living it up, farmers market style

So as many of you know, summer is still alive and well in my mind. I calmly go about my day, ignoring Halloween decorations in stores, pumpkins in the supermarkets, bloggers' posts about soups and pot pies, and the weather forecast that says Saturday's high in Syracuse will be around 50 degrees! La la la la la. What's that you hear? The sound of Bazu covering her ears and trusting the calendar that says it's still summer, goshdarnit!

Daiku and I made a trip to the farmers market and came home with the booty that you see, above. We got: tomatoes (red and yellow), romaine lettuce, broccoli rabe, garlic, canteloupe, plums,

And a couple of the wonkiest white eggplants you are likely to have ever seen!

First of all, can I say, fresh local garlic is a revelation?? Ok, for someone who supposedly blogs about the joys of local food, this is going to sound pretty lame, but I never really buy garlic at the farmers market. It's one of those things that's so easy to throw in your cart at the supermarket and then forget all about. But these huge bunches of garlic were so fresh, so fragrant, so potent, it was a revelation. Like much else, garlic tastes better when it hasn't been shipped for thousands of miles and stored for months. *slaps forehead*

So with this revelatory garlic, and the broccoli rabe and multi-colored tomatoes from the market (and some fresh basil and oregano from the garden), we made this pasta dinner. It's a really improvisational dish, so I won't give a recipe, rather a guide to what I did:

• boil some water for pasta, boil some water for the broccoli rabe
• blanch the broccoli rabe by dunking it in salted boiling water for 1 minute, drain
• while pasta is cooking, warm up a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil on medium-low heat
• add a bunch of red pepper flakes and crushed garlic, allowing them to release their fragrance
• add drained broccoli rabe, some salt, and pepper to the oil and heat through
• turn off heat, add some diced tomatoes, a tiny bit more of garlic, and some chopped fresh basil and oregano to the mixture. cover and allow the flavors to blend
• drain pasta and add it to the veggie mixture. stir to combine, then serve, garnishing with more fresh basil and oregano.
• from chopping to dinner on the table in way less than 30 minutes - take THAT, Rachael Ray!

These Italian plums remind me of my mom, who used bring home huge amounts of them, and then laugh as I would proceed to eat them all. They are just so fragrant and delicious, with sweet flesh and tart skin, the way a plum should be!

And perfect for baking, too! When I saw this recipe on Emmie's blog for almond plum pie, I just knew I had to have it! I saved it for a special occasion and made it for our anniversary last week. Oh man, it's good. I'm not much of a pie baker, so these pictures aren't that great, but I assure you, the pie is. I loved the cinnamon/cardamom/almond combination, it was definitely the perfect flavor combo.

I didn't have the apricot marmalade called for in the glaze, so I used plum jam instead. I think it worked o.k. Thanks, Emmie!

As for the mutant eggplants? That's for a future post...

One year ago today: What I was blogging about on 12 September 2006

living it up, farmers market style

2 memes and 1 plea

A big thanks to Jackie from The Vegan Diet who bestowed the title "Creative Blogger" on me. This was totally unexpected, and I'm very thankful. Now I'm supposed to tag creative fellow bloggers. The two names that immediately come to mind are:

Peggy the Veggie (of Vegan Teen Cuisine) - this talented chef is literally half my age, and already more fearless with cooking than I am. Homemade injera, anyone?

Hannah (of BitterSweet) - I recently discovered this blog, and I love it! A double threat: talented crafter *and* talented cook- vegan meringue anyone?!

The next meme comes to me courtesy of Hannah herself:

Curious to learn more about me?

Here are the “official” rules:

# Players must list one fact, word, or tidbit that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of your first or middle name.
# When you are tagged you need to write your own post containing your first or middle name game facts, word, or tidbit.
# At the end of your post choose one person for each letter of your name to tag.
# Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them ,they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
# If I’ve tagged YOU, please join in on the fun!

I think I will use "Bazu" because while it isn't my real name, it is a nickname and now a word I identify with deeply. So here goes...

B - Basic. Our family's first computer was a crazy Samsung. There wasn't much fun to be had on it, but you could listen to a song about... computer programming. Sung to the tune of "La Cucaracha" it went something like this: "La cucaracha, la cucaracha, Archie is a friend of mine. La cucaracha, la cucaracha, a finer friend you'll never find! If software bugs you, if software bugs you, you can give yourself a break. Use Structured Basic, use Structured Basic, do it right for heaven's sake!"

A - Anywhere. I want to travel, and there are a lot of places I want to visit, experience, and even live in. Anywhere means I'm not choosy- if you want to give me a ticket to Nigeria or Laos or Chile, or a place closer to home like Maine, I will not decline!

Z - Zanesville, Ohio. One of the scariest places I have ever spent the night. However, this also makes me think of my love of road trips and travel, and how it's worth it to stay in a few creepy places because of all the possibilities and discoveries that getting in a car without a map or a plan allow.

U - United Nations. Ever since I was very little, I've had a fascination with the U.N. My dad used to go to conferences there and bring me back t-shirts with the logo. If I could pick any fantasy career outside my chosen field, I would choose to work at the United Nations. I believe in the ideals that it represents, and that The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the closest humanity's come to real justice. In a cool twist of fate, I ended up living right across the East River from the U.N. and got to look at it from my window every day for almost 2 years.

Bazu, 1984


View from Bazu's apartment, 2002 (The U.N. building is the flat blue one in the center)

For this meme I tag:

Emmie of VegBitch
Jackie of the Vegan Diet
Vegan_Noodle of Walking the Vegan Line
Veganista of Veganista

* * *

Finally, a plea. I went to see a talk by a wildlife rescuer and rehabilitator last night, and she said one of the biggest problems facing wildlife today is... house cats! She gave us a statistic that astounded me- how many birds do you think are killed by house cats in the United States every day?

(a) 2,300
(b) 23,000
(c) 230,000
(d) 2,300,000


If you guessed (d) 2.3 million birds a day, you are right! Isn't that horrible? The speaker said that cat owners are being urged to keep their cats indoors at all times. Not only does this save all those millions of birds from being needlessly tortured and killed, but it extends the life and health of our cats too.

Now before you say that it's "natural" for domestic cats to hunt and kill, consider that there is nothing natural about cats being kept as pets. They are safe, well-fed, and long-lived. They do not need to hunt to survive, and indeed, they don't really eat the birds and rodents they kill. To me, that argument is akin to saying that it's "natural" to milk cows. As vegans, we should know better than anyone that there is no "natural" when it comes to our interactions with animals, and that it is our responsibility to decrease suffering wherever we can. If you have a kitten or young cat, please train it to stay indoors. The little birdies will thank you!

P.S. Here is an added incentive. I don't know about other states, but in New York, there is a law on the books that says that any cat caught killing (or even stalking) a protected species can be put down! Now, obviously, this law isn't put into practice very often, but wouldn't it be horrible if this happened to your beloved kitty?

2 memes and 1 plea

cookie nirvana

When I was a kid, the only kind of Girl Scout cookies my mom ever bought were Samoas. Do you remember these? They were sweet, rich, and gooey cookies, with caramel, chocolate and coconut. As much as I loved those cookies, there's no way I'd eat them now. Not only are they not vegan, they are chock full of hydrogenated oil and sugar. I have sure missed them, though!

Well, imagine my excitement at seeing this post on Kati's blog a while back. She said she had made cookies that were reminicent of a certain Girl Scout cookie and as soon as I read through the recipe I knew exactly which ones she meant... Samoas!

Well, I tried them and they were... AMAZING. I've never been this excited about a cookie that I baked. The best part? These cookies are extremely healthy and even detox-friendly, with 100% whole grain flour, no refined sugar, and no refined oil. (Except for the tiny amount of chocolate chips I threw in there, of course.) The brown rice syrup shines here, imbuing these cookies with a deep caramel flavor. To make them look even more like Samoas, you could drizzle them with some melted chocolate, but these cookies are so rich, they don't need any embellishment.

Here is Kati's recipe, with my notes in orange. **Make these NOW!**

Pseudo-Scout Cookies - Vegan Samoas!
(adapted from Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello)
yield: 25-30 cookies (I got around 20 cookies)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry) I used whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup ground pecans
1/2 cup chopped pecans I decreased this to 1/4 cup and threw in 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup brown rice syrup (or a combination of brown rice syrup and maple syrup) I used 1/3 cup agave nectar and 2/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients, using your hands at the end if necessary. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto lightly oiled baking sheet (I used parchment paper- watch out, these cookies spread out quite a bit during baking!) and bake for approximately 14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Tips:

1. When working with coconut oil, be sure that all other ingredients are at room temperature or else you will get oil lumps. It may help to mix the oil with shredded coconut before adding other ingredients. My coconut oil was solidified, so I microwaved it for about 10 seconds.
   
2. Do not overmix! Your cookies will be very tough if you do. Mix until ingredients are just combined.
3. Do not overbake! Your cookies will be hard as rocks. Brown rice syrup tends to make cookies crunchy, so be aware of this and proceed accordingly. Increase the proportion of maple syrup to create a chewier cookie or decrease baking time. When you take out your cookies after 14 mintues, they will be so soft, you will be tempted to let them bake some more, but don't do it! These will firm up quite a bit. I'd say definitely use agave or maple syrup as part of your sweetener if you want a more chewy cookie.

Thanks, Kati!!

One year ago today: What I was blogging about on 10 September 2006 (first visit to Farm Sanctuary!)

cookie nirvana

a walk around the neighborhood

Hello. Daiku and I are going to take a stroll to our co-op to pick up some stuff for dinner- care to join us?

First we have Señor Squirrel, a little guy that comes up to our porch and eats the snacks that he has gathered around our back yard.

I love our neighborhood. It's a very laid-back, diverse, and liberal place full of old houses. (Our house was built in 1927- happy 80th birthday!) One thing I never noticed, though, is this strange tree up the block with a giant hole in it!

Oh... try to ignore the changing leaves. According to the calendar, at least, it's still summer.

Then, we stumble upon a neighbor's yard with some beautiful flowers. Because the sun is setting, the most amazing light is hitting these flowers, giving them an almost otherworldly presence. I assure you, I didn't retouch these photos in any way- the colors are all Mother Nature's!

O.k., we're home! That didn't take very long, since the co-op is only 4 or 5 blocks away.

Here's what we're having for dinner- please stay and join us if you can:

It's Spaghetti with Spinach and Mushrooms from the Vegetarian Times. Here's a link to the recipe. When I saw this recipe, I just knew I had to make it because the combination of flavors (harissa, garlic, saffron) and the different technique (toasting the spaghetti in the oven before cooking it) sounded so interesting!

I really liked the results- the spaghetti had such a unique flavor from being toasted. This is something I'm going to experiment with in the future. The overall taste of the dish, though, was a bit bland. I would consider jacking up all the flavors next time.

Notice that I tried to duplicate the magazine's photo of the dish in my version. Not as easy as it looks, I find!

Thanks for taking a late-summer's walk with us around the 'hood. Hopefully we can do it again soon!

a walk around the neighborhood

damn tasty and happy accidents

Last week, I finally got around to making the chocolate peanut butter shells from the Damn Tasty Vegan. You can find the recipe here (scroll down). Even though everyone has raved about these cookies, I had held off because I (freakishly) don't love the chocolate peanut butter combination! Crazy, I know. I made these to send to a friend. But once I tasted one, I realized I'd been missing out- these cookies are awesome! I'm wondering what other flavor combinations are possible- chocolate hazelnut? Cinnamon cashew? Vanilla marzipan? The possibilities are endless!

These corn muffins were a happy accident last week. Daiku and I wanted to make cornbread to go with dinner one night, but realized that we were out of everything- no soymilk, almost no flour. Well, what to do? We came up with this recipe. Considering they were made from scraps of what we had, they had a very satisfying flavor. The vanilla soy yogurt gives them a sweet flavor even though we decreased the sugar, so proceed with caution!

Sweet Surprise Corn Muffins (makes 10)

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/3 cup vanilla soy yogurt, thinned out with enough water to make 1 cup of liquid
• 3 TB flax goo (1 part flax meal mixed with 3 parts warm water in a blender)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• handful of corn kernels
• 2 TB brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• up to 1/2 cup additional water, as needed

Preheat oven to 425. Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Add the wet to the dry, stirring until just mixed. Fold in corn kernels, and additional water as needed to make a thick, smooth batter. Bake 20-25 minutes in ungreased muffin tins until muffins are light golden brown. Allow to cool in muffin tins for 5-10 minutes before removing.


One year ago today: What I was blogging about on 6 September 2006 (remember this mother of all memes?)

damn tasty and happy accidents

3 years of making it legal and counting...

Today, Daiku and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Almost 10 years together. Not bad for a couple of nerds!

One year ago today (almost): What I was blogging about on 5 September 2006.

3 years of making it legal and counting...

food for hot days

being kids at the apple orchard

My friend Sharon flew back to France today. It's difficult when one of your best friends lives an ocean away (actually, most of my best friends live 100's or 1000's of miles from me- what the hell?) but I'm glad we got to spend some time together when she came up to Syracuse last week.

Here's some of the food that we ate during Sharon and Dorota's visit that I remembered to photograph... so many other great things such as stuffed eggplants, pancakes, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin oatmeal cookies shall survive, unphotographed, in our memories!

The day they arrived was a really hot one, and I knew that after driving for a few hours, they wouldn't want anything hot or heavy. My solution? Three types of hummus: regular, roasted red pepper, and a raw zucchini one (clockwise from left in the above photo). The zucchini hummus was very delicious, but I wish I could have figured out a way to make it a bit thicker. I like my hummus nice and thick, this way, it's perfect as a sandwich filling too. Everyone raved about it, though, so I'll be making it again.

Here is the hummus in breakfast form: served with sliced veggies (cucumbers, daikon, tomatoes, olives, and fresh tarragon) and some fresh-baked pita. We buy our pita bread from a local Egyptian market called Jerusalem, where they bake them every day. You can get white or whole wheat, and they are magnificent.

Sushi dinner. Daiku, Dorota, Sharon, and I had great fun rolling these with various fillings. I used some of the leftover veggies to make a salad, and we also had cold soba noodles in a ginger/sesame broth on the side. Another hot weather winner.

Finally, we have a French Farmhouse Fricassee, courtesy of this website. I'd been looking for recipes using tarragon, which is one of my all-time favorite herbs, since I'd picked up a big bunch to make Melody's tester salad dressing. This is a crockpot recipe that will make your house fragrant all day long as it cooks, without generating any heat. We used tempeh, and loved the result, but I'd suggest cutting the tempeh into smaller pieces than the recipe suggests, so it can better soak up the flavors.

Here's the recipe:

Adapted from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, by Robin Robertson (Harvard Common Press, 2004).

Fricassees are usually made with meat, but this stick-to-your-ribs recipe uses tempeh, seitan, or tofu along with slow-cooked early-autumn vegetables, shallots, and white wine to make a fragrant stew that warms the senses and the soul.

No fine mincing required: the veggies are chunky, and the recipe practically makes itself whether you use a slow-cooker or not. Imagine your kitchen filling with the appetizing fragrance of a French farmhouse!

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 shallots, quartered
1/2 cup dry white wine
12 ounces tempeh, seitan, or extra-firm tofu cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (we used tempeh)
8 ounces baby carrots, halved lengthwise
8 ounces small red potatoes, halved (we used white potatoes)
8 ounces green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (we used yellow wax beans)
One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon or parsley leaves (we used tarragon, including a bit in the cooking as well as at the end)

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 1 minute to reduce slightly. Transfer the shallot mixture to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, or a large heavy-bottomed soup pot.

2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the seitan, tempeh, or tofu and cook until lightly browned on both sides, about 10 minutes, then add to the slow cooker along with the carrots, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and stock; season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine, cover, and cook on Low for 8 hours if using slow cooker. If using stovetop, heat to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 35-40 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

3. Just before serving, stir in the tarragon or parsley.

Serves 4.

* * *

Sharon, if you're reading this, we miss you!

One year ago today: what I was blogging about on 2 September 2006 (gasp! was the tART contest really 1 year ago??)

food for hot days