Red Lentil Stew

I've mentioned before that the boy dislikes lentils, but with this dish and the fresh flat bread, we might be approaching something close to a lentil dish that he actually enjoys (?!).  This is good because lentils are fabulous in both flavor and nutrition.  A 1/4 cup of dried lentils contains only 70 calories (and they just about double in size when cooked) and has 7 g of protein, plenty of fiber, and 15% of your daily iron requirements.   Also, they're 50% of your daily delicious requirement.

Red Lentil Stew

Serves 2 ...or 1 if you aren't eating gobs of rich bread and hummus on the side

1/2 c dried red lentils

2 c water

1/4 t ground coriander

1/4 t cinnamon

2 t cumin

1/4 t cayenne (or to taste)

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t paprika

dash of black pepper

1/2 t salt

1 c fresh spinach

1 large carrot, sliced into medallions

Clean the red lentils, making sure there aren't any pebbles/debris, then add to the water.  Bring to a boil, then add the carrot slices.  Turn down to simmer and let cook for 15 minutes or until the lentils fall apart when you gently stir.  Add the seasonings, then add the cleaned spinach to the stew and cook until the spinach wilts.

Serve with pita or some other flat bread.  I think this would be good with eggplant, too.

There you have it.  Healthy comfort food in a bowl.

Spoils from the Persian market

Barbari bread, Tribe spicy red pepper and tomato and veggie hummus, chickpea flour, red lentils, and sweetmeal biscuits!  Not pictured: Fuji apples and green onion.

A coworker suggested I look into Wholesome Choice, a Persian market in Irvine.  I'm so glad I checked it out, because look at these nommables!

First off, the barbari bread.  I was looking at the ingredients on the package when the baker asked me if I wanted a fresh one...hells yes!

Although the ingredients list checked out, I noticed it had unlisted sesame seeds, so I double checked that there wasn't any egg/milk in it.  Mm, nope, it's just a simple and wonderful bread.

Opened up, it's golden and perfect:

Yummmmm.  Armed with flat bread, I needed to get some hummus.  Fortunately, they were having a sale and these were pretty cheap at 2 for $3 and in a flavor I hadn't seen before... veggie tomato?

I also finallllllly got some chickpea flour.  And despite knowing that I'll probably be the only one eating them, I got some red lentils (who doesn't like lentils?!  The boy, apparently).

They were also having a sale on these biscuits.  I love Indian biscuits so I figured these would also be good.  We'll see about that tomorrow.

The next post ...the red lentil stew / curry I made!  I'm so happy, it's been a long time since I had lentils.  They are still one of my favorite legumes!

Vegan MoFo: What the snot is this

It's not a pacman.

It's buffalo mostarella uncheese from The Uncheese Cookbook.  I really wanted a cheeselike substance for a sandwich and didn't want to spend $5 on a tiny block of vegan cheese, so I found a recipe that didn't require agar and had at it.

I was very skeptical while making this "uncheese," and I lacked a key ingredient ...my tahini had gone moldy (gross).  I used some mild miso paste instead and a little sesame oil.  The result was something that tasted very familiar, but definitely not like mozz.  It has become milder and more tasty after sitting in the fridge for a few days.  It's not really a cheese for slicing, as it is very sticky.  It tasted okay in a grilled cheese, but I've seen people have good results on pizza so maybe that's next.  I'm going to go against my better judgement and freeze some since it made a whole lot.

Do you make your own vegan "cheese" substances?  What are your favorites?  If you aren't a lifelong vegan, do you even miss cheese?

P.S. Good bye, Vegan MoFo, see you next year!

Vegan MoFo: Thanksgiving Catch Up

Thanksgiving was relaxing and fun.  This year and the last, we hosted Thanksgiving at our little apartment with a few friends.  

A tomato waiting to be sliced up for the salad.  No one ate the salad, except for me and the boy I guess.  Vegetables are delicious, what are people thinking? ;P

I made a quick agave and sesame oil dressing to go along with it.

Spinach and almonds and tomatoes and carrots and thin slices of cucumber!

Next, the cider.

Stash Tea (hometown awesomeness) packages mulling spices.  I wouldn't have bought it, but it was a gift and leftover from last year.  We added it to the cider and brewed it for several hours.  Very tasty.

Mullin' over.

I made a seitan roast, but I only took photos of its making.  Here is the dough after kneading #1.

And the basting broth.  Mm full of paprika and sage and garlic.

I also made the butternut squash dish from Veganomicon.  So good!  I made it with filberts instead of pricey chestnuts.

And homemade cranberry sauce...

The boy made apple pie and apple crisp in addition to my pumpkin cheesecake, which he said tasted like malt.  Hmm, I didn't see that but hey, whatever, it was good and the other cheesecake lover at the party approved.  It's a win in my book.

We spent the evening doing three things: consuming food, consuming cozy beverages, and playing Rockband.  Is there a better way to celebrate our thanks for harvests and plenty?  I think not.

Vegan MoFo: Sparkle Ginger Cookies

From VwaV.

These were so rich and warm and not too sweet.  I really liked them and will definitely make them again.  I also liked that they used oil instead of margarine or shortening, which made them a very convenient recipe (and very visiting-omnivorous-relatives-friendly).

The recipe made 40 cookies for me (versus the 2 dozen as stated in the book).  Cookie scrooge am I.

The turbinado sugar was indeed sparkly in the cloud-sifted afternoon light.

Vegan MoFo: Pumpkin Cranberry Biscotti

Recipe here.

I only used 2/3 cup of sugar, though.  They were tasty, although very mildly pumpkiny.

I brought them into work and sent some off to my good friend Renee, who recently sent me magical pumpkin muffins and some other treats/treasures including these:

Dapper, no?  But it gets better, because they are useful.  They're a mini cutlery set:

Adorable (drbl).

However, biscotti cannot be eaten with such things.

Vegan MoFo: Boring Biscotti Love

I imagine my recent blog love for biscotti is coming off a bit boring, but gaddang I love them!

Cookies are so easy to make, so I've been making eensy recipes and testing out different things.  I made some molassesy biscotti with dried cranberries, and wow!  So good.

Yay, biscotti.  Boo, boring.  Time for some more coffee.  Maybe I can make a big batch of something and bring it to the coworkers.  :D

Vegan MoFo: Pumpkin Cheesecake

I haven't made cheesecake since becoming vegan, but it's my all time favorite pie/cake.  So this Thanksgiving, we're having pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie OKAY.

It began thusly:

A reduced fat Ralph's brand crapola crust.  Its label even said V for Vegan.  It's weird how pervasive veganism has grown just over the past couple of years.  Anyway, the filling.

I used the recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking for the filling and added a dash of pepper and a bit of molasses.  Molasses makes things awesome.  I didn't want to use "no stinkin tofu" in the cheesecake.  This recipe is awesome because it's all Better Than Cream Cheese.  Yeah yeah yeah.  There are recipes that pretty gaddang similar all over the interwebs though, for instance this one.  But hey, I trust CPG to make a dang fine recipe and so it is.

How do I know?  No, I didn't cut into the cheesecake, but I did have a bit of filling leftover in the bowl and had to have a taste...

The pie filled, it was time to commence baking procedures:

I knew from previous cheesecake experiences to put the damn thing on a pan because those flimsy aluminum pie pans mess a cheesecake right up.

It took 45 minutes of impatience, but the result was worth it:

The thing is not even cracked (a first for me) ...okay, it is wrinkled a little bit, but wrinkles give it a bit of character.

So damned perfect!  It's been so long since I've had cheesecake - the last time was at Shojin for my undergrad graduation.  I can't wait to have some of this terribly caloric stuff on Thanksgiving!  Yay!

We did a lot of Thanksgiving shopping this weekend, and I pre-made some herby dense bread for stuffing and chopped up some butternut squash for roasting.  Yes, the boy did buy a turkey.

Vegan MoFo: Interlude and new camera

Busy making things and cleaning up the house in preparation for Thanksgiving, but in the mean time here is a photo of a batch of gingerbread biscotti I made yesterday and have been eating for breakfast/lunch/dinner since... >_<

Approach carefully...

So as not to disturb...

The nesting biscotti.

I had forgotten the simple joy of biscotti with almond milk and coffee.  Nom.

Vegan MoFo: Walnut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins

Tasty food can sometimes be seriously ugly.  Observe!

I made my favorite banana bread recipe (always half the sugar or use less, it tastes more banana-y that way) and intended to add a streusel topping with walnut butter, sugar, and margarine.  Instead, the walnut butter melted through the muffins and made tasty crunchy swirls!

Sad looking, but so tasty!  Not that it would improve the appearance of these ugly muffins, but I can't wait for my new camera!  It's so hard to take photos in the evening or early morning when there is no natural light.