brunch! hashbrowns, and vegan bennies.

I have decided to start cooking brunch for friends on a pretty regular basis; below I posted details of my first foray into this endeavour!

Brunch this weekend consisted of hashbrowns, and some broiled tofu, with spinach and mushrooms, on english muffins, topped with dill-tahini sauce.

YUM!!!!





The tofu, and sauce recipes were both taken from the Veganomicon, and were completely delicious.
The spinach was simply wilted on low heat, and the mushrooms were fried in a pan with a bit of tamari.

HASHBROWNS!!!

Potatoes take a bagillion years to cook in the oven, so I like to speed the process up a bit.

I cut potatoes into bite-sized bits, and boiled them until they seemed like they are not quite done. You know... you can stick a fork in them, and they are kind of soft, but you wouldn't want to eat them yet.

Then!!

I pre-heated the over to 350F, threw the potatoes onto a pan, and coated them in olive oil; I then added a few other things to the mix, but for the life of me, I cannot recall the measurements…

Stuff that I put on the potatoes:

- Nutritional Yeast (lots!)
-a pinch of: cayenne and paprika
-several splashes of tamari
-salt & pepper

Oh shoot... I believe that there were a few more seasonings, but I forget right now, because I didn't write them down while I was making the potatoes.
Once they were thoroughly coated, I threw the potatoes under the broiler for roughly 15 minutes.

They were so delicious.

OM NOM NOM!!!

I like to accompany food that is kind of rich with some sort of fresh veggie, so I grated some carrots and beets on the side.

HURRAY, BRUNCH!!

noodles and peanut sauce!!

HURRAY!!
It's the end of the night, and I have already posted several peanut sauce recipes... so I am not going to post another one here tonight. To my regular peanut sauce recipe, I added about a teaspoon of thai red curry paste.

I slathered this deliciousness onto some soba noodles (with a touch of sesame oil), with steamed mushrooms, tofu, and bean sprouts, and some wilted spinach.

I find that with something as rich as peanut sauce (especially if you use A LOT of it), plain noodles and steamed vegetables are a good pairing, because you don't need to add anything more complicated or rich to your meal.

IT WAS SO GOOD!!
OM NOM NOM!!

veggie burgers! brussel sprouts with almonds and tofu!

yum yum yum!
who doesn't love a good veggie burger??
these were inspired by the black bean burger recipe in the veganomicon... but are distinctly different. This recipe is pretty huge... and, as the last... not all that accurate. SORRY!!

YUM!


ALTAIRA'S BLACK BEAN BURGERS

-two large cans of black beans
-half a small tin of tomato paste
-1/2 a cup of walnut pieces
-1/2 a cup of wheat gluten flour
~3/4 of a cup of bread crumbs
-several dashes of chilli powder
-several splashes of tamari (or soy sauce)
-a teaspoon of chilli paste
-2 tablespoons of maple syrup
-GARLIC! CHOPPED! LOTS!

I think that this was all of the ingredients...

Start by draining and rinsing the black beans.
Mash them up a bit, but not too much, as you still want some whole beans in the mix.
There is no real order to adding the other ingredients...
BUT!! NB... As far as the tamari and bread crumbs go, there are approximations, because the bread crumbs will make things drier and the tamari will make things more moist. you can also add water for moisture, if your mix is a bit too dry. You want the burger mix to be malleable and moist... but not like, wet.
If you prefer a chewier burger, add more gluten flour, but maybe add more water to compensate.

Once you are done mashing all of these ingredients together, and you have achieved the desired texture, it's burger time!!!
I like to just pan fry or grill these until... well, until they are warm and they look done. heh.

You can keep the mix covered in the fridge for several days, and make burgers as needed... or you can preform patties, and put them in the freezer.

Either way.... It's pretty delicious.

BRUSSEL SPROUTS WITH ALMONDS AND TOFU

Adapted from a recipe in The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen (BEST COOKBOOK EV-AR!!!!)

-brussel sprouts, a bunch, it really depends on how much you want to eat
-sliced almonds, also a bunch... about a handful?? half a cup will do for several portions of brussel sprouts
-firm tofu, cut into roughly one inch cubes (half a package is probs enough)
-3 tablespoons of maple syrup
-3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

Mix together maple syrup and lemon juice.
Cut up the tofu, and stick into the maple syrup and lemon juice to marinate for as long as you can let it.
In the meantime, grab your brussel sprouts!!!
The key to this recipe is in the prep... Cut off the tough bottoms of the brussel sprouts, then slice them in half... next... cut the halves into thin slices, which will give the brussel sprouts a shredded texture.
I wash them by tossing the cut up brussel sprouts into a colander and rinsing.
VOILA!
Pre-heat a pan, on medium heat... once it's hot... toss in the almonds!!!
Once they have toasted for a bit, add the shredded brussels... next add the tofu...
I usually cover everything for a few minutes, to allow the brussel sprouts to retain moisture, which avoids the necessity to use any oil. Cook... until they look ready ??? Don't let them get mushy. It'll probably take about 10 minutes.
Season with salt.

I PROMISE that brussel sprouts prepared in this manner are like nothing that you have ever tried. they are not bitter or mushy or any of that.
They are simply divine.
The addition of maple syrup covered tofu adds a bit of a sweet kick, without overpowering the veggies.
One of my favourite sides EVER!!! Thanks for the prep tips, PETER BERLEY!!

The mushrooms were simply sliced, and cooked until tender with a few splashes of tamari.

it's been months...

life got busy and hectic... then my old computer died... and i haven't really picked up the slack ever since.
time to start posting again!!

sometime in the next few weeks (once i have recovered everything from my old hard-drive) i will play catch up on some posts from the fall.

until then... new updates later today...
and new CATS right now!!


rosemary biscuit northe



wesley thomas northe


(note: if you're looking back at earlier posts, and see a cat and think, "hey! that's a different cat!"... it's true. poor little hunter sweatpants got very sick last summer, and had to be put to sleep :( rest in peace, little rabbit.)

More simple dinners... Tofu and rice.

This dinner was a quick and simple one.
I marinated some tofu for a about an hour in half and half white wine vinegar and tamari, with the addition of lots of dill, a bit of tarragon, and a teaspoon of agave nectar.

I cooked up some rice, and then added to it some peas and corn, and a few teaspoons of cumin seeds. (i love cumin seeds like crazy, they are good on just about anything.)

Grilled the tofu.

Grated some carrot on top.

DONE!

SOUP!

There's nothing quite like a hot bowl of soup. Nourishing. Comforting. What more could you ask for?!
The best part is that you can make a big pot of soup and then keep it in the fridge to eat as a quick lunch or dinner throughout the week.
Here's a simple recipe (kind of), for the soup pictured below.



SOUP!
ingredients (roughly)
-about 2 cups of potatoes*
-1 large carrot*
-lots of garlic
-1/2 package of tofu*
-half a zucchini*
-small can of tomatoes
-1/2 cup of corn
-mushrooms*
-1/3 of a head of sui choi
-6 cups of veggie stock
-a few splashes of tamari
-1 teaspoon of chilli paste
-1/2 teaspoon of oregano
-1/2 teaspoon of tarragon
-chilli powder
-salt and pepper
-1 teaspoon of hoisin sauce
-1-z tablespoons of olive oil

*chopped into bite-sized pieces

Alright...
To start soup of I like to heat up the olive oil in the bottom of my soup pot, and then add in a bunch of chopped garlic to cook for a few minutes.
I then add any spices that I want to flavour the soup with, and stir those around with the garlic and oil for about a minute.
Add the tofu, and let it absorb all of the spicy garlicy goodness.
Add root veggies and stir for a few minutes.
Then add the veggie stock.
Bring to a boil, and then let simmer. Check the root vegetables regularly: when they are almost done cooking, add all of the other vegetables (except the sui choi!!)

This is when I add all of the non-spice ingredients (hoisin sauce etc.)

Finally, when the soup is almost done, I add the sui choi (it doesn't really need to cook a whole lot).

You don't need to add the veggies that I have listed here. You can pretty much ad anything you want. It's just important to keep in mind that different vegetables have different cooking times. If it's a root vegetable, it takes longer. Soft things take less time.

Umm... that's all for now.

Tomato and black bean hummus

A few posts back I talked very briefly about the versatility of bean dips, and how you can add basically anything to them.
So here is a prime example: Tomato and black bean hummus!!



Alright... so I will be the first to admit that it looks a little like cat food... but it was so yummy!!

The recipe:
-1 large can of chickpeas
-1 large can of black beans
-half a small can of tomato paste
-juice from one lemon
-about half a teaspoon of maple syrup
-2 tablespoons of tahini
-between 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-half a teaspoon of chilli paste
-GARLIC

Blend everything until it reaches the consistency that you desire. For a runnier hummus, add a bit of water.

I get the feeling that I might be forgetting something from this recipe... but you get the idea (hopefully).

I think that I am going to try testing out different bean and seasoning combinations more this month, so get ready for lots of bean dips!!! om nom nom.