2013 Mofo 8 - Hot Sauce

Have lots of garden fresh jalapeños and like hot sauce?  This one is a modified Bobby Flay recipe.  

Some of the jalapeños were red already, so the sauce came out yellow rather than green.  I can't wait to enjoy this spicy tangy hot sauce on my next burrito.  

Jalapeño Hot Sauce

2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

10 Chopped fresh jalapeños 

3 garlic cloves

1 cup rice vinegar

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

2 tsp salt

2 TBS agave

2 TBS dried cilantro

Saute onion, jalapenos, and garlic in oil.  When softened, add vinegars and water and simmer covered for 10 minutes.  Blend together with salt, agave, and cilantro.  Store in an airtight jar in the fridge.

2013 Mofo 7 - Meet-up

Want to meet other vegans in real life?  Go to a vegan meet-up.  If there isn't one where you live, then attend one when traveling to another city, or better yet, start your own!  I host The Westchester NY Veggie Eat-up which came together after the organizers of two area vegetarian groups stepped down and no one was taking them on.  Because I was taking over vegetarian groups, I kept them technically vegetarian, but the diners tend to be or lean towards being vegan.  We always make sure to choose events with a good variety of vegan options.

The site fees are fairly reasonable ($11 a month) and you can charge it back to the members if you want.  I decided to foot the cost, but I suggest that people leave extra for the servers or donate to their favorite animal group in lieu of forking up a buck or two back to me.  I also let other members host meet-ups so that it isn't just me having dinner down the street every month.

Today's meet-up hosted by Carmella of the Food Duo features browsing the Pleasantville, NY Farmer's market with lunch at Bhog Indian following.  Pleasantville has a big and crowded market located in the commuter train parking lot.  I felt a little guilty as I passed my little Tarrytown Farmer's market on the way to Pleasantville, but I've got to say this one is much bigger and really popular.  

I scored some potatoes, onion, and poblanos.  On Carmella's recommendation, I also got the next to last vegan lemon lime square from a local bakery that I'm about to have with my tea.

Lunch was right around the corner at Bhog.  The restaurant manager was really helpful in pointing out the menu items that were already vegan and others that could be made vegan.

I opted for my favorite Southern Indian specialty, Dosa.  These rice pancakes are filled with spiced potatoes and onions.  Despite looking like a heavy burrito it's actually quite light and crispy.  The sauce at the top seemed quite a lot like soup, but is an accompaniment to the dosa and I used the unfilled ends of the crepe-like wrapping to soak up the sauce.  

Here are some of the other eat-up diner's dishes.  Channa Masala (the picky vegan's entree), eggplant, vegetable dosa (served open faced) and cauliflower. 

 
  

Another fantastically fun meet-up organized by The Food Duo.  If you find yourself in the Westchester, NY area, come visit!

2013 Mofo 6 - Ethiopian

I'm no Queen of Sheba but I definitely enjoy my  Ethiopian food.  Tonight I took the husband out for Ethiopian in Mt. Kisco, NY at Lalibela.  He's never had Ethiopian food before, but he dug right in with gusto.  We started with an avocado salad and moved onto a sampler of vegan dishes then enjoyed strong Ethiopian coffee.

The sampler platter includes lentils, split peas, spicy lentils, collard greens, string beans, and cabbage served on injera.  This is a meal to eat with your hands and you tear off bits of bread to scoop up the deliciousness.   

The avocado salad was loaded with fresh jalapeño and was extra spicy!  The best parts are the bits of bread that have been sitting under the dishes soaking up the flavors.   

 On the table they included some information about teff, the grain used to make the spongy injera.

2013 Mofo 5 - Spaghetti

Spaghetti is the ultimate vegan food for anyone.  Simple, elegant, and easy.  From plain 'ole marinara to fancy fake meaty cheesiness, there's something for everyone.  There are plenty of whole grain, gourmet, or gluten free pastas on the market for endless options.  If you're feeling really adventurous, you can make your own fresh pasta with flour, salt, and water.  

I had a few extra tomatoes that didn't get canned yesterday, so I added some beans, mushrooms, onions, and garlic for a rustic late summer sauce.  Nutritional yeast makes a nice parmesan like-topping and even comes in a very similar looking container to any green packaged stuff you grew up with.    

2013 Mofo 4 - Mason Jars

Canning summer produce such as tomatoes is the old fashioned use for mason jars.  I got a little too much air in some of them, but they're sealed.  It's a lot of work for something you can get in the store for about a buck and a half, but I'm sure in January when I have garden fresh tomatoes, I'll be glad I did this.    

Here's my 25 lb box of tomatoes from my CSA before being peeled and stuffed into jars.

Other cool accessories for your mason jars...

Solar light

Cuppow

Sprouting top

2013 Mofo 3 - Rancho Gordo

You all know the song.  Beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot!
And the joke: Why did the Irishman only eat 239 beans?  Because one more would make him Too-Farty!  (argh, argh, argh - Irish brogue implied)

Still reading?  If you like beans anyway because they're a healthy source of protein and wicked delicious then check out Rancho Gordo.

This haul is just what I still have in the packages from a couple of different orders.  I store the opened ones in (duh) mason jars.  I know it seems like dried beans are dried beans, but these beans are DEFINITELY fresher than what you'll find in the grocery store.  They rehydrate quickly upon soaking and cook faster, too.  The company supports small harvests and small farmers mainly in Mexico.

In addition to beans Rancho Gordo offers some unusual products that of course I just had to try.

Xoxoc - Dehydrated prickly pear

Vinagre de Platano - Yup, it's banana vinegar

La Paloma hot sauce - the best lots-of-flavor not-much-heat chile sauce suitable for anyone who likes the spice without the heat.  It's less hot-spicy than green tabasco.

Hand crafted stone ground cacao - for hot chocolate and what not

Oregano - Mexican and Indio - yes, of course I needed them both

Sal Mixteca - Special Oaxacan salt that magically softens beans       

For lots of awesome recipes with fancy bean suggestions check out The Great Vegan Bean Book by Kathy Heston.  

And for some lick-the-screen chocolate peanut butter brownie cookies made with beans, check out today's wing it vegan's mofo post.  Photo included for extra screen licking temptation, but go on over to her blog because River is awesome.   

2013 Mofo 2 - Dehydrator

Vegan cuisine wouldn't be the same without a little uncooking.

I finally got an Excalibur dehydrator.  I have a ridiculously small kitchen, but I got the 9 tray anyway.  I'm surprised at how often I end up using all the trays at one time.  The CSA peaches and plums from yesterday were already ripe, so to save them from the fruit flies (sorry fruit flies) I decided to preserve the fruit for another time. 

This dehydrator is proving to be a useful and fun gadget as I try to incorporate more raw foods into my diet.  Not super cheap, but they have a few options with and without timers and 4, 5, or 9 trays and lots of new colors.  I like that the trays are all square so you can rotate easily.  The best place to get the dehydrator is from the manufacturer.  They frequently have sales and free shipping if you time it right.         

I got Death Star cantaloupe also in the CSA haul, so I still have fresh fruit for the week.

Cheers!

2013 Mofo 1 - Vegan Spice Rack

The Vegan Month of Food or MoFo is upon us and it's in September for the first time which means we've still got lots of summer veggies in season.  This is my sixth mofo!  The amazing organizers are still finalizing the blog roll, so I'm not on it just yet for some reason, but you can check out all the other cool vegan bloggers participating this year.

I'm starting off the Mofo with my spice rack arsenal.      

I spend all year thinking up themes and posts for the Mofo, but eventually I just end up posting whatever seems to be on my mind at the time.  Today I alphabetized my spice rack, so that explains this post in a nutshell.  Pretty much all spices and herbs are vegan and there are many "meat" blends that make vegetables extra meaty.

I do dig Penzeys, so here's some of my favorite blends and what to do with them:

Breakfast Sausage Seasoning - Mix into meat substitute or roasted potatoes for an easy breakfast sausage flavor

Chicago Steak Seasoning - sprinkle on and grill portabella mushrooms for an amazing not-a-steak

Italian Sausage Seasoning - Mix into meat substitute or eggplant and add to pasta sauce for a nice fennel sausage taste without the meat and fat

Pizza Seasoning - Similar to the italian sausage seasoning, but added to homemade pizzas or garlic bread adds a nice pizzeria touch

Poultry Seasoning - Instantly livens up vegetable broth into un-chickeny goodness.  Also nice added to mashed or baked potatoes

I just placed an order to restock and I'm trying the berebere and the Bratwurst Sausage Seasonings.  I'll let you know how they are in later posts.  Penzeys has some brick and mortar stores, but the one in Grand Central closed, and I usually spend enough for free shipping, so on line works great.

The actual spice rack is Elfa from the container store.  I find it flexible and it holds a lot for the space it's in.  I can move the shelves and half pint mason jars also fit into the small racks.  

Happy Mofo!

Energy Balls from simple ingredients you probably already have hiding in your pantry

Actually if you flatten the balls like the ones in the front you can pass them off as cookies.  So I was going through my "pantry" which is really a closet next to the kitchen stacked with bins that are packed with mason jars which are stuffed with vacuum sealed, non-perishable foodstuffs.  Don't worry, I am prepared to eat well in case of natural disaster, power-outage, or other armageddon scenarios that would keep me in my apartment.

In the pantry I found some prunes.  I guess I like prunes since I'm the one that bought them and I consider them a healthy snack, but it's not like I sit around thinking, "oh, I'm totally in the mood for some prunes."  So here they languish in the pantry discovered only when I dig in to reorganize.  This time I was determined to do something with them so a quick google search led to some options, the easiest being these raw nut balls.  I modified it a bit and ended up with a tasty treat that I think will make a good 11am work snack when I'm usually starving but convinced it's still too early for lunch.

These were wicked easy and tasty.  I'll probably try them again with some different combinations.

Coconut prune balls

Balls:
1 cup prunes (soaked 1 hour and drained)
1 cup walnuts (soaked 1 hour and drained)
1/4 cup cranberries (soaked 1 hour and drained)
2 oz dark chocolate finely chopped
1 TBS maca powder (optional)

Coating:
1/2 cup shredded coconut reserved for coating

In a high speed blender or food processor, blend together all balls ingredients except coconut and add a little water or soaking liquid if it's too stiff.  You want to be able to mold it like cookie dough.

Shape into 1 to 1 1/2 tsp bite sized balls, and roll around in the coconut to coat.  It's ok if some of the coconut gets mixed in and this makes them even better.  Place on a silpat lined baking sheet and refrigerate until firm.  Store in air-tight mason jars if you have them or a ziplock bag will do.  Even better make into serving sized portions and store in smaller mason jars or snack sized bags.

Enjoy!

I made your favorite; spaghetti with lots of oregano...and a secret ingredient.

Ah.  I can't resist a Heather's quote blog post.  Veronica, dinner!

Cappellini pasta pairs perfectly with summer veggies.  Mostly CSA haul: Japanese eggplant, yellow and green pattypan squash, onions, garlic, heirloom tomatoes, basil, olive oil, vegetable paste, and lots of oregano!  

Here's my latest secret ingredient.  Vegetable paste.  It's mostly like tomato paste, but also includes assorted vegetables such as celery, carrots, onions, and parsley with a little olive oil, sugar, and salt.  I found it at Chef Central in the gourmet foods section, but you may be able to find it in the normal grocery store with the Italian stuff.

More umami than regular old tomato paste, this amped up paste is really tasty added to vinaigrette and soups.

Vegan Ethiopian Food - Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food and NY Meet-up at Lalibela Mt. Kisco

My recent vegan Ethiopian craving came about when I got Kittee's zine Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food at Herbivore when I was in Portland.  I met Kittee in real life at the Vida Vegan Con and she is even cooler in person than in the blog-o-sphere!

I made the injera fake-outs which turned out pretty OK despite me having really no idea what I was doing.  Work has been pretty crazy so instead of making the other awesome recipes in the book, I made an ethiopian fake-out salad with Trader Joe's salsa, avocado, and some berbere seasoning I bought at a spice shop in Grand Central Market.

All this fake-out'in was good, but I needed the real thing.  A quick magical google search for Ethiopian found Lalibela in Mt. Kisco, so I figured why not set-up a meet up? 

We had our meet-up tonight which turned out to be really fun and delicious.

The communal dining experience can be a little weird among relative strangers, but everyone was game and even the initial non-sharers decided to join in the fun.  The dishes are lentils, spicy lentils, split peas, string beans, cabbage, and collard greens.  We also enjoyed some Ethiopian beer and coffee.

Duo of Cold Summer Soups - Avocado cream soup and Gazpacho

Cool off from the sticky summer heat with a duo of cold soups.  The Avocado Cream Soup came from the Practically Raw cookbook and the Gazpacho is the traditional Moosewood version I've been making for many years now.  You can start with cold ingredients and it's ready right away or let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.  

I tried some fancy food styling and that's supposed to look like a yin yang sign.  Whatever, it was delicious!  I don't think the V8 juice I used counts as raw, but everything else is raw and mostly came from the CSA this morning.

I'm digging the Practically Raw book by Amber Shea Crawley.  I had made a few things using the oven, but now that I finally broke down and got a n Excalibur Dehydrator, I'm sure I'll make even more.  

Vegan Bacon Bits - Steel cut oats experiment

Let's face it.  Fresh ripe summer tomatoes need bacon.  It doesn't need to be pig based bacon, but a salty smoky accompaniment is required for summer eatin'.

Steel cut oats bacon - Take 1

1 TBS Liquid Smoke

1 TBS Soy Sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp hot paprika

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup steel cut oats

Mix together liquid smoke, soy sauce, salt, onion powder, paprika, and water then add the oats.  I used a pint sized wide mouth mason jar with a lid.  Shake it around a bit and let soak until the liquid is absorbed (I left it overnight.)  Stir or shake occasionally to evenly distribute the marinade.  I made this last weekend before my new Excalibur dehydrator arrived (more on that later,) so I dried the mixture in the oven.  Turned it on to around 200 degrees for an hour, then turned it off and let them sit.  They weren't quite crunchy, so I did the same again - 200 degrees for an hour then turn off.

Not a bad experiment and I used them in chopped salad all week for smoky bacony flavor, but they were still on the chewy side and not quite perfect bacon bits just for snacking.  Also quite tasty on a fBALT sandwich (fake bacon avocado lettuce tomato.)

I'm clearly on a mission to make anything taste like bacon, so I'll work on it
and keep you posted.
    

Vegan BBQ Torta from Mendocino Farms LA

The Vegan BBQ Torta is a 3 napkin sammich.  It's spicy and messy, but freakin' delish.  Boasting thinly sliced seitan in spicy smoky BBQ sauce, baked beans, avocado, candied jalapeños, and vegenaise on toasted ciabatta, this artisan sandwich really packs a punch.  Too bad it's my last day here or I'd be back to try the vegan banh mi later.  They also have a vegan veggie burger and a vegan Shawarma and a bunch of vegan sides.  Rock on!

Despite some convention sucking up all the hotel rooms downtown this week, I somehow lucked out and booked a supercool hotel room at The Standard that's around the corner from the office.  My room was totally rock star retro and featured a very bizarre foot "sculpture" prominently in the ginormous bathroom.  Hanging out with work colleagues on the roof deck was totally LA chic to boot even though the pool was closed.  

LA is definitely growing on me and the weather has been fantastic!

Finishing up the work day then taking the red eye home.

And yes, I have had "Walking in LA" by Missing Persons in my head the whole time!

Farmer's Market Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Late spring brings fresh rhubarb and bright strawberries to the farmer's market.

This quick and easy cobbler is the perfect balance of sweet and tart with a savory biscuit topping.   

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

1 pint fresh strawberries (quartered)
2 stalks fresh rhubarb (about 2 cups chopped)
3/4 cups sugar
2 TBS corn starch

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond milk (or any non-diary milk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Grease a 2 quart baking dish.


Mix together strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, and corn starch and pour into the baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, flaxseed, baking powder, salt, almond milk, and oil.

Use 2 teaspoons to drop biscuit sized dollops on top, then use spread out gently.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Easier than pie!