Kitchen Alchemy

Today I made oatmeal for breakfast. Not just any old oatmeal either. I made cherry-vanilla oatmeal with chopped almonds. Oh yes! And do you know what? Mr. Crow didn’t like it very much at all. Apparently he doesn't like the texture of steel cut oats. He prefers the rolled variety. oh well.

Now, I’ve got about 2 cups of oatmeal chilling in my fridge and I like oatmeal on occasion but I don’t fancy eating it for an entire week, you know? So what’s a girl to do? I put on my Sorcerer's Apprentice outfit and got to work!

The conversation with myself looked a bit like this:

More breakfast items?

. . .Nah, that’s boring

What about cake or something?

No, I’m not thrilled with that either.

Well, how about cookies?

YEAH! (tickticktickticketytick[me on the lappy]) Ooo! That's a simple recipe. . . but I don’t have enough flour. . . COCO POWDER!

And, thus, my newest creation was born:

Black Forest Oatmeal Drop Cookies.

You will need:

1 3/4c flour

1/4c coco powder

1t baking powder

1/4t baking soda

1t salt

1t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1c sugar

2/3c shortening

3t Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 4T warm water

1 1/2–2c cooked steel cut oatmeal

1/2c rough chopped dried cherries

1/2c rough chopped almonds (I used whole roasted ones)

Preheat your oven to 375F and spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift all the dry ingredients together. Add the shortening and egg replacer mixture and beat on medium-low until combined. Add the oatmeal, almonds, and cherries and stir until thoroughly combined. Drop by rounded teaspoons into prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. remove to a cooling rack and then eat’em!

Just a Note Since It Has Been a While

Well, With Mr. Crow's schedule change things have been a little different in our little nest. Breakfast is our meal together lately and I've been living out of my most recent cook book acquisition: Vegan Brunch by my most beloved Isa Chandra Moskowitz. So far, I've made the following:

-blueberry muffins
-Added frozen peach chunks and powdered ginger to her scone recipe
-chocolate beer waffles
-added orange peppers, carrots and spinach to her basic breakfast scramble recipe

. . .oh, and I used her marinade for tempeh bacon to season some homemade seitan cubes which, I can only assume, tasted like ham? honestly, though, I haven't eaten ham in over 12 years so it's not like I would know. Regardless, after previously using Isa's recipe for seitan, I cut one hunk of seitan into cubes and browned it in a frying pan. I then mixed up about a third of a recipe of the bacon marinade and tossed it over the seitan until it was absorbed. I literally said, out loud, "I am enchanted by this flavor". Oh yes I did.

Originally, I was going to type out all these recipes to share them, but i realized that I'm not doing the authors of these books any favors by distributing their hard work for free online so, if i can find a link, I'll post it but otherwise you're on your own to buy the book or get it from the library. Speaking of the library, I'm getting 3 cookbooks from there very soon: Vegan Lunchbox, Vegan Yum Yum, and Nonna's Kitchen. I've been stalking Vegan Lunchbox and Vegan Yum Yum online for what feels like forever and I'm so happy to see that their hard work is paying off!

Um, so now I think it's time to mention what you may have already noticed. I am inching towards veganism. . . Really, the only reason I'm "inching" is because I still have vegetarian Monteray jack cheese in my fridge that I can't un-buy and I don't want to waste. I went down a slippery ethical slope of, "If I don't support the beef industry practices how can I buy milk that results in cows that get turned into burgers? How can I eat eggs if male chicks go into garbage bags? Now that is not to say that Holistic Acres (a local farm where our eggs came from) engages in these practices, but it's much easier to simply draw a line than eat eggs only sometimes from some places and have to explain that to people I know. Someday, when I fulfill my dream of having chickens of my own I'll eat eggs again but, until that day, not so much. Really, those who have known me for a while know that this is a return to normalcy and one that I'm quite thankful for. I feel happier, lighter, and more relaxed since the change.

Wow, this "note" seems more like a letter. I'm now going to whet you appetite by mentioning that very soon there will be a vegan conversion of an amazing cake that you won't want to miss!

I ate TWICE today!

True story.

For breakfast I made vegetarian sausage gravy and biscuits. You can find the recipe here and, let me tell you, you won’t be disappointed. I did make some seasoning adjustments by adding some thyme and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper to the “gravy” but, although I’ve got nothing to compare it to having never eaten the actual meat dish in my life, it was a savory, filling breakfast that I would gladly have again. It was quick, easy, and it only required one pan! WIN!

Then, we hung our original Kribbs on the wall, finally! We had to wait for the calendar to come down and free up the appropriate spot near the espresso machine. Be jealous.

After that Mr. Crow and I went out to run errands. We did laundry, dropped off our recycling, Petco for cat litter, and World Market where I found this:

Truly, the world is full of wondrous things.

Anyway, upon arriving home Mr. Crow and I were famished from all the hunting and gathering. So, whilst he assembled the new entertainment stand we bought I scurried to the kitchen to make cheese steak sandwiches!!!!! Yet another meat dish that I’ve never actually had. This recipe comes from my vegetarian starter kit that came from Mercy For Animals. Again, I made a few changes but I think they turned out for the best. Mr. Crow ate two of these in about five seconds flat.

1T olive oil 1 med. onion, halved and thinly sliced 1 med. red bell pepper, seeded and julienned 8 oz. of seitan (we made our own) a generous splash of Braggs liquid aminos Salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 oz of mozzarella cheese (*vegetarian please!) 4 small (6”) pitas (or flatbreads)

*most cheeses are made with rennet which is an enzyme that comes from a dead cow’s stomach. ovo-lacos beware! Plus, it’s just nasty. You can find cheeses made with bacterial enzymes fairly easily but if it just says “enzymes” on the back it’s probably dead cow.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper, cover, and cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the seitan and cook, turning once, until lightly browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Add Braggs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese and recover to melt. Scoop the mixture into the bread and enjoy!

And now some pictures of things completely unrelated to anything else!

First up: a fruit bowl! It looked so happy and good I just wanted to share it !

Now, this next picture is something we bought at the grocery store. It’s supposed to be all amazing and stuff. It sounds good so we’re going to try it. Mr. Crow doesn’t eat enough fruits and veggies for my liking and he oftentimes forgets to take his vitamins so this is the alternative. CHOCOLATE SMOOTHIE!!!

I’m trying the “berry” and “natural” flavors as well. A product review will be forthcoming. Also, if you’re interested, here is a link to the product website for you to see for yourself.

God Save The Queen. . .but who will save me?

Today I’m listening to my John Lee Hooker station on Pandora and baking for Christmas. I was going to try to make the Buche de Noel this year to bring to my mom’s house but changed my mind when Joel suggested I make a Battenberg cake (which is infinitely more portable than a cake shaped like a log and covered with meringue mushrooms). We first heard about this cake whilst reading the Thursday Next novels. The mother of the main character bakes these cakes and everyone seems to love them. So, here is it the recipe I’m using and here is a picture of the finished product. (Note the GIANT bowl of cake behind it.)

And now begin the problems: you’re supposed to be using two yellow cakes and dye one pink for the checkers but the store only had one box of yellow cake in the right size so I had to buy a chocolate one instead. Also, they didn’t have seedless raspberry jam. We saw another recipe that called for apricot so Joel picked out some apricot preserves that I had to heat and then run through a sieve to make sure it wasn’t lumpy. *sigh*

The final word:

So, uh, this cake is the most wasteful, annoying cake I’ve ever made. First of all, my marzipan had to have been on the old side because it as HARD AS A ROCK! I hurt my finger trying to knead it and I could barely get it to roll out.Then, after trimming away all the cake I didn’t need I was still left with about 1/2 of a cake left in little pieces that you can’t really do anything with all over the place. Fortunately, I have a back-up plan: cakeballs. Yes, yes, that bastion of American tastefulness! Le lazy-man’s truffle! Behold!

Additionally, as you may have noticed, there are some days missing. I believe it was Friday when I made the black bean burgers from Sandra’s Money Saving Meals. I followed the advice in the comments section and let my mix sit in the fridge for about an hour before making the burgers and it definitely made a difference in the workability of the mix. I also added the recommended spices: 1/4 teaspoon coriander and 1/2 teaspoon cumin. I made one final change on my own: 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that I had left over from another recipe. If you like Morningstar’s Spicy Black Bean Burgers you’ll flip over this. I even went so far as to follow this blogger’s advice regarding making my own burger buns that came out spectacularly.

Also, on Sunday I made Superchunk Banana Bread. Again, I had a bunch of stuff left over from other recipes and this seemed like a perfect place to use it. I started with a basic banana bread recipe and added in, well, super chunks. In the first loaf I added candied ginger, apricots, and hazelnuts. The second loaf was raisins and almonds. Each of the “chunk” ingredients got a rough chop and that’s about it. Needless to say, the first load is almost gone while the second loaf, although good, is still only about half way through.

And finally, last night for dinner I made potato gnocchi.

I’d post the recipe but I can’t. Here’s how the story went: My family made about 10 pounds of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving and had about 6 pounds left over. Since everyone in my family is consistently on a diet I take home pretty much all the leftovers from every family event. So, my grandmother looks at this HUGE bowl of potatoes and says, “for this much you need 3 eggs, a hand full of spaghetti cheese, and as much flour as it will take.” Ummm, yeah. So, I’d say, if I had to guess, the recipe goes something like:

for every 2 pounds of mashed potatoes you need:

1 egg

1/2 cup parmesan, or whatever. I have a fontina, asiago blend

salt and pepper to taste

and, because I was in the mood, I added some Italian herbs to the mix.

once that’s all mixed up sprinkle in flour by the handful and stir until a dough forms. I kept adding a little at a time until the dough was juuuuuus barely not sticky but was still sticky enough that you had to flour your hands to work with it. . . .it’s not a science people!

After that I measured it dough out into 1 pound baggies and froze it for when I’m in a pinch for dinner or I’m feeling like an Italian feast. This is SERIOUS “stick to your ribs” food.

Oh, and to get that cute shape you need a fork. Preferably one with long, straight tines. First, take your dough and roll it out into snakes just like when you play with play dough. Then cut each snake into small, bite-sized pillows. You can eyeball it but don’t get crazy: 1/2 inch at most. Then place the pillow on the fork and, using your thumb, press and curl the gnocchi down the tines and around your thumb. Voila! Seashell shapes! This lady does it differently then we do but it seems to work just as well. Maybe next time I’ll remember to show you how to do it my way.

Whew! That’s a lot of cooking. . . but, I do eat every day.

Feeling Chilly About This Recipe

My chili for dinner last night was a bit of a disappointment. I took the recipe from Savvy Vegetarian (it’s in my intro-blog if you really want to look it up). The recipe was disorganized, poorly written, and hard to follow.

I used such an amalgam of great ingredients! Look:

That’s a LOT of spices. . . it just wasn’t beany enough and, maybe, it was too thin in the sauce department. Not to mention that 4 chipotles in adobo still didn’t make it spicy enough for me.

I froze the left-overs and, hopefully, with some luck and a little kitchen magic, I can make them into something a little more palatable.

In other news, They sell this wine at Whole Foods and I LOVE IT! If you can find it drink it all up!

You see, it has the “reflection” effect because it's that good.

Potluck-a-palooza

I do believe that last night’s potluck was a success. After some well-timed tidying and a couple fabulously-easy make-ahead recipes I was ready for the night. Unfortunately for Mr. Crow, I was not as ready as I should have been and I had forgotten to pick up the ingredients for the raita that was to be served atop the samosa pie. Darn! So he very kindly stopped at Whole Foods on the way home from work to acquire the much needed ingredients.

My creepily punctual friends all arrived at EXCACTLY the same time (about 7:03 PM) and both my front and back doors were awash with hungry, and hello-ing faces bringing a multitude of delectable edibles to my abode. The M.s, who, amid contracting disasters and heaps of stress, very kindly made time for me and my extraterrestrial, meat-free shindig, brought Kalamata Olive tapenade and some incredible bread. The C.s brought a beautiful fruit platter with some kind of yogurt-y, delicious dip. An the Mc.s brought Indian spiced, julienned rutabaga and butternut squash with a balsamic reduction; both of these dishes kicked my ass with fabulousness.

Last Friday was Mrs. C.’s birthday so, knowing she was coming, I made her a special birthday treat: a tiramisu cheesecake! Mr. Crow found me ladyfingers and it came out pretty well, I’d say. A couple of them fell over into the cake but the taste was there even if the presentation was not :) Mr. M., who loves tiramisu, conspired with others in the party to hide the calorie-laden sweet all for themselves causing me to walk back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room with a confused expression looking for it, much tot he delight of all those present and making me feel l like I was more insane than usual.

As far as my dishes, they included two recipes from the most recent issue of Vegetarian times. First, my dinner offering:

Indian Samosa Casserole (annotated)

Everything you love about Indian samosas is here in one low-fat, easy-to-make pie. Serve with Cucumber Raita or Tofu Raita from vegetariantimes.com *This recipe can be made ahead and frozen for up to . . . well, a while. Skip to the end for heating instructions in that case. Also, don’t preheat our oven if you’re going to freeze this; that’s just silly.

Crust

1/2c all purpose flour

1/2c whole-wheat pastry flour

1/4t salt

2T vegetable oil

Filling

1T black or yellow mustard seeds (I used yellow)

1t curry powder

1t ground ginger

1/2t ground cumin

1/8t red pepper flakes, optional (I left this out)

5 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered (Yukon gold, I left the skin)

1 1/2t vegetable oil

1 medium onion, dices (1 c)

1 medium carrot, diced (1/2 c)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1c frozen peas

1c low sodium vegetable broth (Better Than Bullion is the best!)

2t agave nectar or sugar (I forgot this)

2T soymilk (I used the cow-type because that’s what I had)

1. To make the crust: Preheat oven to 375*F. Whisk together flours and salt in a bowl. Stir in oil until clumps form. Add 6 to 10 T of cold water 1T at a time until dough holds together. Shape into a ball, cover with a damp towel, and set aside. (I used my food processor for this and it worked perfectly.)

2. To make the filling: Stir together mustard seeds, curry, ginger, cumin, and pepper flakes, if using, in a bowl; set aside.

3. Cook potatoes in boiling salted water 15 minutes or until tender. Drain, return to pot and mash, leaving small chunks.

4. Heat oil in a skillet (9” worked just fine) over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic and sauté 5 minutes, or until carrot is tender. Move to side of pan, and add mustard seed mixture in the center. Toast 30 seconds. Stir in peas and broth. Fold onion mixture into potato mixture: stir in agave nectar/sugar. Season with salt and pepper, if desired (I desired it). Spread filling into a 9” pie pan and set aside.

5. Roll out crust dough to 11” circle on floured work surface. Cover filling with dough, pressing down to make sure no air pockets remain. Trim away excess dough and crimp edges with fingers. Cut an X in the center to vent steam: brush with soymilk just before baking. Place pie on a baking sheet (oops), and bake 40-50 minutes, or until crust is golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

6. Frozen cooking instructions: Preheat oven to 375*F. Place casserole on baking sheet and bake 75-90 minutes or until filling bubbles and crust is golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Sadly, there were no leftovers of this for me to have for breakfast. Also a tragedy, I completely forgot to put out the raita that I sent Mr. Crow to get he ingredients for. . . merrr.

For dessert I made an incredibly easy, gluten free crisp:

Orange-Apricot Crisp

Brown rice flour, vegan margarine, orange zest, and vanilla come together to make a crunchy-sweet, topping for a fruity winter dessert.

8 Oranges, plus 1t grated orangege zest (I just used the zest of 1 orange rather than measure)

2c dried apricots, thinly sliced

1/2c dried currants or raisins (raisins)

1/2c chopped candied ginger (Thanks General Electric)

1c brown rice flour

1/2c sugar

1/2t salt

6T vegan margarine, softened (I used cow-butter, don’t judge me)

1/2t vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350*F Coat a 9’ square baking pan with cooking spray (uh, yeah, I used a 9x13 pan and it was fine)

2. cut ends from oranges. Stand 1 orange on cutting board, and slice away peel and pith. Cut orange into quarters; cut quarters into 1/2” thick slices. Repeat with remaining oranges, and transfer to bowl. Stir in apricots, currants, and candied ginger. Spread mixture into prepared baking pan.

3. Stir together brown rice flour, sugar, zest, and salt in a bowl. Rub margarine and vanilla into flour mixture with fingers until combined and mixture forms large crumbs. Spread crumb mixture over orange mixture.

4. Bake 30-40 minutes, or until top of crisp is golden brown. Cool 10 minutes: serve warm.

This recipe was surprisingly good. It seemed a little weird but the picture in the magazine looked SO GOOD I just had to try it out. Plus, I love apricots. So there. This is a really nice fruit dessert for when nothing else is in season and you’re sick of eating pears, apples, and bananas. . . which I am.

WHEW! Now that that’s out of the way I can say whet else we did.

Unfortunately, the Cs had to leave because Mr. C is a diligent, hard working individual who must get up at the butt-crack of dawn to crawl into small places and get dirty for money. Bu-hao! But we’re glad they could make it and share food at our table. Those of us left, the Mc.s and the M.s along with Mr. Crow and myself, of course, played a game called 7 Deadly Sins. This game is a hilarious cross between Trivial Pursuit and Truth Or Dare. Throughout the game we had to spank our own butts and say “I’m a dirty, filthy pig!”, crawl around on the floor like amorous slugs, and demonstrate our favorite sexual positions using chairs/pillows. One contestant even had to show everyone their underpants. . . oh, and we had to rub lotion on “all 4 cheeks”. . hopefully no one breaks out. A good time was had by all. The “sin-off” between me and Mr. M. was a decided victory in his favor. The M.s left then, leaving the Mc.s and us to play Wii Fit Plus and laugh uproariously until the wee hours of the morning. Joy!

And now it's Thursday. I slept all cozy-snuggly with my Sambot until noon (holy crap), ate left-over tiramisu cheesecake for breakfast, regretted it immediately, and sat down for a serious blog-session, obviously. So now, I must do dishes, sweep the floor and jump on the treadmill so I don’t feel too bad about my food-choices. Oh, and if you want me to post that cheesecake recipe let me know and I’ll do it another time. I’m sick of typing.

* Someday I’ll get the hang of taking pictures but, right now, our camera is in the shop for repairs and I have a hard time remembering to bust out my phone to take pictures. Sorry.

Caught Rasterbating!!!

No recipe tonight because it's Tuesday and Tuesday means that Mr. Crow and I go to "our" bar, Hal & Al's and eat Rad Dogs. I ate a Radneck and the stellar bartender helped me into one of my favorite drinks, Purple Haze.

Now we're home and Quan Yin is going up on the dining room wall to the tune of 5' x 7'. Epic to say the least. We used a program called Rasterbator to giant-size a picture I found on the Internet. This program turns any picture into a multi-page PDF extravaganza that you can print out and tape to your wall. After three days of struggling with our printer we just put the file on a flash drive and took it to Kinkos where, for about $5.00, they printed out the most glorious 45 pages EVER! We used the double-sided tape that came with our window sealing kits to affix the picture to the wall.
BEHOLD! The finished product!