Friday, November 17, 2006

friday food round-up

Hi everyone, and welcome to yet another Friday food round-up. Today, I'll try to keep the wordiness down so you can just look at the food photos. Enjoy!

What did we do with the sprouts?




Salad with: steamed broccoli, chickpeas, yellow bellpepper (homegrown) and sprouts with a flax oil and tahini dressing. (flax oil, lime juice, tahini, raw garlic, pepper)



Apple and sprout salad with creamy dressing. (Nasoya ranch dressing diluted with apple cider vinegar and spices)



Tacos! With sprouts, cucumber, radish, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, cilantro, and black beans.

Anatomy of a Focaccia:


I'd been craving home-made bread and this black olive, onion, and rosemary focaccia recipe from the Vegan Chef sounded delicious.



Black olives, garlic, onion, fresh rosemary



Go into the delicious olive oil-y dough.



Cooling on rack



Sliced up and ready to be chomped up with soup. I tell you, make some focaccia, you will thank yourself! Especially good this time of the year since we're all eating so many hearty soups.



And there will be leftovers the next day so you can eat grilled cheese (Tofutti American Slices) and focaccia for breakfast and feel awesome.

Speaking of soups?




Lindyloo posted this recipe for sensational sun-dried tomato and chickpea soup on her blog and I just had to try it. Loved it.



Yet another squashyssoise! (Click here to see our previous squashyssoise experiments) Steamed butternut squash, leeks, pears, blended with veggie broth and pumpkin puree. Served with sunflower seeds.

What else did you do, squash-wise?



Made this fantastic roasted squash recipe from Whole Foods. Butternut, onions, cranberries, sage-it was great! (And so easy) Make some, but I warn you, if you are more than 1-2 people, double the recipe, because this stuff goes fast.

Any other salads?



But of course! Here is one of my all-time favorite vegetables, choy sum. It looks like a mix between bok choy and broccoli rabe, and tastes wonderful. Mild enough to be eaten raw, or you can grill or stir-fry it. Notice how just one veggie creates a whole salad, providing the crunchy white bits, green leafy bits, and even little yellow flowers. Dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. YUM.

Any cupcakes this week?


Uh, yes.



Rum-raisin cupcakes with rum glaze from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (p. 123)



Here they are in all their beglazed rummy goodness. (Warning: not one for the kids!!) These had a wonderfully spicy, holiday flavor to them. I decreased the sugar in the recipe a bit and they were just fine. HINT: the recipe gives you the option of using mace, definitely use it if you have it! It gives it a woodsy flavor that is really unique, and again, perfect for this time of year.

Any breakfasts?



Vanilla-walnut pancakes.



Fresh persimmons, sweet and fragrant, ready to transport you back to childhood. (If your childhood was filled with persimmons like mine was, of course!) These were much more widely available back in California, so the few times I see them in New York, I snap them up.

Anything else?

Chinese food- the good, the bad, and the ugly:



Our local Chinese restaurant was nice enough to veganize everything for us: veggie dumplings, vegetable fried rice with no egg, veggie chow mein with no egg, General Tso's tofu, etc. We were having a great time last night eating Chinese and watching a scary movie until something truly frightening happened: one of our 8 veggie dumplings was a pork dumpling! I actually bit into this and was shocked! We were saddened, but since this was clearly an accident that had never happened before, decided not to complain. Has this ever happened to you? What did you do? It definitely put a damper on a fun dinner.

One question: We are looking into a kitchen sink-mounted water filter and one for our shower. Do you have any particularly good water filters you would recommend? (Or any that you know are awful?) Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend, everyone!


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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your focaccia looks unbelievable !
I so have to try making some !

I'm sure I would adore Choy sum. It's the first time I've heard of it but just by the description you gave, I'm sure it would easily become one of my favorite (if not my favorite) vegetable.

I'm so sorry for your dumpling incident. How awful you must have felt :( I hope it never happens again. I would mention it though the next time you order from there. I'd personally say that because of this, I would like them to be extra careful.

Have a wonderful weekend !

Amey said...

Friday Food Round up Rules!
First of all, I love your little captions "What else did you do, squash-wise?" Hee hee!

All these recipes look great. I have to investigate a soup for a Thanksgiving Friend party this weekend... Nice to see what you came up with.

Also, that roasted squash looks amazing. I think I will make some with one of my many, many butternut squashes.

Your sprouts are gigantic! They look so good. Now I want a sprouter AND a mini frother! Your persuasive blog is tempting my non-consumption ethic.

Last, and not least... your foccaccia!!!!! Holy Yum. Between you and Chris, I am bound to finally motivate myself sometime soon. Thanks for the inspirations. The pictures are so good that I started drooling!

:)

aTxVegn said...

You really are inspiring, Bazu! I love my veggies so much, sometimes I think it's cruel to chop or mash or do anything to abase them (soup seems especially cruel!). But as I said, you really do inspire me to venture into other flavor possiblities.

I actually saw the choy sum at my asian market last weekend. It's good to know how to use it and that it's broccoli-ish! I also got several persimmons. I've really been enjoying those.

All the baking is beautiful. I try really hard to be good and not eat bread but it was always one of my favorite things to bake and eat. Everything you bake always looks so wonderful!

I'm with Gaia on the Chinese food. Definitely mention the incident calmly the next time you order from them.

Ruthie said...

Oh my gosh! I could barely make it through the whole post without commenting! How beautiful! What unique uses of sprouts! I would have never thought of a sprout and apple salad. How crunchy! :) Oh and your taco spread is simply beautiful. Homemade tortillas muchos buenos! :) I also love how you used questions to organize your post. Too cute! :)

For your chinese food question -- yes it has happened. We've had a series of places that we love because they're locally owned and very wonderful and inexpensive, but its a fact that every once and awhile a peice of meat will end up in our marinara sauce, veggie lo mein, etc. We say that it is simply a fact of life when you're eating out. It's forgivable, in our opinion, but we always check our food before we eat! :)

Eat Peace Please said...

I love the friday food round up. I particuarlly liked this one because it was like you were interviewing yourself (or was it both of you?).

My favorite of all of this is the vanilla walnut pancake plate. Yum.

If it were me about that pork dumpling, I would have been so grossed out that I puked and then cried and even more grossed out and then I would have gone to the kitchen and made myself a safe, vegan dinner to compensate for everything I just puked up... that's just me! I tend to not do well and get paranoid while eating out. I commend you for not freaking out like I would have done and I also wouldn't have contacted the place and complained (based on your circumstances given). ALthough awareness is good...

Great round up this week! Love the ikea dishes too.

Mary Worrell said...

I was looking into a sink-mounted one, because I have one of the Brita pitchers (I've had it for quite a while). My big problem was that both major water filter companies - Brita and PUR - are subsidiaries of companies that test on animals!

At least, they were the last I checked. I used the PETA caring consumer guide. I still have my Brita pitcher, which works really well, but I never ended up buying the in-sink one. I haven't been able to find any other companies that make them.

It drives me nuts when there are no good options! Keep us posted when you decide what to do - maybe I'll get an idea from it.

And thanks for all the awesome food photos!

meesh said...

Amazing round-up post as usual! :) Your Friday blogs always give me the kick I need ot plan my weekend cooking. Mmmmmm...squash.

I'm sorry to hear about your icky pork dumpling. Ugh. Maybe it's just best to get take-out from vegggie/vegan restaurants, huh? Kind of limits your choices though.

I hope you have a terrific weekend. I can't wait to see what you're cooking up for Thanksgiving. This will be my first vegan Thanksgiving, so I have to do some research and find something extra yummy to share with my family.

bazu said...

Hi all, thanks for your comments and advice. I will make a note to say something to the Chinese Restaurant next time, but we get takeout so rarely, that might not be for a long time!

Gaia, you have got to bake that focaccia- it was ridiculously easy. You'll love it!

Amey, oh no! My blog was supposed to be about revolution, and now I've gone and inspired consumery thoughts in you! (Just kidding) For sprouting, you can just use a mason jar with cheesecloth for a lid.

Diann, definitely try choy sum, I know you're a veggie person, so you'd love it.

Ruthie, I loved the apple and sprout salad. After buying so many apples last week, I have to use them up in whatever way I can! I am sorry to admit that those tortillas are not homemade. =(

Leslie, I was laughing out loud, because you are so right, this entry kind of makes me seem a bit schizo, doesn't it? Did you make cupcakes, Bazu? Why yes, Bazu, I made cupcakes...! And I agree, depending on my mood, this incident with the dumpling could have made me have a total breakdown. Once I ate a donut that I knew wasn't vegan, but then after looking at the ingredients, I found out they had beef tallow in them! I started crying and felt like crap for the entire day after that.

Okra Mary, thanks SO much for the info. This will definitely influence my search for a water filter! I think my health food store has some non-Brita non-Pur ones, but I have to make sure.

bazu said...

Oops, Meesh, I missed your comment! Thanks so much. Susan V. over at fatfreevegan has some great Thanksgiving recipes, you should definitely look at those to get ideas. I know I have to come up with some ideas- FAST!

Kuntal Joisher said...

first of all the pics are just awesome.. that bread looks delicious.. yummmmmm!!! mind blowing.. hehehehe..

well since a couple of yrs I haven't eaten at any place serving non veg food.. only go to all veggie places.. so no accidents for me :-D

Dori said...

The food line up is amazing, best I have seen all night! I ate Chinese for supper. I am so happy that there were several vegan chices there, seitan lo-mein and a spring roll is what I had.

madeinalaska said...

beautiful.. really I don't even know where to start.

what I wouldn't do to have a sampler plate of it all!!!

oh yea.. your little frother really rocks.. its those kind of finds I always stock up on for birthday gifts, christmas gifts, dinner hostess gifts, stocking stuffers what not.. I would have bought them out at 29 cents a pop!

urban vegan said...

I love the salad in a cup...and the gorgeous soups. What inspiring photos.

I hate when you accidentally eat something non-vegan. (Happened to me last week with the Moon Cakes.) Not your fault. Sorry it happened. :^(

laura k said...

Oh my goodness, those rum-raisin cupcakes look so yummy! And your focaccia bread is beautiful (and making me hungry at this very moment...). All of your food looks great! I like the squashyssoise.

Anonymous said...

Wow Bazu. Your Friday round ups always amaze me. Seriously, this looks like enough food to last for 2 weeks minimum!!!

That's the same foccacia I made (the one I just recently posted about where I smothered it with pesto, artichoke hearts, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes). So delicious alhtough I think next time I will use kalamata olives for that extra flavor punch. I was so dissapointed by how little flavor was in the black olives.

I've never heard of choy sum. It looks great though. I'll definitely be on the look out for it now.

I think it's so funny what you said on my blog about how all your cupcakes have alcohol in them! Next up must be the tiramisu. I really want to make those. Dying to. But I don't have any tofutti cream cheese and haven't gone to the store that carries it (35 miles away) in a long time.

I grew up in California and you know, I never had a persimmon. Still haven't. But I was pretty much raised on Wonder white bread and twinkies!

Don't feel too badly about the dumpling. There's nothing you can do about it. But, I would let the restaurant know. However, I would probably say something first like, "I have had such wonderful experiences here and I really appreciate the fact that you try to accomodate people with dietary restrictions...." Sort of non-threatening.

:)

Nikk said...

I had a Chinese food incident not long ago myself! I was eating my steamed tofu and broccoli (no sauce, if it's plain, I know what's in it!) and got a big bite of pork intermingled with my broccoli... It was gross.

All the food looks great as usual. I am especially fascinated by the choy sum--I must try that if I can find it. Perhaps the Asian market will have it...

Carrie™ said...

Can I come live with you?

wheresmymind said...

That Focaccia looks so good right now

Kati said...

I have to comment on the Chinese food first: back in Tulsa, J and I went to this place a few times that had specifically vegan things on the menu. We usually just ordered a tofu dish, but one time I decided I wanted spring rolls, as well. We made sure that they were all veggie rolls, but apparently there was some miscommunication and when I took my first bite I ended up with a big wad of shrimp and some kind of strange, turkey-like meat in my mouth! I nearly cried, mainly because I was so shocked. I hadn't had meat in my mouth in forever. Now we have the luxury of being restaurant snobs and only frequent places that are vegetarian or vegan, but I realize not everyone can do that. :P Just stay vigilant!

I have been curious about persimmons after seeing a basket of them appear at Whole Foods recently. What exactly do they taste like? They smell like tomatoes to me, but I always thought they were supposed to be sweeter. Do tell!

And everything else looks great, as usual!

Paulie said...

Great post. I went right out on Friday, bought a pack of cranberries and whipped up my own sauce. Truly amazing!