Spicy Kale Chips

I'm a sucker for anything salty and crunchy. I can't even buy potato chips on a regular basis because I am utterly powerless against that combination of crispy and salty. I also really enjoy greens, and while my usual way to treat kale and other greens is the standard braise or a light saute in some sort of fat - usually olive oil or occasionally bacon grease - or tossed into lentil soup, I am always looking for a new way to eat greens.

Why not oiled, salted and baked?

It almost defies logic that leafy greens can yield such a perfect, salty crunch with so little work, but they really do. They have that satisfying light crispiness that dances on the tongue and for God's sake... it's kale. What could be more virtuously packed with goodness than kale?

Spicy Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale
• olive oil
• chipotle salt*
• dusting of parm

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Wash the kale and rip the leaves from the thick stems and tear them into large pieces.
3. Toss with olive oil and chipotle salt in a bowl.
4. Place on a large cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, flip the kale over and bake for another 8 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned, but be careful not to let it burn.
5. Dust with a bit of parm and serve.

Notes:

• I bought this fancy-schmancy chipotle seasoned salt, but I imagine you could make your own by pulverizing a dried chipotle and adding it to the salt and then crushing that together in a mortar and pestle. Use only the dried chipotles sold in bags, not the canned chipotles in adobo. 
• You could also add red pepper flakes for more heat. 
• Really, you could use any seasoned salt you like.

Tweet

Coconut-Curry Tofu and Jasmine Rice

Day 2 of living out of my pantry was a success. I had a can of coconut milk I wanted to use up, and my favorite use for that is usually some sort of curry. I usually make a coconut-curry jasmine rice in which you cook the rice in the coconut milk which is to-die-for delicious (recipe to come), but I wanted to make a creamy curry sauce with the coconut milk instead.

Since I was feeling sort of vegetarian-ish, I rummaged around in the freezer for a block of tofu for my protein and pretty quickly got this meal together - once the tofu had thawed and all the excess moisture had been pressed out. The tofu cubes really sucked up the sauce; in the end, they were like little coconut-curry sponges, very tasty. Using the toasted coconut shreds in the coconut milk really amped up the coconuttiness, but I think that it works well with the other flavors, especially the peanut and lime.

If fat content is an issue for you, you can use light coconut milk, but don't be fooled, that still has some fat in it. You wouldn't be wrong to put chopped cilantro in the coconut milk puree which you add to the rice. I love cilantro usually, but I was out of it and was feeling too lazy to go out to the store JUST for that one item, so I said, "No cilantro today." It was just fine and tasty without it.

Coconut-Curry Tofu and Jasmine Rice

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

•  1 3/4 cups water
• 1 t salt
• 1 cup jasmine or basmati rice

• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 T minced fresh ginger
• 1 T fresh lime juice
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 t dried jalapeno flakes

• 2 T canola oil
• 8 ounces extra-firm tofu, pressed, drained, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 t curry powder
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/8 t dried jalapeno flakes
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped

• hot sauce to taste
• 2 T chopped peanuts
• lime zest

Directions

1. In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the shredded coconut until light golden, about 5 minutes. Stir constantly and be careful not to let it burn. As soon as it starts to smell toasted and reach a nice golden color, remove it from heat and transfer to a bowl.
2. Bring 1-3/4 cups water and salt to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Add the rice and let boil again.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 18 - 20 minutes.
4. Puree 1/2 cup of the coconut milk, 1 teaspoon ginger, lime juice, and 1 clove of garlic in a blender.  Add the toasted coconut and blend for a few seconds. 
5. Mix the coconut milk mixture into the rice and set aside.
6. Heat some canola oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu cubes and saute until golden.
7. Add the onions, curry, cumin, jalapeno flakes and the rest of the ginger and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.
8. Add the tomatoes and stir everything well.
9. Serve over the coconut jasmine rice, add hot sauce to taste and top with chopped peanuts and lime zest.

Tweet

Chocolate Cake

In addition to Crisis Bownies, cookies, pie and cheesecake, I like cake.

Not just this kind of cake:

But cake, cake.

You know, Devil's Food cake, pound cake, Angel Food cake, red velvet cake... Just, cake. I decided that today was a good day for cake - a lazy Saturday at home with my kids, unrelenting snow outside, yes. Time for cake. I didn't want a lot of cake though, just enough for the 3 of us for a few days without leaving use feeling like complete gluttonous deviants. I also was out of eggs, so it limits what kind of cake I can make.

For our super-chocolate cravings,  this vegan chocolate cake really delivers. You really would not know that this cake is vegan unless someone told you. Of course, there is nothing vegan about the buttercream frosting. Nothing dietetic either, but it is so worth it. :)

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Makes one 10 in. round cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 cup brown sugar*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1  tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Sift flour, sugar, salt,  baking soda, and cocoa together in a large bowl.
3. Add the vinegar and stir. Pour in the oil and stir well. Pour in the cold water and mix until everything is well-combined.
4. Pour batter into a round 10 in cake pan that has been buttered or sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray.
5. Bake for 30 to 35, or until cake tester inserted comes out clean. 
6. Put the pan on a rack and let cool for a half hour and then turn the cake out onto a rack to finish cooling before frosting.

Simple Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

• 3 T salted butter
• 1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar (approximately)
• 3/8 cup milk (approximately)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl.
   
2. Add the cocoa power and stir to combine well.
   
3. Stir in the vanilla extract and mix.
   
4. Add the confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time and alternate with a litlte milk to moisten it, and beat, not stir, but really beat it well to break up all the clumps of the powdered sugar and get it into the mixture.
   
5. Continue to add the sugar and milk and beating, tasting as you go, until you have the taste and consistency that you like.

Notes:

• I really prefer brown sugar to regular white granulated sugar in chocolate baked goods. I swear I read something once that said that the molasses in the brown sugar enhances and intensifies the chocolate flavors. I think that brown sugar also tends to make baked items moister because it is already wetter than regular white sugar.

Tweet

Steel-cut Oats with Cranberries and Almonds

Well, it's snowing again. Still. We've got another snow day for the kids, another day of shoveling a foot of snow at a time, and that means another day of warming, filling foods. My mom gave me an unopened canister of steel cut oats when I was there over Thanksgiving. I'd been meaning to try them out - I'd heard good things about them - and we love oats in this house anyway. I was intrigued by others' description of the chewy texture, rather than the glue-like paste of some rolled oats' dishes.

This version is pretty low-maintenance to boot. Instead of standing over a pot for a half hour, stirring constantly to keep the oats from sticking, you start these the night before and then let them sit overnight to soak. In the morning you just heat them up, sweeten to taste and then serve.

Steel-cut Oats with Cranberries and Almonds

Makes 3 servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup steel-cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon orange peel 
• 1/4 cup chopped salted roasted almonds
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• Agave nectar

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, boil the oats, dried cranberries and orange peel in the water for 1 minute. Cover, remove from heat and set on a heat-resistant surface.
   
2. Let sit overnight.
3. The next morning, uncover the oats and bring them to a boil over high heat.
4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the oatmeal is hot and creamy, about 5 minutes.
5. Garnish with the chopped almonds and some additional cranberries if you like and sweeten to taste with agave nectar.

One serving is worth 6 WW points.

Notes:

• There is a very large discrepancy between the points I got when I entered this recipe into the WeightWatchers online calculator and when I entered the nutritional data generated by Living Cookbook software. Like, a HUGE difference. I don't know what bit of pixie dust they have in the WW algorithms, but, man, it makes no sense.
  
  They revamped the points system to get away from assigning points value strictly on calories and to account for specific nutrients: fat, carbohydrates, fiber and protein. Still, when I entered that specific data which my software generated from the exact same recipe, I got a points value of 10 per serving. I think that the food database in my software might be hinky. :/

Tweet

Vegan Again

Hi everyone, I wish I could explain away my lapse in blogging with tales of fantastic vacations and a whirlwind culinary tour of Europe.

As if. HA!

No.

It's been an eventful, though pedestrian, summer of stressing over my joblessness, shepherding the kids to swimming lessons and, most fun of all, dealing with the pouty-faced aftermath of my older daughter breaking her leg while playing soccer. Oh yes, that's been fun. *deep sigh*

In food news, I hit rock bottom last week.

Oh yes. I was in the dressing room at J.C. Penney's, shopping for an outfit for an upcoming job interview and I nearly had a stroke when I saw the size label on the pants which I barely managed to squeeze over my ass. Now, I am certainly not the first woman to hit rock bottom in a department store fitting room, and will probably not be the last, but BY GOD, I swore to myself, Rock Bottom would never again be associated with a pair of pants from the "Women's" department.

So here I am, once again, cutting out animal products and trying to do some sort of carb-conscious vegan diet. I may be crazy, but I sure am motivated! Fret not, I do also plan to toss in some sport of exercise routine once on a while.

The first thing I did was to reawaken my vegan blog from last year only to find that in my absence, the list of people following it has grown! I thought that was amusing and wondered what sort of hidden message there might be in that.

Hmmm.

Anyway, please come join me there. I'll be putting up vegetarian and vegan dishes and certainly the recipes for any breads I bake, because carb-adoration is a way of life around here and definitely one of my biggest failings.

Babs Goes Vegan (Again)

Tweet

Healthy Eating

For the past few days this week, I have been eating healthier: More vegan and raw foods, though not totally vegetarian. I can not give up my weekend pizza gorge-fest, so I am trying to offset any potential damage by eating the best foods possible during the week. Besides, when it is hot out, I'd just as soon not turn on the oven.

For breakfast: Raw Apple Breakfast.*

Snacktime: persian cucumbers stuffed with a vegan cashew puree (sometimes called cashew cheese**) and topped with zesty sprouts and sunflower seeds.

For lunch, I had a tomato and avocado salad with watercress and a lime-cayenne dressing on homemade flatbread. Sorry, no picture. I practically inhaled it before it even occurred to me to take a photo.


But about these flatbreads***, one of my favorites. It is amazing how a lump of dough can go from this:

To this, in just about an hour and a half.

This particular recipe I like to cook on a griddle even though it smokes the hell out of my kitchen.

Look carefully, you can see smoke.

But the end result is worth it.

Raw Apple Breakfast

Ingredients:

• 1 tart apple (I like Granny Smiths)
• 1 T almond butter
• agave nectar or honey
  
• 1 T flax seeds, ground in a coffee grinder
• pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1. Take one apple, peel and all, core it, cut it into quarters and toss it into a food processor with the almond butter.
   


2. Process until nicely chopped.
   


3. Then put in a bowl and drizzle the agave nectar or honey over it and top with ground flax seeds and, my favorite, pumpkin seeds.
   
   You can also top with fresh berries or, if you like to live dangerously, some Greek yogurt. Wheat germ sprinkled on top is also a nice option.
   


4. It is filling, packed with fiber and very tasty.

**Vegan Cashew Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
• 1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  
• 2 garlic cloves
  
• 3 T lemon juice
• 8 large fresh basil leaves
  
• 1 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp cold-pressed olive oil oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
  

Directions:

1. Put everything in a food processor and blend very well until it is nice and creamy. If it's too thick, add more water slowly through the feed tube until it reaches the consistency you like. If it's too watery, toss in a few more cashews.
   

***Sesame-Flax Whole Wheat Flatbread

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 cup flax meal
• 1 cup bread flour
  
• 3 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour (or a combination of whole wheat and bread flour)
• 1 T salt
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/3 cup untoasted sesame seeds
  

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together yeast and warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes in a warm place until the yeast mixture is foamy.
   


2. Add the flax meal, bread flour, and 1 cup of the whole wheat flour, one cup at a time, mixing well until you have a rough, shaggy dough that starts to drag on the sides of the bowl.
   


3. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. When it is done, you will have a messy-looking sponge. Don't worry, it is not supposed to look pretty at this point.
   


4. Add the sesame seeds, salt and oil, mix well and then add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until you have a nice stiff dough. Sometimes you may need only 2 cups of the flour, and at other times, you will need the full 3 cups.
   


5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead well for 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
   


6. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise int a warm spot for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
   


7. Preheat a cast iron griddle or skillet over medium-high heat.
   


8. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Section it into 8 pieces. Roll out each ball of dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
   


9. Lightly coat the griddle with cooking spray.
   


10. Place a round on the griddle (mine can hold two at a time). Let it cook for 15 second, then flip it. Let it cook for about a minute until bubbles start to form, then flip it back over and let cook another minute.
    


11. Repeat with remaining dough.
    


12. Wrap the breads in a kitchen towel to keep warm.
    

Note: This will smoke the hell out of your house, so have the windows open and the fans cranked, but it is so worth it.

Tweet

Scrambled Tofu with Mushroom, Onion and Bell Pepper

Poor tofu gets such a bad rap from its bland flavor, sometimes spongy texture and its soy origin. I say that its blandness only means that it won't compete with other strong flavors in a dish. It literally soaks up marinades, so with a wonderful mixture of spices and seasonings, you can have a dish that is every bit as flavorful as any meat-based dish.

Be sure to choose the right kind of tofu for your task: Japanese-style Silken tofu is an excellent choice in blended smoothies and desserts, while Chinese-style extra firm varieties make the best stir-fries and baked dishes. You can further affect the texture by pressing out the excess water and even freezing it.

As for the stigma of its soy roots, I have yet to see good evidence that it causes cancer or makes you gay.

This recipe gives you a double-shot of umami goodness with the wild mushrooms and nutritional yeast.

Scrambled Tofu with Mushroom, Onion and Bell Pepper

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• ¼ block of extra firm tofu (I like nasoya organic tofu best)
• ½ onion, chopped
• ½ orange bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (½ oz) packet dried mushrooms, rehydrated to make 2 oz. mushrooms
  
• ¾ t onion powder
• ¾ t garlic powder
• ½ t turmeric
• 2 T nutritional yeast
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put the olive oil in a pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and cook until nicely browned and they release no more moisture. Set aside.
   


2. In another skillet, pour in about 2 T olive oil.
   


3. Drain the tofu and blot it with a paper towel. You can even squeeze it a bit to release more moisture.
   


4. Crumble the tofu into the pan and saute until it's nicely golden-brown.


5. Push the tofu to the sides of the pan and add the chopped onion and saute until translucent.


6. Add the orange bell pepper and stir the mixture together.


7. Stir in the onion powder, garlic powder and turmeric and mix well.


8. Dump in the cooked mushrooms and mix well.
   


9. Fold in the nutritional yeast, making sure that everything is well coated. Let it cook for about a minute more, then plate.


10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

See the steam rising? Hot and tasty.

Notes:

• This dish works well with almost any combination of vegetables. I often use chopped tomato in it, added just before the nutritional yeast goes in. Sometimes I cook up a separate skillet of diced potato and fold that in once the other vegetables are done, before seasoning with the spices.
  


• I prefer to cook the mushrooms in a separate skillet because, even over high heat, they give off moisture. Dried, reconstituted mushrooms give off less moisture than fresh, but still I don't like adding any extra water to tofu when it's browning.
  

Tweet

Raw Apple Breakfast

In keeping with my attempt to eat many more light & healthy meals throughout the week to balance out the times when I indulge in full-cream, full-fat decadence - and believe me, I do indulge - here is a fiber-rich, deceptively filling, delicious breakfast that may have you thinking, "Hey, some of these raw vegan dishes are pretty damned tasty!"

Unlike many raw dishes which require some fancy footwork with a food dehydrator, the only pieces of equipment you need here are a food processor and a coffee grinder.

Raw Apple Breakfast

Ingredients:

• 1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 heaping tablespoon of almond butter
• 1 tablespoon flax seeds
• 2 T pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
  

Directions:

1. Peel, core and cut the apple into quarters.
   


2. Process it in a food processor along with the almond butter until it is in small pieces - you don't want to make a puree.
   


3. Grind up the flax seeds in the coffee grinder until they've become powdery.
   


4. Serve in a bowl topped with pepitas and the ground flax seeds.

Notes:

• This filled my cereal bowl pretty well, so it was a good portion for one person.
  


• Next time, I may drizzle some honey or agave nectar over the top for a teeny bit of extra sweetness.
  


• Other additions which might be nice:
  
  
  • chopped almonds or walnuts
  • chopped dried fruit
  • untoasted sesame sees
  • unsalted sunflower seeds
  • maple syrup
  • wheat germ
  • a dollop of Greek yogurt
  • blueberries
  • cinnamon
    
  
  

Tweet

Red Lentils over Quinoa Pilaf

I love red lentils in soups, stews and dhals. Just as the various spices that accompany them lend heat to the dish, so does the vivid color of the lentils perk up the dish. On this frigid day I have been looking for a comforting dish to warm me up, so I tossed some things together and served it over the leftover Quinoa Pilaf from last night's dinner.

Red Lentils over Pilaf

Ingredients:

• 1 stalk celery, diced finely
• 1 medium onion, diced finely
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced finely
• 1/2 cup of diced carrot
• 1 large clove garlic, chopped (about 2 T)
• 1/4 cup diced tomato
  
• 3/4 cup red lentils
• 4 cups water
• 1 T tomato paste
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• chili powder
• coriander
• cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• turmeric
• hot sauce
  

Directions:

1. Heat 2 T olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
   


2. Add the chopped onion and celery and saute for 2 minutes.
   


3. Add the bell pepper, carrots and garlic, stirring well.
   


4. After 5 minutes or so, when the vegetables have softened significantly, add the tomato and stir well.
   


5. Add the red lentils, turn the heat to high and add the water, the tomato paste and the spices.
   


6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, keep covered and let simmer for 30 minutes.
   


7. Taste and adjust seasoning. Here's where I add the hot sauce.
   


8. Simmer uncovered another 15 minutes until the lentils are no longer crunchy. You may add more water if you prefer a more stew-like consistency, but I prefer it with a texture more like dhal. I even sometimes use a potato masher and smash the lentils a bit.
   


9. Serve over rice or pilaf of your choice.

Notes:

• See this post for my pilaf technique.

Tweet