Cheezy Broccoli Soup/Puree - Vegan MoFo 2013

This was a fun experiment. Broccoli soup was one of my favorite soups as a child. So much so, it was my choice of birthday meal shared with my less-than-enthusiastic fellow five-to-seven year olds.

The "cheez" is a mix of blended (soaked) cashews, nutritional yeast, and coconut milk beverage along with some pimientos, salt, lemon juice and a tiny tiny bit of Kala Namak (black salt).

The broccoli is 2 bags of frozen steamers along with a little bit of peas leftover from another meal. I pureed everything together and made a soup-like meal. Not terrible, not blow my mind soup, either. I garnished with black pepper and red pepper flakes along with a touch of chimichurri sauce.

CSA Pesto - Pasta and Vegetables [Vegan Mofo]

Day 9 of Vegan Month of Food and I am still going strong!

I look forward to this week - I have a slew of green-themed photos for the next several days. First up: pesto. This summer I have been swimming in pesto thanks to the CSA. I even tried making cilantro pesto (fantastic).

I am not sure if this a basil or cilantro-based pesto in the photo. I usually make my pesto with whatever greens (basil, cilantro, parsley - or a combo of all three), lots of garlic, walnuts and olive oil. I also use a little lemon juice and salt to finish it off. I made most of my pesto this summer in the Magic Bullet, a device I use several times a week and sometimes several times per day. I served this pesto with penne pasta mixed with zucchini and broccoli.

The broccoli, cilantro or basil, and zucchini were all from the CSA.

Lemon-Dill Dressing: on Pan-Fried Tofu and a CSA Salad [Vegan Mofo]

Happy Vegan MoFo Day 4!

So many great ideas on the giant 2012 blogroll of MoFo-ers! It's fantastic to read through what others are doing this fun-filled month.

So I made this dish a while back, when I was up to my ears in dill and did not know what to do with it all! After a Google search of something along the lines of "what do I do with all this dill!?" I came across a few interesting recipes and stumbled upon this Lemon-Dill Tofu from Oh She Glows.

I had everything except the tahini, but it still turned out great and was a fantastic addition to some pan-fried tofu triangles.



My sides for this meal include some homemade simple cabbage and carrot coleslaw with a light vinegar/oil dressing and some steamed broccoli with sesame seeds. The coleslaw and dill were from the CSA. The broccoli was frozen.

I loved the dill dressing! I used it on a salad made from greens, carrots and tomatoes from the csa and topped with some flax seeds. Delicious!

Mock Duck in Yellow Coconut Curry

Yum yum yum.  Just another easy-peasy curry.  One 15 oz can of coconut milk.  Some curry powder, veg broth = sauce done.

Mock duck fried up in a pan with soy sauce, garlic, hoisin, ginger, onion.  Broccoli and pineapple added, served over brown rice.

It only seems complicated because there are a few different parts to it, but really it's one of those simple "cook while watching TV" type of dishes that just satisfies and can leave leftovers for lunch tomorrow!  (Or breakfast.)

Gardein Beefless Tips with Spaghetti

So the picture is AWFUL, I know. It was not a great day for my crappy camera. I assure you, though, that this was DELICIOUS. I think it was the first time I've had Gardein's Beefless Tips. I sauteed for a bit with onions and garlic and then added frozen broccoli and Newman's Own Garden Peppers Sauce. The beefless tips became very juicy and took in a lot of the flavor of the sauce. These beefless tips would make AWESOME veggie kabobs and I really want to make those on the grill next summer.

I really like Gardein's products. Almost every one that I have tried is really delicious. I splurged on several of their products recently so I will have a few product reviews coming up.

BBQ Seitan Ribz with Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, and Cashew Cheez Sauce

I finally made those infamous bbq ribz from
Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Totally worth it.

I somehow forgot the nutritional yeast and I did not have paprika at all and I used peanut butter for the tahini/nut butter. They still turned out great. I could have kneaded them a bit less and made them more thinly spread, but had quite a difficult time getting it spread out in the pan.



I made these with combination baking in the oven and grilling on the George Foreman Grill. I used Ken Davis BBQ Sauce, a favorite in my house.



Mr. Coconut liked the ribz so-so, he was more of a fan of the broccoli and cheez sauce. [on a small tangent...I have been OBSESSED with making perfect nacho cheez dip for tortilla chips this past week. I've made about 4-5 sauces in the last 7 days or so--that's a post for another day.]

This sauce was made from blending raw cashews with water, nutritional yeast flakes [nooch], mustard, pimentos, garlic salt, onion powder, and salt. The thing that has troubled me about cashew cheese is the consistency. I tried in the food processor and with a stick blender, and there was still too much grit for my taste - to the point where I was beginning to doubt all these recipes for "creamy" cashew cheez sauces.

Then I used The Magic Bullet and suddenly I understand how fantastic cashews can be for a cheese sauce! Creamy, light, airy. Delicious on broccoli!

I really liked the ribz and I am excited to try them again!

Curried Seitan Strips [Vegan Mofo]

Vegan Month of Food continues, and I need to pick up the pace!

This was from last week, another experiment with vital wheat gluten to see if I could make edible treats easily. Most recipes for seitan take an hour or more, but I like these quick and easy ways of frying them or baking them. I used the same techniques as my last seitan experiment 2 posts ago, but changed up the ingredients. I made a miso-soy sauce to add into the vital wheat gluten, a bunch of curry powder, some hoisin sauce, some soy sauce. Next time I think I will go for more miso because I couldn't really taste it, but these were still delicious.

I wound up baking these off as larger strips, like chicken fingers almost, and then cooling them and slicing into strips. I put them into a dish that I served with bean thread noodles, okra, & broccoli with a sauce of hoisin, soy, miso. It was really good. These reminded me of the steak/chik'n strips I buy once in a while, but WAY cheaper and kind of fun to make.

Here's a shot of the strips before going into the larger noodle dish:

Broccoli Fried Rice [Vegan Mofo]

Vegan Month of Food continues...

This is what I made on Sunday. I used up the rest of the brown rice we had, and sauteed it with onion, garlic, and mixed veggies. I also added broccoli to give it something more. It was tasty. I mixed in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and sriracha.

Cornmeal Crusted Tofu with Coconut Curry [Vegan Mofo]

Over halfway through with Vegan Month of Food!

I've recently discovered cornmeal to coat tofu and other items I want to fry or bake. It's great and makes things really crunchy! I don't have exact measurements, but I've been mixing cornmeal, salt, pepper, old bay seasoning, and other spices/seasonings until it tastes decent to me. I've used red pepper flakes, garlic salt, onion powder, seasoned salt...you get the idea.

For this dish, I think I baked the tofu bites, but I could have pan-fried them, I can't remember. I served with broccoli and a mix of brown and wild rice. I served the whole thing with a coconut curry sauce: coconut milk & curry paste or powder.

MN State Fair 2011: Island Noodles [Vegan Mofo]

Argh! I didn't post anything yesterday, so I will make up for it today and tomorrow. Vegan Month of Food, or Vegan Mofo, is throughout the month of October this year. This is the fifth year of Vegan Mofo, and my first in participating. The idea is to blog about vegan food: with recipes, pictures, talking about favorite appliances or techniques, favorite ingredients -- you get the idea. Anything about vegan food! The aim is to post 20 days out of the month, or everyday if you can. My goal is to do as many days as possible. Follow the link above, or here, to veganmofo.com to find out more and see all the wonderful participating blogs and their awesome posts.

Ok, on to Day 8 for me (I've posted 6/8 days in October so far):

The MN State Fair takes over the last two weeks of summer every year here. I love it and go every year. There are a few vegan items here and there: snowcones are generally ok, lemonade, etc. The roasted corn stand is awesome - just as for no butter. One stand I found last year was the Island Noodles. I grilled the folks about ingredients to check for fish sauce, etc. Without my prompting, they told me it was completely vegan, and you could add chicken if desired.

Island Noodles are a stir fry of soba noodles and a TON of veggies: bok choy, peas, cabbage, broccoli, onion, carrot...they say it's 21 veggies, which I believe. Here's a shot of the giant wok:



A blurry photo of my container:



And a close-up of the inside, with my added sriracha:



It made my day for a satisfying lunch at the fair. I also had some corn and beverages as well as some awesome french fries.

Coconut Curry Squash Sauce Revisited: Now with Okra! [Vegan Mofo]

Vegan Mofo is continuing! I hope I can actually keep up with this but fear that I will fall off the map again, so to speak. Ah well, revel in more delicious food experiments!

I was gifted another butternut squash, so I decided to revisit the Coconut Curry Squash Sauce to see how to improve it.

This time around, I tried to write down a recipe. This is what I've got so far:


600g cubed butternut squash
60g onion
1 can (15oz?) coconut milk
15oz can garbanzo (chickpeas) drained and rinsed
2-3c baby spinach
.75 10oz frozen okra
2c broccoli
3t red curry paste
1t curry powder
salt


Ok. So that's my made up recipe. I will say that this time around my coconut to squash ratio differed quite a bit. I used less squash and still the same amount of coconut milk (1 can) to see if the sauce could thin out compared to last time.

I measured the squash and onion, and had cans of garbanzos and coconut milk. Everything else is a guess/estimate.

I cubed up the squash, and steamed it until soft with some water. In a separate pan, I sweated finely and roughly chopped 60g of onions in some olive oil with salt.

I mashed the squash, then added the coconut milk and onion and curry paste. I pureed with my emulsifier blender until smooth.

I added the frozen okra and broccoli, and waited until they were almost done before adding the spinach and garbanzos. Throughout all of this I would add salt to taste. Really, vegetable broth or cubes would have been handy, but I had neither. I think that broth is the missing element in this sauce and will add depth and complexity to the flavors. Next time!

As the rest of the sauce was cooking, I made rice noodles (which takes all of 5 minutes, really).

I served the dish over noodles and used soy sauce and hot sauce to season further. I also served over brown rice after the rice noodles were gone. All delicious. I hope to continue to work toward an actual usable recipe with this one day, but it's getting better!

Coconut-Squash Curry Sauce - Two Ways

I have been cooking lots of new foods as well as trying new eateries lately, but I have not had proper posts about it. As the photos have been piling up, I have been putting off blogging more because I can't think of a time I will have to sit down and post all of them. Then an idea came to me: just do one or two posts a day for a while. Constant content for the blog, small amount of time to put it together.

Perfect.

So, enough jibba-jabba, let's talk about food!



This is AMAZING. In the words of Mr. Coconut, "the best thing I've eaten in 6 months." I was gifted a butternut squash from a co-worker's garden, and was pondering what to do. Butternut Squash soup? Just steamed? Roasted? So many possibilities...I saw I had a can of coconut milk and just started to experiment.

I began by peeling and cubing the squash, throwing it into a pot with a little water and steamed it. This was a medium-large squash, so there was a lot there, several cups of cubes. Then I added the coconut milk and some red curry paste. Stir stir stir. Mash mash mash. Whipped out the emulsion blender and pureed until smooth. It was really thick and soup-like. I added salt to taste, and then decided to add canned pineapple with the juice (not syrup).

While all of that was going on, I was boiling rice noodles and steaming frozen broccoli. Then, I decided to make semolina pasta as well because it seemed to be a great sauce for pasta. It was!!!

So, this sauce is really versatile. With the pasta, it was reminiscent of butternut squash ravioli. With the rice noodles, we added soy sauce and sesame seeds for more of an Asian flair. Either way, awesome. I will be honing this sauce more in the future. I would add onions, garlic, broth, and maybe more coconut milk.

Here's another photo:

Quinoa, Broccoli, Potato and Tofu with Curry Sauce

This was dinner for today.

I boiled some russet potatoes that I cut up into smaller pieces to cook faster, and while those cooked I made some quinoa and marinated tofu that I cut into cubes. I marinated in a sauce I made: soy sauce, dijon mustard, hoisin sauce, pickle juice, hot sauce. I then sauteed onions and garlic until soft, then set aside and started to pan-fry the tofu cubes.

At this point I started steaming the broccoli.

The quinoa was about done, as were the potatoes. I put potatoes aside, and then boiled water to dissolve a bouillon cube and curry paste in for the "sauce".

After the tofu was done to my liking, I set it aside, rinsed the pan out and then started to reheat the onions and garlic. Once it was getting hot, I added the potatoes, quinoa and broccoli, then stirred everything together. I added the curry sauce and heated until some of the liquid absorbed into the potatoes and quinoa.

I served in bowls with the tofu on top, a few shakes of sesame seeds to finish it off.

Curry with Tofu, Broccoli, Cauliflower and Red Potatoes

This may not look that impressive or pretty, but it was DELICIOUS.

Just as the title says, this is tofu, broccoli, cauliflower, and red potatoes with coconut milk curry sauce poured over it. I served it over brown rice.

The method

I pan fried some cubed up tofu, using garlic, onions, and soy sauce. While doing this, I already started steaming cut up red potatoes and allowed them to start cooking. Before they were done, I added a bunch of frozen broccoli and cauliflower to steam them as well. I made the sauce with one can of coconut milk and some red curry paste. Yum yum yum!

The potatoes added a great texture and rounded out the dish with a "full" mouthfeel.

Here's another photo to see the whole bowl:

What's in the Pantry: Saturday Night Edition

There's nothing to eat! I hear and think that a lot. In truth, I have a lot of staples in my pantry and fridge/freezer and when pasta just won't cut it, the tried and true become the stars.

This Saturday's dish? I am calling it "Broc-Caul-Lentil Curry" - pretty much what it sounds like. I started with about half an onion diced (small-medium dice), 4 cloves fresh garlic minced, 4-5 cloves roasted garlic minced, 1/2 cup (dry) brown lentils cooked separately until tender, 1 (10oz?) bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower, 10-12 pieces frozen pineapple, 1 can coconut milk, 1/2 can red curry paste, and some fresh ginger as well as some ground ginger.

Served over brown rice and wild rice. (I cooked wild rice while making this dish and already had brown rice ready to eat.)

So as stated above, I cooked some lentils separately with a veggie bouillon cube for flavor.

I diced and minced the onion and garlic, respectively. In a large saute pan, saute onion until tender, add a sprinkle of curry powder and some salt along with the roasted and fresh garlic. At this point I also shredded up some ginger and added that as well as some ground ginger. Stir lentils, perhaps add some more liquid to the lentils.

Next, I added to the large saute pan the bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower. I added a little veggie broth that I had in the fridge to help steam the veggies. I added some frozen pineapple after a few minutes. I then added the can of coconut milk. The red curry paste I buy comes in cans the size of tuna fish cans, and it is REALLY spicy, so I added about 1/3-1/2 of the can of curry paste.

I dumped in the lentils, and stirred everything. Let cook until the pineapple and frozen veggies are heated through. Serve over rice of some kind. Orzo or cous cous would work too, or on it's own.

Broccoli & Cauliflower with Baked Tofu in Curry Sauce

This was dinner earlier tonight.

Ingredients (roughly):
119g onion, small-fine dice
156g tofu (this was one 12oz package, weighed after baking)
1.5T curry powder
.75c frozen peas
1 package (16oz) of frozen broccoli and cauliflower
(comes to about 225g of broccoli, 225g cauliflower)
.13c ginger, minced
14g garlic, sliced thinly
1can (14oz) coconut milk
1/4can veggie broth
1T olive oil

Serve with:
Brown Rice or plain or noodles

1. I started this whole endeavor by cubing the tofu and setting onto a foiled and oiled pan. I used my toaster oven. Set at 350 degrees F, bake for 20 mins. Flip, then bake another 20 mins. I flipped one last time and baked another 20 mins, and it came to the perfect consistency (in my opinion)

2. Near the end of the second 20 minute baking of the tofu, I started dicing my onion and slicing my garlic. [This is where the ginger should be minced, but I forgot all about it until much later on.] I heated up a pan on the stove and poured about one tablespoon of olive oil. Check the tofu and flip and bake again as needed.

3. Put the onion in the pan, saute for a bit until onion is soft. Add garlic. [again, this is ideally where the ginger would be added, but I added it later because I forgot about it for a while.]

4. Add baked tofu cubes, saute in pan. Add curry powder, mix everything together well, then add some veggie broth to help the curry really get into the ingredients.

5. Add broccoli and cauliflower, adding veggie broth as needed to help cook the frozen vegetables.

6. Add coconut milk, stirring everything together. Add frozen peas.

7. Simmer until everything is cooked to your liking. Serve over brown rice.

Chickpea Noodle Stew

My soup/stew of the week: Chickpea Noodle Stew! Another "throw a lot of things in the pot" stew, so again, I apologize for not having a concrete recipe.

Ingredients:
diced onions, carrots & celery for mirepoix
one can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
vegetable stock
olive oil for sauteing the mirepoix
garlic, 2-3 cloves, minced
salt, tt
elbow macaroni noodles (or any noodle at all)
vegetables (I used frozen broccoli and peas)
vegetable stock (1.5c/2c)
water

Instructions
1. Saute the mirepoix on low heat with olive oil and some salt until onions are soft and translucent. (do not brown the onions; looking for soft, maybe yellowish from oil, but not brown) This may take 5-15 minutes. I kind of wanted some texture from the carrots so I started adding other ingredients faster than I might for other soups.

2. add garlic & chickpeas

3. add vegetable stock and water

4. bring to boil, add some noodles. I just tossed in what looked like a good amount. My initial plan for this dish was something more brothy but the amount of noodles I added made it more of a stew than a soup. Still delicious, but next time I might back off the noodles a little more.

5. as noodles are nearing done time, add in some vegetables. I added chopped frozen broccoli and frozen peas. I also added more salt, but I'm a salt fiend.

6. Done! Scoop into a bowl and enjoy.

Chickpea & Couscous Curry

Simple curry/stew that was quite delicious and lasted for several days. I just made it up as I went along, so I don't have exact measurements.

Ingredients:
1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
same can filled with water
1c dry cous cous
half of a large onion, medium-large dice
2-3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of chickpeas (15oz size?)
variety of frozen vegetables
curry powder, 1-2 Tablespoons (or to taste)
salt, to taste
olive oil, 1t

directions:

1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. In a large-ish stockpot, saute the onion in the olive oil. Add curry powder and continue to saute until onion is soft. Add garlic and saute a little more.

2. Add tomatoes and chickpeas. I also added some frozen vegetables. I just dumped in whatever looked like it would be tasty in this dish. I had a big bag of California Blend" which had cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. I also added some frozen peas. Many vegetables, fresh or frozen, would be great. Potatoes, mixed veggies, etc. Next time, however, I am going to add the veggies later on.

3. Add water. I just used the same can of tomatoes and filled it up with water and added it to the stew. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

4. Add couscous. I just threw it in dry and let it cook in the stew.

5. After couscous is finished cooking, the dish should be done. I enjoyed with sriracha but it was also fine on it's own.

It thickened up quite a bit the next day. I might add less couscous next time, and try not to overcook the veggies as they did this time. I personally wanted more curry flavor and some more spice to the dish. It was still delicious.

Baked Tofu with Spicy Green Beans, Broccoli, and Rice Noodles

This was an experimental tofu marinade made of rice vinegar, soy sauce, veggie stock, ginger, garlic, agave nectar, chili sauce, sesame oil and peanut oil (only a TINY bit because those are REALLY strong flavored oils).

I marinated the tofu in pieces for about an hour, then baked for quite some time (45 minutes?). I made the mistake of first baking in a glass dish, which does not get that nice texture that a sheet pan or metal pan gives. So I transferred to foil and a metal sheet pan until I was too impatient to wait longer.

While the tofu was baking, I made one of my favorite snacks ever: spicy green beans. Just sauté garlic and ginger with fresh haricot verts (the long skinny green beans). Make sure you take the tops off. It's easiest to take big bunches and just chop off both ends. I also split many of them in half for easier eating. Anyway, as you have the garlic and the ginger and beans going (in just the smallest amount of oil or just cooking spray) pour in chili sauce (like what I call "Chunky Sriracha") and soy sauce. Coat the beans with this mixture, and you're done! I like to keep the beans really crispy and just slightly cooked. Place in a bowl and eat with hands or chopsticks (or forks). Great appetizer, really healthy.

As a complete side note, I am quite picky about soy sauce. You should NEVER be using stuff like La Choy. Kikkoman is decent, but I highly recommend you get into shoyus. I've been in love with Organic Shoyu from San-J for years.

Also in this dish: rice noodles and steamed broccoli.

Vegetable Stir Fry: Mock Duck and Bean Thread Noodles with Broccoli

Another fairly simple stir fry. I love bean thread noodles as an alternative to rice noodles. They have a much more chewy texture, at least to me or the way I make them. The best part is that just like rice noodles, they are about a dollar for a pretty big bag.

I drained two cans of Mock Duck and pan-fried them with a lot of garlic, ginger paste, garlic chili sauce, and soy sauce. I also cooked up some frozen stir fry veggies: broccoli, snap peas, carrots, mushrooms, onions. Mixed together and promptly enjoyed.