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Food Blog None Vegan MoFo

So I guess the tahini sprung a leak…

Categories
Food Blog None Vegan MoFo

Fajita bowl dinner

The suggestion request via text was kale with black beans and rice in lettuce cups. We don’t have any more lettuce, and, well, I don’t think kale necessarily goes with black beans (I’m weird about that kind of thing). So the final plan was brown rice cooked with black beans, veggie fajitas, and a standard assortment of accoutrements to make this bowl happy.

The beans and rice were straightforward, unadulterated. Cooked the rice, added the beans near the end, mixed. Probably could’ve done it pilaf-style and it would’ve been tastier, but eh. Effort.

Fajitas–or really, a Southwestern-inspired vegetable stir fry–included:

  • 1 yellow onion, quartered and sliced
  • 1 green jalapeno, diced
  • Several large cremini mushrooms, halved and sliced thick
  • 1 yellow and one green bell pepper, sliced into 2" slivers
  • 4 cloves garlic, microplaned into oblivion
  • 1 tsp each coriander and cumin
  • Handful cherry tomatoes
  • Juice of one lime

I cooked them in my giant cast iron skillet, adding new items slowly in hopes of bringing out their best flavor and texture. It did sit around a bit long at the end, though, so the colors were lost. Ah well.

Then there’s the fixins: shredded cabbage, leftover homemade salsa from Sunday night, fresh avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds.

Verdict: could use more spice and salt. But filling and tasty.

Categories
Food Blog None Vegan MoFo

Super-green pesto pizza and rainbow salad

I’ve been meaning to make Isa’s green lasagna for a while now, but I’m short on lasagna noodles today. I do, however, have a bag of whole wheat pizza dough–for everything I’ll make from scratch like it’s no big deal, I can’t be bothered with anything yeasty–and figured the same ingredients would do well in that format. I am not convinced I’m wrong.

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Of course, that’s a bit rich–needs something crisp, cool, and tangy to accompany it. Like a salad. Easy peasy. No magic here, just a julienne peeler and stuff from the market.

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And put it all together…I’m a happy camper.

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Categories
Food Blog None Vegan MoFo

Putting one giant zucchini to good useā€¦ Savory zucchini bread and pureed zucchini brownies.

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Food Blog None Vegan MoFo

Serious question: what am I going to do with all this grated zucchini? Thinking some kind of savory quick bread…

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Food Blog None Vegan MoFo

Starting off the month right…

…with pancakes for breakfast on a holiday Monday.

I have an old recipe for “fat free” pancakes memorized. It’s probably not the best recipe for pancakes, but I picked it off of VegWeb ages ago and it’s been the easy go-to ever since.

The basics, because I’ve tweaked this to my own liking over the years:

  • 1 cup of flour – I used ½ whole wheat pastry and ½ almond meal
  • ½ cup applesauce – I buy the snack packs because it is the only use I ever have for applesauce so a jar would just spoil
  • 1 cup water or non-dairy milk (water will produce a thinner batter)
  • 1-½ tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • splash vanilla (yeah, a SPLASH, who wants to measure that much in the morning?)
  • blueberries if you’ve got ‘em (I didn’t today)

The important thing about cooking pancakes, in my experience, is the equipment. You need a really good nonstick surface–ideally, a well-seasoned cast iron pan–and a super-thin but sturdy spatula. Some basic cooking oil is required. Get it warmed up to medium, medium high heat. Pour batter in a third or half a cup at a time, depending on how big you like your pancakes (and how much room your pan has; you should have a few inches all the way around if you intend to get the spatula under there).

It takes practice to learn your pan, your stove, your technique. That “first pancake is garbage” idea is only really true while you’re still working out the kinks. So you put the batter in–see how fast and how thin it spreads on its own. How long it takes to warm through, indicated by the sleepy tiny holes and the viscous bubbles that grow and pop. The way the edges dry out and you can see the browning just on the underside when the batter cooks and begins to pull away from the pan ever so slightly. Making the perfect flip, no wrinkles or chunks left behind.

They weren’t perfect today, but they were tasty. A little on the thin side. Good with a drizzle of maple syrup and the market-fresh strawberries and raspberries. And I was too hungry to remember I meant to blog about the food, with pictures, until the last bite was in my mouth.