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.

Red Kuri Appreciation.

Three years ago, I had a couple Portland autumns under my belt and leaned towards red kuri as my favorite squash. Everyone else at the FarMars seemed gaga for pumpkin, spaghetti and delicata but roasted red kuri was my pick. Clearly I then went onto red kuri overload, because I've gone another couple years without it. It was time to change that this month, and change that I did.

The red kuri has a soft, sweet taste and fabulously orange insides.

Red Kuri Squash, I appreciate you.

This past weekend, I mashed you with sea salt and cinnamon...

And roasted your seeds with smoked paprika, sea salt, chili powder and some more goodness....

In fact, I made myself a cute little lunch for Monday in this recycled container from Sonny Bowl...

It had mashed red kuri squash, cheesy rice (I know, I used sushi, I was out of brown and inspired by Native Bowl, shh) and oven 'fried' chicken seitan nuggets.

Oven Fried Chicken Seitan Style Nuggets and Melty Swiss Uncheese

The Melty Swiss Uncheese is from the classic Uncheese Cookbook. Sometimes nothing beats a homemade cheesy sauce! I heart all the white miso in this one.

The seitan nuggets are from the Urban Vegan cookbook, and the breading is ala Bryanna Clark Grogan, aka the legendary BCG.

When I think of Boston,

I think Grasshopper.  And my friend Maria. 

The first is the all vegetarian Asian restaurant in Allston, MA that is always mentioned when you hear "vegan" and "Boston" in the same sentence.  I had heard about it as the place to go for vegan food in Beantown before I was even positive about what vegans could eat in restaurants. Personally, I had a soft spot for Buddha's Delight in Chinatown, (it's now My Thai vegan cafe) that seriously moved from upstairs to downstairs to upstairs again - I swear - while I lived there.  

The Vegan Strip in Allston, MA

Grasshopper & TJ's

Timeline: I lived in Boston from 2000-2004, first went vegan in 2002, and didn't try Grasshopper at first. Before then, I was a Buddha's girl. It was simply affordable and close to campus. An ex-boyfriend, the ex-vegan, was wild about Grasshopper and I started going in early 2003. I wouldn't order the famed No Name on every visit, but I'd sure pick the chewy gluten off his plate. It was also hard to resist the chicken fingers, the slightly sweet, thick doughnut-like battered treats with a center of firm tofu served with duck sauce. I would typically opt for #46, the rice noodles with tofu and lemongrass. Nothing out of this world, but I just loved 'em.  

Oh, and their hot and sour soup was the best I've ever had, and yet to have. Portland's Bay Leaf is up there, but Grasshopper has the first-and-best award in my head and stomach.

Recent: I had the pleasure of stopping by Grasshopper twice on my visit to my old college stomping grounds, and actually tried a new dish! I went once with my friend Shaun, of In a Pickle and a Jam, and her boyfriend, Brian, and again with awesome members of the Post Punk Kitchen, including my dear friend Allicia, the Broke Ass Vegan, and Gory, of the ol' Vegan Road Trip. Both evenings were the tops! The PPK night included amusing shenanigans at the nearby divey Silhouette Lounge, which I can't decide if I'm proud or embarrassed to admit that I hadn't been to before.

Ultimately, I went for the No Name. Behold:

The New Dish:

Crispy Angel hair, Veggies & Gluten.  Good stuff.

The classic Grasshopper accompanient.  You either love or hate the dressing.  

This photo does not do it justice, but I must include it. Maria, one of my best friends in the world, made me a scrumptious dinner after a long day of flying. She's the person who taught me to cook tofu back in college I will never stop giving her that credit.

Fried tofu, Spicy Broccoli and Rice

I did do other things besides eat in Boston!

Maria and I strolled all over the city, particularly Back Bay and Central Square.

This was our neighborhood in college, that was amazing....

We made a point to stop by Wheeler's for ice cream.  To think if I was living on Mission Hill once more, vegan ice cream would be on my T line!

Small Pumpkin Ice Cream

Let me say that I want to try it again, because the experience and ice cream didn't live up to expectations, but there is such potential! That's all. 

I went to another one of my old favorites from my summer living, interning and (miserably) working in Davis Square, Diesel Cafe, but couldn't find a seat to relax in the expanded coffeeshop, so I took my soy accelerator to the square itself. Not to be downer, because I'm not, but I found the espresso harsh, even with the flavors and foam. Oh, Portland, what'd you do to me?

Davis Square.  

I spent the summer of 2003 moaning and groaning, working a second job at JP Lick's, the ice cream parlor. The plus side was the free sorbet (oh, the sangra sorbet ruled) and the location.

This soy latte was great.  

From Flatback Coffee in Dorchester, MA by the Ashmont Station.

After a walk across the Mass Ave bridge into Cambridge on my last full day, we stopped by the Middle East. I lived in a gross, cheap apartment between Central and Kendall Squares before I moved to Portland in order to save money. Ah, memories. Please note that cats do scare cockroaches! Except the ones in your fridge.

 

Beans & Rice lunch plate 

 

Afternoon beer & fries. Sam Adams Seasonal Ale.  Again, Portland - you and your fabulous microbrews spoil me.

Obligatory photo op:

Actually, one of our closest college friends worked here, and again, it was around the corner from our dorm, so it's more a homage to her and our Emerson days, but just as dorky.

Read my old Big, Long Post about Boston here.

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.

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~

Blood Orange + Roasted Brussel Sprouts + Garlic

This past weekend I had some time on my hands and wanted home cooking.  I've been so busy that I haven't been cooking as much as I like to, which is on a very regular basis.  On Friday night I made a spicy bbq sauce, threw in some Cast Iron seitan with its broth to marinate, and got to work on Sunday making a great late lunch.

Blood Orange and Garlic Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Mac and Cheeze, 

BBQ Grilled Seitan

The seitan is was cooked on my cast iron grill pan and basted with additional sauce.  The mac and cheeze is the Lower Fat New Farm take, made with gluten free noodles since I like them better in baked mac, but the sauce was not gluten free - I'm out of tamari!   Some of the grill lines are scary, but trust me, it was killer.  In a seitanic way.

The brussel sprouts were the true showstopper of my culinary day. I've conferred with my sister, and we don't remember ever eating brussel sprouts growing up.  Our mom loved green vegetables, but I'm guessing she had been subjected to poorly made brussel sprouts herself or simply heard the rumors, and didn't see the point in passing that on.

Organic brussel sprouts

$1.49/lb from New Seasons Market

I've only had them since living in Portland these past 4.5 years, because you know, I'm a farmer's market devotee so how could I not try them?  I'll eat them steamed now and then, like at the Bye & Bye and hanging out with bbq or peanut sauce, but I prefer them roasted with garlic.  I first roasted them at the end of 2006, and to amuse myself, let me reference my post from late 2006 post - Balsamic, Orange and Garlic Roasted Brussel Sprouts.

Ready to roast - tossed in a lightly oiled pan with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and whole cloves of garlic.

Citrus Star.

After roasting 12-15 minutes at 400F, I tossed the the 20 or so halved sprouts with the freshly squeezed juice of one small blood orange, coarse sea salt and black pepper.  

Roast an additional 5 minutes, and you're done.

Here's an Eastern Bowl I ordered at the Bye & Bye last month...

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.  

Nhut Quang - Recent Vietnamese Food Adventures in Portland

I've previously expressed my fondness for Nhut Quang, the vegan Vietnamese restaurant on NE 82nd and NE Fremont.  I went again twice in the past week with friends, and would like to declare my "new favorite dish" award to #19, the BBQ Roasted Gluten.  

There is also Van Hanh on SE 82nd and Division, which is simpler and faster for me to get to from my residence, but I would certainly consider tasty vegan Vietnamese food destination dining and I prefer the actual food at Nhut Quang and the experience of making a point to go there.  

As a vegan establishment that I thoroughly enjoy, I make a point to support them.  I had reason to worry about their future, hence the recent visits.  If you are also a fan or haven't been yet - please check them out.  The economy blows and independent restaurants are being affected. Support your veg*n friendly favorites!

 

Here's a look at what my friends and I shared for dinner last night:

BBQ Roasted Gluten 

Vietnamese Crepes 

Vietnamese Crepe greens station - lettuce, mint and basil

Green Beans and Gluten

Steamed Bun

A look inside.

Sushi Rolls with lovely peanut sauce

And salad rolls

And elsewhere in vegan-friendly Vietnamese friendly dining, here's my recent pho take out from Huong's Vietnamese cart downtown. Read the Stumptown Vegans review here.

Vegetarian Pho to go

Bowled.

Ample leftovers, fo sho.