pizza pockets

Trader Joe's-heavy recipe for pizza pocket/calzone:

-a thing of Trader Joe's pizza dough
-a half of a piece of the Trader Joe's "spicy chorizo" (or any pepperoni/italian sausage inspired meat alternative)
-pizza/spaghetti/marinara sauce of choice (1/3-1/2 jar)
-half an onion, chopped
-1/2 c. chopped peppers (i used the rainbow frozen assortment)
-1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
-3/4 c. frozen chopped spinach
-any other ingredients you like on a pizza (pineapple! black olives, whatEVER!)
-one clove chopped garlic
-tsp of olive oil
-oregano/basil/salt to taste

preheat oven to 400 degrees. in a skillet sautee onions and garlic in olive oil. add vegetables. chop up chorizo (peeling it first, which is nasty). warm everything up, mix in the pizza sauce. warm all that up. divide the pizza dough into 4 pieces, and stretch them out the best you can (flour will help here). scoop the filling into the dough and pinch them shut like a little pocket. place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes until brown. even my picky non-vegan dad liked this! you won't even miss the cheese!

Olive Hummus

a cooking dialogue with a sort of musician, and that dude who occasionally sings the star spangled banner at the demolition derbys at KilKare Speedway in Xenia, Ohio, the man/myth/legend Jason Anderson on how to make olive hummus:

(jason)
well
boil some garbanzo beans, genius
then mush 'em up and add tahini
toss in some sea salt
squeeze a goddamned lemon
teaspoon in olive oil

and then, here's the kicker kate, ADD OLIVES.

(me)
mashed?
how many?
what color?

(jason)
whatever you want dude
BE FREE
WING IT

Scallion Pancakes

I made these in Indonesia, among other things, because vegan food was limited, as were the ingredients I could recognize at the grocery store. After 6 weeks I was pretty tired of Gado Gado. While I was taking a taxi to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for this, I found 1,050,000 rupiah ($110) that I got to keep because no one claimed it after I reported it to the cab company...

The recipe is from apartmenttherapy.com

Ingredients:
-white flour
-hot water
-chopped green onions
-salt
-oil

Mix flour and water in a 5:2 ratio to make a basic dough. 2.5 cups flour/1 cup water is good for about 3-4 people as an appetizer. Hot water (like close to boiling, or even boiling) will facilitate chewier pancakes. roll dough into a ball and coat in some oil. Cover with a damp towel, and allow dough to rest for about 30 minutes. Then, roll the doughball out flat and sprinkle it with green onions and salt. I haven't gotten the green onion amount down to science yet, but use an amount based on how much you like green onions.

Roll the pancake sprinkled with onions up like a snake. This way, the onions are on the inside, which makes frying them up easier/the onions don't fall out or get burned. Cut the snake into 6-8 pieces (if you used 2.5 c flour). Cut them into smaller pieces if you only have a small fry pan, larger if you have a larger one. Heat up a skillet and put some olive oil in it, and roll out the small pieces until they are about 1/3 inch thick (like pita bread thickness). Fry on both sides for about 2 minutes, until brown.

Serve with a dipping sauce. I use soy sauce with lime juice, fresh grated ginger, rice vinegar, and a bit of water just because it was what I had around, but really any "asian themed" dipping sauce would be delicious. Or, honestly, hummus (since I put that on everything).

I've relocated back home to Detroit and I'm unemployed and bored out of my mind, so I'll likely start posting more on here. Unless I get a job. If you need a women's health nurse practitioner in Detroit, call me.


I can has onion pancake...

Stew

Haven't tried this yet, but I'm posting it to remind myself to try it. Looks delicious.

fat free vegan's winter stew

Holy Crap I Just Made The Most Delicious Sandwich Ever

So I don't usually post my "clean out the fridge night" made up stuff because a) it's usually difficult to recreate and, b) they usually take a billion ingredients, but this one was SO GOOD, I wanted to share. I think most people have this stuff lying around... half used packages of tempeh and ground meat, half used onions, cans of breadcrumbs, etc, etc but if you don't... don't bother with this recipe. If you do, enjoy. I've broken it into several parts, so I apologize that the ingredients list is scattered. All I bought for this was the baguette, the mushrooms, and the eggplant.

Meatball/Eggplant Marinara Sandwich
-baguette
-fresh spinach (or whatever lettuce-like thing you have)
-breaded eggplant (see below)
-sauce/protein slop (see below)

Step one, breaded eggplant:

-one eggplant
-plain almond milk (or soy/hemp/whatever)
-bread crumbs
-basil
-oregano
-pepper
-oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the eggplant as thin as you can, and then dunk it in the milk. Season the breadcrumbs with the seasonings, and using small portions at a time, coat each eggplant slice in the breadcrumbs. The bread crumbs won't stick once the plate gets wet, which is why i advise doing the breadcrumbs in small batches. Put them on a cookie sheet greased with some olive oil and cook them at 350 til cripsy and brown. No need to use the entire eggplant. Save a portion of it for later. I used about 3 slices per sandwich (makes 3 sandwiches) and then ate some while I was waiting for everything else to cook, so maybe slice like 12 slices to bread and bake.

While that's baking... make the slop.

-olive oil
-half an onion, chopped
-some sliced portabellas
-half a package of Yves Ground "meat"
-1/2 a package of tempeh (I like the flax one)
-1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce of choice
-chopped garlic (or garlic powder)

Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil, add the mushrooms and sautee a little longer. Then add the tempeh. At this point you might need a bit more oil. Add the spaghetti sauce (about half a jar) and then the ground "meat" and simmer that for a little. Taste it and add more garlic/basil/oregano/pepper/salt as needed. You can add other italian-friendly veggies here like diced tomatoes, green pepper, etc. Whatever you have.

While that's simmering, take a baguette (I use the Whole Foods one sliced into thirds) and make sandwich sized cuts. Then cut it open almost completely (like they do at Subway) leaving one part attached like a hinge. At this point I scoop out most of the bread because I like to be wasteful, but it's up to you. Throw some lettuce (or fresh spinach like I did) on, followed by some eggplant slices, and then pile on the slop.

SHIT THAT'S GOOD.

I didn't think to take a picture until it was halfway devoured and it looks totally gross and unappetizing in the picture, but...

om nom nom nom.

Delicious Pesto Party Dip

-1 can of cannelini beans
-1 can of lentils
-fresh basil to taste (I used about 1/4 c)
-fresh parsley to taste (I used about 1/4 c)
-1 TBSP of tahini
-dash of salt
-1 tsp of olive oil
-the juice of one lemon
-3 cloves of garlic

-1 baguette, cut on the bias (to maximize surface area)
-olive oil


Empty most of the water out of the bean cans, but save it as you may needed it for added moisture at the end. Food process everything.

Slice the baguette, put some tin foil on a cookie sheet, and smear some olive oil on it. Put the baguette slices on the cookie sheet (rubbing each side into the oil), and broil until brown, flipping all of them over halfway through.

Garnish with some parsley sprigs.

Hungarian goulash

While I suspect my mother’s Hungarian Goulash’ is more Midwestern than Eastern European, it’s something I’ve been wanting to make for awhile. It was one of my favorite foods as a kid and it is incredibly easy to make. Perfect for fall when you are sick of all your normal soups and stews.

-12oz seitan—I use Ray’s wheat meat, which I believe is PA-local… any seitan will do
-one small yellow onion, chopped finely
-garlic to taste, finely chopped (I used 3 cloves)
-1.5 c. water
-3/4 c catsup
-2T Worchestire Sauces (I use Wizard’s, but there is a recipe for a vegan kind here in case you can’t find Wizard’s… recipe courtesy of Jenny Lewis)
-1T brown sugar
-1t salt
-2t paprika
-2 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in 4-6 oz of cold water.
-pasta (cooked) my mom always served it with the wide, flat egg noodles, so get a pasta shaped sort of like that. I use the mushroom-cap shaped guys at Whole Foods

In a skillet sauté the onions, garlic and seitan in some oil until the onions are translucent. Add sautéed mixture to a pot and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the cornstarch and pasta). Simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch water to thicken and heat for 1-2 more minutes. Serve over pasta.

Steve's Biscuits and Gravy

My coworker and friend Steve made this for his b-day party and it was awesome. It fed a lot of people (i'm sure he doubled it), it's easy, cheap, and most of the ingredients are things you already have. Because I'm midwestern, this is the kind of stuff I love.

Gravy
Toast 1 cup flour
Add 1 cup nut yeast - whisk while adding 1/4 cup est canola oil
Separately simmer 1 cup mushrooms and small onion chopped finely
Add together along w 2 cups veg broth
Add unsweetened soy/almond milk until correct consistency
Add lots of black pepper along w soy sauce, basil, cayenne, garlic
powder and I usually use lots of spike. Add all that stuff to taste
and stir and simmer for a good while

Biscuits-
Sift 2 cups flour w 1tsp salt and 3 tsp baking powder
Add 1/4 cup veg shortening and 1 cup soy/almond milk until just mixed-
you will prob need more non-dairy milk
Scoop or roll into desired shape and size and bake at 450 degrees for 12
min or so on oiled baking sheet

Knishes

I had never actually eaten a knish, but I had heard about them from my friend Andrew a pretty long time ago. This weekend, Sam and I went camping, and when I asked him what he wanted to eat on the trip, he mentioned tofu knishes on his list. Apparently, these are available premade, but I didn't know so I made them from scratch. They were fun/easy to make.

First, you must make mashed potatoes.
-3 large russett potatoes
-3-4 cloves of garlic
-fresh parsley to taste
-almond milk
-2 T. earth balance
-salt and pepper to taste
-a couple sticks of green onions

In a food processor or blender, chop up the fresh parsley, garlic cloves, and green onion. Cube the potatoes and boil them until soft. Drain the potatoes, and mix them with the earth balance, chopped up seasonings, and almond milk. I made the potatoes a little bit watery because I thought this would be good for the knish. I used maybe 3/4 of a cup of almond milk for this purpose.

Next you make the dough:
-3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
-1/2 c. cold water
-1/2 c. mashed potatoes
-1 tsp baking powder
-shredded carrots
-chopped frozen spinach (1/2 c.)
-a block of firm tofu, well drained
-garlic powder, salt, basil to taste

mix together the flour, water, mashed potatoes, and baking powder. knead it with your hands, until it makes a nice dough-y dough. roll the dough into a ball, cover it with a damp paper towel, and let it rest for 1/2 hour. while it's resting, preheat the oven to 350, and combine the rest of the ingredients into a bowl. this is the filling. Add seasoning, but add more than you think you'll need. Trust me. My first batch was bland. Once the dough has rested, cut it into 4 parts and work with each part individually. flour the countertop and your hands and roll out the dough to be pretty thin (like when you make cookie cutter cookies-thin). if you don't have a rolling pin, use your hands for the first part and then a can for the final flattenings. once it's flattened cut it into four pieces, spoon in as much dough as it can fit, and pinch it shut. repeat. with each quarter, making 4 knishes out of each quarter. cook them in batches of 8 at 350 for about 25 minutes.

I didn't take a picture, but they look adorabe and taste delicious. it's a good thing to bring to a party or to impress your mom with when she comes over to visit.

Oatmeal Choco Cookie

Adapted Plagarized from The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. This cookbook is so worthwhile. Every recipe is delicious. Buy it.

-3/4 cup flour
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 c. quick oats
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-half a banana (RIPE)
-1/3 cup oil
-1/2 cup maple syrup
-1 tbsp vanilla extract
-1 cup choco chips (Bakers' semisweet chunks are my favorite. I used carob once and they bombed)

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Food process everything else (except the chocolate chips) and mix the 2 bowls together. Stir in chocochips. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until done.

You'd best double the recipe.

The secret ingredient is: banana.