salad sandwich

Simple filling and delicious.  What we have here is massaged kale with shredded carrots and beets, a home made almond 'mayo' (which is my experimenting with vegan/paleo/raw foods) and a smattering of Dijon mustard.  The bread is a store bough sourdough which is lightly toasted. I think what made this sandwich a winner was the fact that I used carrots from the garden; they were sweeter and more flavorful than any other carrots I have had!  you cannot tell from this picture but it was also a combination of standard orange carrots and some purple carrots.  they taste different but I cannot tell you exactly how  :)  

Full meal posts are gonna be off for a bit . . . my cook nights are double booked and getting food to my house is more important than the blog.  Maybe tomorrow I will make a 'full meal' lunch for my day off!

This is not the burger you are looking for

In the dead of winter you cannot blame me for wanting a taste of summer.  I just wanted to fire up the grill and toss on some portobello's, some marinated zuchinni, a few potatoes and of course corn. . . but it is January, it is cold outside, I am not gonna take the time to set up a grill and most my favorites are out of season.  After rummaging around the kitchen I made a mash of black beans (left over from dinner) and boiled yams, the mix was mostly yams.  That was not all, I grated some carrots in and tossed in some sauteed onions with seasonings (garlic[duh], salt, pepper, paprika and cumin).  I was surprised by how firm the mash was right off the bat!  I didn't have to add ant flour to stiffen it up.  I did use some corn meal on the outside before tossing my patties into a grill and it made it so they held together instead of sticking to the pan.  I put the patty on a baguette with barbecue sauce, dijon mustard, karinata kale, and a fresh sprout mix.  I rounded out my summer daydreams with thick cut fires baked at 400 F with lots of pepper and a dash of salt.  The good news is the days are already getting longer! 

NYE Pasta!

Happy New Year!  So glad to make your acquainted 2013, I think we will be good friends.  Of course even new exciting times can have their hick-ups. 

My last minute dinner tonight is this beautiful lemon garlic pasta.  I am quite the fan of the non-tomato based pastas but you have to get comfortable with fat (i.e. oil or butter).    This pasta dish features seared carrots, blanched kale and boiled beets and only used two pans.  A really fun thing to do is boil the beets with the pasta; I know this will result in some nutritional loss but I love the way it colors the pasta.  I sauteed the carrots in coconut oil with cumin seeds, mustard seeds onion and some garlic.  The kale was added to the pasta after the water was drained, allowing the remnant heat and steam  to cook it just a bit.  The trick to a 'butter' sauce  is to basically toss your pasta in a really nice salad dressing, something that has a combination of fat and acid but in this case is heavier in fat. My plan was to just use some olive oil and lemon juice  The tragic mistake . . . I went to add a dash of basil and the top popped off.  If anyone spends enough time in the kitchen you will hit these 'salt shaker top' type catastrophes the trick is learning how to recover.  I had a taste and the problem was the dryness of the leaves and the 'grassy-ness' or the sense that I was trying to make a pesto pasta but messed up.  To cut the grassy aspect I added extra fat and made some of it coconut oil to give a better richness.  I also found the flavor of the basil to be a bit on the over stated side so I cut it with extra vinegar and sued a combination of white for the sharpness and a bit of balsamic to get a sweetness that I thought was needed.  The end result was not what I wanted it to be but I still am going to bed with a happy belly!

Davey's Macaroni

About a month ago I tried a relatively new restaurant in Oakland called Home Room.  This hip place features a menu of many macaroni and cheeses with ad ins that make the combinations nearly endless!  To my enjoyment they even have a vegan option!  The service is wonderful the ambiance is just to die for and the food is decent.  The brussel sprout appetizer was by far my favorite, but the fresh green salad had a simplicity that was refreshing without being boring.  The mac and cheese was unfortunately not that great.  It was good, with a  soft cheesy flavor but the sauce was watery and the extra cost for mushrooms was way too much for the quality. Unfortunately the sauce was too thin and I am used to a more bold flavor for my not-cheese sauces.  Still I would recommend it for an quick bit in Oakland.

Homeroom mac 'n cheese with peas and muchrooms

At this point I have to admit that I am biased against most mac 'n cheeses because I have had what is arguably the best mac 'n cheese.  It was introduced to me by my friend Davey.  Brussel sprouts still being too expensive I made a side of collard greens and a kale salad.  

Lets get down to it and turn this:

into this!

Mac ' Yeast

What I love about this recipe is how surprisingly simple it is to make with amazing flavor! This is one of those dishes that really proves anything can be transformed by a good sauce.  As the name may suggest the basis of this 'cheese' sauce is nutritional yeast.  In a blender place:




1 C soy milk
1 C water
1/3 C Soy sauce
1/2 C firm tofu
1 1/2 C nutritional yeast
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs powdered garlic
1 Tbs salt (or powdered vegetable bouillon)
1/2 C safflower oil (or your oil of preference)

This all get blended together until it is smooth and creamy.  As with most sauces the importance is the balance between fat and flavor (where flavor is usually water based).  The tofu in this acts as a great source of protein and more importantly as an emulsifier to keep the water and oil mixed.  The proportions above are good for about 1 lb of pasta and you can adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding more or less water (though I tend to go for a thicker sauce).  This sauce is going to be baked so don't make it to thick or you will burn! 

I used 2 lbs of pasta and doubled the above proportions with one bag of frozen peas (aprox. 12 oz).  It is ok to under cook the pasta a little, even preferred, because we are going to bake this whole mess at 350 F for 15-25 minutes.  if you made your sauce to thin you can bake it longer to thicken it up but really this step is for mixing the flavors and giving a nice crust to the top layer of macaroni. 

before oven                                  .  

after oven                                         .

The extra sprinkle of paprika and nutritional yeast is just for effect and hardly effects the flavor.  

Kale Salad

I did some pretty simple side dishes with steamed broccoli and a kale salad. This kale salad was a mix of karinata kale and red Russian kale with shreds of carrots and golden beats.  The dressing was an orange ginger vinaigrette and the sesame seeds were added in excess (just the way I like it).  I have done kale salad a few times so feel free to look at old recipes.  Again the secret is in the sauce, balancing acid with fat and flavor.  Sometimes Kale makes this extra tricky because you want the acid to sit on the kale for 20- 30 minutes before you add the fat and flavor.

Steamed Broccoli

The broccoli was simply cut up and steamed but the secret to delicious broccoli is getting ti fresh as possible.  the less time ti sits off the plant the sweeter it will be.  If you can get a young broccoli and get ti picked fresh that day you probably dont need to steam it and could serve it raw with a  spicy or savory dipping sauce where the natural sweetness of the broccoli balances out the flavors.  I know you probably dont think of broccoli as being sweet but man it can be surprising! 

Collard Greens

If you are trying to eat local and winter comes rolling round you best make friends with collard greens.  The nice thing is that they are such a common treat for some sub cultures in the USA that figuring out how to cook them is not that hard.  As you might suspect it is high heat with a  good oil and some onions and garlic for the yum factor.  Collards come in big broad leaves (we are talking a foot wide) that are easy to wash and prepare.  Just cut out the stem (save them) and then slice the leaves into manageable strips.  make sure you use 'too many' leaves as this is much like spinach and other dark greens you cook, they loose a lot of volume when you apply heat.  It is common to blanch the leaves before cooking (dip them into boiling water fr a minute) as this cuts down on the bitterness and makes a more manageable volume.  I prefer to use an acidic cooking stock to cut down the bitterness, typically lemon juice.  By avoiding the water you get to hit the leaves with full heat of the skillet and it gives them a nice sauteed flavor that I always have trouble getting if I blanch first.  

Eat it up!

Comfort in Quinoa

I didnt intend this blog to keep track of my mood but it turns out it does without my intention.   When life gets crazy I tend not to post.  Only when my mind settles again do I think 'ok food yeah i should talk about food'.  The moral is if I dont post for 2-3 weeks I am either out of town or my life is going nuts!

only thing to do when life gets nuts?  eat quinoa!  This is one of those modern day 'super foods ( a term I really dont like) because it is a plant based complete protein, yeah they exist.  NASA started using it on flights because of the way it balances fiber and protein without fat or cholesterol (though I like fat).  It is also my go to grain when I need something to eat and my mind is blank.  The great thign about quinoa is it cooks just like rice in a quarter of the time!  1 cup Quinoa 1 1/2 C broth (though just water is fine too) bring ti to a boil then let it simmer for 15-20 min.  The quinoa in this lunch was slightly toasted before I cooked it and had sauteed onions and garlic added.  I balanced the meal with a broccoli carrot teriyaki and boy did the sweet/savory hit the spot!   

What I missed while in Vietnam

I have been gone for nearly a month spending time in a country I never imagines I would be in, Vietnam!  I went to teach for tow weeks and while everyone told em I couldnt be vegan there I found it to be quite easy.   As the title suggests this post is not about my food experience in that beautiful country, it is what I missed!

the first thing I ate when i got back, Re-fried beans and potatoes!  I think the only beans I ate while I was in Vietnam was tofu, boy they eat a lot of tofu!  but me I am happy to come home and have fried potatoes over re-fried beans with salsa fresca to top it off! I already had the beans so this only took me 15 minutes to make and it was like heaven!

More than beans I missed cooking!  oh man all my vietnam food is a restaurant/vegan living review (coming soon) but all I want is to cook!

Two Weeks in the Appalachia Hills of NC

So I really do mean to do this on a more regular basis but life does not always slow down enough for me to show off my meals the way I want to.  So after two weeks of INCREDIBLE meals all you get is a quick report on the foods and only the scantest of clues on how to make it.  If I were not leaving tomorrow for another trip I would honestly try to be more detailed in my meal preparation and thought process.  

Two Weeks of Tasty Food

Kale Salad

Kale salad with an avocado lemon vinaigrette with fresh corn, grated beets and carrots.  The body is hefted up with a bit of shredded cabbage and topped with crushed walnuts and a few more slices of avocado

Buffalo Fries

It seemed abnormal to go to the south without having buffalo wings but the next best thing is buffalo fires with home made 'wing' sauce.  I used a lot of extra pepper and pinch of salt and so much garlic that I ahrdly tasted the spicy delicious wing sauce

 Buckwheat Pancakes
I was visiting a wheat free friend but that did not deter us from pancakes with maple syrup.  The amazing thing about the east coast is blueberries grow wild!  the bananas are still imported but a morning walk to harvest blueberries made these things so much more worth it!

Shredded salad and mushroom risotto 

One of the many amazing dinners consisted of carrot/beet/cabbage salad with almonds, raisins and, sesame seeds.  The salad was dressed in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  The risotto was rich and delicious and could have used more mushrooms but was a nice compliment to the salad.

Indian Dinner
One lovely night we threw a dinner party with Red Dhal soup, turmeric rice (didnt have any saffron so did our best), pumpkin curry and a green salad.

more salad

massaged kale with romaine lettuce.  The tomatoes and peppers came from the small garden on site and the diced almonds came with me from Cali!

 Simple Dinner
Steamed carrots and purple cabbage topped with sauteed potatoes and bell peppers.

Hash brown Breakfast
shred potatoes, shred yams, garlic and onions!  I am always a fan of hash browns but for some reason these were extra good.  Top potatoes with avocado and Chihuly hot sauce and you are always on the right track.

potato stew

I was not thrilled with my first go at buckwheat biscuits but they added a nice body to the stew as they melted in.  The stew was a slow roast with potato carrot cabbage in a tomato base with a lot of garlic and some onion.  

Mexican Dinner
Turns out North Carolina does not offer a lot of Mexican food.  This was the last night as a going away treat to remind my friend what is waiting for her in California.  Salsa fresca Mexican spiced black beans with a side of Spanish rice. Fresh corn and guacamole to make tacos with corn tortillas was like heaven!

Salad once more

On the night I met Debra Frasier, Liz and I shared kale salads.  Shredded carrots, shredded beats, tomatoes from the garden, fresh corn, bell peppers and a lemon vinaigrette.  I ate it and wanted more and more and more!  I dont thing there is anything I like as much as a well made salad!  

I have no idea what I am going to eat for the next two weeks but once I am back we will all know!