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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

OK, so I'm using this template and couldn't figure out how to get comments to work... But I finally figured it out and now they're working. Comment away!

What it's like to have ADD

1. In the bathroom, getting ready for work. Realize you need your prescription, which you picked up from the pharmacy yesterday. It's in your bag on the kitchen counter.

2. Head to the kitchen and see the huge stack of dishes from the meal you cooked last night. Decide to unload the dishwasher, and reload and run it with all the new dishes.

3. (10 minutes later) Return to the bathroom to resume getting ready for work and realize that you still don't have your prescription. Return to kitchen, beeline back to the vanity to complete getting ready before you get distracted.

4. Finish getting ready, head back to the kitchen to let the dog out.

5. Open the door, notice new squash blooms in the garden and think "I have to get the camera and get a couple of shots so I can post an update about the garden."

6. Head to your desk to get the camera. Decide you just want to do a quick check of email.

7. (5 minutes later) Get up from desk and head to kitchen to get coffee, prep lunch. See the back door is still open and go to close it. Look out the door and see the squash blooms. Head back to desk to get the camera. Sit down and write blog post about being ADD.

Meatless Monday - Seitanic Red and White Bean Jambalaya

Monday, June 1, 2009

And now for something completely different...

This one is straight out of one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks of all time, Veganomicon. I had to make a few adaptations based on what I had on hand, so we'll see what happens! Full disclosure, part 1: I'm making this at 10:30 at night and don't plan to eat it until tomorrow. Part 2? I've never made this recipe before! I'll post a follow up to let you know how it is.

Seitanic Red and White Bean Jambalaya



Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp. olive oil
• 16 oz. Seitan (I used store bought) Note 1
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 stalks celery, cut into small dice Note 2
• 4 cloves garlic, minced Note 3
• 3 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup cooking sherry or vegetable broth Note 4
  
• 2 cups long-grain rice, brown or white (I used brown)
• 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15-oz) can white kidney (cannelini) beans Note 5
  
• 1 (15-oz) can red kidney beans
• 1 bay leaf
• 4-6 sprigs fresh thyme (optional but really great here... but I didn't have any)
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram (yeah, um, I didn't have this either. I threw in a dash of Tarragon instead)
• 1 tsp. dried paprika
• 1/2 tsp. celery seed (err... I didn't have this either, so I substituted celery salt for the regular salt listed below)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste
• 4 cups vegetable broth
  
• 1 tsp salt
• several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
• chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish (that's probably not going to happen)

Note 1: I only had 8 oz. of seitan
Note 2: I was flat too lazy to go for "small dice" so I made do with slicing down the center of the stalk and chopping. Deal with it.
Note 3: I cheat and use the jar of diced garlic every time. So much easier! Purists, ignore this note. In fact, better yet, you probably ought to stop reading now.
Note 4: I used vegetable broth, but threw in a splash of apple cider vinegar to try to go for that sharp edge you get with the sherry. We'll see.
Note 5: I didn't have the white kidney beans, so I used butter beans. Come to find out, butter beans are really BIG! Who knew?!

Oh, and un-noted Note 6: The book didn't say whether to drain and rinse the beans. I assumed yes.

Instructions below somewhat paraphrased and adapted from the original, but the key information remains the same:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Preheat a large oven-to-table dutch oven (if you have one) over medium heat, or just get out your biggest pot and figure the rest out later. Saute the seitan in 2 tbsp olive oil for 4-6 minutes until lightly browned (don't you think it looks like chicken?! And now, somehow, I'm afraid that may not be politically correct). Remove the seitan from the pot and set aside.




Add the remaining olive oil and the onion, celery, green pepper and garlic. Saute for 12-14 minutes, until the veggies are sorta mushy.


Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, for another 4 minutes.

Stir in the cooking sherry to deglaze the vegetables, cook for 30 seconds, then add the rice. Stir the rice for about 4 minutes.

Then stir in the diced tomatoes, seitan, beans, bay leaf, all of the herbs, and the salt & pepper. Bring to a simmer, pour in the vegetable broth and return to a simmer. Taste the broth and adjust the salt & pepper to taste.


If you are using a dutch oven, cover and put it in the oven for 30-35 minutes (for brown rice, 40-45 minutes). If using a pot, transfer to a deep casserole dish (or two*), cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake. Remove from the oven, stir the jambalaya, then cover and allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

* If you wind up with two, be sure to check that the rice is done before turning off the oven. I cooked mine 45 minutes and when I checked the rice was still a bit "toothy" so I added some broth and put it back in.

Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

So there you go! This one was pretty laborious to prep, but straightforward. We'll see what the results taste like tomorrow - check back then!!

12:37 add-on note: I added some McCormick chipotle pepper seasoning to the finished product, and it is soooo tasty! Y.U.M.! It's delicious.

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep."

- Djalal ad-Din Rumi

Wild Foods Weekend, Episode 5

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Rose

Monday, May 25, 2009

These gorgeous roses are blooming all over the rose bush in my backyard... In spite of my poor care! Thanks to Robin and Malachi for this one...

"When the night has been too lonely,
and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky, and the strong...
Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the sun's love
in the spring
becomes the rose."

Meatless Monday - More Curry!

OK, so I promise that curry is not all that I make. I do love it; it is easy!! I'll come up with something completely different for next week. This recipe is vegan, based on my best look at the ingredients lists. Of course, I threw in a bit of fish sauce that I had, which made it not even vegetarian, but that's optional!!




Red Curry Tofu with Rice Noodles

Ingredients:

This is rough-ish. The great news is, you can adjust to taste, or what you have on hand!

• 1 can Maesri Red Curry Paste
• 2 cans Coconut milk (enough for 2 cups, which is just more than one can)*
• Rice noodles of your preferred thickness, or Basmati rice (my fave!!)
• Extra firm tofu
• Marinade sauce of your preference (I used a combo of Mr. Spice Indian Curry sauce which has nothing bad in it whatsoever [not even salt!!] + House of Tsang Korean Teriyaki Stir-Fry sauce which probably has some bad stuff)
• The usual suspects - garlic & ginger. About 1.5 tsp garlic and 1/2 tsp ginger; both can be either fresh or from a jar
• 1-2 tsp. Chili Garlic Sauce. The one with the Rooster. If you've had it, you know what I mean, if not, see the picture, please.
• Vegetables of your choice (I had some baby bok choy, green pepper and onion)
• Sesame or walnut oil**
• Fresh basil (this part is actually super important for giving the dish a fresh taste... it will still be edible without it, if you must)

* use the light one if you want (I did), but be aware it dilutes the red curry flavor a bit.
** yes, you can use olive or canola oil, but the taste will simply not be the same. Dark sesame oil is the best, followed by walnut oil.

The tofu:
If you buy the lame Kroger or Publix-bought kind, be sure to try to smoosh all the water out of it as best you can before you marinate it. I am in LOVE with the Twin Oaks Community Foods tofu you can get at Annie Kay's and maybe at Eats if you are in Blacksburg. I got the seasoned kind this time, because that was what they had, but I strongly prefer the plain version for this, since you marinate it. If you have the store bought and are smooshing it, it is better that the tofu be broken into crumbles than it wind up being that nasty watery white chewy stuff you might wind up with if you don't smoosh / cook it correctly. Don't kill yourself over it, just do what you can. Yes, tofu is not always the white mushy stuff. If that's all you've ever had, you haven't had good tofu. Smoosh. I just like to say it.

Marinate the tofu in the teriyaki sauce and curry sauce, plus throw in the garlic & ginger. I usually throw in a bit of whatever several saucy seasonings I have open at the time, including some tamari or soy sauce. This is also where the Chili Garlic Sauce comes in.

At any time, cook up your rice noodles. They cook quickly; if you're more talented than I am you can multitask and cook them when cooking up the tofu or (as I prefer), you can cook them up front and set them aside.

Chop up all your veggies while you're waiting on the marinade to be marinated. Mince the fresh basil. If you feel super OCD, go ahead and open the red curry can and mix it with the 2 cups of coconut milk and set it aside.

After your marinade time is up, heat the oil in the pan. Once it's sizzling, dump in your marinated tofu and begin cooking. It will almost certainly take a hella long time. If you haven't cooked tofu, expect more time than you would think you'd expect. You want the tofu to wind up crispy and golden around the edges, which means all the water has to cook off. If you have the Kroger/Publix variety, this takes a very, very long time. It should be to the point where you are asking yourself "is it burnt?" If you are here, please stop and congratulate yourself. It's done!! If you are lucky enough to get handmade tofu like the Twin Oaks version, it will take slightly less time. See before / after pics:


Tofu before: / Tofu after:

Once the tofu is done, throw in your veggies. These can be whatever you have. In my ideal world it would probably be chopped baby bok choy, red bell peppers, and onions. In this day's world it was baby bok choy, green bell pepper and onion. You'll want to cook these down (greens until thoroughly wilted, onions to opaque).

At the end of the cooking time, throw in your Red Curry Paste mix, which is the can of Red Curry + the coconut milk.

Once this has heated, as the very last step throw in some minced fresh basil. Immediately remove from the heat and serve the red curry mix over the noodles.