Jess Special

Not sure who dubbed it so, but it's true, i make this a lot. Probably because it's easy and tasty. We can argue about using canned beans and veggies, but i usually do, at least until later in the summer when the tomatoes are out.

Recipe here.

Smoothies really bring out the cynic in me

Combine in a blender/food processor the flesh of 2 fresh mangoes, 4 oz. frozen raspberries, and 1 cup of plain yogurt. Process until smooth. Delicious.

It's kind of sad though that it's a concoction whose existence is totally dependent on the infrastructure of an absurd produce industry. Mango (in Colorado) combined with out-of-season raspberries - are you kidding me? I hope all our recipes aren't reliant on such a fragile system.

Adventures in Kimchi Pt 2

The verdict: spicy sour/sweet goodness. Ate it with the leftover plain rice noodles, to take the edge off. A quick google and wikipedia search yielded these fun facts:

Kimchi didn't include chili peppers until the the 17th century, when the plant, native to the Americas, was introduced to the region.

Kimchi varieties are often categorized by region and/or season.

Health Magazine named it one of the world's top 5 healthiest foods. Never heard of Health Magazine, but i'll believe them this one time.

Plans for our kimchi include frying it into fried rice and using it as a topping on veggie burgers.

Brooklyn Pad Thai

From Vegan With A Vengeance.

This recipe turned out really well. One thing to watch out for is the amount of noodles. The recipe calls for 1 lb of rice noodles, so we got 2 8oz boxes, but that turned out to be a bit too much for the amount of sauce. Our first batch was a little light, both in color and flavor, so we withheld about 25% of the noodles on the second round and it was much tastier (and prettier--see comparison shot below).

I Love Hot Chocolate

Two points for the Laughing Goat coffee guy (i refuse to use the term "barista").

So Long, Max

It's true. Max has left us for rivers and rafting in California. Of course he needed a send-off quiche. A parting gift from us to him, although he ended up making the crust himself (from this recipe, using all milk and no cream. and soy margarine instead of butter). Insides: asparagus, brocolli, onions, and tomatoes. Outside: severe sadness over max's departure.

The rest of the brunch included breakfast potatoes, tofu scramble, and (you guessed it!) pancakes with a banana compote.

Breakfast Potatoes

A Rose special, prepared by the breakfast king, Max. So tasty! So easy!

Cut and boil the potatoes until medium soft. Then fry up with any combination of: brocolli, asparagus, kale, spinach, onions, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, thyme, rosemary, pepper, salt, cayenne, cumin, or anything else you can think of.

If adding cheese, put it on near the end (but allow enough time for it to melt).

Samosas

The meal that took two days. But only due to our laziness and scheduling issues--it really isn't hard at all.

The samosa recipe is from Moosewood (yes, we have that out from the library these days). As a blatant photo vehicle, we're posting a photo diary style recipe here. We also made four chutneys to go with it, two from Moosewood, two from the Ayruvedic Cookbook: Apple, Tomato, Mango, and Mint.

Mango Lassi also pictured. Luckily, we had Winter on hand to show us the world' greatest (or possibly just "the correct") way to cut mangos.

More Pancakes

On their way to becoming vegan...

in the absence of eggs we substitute soy yogurt. but in the absence of soy yogurt, we used actual yogurt.

1/4 cup yog = 1 egg

this substitution made the batter really thick, so i ended up adding at least an extra 3/4 cup of rice milk. these held together well, much better than when we tried substituting a banana for the eggs. but the test kitchen hasn't given up hope on the perfect vegan banana pancake, oh no, it's coming.

PS. These were made with other people at a decent breakfast hour--i swear! They came about when jess jokingly asked max "what's for breakfast?" and he replied with certainty "pancakes". Pancakes, indeed.

So Granola

First, an apology for the misleading ode to Daikon radishes in the previous post. Seems that the vegetable that stole all of our hearts is actually a regular run o' the mill radish. Read more here. Apparently, radishes were the staple food for Fraggles.

Granola class! Taught by the queen of her college co-op's granola production, Rose! I'd been wanting to make granola for such a long time and this first batch has only fed the flame. So easy! So good!

Rose's Guide to Granola:

1) Heat veggie/canola oil, some honey, and maple syrup in a pot. How much? Enough to coat the amount of oats you want to use, when mixed together in a big bowl. You can always throw in more oil if the oats are looking dry after mixing, but it's nice to let all the sweeteners blend a bit. Molasses is a definite possibility here, but it's distinct flavor will shine through, so make sure you factor that in.


2) Pour over oats in a big bowl. Spice it up. We used some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a bit of dried ginger, too.

3) Spread evenly onto a baking sheet. Cook at 250 degrees for, mmm, a while. Sometimes when you take the granola out, it will get crispier as it cools, so go by color (it should be browned), not texture. Stir oats around halfway through the baking (or as much as you'd like), to ensure even browning.


Also, the more oil you use, the crispier your granola will be. But of course, too much oil is gross.




4) Adding stuff! We didn't bake any of the added ingredients with the granola. This is an option. It's recommended (third person sounds so official!) that you add these ingredients toward the end of the oat baking, to avoid them getting burnt or gooey. If you're putting raisins or other dried fruit in your granola, and you want to bake them in, soak them first, so they'll stay moist.



Our granola was blessed with crushed walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, and a special batch got chocolate chips.

Pictured below: the granola making an appearance at our Easter/Farewell Rose brunch.

Adventures in Kimchi (Part 1)

How beautiful are Daikon radishes?

We were introduced because our Kimchi recipe called for radishes, and the co-op didn't have "regular" radishes.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

We do.




We adapted Sandorkraut's Kimchi recipe from Wild Fermentation.

1. Make 1 quart of brine by mixing 4 T into 4 cups of water.
2. Chop 1 lb of bok choy or napa cabbage, 1 daikon radish, and 1 carrot into bite-sized funness.
3. In a 2 quart mason jar (or something it will fit in), layer all veggies, pour brine over, and tamp down with something heavy (we used a smaller jar filled with water). Cover jar with a cloth. Let sit until soft (a few hours).
4. Make the paste!

-1 onion, diced
-6 cloves of garlic
-3 T freshly grated ginger (we ended up using a little dry to make up the difference)
-4 cayenne chilles

here's the creative part! we added a healthy dash of sesame oil, a splash of tamari, and some sriracha hot chili sauce. The original recipe said to make it a paste, but since the Shopacalypse is at hand, and we might not always have access to a food processor, we decided to go with a more old-fashioned amalgam.

5. When veggies are soft, pour off brine and set aside. Mix paste in with veggies. Tamp down with smaller jar. If there is not enough liquid at this point to cover the veggies, add just enough of the original brine to cover.
6. Let sit for a week. Tamp whenever you remember to.

Easy Lunch+Hummus Recipe

Hi Mom, Hi!

Brocolli sauteed in tamari, house sauerkraut, colin's hummus, and some matzah (i'm sick of spelling it matzoh).

Colin's *Amazing* Hummus Recipe:

juice of two lemons
almost 2 lbs (2 15oz cans) of cooked chickpeas
~1/2 cup tahini
7 cloves of garlic
dash of olive oil
paprika, salt, cayenne to taste

throw in a food processor or mash til your brachioradialis is sore.

Pass the homemade falafel Over!

Passover time! We held a non-traditional (obviously?) seder at our place Thursday night. The menu was great, i'm not going to waste time on the ceremonial bits, except to say that drinking 4 glasses of Manischewitz was the holiday miracle, Elijah definitely stopped by, and Alex Platt was there in spirit.


We had the usual faves, celery for the salt water, sweet charoset, horseradish. Main dishes were Matzoh Ball Soup (recipe here, snarky tips and tricks here) and Falafel Salad.

The 100% whole wheat organic matzoh added a solid Boulder slant to the meal. That and the fact that the afikommen was wrapped in a bandana. Oh, and the sauerkraut put in an appearance.

Girl's Night In

After a string of fancy-sounding suggestions from Molly, and a nod to the no-grain passover dealio (although i broke it when my parents sent easter cookies--ahem), we decided on grilled portabello mushrooms topped with sauteed tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, side of asparagus, with Emily's goat cheese (local!) and walnut topped bell pepper to start. Served with a showing of Cutting Edge 2. Yes, they made a Cutting Edge 2. No, D.B. Sweeney is not in it.

Oh yes, we said Sauerkraut

MMMmmm, sauerkraut. What can we add to the thousand words above? Isn't it pretty? The color comes from mixing cabbage and red cabbage. The fermentation process is amazingly complex, but on our macro-level, amazingly simple. The recipe we used was courtesy of Sandorkraut's website (he's one of the coolest people alive). Basically, you grate and chop a bunch of cabbage, throw it in a crock with some salt, put a weight on it, and let it do it's thang.

Colin demonstrates the three stages involved in any relationship with bright pink sauerkraut.
1) wariness
2) interest, curiousity
3) obsession






Jess wasn't a big kraut fan before this project (we're now on our third batch!), but we both agree that homemade is the way to go.