Thanks Exitquote!

An acquaintance of mine, (a girlfriend of a friend) recently posted a re-make of the tofu and the pilaf recipe! Check it out! 

Fair Warning (entry:Delicious Food, about 3 entries down).

This is exactly the community I've been looking for! Keep cooking, commenting and posting, everyone!

More food and craft entries coming soon.

New books!

I took a short trip to Raven Books in Northampton yesterday, and picked up a few new (used) things. The best thing about this place is the used cookbook section. You can get 40 dollar books for 15, and it has a mildly strong veggie section. After scouring the piles and shelves, I picked up these:

Click me

Sacred food:Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment by Elisabeth Luard. This award-winning book is full of beautiful photos of people eating and worshipping food together. It has recipes from around the world that celebrate everything from courting and fertility, to birth and death. While not specifically veggie, i'm excited for it.

CLICK ME TOO!

Japanese Vegetarian Cooking:From Simple Soups to Sushi by Patricia Richfield. This veggie (and incidentally almost completely vegan) is written by a woman who spent years in Japan. I'm looking forward to cooking with it as I love Japanese food, and I'm a huge fan of cooking culturally accurate food.

I know I haven't been as good about updating the blog, and for that I apologize. New job, new life, etc. Hopefully some new books will give me the inspirational push I need. I'll keep you all updated about how the books are, maybe even write some mini-reviews at some point. Hope you all are keeping warm and fighting through this end-of-winter madness. And for those of you in warmer climes-my jealousy has no bounds.

Tofu and Pilaf...It's been awhile...

I am lame and have had this blog entry in storage for a week....But here it is. And I promise you will hear more from me.

What is to come

Still loving on the v'con, I made this awhile ago, but as said, I'm lazy and it takes a while for me to get some posts up sometimes. This is dish that was a big hit amongst my housemates, but not me, unfortunately. I liked the tofu a great deal, but it 'caramelized' (read:burned and did not make a syrupy sauce as I was hoping) probably because I cut the tofu differently than the recipe called for and didn't use a shallow enough pan (I was dying to use my new pyrex casserole dishes).



So, a word to the wise, unless you like gummy-burn-sauce, be sure to use a shallow dish and WATCH THE TOFU like, check on it more than you deem necessary.

As for the Quiona, I will say that it is an EXTREMELY easy grain to cook. It's hard to overcook, it cooks quickly with a nice chewiness-but-not-too-chewiness, and it seems like, because of it's versatility, that it could easily become a breakfast-grain, salad grain, etc. I disliked this dish only because...I think I really don't like beans larger than black beans unless they are smushed (ie: Hummus, Kidney bean spread). I also might of sort of skimped on the bean-price, or bean-work, as I bought discount store (but they were organic!) 'salad' bean mix when the recipe called for chickpeas. They sort of were surrounded by that bean-y soup that canned beans get, and it was a little creepy altogether. As said, my housemates loved it, so maybe I was just freaked out by the bean-goo.



Without further ado, here's the recipes, tell me what you think, and how you would make them better!

Tangerine Baked Tofu
From Veganomicon ( pg. 126)

I used clementines for this recipe, cause I had a ton. Either would work.

Ingredients

-1 pound extra-firm tofu, pressed and sliced width-wise into eights.
-1 heaping teaspoon tangerine zest
-3 tablespoons lime juice
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoon agave nectar or pure maple syrup
-1 tablespoon peanut oil
-1/4 teaspoon cumin
-1/8 teaspoon allspice
-Freshly ground pepper
-2 tablespoons dark rum

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. *I suggest lowering this to 400 or 350 and cooking a bit longer. Maybe you won't end up with no sauce that way.

2.) In a shallow glass baking dish whisk together all your marinade ingredients.

3.) Place the tofu cutlets in marinade. Using a fork, carefully poke a few holes into the cutlets. Flip them over and do the same on the other side.

4.) Bake the tofu for 45 minutes, flipping several times, about every 15 minutes or so. The tofu is ready when most of the marinade has reduced. Spoon any remaining marinade over the cutlets before serving.


Chickpea-Quinoa Pilaf
Veganomicon (pg. 115).

Ingredients:

-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 small yellow onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 teaspoon cumin
-1 tablespoon coriander seeds
-Several pinches of freshly ground pepper
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon tomato paste
-1 cup quinoa
-2 cups cooked or 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
-2 cups vegetable broth or reconstituted bouillon

1.) In a small stock-pot over medium heat, saute the onions in olive oil for about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.

2.) Add the tomato paste, coriander, cumin, black pepper, and salt. Saute for another minute.

3.) Add the quinoa and saute for 2 minutes

4.) Add the chickpeas and broth, cover and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to very low, cover, and cook for about 18 minutes, or until the quinoa mixture has completely absorbed the liquid. Stir occasionally. Fluff with fork and serve.


I know I may not have made this sound too appetizing, but hopefully you'll find ways to make this your own and improve it! (Or maybe it's wicked good like everyone else says and I was really picky that night?) Good luck!

Welcome New Readers!

Google Analytics tells me that I have a 60 percentile of new readers, or something. That's great! Decoupage and Demitasse has also gone on a wild promotions spree including the creation of a Facebook account(see "Places to Go" on your right for a link) and whoring itself out to those blog directory sites.

Also, old and new readers will also find that anyone can comment now (instead of just google account owners). So comment away! Questions, requests, complaints and suggestions are always welcome!

Hope to hear from you all soon. You can also now reach "The Blog" (me) at this address.

Vegetarian times: Veggie Pho

Every since I've become a vegetarian again, I have missed some of those foods that were vaguely 'meaty'. For instance, the amazing Vietnamese dish "Pho", the heal-all beef broth based soup with so much good antiseptic, pro-digestive, nausea relieving power it's sort of like a cross between beef stew and a medicinal herbal brew. I was psyched to see that Vegetarian Times had a recipe (again, condoned by Andrew Weil) for veggie Pho in it's January issue. It was that particular issue that made me fall in love with this magazine all over again (I used to read it in high school but didn't quite 'get' it).
Thanks to My Recipe Box for writing this out already, because the truth is, I am a lazy, lazy girl. (The proof is in the fact that I have about 10 blog posts lined up and none of them are posted).
Again, my notes are marked with a (*) asterisk. Good luck, this one is a bit of a time consuming adventure.

Vegetarian Times' Vegetarian Pho Soup.

Broth

• 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth *I suggest bouillon cubes. Usually one cube makes about 2 cups of broth.

• 3 large shallots, sliced (1 cup) *Shallots are like tiny, sweet onions. They look like this:
  
• 1/2 c. dried shiitake mushrooms *I actually found frozen shiitakes for this purpose. Don't use regular white mushrooms, shiitakes' have a particular 'meaty' and smoky flavor that is important for this dish.

• 10 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed *Remove the skins of your garlic by crushing them gently with the flat part of your knife. Don't bash them or you'll end up with a bloody hand. And a blood knife. Example:
  
  
• 3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce *I use Bragg's liquid aminos. It tastes the same, and gives you a nutritional kick.

• 12 thin coins of fresh ginger (about 1/4 inch thick)

• 1 Tbs. brown sugar
• 1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar

• 1 tsp. ground black pepper *Please please PLEASE invest in a pepper grinder and do this fresh. Ground pepper in a can is wicked old, because it doesn't really 'expire'. Add how long you've had yours and about 3 years (how long it's been on a supermarket shelf) and prepare to be grossed out. Old pepper has no flavor.

• 2 cinnamon sticks
  
• 2 star anise *A spice that smells like licorice, looks like a little wood star.
  
• 5-6 fresh basil stems, leaves reserved for the soup
• 5-6 cilantro stems, leaves reserved soup

Pho

• 8oz. pkg. rice noodles

• 8 oz. pkg Asian-flavor baked tofu, thinly sliced (maybe more) *Asian baked tofu is half as much as a regular package of tofu and twice the price. Make your own: Mix a little brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce (or Braggs), garlic and ginger together, slice your tofu into thin patties, and soak for about an hour. Bake at 400 degrees or until chewy but not crispy. Or pan fry in a little peanut oil. You can change up the marinade to flavors of your liking.

• 2 cups soybean sprouts *These are large, white sprouts about the thickness of a dandy lion stem. Not the thin hair like sprouts you put in salads or sandwiches.

• 2 cups watercress *I'd call this optional. Veg times just kind of stuck this in there for extra calcium, or something, it's not traditional Vietnamese.

• 4 green onions, sliced *Up east we call these scallions.
  
• 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
• 1 c. fresh basil leaves
• 1 lime
  

To make Broth: Place all ingredients in large pot with 8 cups of water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 1 hour. *Yeah, well, an hour is good if you are rushed. If you have an afternoon, let it simmer on very low heat for as long as you can. The flavor will be much better.

This is what your pho looks like before 'discard solids'
Did I mention your house is going to smell amazing for days?

Strain broth and return to pot. Discard solids.

It's been hours. You've discarded your solids.
Look how sassy your broth is now!

To make Pho: Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Divide among 6 large soup bowls. Ladle broth over noodles, and top with tofu, sprouts, watercress, and green onions. Serve cilantro, basil and lime wedges on the side to be stirred into the soup. *I like to have all my garnishes ready to rock so people can make their own decisions. I am no Pho Nazi, except for what goes in the bottom of the bowl.

Plate O' Garnish

Scallions, cilantro and asian tofu ready to be broth-ed.
Brothed? Brothotized? Have broth poured upon them?
Oh, whatever...

*The traditional way to eat Pho is as follows:
Load up your hot broth with basil, more scallion, cilantro, and a lime wedge. Mix around and wait for a few minutes to eat so that the flavors can mesh. Chopsticks in your best hand, use to load solids into the spoon in your other hand. To add sauce, make a little puddle on the plate and dip your chopsticks in it. That flavors your next spoonful of noodles. In the case of Pho, the 'sauce' is lime juice (squeezed from your garnish wedge) mixed with a little black pepper to make a paste. You could also use Nuoc Cham, but it wouldn't be completely veggie considering that it is a fish based sauce. You can also garnish with a little Sriracha chili sauce, hot peppers, or hoisin sauce.



Enjoy!

Adventures in Veganomicon:Caramel-Apple-Spice Cupcakes

So, I love to bake. And for some reason, vegan baked goods turn out better than most (most of the time). I think it's that Vegan chefs put in a little more of an effort to make sure something tastes spectacular, since there isn't all that lovely butterfat to hold onto the flavor. Locally, Oh! Sweet Mama's is sort of the best thing ever. I admit that I have a small addiction to their pecan-chocolate chip cookies, as they are more buttery and perfect than any other cookie around. There, I said it.

Oh yes...only available in 6 locations but so...tasty...

It's well known fact that Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero are sort of the queens of Vegan cupcakes. Their book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" was a NY Times Bestseller, and I sort of covet it, even though it's teeny tiny and still has a mighty 15 dollar price tag. (Yes, I'm cheap).

Click to purchase me...er...yourself a copy.

I'm happy to say, however, that my mother bought me the "Veganomicon" for my birthday. Already adored by food/vegan bloggers all over the world, this book has tasty vegan recipes with easy to get ingredients and extremely easy to follow instructions. I'm not a vegan, but enjoy vegan cuisine quite a lot due to it's whole grain adornment, meat-free qualities, and generous amounts of fruits and vegetables, something people of all food-eating-groups should get into, as it's the best way to live till you're 110 (according to Andrew Weil).

Frannie Loves the V'con.

Enough intro though, let's get onto the not-so-healthy but still vegan sweet cuppin-cakes!
(I'll give credit where credit is due here, but if it's a Faux Pas to post a recipe, those gals can eat it [pun intended], I'm still mad at them for making fun of my celebrity husband, Anthony Bourdain). My notes are marked with an asterisk.

Caramel-Apple-Spice-Cupcakes
(from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, pg. 252-3)

Thank you to my lovely hand model. Author of The G'st.

Ingredients:

-2 firm, tart cooking apples such as Granny Smith Or Northern Spy *(I used what every I had around, I think it was Fuji).
-2 tablespoons (tbsp) brown sugar
-1 tbsp. vegan margarine *(Earth Balance)
-1 cup soy milk *(I buy unsweetened, so that you can control the amount of sugar you use, though vanilla or 'plain' would work fine here)
-1/3 cup canola oil
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon (tsp) grated lemon zest
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour *(I use king Arthur unbleached white)
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda *(yellow box)
-1/2 tsp baking powder *(red can)
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 tsp cinnamon*
-1 tsp ground nutmeg*

*for these last 2 ingredients I use a blend called 'apple pie spice' and use about 1 1/2 tsp total.

Caramel-Penuche Frosting:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. vegan margarine
1 Tbsp. molasses
1/3 cup soy creamer or soy milk
2 Tbsp plain or vanilla soy milk powder *(After much searching, I still have NO idea what this is, and did not find whatever it is, so omitted).
Pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped, roasted peanuts for sprinkling (optional)

Equipment:

-12-cup capacity muffin pan or two 6-cup capacity muffin pans
-Chef's knife
-Cutting board
-Saute' (frying) pan
-Large mixing bowl
-Rubber Spatula
-Heavy bottomed saucepan
-Small Mixing bowl
-Whisk or Electric Mixer
-Small spatula or butter knife.
-Measuring cups and spoons.

*These steps are not as originally written for the sake of brevity.

1.)Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.)Core and dice apples to about 1/4 cubes.

3.)Heat brown sugar and margarine in pan over medium heat, stirring, until bubbling. Add apples and stir to coat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until apples have lost almost all their liquid. (12 minutes). Allow to cool.

4.)In the large bowl, beat together the soy milk and lemon juice and allow to sit for a moment to curdle. Add the oil, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla and beat well, either by hand or with an electric mixer. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir only until ingredients are moistened. Fold in the apples along with any remaining juices.

5.) Now, here it says to line your pans with cupcake liners, but unless you are dealing with really delicate cupcakes (which you aren't here), I say they are an environmental waste. However, if you do not have a fancy shmancy muffin pan that's non-stick like mine, you may want to stick with the liners. So, do one of those, I didn't use liners and used cooking spray, and then fill those suckers up about 3/4 of the way. Bake in your 350 oven for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6.) When they are done, cool them on wire racks. If you followed my environmentally sound advice, you may want to take the muffin tin(s) with both hands (protected by oven mitts or something) and give the bottom of it a good WHACK on the table to loosen your cupcakes.

7.) Frosting time:Combine the sugar, margarine, molasses, soy milk, and salt in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, remove from heat.

8.) Cool mixture slightly, then add half the confectioners sugar and vanilla, and beat in, either by hand or with electric mixer, for about 3-5 minutes, until creamy. Add the rest of the confectioners sugar, and beat in, until frosting has a thick, fudge like consistency. At this point I found that my frosting was a little too thick, so I added soy milk until it was the consistency I wanted.

9.) Spread quickly onto cooled cupcakes! Let rest and the frosting will have a satiny finish! DONE.

Is my blurry photo tempting you?

Shopping Post #1: Monster Pillow

For my birthday this year (12/24), I decided, drunk on Sangria from Tasca , that I deserved a little birthday present (OK, well, I'll be honest, it was from my father technically, as he supplied the birthday money).
So while browsing online, I found myself this site: Mechanical Bunny. Not only do they have pretty cute 'goth' and 'punk' clothing for all sizes of women, but they also have 'spiritual' supplies, and what caught my eye, as I've been 'redoing' my room and bed--MONSTER PILLOWS (would include link, but it seems as though that part of the site is currently down for maintenance).


I chose the monster buffalo, as he was red and black and big. The pillows are handmade, and can be customized, but this little guy was already made and ready to ship so I didn't have to wait the usual 2 weeks for the girl who runs the site to make it for me.

Oh the Horror.

Anyhow, he's very fuzzy, doesn't shed, is pretty good for a pillow with teeth, and every part of him is soft and well secured. Well worth the $35 price tag :) Plus, Frannie may have found true love.