Dear United States of America,
Thank you for proving to me, the world, and that retired stock broker next door that this nation was built on the backs of the middle class and we do in fact still vote. It is like a cloud has finally moved out of the way of the sun on a slightly cold day making it bearable outside with just a long sleeve t-shirt. I am happy.
Goodnight,
Nicole
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Bean Poisoning!
Twice! Twice now I have gone to the grocery store to find that they were completely out of canned white beans. Is there an international shortage I should be aware of? Did all the white bean growers/canners have their businesses foreclosed on? What is going on? I wouldn't have been so upset if white beans weren't such a staple food at my table. I use them in so many dishes. My new favorite thing to do with them is make White Bean Sage Ravioli. Instead of reaching for the far inferior lima beans the grocery store would have me buy as a disgusting substitute, I decided to take on one of my greatest fears. I was going to make my beans the old fashioned way- starting from dried. My heart was racing. I looked side to side in the canned vegetable isle flicking my head as I finally and dramatically fixed my sights on an over head security camera. I narrowed my eyes and thought, "If you can hear me S&W bean company, that's right. I've decided to step outside your tin box." I marched over two isles to the bulk foods section and dispensed bin #614's organic navy bean contents at only $1.29/lb. With beans in bag I went home to do some research. Years ago my brother gave me The Joy of Vegetarian Cooking for my birthday. To be honest, I rarely use this book as it is completely cheese-centric, but I remembered that it had a whole section devoted to cooking beans. In my youth I would scoff at these pages thinking, "Yeah right. Like there will ever be a time I won't be able to find white beans flooding from the store shelves." How naive I was... What the book told me is that beans are not in a hurry to be cooked. First I would have to soak the beans in water overnight. This method seemed outlandishly over cautious. What food worth eating takes this long to prepare? Certainly nothing I wanted to make would require this level of comittment. I decided to consult the internet. What I found will horrify you! If ever there was a true Halloween tale of kitchen terror it was this. According to the FDA there is a serious illness known as Bean Poisoning. Stop laughing; this is true! This is the secret that keeps us all addicted to the canned varieties. Without proper education we could poison ourselves! What!? Okay, enough fear mongering. There is a sure fire way to avoid Bean Poisoning. Believe it or not it starts with soaking your beans over night to leach out some of the toxic phytohemagglutinin. I would have to be patient. Secondly you must cook your beans until they have reached an internal temperature greater than 176 degrees F. If you fail to heat them past this point, and this no joke, the toxin becomes more potent! So, armed with this knowledge I soaked my beans last night and boiled them this morning-vigorously for 15 mins and then allowed them to simmer until they were soft. I might have over cooked them a little bit but they tasted great. I ate 5 beans and am currently waiting to see if I show any signs of Bean Poisoning before I test them out on Justice. We'll know in 3-5 hours as there is a 100% rate of illness. That's just the kind of mad scientist I am. If you succeed in making your own beans without spending a day on the toilet, you can make my ravioli. Isn't that a risk you are willing to take?
White Bean Sage Ravioli
1 cup cooked white beans
2 tbsp. dried sage
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sauted white onion
1 cup cooked spinach
olive oil as needed
Sheets of uncooked ravioli pasta.
Place all ingredients in a food processor except the oil. Turn the machine on and add the olive oil until a paste forms. Place teaspoon sized drops onto the ravioli sheets and fold them over to form little pouches. Seal them and cut them out. Boil in a large pot of salted water for 3-5 mins. Drain and serve with marinara sauce.
Happy Halloween!!!
White Bean Sage Ravioli
1 cup cooked white beans
2 tbsp. dried sage
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sauted white onion
1 cup cooked spinach
olive oil as needed
Sheets of uncooked ravioli pasta.
Place all ingredients in a food processor except the oil. Turn the machine on and add the olive oil until a paste forms. Place teaspoon sized drops onto the ravioli sheets and fold them over to form little pouches. Seal them and cut them out. Boil in a large pot of salted water for 3-5 mins. Drain and serve with marinara sauce.
Happy Halloween!!!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
From the Archives
Because it has been so long since I posted I decided this should be a double header. I actually started this entry over a year ago but never posted it as I was afraid it was too "preachy". After reviewing it I just think it is funny. Let me know what you think...
Unless I am having a meltdown because of jet lag or the inevitable destruction of man brought on by Mother Nature, I have not swayed from the subject matter at hand- i.e. the recipes. So you will excuse me, I hope, that I wish to gush about what I found at a garage sale today. Fear not, it all starts out with the insane wastefulness of the milk industry.
This morning when I arrived at my job I found that the backroom fridge was open and all the milk had entered what is known in the restaurant industry as "The Danger Zone". As much as this title conjures up images of curdled milk and various shades of green let me assure you that it is only alluding to the temperature range in which bacteria multiply rapidly. Having said this let me assure you that I in no way feel that "The Danger Zone" is something to ignore. It is very real! And here I was half asleep at 4'0clock in the morning dealing with 30 gallons of milk with varying degrees of fat content that had been cast into the zone. There was nothing I could do. The zone is not a sort of milk purgatory from which enough prayer and refrigeration can save a once greater than 41 degrees F dairy product from eternal damnation, or in this case simply being dumped down the sink. Thirty gallons milk is a lot to dump down a sink. Thirty gallons of milk that were meant to feed a baby cow are now in a sewage treatment facility. I was now faced with replacing thirty gallons of wasted wastefulness so I drove to a grocery store. In retelling the above part of my story I have just fully grasped how sad it is and can now assure you that what I found at the garage sale I passed on the way back to work does not in any way make up for this tragedy. Cow's milk is meant for baby cows and was not predestined to be put into baked goods or, no matter how billowy or perfect the foam, the world's most perfect cappuccino. This having been said, I found the most awesome cooking tools at said garage sale!!!
For 2 dollars, count 'em, 2 dollars I got three beautiful stainless steel Oxo-good grips kitchen utensils. I found a perfect and elegant potato masher. Neighboring this beauty was the sharpest and fattest potato peeler. And oh let me tell you about the micro plane I found! The girl selling the items was my age. In an effort not to look too excited I grabbed my new friends and coolly asked, "How much for these things?" Failure, her face said it all. It was silently screaming, "You know very well those aren't things! They are fabulous brand name kitchen tools worthy of hanging on your walls!" "Even so," my eyebrows silently countered, "they are going to be mine!" Sensing her second guessing herself I pulled 2 dollars from my pocket and simply said, "Here." She looked insulted. I don't blame her, but she took my money and I ran back to work before she could change her mind and my milk could fall into the danger zone.
Monday, August 18, 2008
"To Arms"
Lately I have been thinking about renaming my blog. At first I was considering this for superficial reasons. The thing is I did think up what I consider to be a pretty hip title that combines my love of science with my apathy for the word vegan- a term I find to be both vague and pretentious. That is a topic for another blog though. The title I came up with was: "Floraphage". I was very eager to share my new word that would surely transform our gentle movement with the rest of the world. I had visions of five star restaurants with the word gracefully italicized over the no meat or dairy portions. Teenage girls would be instructing their mothers on how to cook for their new boyfriends as they drawled out the following phrase all over America, "No, mom! He's a Floraphage!" Of course, I was rocketed back to reality when I tried my new word out at work trying to nonchalantly use it in conversation. I received more than one strange look but no one was brave enough or, more likely, interested enough to find out if this was joke or just some vague pretentious term I was tossing around. Oh well, dodged that bullet!
The new idea I was tossing around today was the title: "The Frugal Vegan". Of course this is joke. I am well aware of the not soon forgotten show about the gourmet with a similar leading adjective and I'm not referring to the man who gallops. The reason I've even made you read this last nonsensical passage about balding PBS chefs who cook in poorly lit studio kitchens is that I am totally and completely freaking out about the cost of food! Never being the kind of citizen who sits back and waits for someone else to take action I am calling us vegans, or floraphages if you like, to arms. And here is what we're gonna do. We're gonna make some frozen burritos! If wheat and soybeans keep going up in price we will have money hiding in our freezers disguised as delicious gifts from south of the border.
Paul "Floraphage" Revere's Minute Man Frozen Burritos:
12 large flour tortillas
2 tbsp olive oil
6 ounce can tomato paste
8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 cups cooked in vegetable both brown rice
16 ounce firm tofu finely cubed
1 large russet potato finely cubed and fully cooked (I just stuck my in the microwave)
16 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
16 ounce can refried beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tbsp Bragg's liquid amino acids
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne
4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Place the olive oil in a very large skillet and heat to medium. Add the tomato paste and whisk until the paste is slightly caramelized. Add the potato and both kinds of beans and stir. Add the tomato sauce, Bragg's and spices. Let simmer one minute. Add the frozen corn, rice, tofu, and fresh cilantro. If you have run out of room you can transfer your mixture to a large bowl to stir everything together. Spoon your mixture onto the tortillas and fold them up in a way so the filling doesn't leak out. Once you have finished filling all the burritos you can place them into freezer bags and freeze. Who knows, in three months they could be worth a fortune.
The new idea I was tossing around today was the title: "The Frugal Vegan". Of course this is joke. I am well aware of the not soon forgotten show about the gourmet with a similar leading adjective and I'm not referring to the man who gallops. The reason I've even made you read this last nonsensical passage about balding PBS chefs who cook in poorly lit studio kitchens is that I am totally and completely freaking out about the cost of food! Never being the kind of citizen who sits back and waits for someone else to take action I am calling us vegans, or floraphages if you like, to arms. And here is what we're gonna do. We're gonna make some frozen burritos! If wheat and soybeans keep going up in price we will have money hiding in our freezers disguised as delicious gifts from south of the border.
Paul "Floraphage" Revere's Minute Man Frozen Burritos:
12 large flour tortillas
2 tbsp olive oil
6 ounce can tomato paste
8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 cups cooked in vegetable both brown rice
16 ounce firm tofu finely cubed
1 large russet potato finely cubed and fully cooked (I just stuck my in the microwave)
16 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
16 ounce can refried beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tbsp Bragg's liquid amino acids
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne
4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Place the olive oil in a very large skillet and heat to medium. Add the tomato paste and whisk until the paste is slightly caramelized. Add the potato and both kinds of beans and stir. Add the tomato sauce, Bragg's and spices. Let simmer one minute. Add the frozen corn, rice, tofu, and fresh cilantro. If you have run out of room you can transfer your mixture to a large bowl to stir everything together. Spoon your mixture onto the tortillas and fold them up in a way so the filling doesn't leak out. Once you have finished filling all the burritos you can place them into freezer bags and freeze. Who knows, in three months they could be worth a fortune.
Monday, August 4, 2008
"You Sexy Thang"
I would like to begin by thanking Alanna my dear sister-in-law for mentioning me on her blog: Vegan Dietitian It is humbling to see my blog out there in the spot light with so many prolific and exciting titles. Alanna is an actual certified expert about nutrition so you all should listen to her. She knows what she's talking about.
I'm not trying to imply that you shouldn't be holding a torch for me though! I, who have saved you from your expensive and bloody eating habits. So on with it then! I have a breakfast "omelet" that will bring your roommates, spouses, and sometimes even a cat or two sniffing into the kitchen. The best part is that once you lure them in you can wow them with some culinary acrobatics.
Spinach Potato Omelet-Pancake
4 baked or boiled russet potatoes peeled and coarsely mashed
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt
1/2 large white onion diced
1 cup frozen spinach
4 tbsp. Olive oil
a pinch of nutmeg
1 tbsp. ground flax seed meal mixed up with 2 tbsp. of water
You will need a large non-stick skillet, a large stock pot lid with a handle on the top, and a large serving plate.
Mix together all spices except nutmeg and 1 tbsp. olive oil and mix into the mashed potato. Set this aside. Saute the onion until it is soft and translucent. Add the spinach and cook down until thawed and wilted. Add the pinch of nutmeg. Transfer this onion-spinach mixture into the potato mash. Add the flax seed meal and mix well. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil to the skillet and preheat it to medium heat. Put all of the potato mix into the skillet. Mash the potatoes down into the skillet until it looks like a big pancake. Let this brown on one side. Spread the remaining oil onto the top of the pancake. After the bottom has browned gently, lift up the sides to make sure the pancake is not sticking. Now the exciting part! I must warn you that the next step is a little dangerous but when expertly executed will leave you with an inflated sense of self worth and sex appeal. Place the stock pot lid onto the pancake. If you have done everything according to plan, the lid should reach the edge of your potato cake. Now grab the skillet with a strong arm meanwhile still holding the lid up against the cake. Flip the skillet over! Now the potato pancake is on the lid. "But Nicole," you may be asking, "The brown side is up. How will I actually flip the pancake back into the skillet?" Well Gawd save you if at this very moment you have just realized that you forgot to put out the large plate I mentioned above. If so, you will now be awkwardly fumbling through your cupboards looking for the plate with a large potato concoction glued to a stock pot lid likely in your favored hand thus making the search even more difficult and frustrating. Don't do that! As the packaging on a frozen Tofurkey once condescended to me on Thanksgiving morning, "Plan ahead." Now take the plate and place it on the other side of the potato cake and flip your lid. Now the raw side is up. Place the skillet on top of the plate and flip yet again! Now the potato cake is brown side up back in your pan. If you managed to do this without spilling or burning yourself, demand recognition from those around you even if it is only your two cats. Brown the newly flipped side that you fought so hard for and transfer your pancake to the serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve with ketchup. You are amazing!
I'm not trying to imply that you shouldn't be holding a torch for me though! I, who have saved you from your expensive and bloody eating habits. So on with it then! I have a breakfast "omelet" that will bring your roommates, spouses, and sometimes even a cat or two sniffing into the kitchen. The best part is that once you lure them in you can wow them with some culinary acrobatics.
Spinach Potato Omelet-Pancake
4 baked or boiled russet potatoes peeled and coarsely mashed
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt
1/2 large white onion diced
1 cup frozen spinach
4 tbsp. Olive oil
a pinch of nutmeg
1 tbsp. ground flax seed meal mixed up with 2 tbsp. of water
You will need a large non-stick skillet, a large stock pot lid with a handle on the top, and a large serving plate.
Mix together all spices except nutmeg and 1 tbsp. olive oil and mix into the mashed potato. Set this aside. Saute the onion until it is soft and translucent. Add the spinach and cook down until thawed and wilted. Add the pinch of nutmeg. Transfer this onion-spinach mixture into the potato mash. Add the flax seed meal and mix well. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil to the skillet and preheat it to medium heat. Put all of the potato mix into the skillet. Mash the potatoes down into the skillet until it looks like a big pancake. Let this brown on one side. Spread the remaining oil onto the top of the pancake. After the bottom has browned gently, lift up the sides to make sure the pancake is not sticking. Now the exciting part! I must warn you that the next step is a little dangerous but when expertly executed will leave you with an inflated sense of self worth and sex appeal. Place the stock pot lid onto the pancake. If you have done everything according to plan, the lid should reach the edge of your potato cake. Now grab the skillet with a strong arm meanwhile still holding the lid up against the cake. Flip the skillet over! Now the potato pancake is on the lid. "But Nicole," you may be asking, "The brown side is up. How will I actually flip the pancake back into the skillet?" Well Gawd save you if at this very moment you have just realized that you forgot to put out the large plate I mentioned above. If so, you will now be awkwardly fumbling through your cupboards looking for the plate with a large potato concoction glued to a stock pot lid likely in your favored hand thus making the search even more difficult and frustrating. Don't do that! As the packaging on a frozen Tofurkey once condescended to me on Thanksgiving morning, "Plan ahead." Now take the plate and place it on the other side of the potato cake and flip your lid. Now the raw side is up. Place the skillet on top of the plate and flip yet again! Now the potato cake is brown side up back in your pan. If you managed to do this without spilling or burning yourself, demand recognition from those around you even if it is only your two cats. Brown the newly flipped side that you fought so hard for and transfer your pancake to the serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve with ketchup. You are amazing!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Jet Lagged
It's so nice to be home! We've just returned from a near 2 week long trip to the beautiful Island Nation of Taiwan. We traveled all around the ultra modern and sparkling clean city of Taipei using their number 1 in the world rated metro system of which the country is kind enough to place English instructions everywhere. A big Thank You, Taiwan is in order! We traveled to the interior mountain ranges to visit Alishan where I would see the first sunset in my life that would, if you dare laugh at this next part..., actually bring tears to my eyes. And of course, and most importantly, we ate amazing food!
In Taiwan in whichever city we found ourselves in there were these large dining rooms with a large buffet. You could take what ever looked good and pile it onto the paper tray you picked up at the beginning. One of the hygienic aspects I noticed and appreciated was that you received your own pair of tongs to take down the food line with you so as to not rest the handle that you had just touched into someone else's fried tofu. That's right! I said tofu. The whole buffet is vegetarian- run by Buddhists! All you need do is take what tempts you and place it on a scale at the end of the line and pay per kilogram. I never spent more than 3 dollars and it wasn't from a lack of trying, believe me.
I can't gush enough about the wonderful time we had and the things we saw. The people in Taiwan were so helpful and friendly I want to write them all fan mail. If you are planning your next vacation to somewhere far far away consider heading east where air is moist, the people are great, and food is so readily vegan!
Thank you to my wonderful brother for taking us all on this journey. We will never forget it. I was so impressed by your knowledge of the language! I love you so very very much!
In Taiwan in whichever city we found ourselves in there were these large dining rooms with a large buffet. You could take what ever looked good and pile it onto the paper tray you picked up at the beginning. One of the hygienic aspects I noticed and appreciated was that you received your own pair of tongs to take down the food line with you so as to not rest the handle that you had just touched into someone else's fried tofu. That's right! I said tofu. The whole buffet is vegetarian- run by Buddhists! All you need do is take what tempts you and place it on a scale at the end of the line and pay per kilogram. I never spent more than 3 dollars and it wasn't from a lack of trying, believe me.
I can't gush enough about the wonderful time we had and the things we saw. The people in Taiwan were so helpful and friendly I want to write them all fan mail. If you are planning your next vacation to somewhere far far away consider heading east where air is moist, the people are great, and food is so readily vegan!
Thank you to my wonderful brother for taking us all on this journey. We will never forget it. I was so impressed by your knowledge of the language! I love you so very very much!
Monday, May 5, 2008
The earthquakes are beginning to subside! It is a time to celebrate! But, how do you celebrate when all you have left in the house is the disaster ready non-perishable food items the news convinced you to stockpile? Moreover how would you access your pantry in the event that your house collapsed? Perhaps we are not meant to contemplate such tawdry details...
There is though still the issue of how to keep on living your delicious Vegan At Home-lifestyle after Armageddon. Thankfully canned goods aren't all mushy peas and syrupy peaches and sometimes they are all you have and not necessarily because you've just experienced a natural disaster. You might find yourself in this situation in between grocery shopping trips or, because you are about to go on a long voyage and don't want to come home to a new species of mold overgrowing your vegetable crisper. This is just the predicament we found ourselves in this week as Justice and I are about to jet off to Taiwan on a tea buying vacation with my brother. I'm warning you now. The following recipe is only to be utilized in extreme situations. It is like the outfit you wear the day before a big vacation so as not to waste any of your best wardrobe. You can spot me a day before taking off in white jeans and depending on the time a year either a too short tank top that makes me look like two halves of two different women or a velour sweat shirt once matching its lost track suit counterpart. The point is this recipe is fast and will feed you, but don't go bringing it to any potlucks!
Pantry Stew with Rice
1 cup brown rice cooked and set aside
1 can chickpeas
1 can tomato sauce
1 can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
dash of pepper
Place all canned ingredients in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until the sauce has reduced. Season with cayenne and with pepper to taste. Serve over rice. Best to turn off all the lights and eat by flair gun light.
There is though still the issue of how to keep on living your delicious Vegan At Home-lifestyle after Armageddon. Thankfully canned goods aren't all mushy peas and syrupy peaches and sometimes they are all you have and not necessarily because you've just experienced a natural disaster. You might find yourself in this situation in between grocery shopping trips or, because you are about to go on a long voyage and don't want to come home to a new species of mold overgrowing your vegetable crisper. This is just the predicament we found ourselves in this week as Justice and I are about to jet off to Taiwan on a tea buying vacation with my brother. I'm warning you now. The following recipe is only to be utilized in extreme situations. It is like the outfit you wear the day before a big vacation so as not to waste any of your best wardrobe. You can spot me a day before taking off in white jeans and depending on the time a year either a too short tank top that makes me look like two halves of two different women or a velour sweat shirt once matching its lost track suit counterpart. The point is this recipe is fast and will feed you, but don't go bringing it to any potlucks!
Pantry Stew with Rice
1 cup brown rice cooked and set aside
1 can chickpeas
1 can tomato sauce
1 can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
dash of pepper
Place all canned ingredients in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until the sauce has reduced. Season with cayenne and with pepper to taste. Serve over rice. Best to turn off all the lights and eat by flair gun light.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Even Vegans Get Scared Sometimes
I reside in a twenty story retrofitted building from the 70s. Okay, it's an old casino. But, it's an old casino with a fresh coat of paint and many walls busted down and moved to make cute little condos. When I drive home at night, I try not to think as I'm entering the dungeon that is my underground parking garage about the happenings that have no doubt gone on inside my newly refurbished surroundings. I believe it is a real estate law that if the home you are about to purchase housed a drug ring, prostitution outfit, or saw a murder, that you the buyer are entitled to the details. Perhaps this law does not apply after a certain number of these occurrences. Just as the Star Spangled Banner is considered in the public domain so to must be the undeniable truth about where I live. I'm sure had I turned to the real estate agent during the walk through and asked, "So, did a deranged homicidal pimp reside here in the past?" She would have had no problem looking me straight in the eye and saying, "Well, duh!" There are just some things you cannot control.
I've been thinking a lot about this concept lately as we in Reno, NV have experienced some 600 minor to moderate earthquakes in the last month. The last week of which I have felt five. I felt the moderate ones. The first wave came at 3:45 in the afternoon last Thursday. I was home alone with the kitties when what I thought was a strong breeze quickly reveled itself into a nightmarish 4.1 quake. The second wave would hit not seven minutes later as I... was on the toilet- a very fortunate place to be if you are going to pee your pants anyway. Never have I felt such hysteria, such fear. There was nowhere safe to be. I was at the mercy of a force much bigger than myself. This was not the kind of fear I experience when contemplating an afterlife or whether or not that dead hooker stoner might possess me in my sleep, this was something real.
I want us all to think truly and honestly about fear. Think only of the kind, or course, that you can see and feel. Hypothetical situations will not do. When a cow, free range or not, is faced with a human, a force much greater than itself, the fear must be overwhelming. The lack of control must multiply this just as it has for all the people living in this old casino turned luxury condominium for the last thirty plus years.
I've been thinking a lot about this concept lately as we in Reno, NV have experienced some 600 minor to moderate earthquakes in the last month. The last week of which I have felt five. I felt the moderate ones. The first wave came at 3:45 in the afternoon last Thursday. I was home alone with the kitties when what I thought was a strong breeze quickly reveled itself into a nightmarish 4.1 quake. The second wave would hit not seven minutes later as I... was on the toilet- a very fortunate place to be if you are going to pee your pants anyway. Never have I felt such hysteria, such fear. There was nowhere safe to be. I was at the mercy of a force much bigger than myself. This was not the kind of fear I experience when contemplating an afterlife or whether or not that dead hooker stoner might possess me in my sleep, this was something real.
I want us all to think truly and honestly about fear. Think only of the kind, or course, that you can see and feel. Hypothetical situations will not do. When a cow, free range or not, is faced with a human, a force much greater than itself, the fear must be overwhelming. The lack of control must multiply this just as it has for all the people living in this old casino turned luxury condominium for the last thirty plus years.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Cows Can't Have It If We Eat It First!
This evening Justice and I turned on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer while enjoying our homemade rustic crust pizza margarita. A very interesting segment devoted to the rising cost of food began and I had never been happier to be sitting in a meat free zone. It seems that the rise in food cost is related to the rising demand for meat in developing countries such as China. The grains that were going to feed people are now feeding cattle. This results in a more than 75% energy deficit. If we can all just limit our intake of animal products at home, there will be more food to go around or as we Vegans At Home say, "More of everything for everybody".
Stop biting off more food than you can swallow! Eat this instead:
Rustic Crust Pizza Margarita:
For the sauce:
1 15 ounce can organic diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can organic tomato sauce
1 yellow onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
Combine onion and olive oil in a large sauce pan. Cook until soft. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer 1 hour.
For the crust:
2-3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp dry active yeast, one package will do nicely too.
1 cup luke warm water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
Stir yeast into water and let sit 5 minutes. Meanwhile combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Only use 2 cups of the whole wheat flour at this point. If you are blessed with a stand mixer, nows the time to use it. Add the yeast mixture and the oil to the dry mixture and begin to stir. The dough should be sticky but you want it to form a ball. Add more flour during the mixing to achieve the desired dough consistency. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it is shiny, smooth, and elastic. Place the dough in a heavily olive-oiled large bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise for 1 hour. Punch down the dough and place it on an oiled cookie sheet. Spread the dough out flat so that it almost reaches all the sides. Spoon your tomato mixture on top spreading the tomatoes almost to all the edges of the dough. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.
Stop biting off more food than you can swallow! Eat this instead:
Rustic Crust Pizza Margarita:
For the sauce:
1 15 ounce can organic diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can organic tomato sauce
1 yellow onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
Combine onion and olive oil in a large sauce pan. Cook until soft. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer 1 hour.
For the crust:
2-3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp dry active yeast, one package will do nicely too.
1 cup luke warm water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
Stir yeast into water and let sit 5 minutes. Meanwhile combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Only use 2 cups of the whole wheat flour at this point. If you are blessed with a stand mixer, nows the time to use it. Add the yeast mixture and the oil to the dry mixture and begin to stir. The dough should be sticky but you want it to form a ball. Add more flour during the mixing to achieve the desired dough consistency. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it is shiny, smooth, and elastic. Place the dough in a heavily olive-oiled large bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise for 1 hour. Punch down the dough and place it on an oiled cookie sheet. Spread the dough out flat so that it almost reaches all the sides. Spoon your tomato mixture on top spreading the tomatoes almost to all the edges of the dough. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Hitch up the wagon! We're moving West!
Welcome to a new world of deliciousness! I'm so excited to have this platform to share my recipes and adventures in veganism! Here I hope to insight a pioneering sense into the heart of every free-gan, vegan, or self-proclaimed carnivore.
Vegan cuisine can seem scary if you are used to simply defrosting some chicken on the kitchen counter every morning and your spice cupboard consists of some Old Bay Seasoning and Mr. and Mrs. Pig salt and pepper shakers. Well, you're not that person anymore! And to prove it, you're going to make a Beet Loaf tonight! Here is a simply spiced dish that requires no defrosting and will have you eating cheaper and digesting faster in no time!
Nicole's Beet Loaf:
1 cup uncooked quinoa (and then cook it. If you cook it in broth it eliminates bitterness) Brown rice will do instead, but remember you are forging a new path. Don't be afraid to try a little quinoa.
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 beets raw peeled and then finely minced (this is best done in the food processor)
1 small or half a large white onion finely minced
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp olive oil
Mix everything together and place in well lubricated loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or so
Vegan cuisine can seem scary if you are used to simply defrosting some chicken on the kitchen counter every morning and your spice cupboard consists of some Old Bay Seasoning and Mr. and Mrs. Pig salt and pepper shakers. Well, you're not that person anymore! And to prove it, you're going to make a Beet Loaf tonight! Here is a simply spiced dish that requires no defrosting and will have you eating cheaper and digesting faster in no time!
Nicole's Beet Loaf:
1 cup uncooked quinoa (and then cook it. If you cook it in broth it eliminates bitterness) Brown rice will do instead, but remember you are forging a new path. Don't be afraid to try a little quinoa.
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 beets raw peeled and then finely minced (this is best done in the food processor)
1 small or half a large white onion finely minced
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp olive oil
Mix everything together and place in well lubricated loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or so
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