Vegan Ambrosia

While I understand and respect the various objections to Thanksgiving, for me it is an excuse to cook and to eat particular kinds of foods, always with copious amounts of gravy.  This year, I had a nice, quiet day at home with my Tofurky.  I was so pleased with how everything turned out that I decided to post it here, after my long hiatus from blogging. Here is what I had: Tofurky roast with homemade gravy Quinoa with mushrooms Braised Brussels sprouts with maple walnuts Five seed bread (like this bread, but with chia instead of bulgur wheat) Apple custard crumb pie with vanilla Rice Dream I'll do my best to reproduce the recipes here, but keep in mind that I made them up as I went along, and so amounts are my best guesses. Tofurky This is for the small Tofurky roast (not the whole dinner package).  Remove the Tofurky from its plastic wrapping and place it in a casserole pan with a lid with large pieces of veggies (some combination of carrots, celery, on...

Yes, it's been a really long time since I've posted.  The dissertation-writing process is long and weird, and it's hard to focus on anything else.  My posts in the future might continue to be infrequent and also possibly less elaborate, but I'll try to throw something up here a couple times a month. Meanwhile, it's summer!  Which means, in Massachusetts, it's the season for CSAs , farmer's markets, and berries, berries, berries!  I got two quarts of strawberries from my CSA last week, and about half of them went into this simple strawberry pie.  I used agave and Bee Free Honee , a sweetener the consistency of honey but made from apples.  I do eat honey, but I love having another option for sweeteners.  I tried it when I got an online coupon and quickly became a fan.  It's a Minnesota-based company, and so my Twin Cities friends can most easily find it . 1 pie crust, baked (I used a whole wheat, vegan version from Whole Foods' freezer.) 1 q...

Lunch today was leftovers from last night's dinner: sweet potato gnocchi with home-made seitan , broccoli, and garlic, in a vegan alfredo sauce .  This batch of seitan turned out a little different - the spices were 1/2 tsp each finely powdered garlic and onion, and a pinch each of sage and cumin.  I added maybe a tablespoon extra of wheat gluten and kneaded it twice, letting it rest between and after.  Instead of pulling off chunks, I sliced it as thin as I could, so that the pieces more closely resemble cutlets.  I'm going to try this seitan in a sandwich next.

I have no photos on this one; it's simply a note about a realization.  I have beet juice about once a week for its cleansing qualities (whatever that means).  Really, it's because Boston Organics keeps putting them in my bin, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to cook them.  Also, while I've had delicious beet dishes in adulthood, it's hard to disassociate beets in my mind from the slimy, vinegary canned version. At any rate, drinking beet juice (even with a 1:3-4 ratio of beets:carrots/apples) can be an intense experience on the digestive organs.  It's not pain, but there is a very odd, uncomfortable sensation that brings awareness to the abdomen. I've been using ginger in various forms (ginger candy, ginger tea) to help with nausea and upset stomach for about a year now, with great succes.  So in anticipation of the weird abdominal sensations, I tried putting a bit of ginger in with my juice.  I used a piece about an inch long and half-inch in diamet...

I got a bread machine some weeks back.  When I say "got," I mean I got one from a fellow freecycler .  It's used, but it works pretty well, except that getting the loaf out of the pan is a bit of a chore.  A lot of bread is left in the pan, and I don't love the hole that the paddle makes.  The breads I've been making lately have been collapsing. Today, I finally realized how to solve these problems: make the dough in the machine, and bake the bread in the oven.  Duh.  Now you're asking why I don't just do the whole thing by hand.  Well, as much as I've been assured otherwise, all the kneading and waiting and punching seems like just too much for me.  Anything that can make things easier for me is worth it. I had stopped taking photos of the process of breadmaking because I hadn't come up with anything good enough or interesting enough to share.  Until today.  That's why there are only photos of the finished product here. Put the...

This is less a recipe than an unpaid advertisement for Rising Moon Organics ravioli.  They have a bunch of vegan options, and they seem to be on sale at Whole Foods and food coops on a fairly regular basis.  Also, they are delicious - which is apparently not an easy thing to do; I tried another brand at WF, and it was terrible.  On the other hand, preparing them is very easy.  Anyway, if you are not yet aware of this stuff, give it a try. I used the Garlic & Herb variety this time, but the three shown are my favorites. Cut tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.  In this case, I used these small (1-1/2-2" diameter) tomatoes and cut them in quarters.  (Darn blogger editing won't let me put two photos side by side.  Let me know if you have advice for editing!)  Put cut tomatoes in serving bowl. Cook the ravioli according to package directions (half a package is one serving).  Drain and return to pan.  Add the Vegan Alfredo Sauce and...

I finally made it to 88 Market this week, with the sole intention of getting some mu shu pancakes.  Of course, I left with much more than that, including sweet steam buns, peanut sesame candies, and a packet of baby bok choi seeds for my garden this spring.  At any rate, finally I can make mu shu without resorting to wrapping them in tortillas. This is one of those recipes a good friend would call a "kitchen sink" meal (as in "everything but the kitchen sink"), meaning I throw in whatever is in my fridge, and so every time it's different.  The key ingredients are cabbage and hoisin sauce, and everything else just improves it. 1 package firm or extra firm tofu, frozen and defrosted 1-1/2 cups broth or bouillon 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 T rice wine vinegar 1-2 T chopped garlic 1 small onion, chopped 1 small head of cabbage (about 2-3 cups chopped) 1 large carrot (about 1-2 cups sliced or shredded) 3-4 stalks bok choi (about 1 cup sliced) 2-3 stalks kale (...