Vegan Mofo- day... whatever: cooking catchup

So, I really did sign up for Vegan MoFo with the best of intentions... but then again, there is probably a reason that I don't blog all that frequently. That reason being, life is freaking busy! So, although I have not been posting every day, I sure have been cooking.

Above is a pic of our CSA farmshare I picked up last week: lots of kale, raspberries, yellow beans and radishes. The only thing that I haven't used any of yet is the radishes... there are just so many and I'm not a huge radish fan, so I'm a bit overwhelmed with them. I'll figure something out though, I kept thinking I'll try roasting them.

Here's another loaf of breadmachine bread, yep, we eat lots of bread and love it. This is a fluffy white loaf, if anyone is interesting in recipe, just let me know :)

Here's a big bowl of salt and vinegar kale chips. Kale chips are the best! I chopped up a bunch of kale, tossed with 1 Tb olive oil, 1 Tb malt vinegar and cooked at 350, for 20 min, turning once. Then I tossed with sea salt. So yummy!

Here's some more of that gooey cheez (leftover from the Tempeh Tuna Melts), I added some diced red onion and chili paste in it.

I made some "naan" bread (not authentic... probably more of a roti). Rolled out little rounds of it.
Then put some of that spicy cheez on the middle of one dough round, topped with another round , sealed edges with a bit of water.

Then fried up in my castiron skillet. Again... I'll post recipe if anyone wants it.

Wowza! Delicious!!! I also made some naan bread without the spicy cheez (the flat bigger ones in the pic). This was brought as a contribution to dinner at the hubby's dad's house. It all got gobbled up along some killer chickpea-cauliflower curry (yay! for non-vegan family cooking awesome vegan food).

Oh, and I contributed dessert for that dinner too :) Raspberry cobbler! Damn damn damn. This was good stuff. I used the berry cobbler recipe out of The Joy of Vegan Baking (super awesome cookbook!!!).

i made some food and used my BREADMACHINE!

I basically spent the past week and half sicker than I've ever been. It was a super rough time and I am so so glad to feel like myself again. It's weird to be stuck on the couch and not have the energy or willpower to do any of the things that usually are done in a day.

Now that I am back to feeling like myself, I was super glad to get back in the kitchen. I spent some time organizing the fridge, hitting the health food, grocery stores and restocking my fridge. This is the type of household chore/task that my hubby just isn't his best at... and he's been the one trying to hold our lil house together while I've been sick.

Onto my cooking catch-up,

I bought some Tamarind pulp a while back and I was tempted to make an Indian-style Tamarind sauce, like the kind that comes pretty standard at Indian restaurants with Samosas? Well.. My attempt didn't taste anything like that, but did have a BBQ saucey vibe. I had started with some Tamarind pulp, some toasted cumin seeds, some molasses and some water, then simmered this on the stove until syrupy. I let this concoction bubble away for like 30 minutes, it got thick and saucey... but I really didn't love the direction it was headed on its own.

I decided to use this sauce as a flavor component in a BBQ sauce. I started out the base of the sauce with peppers, onions, garlic, and celery. I sauteed this for a while, then added canned tomatoes, brown sugar, spices, vinegar, etc. I added in my Tamarind mixture and let this all cook together for over an hour. Then I blended it smooth with a stick blender. Came out TANGY TANGY TANGY. Had a lil with a pan-cooked Gardein chicken cutlet, tasty BBQ-y to me.

I made enough to fill three jars!  No exact recipe... but slightly structured by ideas in cookbook BBQ sauce recipes.

I also decided to put together some "Crock Cheez" from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I used the basic recipe (Tofu, nooch, spices, Miso, etc..) I substituted Malt Vinegar for the lemon juice, and I think it gave it a bit of a "Beer-y" vibe. Like most recipes I've tried in this cookbook, it came together really easy, with ingredients I usually have on hand, and tastes like something not home-made. I referred to it as "Beer Cheez" when I packed some in my hubby's lunch.

I really enjoy this recipe, I noticed that overnight it has became really thick and really reminds me of Crock cheese I remember my parents getting in gift baskets when I was a kid.  As you can see, the recipe made quite a bit, I was able to fill up two containers. Although, I'm sure this stuff won't last long once my husband tastes it.

Whole Wheat-Sunflower Bread

The last "cooking" I did before I completely exhausted myself was baking a loaf of bread. I have to admit I've been baking quite a few loaves of bread lately. I've been slightly-obsessed with using my "new-to-me" breadmachine.  5 minutes worth of work, a little patience, and then, Ta-Da- Hot Bread!

I inherited a Breadman Ultimate from my Mother-in-Law who no longer wanted hers. I got offered it months before I actually remembered to bring it home with me from her house. I did not know what I was missing! Ever since it has arrived home, it has been getting a lot of use. I've really been quite impressed with the product that it makes, especially in regards to the amount of effort I've put in to making the loaves.

(Before I got sick) I've been making at least 2-3 loaves a week, and we've stopped buying commercially made bread.  This has definitely been saving me cash! (Flour=way cheaper than $4 loaves of artisan bread) I've really indulgently enjoyed the loaves I've made with all-purpose unbleached white flour, but I've also been searching for great tasting-healthier bread. The "French" cycle makes really wonderful, chewy "European" bread, it's hard not to eat the whole loaf.

The loaf I made last night was Whole Wheat-Sunflower, this was an all-whole wheat flour loaf. I have enjoyed the ALL whole wheat loaves, but they are definitely denser and don't offer the same chew factor as the white flour loaves. I am still looking for the perfect recipe that balances the yum-factor with the health-factor.

I have been trying out recipes I've found online, and utilizing the recipes that come with the breadmachine, I think I am going to be working on finding perfect, vegan recipes and posting them in the near future. I've definitely had to search for recipes, as many I've found contain milk powder, eggs, and other non-vegan ingredients. I find this a bit frustrating as the best tasting bread I can find at the grocery store contains the shortest list of ingredients.

I promise I will keep you posted on breadmachine adventures.

Here are some of the resources I've found online, please share with me if you have any good (and healthy) recipes!

"Fat-Free Vegan" forums- Breadmachine Recipes
"Go Dairy Free" forums- Honey 1/2 Whole Wheat Bread Recipe * Delicious
"Veg Source" forums- Bryanna's Breadmachine Recipes w/Starter

roasted eggplant muffaletta on homemade ciabatta bread and crunchy broccoli salad

Tonight's dinner was totally amazing, if I may say so myself! :) The hubby says so too.

I've been craving ciabatta bread (and having frequent day dreams in regard to one I made maybe a year back) following a recipe I found somewhere online. Well, I did a little searching and found the recipe again. I remember this bread being pretty fool-proof to make (I'm not generally very good at making bread). I located the recipe --> here.

I had a stay-at-home sunday today, the perfect kind of day to let some dough rise on the counter while lounging around trying to stay warm (and smell fresh bread in the house!). This bread is so easy to make, definitely as easy as I remember!!! The only snag was the directions call for measuring by weight... I don't have a scale so I kinda guessed with measurements. I used 4 cups of flour (Organic Unbleached White All-Purpose), and about 2 tsp salt, but then the dough was too dry and I needed to add way more than the suggested 2 cups of water. I probably used around 3 cups of water total in order to create a real goopy wet dough/batter/mixture. I'd def recommend adding water until the dough is the consistency of slightly thick pancake batter.

Also, I baked mine on a pizza stone. I was hoping that would assist with nice thick crust ( and it did!! Score.). This came out way way yummy! The inside was chewy, flavorful and full of delightful big bubbles, with a thick, chewy crust.  With such yummy bread, dinner just needed to be sandwiches. I decided to roast some eggplant, and use other sandwich fillings like olive salad and roasted red peppers.

Great dinner. I served them with our most favorite side dish: crunchy broccoli salad. I didn't really set out with any recipe in mind, but I'll post what I did this time. This was my type of dinner, slightly indulgent (what's more indulgent than fresh bread??) and hearty, but still full of veggies!


roasted eggplant muffaletta sandwich

ingredients:

1 loaf fresh made ciabatta bread 
1 eggplant, sliced into thin rounds
olive oil
balsamic
spices
roasted red peppers (I used jarred)
muffaletta chopped olive salad mix
vegenaise

-set oven to 425 degrees
-marinade slices of eggplant in olive oil balsamic and spices (i used a garlic herb spice mix) for 1/2 an hour
-roasted eggplant for 10 min, flip then roast for 5 more minutes
-slice bread, slather with olive salad and vegenaise, then stack on veggies!! yum :)


(most amazing) crunchy broccoli salad

ingredients:

2 crowns broccoli, broken into small florets (don't use stem, save for something else! OR ELSE!)
1/4 sweet onion, sliced into thin ribbons
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup roasted peanuts
1/3 cup bacon bits (obviously vegan variety, the store brand around here just happen to be vegan anyway)
vegenaise, mustard, poppy seeds, agave nectar

-mix dressing together (i didn't really measure, 1/2-3/4 c. vegenaise + 2 Tb mustard +1 Tb poppy and  squirt of agave), season with black pepper and salt
-add with everything else (except bacon bits), let sit in fridge for at least 30 min, add bacon bits at last minute so they stay nice and crispy
-WARNING: this stuff is addictive! 

Enjoy :) 

Make the bread! Do it!