VeganMoFo: Gravy

Red-Skinned Potatoes, Kale Mash w. Seitan Topped w. Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy


Why on earth have I never made the Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from VwaV??? Seriously? It was delicious!! I'd make it for dinner guest even! I have written it on many "this week I will make" lists but still have never made it up until tonight. I have no idea what even made me make it tonight. I just went into the kitchen and started making it not even sure if I had all the ingredients that I needed. I didn't have the lemon but it was still damn tasty without it but I can see where it would work in brightening all the flavors in the recipe. The gravy of course worked great with the mashed potatoes and the lightly fried seitan. I can't wait to use it for the holidays with some nice cranberry sauce on the side.

Another good thing about the gravy and the complete meal..Reno liked it! I've been struggling with her food wise all week. Last week she ate everything green and good for her. This week..nope. Nothing green..nothing very good for her except rice and beans. My maa gave me the idea for putting kale in mashed potatoes, lucky for me I had some kale and potatoes (and garlic). I mashed them up with some Earth Balance and Rice Milk and kept the potatoes and gravy separate on her plate until I knew she would eat it. Then I mixed it all up. I left out the seitan for her because I tried to give it to her earlier and she wasn't too into it. I was using store bought seitan as opposed to the homemade cutlets I usually make. I have to say the brand I usually love wasn't so good tonight so I don't blame her for not eating it. From now on it's only homemade seitan for us. Homemade as in I'm making a triple batch tomorrow and freezing some of it.

VeganMoFo: Favorite breakfast part 1

Toasted Poppyseed Bagel w. Earth Balance

It's time again. I'm very excited for Veganmofo to be here again. It's a great opportunity to find new blogs and revisit old ones you've forgotten about. I have a few ideas planned for this month. One of them being my favorite breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts. I'm going to try for a top 3 of each. Desserts maybe not since I'm still trying to cut out sugar but we shall see. (Only 4 more days left in my quest to be sugar free for 30 days!)

Favorite breakfast #1: Toasted bagel w. earth balance.

I prefer poppyseed. Never sesame. Sometimes everything. It's such an easy breakfast. It's nice and comforting and not so good for you to eat all the time. I like to have it about once a month. What's missing from this picture (breakfast) is an Iced Latte with a bit of chocolate added. I still have to wait 4 more days until I can have that again. I could have it without the chocolate but then it wouldn't be a favorite.

What's your favorite breakfast?

Almondine

String Beans Almondine

Probably my all time favorite vegetable are string beans. I can't get enough of them. I like them steamed, sauteed, roasted and almondine. There is nothing better than buttery and almondy string beans.

I made these the other day for a pot luck that I go to almost every Wednesday. Since I had to rush home and make these super quick so that I wouldn't be late I didn't get a chance to make them "properly". Generally the string beans are sliced down the middle or on a diagonal, whichever you prefer and are the boiled in salt water for a few minutes and shocked in cold water to help retain their color before being bathed in a pan with butter and almonds. Regardless of how you make them they are easy to do and very delicious to eat. I'm thinking of making them for Thanksgiving this year at my in laws.




Get ready! VEGANMOFO is upon us again. For the month of October it will be daily blogging for me during this special event. Last year I only missed 2 or 3 days because of Thansgiving. This year I might miss 2 because of a wedding at the end of the month in Ohio. Click on the link to learn all about it and see who is taking part in it.

Daring Bakers...take 2!

Today's the day to unveil my second Daring Bakers challenge...I'm happy to say this challenge was vegan for everyone involved!



Lavash Crackers w. Bruschetta

For the first time in Daring Bakers history it was a full on vegan challenge. The recipe for the crackers was vegan and to keep it vegan you had to create a vegan topping of your choice. At first I was bummed that we had to just make crackers. I then of course waited until the last day (today) to do the challenge and was then happy it was just crackers. In the end I was very pleased with the challenge and had tons of fun kneading the dough and watching it rise and so forth. It's something I haven't done in a LONG LONG LONG time. There is just something very comforting to me about kneading dough until it is satiny smooth.

I topped my crackers with rosemary, salt and pepper and them made a delicious Bruschetta using a tomato from my mother in laws garden. It was probably the best tomato I've had all summer. Peter and I made a lovely afternoon snack out of both items.

My only issue with the cracker was my own fault. I failed to roll the whole thing out paper thin so the edges were more bready then crackery. I noticed the problem when I transfered the dough to the sheet pan but didn't feel like rolling it out some more. To be honest I didn't have anymore room on the counter I was using to roll it out any more! Next time, and there will be a next time, I will divide the dough into 2 pieces to make it perfectly thin all the way around.

Seitan for everyone!

Crispy Seitan Wraps w. Chipotle Mayo, Mesclun and Sprouts

Besides cutting sugar out of my diet for 30 days I'm also trying to eat 3 meals a day. My days usually just consist of snacking and that just isn't healthy for me. I now try to sit down with Reno during her lunch with a lunch of my own which is actually a lot of fun and I feel better for the rest of the day until dinner.

Above is my new favorite lunch. A whole wheat wrap smeared with chipotle mayo, mesclun, sprouts and some crisped up seitan strips. It's light, satisfying and damn tasty. I've been eating them so much that I made a version of the wrap on a ciabatta roll instead and snuck it in my bag for a free Mets game this past Tuesday. While Peter was muching away on his sausage and peppers I was eating delicious vegan food at a baseball game, you don't hear of that happening too often even though I had to bring it in myself.




Sauteed Seitan w. String beans

Ms. Re LOVES seitan!! Thank goodness. If she didn't I would seriously think that my real baby was switch in the hospital. She likes it lightly sauteed with some cut up string beans.



Reno

She likes to eat the seitan first. Then the string beans of which she hides some of them for later in the side of her chair.

Ohhh this was gooooooood!!

Black Bean, Butternut and Quinoa Burger w. Chipotle Aioli

My sis and I are on special food restrictions. I'm done with refined sugar for a whole 30 days and she's off a whole plethora of ingredients. For me it's one at a time. Next month I cut back on carbs while still greatly reducing my sugar intake. You really learn a lot about yourself and what you eat when you cut out an ingredient. Do you realize how much everyday stuff has sugar added to it? It's a lot. Breads, sunflowerseed butter, Primal Strips (eek!!), ketchup..etc..etc.. By the third day I was feeling a bit strange but not a bad strange a good strange and it keeps getting better and better. Its been 1 1/2 weeks now and I feel great. I've lost some chub from my chest and middle (although woman problems invaded my body the other day and ya can't tell anymore). I highly recommend this experiment. I want to cheat everyday but I then remember how great I feel without it and have yet to ask the local barista to just add a smidge of chocolate to my Iced Latte.

The other night I was really craving sweet. I decided that the above comfort dinner would hold off my cravings. The butternut gave me all the natural sweetness I needed and the chipotle aioli was well just delicious. It did nothing for my sweet tooth except give me a burning hot mouth. Served with Organic Tater Tots, sauteed broccoli and some avocado slices it was a perfect meal.

I remember one of my teachers in culinary school telling us to eat fried brown rice balls to curb our cravings for sweet. I'll have to give that a try one of these 30 days and see if it actually works.

Have any of you had success in curbing your sugar eating ways??

Nachos

Black Bean Chili Nachos

I've been dreaming of this day for a long time now. A day where Peter would be going out with some friends for dinner and I'd be able to eat a non-Peter friendly dinner. This finally happened this week and I was finally able to make myself some vegan nachos!! Peter will never eat this. If he was home and I made this he would probably vomit because the though of it would gross him out so much. It was bad enough when he did come home that my nearly empty bowl was still sitting next to me in the living room. It was worse that when I went into the kitchen to clean up that I left the nearly empty nacho bowl in the living room and then had the nerve to ask him to bring it too me. It's true love when your nacho hating partner will bring something like that into the kitchen for you.




Another view of the NACHOS!!!

Dare I say that these were "semi homemade"? They were. At least I didn't have a whole table scape planned or set up for the occasion. That's only some that Sandra Dee, Sandy Lee, Cindy Nee whatever her name is would do.

What is all was.

Oven was at say 400˚. On a sheet pan with parchment paper I put a very generous handfull, or 2, of tortilla chips plus 1/2 a can of Amy's Black Bean Chili on top (that's the semi-homemade part). While they were heating up in the oven I made Joanna's Nacho Sauce from Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook. When everything was done I transfered the chips w. chili into a bowl and dumped some nacho sauce on top followed by some salsa (not homemade) more nacho sauce and then some diced avocado.

Holy lord were theses good!! What made them even better was sitting in front of the TV with them and watching The Science of Sleep for the very first time. It's now one of my all time favorite movies.

Sorry Henry Basil

I've used and abused you all summer long to make delicious and large amounts of pesto and pasta sauces. I thought this last time was going to be it for you.



Thankfully you just keep on giving.

Seriously though. I'm going to miss this basil plant I've named Henry this fall/winter. He's done great things for me and provided some life and greenery in my kitchen. He was only $11.00. If I made everything I've made out of him without him I can't even imagine how much money I would have spent. I've made cups upon cups of pesto.

Next year if all goes according to plan I should have an actual backyard were I can grow a new Henry Basil and give him tons of different herb babies like rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, sage and cilantro.

I'm uber-excited about fall produce though!! I can't wait!!

Chickpea Cutlets

Chickpea Cutlets (uncooked)

13 Chickpea Cutlets to be exact. I don't know what came over me the other day. Reno went for her a.m. nap and I'm sitting around and just decided that I was going to make a boatload of chickpea cutlets. I didn't realize that I would make that many. There's only 2 of us. We shouldn't eat that many. So I decided to cook one up for Reno when she woke from her nap. SHE LOVED THEM!! I was so excited. Not only does she get protein from the chickpeas but she also gets it from the vital wheat gluten. She ate them all week like we did.



No Parmesan Chickpea Cutlets over Pasta w. Red Sauce

Only after I made this did I realize that a nice cheezy substance would have been nice sprinkled on top. I usually fry the cutlets in a little bit of oil but these cutlets were baked in the oven. It's my new favorite way to eat them. They still get they "fried" taste from the oil I lightly spray on them instead of being fried in more oil then I really need to consume.



Rice and Beans w. Chickpea Cutlet and Avocado

We have also recently discovered that Reno loves Rice and Beans. So we are eating that a few times a week again for now. The cutlet paired really well with the whole dish and it was a super satisfying meal for the 3 of us.

Ciao!

We are off to South Hamilton, Mass. for the weekend. Peter's cousin Jonathan is gettin' married. I'm not looking forward to the 5 hour drive w. Reno. She's good in the car but not for more than 2 hours. Our 5 hour drive will most likely turn into a 6 or 7 hour drive because of all the stops we will have to make for her.

Ugg.

See you all next week!

Reno's 1st Birthday.

Vanilla Cupcakes w. Vanilla Buttercream

On Sunday, 8.31.08 we celebrated Reno's birthday! I was so happy to have her party on her actual birthday. We had about 20-25 people in our apartment, lots of food and lots of fun.

We had cupcakes w. special Reno decorations that I made with some help from my sister, Chi and friend Rachele.

I didn't get pictures of the food but amongst all the stuff I had some VwaV Seitan and Herb Stuffed Mushrooms and V'con's black bean burger, mini style! I highly recommend making the the burgers into mini's for a party. They were so fun looking and delicous.



Reno (1 year)

She got lots of gifts.



Reno (1 year)

Again lots of gifts. Mostly toys.



Shark cutout made by my friend Rachele

She also had a busty girl pushing a great white shark to the top of the ocean. You can't see it in this picture but the girl had on red socks. That's my friend Todd taking his turn in the cutout.

I didn't get to take lots of picture. There might be a total of 8 of them on my Flickr account which you can access from the side bar of this site. When my parents come back from Cyprus in 2 weeks I should be adding more to Flickr.

And if anyone out there is cares besides me and VeggieGirl America's Next Top Model starts tonight. It's sure to be horrible but we love it! It also means the start up of Wednesday Night Potlucks at my sisters so that my friend and I can watch it together and eat good food. Tonights theme is Chinese food. I'm bringing pot stickers. I hope someone brings scallion pancakes.

Daring Bakers..my 1st!

I've decided to join the fun that is the Daring Bakers! I however wasn't excited to see that my first challenge would be....



Coconut Cream "Eclairs"

Eclairs! I've never liked them. I've never eaten a vegan one let alone ever seen a vegan one. But I decided this would be a fun challenge. Like most things in my life I waited until the very last few day of the challenge. But I lucked out. Sorta.


I've decided to join the fun that is the Daring Bakers! I however wasn't excited to see that my first challenge would be Eclairs. I've never liked them. I've never eaten one let alone ever see a vegan one. But I decided this would be a fun challenge.



I used this recipe for the pate a choux but upped the amount of baking powder to I think 1/2 or 1 full teaspoon (eek. i can't find my notes on it). The pastry cream is the vegan pastry cream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World with Coconut extract added because who doesn't like coconut.

The delicious chocolate ganache was just chocolate chips with a bit of soy milk melted to perfection.



One unfortunate thing about making them into eclairs was the misplacement of my pastry bag. I tried to do the old use a big ziplock bag trick but that ended up in total disaster. So I shaped my blobs of pate a choux into cream puff size instead.

I was nervous when I took them out of the oven because they didn't brown as much as I thought they would and I didn't think they would brown much at all at the same time. I also wasn't sure what the inside would look like when I cut them open. Would there be the hollow inside of this particular pastry? YES there would be, sorta! I was so happily surprised and thankful because I wouldn't have had another opportunity to make them again. One slight mishap was that the bottom of the pastry was a little undercooked and heavy. So the recipe needs some working on.



Thankfully when all put together..choux, coconut pastry cream, choux, ganache, dried coconut..it tasted and looked fantastic. I actually liked it! I've never liked an eclair. I even brought them over to a friends house and they seemed to go over well. I'm so happy that my first Daring Bakers challenge went well.



P.S. TODAY WAS RENO'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! SHE WAS BORN 1 YEAR AGO TODAY AT 11:32 A.M. AFTER BEING FORCED A.K.A. INDUCED TO COME OUT BECAUSE SHE WAS TWO WHOLE WEEKS LATE AND SHOWING NO SIGNS OF COMING OUT ON HER OWN. WE THREW A BIG PARTY FOR HER TODAY. SHE HAD A BLAST AND CHARMED EVERYONE. PICS TO COME. WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE DECORATIONS I MADE FOR HER VEGAN CUPCAKES!

VwaV week continued..

This is what my copy of Vegan with a Vengeance looks like. The cover was falling off for quite sometime then Reno got a hold of it and helped remove the top cover completely. Such a sweet child. I actually found her EATING a book this morning. To continue with VwaV week...



Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies

Out of the oven. These were good! At first I thought the blondie part was just O.K. but after letting it sit for a bit and trying it again later in the day I fell in love. What a great recipe. It's also super easy to make. I had them in the oven before 9am on a day Reno decided to sleep in a bit. I love baking first thing in the morning it reminds me of my vegan pastry chef days where I would get up at 5 am to catch a train to NYC and bake cakes, brownies, cupcakes, bars, etc..etc..all day for the restaurants I worked at. I hope I get to do all that again one day for my own bakery or restaurant.




Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondie

This one was waiting to dive down into my belly and dive it did.



Fresh Corn Fritters

I'm sure you are thinking that I must have gone crazy again like the whole Pesto Picture/Black Bean Post from a few ago. I haven't. My next recipe to try was the Fresh Corn Fritters from the book. I've always wanted to make them and now I had the chance. Except that the fritters didn't want to fritter. It was a glop of batter that didn't want to set or be flipped so it just turned into a sorta scramble. While making it I was curious as to why the recipe didn't have any flour in it. I thought of adding some myself but didn't. Later on in the evening I looked at the recipe again to figure out what I did wrong and saw that flour was indeed suppose to be in the mix. I just completely missed it. That doesn't happen often but it did.

Even with that mishap the taste of the "fritter" was amazing. I probably ate 1/2 of it while waiting for the other part of dinner to finish cooking which was veggies, rice and beans topped in salsa with the fresh corn fritter. Very delicious. I had sister Nicole and friend Rachele over and they both agreed that it was really good.

Make both of these VwaV recipes right away if you've never before.

bag o' taters

Potato Pancakes (again)

We got back yesterday from a long weekend at my parents in South Jersey. Since they are going to be in Cyprus for 2 weeks my mom gave us a bunch of food that they won't be using some of which included a big bag of red skinned potatoes and some huge ass onions. I was mega tired yesterday so I figured we would just order out and worry about cooking the next day. That was when I realized that my mom gave me everything I needed, veg wise, to make these. So I did. Peter was decadent and ate his with organic apple-apricot sauce. I was gross and ate them with a huge blob of cold organic ketchup!



3 Protein Chili

One very hot day the other day I was sweating and sticky hot so I decided it was a good day to make chili. I must have been cookoo or somthing but it was one of the best chili's I've made in a long time. I used 3 different types of protein: seitan cutlet chopped up, black beans and cashews. My chili's always have cashews in them.



Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies

It's Vegan with a Vengeance week over on the ppk forums. I had a VwaV week a year or so ago and made a few dishes I've never done so it's fun to revisit this book and make a few more recipes I've been hankering to make. The first thing I made was the Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies. I made them at 8:30 in the morning today so the finished product will be saved for my next post. Here they are before making their way into the oven.

Stay tuned to see what else I make from VwaV!

The Vegan 100

I like when things like this pop up when I'm away from home and in the bowels of Southern New Jersey for the weekend.

The talented Hannah of the blog Bittersweet and My Sweet Vegan fame posted the following list of 100 vegan things us vegans should eat at some point in our wonderful lives.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie (why haven't I made these yet!)
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (pomegranate!)
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries (i don't like fresh berries too much...what?)
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava (i have a good recipe i need to find)
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (i hate root beer)
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies ( i use to make them for work)
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed (i've had it and will never again)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls (these will be in my next Food Fight order)
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips (SOMEONE NEEDS TO SEND ME SOME OF THESES!)
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

So I have about 6 items that I will not try for whatever reasons and about 33 or 35 items I have yet to try. Not bad out of a list of 100.

I'm going to add some of my own items that I think everyone should try:
(vegan versions of course)

*chocolate coconut pudding
*scallion pancakes
*biscuits and gravy
*Scottish meat pies
*butternut-leek-rosemary dumplings

Very green post

Basil-Miso Pesto Rigatoni

So here is the pesto porn that I posted a few post ago where I was talking about Rice + Beans by mistake. I purchased a basil plant that I named Henry at the farmers market 1 month or so ago and it had tripled in size! Since my sister was coming over and the herb was taking up the entire window I decided to prune it a bit and make a big thing of pesto which she and I equally love. I almost always serve pesto with long pasta but decided to use rigatoni this time and was very happy with how it came out. I wasn't sure if the pesto would cover the ins and outs of a tube pasta like rigatoni. I'm very happy to say that they both did their jobs very well. I'm also happy to report that Henry the Basil plant can probably produce at least 2 more rounds of pesto plus some extra uses in tomato sauces!



WW Pasta, Zucchini, Broccoli + Stringbeans (for Reno)

I made this for Reno the other day. Most of it was thrown on the floor. She also pretended to be tired which she does when she doesn't want to eat what's in front of her. Some actually made it into her mouth and then was spit out. A very small amount made it into her stomach. She wasn't too into it. I was, so I ate some it. It was all really boring and steamed no flavor at all so I don't blame her. The next day I sauteed some more of it in olive oil which helped her eat a teeny bit more than she did the day before. Figuring out what a baby wants to eat has become a full time job for me. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes not so fun. I'm contemplating starting another blog to document what she eats from day to day. Peter doesn't want her to be vegan. I don't want her to be omni so we've gone in between both and she will be raised vegetarian (for now.) When she can make her own decisions she will be allowed to eat whatever she wants within limits..no burger king or shit like that. It should all be interesting.




Walking (will be a year old next Sunday!!!)

Reno has been walking for about 2 weeks now. She's been taking a few steps here and there for about 1 month but now it's full on walking. Hardly anymore crawling. It's very exciting and also weird to have her all of a sudden just walk over to you.

Tofu Tuesday a Dinner Party a la Mode!

oops!! Peter just asked why I had a picture of Pesto but was writing about Rice and Beans in yesterdays post. It is now fixed with a proper picture. I'll post about the pesto another time.



Tofu + Seitan Marsala w. Stringbeans + Pine nut's

I had my lovely friends Dave and Michelle over for dinner the other night. I had NO IDEA what to make for them especially after I had a few ideas and then asked if either of them liked mustard or capers. Turned out neither of them did so I had to scratch those ideas. Think, think, think, think.....Marsala. I knew Dave like mushrooms and I'm pretty sure I've seen him order Marsala at restaurants. Michele I'm not too sure about since I haven't eaten with her that much. It turned out I made the right decision.

The Marsala is based on the recipe from Joanna's book Yellow Rose Recipes. I suggest you all through a party and make it. It was very easy and very delicious. I used tofu and seitan because I figured if someone didn't like tofu they might like seitan and vice versa. I ended up serving it over pasta. I wanted to serve the Marsala over mashed potatoes but I was short on ingredients. Namely potatoes.



A BIG serving bowl of Marsala



Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

I finally caved and purchased My Sweet Vegan. What a beautiful book. This was the first recipe I've tried from it. I figured it would be the perfect ending to my dinner party especially since it was so easy to make and I was able to make it the day before. I especially liked how easy the dough was to roll out for the crust. I can't wait to try more of these recipes.



Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie a la Mode

Warmed in the oven and topped off with Purely Decadents Coconut Milk Ice Cream Vanilla Bean!!! I was so happy to finally see these coconut milk based ice creams at my Whole Foods. Whenever I make ice cream at home it's always coconut milk based. It's nice to be able to buy some now without having to set up my machine, which is something I really should do before the summer is over.

Farmers Market Haul

The Haul

I am in love with our local Farmers Market. Every Saturday (most of them) we are trying to get to the Walnut Street Farmers Market in Montclair. I'm always blown away by the selection of delicious and local fruits and veggies. They even have an organic stand that has some of the most delicious broccoli and kale I've ever tasted. Last week I grabbed a few big handfuls of string beans and 2 of the largest jalapenos I've ever seen and was shocked when the woman told me it was $1.25. It really can't get better than that! Especially since I LOVE string beans!!

Our latest haul:

carrots
kale
broccoli
jalapenos
red pepper
zucchini (they were the best I've ever eaten)
string beans
peaches
sugar plums

2 recents..

BBQ Baked Seitan w. Sauteed Potatoes + Broccoli w. Garlic

The seitan = super easy. Slice, douse in your favorite BBQ Sauce and bake in the oven until nice and sticky. Its one of those dishes that would do well if you accidentally forgot about it for about 20 + minutes or so. I just love sticky BBQ.

The real star of that dinner though was the side dish. I originally was going to cook 2 separate sides: potatoes and then broccoli w. garlic. While the potatoes were sauteing I decided that I didn't want to use another pot so I tossed the broccoli and garlic in with them. It turned into taste heaven. So stupidly simple and so delicious. Ms. Reno even enjoyed the leftovers the next day for lunch. She is definitely wasn't swapped at the hospital if she is a lover of potatoes.



Rice + Beans

They are so happy together, rice and beans. To us they are the perfect food. I got super huge jalapenos at the local farmers market for super crazy cheap and all I could think about was rice and beans. Its become quite the dinner staple for us recently like it has at times in the past. 2-3 times a week. I use to add a weekly "special guest star" to each week's worth of rice and beans like raw diced zucchini, cherry tomatoes, carrots..etc. It was fun and it made it different each time. I might have to start thinking of new "guests" for me beans.

Stupid Olympics and business trips and mini vacations and....

Sauteed Seitan and Portobello Wrap w. Chipotle Mayo

So I've been M.I.A. for a bit. Peters went away for business so I went to my parents with Reno for a few days so I wasn't spending my b-day alone (yikes! I'm 32!!) By the time we returned the Olympics started and that has been taking up most of my pm time especially since it's Swimming time and as a ex-competitive swimmer I can't get enough of watching other people swim. I just want to dive into the pool with them.

I've still been cooking though. Most of it just easy favorites but some of it new like the wrap above. I can't tell you how good the seitan was with sauteed portobello's and onions and lots of garlic. Holy Goodness! I wish I was eating it right this very second. I'm in fact eating a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie!!! More on that in a later post after I serve it to people.



Biscuits and Gravy

I'm not southern at all. I have no southern roots, nothing. But I love me some biscuits and gravy. I love them so. Both recipes are from the book Yellow Rose Recipes the biscuits are on page 17 Buttermilk Biscuits and the gravy is on page 83 Almond Milk Gravy. I didn't have any almond milk so I just used soy instead. I usually don't use store bought meaty things but purchased some Gimme Lean Sausage for the gravy. It's not bad stuff. I don't think I could eat it plain without a sauce but it's nice to know it's available if I need it in a pinch.