Now I Know My ABC’s

4 Comments

I’m late, but since I have time this morning I decided to play the blogger ABC Game that I saw other bloggers doing this week.

A. Age: 25.

B. Bed size: Double.

C. Chore you hate: Dishes!!! I hate the dishes especially putting them away

D. Dogs: I want one, now.

E. Essential start to your day: Water! It’s a great way to start the day- wakes up your cells

F. Favorite color: Green and Pink

G. Gold or silver: Silver or white gold and yellow gold just for fun

H. Height: 5’4.

I. Instruments you play: I currently don’t play anything but I did play piano as a child.

J. Job title: I wear many hats- Board Certified Holistic Health Coach, Administrative Assistant, Domestic Goddess, Blogger

K. Kids: Kids? I like them. Will we have our own….not sure.

L. Live: Vermont with my Canadian Husband

M. Mom’s name: Patricia.

N. Nicknames: Lindz. As a child my dad used to call me Porkchop and when I went to university in New Brunswick, Canada I picked up the nickname Vermont.

O. Overnight hospital stays: When I was born.

P. Pet peeve: I have many but my biggest are omnivores calling themselves carnivores- idiots your don’t just eat meat.

carnivore |ˈkärnəˌvôr| noun–> an animal that feeds on flesh.

Q. Quote from a movie: “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.”

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: Older. Nada.

T. Time you wake up: most mornings between 5:30am-6am

U. Underwear: Yes I wear them.

V. Vegetables you dislike: umm there really aren’t many that I don’t like- I do hate canned mushrooms though.

W. What makes you run late: Neil, the Hubz.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, ankles, knee.

Y. Yummy food you make: I make lots of yummy food– just now I ate a delicious quesadilla with leftover sauteed veggies and seitan- yum!

Z. zoo- favorite animal: I don’t like zoo’s but I do love animals and I really love giraffes

If you did the blogging abc game, share the link!

Recipe: Chorizo & Mushroom Potato Skins

5 Comments

Upton’s Naturals sent me a variety of their seitans for review last week and I have been working my way through the flavors.  Last night I decided to make stuffed potato skins with the chorizo along with mushrooms, onions, garlic and topped with vegan cheese.  The chorizo was really delicious, nice and smoky and the texture was great.

Chorizo and Mushroom Stuffed Potato Skins

Yields 3 servings as a main, 6 as a side or appetizer

Ingredients:

  • 3 baking potatoes, baked at 350F for 1hr 15 min and cooled
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4-5 button mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 package of Upton’s Naturals chorizo seitan
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/3-1/2 cup shredded vegan cheese
  • Garnishes: diced tomato, arugula, thinly sliced green onions and my smoked paprika aioli from my latest e-book

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425F. Slice the cooled potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides just enough to stuff with 2-3 tablespoons of filling; place on a baking sheet and set to the side.
  2. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat; stir in the onions and cook for 5-6 minutes until soft and translucent.  Stir in the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Stir in the chorizo, salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes- vegetables should start to caramelize and everything combine.
  3. Scoop 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture into each of the potato skins; using all of the filling.  Top with shredded vegan cheese- as much or as little as you like.
  4. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil- making sure to tent the foil so that the cheese does not stick ot the foil. Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for 5 more minutes until the cheese has melted and the potato skins are lightly brown.
  5. Plate and garnish with your favorite toppings.
Disclaimer: Upton’s Naturals provided me with a their seitan for product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway. For more details read my bylaws.

Weekend Wrap Up: Art Shows, Cooking and Movies

3 Comments

The Hubz and I started off our weekend with a bagel and coffee from City Market and then headed to my G-Ma’s to visit, have lunch and then we headed to her art show.  Over the past 10 or so years my G-Ma has taken up painting and each year there is a seniors art show where she features her art work- check it out:

G-Ma's Art

G-Ma and Aunt Carol with G-Ma's Art

'rents and G-Ma art the art show

After spending the afternoon at G-Ma’s art show we headed to my parents house to visit with them before they head to warm, sunny Florida for 6 weeks *colour me jealous*. When we arrived we were greeted by this site:

The roof on the old barn at my parents house caved in last week due to the heavy, wet snow causing the entire barn to crumble.  It is a huge loss for them and sad to see.

We spent the remainder on the night relaxing, looking over old photos:

My G-Ma and Grandpa (Dad's parents)

I love looking back at old photos and checking out the fashion back then- don’t they look so classy? Whatever happened to nice dresses and suits?

For dinner I decided to try out some of the seitan that Upton’s Naturals sent me in one of the recipes from Appetite for Reduction for the Cookbook Club. I made the Caulipots and the Portabello Pepper Steak Stew – my first recipes from Appetite for Reduction and both I really liked and so did the ‘rents and Hubz.

The Portabello Pepper Steak Stew does not call for kale but my mom had some that needed to be used up so I added it to the stew and it was a great addition.  The stew was nice and peppery and the sauce was so tasty.  I have to say salt was the only thing that the recipe needed a little more of but that may have been do to the vegetable broth that I was using.  The Caulipots were good but I think I would try one of the variations that the cookbook includes because I really felt that there was a lack for flavor- again may have been partially due to the broth.  Overall though I liked both recipes an it is a good start to this months Cookbook Club.

Sunday we headed home early so that the Hubz and I could get some work done at home (on our computers).  We spent most of the day except when we headed out for groceries sitting on the couch enjoying leftover stew and caulipots as well as a few Oscar Best Picture nominated movies in preparation for our Oscar party next Sunday.  We watched:

Out of the four we watched Winter’s Bone was by far my favorite- the movie is not weighed down by A List celebrities and the acting and story is really amazing. I would recommend that everyone see this – it is really a powerful movie.  We still have to watch The King’s Speech, The Fighter, True Grit and Toy Story 3, however we are only planning to watch the first 3 and if we have time we will watch Toy Story 3 before Sunday.  So far my top three nominated films are Black Swan, Inception and Winter’s Bone. Which one is your favorite? Are you planning anything for the Oscars?

Valentines Do-Over

4 Comments

Over the years it has become a tradition that I cook a special Valentine’s meal for the Hubz. Our first Valentine’s meal that I created for the Hubz was on the Valentine’s of 2007 and I decided that this year I would attempt to recreate that meal. I luckily blogged about the meal back then and was able to help me in remembering exactly what I created as well as see how far I have come.

Back in 2007 I made a 5 course meal that even included RC Cola with heart shaped ice cubes. I re-created the entire meal on Friday night with the exception of the dessert which I was lacking on time to make. Take a look at then and now:

One of the dishes I made on our first Valentine’s Day was roasted red pepper soup; a recipe that I had found on VegCooking.com and now looking back at the recipe I am appalled at how much vegan margarine was in the recipe- gross. For mine this year all I did was saute a diced onion and two diced carrots in 2 teaspoons of olive oil until soft and then added two cups of vegetable broth and brought a simmer for 15 minutes.  I then purred it with 1 cup chopped roasted red pepper and added a splash of unsweetened almond milk.  Not only is the recipe better and healthier but it looks better too.

Next is the sun-dried tomato pesto pasta- a dish that I made back in 2007 using oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.  This year I made a twist on things; I soaked 5 sun-dried tomatoes and 1 dried chipotle pepper in hot water until soft and added it too a mini chopper with 1/4 cup of walnuts, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1Tbsp olive oil, 1Tbsp nutritional yeast and about 2-3Tbsp of the soaking water.  I tossed the pesto with Jovial Fusilli whole grain pasta. Now this was a huge improvement over my first attempt at sun-dried tomato pesto and the Hubz loved the auce which I will be recreating with a more detailed recipe for the blog.

So this is the dish that I think made some of the biggest improvements, it went from mushroom stuffed crescent rolls to mushroom pate puffs.  I sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic and a little sweet soy, white pepper and salt and then processed until smooth.  I spread half the mixture out onto a rolled out piece of puffed pastry and then rolled it up, cut and baked. Easy as that but fancier, tastier and better for you.

For the last dish I made stuffed portobello mushrooms that I marinated in balsamic vinaigrette and stuffed with a mixture of sauteed Gimme Lean Sausage, Italian breadcrumbs (whole foods brand is vegan) and the second half of the mushroom puree. Then I baked at 400F for about 20 minutes. They came out wonderfully.

My Valentine’s Do Over was a fun way to bring us back to our first Valentine’s Day and have a giggle over my blog post from back then and how far my cooking and blogging has come.

My Thoughts on Veganomicon

4 Comments

Layout

  • Is the layout clear? The layout of the book is clear; it starts with a detailed table of contents that breaks the book down into introduction and other things you may need to know before you start cooking. It then lists the categories and all of the recipes and their page numbers.  I really like how it is set up because it creates a directory at the front of the book that works as a reference tool when looking for specific recipes.
  • Are you able to easily tell the ingredients apart from the instructions and the notes? Are the instructions easy to follow? The ingredients list is very easily distinguishable in the recipe.  The ingredients are in bold, headings are in light green and directions are in standard black text. This makes the recipes easy to follow.  Additionally the commentary for each recipe is at the top and in italics which again separates it from the ingredients and directions.
  • Are the recipes numbered or is the section labeled? The recipes are referenced by category and page number in the table of contents and are easy to locate throughout the book.

Aesthetics

  • Does the cookbook feature photos? If yes, is there a photo for every recipe? Veganomicon features one section in the middle of the book with featured photos. In this selection of photos, they’ve included photos of recipes from every category. However, with more than 250 recipes in the book you will not find a photo for every recipe.
  • Do the photos of the recipes look like the actual results? The recipes that I have made that do have photos were the Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls and Chickpea Cutlets both of which their photos looked like my results.
  • What kind of paper is the book printed on? I actually really like the paper that the book is printed on.  I am no expert in papers but it is a nice heavy, off-white paper that doesn’t strain the eyes and compliments the ink.
  • How is the quality of the photos? The photo quality is decent.  The photos look nice but they did not seem to be professionally done. I really wish there had been more photos.

Recipes

  • How many recipes are in the cookbook? I didn’t take the time to count them all, but according to the Post Punk Kitchen website there are over 250 recipes in Veganomicon.
  • What kinds of recipes will you find in this cookbook? The kinds of recipes you can find in the book are: snacks, appetizers, little meals, dips, spreads, brunch dishes, salads and dressings, sandwiches, vegetables, grains, beans, tofu, tempeh, seitan, soups, casseroles, on-pot meals, pasta, noodles and risotto, sauces and fillings, baked goods, cookies and desserts. Basically everything you could imagine and recipes with influences from around the world.
  • Is there a theme to the recipes? While there was no common cultural theme, the recipes all seemed to be common, everyday type meals.
  • Are the recipes complex or simple? Would they be good for seasoned cooks and/or beginners? I found that the recipes for the most part were pretty simple with the exception of a few dishes involving seitan which becomes slightly more complex.  I think that the book could be good for both seasoned cooks and beginners.

Ingredients and supplies

  • Are the recipe ingredients easy to find? For the most part all of the ingredients are easy to find.  There are a couple of dishes that have items such as jicama or yuca which can be a little more difficult to locate in certain areas, but there are very few recipes that have items you can’t find in your average grocery market.
  • Are there any items that stand out as being expensive or specialty? Besides those two items there isn’t really anything that stands out as specialty and nothing too expensive.
  • Are there particular appliances that will be required such as blenders, juicers, dehydrators, ect? For some recipes you will need a food processor, blender and/or immersion blender and possibly a crepe pan.

Information

  • Does this cookbook provide additional useful information? This cookbook does start with an introduction section that provides you with information about cooking beans, grains and vegetables.  It also gives you a list of items that are needed to stock a Veganomicon pantry and the kitchen equipment you will likely need.  Lastly it discuss the icons that are used throughout the book and various cooking and prepping terminology.

The Recipes I Tried:

Specifically for the Cookbook Club I tried the following recipes:

Snobby Joes

  • How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste? The recipe turned out pretty bad.  This is one of my least favorite recipes in the book.  I found that it ended up as a big pile of lentil mash and the flavor was really lacking- it needed additional spices.
  • Was the recipe easy to follow? The recipe was not very easy to follow- I started out confused because the recipe calls for 1 cup uncooked lentils but does not specify what type of lentils to use.  Now I think this is where the recipe went wrong because I used red lentils, what I had on hand, and I think that they became over cooked.  Due to the fact that no specific lentil was named in the recipe and no photo of the recipe in the book It was hard to tell which would be best.  Additionally, I found that the addition of the maple syrup to the recipe just made it too sweet and was really unnecessary.

Chickpeas Cutlets

  • How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste? I thought that this recipe turned out well and even looked similar to the photo in the book.  They were tasty and an easy way to introduce people to products made with vital wheat gluten.
  • Was the recipe easy to follow? I did have a few issues with the recipe.  One of the major issues I had was the layout of the recipe.  The second step is to add all remaining ingredients and when I did this I went in the order they are listed; logically that seems like the way to go.  Well when doing this you add the liquid ingredients to the vital wheat gluten before you have added all of the spices which caused the mixture to clump up and not combine well and I had to add additional water to get the mixture to come together.  Now what I have learned from my experience using vital wheat gluten you really need to mix the dry ingredients and the wet separately and then add the wet to the dry to get an even mixture. Aside from the issue with the ordering of ingredients, I really did like this recipe. Although, if it had been a few years ago before I had started working with vital wheat gluten I would probably have not known what to do and just given up and thrown the mixture away.

Mustard Sauce

  • How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste? I really loved the flavor of this sauce.  I served it over the chickpea cutlets and they really made a great pair.  Now I am a huge sucker for mustard of any kind, so this was perfect to me.
  • Was the recipe easy to follow? My criticism of this recipe will only make sense to those who have the first edition or possibly earlier additions of the book because edits have been done throughout the book and specifically to this recipe.  The issue I encountered with this recipe was that there was a step missing that added essential ingredients from the ingredient list.   If you know how to make a sauce you will know when to add these missing ingredients, but for those who don’t you may want to look at newer editions of the book.

Lower-Fat Banana Bread

  • How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste? I made this recipe as muffins. This recipe was as big hit with the husband.  He has been asking me to make more every since he finished off the last muffin.
  • Was the recipe easy to follow? The recipe was easy to follow, tasty and lower in fat which was a win overall.

Sauteed Seitan With Mushrooms and Spinach

  • How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste? This recipe tasted good and came together easy. It is a good easy weeknight meal that is filling and could be served with pasta, bread, rice or you could even put it in a wrap.
  • Was the recipe easy to follow? This recipe was easy to follow and overall came out just like I had expected.

In addition to the recipes I tried for the Cookbook Club I have also made the Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls, Saffron-Garlic Rice, Chickpeas Romesco and Caesar Salad.  Out of all of the recipes I tried the Spicy Temeph Nori Rolls and the Chickpeas Romesco were the favorites and probably the only recipes i would  make again.

Overall I think that Veganomicon is just an okay vegan cookbook. I don’t think that it lives up to the title of the “Ultimate Vegan Cookbook” that it is given on the cover.  There are a number of recipes that  I just won’t make because they are filled with oil and the recipes I have made all lack seasoning.  For me when I think of the “ultimate vegan cookbook” I think of a book that I will keep going back to for reference, for my favorite recipes and for inspiration.   I don’t get any of this out of Veganomicon. I think out of all of the Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero cookbooks that this is my least favorite.  Isa’s Vegan Brunch or Isa and Terry’s Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World or Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar are three books I go back to over and over again for reference and inspiration and they include some of my favorite recipes.

What do you think about Veganomicon?

Also don’t forget to check out what other Cookbook Club members are saying and learn how you can sign up to participate in the the next cookbook review – Appetite For Reduction.

You Had Me At Cornbread

3 Comments

This past Saturday we finally made it to Angelica Kitchen, a restaurant that has been on my “To Try” list for years. We met up with my girlfriend Cate for lunch at noon which was perfect timing because the place filled up quickly and within 20 minutes there was a long waiting list. It took a while or us to make a decision as to what we wanted to get because there are so many really yummy sounding dishes on the menu.

To start the Hubz and I ordered the Angelica Cornbread, a wheat free cornbread that I have heard raving reviews about on a number of blogs. Now this is not your traditionally fluffy cornbread, it is dense and filled with whole grains. It is really delicious and worth the raving about. We also ordered a side of the miso tahini spread to go with it; it was good but the cornbread would have been fine on it’s own.

For my main dish I decided to go with the special of the day which was tofu with a chickpea miso sauce, veggies, quinoa pilaf and an Asian guacamole. I thought that the dish was really good and I loved the Asian guacamole; then again I love anything with avocado. Although the dish was really tasty and made with high quality ingredients I have to say at $16 the dish was a little pricey for what I got but oh well it was still delicious and (almost) worth it.

The Hubz went with the Thai Me Up entree which is An All Raw Entree – delicate strands of daikon radish, butternut squash & carrot, on a bed of garlic-lemon marinated kale, dressed with Thai tahini sauce. This dish was absolutely incredible and I am so jealous that I didn’t get it. We both really loved the noodles and the sauce but the star was the garlic-lemon marinated kale; it was incredible. This is a dish that I would recommend you order whether as the entree or the smaller appetizer version.

Cate ordered the Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad A seasonal selection of roasted vegetables tossed with arugula
in a balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with garlic crostini spread with creamy hummus. I only tried a small bite of one of the veggies which was really tasty so I can’t really tell you overall how the dish was but lets just say there wasn’t anything left when Cate was done. Cate also got a soy chai tea which she raved about and went back for seconds.

Overall this has easily become one of my favorite restaurants in NYC; I think that the price can be a little high for everyday eating but it is a great spot to visit when you are in the city. I am ready to head back and try everything else on the menu.