, so I read up on aji and set out to find it.

Unable to find the paste, I bought two kinds of dried aji peppers-- amarillo and panca. Following directions from the book, it was easy to make my own aji paste.

After boiling (2 minutes in heavily salted water) I grated the corn into the soup, per a suggestion in the beginning how-to section of the book. I liked that it made for an all-over sweet taste and left most of the indigestible covering of the kernel on the cob (you can really appreciate that part later). I also used northern beans instead of limas, because that's what I had on hand.

This soup was delicious. I would definitely make it again, although I'd try some variations like using chickpeas instead of limas, adding spinach or another green, and making more aji paste! Even my spouse, who claims to dislike quinoa, enjoyed this soup for multiple meals. The quinoa really becomes a seamless part of the soup, so if you know someone who hates the texture of small starches like couscous and grits, you can safely feed them this quinoa-corn chowder.

Baked potato with ham and broccoli cheeze sauce

2010-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

Baked (or jacket) potatoes are the ultimate comfort food... and they're especially versatile as the base for a gluten-free meal. Although Alton Brown's one hour baked potato recipe is hands-down the best-tasting, my friend Kari convinced me to get past the fear of nuking vegetables and give my potatoes a pre-bake boost in microwave. Now, instead of a labor of love, baked potatoes are a quick weeknight dinner.

The only "must" for this meal is russet potatoes. They make the fluffiest, best-textured baked potatoes. By all means try other toppings: canned veggie chili, instant Indian curries, and leftover shepherd's pie filling all make excellent, quick meals over a potato.

Baked potato with ham and broccoli cheeze sauce

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

4 medium (or 2 large) russet potatoes
2 C chopped broccoli
1 1/2 C diced faux ham
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
A batch of this cheeze sauce-- substitute cornstarch for the flour and tamari for the soy sauce
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. I place a cookie sheet on the bottom, below the rack, to catch any drips.
Scrub each potato and poke all the way around with a fork (about 10 times). Place potatoes on a microwave-safe plate and microwave for 5 minutes. Flip potatoes and squeeze to estimate done-ness. If they don't give at all, microwave for another 5 minutes. If they give a lot, try 2 minutes. Practice makes perfect gauging the time for this step.
Chop broccoli and faux ham while potatoes are in the microwave. I like a pretty small dice so that the pieces flow with the sauce. Don't worry if it takes you longer to chop than the potatoes take-- it's good to let them sit in the microwave and steam for about 5 minutes after they're done cooking.
Remove potatoes from microwave, drizzle with olive oil, then very carefully use your hands to rub the oil over the entire skin. Another reason to let them sit for a few minutes-- they're HOT! Sprinkle with salt and place on the oven rack.
Make the cheeze sauce.
Turn potatoes.
Add broccoli and faux ham to cheeze sauce, along with a bit of water to thin out sauce if needed. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until broccoli is tender.
Remove potatoes, let sit for 5 minutes. I like to cut them once lengthwise and three times across, then squeeze them open-- I think I got that from Alton Brown. Cover with cheeze sauce, garnish with black pepper, and enjoy!
*If you make more than you need, these are great reheated for lunch-- you can even microwave the whole thing!

Green spaghetti

2010-11-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

Remember those sad, unripe green tomatoes salvaged from the garden? I roasted and pureed them for later use, which was great last night when I wanted a quick dinner.

I was going to make a more traditional spaghetti and meatballs, but with no meatball material in sight, I settled for little faux chicken balls. They went really well with the simple, tangy, but mellow-roasted sauce and Daiya melted over the top-- the perfect rainy night meal with an offbeat twist.

The moral of this story? Keep it simple and use what you've got!

Spaghetti with green tomato sauce and faux chicken meatballs

vegan, gluten-free

serves 3

Ingredients

1 box gluten free spaghetti (I use Ancient Harvest Quinoa spaghetti)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced or run through a press
2 C pureed roasted green tomatoes (tomatillos or red tomatoes will work, too)
1 tbsp chopped basil (dry or fresh. Fresh tastes better, but it's November, sheesh!)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (okay, I might have added 2 tbsp)
1 tsp salt
faux chicken product, rolled into balls and pan-fried until golden on two sides. I buy a frozen block of faux chicken paste at the Asian mega-mart, which is gluten-free and perfect for this
Daiya or other vegan cheeze for garnish
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Prepare the pasta according to box directions. Prepare the meatballs, too.
In a medium sauce pan, saute onions for about 5-7 minutes, until just turning golden. Add garlic and saute another minute or two.
Add tomato puree and stir occasionally til it starts to heat up and bubble, maybe 10 minutes.
Add the basil, vinegar, and salt. Stir and adjust seasoning. If you want to go Mexican-ish you can add oregano, cumin and coriander here.
Top spaghetti with sauce and meatballs, sprinkle with cheeze and place under the broiler for about 2 minutes, or until the cheeze just melts. Grind black pepper over top to your personal heart's delight. Simple &l yum!

The best pancakes

2010-11-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

I used to love making pancakes on the weekend, especially once I found this not-quite-easy but absolutely delicious recipe on 101Cookbooks. It's not vegan, but it's easy to substitute margarine for butter, and soymilk (or other non-dairy milk) plus 1 tbsp vinegar per cup for the buttermilk.

Since we got rid of wheat, though, I also removed the idea of yummy, fluffy pancakes from my mind. That is, until last week when I really wanted pancakes. I made a batch (I always halve the recipe) using a combination of flours, and it was okay. This weekend I decided to try again, and I hit the jackpot.

The winning combo: 1/4 cup each of quinoa flour, tapioca flour, potato starch and white rice flour, plus 1/8 tsp xanthan gum for one cup of wheat flour. The results were amazing-- fluffy, light, almost eggy interiors with crisp outer crust. I can't wait to make these pancakes again!

And if you're allergic to maple syrup like my husband, try agave syrup or heat up some strawberry (or other fruit) jam.

Kale chips and the sadness of green tomatoes

2010-11-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a short post, since I'm still at work at 6pm on a Friday night.

I keep reading about kale chips. They pop up on the interwebs in the strangest places, everyone raving how delicious and easy to make they are. I already like kale, so to read this high praise from avowed kale-haters was actually a turn-off. But then I discovered a bunch of kale in the fridge that needed to be used right away.

I used half for dinner and the rest for chips. After researching a few recipes online (see Smitten Kitchen for a lovely example), I coated my chopped kale with 2 tbsp olive oil and a healthy portion of salt, and baked it for 8 minutes at 300 degrees.

That turned out to be way too much-- maybe because my oven is gas? Next time I'll have the temperature much lower and check sooner. The non-brown ones tasted great but the brown ones were bitter.

I had more green tomatoes left in the garden than I ever got ripe over the course of this year's cold, wretched summer. So while putting my garden to bed for the winter, I decided to keep the tomatoes and roast them.

After roasting I pureed in the blender. Use as you would [a can of] regular diced tomatoes-- you can even mix the two but then you won't get the lovely green color. It makes a mellow, tart tomato sauce for pasta or pizza.

Choosing cheezes: the Conscious Cook cashew cheeze

2010-11-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

A tasty vegan cheeze is the holy grail. There are so many promises, and none of them fully deliver. You can have one that melts but doesn't slice, one that tastes good but doesn't shred, one that almost melts and tastes okay... Not to mention the price of some of these products. Is the main ingredient gold?

I decided to try one cheeze recipe a week for Vegan Mofo, and I picked the hardest one first. This is the cashew cheeze recipe from The Conscious Cook. It takes about three days to make. The first part is soaking the cashews overnight. The second is blending the cashews with Probiotic All Flora.

Getting those capsules is one annoying part. The other is that the recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of water. Even with a fancy blender, that's not enough liquid to get a smooth texture. The first time I made this cheeze, I added lots more water and the end product was a loose hummus consistency. This time I added an extra 2 tablespoons of water and the final product was only a little bit thicker-- definitely not sliceable.

I would recommend adding as much water as you need to get a smooth consistency, because the third step-- squeezing in cheesecloth overnight-- will get rid of any excess water. After a 14 hour stint (under the weight of two cans and a liter of rice milk) my cheeze still hadn't given up any liquid. Scraping it out from the cheesecloth was a mess, and after mixing in the seasonings I skipped the part where you roll it tightly in parchment paper. I tried that with my first batch and it was a messy, wasteful pain in the butt. I just packed the cheeze in a glass container and left it overnight for the flavors to develop.

Final verdict: the taste is difficult to describe. It's sweet from the cashews, but really complex from the probiotics breaking down the ingredients, much like enzymes (rennet from baby cow's stomachs) do in dairy cheese. I really like the flavor, but next time I'll add a little bit more water while blending and I'll probably skip the cheesecloth step altogether-- I'll just leave it out overnight in a warm place for the probiotics to do their work.

Review: Instant Indian

2010-11-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Can't beat a two-minute meal! We keep these Indian meals-in-a-pouch around for nights (or weekend afternoons) when food is needed NOW. Usually I upgrade by adding easy, fresh produce like baby spinach, pre-cooked faux meat (goodbye, beloved seitan-in-a-can, we loved your gluten-y deliciousness), even frozen peas.

Or I'll whip up some homemade gluten-free naan bread using this gluten free bread dough I try to always have on hand. See how to use it for naan, here.

But for this particular meal, I was too tired even for that. So I decided to do a taste test of two different brands-- non-TastyBite, who originated the idea. Beyond Kohinoor's "India on Platter" vegetable pilaf rice, and Trader Joe's "Indian Fare" punjab choley.

Wow, these dishes both look great from the photos on the boxes, don't they? Fluffy, separated rice and fresh veggies, and saucy but chunky chickpea curry. Hm, I wonder if the real product will look this good...

The most important thing, of course, is that you can see from the ingredients that these are both vegan and gluten free!

Here's the Punjab choley (chickpea curry) after two minutes in the microwave. The flavor is good-- it's not too salty and just the right amount of spicy heat-- but it's mostly thin liquid. It's so much better if you add other veggies to thicken and soak up the sauce.

I'll admit it: this rice was scary when it came out of the bag in one giant block. After trying to break it up with a fork, I microwaved it for two minutes and it relaxed into the lovely steaming mound you see here. While not as fluffy or veggie-full as the photo on the box, this rice tasted good. The problem is, it was pretty oily. I'd recommend it with a much drier veggie dish; for something as saucy as the Punjab choley, you're much better off steaming your own rice. Sure, it takes about ten times as long, but 20 minutes really isn't that long to wait, and you can use the time to chop up some broccoli and red pepper to add to the curry.

Final verdict: next time I won't be quite so impatient and I'll take the time to add veggies, but I would definitely buy both of these (to eat separately) again.

Seasonal soup: beans, greens and winter squash

2010-11-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a soup maker. Sure I like to eat it, but I hate the humongous quantities you end up with. Having leftovers once or twice is great, but more than that and I cannot stomach it. Luckily, this soup made just enough for four meals-- two for each of us in the house.

The other great thing about soup is that just as soup-weather hits, the best soup-making ingredients come into season. Fresh pinto beans came in my weekly farm share so I wouldn't normally have them, but the other ingredients are fairly common. The sweet, buttery delicata (winter) squash and dark, nutty Tuscan kale hold up well under multiple reheatings, and their flavors really shine through. Of course, feel free to experiment-- you can't really go wrong with soup.

Pinto, kale and delicata soup

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 C pinto (or your favorite) beans

or 1 C uncooked pintos, soaked overnight and cooked in twice as much water for about two hours, until fork-tender
olive oil
1 medium delicata (or other sweet winter squash)
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced or run through a press
1 C vegi ham, diced (tempeh bacon would work too)
4 C chopped kale (lacinato/Tuscan/black is my favorite, any heat-resistant green will work)
14 oz chopped tomatoes and their juice (that's a small can or half a large one)
4 C vegetable broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle powder (or cayenne) *optional
1 tsp salt (to taste)

Directions

Prepare beans if they're not already cooked.
Roast delicata your favorite way, or...

Cut squash in half. Clean out seeds with a spoon. Cut halves lengthwise into four pieces each, then slice 1/2" chunks from each slice. Pour 1-2 tbsp olive oil on a baking sheet and toss squash on it til the sheet and squash are both coated. Roast at 375 for 15 minutes, flip, and roast for another 10-15 minutes, til both sides are golden brown.
In a big stock pot, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil on medium. Saute onions 5-10 minutes. I like mine browned and well done.
Add garlic and vegi-ham, stir for 2 minutes. Add kale, saute til darker green, but not wilted, about 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, broth, spices and beans. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, until everything is cooked through and flavors taste melded. Add delicata about halfway through. Serve hot!

Molasses cookies

2010-11-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Vegan Month of Food! To start it off right: cookies! This was my favorite cookie recipe before the great event that removed wheat (and the rest of gluten-y items) from our lives. I haven't put much into finding new gluten-free cookie recipes because most of them are such a disappointing waste of ingredients.

But this recipe is amazing. It always produces chewy, spicy cookies-- almost a light gingerbread-- equally good warm out of the oven or cooled down the next day. And it makes the perfect amount of dough to bake all at once on a standard cookie sheet, so you don't have to refrigerate the leftovers and worry about getting around to baking the rest.

For the 1 cup and 2 tbsp flour, I used almost a cup of sorghum flour, topped off with Bob's Red Mill gluten free all-purpose baking mix, plus the two tablespoons of the latter. I also added 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. And as is the case with any cinnamon-y spiced item, I always add a bit of fresh grated nutmeg. Don't bother with the powdered stuff.

Go forth and conquer the vegan, gluten-free molasses cookie!

Tostadas with mango slaw

2010-08-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

You get home late, you're tired, it's hot out. Making dinner is a choooore. Am I right?

Quesadillas would be great, but they're so much work to put together and then a mess to clean up. Ready for the revolution? Its name is "tostada!"

First and foremost, arm yourself with a batch of this mango slaw (I use peanuts instead of cashews). It keeps for days, and there are so many easy, hot-weather meals you can make with it. Last night I boiled some thin rice noodles, browned some julienned ham tube (just make sure it's vegan and gluten-free. ALWAYS read the ingredients, every time), and tossed a spoonful of chili garlic paste in with some mango slaw. You can also serve it over rice, with baked tofu. Or on a chickpea burger made with homemade bread (frozen and toasted to thaw).

If you're looking for more work to do in the kitchen while the tostadas are baking, slice and saute a ripe, black plantain in a little bit of oil til dark brown on both sides. It makes a wonderful, simple side dish and should be done just in time.

Tostadas with mango slaw

vegan, gluten-free

serves 2, 2 tostadas each

Ingredients

1 cup mango slaw. I love this recipe.
4 corn tortillas. I buy the uncooked, frozen ones. You don't need to defrost them or anything. Convenience!
1 cup refried beans. I like Trader Joe's black or pinto. You can use whole beans and mash them up a bit, too.
1 cup vegan cheese. I use Daiya white, I think it's called Italian style.

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
Spread each tortilla with about 1/4 cup of the refried beans, and sprinkle with about 1/4 cup cheese.
Lay the tortillas flat on a baking sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges of the tortillas are just starting to brown and the cheese is melted.
Let sit for 2 minutes, top with about 1/4 cup of mango slaw each. Serve immediately.

Slacker sangria

2010-08-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

I love wine, I love summer fruit, and I adore sangria. What I don't like are sickly sweet versions with sugar or-- heaven forbid-- soda added. Seriously? This is an adult beverage meant for relaxing, not giving you a sugar high.

I also don't want to gather a million ingredients, or chop, peel or juice anything. That's why my sangria mantra is "Dump and go." Pick three fruits, a fresh herb, and a bottle of wine you're not that excited about drinking-- the one that's been in the back of the cabinet for a couple of months.

Almost any combination will do, but you can't go wrong with color matching. Think light, sunny fruits with white wine and darker, berry flavors with red. Below is my go-to, most beloved and complemented recipe.

Slacker sangria

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 bottle of wine. I used a Pinot Gris.
1 peach, sliced
1 orange, sliced
a handful of raspberries, about 1/2 cup
a handful of fresh spearmint leaves, about 1/4 cup
apple brandy, about 2oz (2 shots). I keep a bottle of Clear Creek's lovely apple brandy on hand just for this!

Directions

Dump everything in a seal-able glass container. I use a 1 1/2 liter bail-lid jar, put the fruit in first, pour wine over it, then fill to the top with brandy.
Shake vigorously and leave in the fridge overnight for flavors to meld. Tastes even better after two or three days!
Serve over ice. I let chunks of fruit fall in (who doesn't like boozy fruit?), but if it's too broken down, garnish with a fresh fruit slice and mint leaves.

Roasted tomatillo salsa

2010-07-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this basic recipe in a salsa cookbook at my brother-in-law's house seven years ago. I haven't seen the recipe since the first few times I made it, but it's so simple and fantastically delicious that you'll remember it too.

With only five main ingredients (not including salt or the optional jalapeños), it's easy to roast up the tomatillos, onions and garlic while cooking dinner or another more involved dish. If you like mild, start with no jalapeños and one chipotle pepper. If you like spicy, use two of each!

Roasted tomatillo salsa

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

10-12 tomatillos, whole, de-husked and washed
10-12 garlic cloves, skins on
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
2 jalapeño peppers, whole (optional)
1 or 2 peppers plus 1 tbsp sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cilantro
1 tsp salt

Directions

Place all of the tomatillos in a frying pan (preferably non-stick) on medium. Flip after about 5 minutes, when the bottoms are just dark brown. Once the tops are browned (about 3 minutes), turn each tomatillo onto a side. By the fourth side, the tomatillos should be starting to break down a little. Don't worry if they split or juice runs out. Once they're no longer bright green and cooked through, remove them to the blender or food processor.
Put the onion in the pan, placing the garlic cloves in between. Also add the jalapeños if using, making sure to brown on two or three sides. Turn garlic once the bottoms brown, 3-5 minutes. Onion will take longer. Once the second side of the garlic cloves have browned, take them out and put them aside. They'll continue gently cooking as they cool. Once both sides of the onions are browned and soft, remove them (and the jalapeños once they're done) to the blender.
Pour the water into the pan, with the heat still on. Add the chipotle peppers. Use a wooden spoon to break up the peppers and to scrape up the brown bits in the pan-- they'll add an amazing smoky flavor. Once the water comes to a simmer, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Pour the mixture into the blender.
Peel and add the garlic, adobo sauce, cilantro, and salt. Blend on medium til smooth, test for salt, and adjust to taste. If you added 2 chipotles or the jalapeños, be warned that it will continue to increase in heat as it cools!

Swedish potato salad

2010-06-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Sweden in the summertime is sweet, simple, and fresh. Exactly the opposite of my life recently. Between working 12 hour days, living in a construction zone that has our top floor and basement rendered unusable, and attending a wedding 3,000 miles away, it's been tough to find time (and resources) to cook.

I finally got to go to the farmers' market over the weekend, where fragrant fresh dill and tender new potatoes caught my eye. Ingredients so perfect deserve a simple preparation to showcase their flavor. Lucky for me, because this so-simple-it's-barely-a-recipe recipe takes a grand total of two minutes to prepare (once the potatoes are cooked).

Try it out while fresh dill and new potatoes are readily available-- I promise that the final dish is more than the sum of its parts. The creamy, earthy, bright flavors will transport you to a Scandinavian summer where everything is light and easy. Far away from my house!

Swedish potato salad

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

2 cups baby potatoes

preferably a buttery yellow variety like Yukon gold
2 tbsp Veganaise
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1/2 tsp salt-- time to break out the fancy stuff! I used a lovely lavender sea salt

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to boil, then turn down heat so that just a few bubbles still rise. Place scrubbed whole potatoes in the not-quite-boiling water for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
Drain, rinse, and let potatoes sit til they're cool enough to handle. Chop into 1/2" chunks.
Stir potatoes, dill and Veganaise together. Finish with the salt, to taste.

Powerhouse salad

2010-06-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

I went on a long bike ride over the weekend-- almost twice as far as I've ever ridden before. I knew it would take about three and a half hours and that I'd need something to eat along the way, but it's a real pain to eat while you're riding. You have to stop for a break and then you don't want to sit around chewing a big meal. You want something absolutely packed with nutrients, satisfyingly filling (but not too dense), and most of all, tasty!

Walking through my garden the night before the ride, I noticed that the kale has really taken off. Coincidentally, kale has the highest ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) score. I harvested a big bunch and set about gathering other superfoods-- quinoa, soy (less processed tempeh), and flax oil.

The result is a sort of lunch or side dish that can be eaten hot or cold-- take it on your next picnic or 45 mile bike ride! A few people even used it as a pizza topping and enjoyed the full flavor over tomato sauce and crust.

Powerhouse (hot or cold) salad

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic, run through a press or minced
6 sliced of tempeh bacon
1 cup uncooked, rinsed quinoa (I used red but white is my favorite)
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water
4 cups chopped Italian or lacinato kale
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (try pomegranate syrup instead for an antioxidant punch)
2 tbsp tamari
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (I used orange because it was already cut. Yellow would be nice, too)
juice of 1/2 a lemon, about 1 tbsp
1 tbsp minced fresh basil
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp flax oil

Directions

Saute onion in olive oil with salt (it pulls out moisture and makes onions cook faster) on medium heat til it just starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic, stir for 1 minute. Crumble in the tempeh bacon and saute til the edges crisp golden.
Add the quinoa (make sure to rinse it first), and saute as you would for a pilaf, about 5 minutes. Pour water and stock in, bring to a simmer, and cover for 15 minutes.
Remove cover and stir in kale til it's moist and coated with the onion-quinoa mixture, about 3 minutes.
Turn off heat, let cool for 5-10 minutes, and stir in the rest of the ingredients so that their fresh flavor isn't zapped by the heat from cooking.

White pizza with spinach & bacon

2010-05-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't explored pizza dough recipes at all since our household became gluten free. I haven't had to-- Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust mix is awesome! Each bag makes two big pizzas that mostly fill an 18" x 13" jelly roll pan or cookie sheet if you like your crust thin, as I do.

I've made a lot of pizzas recently, and while the classic-- tomato sauce, tempeh bacon, spinach and bell pepper-- is delicious, themed pizzas let my creativity shine. Thai (peanut sauce, faux chicken, spinach and bean sprouts), Mexican (tomato sauce with cumin, coriander, chili powder and oregano, Soyrizo, spinach and roasted corn) and Indian (tomato sauce blended with Tasty Bites channa masala, spinach and thin slices of potato) have been favorites, but then we needed a new idea.

Enter the leftover cashew ricotta I had made for a fancy dinner. To be used as the base sauce! With that one change, our classic pizza became a luscious meal.

White pizza with spinach & bacon

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 batch of vegan, gluten-free pizza dough
(One bag of Bob'sRed Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix makes two)
1/2 batch of cashew ricotta
Veganomicon has a great recipe.
1 cup spinach
1 batch of tempeh bacon
The recipe in Vegan Brunch is my go-to, but here's another. Make sure to use wheat-free tamari instead of soy sauce, which nearly always has wheat. Tamari is also a lot saltier, so cut back by about 1/3 the amount and replace with water if needed for volume.
1/2 cup grated Follow Your Heart Monterrey Jack or Daiya
red pepper flakes and/or fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bob's Red Mill dough instructions call for 425, but my super-thin crust gets too dark at that temperature. If you like yours thicker, try 425.
Prepare pizza dough according to package directions. Usually for GF doughs, this involves pre-baking the crust so that it stays crisp under the toppings. Also make sure your ricotta and tempeh are ready, although you don't have to cook the tempeh separately.
Spread crust with a thin layer of ricotta. This stuff is rich, so a little goes a long way! Top with a layer of spinach, then temeph bacon. Scatter with cheese if desired, but go easy-- the ricotta is plenty cheesy.
Bake for 10 minutes, check the crust's color, turn, and bake another 10 minutes-- less if the crust is already getting brown after the first 10.
Sprinkle with pepper and enjoy!

Grilled bruschetta and Italian tempeh

2010-05-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the farmers' market this morning and was lucky enough to get one of New Cascadia's coveted baguettes. The last few times I've been to the market, the popular all-gluten-free bakery has been completely sold out of everything. The bread and a pint of beautiful, ripe cherry tomatoes from the produce store sealed the deal: bruschetta for dinner!

And what better way to celebrate this wanna-be summer bounty than to break out the grill for the first time this year? To round out the meal I marinated and grilled tempeh, and picked kale from the garden to make greens. The produce store had a special on pineapple halves, so while the grill was hot, I grilled wedges of pineapple for dessert. Yum, bring on the sun!

For timing: marinate the tempeh first, preheat the grill, prep the bruschetta, put the tempeh on the grill, and after you flip it put the bread on, too.

Italian grilled tempeh

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed or diced
1 tsp fresh oregano, diced or 1/2 tsp dried
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
8 oz block of tempeh, cut along the shorter side into 1/4" thick strips

Directions

Whisk together all of the ingredients except the tempeh in a wide, shallow container.
Pass each slice of tempeh through the marinade to coat both sides, and let sit for at least half an hour.
Preheat grill to around 450 F.
Grill about 10 minutes each side, or until grill marks have formed.

Grilled bruschetta

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 garlic clove, pressed or diced
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, diced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil, plus additional for the bread
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
a gluten-free baguette

Directions

Preheat grill to around 450 F.
Toss everything into a small food processor and pulse for 5 seconds at a time, 3-4 times or until the mixture is to desired consistency. I like mine on the smooth side, with enough chunks of tomato that it sits on top of the bread. Let the mixture sit for flavors to meld while the bread grills.
Slice a baguette into diagonal slices to get the most surface area. New Cascadia Bakery, here in Portland, sells nice gluten free bread-- that's what I used. You could also make your own French bread.
Brush or spray olive oil onto one side of each slice of bread. Place oiled side down on the hot grill. Remove in 3-5 minutes once grill marks have formed.
Serve with tomato mixture spooned onto grilled side of bread.

Tomato fennel orange soup

2010-05-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

I first had tomato fennel orange soup from Savor Soup House, a fantastic food cart with great vegan and gluten-free options. Although the flavors of fennel and orange are subtle, what they do to the soup is not. This is not the heavy, comforting rainy day tomato soup we grew up with. This is a bright, sunshiny soup for spring time.

While I wasn't able to completely recreate the soup from Savor Soup House, this recipe makes up for it with few ingredients and speed. You'll have plenty of time to make grilled cheese sandwiches (on homemade bread!) while the ingredients are cooking or during the final simmer.

Tofu or tempeh bacon and a bit of spinach or parsley make a pretty and nutritious garnish.

Tomato fennel orange soup

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, chopped
3 garlic cloves, pressed or diced
1 (28 oz) can tomatoes

I like the least amount of ingredients-- no added herbs or salt. Diced or whole doesn't matter.
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1 tsp salt, or to taste
2 cups vegetable stock

Directions

Saute onion in olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat, about 5 minutes.
Add fennel and onion, cover, let swear for 5 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients, but be spare with the salt and pepper. You can add more at the end.
Stir and heat through, about 5 minutes.
Transfer to the blender, in batches if there's too much to fit. I like to blend on low for 1 minute, but if you want smoother you can blend higher and if you want chunkier you can blend only half the mixture.
Pour back into the stock pot and simmer low for about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Salt and pepper to taste.

Strawberry rhubarb crumble

2010-04-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

One of the strawberries in the pint I just bought was fuzzy, so I knew it was time to act. I had some gorgeous deep red rhubarb from the farmers' market-- what could be simpler (or more delicious) than a crumble?

Take everything in this recipe as a guideline. You can use different berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries), different citrus juice (lime, orange, grapefruit), different amounts of spices and topping. Best of all, only only mixing bowl gets dirty and you get to use your hands-- no wooden spoons required!

Strawberry rhubarb crumble

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 pint strawberries, hulled and chopped into largish bite-size pieces, about 1/2"
a similar amount of rhubarb, about six long, thinner stalks cut into slightly smaller pieces
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups oats
1/4 cup margarine (I use Earth Balance)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg, fresh grated is best
a tiny pinch of salt

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
Combine filling-- strawberries through cornstarch-- in an 8 or 9" cake pan. Nonstick is nice.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients for the topping with your hands to smush the margarine into the oats. It doesn't need to be perfectly mixed.
Use your hands to crumble pea-sized bits of topping over the filling in the pan, evenly distributing it on the surface.
Bake for half an hour, or until topping is lightly browned and the juice in the filling has thickened.

Baking, or what I've been up to

2010-04-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

It takes more time than I originally thought to set down my original recipes, so in the meantime, here are a few recipes from cookbooks and other folks that I've recently made and highly recommend.

Recipe from Gluten Free Goddess. I made these small, for bite-size snacking, and they got some serious raves. Next time I will use a bit less xanthan gum, though. Maybe 1 tsp instead of 1 1/2 tsp. They'd also be delicious with dried cranberries or cherries.

From "Gluten-Free Baking with the Culinary Institute of America," loaned to me by the magnanimous Kielly of Back to Eden bakery.

I added chocolate chips and pecans (instead of walnuts). The one thing this recipe is missing: salt. I would try 1/2 tsp when I make them again, which I definitely will. Substitute EnerG egg replacer (per package instructions) for the eggs and this recipe works beautifully. I also figured out the exact amount of each flour to use with the help of a calculator and my food scale, so that I didn't have to prepare 1 1/5 lbs of two different flour mixtures. The texture of these blondies is spot-on for delicious, chewy brownies with a fantastic golden, crusty edge. Yum!

A fantastic idea from the "Veganomicon." I take some shortcuts by microwaving the potatoes and making the mash directly into the curry; and substitute my favorite curry powders and vegetables. Okay, I'm bad at following recipes-- it's the idea that matters!

I usually use tikka masala powder, amchur, a faux meat, peas and carrots in the filling. Sometimes I add more vegetables to make a hardier meal. Last night when I made these, I sprinkled cheddar Daiya on top of half to see if it added anything. It tasted delicious, but don't think it's a good use of the product-- these potatoes are incredibly flavorful on their own.

These are the best of the recipes I've tried in the last week. If you have any substitution suggestions, questions, or recipe recommendations of your own, please put them in the comments. I'd love to hear what you think.

Tangy corn and spinach enchiladas

2010-04-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Enchiladas are more of a method than a recipe. Take a filling-- a stirfry, stew, or collection of ingredients-- wrap it in tortillas, smother in sauce, and bake. The variety is endless, although I usually choose Mexican-inspired fillings and toppings.

I like to cook the fillings beforehand because it gives the flavors a chance to meld, and you can add seasoning or play with textures-- caramelize onions, crisp-fry faux meats, make sure potatoes are cooked all the way through. But you don't have to. In a pinch just toss ingredients together in a bowl (peppers, corn, spinach, a can of beans), squeeze half a lime over it, and add spices (cumin, coriander, chili powder, chipotle, salt, pepper) to taste.

Tangy corn and spinach enchiladas

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 package of (8-12) corn tortillas (make sure they're wheat-free and have a short list of pronounceable ingredients!)
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 an onion, sliced into long strips
3 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press or minced
1 package of 2 Wildwood Southwest tofu veggie burgers, chopped

You can also use 1 cup of chopped marinated baked tofu, beans, or another protein
1 cup corn (I use frozen, fresh or canned work too)
2 cups raw spinach, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
about 1 cup, 6oz or 1/2 jar of tomatillo salsa

I used the rest leftover from Lightning mac & cheez
1 cup of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes whizzed in the blender with 1 tsp each of chipotle, cumin, coriander, and oregano

You can also use enchilada sauce
1 cup Daiya Italian blend cheese or FYH mozzarella

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.
Heat oil in large frying pan, add onions & saute til just brown, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic, saute for 1 minute.
Add veggie burger, corn & spinach stir for about 5 minutes til corn is heated through. Set aside off heat, stir in cilantro.
Mix salsa & tomato sauce together in a bowl wide enough to dip tortillas into.
Spray a 9" x 13" baking pan with non-stick spray or grease it. Pour a salsa into pan to cover bottom in a thin layer. Have pan, salsa, and filling mixture nearby.
Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium.
For each tortilla, warm 30-60 seconds on each side in frying pan. You want them to be warm & pliable. Dip tortilla in salsa, wetting both sides. Place tortilla in baking pan, put a line of about 1/4 cup filling (use more filling if you have fewer tortillas, to fill the baking pan) down the middle, and roll up so that seam is on the bottom and the weight of the rolled-up tortilla will hold it closed.
Once all tortillas are rolled up and fit snugly in the baking pan, pour the remaining salsa over the top, and sprinkle evenly with cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.

Gallo pinto

2010-04-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

I was worried that I wouldn't have much vegan food to eat when we visited Costa Rica a few years ago. I couldn't have been more wrong. The national dish, gallo pinto, is a fresh, spicy (as in spices, not heat) take on rice and beans, and is usually made without animal products, meat, dairy, or wheat.

While not necessary, Lizano sauce makes for an authentic tang. If you can't find it, use vegan Worcestershire sauce, any flavor of Tabasco, or your favorite salsa. You can also make your own Worcestershire sauce substitute.

Gallo pinto

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

2 tbsp peanut oil, divided

2 black, very ripe plantains, sliced

1/2 an onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, run through the garlic press or minced

1/2 cup soyrizo

You could also make your own or use another brand, but be careful-- Lightlife's has wheat gluten in it.

2 cups cooked rice

I used a leftover blend of brown and Japanese white short-grain

juice of 1 lime

1 cup corn, frozen works well

2 cups lacinato or Tuscan kale

Any green will do-- spinach, or even broccoli, asparagus, etc. Whatever sounds good to you!

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1/2 a red pepper, chopped

1/2 tsp cumin, ground

1/2 tsp coriander, ground

1/4 cup Lizano sauce

cilantro, about 2 tbsp fresh, diced

oregano, about 1 tsp fresh, diced or 1/2 tsp dried

Directions

Fry plantains while making the main dish. Heat 1 tbsp oil in frying pan on medium heat. Fry plantains til fully brown, about 10-15 minutes. Flip, fry on other side 5-10 minutes. Set aside off heat when done.

Saute onions in 1 tbsp oil on medium heat in a stir fry pan or wok, about 5 minutes.

Add garlic, saute 1-2 minutes.

Add soyrizo, turn up heat a little, saute til just starting to brown.

Add cooked rice, mixing thoroughly.

Juice half of the lime into the pan, add the corn and greens, stir fry til green become brightly verdant.

Turn heat to low, add the rest of the ingredients except for the fresh herbs and the other half of the time. Mix and heat through, about 5 minutes.

When everything is nice and hot, turn off heat, squeeze the rest of the lime over the dish, stir in cilantro and oregano, and serve with plantains on the side. Tofutti sour cream, guacamole, and fresh-grilled corn tortillas make great accompaniments.

Leftovers and quinoa coffee cake

2010-04-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've been so excited about cooking, with so many ideas running through my head, that the refrigerator is now full to the brim with leftovers. Last night we needed a quick meal before heading off to a meeting, so I took advantage of the ready-made food. We finished off the last of the tomato bisque from Tal Ronen's The Conscious Cook and I made grilled cheese with FYH cheddar, Papa G's BBQ tofu, and spinach. I used the end of the "new French bread" from the previous night-- sliced like a sub roll for maximum filling surface area-- for Erik's sandwich.

The seminar let out early and I still had lots of cooking energy. Since quinoa has been such a success for us, I decided to try the quinoa coffee cake in The Gluten Free Vegan. I had my eye on the recipe when I made quinoa Yumm bowls the other night, but as soon as I read the recipe (trying to do more of that before I start into it!) I saw that it's quinoa flour, not the whole grain. Luckily I am fully stocked on flours.

The recipe was straightforward with minimal steps and quite healthy with quinoa, applesauce, and agave instead of sugar. Except for the topping, which uses brown sugar. I subbed in oats for the nuts, as I love their texture in coffee cake. I also added allspice and freshly grated nutmeg-- always when it's just cinnamon called for.

It was difficult to go to bed without tasting the results, the warm smell of cinnamon wafting up the stairs to taunt us in bed. I even woke up with hunger pangs around 4am. Luckily, the excitement of waking to fresh coffee cake made the morning more welcome, and it was worth the wait. The cake is moist, springy and absolutely delicious. I can't wait to try more recipes from the book.

Chicken noodle soup (and French bread!)

2010-04-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

First things first-- I made bread today! This was my first attempt at gluten-free bread after many, many trips to various grocery stores for strange items like vegan gelatin, white rice flour (I only had brown), soy milk powder (found after the dough was already mixed), navy bean flour (never found)... the list goes on.

Partly I was overwhelmed by the desire to try a few different recipes at once, but I finally settled on making "New French Bread" in Bette Hagman's The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread (thank you, Ann!). For all of the recipes I've found so far, you first make batches of custom flour mixes. Only then can you follow the recipe. I am so bad at reading ahead and following directions that I had a really hard time with this. Once I buckled down, wrote out a shopping list, and went to two different stores today for last-minute stray ingredients, it really wasn't difficult.

Gluten-like strands form in the dough during a three minute session in the stand mixer, thanks to the gelatin. You have to hand-form the dough, which doesn't smooth out at all in baking. I used the trick of placing a container with 2 cups of water in the oven and spraying water onto the hot oven walls every 8 minutes or so. The steam helps to crisp up the crust, and it really worked here. The result was a soft, chewy center and a lovely snappy crust-- delicious dipped in an attempt at making homemade Yumm sauce (more on that later).

On to today's recipe. Erik came home from a long day at work not feeling well. It's been a wet and very windy past few days, which can only mean one thing-- time for soup!

Chicken noodle soup

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped small

1 celery stalk, chopped small

2 garlic cloves, run through the garlic press or minced

1 package of vegan, wheat free chicken nuggets, torn into bite-size pieces

I found Kuan Yin Hsiang Vegetarian Diet Co vegetarian chicken nuggets (see photo here) at my local Asian mega-mart

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1/2 tsp celery salt

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 tsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tbsp miso (could be white or red, something mellow)

1/4 cup cooking sherry, white wine, or mirin

3 cups vegetable stock or broth

1/3 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed (optional)

I only added these because I used half the can in something else, and they were sitting out. You could use any number of other beans here like cannellini, navy or other white beans.

1 package of gluten-free spaghetti, roughly broken into 4" lengths (I like the stuff made with quinoa)

Directions

Heat oil in a big stock pot, add onions and saute til translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add carrots and celery, saute 2 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute.

Add faux chicken (or favored protein), turn up the heat, and saute til the bottom of the pot begins to stick and brown a bit.

Add all of the spices and miso, mix thoroughly.

Add the sherry/wine/mirin to deglaze (scrape off those brown stuck bits).

Pour in the stock and add about 3 cups of water. There should be a little more broth-to-chunky ratio than you want in the end product, as the soup will thicken. Mix well.

Add peas and beans if using, then cover. While soup is coming to a low boil, make the pasta. Be very careful not to overcook pasta-- if anything, slightly undercook it.

Soup should simmer for about 15 minutes, stirred often. When it thickens a bit and the flavors meld, salt to taste and add drained, rinsed pasta. Serve with a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.

Lightning salsa mac & cheez

2010-03-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, this might not count as a recipe. You know when you get home at 7:30pm and you're so hungry that the cats' food starts to look tempting?

That's why we keep a few boxes of Roads End Organic Mac & Chreese in the pantry. We tried the brown rice pasta version a few years ago and didn't like it much. Luckily, it's gotten better or I've gotten better at preparing it. We gobbled this up and Erik asked for seconds, but there was none left-- we ate it all in one sitting.

There are many ways to riff off this recipe-- try a different salsa, change out the veggies, add different spices to go along with the flavor theme. You can also take it from a near-instant dish to a rather swank meal by forgoing the boxed mix and making a cheesy sauce from scratch. Here are three good ones:

Easy macaroni & cheeze from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Mac & Cheese from Vegan Yum Yum

Macaroni & Cheese from VegNews

Lightning salsa mac & cheez

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 box Roads End Organic Penne & Chreese (with gluten-free brown rice pasta)

That's 6oz of pasta or about 1 1/2 cups dry if you want to use your own.

6oz of salsa

That's 1/2 jar of Trader Joe's salsa verde, my favorite in this recipe.

1 cup faux ham, chopped (or other faux meat, soy product or beans)

1 cup broccoli, chopped (or spinach, or something green)

1/2 red pepper, chopped (or carrots, or something red, orange or yellow)

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground chipotle

a handful of fresh minced cilantro

Directions

Boil pasta according to package directions. With wheat-free pasta it is CRITICAL not to overcook. Test at the shortest given time and every 30 seconds thereafter until ready, then drain and rinse for 2 minutes in cold water.

While the pasta boils, saute the faux ham and broccoli over medium heat in a covered nonstick frying pan. You might have to add a tablespoon or two of water to cook the broccoli all the way.

Melt 2 tbsp margarine in a saucepan and add the cheeze mix powder, or make your own cheeze sauce.

Add the spices to the saucepan, stir and heat through.

Now dump everything together in whichever pan will fit, mix thoroughly, and serve.

For an extra treat, smooth into an ovenproof casserole dish, cover with a thin layer of breadcrumbs (I have yet to find a panko replacement), sprinkle with sweet paprika, and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Peanut butter cups

2010-03-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

I love chocolate. And there's nothing like a sweet ending to even an already-satisfying meal. The other night I made sundaes using the leftover cookie dough from the oatmeal cream pies-- a scoop of vanilla soy ice cream covered with small chunks of dough, drizzled with chocolate syrup. It was a treat after an exhausting day at work and a great way to use leftovers.

The real reason for this post, however, is these ridiculous peanut butter cups I made last night. My friend Ann loves peanut butter, but we're running out of cookies to make and share that feature this esteemed ingredient (check out her vegan cookie project blog). After researching peanut butter cup recipes, I took the simplicity of this VegWeb recipe, the added sophistication of Have Cake Will Travel's recipe, and the healthy twist of Alicia Silverstone's recipe using graham crackers. While the latter sounds delicious, I have yet to find wheat-free graham crackers. Maybe I'll try this recipe after I make my own. I had just read about the incredible amount of calcium and iron in blackstrap molasses, and its mellow sweetness sounded perfect to smooth out the peanut butter filling.

You will need cupcake liners. I love my reusable silicone baking cups, but I only have eight after a work potluck wherein four got thrown away-- warn your friends that they're not trash! You can use regular disposable liners or mini ones, either way it's nice to have the crinkled edge and a container to hold it in so that your hands don't get too messy while eating.

Homemade peanut butter cups

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 cup of dairy- and gluten- free chocolate chips

I like E. Guittard 61% cacao semisweet wafers-- they melt beautifully.

1/2 cup of peanut butter

I'm partial to smooth, organic pb with only two ingredients-- peanuts and salt!

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp blackstrap molasses

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions

Melt chocolate in a glass bowl by microwaving for 30 seconds, stirring thoroughly, and repeating. Should take about 2 minutes total microwave time.

With a large dinnerware spoon, scoop a heaping spoonful of melted chocolate into a liner and smooth it around, up the sides of the container. After each one is done, go back and make sure that the bottom of the cups are completely covered in chocolate. Most of mine had bare spots from the tip of the spoon touching down. This doesn't have to be perfect by a long shot, though.

Place be-chocolated liners on a plate in the fridge to cool while mashing remaining ingredients together in a bowl.

Once peanut butter filling is a smooth paste, drop 1 tsp at a time into liners to try to get an equal amount in each.

Once all of the filling is used up, press flat in each liner with fingers.

Melt the remaining chocolate again if you have to, and use the spoon to place an equal amount on the top of each liner.

Shake each liner so that melted chocolate smoothly covers all of the filling.

Put back in fridge to cool about half an hour. I made mine late at night, so they had overnight to solidify. Otherwise I couldn't have waited!

Oatmeal cream pies

2010-03-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

When I saw these amazing oatmeal cream pies on Sugar-Skull.com I knew I had to make them. Tonight. Well, it actually turned out to be the next night, after a running-out-of-cat-food emergency.

At any rate, I followed the recipe as best I could, subbing 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour plus 1/2 cup barley flour for the 1 1/2 cups of "regular" flour; EnerG egg replacer instead of the flax eggs; added about 1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg along with the cinnamon; and used the vanilla but not the cream cheese in the filling.

Mine spread out something awful and melded together at the edges, but they taste delicious and were quicker to make than other sandwich cookies I've tried.

I will likely make these again, using less margarine over all and subbing some of it out with applesauce, refrigerating the scooped cookie dough before baking (an not flattening the balls of dough), and making way less cream filling-- I have more than half of it left after all of the cookies are gone.

Half-sweet gnocchi in cream sauce

2010-03-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have yet to find a commercially prepared gnocchi made without wheat flour, so in a fit of ambition I decided to make my own. It's not very difficult, although it requires a few cooking steps that take some time. After researching recipes, Vegan Yum Yum had by far the most complete instructions and simplest ingredients for how to make gnocchi. Read them and you'll be fully prepared.

So I used her methodology, with two substitutions in the both of the ingredients and a bit of a cheat in baking the potatoes. I only had one russet potato, so I used that one and a white sweet potato, which are less sweet than the more common orange-colored "garnet" or "jewel" varieties. Instead of bread flour, I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour.

To showcase the delicate flavor of the homemade gnocchi, I pan-fried it after cooking and served it with a simple creamy sauce.

Half-sweet gnocchi in cream sauce

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

1 large russet potato and 1 white sweet potato

(you could also use 2 russet potatoes or experiment with combinations of less-sweet white sweet potatoes and more-sweet orange yams)

1 cup gluten-free flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Mix)

You might use more or less depending on the moisture in the potatoes

For the sauce:

2 tbsp margarine (Earth Balance is my favorite)

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tbsp gluten-free flour mix

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 cups unsweetened soy milk (I use West Soy unsweetened)

1 cup spinach coarsely chopped

1/2 a red pepper, cut into short strips

Lemon-Pepper Marinated Tempeh (I used Turtle Island brand pre-made, but you could make your own or use any variety you like)

Directions

Use a fork to poke holes around each potato, about 10 times on each.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes, turn, microwave for 5 minutes more.

Peel potatoes. At this point you should be able to tell if one or both aren't cooked through all the way. They might need more microwaving, 2 minutes at a time.

Grate potatoes (use a dish towel or protective handle so you don't burn your fingers!) across a cutting board so that the shreds can cool off with the most surface area.

Put a large pot of heavily salted water on to boil to cook the gnocchi.

Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of flour over surface of grated potatoes and begin to squish in with your hands into a smooth dough.

Add flour slowly until dough is soft and stays together-- err on the side of less flour and less kneading.

Pull off about 1/4 cup of dough, roll into a 1/2 inch diameter snake, and cut into 1 inch long segments. At this point you can shape them against the back of a fork, smooth them into dumplings with your hands, or leave them as is.

Heat a frying pan to medium with about a teaspoon of olive oil.

Turn the boiling water down to a very low boil. Add gnocchi and cook for about 2 minutes or until they float.

Remove cooked gnocchi from boiling water straight into the frying pan. Make sauce while gnocchi browns, about 5 minutes on each side.

Melt margarine in a small sauce pan on medium heat, saute onions til translucent.

Add garlic, cook an additional minute.

Stir in flour, 1-3 minutes til mixture has a consistent smoothness.

Add lemon juice, mix thoroughly.

Add soy milk gradually, whisking smooth. Consistency should be thin enough to pour, but thick enough to stick to the gnocchi.

Add spinach and red pepper, they will cook in the sauce while you pan-fry the tempeh just to crisp the edges, then add that to the sauce.

Salt to taste (start with 1/2 tsp). Serve sauce draped over gnocchi and dust with fresh-ground back pepper to taste (I like tons).

Orange chicken stirfry

2010-03-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

I was scouring Food Fight grocery store the other day for wheat-free faux-meats and came across a frozen box of Vegan Orange Chicken By Vegetarian Plus. They have a number of yummy-looking products, but only the orange chicken and the vegan Kung Pao chicken appear to be made without wheat.

These pre-made or marinaded saucy meat substitutes make for a great meal idea launch pad. You can extend or change the sauce, but you have a good flavor base to start with. I tasted a bit of the orange chicken sauce and found that it wasn't quite as salty as I like, but other than that, I tried to mimic the tangy, just-sweet flavor when I added ingredients to cover the whole dish in sticky orange sauce. I also wanted to keep the dish quick and easy, so I stuck to the basic veggies-- broccoli and red pepper-- but you can use anything.

The Vegan Orange Chicken chunks themselves are stringy and chewy in a way I really enjoy. The flavor isn't as meaty as some faux meats; it's more an intense version of the sauce. I will definitely buy it again.

Here's the basic recipe.

Orange Chicken

vegan, gluten-free

Ingredients

10 oz dry or enough for 3-4 servings of thin, flat rice noodles, like the kind used for pad thai

1 box of Vegan Orange Chicken By Vegetarian Plus

(or 10 oz or 1 1/2 cups of faux meat of your choice, plus triple or more of the sauce ingredients later)

1/2 an onion, sliced to make long strips

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1-2 cups coarsely chopped broccoli

1/2 a red pepper, cut into strips

cilantro for garnish (about 1/4 cup)

mung bean sprouts for garnish (about 1/4 cup)

For the sauce:

1 tbsp tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)

1 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp brown sugar or mirin

Directions

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Cook noodles according to package directions while cooking the veggies. Err on the side of less cooked noodles, since we'll add them to the stirfry later.

Prepare your wok or pan-- drizzle with oil and heat to medium-high.

Add onions, stir til just browning, about 5 minutes.

Add garlic, stir for 1 minute.

Add faux meat, stir for 3-5 minutes.

Add broccoli, stir for 3 minutes.

Add all sauce ingredients, stir for 1 minute.

Add cooked rice noodles, stir til coated with sauce. Leave for 3 minutes, stir, leave for 3 more minutes.

Add red pepper, stir for 1 minute.

Turn off heat, add garnishes.

Living Free: Vegan and Wheat-Free

2010-03-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

I've been vegan for a long time-- avoiding dairy, meat, and other animal products in my food, clothing, and personal products. Although I was already vegetarian, a friend dared me to give up dairy for two weeks in August 1997, and I never went back.

Because there weren't many vegan products available back then and because I was a poor college student, I had to learn to cook. Over the years I've learned a lot about making healthy food that my omnivorous husband (I met him just weeks after becoming vegan) also enjoys. I've fallen in love with food-- farmers' markets, gardening, cookbooks, baking blogs, you name it.

That's been well and good for years now, but suddenly in early March 2010 my husband was diagnosed with a wheat allergy! Just a couple of weeks eschewing wheat products have made a visible difference in his health. We're ready to go for it. But I have to rethink all of my go-to meals of pizza, soup with homemade bread, mac & "cheez," barbecued seitan.

Luckily, I'm well prepared for the challenge: I already read labels, love to improvise, and have some culinary tricks up my sleeves. That, and I'm determined to make this change as painless as possible for my spouse, as well as share ideas and inspiration with anyone who finds themselves suddenly "gleegan." Bring on the vegan, wheat-free living!