Go-To Remedies for Colds - Vegan MoFo 2013

I must admit, Auto-Posting is a wonderful thing that I only started using during this Vegan Month of Food 2013.

It is great to do a slew of posts in one day and schedule them to post during busy weeks, or worse - when sickness strikes.

Well, today I've been struck.

My personal philosophy of how to cure myself while having a cold includes the following:

1. Only spend a small portion of the time wallowing in sickness. Everyone needs to feel those "poor me" sick feelings once in a while, but that attitude will not help at all in the long run.
2. Watch at least one new (to me) movie, preferably a good one. (Binge-watching TV on streaming service of choice is acceptable, but at least one movie.)
   
3. If at home during the day, watch The Chew.
   
4. Drink lots of liquids (mainly tea & water), eat berries, and drink broth. The spicier the better.
   
5. Shower. At least once. It makes me feel human again. Same goes for brushing the teeth, and probably time to buy a new head for the toothbrush.
   
6. Step outside at least once. Even if it is just to check the mail or bring recycling to the curb.

So far today, I have done very little on this list other than drink broth. (And I am halfway through today's The Chew.)

Thankfully, the broth I made today was pretty tasty and easy! Still have some left. I boiled 2-3 cups (half to three quarters of a liter) water, added a bit of a veggie bouillon cube and a small chunk of mild miso paste. I then cut up (with kitchen scissors) half a jalpeño as well as 4-5 dried chiles I had on hand. I want it to be as spicy as possible. In a small magic bullet, I blended ginger paste and 3-4 large garlic cloves and added it to the broth. Brought everything to a boil, then simmered for a minute or two. I added fresh lime juice at the end, and drank out of a mug.

Crescent Samosas with Chimichurri - Vegan Mofo 2013

What am I going to make for dinner? - this thought ran through my head all the way home. Constantly flipping through ingredients I know I have on hand and weighing out whether I needed to pick up anything on the way home.

From pasta to taco night to taco pizza, nothing seemed to feel right. My mind's eye went back into the fridge and clicks off ingredients: vegan sausage (Gimme Lean), peas...crescents. Scanning the pantry and counter, I rested upon potatoes and was sold.

Once I got home, I started washing some potatoes (little reds and yellows) and sliced them into as evenly shaped and sized pieces as possible. I tossed them in a small bowl with olive oil and crushed whole garlic cloves that I tore apart with my hands. Onto a foil-lined tray for the toaster oven. Before I placed it in to bake - I also covered the tray with foil, poking 3-4 slits for ventilation.

As the potatoes started steaming, I opened one tube of crescent dough, and laid them out on a plate to become more malleable.

I did a small dice on one quarter of a large onion and started to slowly sweat the onions in a pan. At least 15-20 minutes were spent just sweating these onions out on really low heat with a little coconut oil. Once I was satisfied with the onions, I removed them from the pan and got the Gimme Lean out. Sliced off a couple chunks, and seasoned with curry powder & paprika before sauteing in the onion pan, splitting up the sausage until they were smaller chunks and added the onions back along with the peas I had already cooked the day before.

Once the potatoes were soft, I threw them into a bowl and mashed, with a little butter (not much!), then added the sausage-onion-pea mix in with some of the potatoes. I carefully placed a big Tablespoon of the mix onto a crescent triangle, then closed the dough around it and carefully placed it onto the toaster oven tray and baked a little longer than recommended, flipping the crescents over. This made about 8 samosas total.

The sauce was similar to the chimichurri sauce I did earlier this month.

Great and fairly easy, though somewhat labor-intensive. This would be even better if there was a mixture already made and then just use the leftovers the next day inside these crescents. Next time I would probably mess around with the dough a little more.

A look on the inside:

Pad Thai with Fried Tofu - Vegan Mofo 2013

Dim bar lighting does not lend itself to food photography, but I work with what I've got. Pad Thai with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions, lemon and lime wedges, and probably some other things I am not thinking of. From Señor Wong.

Baked Tofu with Cilantro Ginger Sauce & Apple Mint Beets - Vegan MoFo 2013

Alas, this was not made by me, but it is from a local co-op's deli. The sauce on the tofu was thick and almost pesto-like in consistency. The beets were great, with hints of fresh mint and tart apple cider vinegar throughout the dish.

DDOW - Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet w. Rosemary - Vegan MoFo 2013

I am a little late on posting this from last week's second part ofdelivered dish of the week.



From the website:

Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet with Rosemary (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) A lightly braised stew of market veg and giant heirloom scarlet runner beans (and regular red beans). Good with crusty bread, a glass of wine or all by itself. Cool beans!

A hearty bean stew, basically. I realized that I have never had scarlet runner beans while eating this. They are huge! And I want more! I served this with some pretzel crackers for crunch. Great dish!

DDOW Raw Zucchini Noodles w. Tomato Sauce - Vegan Mofo 2013

Another week, another Delivered Dish!


You can check out other DDOW posts by clicking the tag below or here.


For today's dish, I am going to highlight the raw zucchini noodle dish. From the website:

Zucchini Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce (V, Paleo, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) Carb-free pasta! Fresh sage and oregano flavor the simple sauce. Super low-cal.

I must say, other than this time last summer, I don't know if I ever really had zucchini noodles before. And that last time didn't count too much as I had the noodles with spaghetti. This dish was light, refreshing, and flavorful. Even though the yellos is what you can really see, which I assume is yellow squash, the green zucchini is definitely in the dish throughout. It came packaged with plum tomatoes throughout, as well as some basil and other herbs. This may inspire me to make zucchini noodles on my own!

Zesty Bean Dip - Vegan Mofo 2013

I've made bean dip before, and this will not be the last time I make bean dip. Hang in there, we are a little over halfway through Vegan Mofo, and I have a busy week.

I made this dip a little different than I've made other dips in the past. I blended up some onion, 3 big garlic cloves, 1-2 Thai Chili peppers, cumin, dried coriander, and water. Then simmered that mix in a pot, added half a veggie bouillon cube, and then added one can vegetarian refried beans. This was really soup-like, and I simmered it down for a while. It thickened even more as it cooled in the fridge. As usual, the flavors become more intense as time goes on, so this would be really great made the day before. I can rarely have it last that long in the house.

Clear Noodle Soup: Mushroom Edition - Vegan MoFo 2013

Halfway through Vegan Month of Food 2013!

http://www.veganmofo.com


Remember that soup from yesterday? Well, there were about three portions total, but we only had a bowl a piece. So I ate the rest later, except this time I used mushrooms. I sauteed mushrooms in the same pan that the mock duck had gotten all crispy in and was able to deglaze the pan, making the mushrooms even more delicious. Added hot peppers, arugula and kale, as well as cilantro. Spooned this mix over the last bowl of soup, garnished with lime and cilantro.

Clear Noodle Soup w. Mock Duck - Vegan Mofo 2013

Can you make me some soup? Mr. Coconut asks.

Sure.

"Soup" means one of three varieties of instant ramen or rice noodle soups in the pantry. Flip through the food we have in my head. I mentally mix and match flavors, textures, colors.

ginger garlic onion greens - will arugula work? - rice noodles peppers - jalapeno or Thai? - tofu mock duck what vegetables do we have soy sauce coconut oil hot sauce


Got it.

One can of mock duck - drain, rinse, tear into smaller pieces. Coconut oil to saute in a pan while water boils for the broth and noodles of this soup:




Spicy Thai chili peppers get tossed in with the mock duck, along with a good pour of soy sauce. Seasoning powder into the boiling water, along with the rice noodles. In the mock duck pot - a handful of kale and turn off the heat for both pots.

I ladle broth and noodles into the bowl, then place the greens and mock duck on top of the soup. Garnish with limes and cilantro.

DDOW - Spicy Chile Verde w. Beans - Vegan Mofo 2013

As promised, here is the Spicy Chile Verde with Beans from this weeks Delivered Dish of the Week order. From the website:

“Spicy Chile Verde with Beans (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) An opportunity to see why chef Crescent Dragonwagon in her book Bean for Bean insists there is no substitute for Santa Fe Green Chilies from New Mexico. With green bell peppers.”

This had a ton of vegetables, as you can see. It actually had quite a bit of broth, too, but for the sake of the photo, I emphasized the veggies and beans.
I enjoyed this dish – it was a satisfying lunch that I will have more of tomorrow. I added a little bit of spinach because I add greens to as many things as possible if I have them around, and adding them to soups is one of my favorite ways to incorporate greens easily.

It was not quite what I expected – but then again, most of the dishes I have received so far are different than what I expected – and that is great. I love the semi-unexpected surprise of trying new foods or foods prepared in different ways than I would. It has been really invigorating and inspiring for my own cooking.

Next week for DDOW, I will be getting (and blogging) a container of Zucchini Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce as well as a container of Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet with Rosemary. Sounds great!!!!

Cous Cous w. Mushrooms and Veggies - Vegan MoFo 2013

It started with mushrooms.

I just wanted to cook some mushrooms.

Home, after an uneventful but nonetheless long day, especially after running to the grocery store to pick up a few things.

Hungry, but also too tired to think of such complexities of putting an actual meal together. Yet tossing a chik patty in the microwave and calling it a day was not appealing. Plus the groceries needed to be put away. Ugh. So it started with the mushrooms.

Nothing special - just some shiitake mushrooms from the store. Pan, toss, sizzle.

Kale!, I thought - I have KALE. That would be great with mushrooms. It's worked before.

So kale went in, more groceries placed inside the freezer.

Whoa, totally forgot about these veggies! Luckily, they were only from a couple days ago, so the cooked frozen veggies went in, along with their coats of olive oil. Then went some already cooked previously mentioned Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend along with a handful of spinach. Last, but not least, went in a tiny bit of Trader Joe's Vegan Mozzarella Shreds.

Creamy, carby, comforting.

DDOW - Cuke, Corn & Hominy Salad - Vegan MoFo 2013

Another Delivered Dish of the Week (DDOW). Again, from One Dish at a Time's Tracy Yue, I ordered and received a quart of this lovely chilled salad made up of hominy, corn, and cucumbers, in a perky cilantro lime vinaigrette. From her website:

"Cuke, Corn & Hominy Salad in Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) As well as being the basis of Posole stew, chewy hominy (rehydrated treated white corn kernels) is surprisingly nice in salads. I’ll use raw sweet corn for added crunch and because it’s frankly easier than par-boiling. The local sweet corn has been great this season."

One of my co-workers asked me what hominy was and my reply was "corn? Is that right? Is it just corn...but not?" I realized I didn't really know, which typically ends with me scouring the internet or other sources for information. From Wikipedia:

"Hominy consists of dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization."

Umm...ok? Why?

"To make hominy, field corn (maize) grain is dried, then treated by soaking and cooking the mature (hard) grain in a dilute solution of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or wood ash, a process termed nixtamalization. The soaked maize is washed, and then ground into masa. When fresh masa is dried and powdered, it becomes masa seca or masa harina."

Huh. Information for the day.

Tomorrow I will highlight the second dish I received for this weeks DDOW, Spicy Chile Verde with Beans.

Farmers Market Quinoa Salad - Vegan MoFo 2013

This was a dish made of a lot of fresh herbs and veggies from the farmers market, along with some quinoa. The veggies included: cucumbers, kale, peas, as well as mint and basil. The quinoa also had some olive oil in it. I added sliced almonds and some nooch at the end.

Great stuff!

Bean & Vegetable Salad with Chimi dressing - Vegan Mofo 2013

Whoops!  Lost this weekend, but still making great food.  Hopefully this week I will get the chance to fix some of the goofy formatting that has been happening.  It is the first time I have been blogging via iPad, phone, and computer on a rotating basis.  

Getting Delivered Dish of the Week over the summer and again starting last week has inspired me to make more awesome vegetable-packed dishes.  This is a salad I made for lunch at work last week.  One 15ozcan of white beans, half a medium green bell pepper (diced), cherry tomatoes sliced in half, shiitake mushrooms, diced jalapeno, parsley, one baby cucumber (peeled), and that crazy chimichurri sauce I made earlier.  Great stuff, though the mushrooms were not a great fit.  This would be great with greens like spinach or arugula, but I was out.  I am excited for this week of Mofo - I will highlight another DDOW and maybe have a couple treats from local restaurants.

Tofu with Chimichurri Sauce - Vegan Mofo 2013

I am obsessed with watching food competition shows - or really, any food television show at all. It helps me become inspired, even when watching people cook non-vegan food. This dish did not come from any particular show or dish, but it was definitely a great experiment.
The veggies were the least impressive feat - just some simple steam-bag frozen veggies.

The starch used here isTrader Joe's Harvest Medley, which contains Israeli cous cous, red quinoa, split garbanzos, red and green orzo. REALLY simple to cook - boil water/broth, add some of this mix, bring to boil again, then simmer (covered) for 10 mins.
For the tofu: I drained a 16 oz block of (I think ) extra firm tofu, then sliced into rectangles of a size I felt was manageable, then baked them for about...30?...minutes at 350F. I then pan-fried them in coconut oil until they reached my desired crispiness.
The chimichurri-like sauce was the crown jewel of this dish. At first, I was just blending 4-5 Thai Bird's Eye peppers with 3-4 cloves of garlic with an idea to make some hot sauce. Then, I decided to add the rest of the fresh parsley I had on hand as well as the juice of a small lemon. The mixture was not balanced at all, so I added a dash of avocado oil, a little hunk of cucumber, and some coriander chutney (one of my all time favorite condiments to keep on hand). It evened out nicely sorry, MAGNIFICENTLY. Seriously, it was an awesome sauce that I want more more more of.

Delivered Dish of the Week - Vegan Mofo 2013

Over the summer my office started to get delivered lunches from One Dish At A Time, chef Tracy Yue's Delivered Dish of the Week service. She produces a menu about 4-6 weeks ahead of time of. Two choices each week to get in either quart or pint deli container sizes. Always vegan options, most also gluten-free and/or paleo, among other things. I have really enjoyed getting these, and plan on getting them throughout September and will feature what I get throughout Vegan Mofo.

This week: a Quinoa Kale Salad in Horseradish Vinaigrette and a Roast Beet & Cabbage Salad with Tahini Dressing.

The verdict: great! Scratch that, the beet dish was FANTASTIC, the other dish was still great!
I ordered one quart of each which for me resulted in enough food for two lunches. The photo truly does not do it justice.

Coconut Curry #321 - Vegan MoFo 2013

I know what you may be thinking, "really?! *another* coconut curry dish?"  It is true, this is one of my favorite go-to dishes.  I decided to lay off on posting this sort of dish unless I had something new to share.  Well, I do have some new things to share about the coconut curry dish I made a couple weeks ago.  

Most of the dish is fairly typical: mock duck, rice noodles, some green beans and Thai peppers.  The sauce even seems typical - coconut milk with yellow curry powder.  However, I really wanted to punch up the sauce so I took some time with it.  I crumbled in a veggie bouillon cube and at least .13-.25 cup  of fresh sliced jalapeños into it and let it simmer for a while to really get that flavor from the peppers.  I also added a bit more coriander powder and some lime juice.  Simple steps to vastly improve one of my favorite simple dishes of all time.  Of course, I don't always have all of those ingredients, but when I do, I will certainly be adding them again.  

Simple Tacos - Vegan MoFo 2013

Vegan MoFo is here! 

Today I made a quick lunch - black beans, corn, fresh salsa, and guacamole in flour tortillas.  I cooked the beans and fire roasted frozen corn (from Trader Joe's) with a little liquid and a Maggi bouillon cube.  The salsa was blended cherry/grape tomatoes, garlic, salt, a jalapeno pepper, some dried coriander, cumin seeds, paprika.  I was out of cilantro so did my best with what I had on hand.  Guacamole was Wholly Guacamole brand.  Took me about 15 minutes from start to finish. 

2013 Vegan Mofo Eve...

I FORGOT VEGAN MOFO WILL BE SEPTEMBER INSTEAD OF OCTOBER THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoops! Whatev. I was able to sign up to be on the blogroll over at Vegan MoFo. So........No theme (again) but aiming for a high percentage of posts for the month. I have been kicking around plenty of ideas of things to cook so this is the motivation I need! I had a ton of fun participating last year and imagine this year will be no different. So enjoy your Saturday, everyone, and see you tomorrow.

Foxy Falafel Food Truck - Stoplight Platter

Today I was able to be in Downtown Minneapolis around 11am, which is when most of the food trucks open for business. 
I was SUPER excited to come across Foxy Falafel, which I have been meaning to try for a long time.  (They just opened a brick & mortar restaurant last year, too!)

I tried the Stoplight Flafel Platter: 2 pieces of the curry, beet, and regular falafel (6 total); cabbage. cucumber, tomato, hummus, served with pita or corn chips.  I added some of Foxy's homemade pickles and some hot sauce.  It was delicious!