Reusing Containers[Vegan Mofo]

Reusing is the second component of the Three R's of Recycling [reduce, reuse, recycle]. I love to reuse or re-purpose containers (or anything, really) and make them useful beyond their regularly expected lifespan.

I recently began reusing glass soy sauce bottles for canola and olive oil as well as for balsamic vinegar. Once I finish a bottle of soy sauce, I run it through the dishwasher to clean it out thoroughly and fill it with various liquids.

The top picture shows the bottle with canola oil. It's handy because the spout/pour top looks like this:


That top allows me to pour oil in a controlled way for cooking or oiling pans. I use the same bottle for balsamic vinegar:


And I used a glass Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce bottle for olive oil.

I am rather obsessed with reusing any and all glass containers: pickle jars, salsa jars, any condiment jar. They are great for storing soups, dry beans, flour, sugar, leftovers. Plus, if I get sick of them, they can still be recycled.

Birthday 2010: Recap

My birthday was months ago, but here is a short recap on some of my fooding adventures on my holiday. First up, as pictured above, a piece of Chocolate Cake from My Local Co-Op, Mississippi Market. I really like picking up a couple pieces of this cake, that they always have available. It's delicious and simple and awesome with a glass of soymilk or almond milk.

Next up, Punch Pizza. It's my new favorite local pizza joint. Cheap, delicious food that is easily vegan and brings quality ingredients to the forefront. Plus, AMAZING freebies throughout the year via social networks. One of the smartest restaurants I've ever seen utilize Facebook, Twitter and a blog. First, the Punch Salad:


Mixed greens, pine nuts, balsamic vinegar. I believe the actual Punch Salad comes with prosciutto and cheese but vegan without those two. Focaccia comes with the salad and is also vegan.

Next, one of the "basic" pizzas, a margherita (crust, sauce, basil) with the dipping sauces of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the crusts:



Truly awesome pizza with a truly smart company. These folks should be the business model for all restaurants.

Thanksgiving 2009

From the bottom left: Fiery Sweet Potatoes[recipe from NYTimes], Chik'n Tofu Triangles, stuffing with onions, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts. There is also an apple slice on the far left.

The sweet potatoes were great! (click on "Fiery Sweet Potatoes" above for the link to the NYTimes Recipe) Blending coconut milk & curry paste into the sweet potatoes was a great idea, and I would make these again. Next time, I will give them enough time to really crisp once in the baking pan so a crust of sugar can be more formed. I became too impatient and took them out of the broiler a little early.

I've made Chik'n Tofu many times before. This was yet another experiment. I used firm tofu (water packed kind), and drained/pressed for a while longer than I normally do. I made a mixture of flour, poultry seasoning (a mix of dry herbs like thyme and rosemary) and some chicken seasoning (another mix of seasonings: salt, garlic, etc.) I sliced the tofu into triangles and then coated each piece with the mix and baked in the toaster oven for 45 minutes. They came out too dry and not seasoned enough -- too much flour. They were still tasty, just not awesome as the last few times.

The rest of the items were pretty straight forward. I roasted a head of garlic in the toaster oven with olive oil and kosher salt for 40 minutes -- or until soft. The garlic just scoops right out. I boiled red potatoes until soft, drained, then added the garlic and a little soymilk and a lot of vegan butter until at the consistency I wanted. I'm a fan of potato skin, so I leave it on.

Brussels sprouts were not as tasty as I've made in the past but again, still delicious. Stuffing was from a bag of bread cubes and my own diced onion and some seasonings.

I love that my plate isn't all brown/beige!

Curried Split Pea Soup from Vegan With a Vengeance

Homemade curried split pea soup, recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance. I dressed the soup up with dulse flakes, spicy tamari roasted pumpkin seeds, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The soup was paired with an apple and a small spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and balsamic/olive oil vinaigrette.

Christmas 2008 - Christmas Eve Dinner

A bit late with posting all of this, but better late than never, right?

First up, Christmas Eve. We went to a family dinner at the Nicollet Island Inn, a very fancy restaurant in Minneapolis. None of the menus shown give any indication of vegan food as an option, but I spoke to the executive chef and wound up with a wonderful five course all vegan meal.

First Course: Haricot Verts tossed with fresh ginger, balsamic vinegar, hazelnuts, and fresh herbs. *excellent*

Second Course: Parsnip Purée -- a variation on the parsnip bisque served to everyone else. Puréed parsnip with julienned Granny Smith apples in the center along with olive oil and walnuts and puffed wild rice. *beautiful* People at our table remarked at how much nicer the presentation was for our dish.

Third Course: Shaved Root Vegetables - presented like a slaw of sorts. Included: carrots, parsnip, sweet potatoes. *good* not the star of the night, but still tasty.

Fourth Course: Mushroom Risotto with black truffle and some other mushrooms. *excellent!* I am a huge mushroom fan, so this dish was positively delightful and delicious. My partner is not quite as big a fan of mushrooms, so I ate part of his dish as well.

Fifth Course: Passion Fruit Sorbet -- served in champagne glasses. *awesome* A delightful end to a fabulous meal.

Overall, it was easily one of the top three gourmet vegan meals I've ever had. Probably top two - Chamber Kitchen being the other. It was an excellent experience, and I would definitely consider going back for a special occasion. There are a few pictures up at the Flickr site, but I do not want to post them here because the quality is awful. The lighting was WAY too low to get a decent shot. Ah well, the food was so EXCELLENT. If you are willing to overlook the poor quality, the pictures are located HERE.