Category: Food Blog

A sporadically-updated log of what I cooked, why, and how. Not a recipe creator. Mostly Vegan MoFo posts.

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Food Blog

Pesto potato-kale salad with grilled tofu and asparagus

Oh right, the food tumblr… it exists. Hi.

The tofu and asparagus were marinated in some olive oil, soy sauce, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Then I grilled them on the grill pan. I know. It’s complicated.

For the potato salad, I had about a half cup of leftover homemade walnut-basil pesto that I mixed into a quick dressing with olive oil, white wine vinegar, and a little water to get to the desired texture. This was tossed with big chunks of boiled red potato, a healthy handful of FRESH peas (I’m the only one in this house who cares, but I tasted one at the market and became obsessed), and some steamed baby kale. Easy peasy.

But it looks pretty nice, yeah?

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Food Blog

Sweet potato hash and tempeh bacon

I needed a hearty breakfast today. I was meeting up with friends for a hike, and I opted to let my favorite pre-hike brunches of the past inspire me: breakfast at Ravens in Mendocino. So I made a simple sweet potato hash with spring onions, green garlic, and red bell pepper, with a little arugula wilted in at the end for good measure. But protein was also required, so I marinated thick strips of tempeh in a thin broth with apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, minced garlic, tomato puree, hot sauce, liquid smoke, and a tiny bit of coconut nectar, then pan-fried them. A little of the marinade was drizzled over the hash to help the arugula wilt (and add flavor); more was added to the pan with the tempeh after one flip and allowed to cook all the way down, to better infuse the flavors.

The hike was worth it.

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Food Blog

Roasted cauliflower coconut curry soup with chickpea-kale dry fry

This was pretty tasty, and I didn’t use any particular recipes. First, I tossed a bunch of cauliflower florets and rough-chopped onion with olive oil, pinch of salt, mustard seeds, and curry powder and roasted it at 400 F until everything looked browned and cooked well through (maybe 30 minutes?). Then I took out a few smaller florets and set them aside (for garnish/texture later) before dumping everything into the Vitamix with a can of lite coconut milk, some leftover vegetable broth (maybe ½ cup), a little tomato puree (again, not measured, but maybe 1/3 cup), and a healthy chunk of chopped fresh ginger. I put this back on the stove to simmer (with a little extra water, a little lump of coconut oil, and another pinch of salt), and seasoned with lemon juice just after turning off the heat later.

For the chickpea fry, I pan-fried the bulbous part of a small red spring onion, sliced thinly, with some mustard seeds and red pepper flakes, then added a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed) with about a teaspoon each of cumin and coriander, and let it cook in the pan for a few minutes before adding a dash of tomato puree to coat. I let this cook down for a while before adding a handful of baby kale to the pan and covering to let the tender leaves wilt. After they did, I mixed them with tongs and added a splash of lemon juice.

I ladled the soup into the bowl first, then some of the chickpeas and kale, then a couple cauliflower florets and fresh spring onion greens. Yum.

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Food Blog

Blackened tofu, braised kale in tangy tomato sauce, and coconut quinoa

The tofu is is based on a recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen–basically, dredged in olive oil, rubbed with spices, and pan-fried (in coconut oil, in my case). To go with, I cooked up some quinoa in the clay cooker, but took the extra step of sauteeing a shallot, bay leaf, and pinch of turmeric in coconut oil, then toasting the dry quinoa with it before adding water. It turned out nice and fluffy and gently flavored. Finally, I made a quick sauce to cook the kale in: half a big white onion, sliced into thin quarter moons, sauteed before adding a dash (maybe ¼ cup?) tomato puree, vegetable broth, apple cider vinegar, a tiny splash of liquid smoke, and two cloves of garlic (microplaned to oblivion, natch). I added some diced tomato to my plate just to jazz it up.

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Food Blog

French toast with homemade sourdough

Oh man oh man oh man. I’ve been meaning to make vegan french toast forever, but it never seemed to work out. Now I have homemade sourdough bread–more than I can reasonably eat on its own–plus a handful of Tomatero’s first strawberries of the spring. IT’S TIME.

For the batter, I more or less followed this recipe, but I just threw the raw ingredients (whole almonds, whole flax seeds, water, and all) into the Vitamix to blend it smooth. Perfect.

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Food Blog

Seitan, smashed potatoes, kale, and gravy

I made seitan (seasoned with a bit of pulverized porcini mushrooms) because I wanted *something* to go with smashed red potatoes with chives, olive oil, and cashew cream. This also required a simple vegetable – braised kale – and a sauce – a puree of shallots, green garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, vegetable broth, red wine, and nooch. Yum.

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Cast-iron stir fry with broccoli and tofu over brown rice

Somehow I think I’ve avoided making this particular Isa Does It recipe – even though it has a bunch of things I really like. Perhaps it was the lack of hoisin sauce of mirin in my pantry? I ended up subbing sherry for the mirin and mixing up a peanut butter-based substitute for the hoisin. The broccoli is crisp, the peanuts are salty and crunchy, and the basil adds a nice freshness.

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Food Blog

Chickpea scramble scramble, for when things fail you

So, like. I bought this dill last Sunday. Today it’s rotten enough that I can’t pick out a few good stalks with which to make Isa’s chickpea scramble. So I made it with spinach instead (+ shallots and green garlic, ‘cause yum).

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Food Blog

Pupusas with plantains and black beans and curtido

Oh, it makes a pretty picture…

I don’t think I’m quite adept with plantains yet. But this was a better outing than the Jamaican-style curry from a few weeks ago, where they were weirdly super dry. Probably helps that they’re in smaller pieces, stuffed inside a fat corn tortilla.

Anyway. I remember the first time I ate a pupusa–many years ago, at some restaurant in a part of the Portland metro area I forget–and it was fucking revelatory. I can’t make pupusas that taste anything like the experts’, but it’s fun to try. Plus I do like curtido, the vinegary cabbage slaw that goes with everything.

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Food Blog

Apple crumble with pecan

Today I am eating my feelings. They are made out of granny smith apples. toasted pecans, oats, and brown sugar. They taste pretty good. They go well with Parks and Recreation.

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Food Blog

Tofu

runningwiththedogs:

Anyone have any good tips or recipes on the best ways to prepare tofu? I’ve never cooked with it before so I would love any input! Thanks!

Hello, stranger on Tumblr! I saw your post while poking around the “tofu” tag and thought I’d offer my advice, as tofu prep is near and dear to my heart (and stomach).

The EASIEST, most foolproof way to prepare tofu is to slice it and bake it in a simple marinade. At its most basic, this is just olive oil and soy sauce (I don’t measure but maybe a tbsp of each). I make this directly in the baking dish, then dredge each slice on both sides and fill the pan.

You can dress it up with whatever flavors you like – different oils (sesame is an especially good choice), vinegar, hot sauce, herbs/spices, minced garlic/ginger/lemongrass/etc. or even try a bottled marinade you might like.

Usually I just bake it at 400°F for 20 minutes, then flip and bake another 20, because I like the nice crust the high temp/baking time gives it, but you can go lower. Experiment with what you like. I probably wouldn’t go lower than 350°F/15 min per side. I use my toaster oven for this because the baking dish fits perfectly, but if you’re roasting other veggies, you can throw them all in the oven.

This method requires very little oversight and little chance of smushing the tofu, getting stuck in the pan, that kind of thing.

You might also look up tofu frittata recipes – that’s basically a baked tofu scramble, and it’s super easy and delicious.

Have fun! And don’t fear the tofu. 😉

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Food Blog

Millet bowl with greens and toasted sunflower seeds…also, tofu

Another attempt at a Thrive Foods dish: millet with mixed greens (chard and spinach), scallions, green garlic, lemon juice, salt and red pepper, and a dash of toasted sunflower seeds. I felt it needed a little something extra, so there’s some spicy baked tofu on the side. The lemon juice and green garlic offer a nice punch.

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Tonight’s dinner: baked tofu (sesame oil + hot sauce + soy sauce), sprouted red + brown rice, wilted pea shoots and asparagus, and curry peanut sauce. Not a great photo, but a pretty good meal.

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Food Blog

Chickpea omelet with veggies

I always like to try new things, so this morning I opted to go a different route for the semi-traditional fancy Saturday breakfast: the chickpea omelet (Vegan Richa’s recipe). Her recipe suggest this is cooked similar to an uttapam; I can see it, but I went a different way with the veggies and the flavors. I skipped the cumin in the batter and added nutritional yeast; for veggies cooked into the pancake I went with shallots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and shredded carrot. Then I had these beautiful asparagus to use up (somehow I didn’t plan a menu around asparagus this week; clearly I am failing in my duties) so I tossed six of them in a pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt and let them go a bit greener before taking it off the heat and splashing with balsamic vinegar. I piled them on top of the omelet and sprinkled with fresh dill for Saturday Fancy flourish.

This was pretty good, though the boyfriend said he could “sometimes” taste the chickpea flour in an off-putting way (I am pretty sure I mixed it fine, but it may have cooked unevenly, especially that first one, so you’d get that raw flour taste) and might taste better thinner and more crepe-like. Something to consider for next time, I suppose. For mine, I enjoyed the crunchy exterior and fluffy interior a lot.

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Food Blog

LEFTOVER REMIX!

carrot salad + broccoli salad + soba noodles + edamame = lunch