Tag Archives: easy

Aug 18 2012
2 Comments
Cooking

Long Beans and Heirloom Tomatoes

Yay! Tomatoes are finally popping up in the garden. We have a nice crop of beautifully colored heirloom tomatoes.

I decided to throw some of these babies in with sauteed long beans.

First, I sauteed about a cup of long beans in olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic. Long beans are not meant to be eaten raw, so if you have them, make sure you cook them. They maintain their crunch even if they wilt, if that makes any sense.

I cut up one of the tomatoes. Unlike the other tomatoes that we grow in the garden, these are much more meaty, less juicy, but still sweet and tasty. I love that the tomatoes we grow in our backyard require little to no embellishment to be tasty. You can eat them like apples!

I boiled some penne, coated it in olive oil, and threw in freshly minced garlic, fresh ground black pepper, and nutritional yeast. I topped it off with the cooked beans and the raw tomatoes.

Easy, delicious, nutritious. The only thing missing is a glass of fine wine! –Melissa

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Aug 17 2012
1 Comment
Raw

Figs and Cashews, another Dynamic Duo!

I was a big fan of the tart savory of zing of goat cheese paired with the sweet honeyed flavors of figs but goat cheese is no longer in my repertoire so what’s a girl to do? Well, fortunately there’s Punk Rawk Labs and their delicious cashew cheese. We started with some simple ingredients:

mixed greens with spinach

arugula

figs (fresh or dried)

cashew cheese (make your own or try Punk Rawk Labs’)

marinated tofu (optional)

balsamic vinegar

I started by putting a handful of greens on each plate.

Then I added another handful of arugula.

And then tastefully arranged (I just threw it on there…) some sliced figs, cashew cheese and tofu if you’re into tofu.

This is one version (above) with smoked tofu and dried figs. The more intense sweetness in the dried figs complemented both the savory smoky tofu and savory creamy tartness in the cashew cheese. We drizzled this one with raspberry dressing that really brought out the spicy and herbal flavors in the arugula. I’m a sucker for arugula. I liked the sienna of the figs next to the white tofu and the rich green but preferred the scene in the fresh fig salad. Salmon, ebony, white and emerald green kind of does it for me.

The second version (above) is more cashew cheese with fresh sliced fig. We drizzled it with balsamic vinegar and lots of cracked black pepper. The fig flavors were subtler in the fresh fruit: more fruity and less sweet and honey-like. I preferred it to the dried fig salad which was Brent’ favorite. These are salads that would impress company because they taste decadent and look beautiful. I hope you get to try some!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Aug 13 2012
4 Comments
Raw

Raw Vegan Crackers 2.0

Brent and I manage to juice more often and that’s fine with me. I’m writing this because our cracker recipe has gotten more complicated and more delicious! Our juice varies but usually involves some combination of spinach, kale, parsley, mint, basil, apples, oranges, lemon, ginger root, carrots, celery, mango, beets and cucumber. When we don’t have time to make crackers, we just throw the pulp into a baggie and freeze it.

The ratios don’t matter much, but you’ll find the stronger flavors will come out (celery in particular) in the crackers and will complement the spices well. If you’re not using any sweet fruits or vegetables, you might consider adding a little molasses. Typically we juice everything that we can make into crackers (which is just about everything except for cucumber) and then empty the pulp into our blender. If you’ve made enough juice for one person you’ll add the following (and this doubles nicely)
1/3 cup of flax meal
2-4 teaspoons of soy sauce or suitable substitute
2-3 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp flake red pepper
water as needed
We blend this up until the consistency is uniform and somewhere between a batter and a dough. Taste it and adjust the seasonings. It took me a while to get used to the idea of eating this raw or dehydrated so I understand if you’re wary. We use a spatula to spread it into the non-stick trays that go with our dehydrator and let it go overnight.

Sometimes I sprinkle sesame seeds on top but this isn’t necessary. You’ll have to put some pressure on each seed to make sure they don’t fall off once the crackers are dry. It’ll take some time adjusting the thickness of the dough when you spread it out in your dehydrator but you’ll end up with light crispy crackers that are great for you and awesome with hummus, bean dip or spinach artichoke dip. We store them in a giant plastic bag to keep the Miami humidity from softening them.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Aug 09 2012
6 Comments
Main Dishes

Creamy Mushroom Soup!

This was comfort food. It’s raining sideways again here in Miami and you just gotta have something decadent. We used the following:

1.5 cups mushrooms, chopped roughly

1 carton of silken tofu

1 onion, diced

1/2 cup of white wine (we used a chardonnay)

1 tsp herbes de provence

1 pinch nutmeg

1 cube bouillon

1 generous pinch sage

2 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

water to texture

salt and black pepper to taste

I combined the white wine and tofu in my blender and blended it until smooth. Then I put the onion and mushrooms in a pan and sauteed until the onion was translucent. I added the rest of the ingredients, adjusted the seasonings and then added water until I liked the texture.

I garnished with some shredded basil and served it. It was creamy and earthy and savory and soothing and with lots of protein and not a lot of fat. This would be awesome hot with a big tomato salad or as a cold appetizer. It’s also quick and easy enough to make for a quick lunch.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Aug 03 2012
8 Comments
Snacks

Apple Tempeh and Mozzarella Sammiches!

This was a really easy meal on a night when we were exhausted. The suggestion came from a friend (THANK YOU!) and it was definitely worth it.

We browned some smoky maple tempeh while some multi-grain bread topped with teese mozzarella. This is bread that a local lady makes for us, gluten-free and vegan. She’s an incredible baker and I hope all of you who aren’t expert bakers and a few who cartinly are(I’m looking at you) can find vegan [gluten-free] bread that doesn’t taste like it’s been frozen between 2 pieces of cardboard in a diesel truck for 2 years. Well, that’s my opinion of most store bought bread. On to noms!

We stacked the tempeh on the bread with some spinach and apple slices. I like royal gala apples. They’ve got a buttery mellow flavor that isn’t too acidic. We use them to juice too!I like my sammies open faced (above) but Brent is more traditional (below).

Mustard is important to me when I make this particular sandwich (but back in the day it was with turkey and soft cheese. Ew.). I think the spiciness brings out the flavors in the tempeh, spinach and apple. The mozzarella is just awesome and I want to take it on a date.

Don’t tell Brent he’s got competition from non-dairy cheese or the sammies will end up… oh… yeah, he’ll eat it all. Yay!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Aug 02 2012
12 Comments
Lazy Vegan, Reviews

Hipster Chic Volume II : Marinated Tofu

A vegan friend was discussing vegan cooking gadgets with us on her visit from elsewhere and suggested we try out the TofuXpress. We decided to give it a spin, and I will sing its praises for years to come. The TofuXpress is freaking sicknasty bodacious.

As the resident tofu presser in our household, I have struggled with the perfect way to make the texture of tofu meatier. I tried conventional pressing methods (tofu on paper towels, pressed down and weighted by a plate on top), and not so conventional methods (freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw). The former was certainly the most effective, but it necessitated a lot of waste. The TofuXpress makes it easy for me to make a nicely textured tofu that I can marinate.

So, for this simple recipe, you can use the paper towel method, or in my case, use a TofuXpress.

Take your block of tofu, drop it into the Xpress, use the heavy spring for pressing. Before putting it in the fridge, dump some of the already pressed liquid down your sink drain for optimal drainage. Stick it in the fridge, and go do something fun for an hour. I chose to dance to some Earth, Wind, and Fire records.

Pull the tofu out of the fridge, drain the liquid, remove the press. Now, to marinate, there’s a handy lid that attaches to the base of the Xpress that also acts as a seal for marinating.

Go ahead and prepare your marinade. For this experiment, I used a combination of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Sriracha and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. The soy sauce and liquid aminos are there to help thin out the mix as tofu is not quite porous enough to soak in the teriyaki and Sriracha, which is where the awesome flavor is at. Dump your marinade into the Xpress with the tofu, let it soak for a half hour. After that time is up, flip the tofu, put the lid back on and let it soak another half hour.

The final step is to press out excess marinade for a last half hour period. I know that this has taken up 2.5 hours already, but I promise it’s worth it. Drop the excess marinade into a dish, save it for later, or use it to dip. You can slice up the tofu and eat it as is, or pan sear it for science.

If you want to save time, do the following :

  1. Prepare marinade.
  2. Press tofu overnight.
  3. In the morning, drain, switch to marinade.
  4. After daily activities, enjoy your tasty marinated tofu.

This will save a lot of waiting time, and your tofu will be freaking amazing after that nice long marinade session.

In short, the TofuXpress made it super easy for us to make firmer tofu, and enabled us to experiment with marinades. It saves us from wasting paper towels, and doesn’t take up a counter top. It’s dishwasher safe, and all of its parts store inside of itself. The TofuXpress has been a boon to us. Let us know if you have one, your marinade recipes, or feel free to ask us about it.

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Jul 30 2012
9 Comments
Reviews, Snacks

PB2: Powdered Peanut Butter

I was talking to a friend who’s a vegetarian (Hi, Yamini!) when she asked if I had heard of PB2. I had not. So she gave me some to try. How awesome is that?

PB2 is a powdered peanut butter product. Say what? Yep. Powdered peanut butter.

PB2 has three ingredients: roasted peanuts, sugar, and salt. It’s basically traditional peanut butter — without  fat or oil. Per their web site, this is how the product compares to traditional peanut butter:

AMAZING, right?! Making the peanut butter is easy. Simply mix 2 tbsp of the powder with 1 tbsp of PB2. Adjust as needed if you want something more runny or more thick.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t completely blown away by PB2, but if I hadn’t known that it started out as a powder, I would have been fooled. My six-year-old niece tried some, and she loved it! I do wonder why sugar was added; not a huge deal, though.

I prefer traditional peanut butter, but the nutrition facts speak for themselves. I sometimes go several days in a row when I eat peanut butter and toast for breakfast. The lower fat and calorie content, along with 5g of protein per serving, makes PB2 a GREAT option. In addition, having peanut butter in powder form makes it easy to mix into smoothies or when baking and cooking. I definitely intend to use PB2 next time I make kare kare.

Learn more about PB2 at their official web site! Let us know what you think if you try it, and I hope you do. –Melissa

 

 

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Jul 27 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Main Dishes

Soy Curl Adobo with Eggplant Salad

Adobo is a quintessential Filipino dish and cooking method. Pork or chicken are usually used, however, seafood and even vegetables can be cooked adobo-style. Clearly, soy curls are a great substitute. I’m still amazed by what a great meat substitute they are. I’m also amazed that it took me so long to try making soy curl adobo because it’s so quick and easy. Special shout-out to my cousin Dulce for motivating me!

Here’s what you’ll need for soy curl adobo:

soy curls
soy sauce
white vinegar
garlic cloves, very coarsely minced
black peppercorns
bay leaf
Butler Chik-Style Seasoning (optional)
turbinado (optional)

I’m not listing measurements because all you need to know is this: use equal parts soy sauce and vinegar and use more if you want the adobo to be soupy and less if you don’t. The amount of garlic is your call, too, but adobo is meant to be garlicky. With about 1 cup of soy curls, I used 2 tbsp each of soy sauce and vinegar and two garlic cloves.

I put the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and peppercorns in a small bowl (I didn’t have a bay leaf). Then, I fired up a small frying pan (you can also use a saucepan or pot), heated some olive oil in it, threw in my rehydrated soy curls and some Chik-Style seasoning, and mixed it all together.

Immediately after that, I added in the soy sauce-vinegar mixture. I mixed it again and let it cook. Optional: once the liquid starts cooling off a bit, you can add some turbinado (I did not).

I didn’t use a lot of liquid, so I ended up with some dry adobo, which suits me just fine.

To accompany the adobo, I made an eggplant salad using one roasted eggplant, diced tomato, and minced shallot. My dad pickles his pepper surplus, so I took one of these little chili peppers, minced it, and threw it in the salad along with some salt.

So yummy! The best part is, this dish can last for several days. It’s a road trip favorite for Filipinos for this very reason. I hope you’ll try it. Oh! I made another great discovery today. My sister usually has an allergic reaction to soy milk and tofu. She tried this and so far, no reaction. Yay! –Melissa

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Jul 24 2012
16 Comments
Lazy Vegan

Lazy Vegan: Vegan French Toast

For a lazy Saturday with friends, there’s nothing like French toast. Our local baker, Karin, makes spelt müseli bread that’s got almost as much fruit in it as whole grain and that’s basically a dog whistle for vegans like me. I used a product called Mom’s Vegan Kitchen French toast mix along with some almond coconut mix.

I found this product straightforward and easy to prepare. I combined the mix with almond milk and grapeseed oil as recommended on the package and soaked sliced bread in it.

In the pan it created an egg-like film on the surface of the bread and had a beautiful toasted look and smelled DIVINE. It didn’t have the bitterness of dairy milk or the sulfur flavor and odor of egg but all the other delightful flavors you’ll find in French toast.

We topped it with Rivermede farm maple syrup (above) alone and with frozen wild blueberries (below).

It was all delicious. I would definitely buy this product again. I don’t know any carnists that would turn this down either. This is a perfect comfort food for when you’re feeling a little lazy but want something decadent. We bought this for just under $6 which I thought was very reasonable for what you get at Vegan Essentials. This website was instrumental when I first became vegan and I totally recommend them. They research all of their products so you know it’s vegan and they are independently owned. I’m about to mow down some more French toast.

This is Melissa, Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Jul 21 2012
7 Comments
Recipes

I Love Freeze-For-Whenever Olive Black-eyed Pea Burgers!

I’ve been battling mooshy burgers since I started making vegan burgers. I’ve found that if they’re firm enough, they’re often too dry. If they’re moist enough, they moosh out the side of your bun. What is a girl to do?

I decided to experiment with making frozen patties because it seems to work so well for all those store bought brands. I assembled the following:

1 cup of black-eyed peas, soaked OR 1 can of black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup of sliced olives

1/4 cup of mushrooms, chopped (optional)

1/4 onion, chopped

1/4 cup bread crumbs (I chopped some gluten-free bread in my food processor)

1 tbsp onion salt

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp coriander

2 tbsp corn oil

red pepper flakes and salt to taste

If you’re using dried beans, take a moment to microwave them in water 3-4 times at 2 minute intervals to soften them slightly. We put all the ingredients into a bowl and I set my expert moosher (that’s Brent) to power moosh. It wasn’t long before it was looking and smelling like burger material so I started scooping the mixture into some plastic freezer safe containers.

I made sure that the patties were compacted and of a relatively uniform thickness, about 1/2-3/4 inch. I put a piece of plastic wrap over it and then used the next one to help compact the burger. I put them in the freezer until I was ready to use them.

These were actually some of the best burgers Brent and I have prepared. They were moist and held together and had a pleasing dense texture. They tasted enough like ground beef to be a little disturbing. I have no desire to eat cows!

I am going to take a moment to discuss why ground beef isn’t so great for your body. The obvious stuff aside (cholesterol, saturated fat, hormones and antibiotics) cooking beef or any meat is a tricky business. Preparing meat for food means balancing microbial contaminants with carcinogenic compounds that are formed when meat is cooked. Big agribusiness has made the case that they cannot ‘efficiently’ process large volumes of animals without some inherent contamination by the animals’ feces. This means that if you buy meat, it’s got poop on it and the law says that’s okay. They cover their butts (pardon my language) by saying, “Cook it thoroughly.” Which translates to, “If you get sick it’s your fault for not cooking it thoroughly.” Try telling that to the hundreds of thousands of people that get some form of food poisoning or another every year from eating meat.

So fine, meat is ‘safe’ if you cook it thoroughly but back to the issue of how cooking fundamentally changes the composition of what you’re eating.  Smoked and cured meats have long been the accused culprits of causing colon cancer partly because of how they’re prepared: prolonged exposure to heat. Cancers of the digestive tract are among of the most common and more deadly kinds of cancer, one in 6 will get it and one third of those will die from it within 5 years of being diagnosed.

So you can follow some tips to reduce the risk of introducing carcinogens into your diet or you can skip straight to legumes and other plants (including black-eyed peas!) which have long been associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. One of the likely reasons for this activity is phytic acid . This is one of those small molecules that makes biochemists like me swoon but it’s properties speak for themselves. In the context of a Western diet the ability of phytic acid to sequester certain minerals that, in excess, can cause the kind of oxidative stress on the lining of the digestive tract that can eventually lead to cancer. Phytic acid when bound to fluoride from your drinking water, for example, will be excreted in your waste. Still, you can easily reduce the amount of phytic acid by soaking legumes them overnight or sprouting if you’re worried.


I think I’ve rambled enough. Time for burgers! Just pop them out of their frozen container, no thawing necessary and cook on medium high heat until they start to brown. Mine are a little charred… probably why they reminded me so much of ground beef, but they were definitely firm on the outside and moist and delightful on the inside. Yay!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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