Eat More Vegetables.

So, I bought a copy of Veg News the other day (because it had a vegan bucket list and the nerdy girl from The Big Bang Theory aka Blossom had an article in it) and read a statistic that only 26% of Americans eat 3 or more servings of vegetables a day. I didn't believe it, since they are pushing their radical vegan agenda, so I consulted the USDA website, and Healthy People 2010 fact sheets. It was TRUE and that totally grossed me out. The USDA also has some interesting (though sadly predictable) breakdowns of their data by gender, SES, income, age, and BMI. Here is a link to the USDA fact sheet I read: here (warning it's a 10 page PDF).

So, here are some recipes (aka my dinner tonight) for more vegetables. Probably my favorite vegetables. Besides spinach. And snap peas. And sprouts. And carrots.

Steamed Kale

Kale always intimidated me to cook because it's so chewy/tough, and I thought only level 8 night elf vegans were allowed to be good at kale. But I love it. The Detroit Zen Center has this totally badass raw kale/quinoa/sesame salad at their illegal supper clubs. They just started selling it at the food co-op but it's like $5.49 for one large serving, so I swallowed my kale fears and decided to just go for it.

-1 bunch kale
-1 c. water
-1 T. nutritional yeast
-1 t. sesame seeds
-1 T. Balsamic vinegar
-2 T. Bragg's (or soy sauce)
-splash of lime juice
-pepper and basil to taste

Rip all the kale off the tough stalks. Discard stalks. Rinse kale thoroughly and place in metal colander, that is set in a covered pot that has about 1.5 inches of boiling water at the bottom. Steam like that for 15-20 minutes. Mixed the nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, liquids, and spices in a little bowl and let set until the kale is done steaming. Test it-- it should be tender but not soggy. Remove from ghettosteamer and let set out in the open for a minute or 2 so some of the extra moisture can escape. Dump the kale into a large mixing bowls and stir in the seasoning liquid. I added about a teaspoon of water at this point, but I have no reason why.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts (aka Bruzzel Spruzzels)
-1.5 T. earth balance
-1 t. salt
-1 t. pepper
-cayenne pepper to taste
-garlic powder to taste
-1 16 oz carton of brussel sprouts.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the little butt-end off all the sprouts, and slice them all in half. Chop the 1.5 T. of earth balance up into some small squares and put them in a pan with the sliced sprouts-- either a pyrex baking dish, a loaf pan, or a cake pan. I always include all the little leaves that come off the sprouts while you chop them because they get crispy/brown/extra tasty and I like that. Throw the unmelted butter/sprouts into the oven for 3-4 minutes. Remove, stir up (the butter should be melted), and add seasoning. Return to the oven to coo for about 30 minutes (or until brown) stiring every 10 minutes or so so they brown evenly.

Baby Portabella Mushroom Pilaf
-1 carton baby portabella mushrooms
-1 T. earth balance
-3 T. Bragg's
-1-2 t. dried basil to taste
-pepper to taste
-1/4 c. cooked brown rice (more if you like rice... I don't)
-raw cashews for garnish (photo was taking pre-cashew garnish)

Melt the earth balance in a skillet on medium heat, add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, reduce heat and add Bragg's, simmer for a little longer and add the seasoning to taste. For the last 2 minutes, stir in cooked rice. If you like rice, add more... I just don't much care for rice. I would've just ate the mushrooms except for all the extra liquid that needed soaking. Garnish with some chopped up raw cashews.

Vegan PF Chang's Orange Peel Beef Seitan aka "crappy mall Chinese Food"

Crappy mall food is one joy in life that was ripped from me in my silly decision to become vegan. BUT LO AND BEHOLD. I have made Crappy Mall Chinese Food-- specifically a rip of PF Chang's Orange Peel Beef.


1 package WestSoy Seitan
Sri Rocha Hot Sauce to taste (I used about 1 t.)
3 T. Bragg's (or any soy sauce)
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 c. flour
1 c. oil for frying

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix the seitan with the hot sauce, Bragg's, and garlic. Use a fork to separate any big pieces. Toss them in flour, dump them in the hot oil (dip the corner of one piece in to see if it starts to bubble to be sure that the oil is hot enough). Deep fry for about 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Remove with a metal strainer, and set on paper towel to cool/crisp up.

1 yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of minced garlic
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 c. mushrooms (any kind), chopped
1 c. frozen peas
1-2 t. chili garlic sauce (to taste)
any brand of "mandarin orange sauce" from the grocery store (avoid the "marinade" with soy sauce in it)
1/2 c. plain tomato sauce (secret ingredient)
3 T. Bragg's
1 T. oil

1 package of spaghetti, soba, or udon noodles (or rice)

Saute the garlic in the oil, add the onions and reduce heat. Saute until translucent. Add the vegetables in the order that you normally stir fry vegetables (carrots, then peas, mushrooms last). Add the Bragg's and the chili garlic sauce and let the stew for a few minutes. Mix in the orange sauce and the tomato sauce and the cooked noodles. At the VERY LAST COUPLE MINUTES add in the fried seitan. If you add it to early, it'll get soggy.

SO GOOD!

Thanksgiving 2010

Tempeh and Wild Mushroom Fricassee 
This is from an article the New York Times ran this year, but I'm having trouble finding the exact link. This is pretty much the recipe. It's super easy and so delicious and healthy and something like 320 calories in a whole cup sized serving. Not that anyone I know cares about that.
12 oz (1.5 packages) of tempeh
2 c. button mushrooms, chopped
2 c. crimini mushrooms, chopped
2 c. shitake mushrooms, chopped
2 portobella caps, degilled and chopped
2 large leeks, chopped finely
20 cloves of garlic, minced (seriously 20)
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. flour
1/4 c. white wine
12 oz (1 can) veg broth
salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley to taste
2 T. oil

It helps if you chop up all the veggies first, because things get moving pretty fast once you start cooking stuff, and it helps to have everything ready to add all at once. Chop the tempeh into small cubes and cook in the oil in a dutch oven until browned evenly. Medium-high heat is desirable. Once the tempeh is browned, pour in the white wine and the soy sauce and stir it up with the tempeh til everything boils off. Remove tempeh from pan and set aside. Put the sliced leeks, all the mushrooms, and the garlic in the dutch oven and simmer for a little, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour, then the seasonings, and finally the veg broth. Cover and let everything simmer in there for a little while, when it's nearly done, add back in the tempeh and simmer for about 5 minutes uncovered until some of the liquid evaporates/thickens. Make it the night before and reheat it about 20 minutes before it's time to eat.


Family Recipe Vegan Stuffing
1/2 a log of the "gimme lean" fake sausage, cooked and chopped up small
1/2 a loaf of stale white store brand bread, ripped into pieces
1/2 c. celery, sliced very thin
2 small yellow onions, sliced thin
2-3 T. earth balance stick
1 c. veg broth
salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley to taste

Sautee the onion in the butter on medium heat until translucent. Add in the celery and sautee for 5 more minutes. Add in the fake sausage, the bread and the seasonings. Slowly stir in the veg broth, using more or less based on the staleness of the bread. This is best as a "drier" stuffing. Reduce heat to low, so nothing burns to the bottoms and cook for about 10 minutes stirring frequently/constantly.

Creamed Spinach
1/2 a package of frozen chopped spinach
1/3 a tub of tofutti better than creame cheese
1 T. earth balance
1-2 T. plain unflavored almond milk
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper to taste

Thaw the spinach in a skillet with the earth balance over low-medium heat. Use a plate to cover the skillet so it defrosts more quickly.  Add the cream cheese and the seasonings. Slowly add the milk until the desired consistency is reached. I love the kick the cayenne gives it.

I also made my "usual" roasted garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, both can be found in the way beginning of this blog with the tvp meatloaf. I also made a pecan pie which turned out really soupy and not that good, so I'm not posting it here. But thanksgiving was awesome this year.

squash tostadas

In America we tend to avoid food that's really spicy when it's stupid hot out, but in Indonesia, they made spicy food particularly when it was super hot and humid out, so I'm doing that today.



-one yellow squash
-one large onion (sweet), chopped
-one zucchini
-two jalepenoes
-one green pepper
-the juice of one lime
-2-3 cloves of garlic
-olive oil
-small corn tortillas (2-3 for a normal person, 4 for a hungry person)
-dash of salt
-fajita seasoning or hot sauce or a packet of taco seasoning (I use "the spice hunter" salt free fajita seasoning blend in the bottle)
-(optional) one avocado, mashed

1. In a large skillet (or ikea wok that you stole from ed grant) sautee the onions in oil until translucent. Reduce heat and add chopped garlic, and then jalepenoes. I used about half the seeds and mine turned out super spicy, so adjust accordingly based on how much heat you like.
2. I chopped my yellow squash in finger sizes, and my zucchini in thin medallions. Do that, and add them. Turn up the heat a little.
3. Add the chopped green pepper. I chopped mine pretty small this time.
4. Add salt and seasoning and let simmer for a bit.
5. In a separate skillet, heat some oil and fry up the corn tortillas, about 4 minutes on each side.
6. As the tortillas are finishing, squeeze the juice of one lime onto the veg mixture, and let it simmer for a minute more.
7. Smear the avocado on the tortillas that are now tostadas, and scoops the veggies over top.

SO KILLER GOOD!

celebrity cooking

to attract more traffic to my blog and exploit my friends for my own internet notoriety and eventual fame, the ever attractive and popular liam p wilson, bassist for the dillinger escape plan, is making a guest appearance today. this afternoon, we made a delicious thai-inspired coconut curry.

i was gonna post a picture of liam "shredding" on bass, as they call it, but i don't feel like googling for one, so here he is tasting the delicious curry and looking like a creep.


ingredients:
-2 cans of coconut milk
-small can of bamboo shoots
-2-3 heapings tsps of green curry paste (to taste)
-half a bunch fresh spinach, washed and chopped
-1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
-one red pepper, sliced
-one vidalia onion, chopped
-6-8 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-shiitake mushrooms, sliced
-salt to taste
-rice or noodles

in a skillet or saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a boil add the sweet potatoes and cook them until soft in the coconut milk. add the curry paste, chopped spinach, and basil. in a separate skillet, sautee the onion in some oil, turn down the heat and add the garlic, then add the mushrooms and the red peppers. sautee them for a few minutes, and then dump them in the other saucepan where, by now, the potato should be about cooked. add salt to taste and serve over rice or noodles-- i like the soba buckwheat and wild yam noodles.

Vegan Chicken and Dumplings

I'm all about midwestern comfort food and I'm so psyched to try these. The recipe looks similar to my mom's... which is an awesome recipe...

http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/entrees/vegan-chicken-and-dumplings.htm

Enchiladas

I swear I posted this before, but I can't find it, so I'm posting it again. This is one of my favorite things because it's easy, well balanced, full of fiber, not full of fat, and you can eat this for dinner and lunch for like a week. They reheat well, but if you're a gynecologist like me, people might get weirded out if your cuticles are stained with orange enchilada sauce, so be careful with that.

-1 pkg large flour tortillas
-1 can of black beans (I use spicy), rinsed
-1/2 can corn, rinsed
-frozen chopped spinach
-frozen tri-color peppers, I suppose you can use fresh.
-really any vegetables you have laying around, I often use up the almost-empty bags of everything I have in the freezer
-2 cans enchilada sauce
-oil to coat baking dish
-one box spanish rice, prepared according to the directions on the box
-optional: a fake meat: tofu, crumbles, tempeh, whatever.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I like to wrap the tortillas in a wet towel and put them in the oven while it's heating up in order to soften up the tortillas. Prepare the rice. Thaw all the vegetables, they don't have to be thoroughly warmed, just not in icy chunks. I use a handful of frozen spinach, and a generous amount of the frozen peppers. Mix them in a bowl with the beans and corn and half of one can of the enchilada sauce. Add some salt, pepper, cayenne, fajita seasoning, whatever you have. Fill the tortillas with 2 spoonfuls of rice, and several spoonfuls of the filling. Roll up the tortilla and place it on the oiled baking dish, seam side down (so they stay closed). Repeat with all the tortillas. Cover with foil and cook for 20 minutes, removing the foil for the last five minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper and Asparagus Pasta Salad

I start my new job tomorrow, so I am making food to bring to eat all week. And it's spring. So I'm making pasta salad. I posted a pasta salad/bbq vegetables recipe awhile ago, and this is similar to that, but with less ingredients, and faster.

First, roast some red peppers.

This was initially intimidating to me and I was all like "omg, how do you do this, it must be so hard. i must google this and read 20 different websites to make sure i'm doing it right". you actually just put peppers under the broiler til the skins are black. It's about as difficult as making toast (if you are a toasterless hobo such as myself). So yea. First, do that to one pepper. After you broil them, put them in a freezer bag til they cool (the bag lets the flavors ruminate) for like 20 minutes.

The skins should peel off easily at this point. If they don't, whatever, skins are full of fiber and good for your bowel movements.

Here are the ingredients:
-bunch of asparagus, the skinnier the better
-half a sweet onion, sliced
-pasta
-1 roasted red pepper
-4 oz (1/2 a package) of tempeh
-olive oil
-salt
-pepper
-garlic or garlic powder
-crush red pepper (optional)
-the juice of a lime
-balsamic vinegar
-dried or fresh basil to taste

Sautee the onion in olive oil until translucent. Dump it into a bowl. Add some more oil, and sautee the asparagus until tender, with salt and pepper, dump into the bowl. Cut up the tempeh, add some more oil, crushed red pepper (optional) and some salt, sautee the tempeh until browned (i like all the burned crap that is on the pan at this point to give the tempeh a little extra flavor, but if that grosses you out, wash it off in between). Dump that in the bowl too. While you are doing this, you should've been boiling some pasta. I don't know how much because I like my vegetable to pasta ratio to be mostly vegetables, while some prefer mostly pasta. Once the pasta is done, drain it well and let it cool. mix everything together, add balsamic vinegar, a splash of oil, probably some more salt. Fresh basil is really good (home depot has the plants for like $1.99 and my mom has been out of town for 2 weeks and i managed not to murder her plant, so they are easy to take care of). Refrigerate until cool, taste it once more before you serve it and add more oil/vineger/salt/whatever before serving. I find the tempeh really sucks up a lot of moisture.

4th of July Vegetables

Sam and I made these to bring with us on the 4th to 2 bbqs. I used the leftovers to turn into pasta salad. Inspired by the roasted veggies that were in the Whole Foods deli case that week, as well as a pasta salad my sister made me when I was in Michigan last month.

-bag of carrot shreds
-1 bunch of asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces
-red onion, chopped
-one zucchini in small cubes
-one red pepper cut into small pieces
-one yellow squash cut in small cubes
-one clove finely chopped garlic
-chopped fresh parsley, to taste (I actually forgot this, but I had planned to use it)
-1-2T. of balsamic vinaigrette
-italian dressing
-salt and pepper to taste

1. chop everything and mix it together. use maybe 1-2 T. of balsamic vinaigrette, and enough italian dressing to comfortably coat the vegetables.
2. I let everything stew i the fridge overnight out of convenience. I'm not sure it made anything taste any different.
3. scoop a serving size onto a sheet of tinfoil, fold it up, and throw it on the grill. Cook it for about 5-7 minutes (depending on your grill). Upside, nothing you actually eat will touch the meat that anyone else might have cooked on the grilled before you.

4. Grill all the veggies (it made a lot) and toss them with some pasta and probably more italian dressing/balsamic vinegrette. Serve cold