Brussel Sprouts Ruled my Week.

Exhibit A.

Roasted with Lime and Garlic.

Carrying home a locally grown, giant stalk of brussel sprouts from Uncle Paul's produce market last weekend was pretty damn joyous. In retrospect, I wish I had written a DW-style song about it. I had two strangers remark at the big, green stalk leaning on my shoulder on my walk home! They seemed impressed.

For $2.49, I had the centerpiece of my next few meals and a whole lot of roasted brussels in my future. Growing up, my family never ate brussel sprouts. I doubt I really knew what they looked like until I was in college. My family did have an appreciation for a variety of green vegetables, so I assume that my mom had been cursed with over boiled brussels when she was younger and banished them from her life.

My go-to way to cook brussel sprouts is to roast them with freshly squeezed citrus juice. I saw it on a cooking show a few years ago, tried it at home, and the method stuck.

The first way I rolled with my new sprouts was to roast them with lime juice, garlic, coarse sea salt, black pepper and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

I subsequently roasted more with lemon juice, crumbled Papa G's savory tofu, more garlic and cremini mushrooms.

Next up is a hodge podge meal that I like to think was more creative than desperate, but it goes both ways. I was obviously going to cook with brussel sprouts, but I wanted to do something different, and didn't have a lot to work with. And I was fiercely craving Pad Thai Kitchen, but wanted to continue on my home cooked meals streak.

Exhibit B.

Pad Thai Woon Sen with Brussel Sprouts and Seitan.

I loosely based the sauce on the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, sliced the brussels, used homemade seitan from The Urban Vegan cookbook and threw some crumbled peanuts on top. I was worried the brussels would overpower the dish's tangy flavor, but they didn't - and it hit the spot.

Hazelnut, meet Eggplant.

Baked Hazelnut Breaded Eggplant.

It only looks like a Boca Cutlet.

The other night I gave myself the classic challenge - make dinner using what you actually have at home. There were ideas that came to mind quickly: a stir fry with rice, sauteing vegetables over pasta and even making pizza dough, but I wanted to side step a bed of grains.

The arrangement:

I turned to the local eggplant*, and introduced it do the last of some homemade breadcrumbs in my freezer and a container of ground hazelnuts from too long ago. After the small talk was out of the way, dinner came together quickly.

The eggplant was sliced (skipped salting, don't tell my Italian great Aunt Helen), dipped in flour, a cornstarch + water slurry, and then both sides were pressed into a mixture of the breadcrumbs, ground hazelnuts, sea salt, black pepper, oregano and a bit of crushed red pepper.

I baked the slices on parchment paper at 375, 20 minutes one side, then 15 after flipping. I topped them with some tofu ricotta with added white miso, and a dollop of roasted garlic and almond pesto.

On the side is chopped fresh sweet green bell pepper tossed with balsamic vinegar and homemade shiitake marinara sauce.

Dinner #2 featured the eggplant slices just as vegan-traditional. Baked once again for 15-20 minutes in the oven at 400F, flipping once, topped with marinara, tofu ricotta and nutritional yeast, and baked an additional 5 minutes.

I served this with a side of steamed collards with sea salt.

*True Story: My younger sister Jenny was 'friends' with an eggplant from our garden when we were little. There's a picture of them dressed up in matching costumes, I swear. Or just really want to believe it. She was 6 or 7 or 12 or so at the time.

It's name was..."friend". I tell this story sweetly, but really, it was a scary time and eggplant was eaten.

Grilled Cremini & Garlic sandwich.

Chomp.

It was under 100F yesterday when I left work, so I stopped at my local New Seasons Market and picked up FOOD to COOK for dinner. I was surprisingly productive last night with my bit of cooking and cleaning for a party this weekend! I almost turned on my oven and roasted local red potatoes with dill and then considered roasting tempeh.... Thankfully for my cats, I held onto my sanity and simply ate my sandwich.

It was beautifully easy to assemble - I halved local creminis and tossed them in a golden balsamic vinaigrette with large slices of garlic, cooked them on my cast iron grill pan, threw them on top of baby spinach, in an organic olive ciabatta roll from New Seasons (splurge!) added a large slice of local tomato and there was dinner. If I hadn't forgotten my vegan staple jar of Vegenaise at work months ago, I would have likely added some.

Grilled garlic = amazing.

Product Review: New Lightlife Tempehtations!

One of the perks of being a blogger is trying new products you may not necessarily pick up at the store. I feel confident that this is part of the reason you registered the domain VeganFoodRulesAlot on wordpress last year.

The Goods:

This was the case for me with Lightlife's Tempehtations. Since moving to Portland (5 years

this September!) and learning my way around a block of tempeh, I hadn't bought any Fakin' Bacon -

Prior to the point in my life where I learned to make sense of what I throw around a kitchen, I had regularly scheduled sandwiches based on this product. It meant so much to me!

Now I make my own tempeh bacon based on the recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, but there was a point in my life Fakin Bacon was one of my favorite things to eat. So, right off the bat, I had faith in Lightlife's new tempeh series, and on top of that - they threw in a package of the strips! I passed out when opening it. Thanks, Lightlife!

so.....tempted?

Their new tempeh series is basically this: a block of cubed & flavored tempeh, ready to cook or simply warm, wrapped in plastic, and put in a colorful little box. I've tried the Classic BBQ and Ginger Teriyaki - the Zesty Lemon is conveniently waiting in my freezer for future use, I'm thinking over a salad or pasta. Convenience is key here - no need to marinate overnight or bake for 30+ minutes.

Served with soy dipping sauce, wasabi and garnished with sesame seeds.

The big stand out in my Tempehtations trial was this sushi. I clicked on my rice cooker, prepped the filling, quickly sauteed the Ginger Teriyaki tempeh cubes with some garlic in peanut oil, and when it was all ready to go, filled sushi with the tempeh, shredded carrot and avocado and rolled. The tempeh had a nicely mellow Teriyaki taste and didn't overpower the bites, I could also easily see this flavor grilled kabob-style, drizzled with a spicy sesame dressing.

Ready to be rolled:

The first time I tried the BBQ, I sauteed it and served it in a grain bowl with rice, collards, pink beans and hot sauce. Need I say more besides, classic?

Dinner time BBQ tempeh bowl #1 - a quick meal before a trip out of town

The one thing I felt like my bowl above was missing was sauce, but you don't always need your grains coated in sauce.....but below I totally wanted it. I used extra BBQ sauce from a PPK test recipe and heated the second half of the BBQ tempeh in it for a few minutes, and served with roasted mushrooms and cauliflower over quinoa.

I'll out the classic card for tempeh, BBQ sauce and quinoa again. The Lightlight Tempehtations are not sitting in sauce in their little box, so if you like things saucy, take 1-3 minutes and whip up a simple sauce or pull that bottle of Trader Joe's BBQ sauce you keep in the fridge for dipping emergencies out.

Dinner time BBQ Tempeh bowl #2 - a quick meal returning from a trip!

And lastly, I used the dear tempeh strips for a quick couple quick meals that were not sandwich based. Because if you know me, I rarely have bread at home the past few years. Huh, sandwiches? What are peanut butter and jelly doing together on soft bread?

Collards with Fakin Bacon and Roasted Apple Sage Seitan Sausage

Vegan Brunch Chelsea Waffles with chocolate chips;

more collards and tempeh bacon.

Collards cooked with olive oil, garlic, liquid smoke, tamari, hot sauce, teeny bit of maple syrup, broth/water and apple cider vinegar.

I think these products are a great stepping stone for the tempeh-phobic and those looking to incorporate more vegan proteins in their diet! I have no hesitation to cook my own tempeh these days, in fact, I made baked mango ginger tempeh for dinner last night, but there's no denying this product's consumer friendliness. If it had been around when I was younger, it would have been in my fridge! I would have kept an eye on it being on sale. Don't be scared of tempeh, folks.

Chicken Seitan Parmigiana with Roasted Broccoli

The week before I made this meal, I had been busy after work and missed dining at home. Not just cooking, but the practice of changing out of my officey clothes, feeding my two cats and winding down in the kitchen. Weekend hit and it was time to lose myself in my kitchen for a couple hours, while entertaining side projects like cleaning and petting cats while things simmered and roasted.  

I recall channeling my Italian parents and after successfully making boiled seitan (which is actually simmered) for the first time in years and thinking about the mozzerella teese in the fridge, I set out to make Chicken Seitan Parmigiana.  In the same afternoon, of course.

Mangia!

The boiled seitan was made with vegetarian chicken style bouillon cubes and based on the recipe from Veganomicon.  I used fresh thyme, rosemary, dried bay leaf, extra pepper, garlic and nutritional yeast.  After it was done simmering I put aside some in the broth, froze a tray of broth ice cubes and cut off a section for the parmagiana cutlets.  

Here they are, freshly...pan-fried in extra virgin olive oil:

I can't say that I'm a fan of kneading bread dough, but I don't really mind seitan.  It's more forgiving, for sure.  Savoury productivity.

After simmering:

The breading station:

The fundamentals of vegan Italian breading go as follows - dip in flour, dip in a water or soymilk cornstarch slurry, dip in pulverized breadcrumb mixture.  

My third mixture was of homemade breadcrumbs, various herbs, black pepper, sea salt and nutritional yeast.  Doing this takes me back to making real animal cutlets and dipping them in egg and flour as a little one....and I say that fondly.

Ready to pan-fry:

Pan-friend, and served with homemade red marinara over multigrain and flax penne, roasted broccoli with olive oil, garlic and sea salt and mozzerella teese, ready for melting.  Using teese really made the meal memorable was was the best faux cheeze I've tried for the job.

Melted, sliced and shortly, devoured.

Truly no need for dessert following this.

Review and Indian Dinner: WK Pacs

Chola Curry, Peas & Potato Sabji, Coconut Rice

When I crave Indian food, I usually go to a cheap food cart downtown.  I'm talking SW 12th and Yamhill.  There's a lot of murmur recently about the new management of the original India Chaat and the curiously opened Bombay Chaat House next door, which an old owner opened - but I'll save that for another time.

Indian food hasn't made it into my regular cooking repertoire.  I've made curry and samosas at home before but it's a special occasion thing when I do.  When the folks at Waverly Kitchens offered to send me some Indian meal spice packets that promised quick, authentic meals with the addition of a few fresh ingredients, I was intrigued and made two of the three packets they sent on Friday night - the Curry and Sabji you see above.  The coconut rice is based on the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.  I also received a packet for Pineapple Raita to make with soy yogurt.

TIME TIME TIME

When it comes to dinner time, I don't mind putting in an hour's worth of work into most meals, it helps me relax and focus on my own life after a day at the office, ha!   While I rarely find myself eating packaged dinners other than the few times a year I pick up Trader Joe's craptastic Soy Nuggets, I don't mind the notion of using pre-mixed quality spices in my own cooking, which this basically was.  I buy cajun and chili spices in bulk.  The WK pacs don't contain scary preservatives - what they do have is authentic spices, simple instructions and a shopping list on one side of the packet with the few vegetables you need for dinner for two.  

For example - for the Sabji I needed a bag of frozen peas, two potatoes, lemon juice and cilantro. Yeah, I skipped the cilantro because I'm a hater.  I can handle it very well mingled into salsa and Indian food, but I gleefully left it out here since it just garnishes the dish.  On Friday night I started the coconut rice in my rice cooker, dropped the first set of spices in canola oil for the curry, and within 30 minutes, all three dishes were done. 

There are two sets of spices in the one packet for each meal that I made - the top half has the spices that cook first:

After a couple minutes, you move onto the next step.  Easy.  Add garlic (and onion or onion powder) for the Curry:

White garlic from the farmer's market

A can of chickpeas and spices from the bottom of the the packet-

.....and you've got nothing left to do but simmer.  The Sabji didn't require any sauteing, just two diced, peeled potatoes and frozen peas that I've had in my freezer waiting for a day to shine. The final products were impressively flavorful for meals not only made quickly, but a type of cuisine I enjoy but don't bother to cook at home.  Two thumbs up!  I have to give the packets street cred for not ripping, or at least canvas bag cred, because I carried them around with me for a few days so I wouldn't forget to make them.  

I was curious which type of oil to use and opted for canola, and my only criticism is that I wish I had two paks of the curry, in particular!

They have starter kits available on their website here and they are all vegetarian, and can be made vegan with nondairy substitutions.  Definitely keep an eye out for these, I was really happy with my dinner.  

Anatomy of a Grocery Trip: Fubonn Supermarket & Brooklyn Pad Thai

It's been quite a while!  Somehow I've gone since September without an addition to the 

Get Sconed! Anatomy of a Grocery Trip series.  Blame the economy.  And living close to a New Seasons market.  

Yesterday I had tofu on the brain and took the bus to Fubonn Supermarket, just south of Division on 82nd Ave.

The goods:

I picked up fresh ginger, locally made fried tofu, fresh rice noodles, Mori Nu silken tofu, rice vinegar, agar agar and tamarind concentrate, which I haven't seen at Fubonn before and found on display for $1.69 or so!  I have some vegetables at home, so these were all fun, special purchases.  Once I grabbed the tofu and tamarind, I found myself walking to the fresh noodle section, and Pad Thai fell on the menu for dinner....

Brooklyn Pad Thai with thin rice noodles  

The recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance.  This was my first time using tamarind concentrate ever - it's one of those products that I meant to buy and never had - and the taste was so close to Pad Thai Woon Sen at Pad Thai Kitchen!  I added broccoli and green bell pepper, and left out the red onions.  I used Sambal Olek as my chili component and the final product was fantastic.  Not to mention cooked in less than 15 minutes..

Seitanic Jambalaya (with pink beans and eggplant)

Seitanic.

Flipping through Veganomicon looking for recipes to utilize the huge pot of small pink beans I'd cooked on Sunday, I found myself stopping on the recipe for Seitanic Jambalaya with Red and White Beans.  If you have an Amazon account, you can view the recipe online, but surely you have this cookbook or can request it from your library.  It's my go to vegan cookbook.  

Now, this is one I somehow  skipped as a recipe tester for the book and it was reaching out to me.  Obviously Mardi Gras recently passed and the internet's been buzzing about Cajun food, as does my younger sister Jenny on a regular basis.  I like heat but don't find myself cooking many Cajun-style dishes.  I've made gumbo once and cajun coated tofu

and potatoes a few times, but that's it.

I made a full version of the recipe and fed my friends during our weekly LOST viewing, which also included the premiere of ANTM and they seemed to enjoy it.  It makes a ton!  If I hadn't fed folks, I'd be eating this for a week!  I used an organic cajun spice blend, fresh thyme and found my first jambalaya stick-to-your-ribs-with-savoury-rice good.  Whatever that means, it was true.

I used Trader Joe's new organic long grain white rice, my soaked small pink beans instead of red and white, two green bell peppers, one stalk of celery, threw in some diced eggplant and because I'm a hater, subbed extra garlic and a bunch of onion powder for the onion.  I know, I know, I know, I'm ridiculous, but it's my kitchen.  I did find myself baking it an additional 15 or so minutes to let the rice fully cook.

For the seitanic contribution, I made two large baked seitan cutlets based on the Veganomicon recipe the night before the jambalaya cooking.  This is my go-to seitan recipe from the go-to vegan cookbook.  I can also see diced steamed sausages being great in this.  I also used vegan chicken-style buillion cubes  and added diced garlic, bay leaf, shallot, black pepper and crushed red pepper to my broth.  Of course it's easy to make your own Chicken-Style broth powder as well, like with Bryanna's recipe.

For more vegan New Orleans and Cajun style cooking, 

I encourage you to visit Kittee's site, Paku Paku.

Next up for my giant vat of pink beans - Brown Rice Spaghetti with Bean Balls and Homemade Marinara.  I quickly made a new batch of Walnut-Miso-'Parmesan' last night for sprinkling~

Easy and Peanutty Seitan.

Sauteed seitan and veggies with peanut sauce over red quinoa

A couple weeks ago, I found myself making this meal two days in a row.  I live alone, so when I make a grain in my rice cooker it always lasts another meal or two or three; so the red quinoa was all set.  The seitan is the locally made Cast Iron Seitan I’ve previously glorified.  It’s the quickly-thrown-together type of meal I almost feel guilty about sitting down with, like I’m just eating nachos for dinner.  In reality, protein-rich seitan, fresh vegetables and the ridiculously, stupidly easy peanut sauce over quinoa all make for a more than decent meal.  Again, I know, I made it two days in a row.

I’d feel even more ridiculous if I tried to claim this as a recipe, and that would require thinking about it even more, so don’t get your hopes up.  I quickly sautéed the seitan with in peanut oil($2.99 from Grocery Outlet)  for a few minutes over medium  heat, turning the slices over once, added minced garlic and chopped vegetables – I used kale, celery, cabbage and carrots - and cooked a few more minutes on lower heat.  Once the vegetables were barely cooked, I added a couple spoonfuls of natural chunky peanut butter, 1/3-1/2 cup of vegetable broth, Sambal Oelek chili sauce, seasoned rice vinegar, tamari and white pepper…aka most things you throw into peanut sauce…and I was out of fresh ginger. 

Simmered, stirred and served over quinoa.  

Asian. Grilled. Tofu.

Tofu. Marinade. Cast Iron Grill Pan. 

Side of Hoisin'd Veggies. Long grain brown rice.  

Lunch.

Lunch, lunch, lunch.

The Asian Marinade recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance and Veganomican can be found here.

I don't really feel the need to talk much on this post, I've left the message to the grill lines and fu.

VWAM's Apple Sage Sausages

Before I left for Seattle, I finally made a batch of VWAM's Vegan Apple Sage Sausages.

These are potato, sage and apple flavored steamed seitan engineered by the marvelous Jayne (aka VWAM, aka Virginwithamemory) on the PPK forums, who I've had the pleasure of meeting in person a few times. She kicked the butt of the packaged (though delicious, yet pricey) Field Roast variety using Julie Hasson's steamed sausage method.

Here is Jane's original recipe, first posted on the PPK on 2/17/2008:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tea. salt1/4 tea. cloves
1/4 tea. allspice
2 1/2 tea. onion powder
1 tea. ginger
3 tea. sage
1/4 tea. cayenne
1/4 tea. black pepper
1/2 cup dried apples, chopped finely
1/2 cup cold mashed yukon gold potatoes (NOTE-I used leftover roasted garlic mashed russets)
2 tea. marmite (NOTE-I didn't have marmite so I used a bit more liquid smoke and tamari)
3 Tb. olive oil
1/2 tea. liquid smoke
1 tea. crushed garlic from a jar
1 Tb. maple syrup
2/3 cup water

Instructions:
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, mix it up.
Combine wet ingredients in a different bowl, mix it up.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and knead for a few minutes.
Form into little sausage shapes and wrap them up in tin foil tightly.
Steam for 1/2 an hour. Unwrap them, put some oil in a pan and fry them up a little.
Yummy.

From this...

To this....

To this..... To....THIS!

Pan fried with kale and garlic and served with rosemary roasted potatoes.

They're a superbly flavored seitan sausage, and I look forward to making them again once I purchase Marmite.

The Seitanic Struggle: A Historical Rant.

Bird's Nest with added Roasted Gluten from Nhut Quang.  

I wish this place was closer to me!  

Why must I live near the other vegan Vietnamese restaurant, gosh?  Photo by Aaron.

At home.

The story of the first time I tried making seitan is on par with the infamous seitan as brains tragedy.  

I made the basic boiled seitan recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen and thought it was a beefy smelling blob and no one ended up eating it.  I recall throwing chunks into a tray of roasted vegetables and them going untoched.

I had the clever thought of making jerky with the remainder, but I couldn't bring myself to touch it anymore and that never happened.  

I'm still not a fan of my own boiled seitan but I have finally come to enjoy other's - like Isa's at June's Vegan Benefit Dinner at Sweetpea.  Go figure.

No Name from Grasshopper.  Photo by Uits.  

At Restaurants.

When dining out, I couldn't bring myself to like or explore many seitanic dishes until the past couple years.  The term 'wheat meat' did not tempt!  Why would I want to eat something trying to be meaty?

I would always opt for tofu, with bare exceptions - like the splendorously sweet No Name at Grasshopper in Allston, MA pictured above (remember my big long post about Boston last year?)  That was reasonably the only seitan dish I'd touch for years.  

I remember trying #69 - the Spicy Garlic and Peppers with Beef Style Seitan almost six years ago and thinking the texture was vile.  Same goes for a 'fake chicken' dish at Buddha's downtown, my local favorite back then - it was so close to the Emerson dorms!  

Beer Battered Chicken Style Seitan Strips.  Hello!

Back on topic, I don't think it was till I sampled the General Tso's off of my sister's dish at New Harmony in Philadelphia that I found another seitan I dug.  Granted, both this and the No Name are battered and sweetly sauced, but you can see the hope here.

Recipes and Evidence.

These days I not only order seitan at restaurants like Nhut Quang (their roasted gluten at top the of the post is like crack) and opt for the 'vegan chicken' at Vege Thai from time to time, I bake it, steam it and cook it at home.  I am a big fan of Veganomican's Seitan Cutlets and have made them twice in the 

past week!  

I enjoy this basic baked Chicken Style seitan loaf and have made awesome beer battered seitan strips with it, if I do say so myself!  My other blogged seitan dishes include Red Curry Seitan, Sundried Tomato Seitan O'Greatness, and many makings of Julie Hasson's steamed sausages

and variations.  There's still tons of badly prepared and served seitan out there, but I've finally gotten a taste for the tender and have fun making it at home.

The easiest and yummiest at-home seitan ever.  

This is Isa's Chorizo version of Julie's Sausages, from Brunch Testing.

Who's that peeking out of the broth?

Veganomican's Baked Seitan Cutlets

I've also been eyeing my girl Joanna's new recipe for Chicken Style Seitan Cutlets on Yellow Rose Recipes.  She's currently on hiatus from Portland and back in her home state of Texas, working on a new book!

Look at that!  

I had successful seitan for dinner last night....

Sliced and pan fried seitan cutlets, broccoli, sweet and spicy peppers, 

eggplant, garlic, spices, tamari, olive oil.  Over quinoa with hot sauce.

Throw everything you have in the fridge into a saucepan and go!

Here's take two of the Seitan Cutlets.  I upped the garlic through the recipe and added white wine, mushroom broth, oregano, ketchup, paprika and pepper to the broth.  Last night's version, not shown, included chili sesame oil and hoisin.  Exciting!

The Weekend of Cookies and the Snobby Joe Dinner.

Catch up!  Let me take you back to a time, when the weekend before last, my brother and I questioned our sugar craving souls and reviewed my kitchen's ingredients - and decided to make Peanut Butter Cookies.  

Peanut Butter Cookies 

Rick added some ground chocolate chips and vegan butterscotch chips to half the batter 

and made some cookies..

And some cookie bars!  

My brother seemed at least a tad impressed that I not only had the idea to put the extra batter as cookie bars after he became tired of scooping after a batch, but had a pan to do so (courtesy of the ever-so-talented Julie Hasson).  

He came up with the idea for the delish topping himself.  

That same weekend we had a few of my friends over for a Snobby Joe dinner.

Snobby Joe on organic sourdough, roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts, broccoli with garlic.

For dinner, Rick had told me to pick anything vegan to make (as if I wouldn't..), and I had lentils and leftover tomato sauce on hand and he liked spicy - so! the Joes were chosen as the main course.  I hadn't made them in months either, and do like them - even as someone who never ate those vile Sloppy anythings when I was younger.  

A couple of us ate them over rice, a couple over bread.  I'm glad my brother has experienced great vegan food at home and out in Portland - he seemed to enjoyed the Joes and remarked that they were almost "too flavorful".  He has tastebuds afterall!

I thought it was an amusing family-friendly thing to pick as a homemade vegan meal.  I gave myself surprisingly little to do with the meal besides throwing the lentils together and then having Rick keeping an eye on them - 

Rick and Kevin of the new Tofuligans blog were behind it all.

I sat back with the Shiz* and sipped classy wine.

We all joined forces to make this apple pie with granola topping:

Photo by Kevin.

Rick made the filling, Kevin made the topping and I simply made the dough earlier in the day.  The apples were picked up from the Apple Festival.  

Some vegan butterscotch chips from Bazu were thrown on top for good measure.

*Who just might hit me for including that photo, but didn't you want to glimpse my busy baker's rack?