Its been a while…

Sorry! I know its been ages since I’ve updated! I’ve just been insanely busy with school and work for the past few weeks. I’ve been running around shooting video for two different video projects I’m working on right now, trying to keep up with my school work, finishing editing on one of the documentaries I’m working on, and all sorts of other general busy-ness.

One of the problems with being so busy is that I don’t have time to cook! So I’ve been buying a lot of my meals for dinner for the past few weeks. And even when I do have time to cook, I haven’t been following a recipe, so most of what I do cook is pretty repulsive. However, this weekend I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping and recuperating, which means I’ve been doing some baking and cooking as well. Here’s what I came up with:

Today I made a tofu, broccoli, bell pepper stir-fy type thing. I marinated the tofu in lemon juice, brown sugar, honey, etc. Then I slapped everything together in a delicious stir-fry. This was delicious on its own, but I also added a peanut butter, soy sauce and honey “dip” on the side, and it was even better.

A lot of the dinner meals I make for myself I don’t really use or write a recipe. This used to work out really well for me when I first started cooking, however my cooking experiments have been less successful lately. To be honest, after I went to Morocco last summer I kind of forgot how to cook without using a recipe. For weeks I was forgetting to add spices to my meals and was left wondering why everything came out so bland! But, hopefully, things are taking a turn for the better.

I also baked some “healthy” cookies today.

One of my friends from work sent me a recipe that he wanted me to make. The recipe was already vegan, but I still changed a few things to suit the ingredients I had on hand.

These cookies are pretty good for having no added sugar! …but its probably all the chocolate chips I added…

2 bananas, mashed
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy, natural
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. In separate bowls, mix together wet ingredients and mix together dry ingredients. Mix all ingredients together. Bake on cookie sheet for 12 minutes.

Tweet

Why Seitan Sucks and the Genius of Vegan Jello Shots

I apologize for not posting more frequently during this holiday season. I’ve been on winter break from school for an entirety of four days, and frankly, I thought I’d be baking more holiday desserts by now.

However, despite my lack of dessert-making, I do have a decent post for you today. I feel the need to emphasize the fact that I do eat more than sweets and pancakes (despite what my blog may lead you to believe). I usually prepare a weekly vegetable and tofu stir fry to eat for dinner throughout the week, and also supplement with delicious and healthy snacks throughout the day. Today I’ll mention one of my failed work week meals.

A couple of weeks ago I purchased seitan (a vegan meat replacement). It’s pretty popular among vegan food blogs, however I’d never tried it before. Up until a few weeks ago I simply figured, I love tofu and tempeh, so why change a thing? And I should have listened to my gut. It may have simply been the “chicken style” seitan I purchased at my local food co-op, but I hate seitan! The texture was just too much for me. I guess I should have been forewarned by the label (“chicken style”) however this meat replacement simply tasted too much like meat!

I made what should have been a delicious stir fry: broccoli, cauliflower, onion, and a nice spicy sauce from the international aisle, however, seitan stepped in and ruined it for me. I might recommend seitan to someone who is making the switch to vegetarianism, however, for me, it was just too much.

Another one of my recent attempts and failures was vegan jello shots. A genius idea, I thought, to make vegan, snowflake-shaped jello shots for my office Christmas party, however, they didn’t work out quite as I’d planned.

As you can (sort of) see from my photo, they sort of melted. I used a vegan gelatin that I found at my local food co-op, called Natural Desserts. It didn’t work for me, however I’d still recommend this product if you’re feeling adventurous. I think my problem was that I added too much liquid to the mix. I’d never made jello shots before, and the thought of making them vegan was a bit intimidating. Thankfully I have another box sitting at home, so perhaps I’ll make another version of my jello shots for the next party.

One delicious success of the office Christmas party, however was my friend Kathleen’s (not really vegan) s’mores brownies. Kathleen has been threatening to bake s’mores brownies that will force me to break my veganism, and I’m happy(?) to say that she did. You can find the (mostly vegan) recipe here.

Finally, after much prodding from myself, Kathleen has started her own food blog. You can visit it here: Kathleen Cooks. I’d highly recommend it. Kathleen is my co-worker with whom I’ve been engaging in Ultimate Vegan Baking Challenges. If you visit her blog you can see the other side of the story, and find delicious recipes for what she’s baked.

Tweet

Just Your Typical Stir-Fry

With my busy schedule this semester, I’ve found that I have to spend the majority of my school week eating two meals on campus, rather than having the privilege of going home in the evening to cook myself a delicious meal. Thus, I have been forced to resign myself to re-heating tofu and vegetable stir-fries that I make on Sunday evenings and hope they’ll last me the rest of my work week.

I like these meals because they’re extremely easy to make, can use almost any ingredient I have lying around my kitchen, and (typically) taste pretty delicious.

Unfortunately, this particular stir-fry only utilized carrots. And a lot of them, to be sure. But, like I said, they work well with whatever I happen to have in the fridge, and last week it was a giant bag of organic carrots. What can I say?

Spinach, Black Beans & Tofu

In yet another attempt to make use of the various foods left over in my refrigerator/pantry, I searched the depths of the internet for a recipe which used tofu and black beans (and didn’t sound completely disgusting).

To my delight, I found a recipe for a (sort of) stir fry involving tofu, black beans and my favorite garnish, spinach.

1/2 pound firm tofu
1 tbsp olive oil
garlic powder, to taste
onion powder, to taste
several handfuls of fresh spinach
1 can (16 oz) black beans
brown rice, to serve on the side

Drain and press your tofu as necessary and chop into small pieces. Heat olive oil over medium heat, and saute tofu, adding spices. Drain black beans and add to the mix, add more spices to taste. Add several handfuls of spinach, and cook until spinach wilts. Meanwhile, start cooking your brown or wild rice (this dish definitely needs it!). Let the tofu and beans simmer on low heat for a bit while you wait for the rice to finish. Serve with pepper and enjoy!

Healthy Ginger Stir-fry

Did I ever mention how much I love ginger? I guess you could call it a spice. I never really knew what it was until a very strange woman informed me of what I was eating during a sushi dinner. Since then I have had very limited experiences with ginger outside of the realm of sushi restaurants, but recently I have started using it as a spice in my cooking, and I must admit, it’s quite good. (Mostly though I just love the smell, seriously, this should be a perfume, not a spice. Christmas gift anyone?)

For today’s meal I made a semi-decent stir fry with three grain tempeh, green and yellow peppers, zucchini, green onion and snow peas (Next time I might omit the peas, too much weird flavor.)

1 package tempeh, chopped to preferred size
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 green pepper
2 small green onions, or to taste
snow peas, to taste (optional)
grated ginger, to taste (the more the better!)
1 clove garlic, minced
1- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup desired sauce, I used a sesame ginger sauce

Add tempeh and soy sauce to large pan, let simmer over medium heat until tempeh becomes slightly darker. Add chopped vegetables, leaving snow peas until last. Let vegetables simmer until slightly softer, be careful not to overcook them. Add the snow peas and preferred sauce. Let cook just a tad longer (eyeball it!) and serve when ready. I also recommend serving with a side of brown rice.

My Review:
Frankly, this dish was a little weird, it just felt like it was missing something. I think it might have been better had I omitted the snow peas (or at least used less), added more sauce and served it with rice. Unfortunately, I think my cooking skills have been a little off lately. But, whatevz, better luck next time!

Links about Ginger(s):
- Wikipedia on this Friendly Root
- Various Products made from Ginger
- Gingers DO have SOULS!!!!!!

Spinach & Brussels Sprout Gnocchi

One of my favorite recipes that I haven’t made in a while is gnocchi with spinach and brussels sprouts. (The infamous potato noodle!) I love this recipe because you can never have too much spinach!

1 package gnocchi
Brussels sprouts
2 handfuls spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Boil gnocchi in water with a pinch of salt until the noodles float. Drain gnocchi, and add olive oil to the pan. Sautee gnocchi, (cooked) brussels sprouts and spinach to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve when spinach wilts and brussels sprouts are cooked through.

My Review:
I desperately want to make gnocchi from scratch, unfortunately, I just haven’t had the guts to do it yet. (Hopefully someday.) Until then, however, I’m perfectly satisfied with eating the store bought version, which still tastes absolutely delicious.

One More Thing!

I bought my brussels sprouts at the farmer’s market (a couple of weeks ago…) and I had no idea they looked like this! It’s kind of inconvenient to peel off each sprout and chop the butt off, but they taste great!

More on the Potato Noodle:
- Wikipedia on Gnocchi
- Vegan Gnocchi Recipe