Healthy Weeknight Meals: Creamy Broccoli Dal

Posted on October 17, 2011 by jodie

I have a lot of cookbooks. I mean, a lot. Really.

One of the problems with that is that there are cookbooks on my shelf that I’ve never used.

Shocking. And not cool!

So, I’m working on using all of the cookbooks in my collection. All meals this week are ones from cookbooks I’ve never used before!

The first is from Vegan Yum Yum, a book that I bought with an Amazon Gift Card a couple of years ago.

It’s a beautiful book. It’s worth buying it for that alone- the pictures are just beautiful. I know, I know, overuse of the word beautiful, but it’s the right word.

My photo can’t do it justice!

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Creamy Broccoli Dal- where dal and cream of broccoli soup meet!

This is a simple soup to make, and is sped up with the use of a food processor for ease in chopping the broccoli. It does need a bit of time on the stove- so you’re probably looking at 45 minutes or so from start to finish, but much of it is inactive time while it cooks.

A different cookbook up tomorrow!

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VeganMoFo Hump Day!

Posted on October 14, 2011 by jodie

Happy VeganMoFo Hump Day!

Click on the picture and you’ll hear an extra-special vegan song by vegan satirical rap artist Leslie Hall, in honor of VeganMoFo Hump Day!

Lyrics:

I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you. But if it’s raised in a cage, and it can’t even move, if it’s hormone filled and in a bad mood. I’m gonna pass on that. Reach for something better. The only milk I’ll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they’re cooked and grown with love. So give a chef who knows what’s up a hug. Momma just can’t seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I’m much healthier, they just say that it’s all lies. But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly. Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed. Don’t take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger. I like it! We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies. ‘Cuz I wouldn’t want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age. Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces. Never met my mother, raised by machines. Never get sunshine never get green, but that’s just me. [That girl loves fruit leather.] So ask us what we’re eating. Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice. With a slice of tempeh, yes, I’ll have that twice. Don’t forget the legumes!

This post brought to you by VeganMoFo!

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Healthy Weeknight Meals: Mix-and-Match Jambalaya

Posted on October 13, 2011 by jodie

Another meal in the slow cooker!

I actually had today off, so I again got to be here while using the slow cooker. I’m feeling pretty confident about it at this point, though using it next week is not on my agenda (so many things I want to make!). Again, this recipe comes from The Vegan Slow Cooker.

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Mix-and-Match Jambalya (p. 109) with Field Roast Italian Sausage, Upton’s Naturals Seitan and red kidney beans.

Two things to keep in mind when making this recipe:

  • This meal did take longer to prep than some of the other things I’ve made in the slow cooker, with the amount of veggies that need to be minced. Not too bad, but definitely not something you’d want to leave to do the morning of if you’ll be in a hurry.
  • If you want to serve this on a day when you’ve been at work, you won’t be able to do so immediately- you need to add the rice an hour before serving.

The extra hour is fine with me most of the time, but I know I’d probably want a snack in the afternoon if I were going to do that. I actually got started late today, so I was hungry- but some leftover Masala Tofu made an excellent (and low-cal) snack.

Technically, this was not a whole foods meal, as it relies heavily on wheat gluten, but it is a very hearty one. The huge bowl that I had amounted to about 400 calories, and there was definitely a lot of nutrition there!

Tomorrow is the half-way mark for VeganMoFo!

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Healthy Weeknight Meals: Masala Baked Tofu

Posted on October 12, 2011 by jodie
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Served with kale and leftover corn pudding from yesterday.

Tonight’s meal is centered on Masala Baked Tofu from Appetite for Reduction. If you’re reading this blog and you’re trying to eat healthy- you own that book, right? Because you totally should. Awesome low-fat, easy to prepare and tasty recipes!

If I had taken five minutes last night to mix up the marinade, I could have been eating 45 minutes after I got home. Alas, I had not, so I had to wait an extra hour to marinate. It was okay though- I just had dessert first. 😉

One of the wonderful things about cooking from cookbooks is that you get some really good directions. I have never had a baked tofu as good as this one was- broiling it at the end made all the difference!

What I’m learning with all these homemade meals is that planning is key. Ideally I would plan out all four of these weeknight meals at the beginning of the week so that I could have all the little things ready ahead of time. That would have been a real time saver, for a night like tonight.

Isn’t it nice that veganmofo can teach us something?

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Healthy Weeknight Meals: Corn Pudding, Soy Curls and Kale

Posted on October 11, 2011 by jodie
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It’s not so much of a pudding as a casserole. 🙂

I’ve been going through various cookbooks (with relatively quick/healthy recipes) and looking for recipes that I haven’t used before. This meal was built around one of them, Corn Pudding, from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook (p. 173).

As all of the Happy Herbivore recipes, this came together quickly- the only time consuming parts were chopping the onion and the actual cooking. I made a mistake with this- I forgot to add salt. I kept thinking that the recipe was a little on the bland side- until I realized my mistake. I think that would have absolutely made the dish, and I’ll probably add a bit to the leftovers as I serve them.

I had a bit of Soy Curls on the side with BBQ sauce, as well as tamari-steamed kale.

Did you know that Soy Curls are actually a whole food?

One might think they’re like TVP- just a part of the soy bean. But no, they’re actually the whole thing! So they do count as part of a whole foods meal. 🙂

Tamari-steamed kale is incredibly easy- wash and tear up as much kale as you want, put it in a microwave-safe dish that can be covered (an inverted plate over a bowl is fine), and sprinkle with a little tamari. Zap in the microwave for about a minute or so, and you’re done!

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Healthy Weeknight Meals: Tempeh Braised with Figs and Port Wine

Posted on October 10, 2011 by jodie

Slow cookers are awesome. Spend a few minutes prepping things the night before, then a few minutes to throw everything in the cooker in the morning, and you can set it to do all the cooking while you’re at work. If your hours are unpredictable, you can even set a timer on some to stop cooking after a set period of time (not recommended if they’re really unpredictable, like you might not be home until several hours after it should be done. Bacteria, you know).

The downside is, you want to try a thing or two when you’re home before doing the whole set it and forget it thing. Hence, I tried out a recipe from The Vegan Slow Cooker, Tempeh Braised with Figs and Port Wine (p.123).

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Tempeh Braised with Figs and Port Wine, served with faro.

I made this yesterday, and I was pleased with how it came out. I had never cooked with Port before. In fact, I wasn’t sure about anything when it comes to port! I went looking on Barnivore, and I wasn’t sure what to look under. So I went to a wine store without a particular brand in mind, and just kept checking the more inexpensive brands with my iPhone (such a handy device- I just loaded the Barnivore website). Warwick Vally Winery’s wines are all vegan, and it was fairly inexpensive (wow some ports are expensive!).

I’m hoping that in the next week or two I get a chance to use the slow cooker during the day. This did reheat quite nicely for tonight’s dinner. To serve this, I threw some faro in the pressure cooker as soon as I got home, which gave me a nice whole chewy grain to have alongside the tempeh.

Quick and easy!

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AT&T Lies About iPhone 4S Arrival Date

Posted on October 8, 2011 by jodie

Stepping out of the VeganMoFo role for a minute; I hope my vegan followers will excuse the off topic post.

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My old 3Gs. I love you 3Gs, but it’s time.

Like many excited iPhone fans, I got up early early to reserve my pre-ordered iPhone yesterday. I totally understood that this was a pre-order, and it wasn’t as if I’d get it right now- the point was to save myself several trips to the Apple Store if they didn’t have what I wanted in stock when I went. I still have an iPhone 3Gs, which I have loved, but has a failing home button and battery that’s not as good as it once was. It’s been over two years, so I was definitely excited to upgrade.

I moved last year, and since I get paperless billing and direct debit for my account, I overlooked changing my address. Since both Apple and AT&T will only ship to the billing address, I went with AT&T for the purchase, since it would be easier to directly change my address through them in the frenzy of all the iPhone preorders. That went through without a problem- no complaints there.

Twice my transaction was declined because my credit card company put a fraud alert on my card when I ordered. Not AT&T’s fault. Not even their fault that I was on hold for nearly an hour twice yesterday while trying to get it straightened out on AT&T’s end.

I got a confirmation email yesterday that said I should receive my order by October 14, 2011.

(Too big to show up on the page, so click here)

When I called because it looked like again, my order had not gone through (but it actually did), I found out that it will not leave the warehouse until October 14, 2011, which at earliest means I won’t receive it until October 15th.

So you see the lie there? Even on an estimation, you can’t estimate something will arrive on a day it cannot possibly arrive.

Oh, but there’s an asterisk, you say? That’s true. Here’s what it says:

(Too big to show up on the page, so click here)

Nothing about that it won’t leave the warehouse until then. Totally. Deceptive.

Unfortunately, I just virtually signed a contract with AT&T for 2 more years. Although I originally opened my cellular account with a smaller company that was eventually absorbed by AT&T, I have had the same account since I got my first cell phone in 1999. When this contract ends, I will be looking elsewhere, unless this supervisor (Agent #A06009) happened to be wrong.

If you haven’t bought your iPhone 4S yet, you may want to consider buying elsewhere. They don’t get richer unless we buy their products or use their services.

Edit: I have received a call back from the previous supervisor’s supervisor. Although he initially backed what she said, he did say whatever the email said should be the most accurate information. I will keep my fingers crossed, but I will not hold my breath, as the saying goes.

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Baba Ganoush with Homemade Tahini

Posted on October 7, 2011 by jodie

I used to love baba ganoush from Mamoun’s when I lived in New Haven. I know that there’s a Mamoun’s or two in NYC, but it’s just not the same when it’s not across the street from your apartment.

Vegan boyfriend has been inundated with produce from his CSA share, and can’t find use for everything he gets, which is how I ended up with 4 eggplants. I don’t actually care for eggplant (shocking, coming from the picky vegan, right?), but I do love it in that particular baba ganoush. I always figured that the reason I liked it so much was the amount of tahini. I’m pretty sure I was right.

So I made some myself!

It came out awesome.

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Baba ganoush served with toasted pita bread. That’s sumac sprinkled on top, not paprika.

I didn’t have as much tahini on hand as I thought, but I had a lot of sesame seeds, and I have a food processor. (You can check out how to make your own over at Melomeals). It took this to a level that I don’t think store-bought could have done.

The only thing I would do differently next time (and given the amount of tahini and olive oil, this is a once-a-year kind of dish), is that I would not roast the eggplant whole. It was a pain to take out the seeds once it was roasted. There’s got to be a better way!

I wish I could give you a recipe, but I can give you a method. Roast eggplants (somehow get rid of seeds). Make tahini in food processor. Add roasted eggplant, a couple of minced cloves of garlic, olive oil as needed, and lemon juice as needed. Add salt as needed. This is really just about getting it to the taste you like- it’s totally okay to play with amounts.

So good.

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Healthy Weeknight Meals: Salad with leftovers!

Posted on October 6, 2011 by jodie

During the week, I’m only cooking for myself. While it is possible to cook single servings of meals (last night’s sad stir-fry was an example), sometimes there are leftovers to use. I have a couple of choices in how I might use them- packed for lunch, or for another dinner. I can also freeze them for later, depending on what it is.

Tonight’s meal makes use of the leftover Chickpea Piccata from the other night. There are a lot of creative ways that you can use such things- I’m thinking a sandwich or wrap would be pretty awesome, but I didn’t have such fixings. I do have a lot of greens, so a salad it was.

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Leftover chickpea piccata and greens.

What’s the difference between this and how I served it when it wasn’t leftovers? The ratio of greens. Since I didn’t have a whole lot left, most of my meal was greens. And that’s a good thing. 🙂

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Healthy Weeknight Meals: Seitan Stir-fry

Posted on October 5, 2011 by jodie

This is not an appetizing photo.

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Not good lighting, brownish food. Not my best effort.

This was a stir fry using up leftover seitan from the Lemongrass Seitan Sandwiches. I got home on the late side from work, and was using frozen veggies. It just wasn’t a meal made to wow. Sometimes that happens.

But you know what?

It’s okay.

You don’t have to wow yourself or anyone else everyday. It was reasonably tasty, though my rice was undercooked and it was salty overall (too much miso, I think). Sometimes we’re in a rush.

Sometimes we want to slow down and it’s just not practical.

Don’t punish yourself! Clean up, move on, and try again tomorrow.

You’ve got thousands of dinners to cook in a lifetime- don’t sweat it if every single one of them isn’t a hit. 🙂

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