Dinner Italian Style

I have three recipes for you from our huge Sunday Italian style dinner. I cooked a lot, too much really, but I like for Chase to go home with plenty of leftovers. We had beer bread, tofu, spaghetti squash with creamy tomato sauce, risotto, and fudge cake. I baked everything but the sauce which made it a super easy and delicious meal. And it was a cold and dreary Sunday, so keeping the oven going all day was A-OK.

Many of the women in my family are going through our recipe collections to try to get a family cookbook together. These recipes are some I found in my collection. They are old, they were easily made vegan, and they turned out terrific.

First, a little music before dinner.



Beer Bread – This recipe is very similar to the one Happy Herbivore posted recently, but not as healthy. It baked up beautifully and Chase couldn’t get enough of it.

Beer Bread

Makes one 8 x 5 loaf

1-1/2 cups AP flour
1-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
2 T. sugar
1 can beer, room temperature (but not flat)
2 T. melted margarine

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar together. Add in beer. Stir for 30 strokes. Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Pour melted margarine over top – this gives it a crispy crust. Bake for one hour. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Italian Baked Tofu – This was the first time in a long long time I really missed being able to eat tofu. It smelled and looked so delicious, and Chase loved it.

I don’t have a marinade recipe, but I always start with store bought Italian dressing and white wine, then just see what else is in the fridge and spice cabinet I feel like adding.

Spaghetti Squash – When I flipped the halves over to bake the last 10 minutes, I saw that I had forgotten to scoop out the seeds! So I scooped them out and finished baking, with no harm done, whew…

Creamy Tomato Sauce – No recipe, just my favorite tomato sauce recipe to which I added white beans pureed with a little milk until smooth and creamy.

Baked Risotto – Well you know I’ve been baking my rice dishes, so I was thrilled to find this recipe. It was not as creamy as true risotto, but it sure was easy!

Baked Risotto

Serves 4

2 T. margarine
1 small onion, diced
¾ cup Arborio rice
1 cup vegetable broth
¾ cup white wine
1 cup carrots
1 cup green bell pepper
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
2 T. Italian seasoning

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly oil a 9 x 9 baking dish.

Melt margarine in skillet. Add onion and cook until soft. Add rice and cook for 2 minutes. Add broth and wine and bring to a boil. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

(I didn’t really like the pomegranate in this. And I would have preferred mushrooms in it, but no one likes them but me. Any veggies of your choosing would work, and nuts or raisins could sub for the pomegranate.)

Of course steamed broccoli was served as well. Here is my plate.

And here is Chase’s plate. I was afraid I didn’t have enough spaghetti squash so I made some *regular* noodles too, which you can see under the squash noodles.

I don’t know where the above two recipes originated, but dessert comes from my great aunt Sue. Aunt Sue died a long time ago, but I will always remember what a lovely lovely lady she was, full of Southern grace, and of course a fabulous cook. My recipe card merely has a list of ingredients and some sketchy instructions, so here is my vegan version of….

Aunt Sue’s Fudge Cake

Makes 9 servings

½ cup melted margarine or coconut oil
5 scant T. cocoa
1 cup sugar (I used ½ ZSweet and it was not grainy at all!)
¾ cup AP flour
½ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
2 EnerG eggs
½ cup chopped nuts (I used unsalted peanuts)
½ tub ricemellow
chocolate frosting (I used melted vegan nutella)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Light oil an 8 x 8 pan.

In a medium bowl stir together margarine, cocoa, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in eggs and mix well. Stir in nuts. Spread into pan. Bake 22 minutes. Remove from oven and top with ricemellow. Bake 3 minutes more. Let cool. Top with favorite frosting.

I made mine in a to-go pan so Chase would take it away from me, because I remembered how much I loved this gooey treat.

It is soooo good.

Chocolate, peanuts, marshmallows, and more chocolate – who wouldn’t love it!!!


I’m off to Alabama to visit my sister and her family, so I’ll be away for a while. I don’t have a laptop, but I’ll visit your blogs when I get a chance. Please leave comments and please let me know if you try any of the recipes!

One more thing, remember the Razzcherries I blogged about? Everybody I’ve shared them with has gone CRAZY for them! I’m taking some to Alabama too. You must try them! Texas readers, I got mine from the bulk bin at Central Market.

Adios!

This Crazy Vegan Life

HAPPY NEW YEAR crazy vegans! And to all nonvegan readers as well. I hope you enjoyed saying goodbye to 2008 and are looking forward to a healthy and happy 2009. I am looking forward to continuing to provide you with healthy vegan recipes this year, and I hope that you, like me, have resolved to commit or recommit to be the healthiest and best vegan crusader you can be.

I was contacted awhile back by a publishing rep and asked to review Christina Pirello’s new book, This Crazy Vegan Life. So this first post of the new year will contain my thoughts about her book, as well as several recipe reviews. (My compensation for this review was a copy of the book.)

I very much enjoyed reading This Crazy Vegan Life and I highly recommend it to practicing vegans, new vegans, and nonvegans. If you are not familiar with Christina, perhaps you are familiar with her PBS show and website, Christina Cooks. Christina was diagnosed with leukemia and given 3 months to live – 25 years ago. She attributes her health and healing to a vegan macrobiotic diet and lifestyle.

The first half of the book deals with the principles of veganism, including health and nutrition, animal compassion, and environmental issues. We vegans know that meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods are cruel to our bodies, animals, and the environment. But I learned a lot from the in depth descriptions of how and why this is so. For example, even though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about vegan nutrition, I was fascinated to read about the process of digestion and the toll nonvegan foods take on our bodies. Christina’s goal is to arm you with all the information and personal testimony she has to get you to commit, with no more excuses, to living a healthy vegan lifestyle so you can feel great about your body and your lifestyle choices. As she stated in the introduction (and I feel her pain!), “As a teacher/advocate of healthy vegan cooking I agonize over the fact that many people listen to what I say and agree that it makes sense. But there is a huge disconnect between hearing, understanding – and doing.”

The book also gives plenty of emphasis to the “criminal” ways of our food industry. Advertisers, lobbyists, and researchers dupe the public into eating their junk foods in huge portions. Corporate manufacturers contaminate and genetically modify our foods while marketers tell us it’s helpful for our health and the world’s food supply.

In the second part of the book, Christina shares her philosophy about food and eating and provides a list of kitchen staples and over 100 vegan recipes. She tells you not only what to eat, but why, when, and how to eat. Two points she reiterates are (1) you truly are what you eat; and (2) it’s the calories that count; you must expend more calories than you consume in order to lose weight – period. She asks you to commit to her eating plan for 21 days to break your dependence on unhealthy foods and reintroduce your numbed tastebuds to the wonderful, delicate flavors of natural foods. She also says 21 days on her plan can turn around a lifetime of unhealthy habits. She includes a nice chapter of 12 exercises with photos to get you moving. One of my favorite passages from the book is “Take a good, hard look at what you ask of your body each and every day and then think about what you do for it in return.”

I will admit that I have tried some recipes from the Christina Cooks website and was disappointed with the lack of flavor, so I was skeptical about the recipes in this book. I made a main dish, side dish, and soup, and to my surprise I was absolutely thrilled with the outcome.

First up – Cauliflower in Spiced Tomato Sauce




I loved that I got to prepare a whole cauliflower again, and the tomato sauce was fabulous! To serve it, I cut it like pie.

Next, Roasted Winter Squash with Basil. I used an acorn squash and left the skin on. I normally don’t like my squash sweet, but this had just a teaspoon of sweetener and I loved it. It was really delicious.

The soup I made is what Christina calls a home remedy broth designed to dissolve hardened fat deposits that lie deep in your organs and jumpstart weight loss. I didn’t expect it to be noteworthy, so I didn’t take a picture. But this 5-ingredient remedy took mere minutes to prepare and honestly is one of the tastiest things I’ve ever had.

The last thing I made was a treat. Christina says her sweetener of choice is erythritol, and even though it sounds like a chemical, it is completely natural made from plant sugars. I was completely unfamiliar with this substance, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. I bought a bag of Z Sweet. 300 grams, which I believe is 1-1/2 cups, for $8.00. There are 60 calories in the whole bag. Current research deems it completely safe as it is absorbed into the bloodstream and quickly excreted. It does not cause cavities. It does not raise blood sugar and is therefore safe for diabetics. It looks like this:

Apparently erythritol will make your baked goods grainy, so to overcome this, Christina’s recipes have you boil it with other ingredients to dissolve it before mixing it with your dry ingredients. Two problems I had with that – first, it’s an extra step and an extra pot to dirty, and second, you have to wait for the boiled mixture to cool before mixing it with your dry ingredients or else it melts your chocolate chips, as I discovered when adding them to the Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe. (The recipe didn't call for the chips; I just wanted chocolate.)

I baked them in a disposable tin, so you are only seeing their tops. They really baked up beautifully and they were not overly sweet, just like I like them. The texture was fine and the flavor was nice. I have enough Z Sweet to try out a few more recipes. In the meantime, I would love to hear from any of you who have used this sweetener.

To sum up, I highly recommend This Crazy Vegan Life for great insight into the vegan lifestyle provided by an experienced, passionate, and healthy vegan author. I also recommend it for great recipes. I have many bookmarked that I can’t wait to try.

If you want to see Amazon’s review, read it here.

Now, since it is New Year’s Day and I adhere to the tradition of eating blackeyed peas for good luck, I made Chipotle Blackeyed Peas from Get It Ripe! to have for dinner tonight.

I’ve got a nice bunch of kale to serve with them, and I’m going to eat as many as I can for extra good luck in 2009! I'm such a crazy vegan....

Daring Baker’s Challenge – French Yule Log

This month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

What a fun fun fun and chocolaty delicious challenge this month! It’s a good thing I had plenty of time away from the office to work on this Yule Log. Although it wasn’t terribly difficult, it took quite a bit of time to make all six elements (cake, mousse, crisp, ganache, crème brulee, and frosting), plan their vegan preparation, and manage my time to make sure it would all come together and be ready to serve on Christmas Day. Believe it or not, my main concern was that it would be chocolate overload!

The most important element of the Yule Log was the mousse filling. VCTOTW Chocolate Mousse Frosting with a couple of tablespoons of Kahlua added in was incredibly delicious. VCTOTW also provided my ganache. Crème brulee was replaced with JOVB pastry crème. I got to use one of my favorite ingredients, rice krispies, to make a white chocolate crisp.

The cake was more of a challenge. The recipe provided was a meringue almond cake, which I presume was crispy, but not really a vegan option (3 egg whites). I thought about a graham cracker layer, but wasn’t sure I could make it almond flavored. I finally decided on the best almond cake recipe I had, the one from My Sweet Vegan. Not a meringue cake, but a delicious almond cake!

The frosting was the only other element I struggled with, because it was made with gelatin or agar agar. I hate stuff made with agar agar and I wasn’t about to ruin all my hard work and 5 other tasty components with rubbery frosting. So I made a vegan version of the given recipe sans agar agar. It wasn’t the smooth mirror-like finish it was supposed to be, but it tasted fantastic.

To make the log, I began layering my components in a loaf pan in reverse order: Mousse, crème brulee, more mousse, crisp, more mousse. This went into the freezer several hours. Then ganache (a very thin layer for me!) and cake, and back into the freezer overnight.

Time to unmold!

Now time to frost. Although I knew I was putting frosting on something frozen, I wasn’t prepared for my frosting to freeze as I was pouring and spreading it! Oh, well. So it’s not so smooth. Add a few candy canes and it’s a chocolaty Buche de Noel.

I had to take it to my mom’s for Christmas dinner, but it traveled just fine. When the entrees and sides were eaten and the dishes cleared, I presented our dessert.

I couldn’t wait to slice into it and see if my layers were even.

I’m not sure what happened to the crisp layer. Maybe it broke apart when I cut into it. And my crème brulee looks like it should have been reduced by a third. But just you and I know it’s not perfect. The eaters only knew they were enjoying a heavenly concoction – rich yet light, smooth and chocolaty, and balanced with layers of complementary flavors and textures.

Would I make this Yule Log again? It was awfully time-consuming and rather expensive, but oh so delicious. You betcha!

A Little Christmas

Hi, everybody! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. I celebrated the best I could yesterday, with just my mom and my brother. Chase went out of town and of course I lost my dad earlier this year. So the three of us enjoyed each other’s company and plenty of good food.

I was grateful to finally be able to use my kitchen whenever I wanted. I didn’t go too crazy this year, but here are some pictures of most of what I made for us to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

First, some test recipes from Urban Vegan’s cookbook, all delicious of course.

Lentils with Radicchio and Onions



Porcini Quinoa with Cauliflower and Toasted Pecans



Cranberry Upside Down Cake (yum yum yum yum!!)

Also, some of my favorites - good ol’ Chili Mac

Celine’s Pumpkin Whole Wheat Bread

Granola

I bought some RAZZCHERRIES out of the bulk bin to put in my granola gifts, but they were so amazingly delicious I ate them all myself! I don’t know exactly what they are, but if you see them, buy them!

Christmas Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans

Isa’s newest recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies - these were gone in a hurry!

Big Fat Sugar Cookies

I also made some GF Polenta Cookies that I didn’t get a picture of, but they are outstanding. Please visit Rachel at The Friendly Kitchen to see her picture and recipe, and check out all her other great looking recipes.


Here’s our pretty table (before the meat).

My brother gave me three new cookbooks I asked for – yay!

I don’t think they are going to fit in my cookbook case, but I’m not complaining.

That’s it for holiday cooking. And frankly, I’m ready to take a holiday from eating. I’m so glad to be UNbusy so I can see what you all have been cooking because even though I’m too stuffed to eat, it’s still fun to look!

My Christmas Miracle

It was supposed to take 3 days. It turned into 3 weeks. Now, finally....

.... baking may commence!

Full of Beans!

One day when Chase was about 7 years old, I went to pick him up from afterschool care and his teacher stopped me and said, “Well, Chase was sure full of beans today!” I had no idea what that meant, but was certain it was something gross and obnoxious, so I said, “I’m so sorry.” I later learned that it just meant he was acting silly – whew! Our Sunday night dinner was not silly, but it was literally full of beans.

I actually made two very filling entrees. The days are so hectic lately and I wanted to have leftovers for me and plenty for Chase to take home too. I also got to test some more yummy Urban Vegan recipes. I still don’t have kitchen lighting, so once again I made most of this dinner during daylight and reheated it just before serving.

One entrée was Curry Cashew Casserole, another fabulous UrbanVegan test recipe.

As you can see, it has broccoli and chickpeas, two of our favorite ingredients, in a cashew sauce. Due to tester protocol, I can only say mmmmmmmmmmmmm! I served it over baked brown rice. I have this one bag of rice I’m using up that will only cook properly if it’s baked - I have no idea why.

The second entrée was lasagna! I made Black and White Bean Lasagna in a giant to go container for Chase to take home.

It is full of wheat and soy so I didn’t taste it after it was baked, but I did taste the sauce and the cheese mixture while preparing it and they were good. And Chase loved it. It has just a bit of cilantro in it, but otherwise it’s just like regular Italian lasagna. I made the sauce with mashed white beans, whole black beans, and tomato sauce, and onions and peppers and garlic, the usual tomato sauce ingredients. Then I made a cheese layer with tofu ricotta, tofutti cream cheese, a little tofutti sour cream, and some nooch and other seasonings. I added in a layer of fresh spinach too. I have a recipe if anyone wants it. I couldn’t tell which of the entrees Chase liked best. It was probably a tie.

I had a recipe for Black Bean, Corn, and Cranberry Relish I had saved from a 1998 Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cooking magazine. It looked so pretty in the magazine I couldn’t wait to make it.

It’s good, but I would like to tweak with the seasonings a little to get it perfect.

I also made up some broccoli slaw. I thought it would be nice to have one food fresh from the oven for dinner, so I decided to make some phyllo wraps with the slaw. I hadn’t worked with phyllo in a while. I should have moved the wraps to the plate with a spatula and not my hands.

I may have missed out on the lasagna, but I got plenty to eat. I got the leftover broccoli slaw.

And I had room for dessert! This is a piece of Urban Vegan’s Choco Coco Oat Bars – chocolate, coconut, oats – what’s not to love?!!

I have a very busy week at work and then I’m off until December 31 – yahoo! I know many of you will be taking finals this week, as will Chase, so study hard, do well, and then look forward to a well deserved break. Everyone else – stay warm!

I CAN Make Breakfast!

Most of you know I am not a breakfast eater. Never have been. Chase loves breakfast, so every now and then I like to make him breakfast for dinner, which is what I served for our most recent Sunday dinner. On the menu was Tofu Migas (a scramble with onions, peppers, salsa, and tortillas strips), Crispy Roasted Potatoes, Julie’s Steamed Sausages, Homemade Pinto Beans, and Cinnamon Pancakes. Sorry I only have a few blurry pictures in poor lighting. Here’s Chase’s plate of migas, sausage, potatoes, and beans, which he enjoyed very much.




I actually made the pancakes ahead of time and then warmed them in the micro before serving. I recently acquired two of my mom’s 30 year old griddles. They are about 10 inches wide and 30 inches long! I tested one, which seems to cook a little uneven, but made great pancakes 6 at a time.

We really enjoyed the maple syrup, bluebarb jam, and habanero sauce from Bex with this meal.

On the homefront:
* I had to go to the doctor to get antibiotics to shake the flu, which seems to have settled in my ears, making me extremely miserable.
* Half of the parts for my kitchen lighting have come in.
* Yesterday it was a record setting 81 degrees in the afternoon. I went to a Christmas party after work and it was much cooler by then. When I left the party it was very windy and had started raining. On the drive home it began to sleet, and while I was asleep it snowed! Good ol’ Texas weather.
* Today I had lunch with friends at a great new café with many vegan options. It’s Eat Local Week here, but this café always serves fresh local food. It was outstanding as were the prices and quick service. I had today’s specials, chickpea cholent and collards with maple syrup, both delish. We shared some mushroom dumplings and panko crusted fried green beans for appetizer, also yum. Another luncher had mushroom fritter tacos which looked amazing and some slaw she let me taste which was also great. So, if you’re near Austin I highly recommend Somnio’s Café on South First.

I may try making some flatbreads on the other griddle. I think Jessy has some good recipes. Anybody else have a recommendation?

Thank you, thank you!

Sorry for my recent absence, everyone. I've been super busy and away from the computer, and I've still been under the weather, still without kitchen lighting, and still cranky. I do have a minute before Sunday dinner for a couple of overdue thank you's.

First, thank you to Vegan View for bestowing me with this award.


I'm always grateful for kind comments about my blog.


And to Bex, my package swap partner, for the amazing array of local Vermont products I received from her.

I have Apple Roasted Shallot Dressing, rock candy, maple candy, Liz Lovely gluten free ginger molasses cookies which are about the best cookie I've ever had, maple cotton candy, Bluebarb Jam, Habanero pepper sauce, a chocolate pb bar, and real maple syrup. Thank you so much, Bex!

We're having breakfast for dinner tonight so we'll be able to have plenty of maple syrup and taste some of the other products too.

Thanks again, ladies, and I hope to visit everyone's blog soon.

A Test-y Sunday Dinner and Great Cake!

I wasn’t feeling quite 100 percent Sunday, so I relied on Urban Vegan’s test recipes for our dinner. (Thanks for all of your get-well wishes!) And of course there is still this:



What should be 3 feet of lighting on my kitchen ceiling. Someday…..

The testers arrived, quite serious and hungry.

We had:

The most fabulous Hearty Adzuki Bean Soup

Mini Rice Croquettes with a super delicious Wasabi Miso Dipping Sauce

A refreshing Jicama Salad

And fantastic Balsamic Roasted Vegetables

Here is our table full of yummies. I found it interesting to see the soup bowls with varying degrees of DIY garnish.

I made myself a nice plate to go with my soup.

I sometimes wish I had the time to write a cookbook, but it’s much more fun to test and eat and let someone else do all the work. We will all certainly enjoy The Urban Vegan: 250 Street-Smart, Animal-Free Recipes when it’s released!


Now for cake! I must have been out of my mind sick to have waited an entire day to cut into the Daring Bakers Caramel Cake. It is totally delicious and so moist. The crumb is tight, yet the texture is light. And we all really really liked the frosting, which we don’t normally like, and even dipped into the frosting shot I made! Look how lovely.

That’s it for Sunday dinner. See you again soon.