Why My Mom Rocks Harder Than Your Mom (Unless Your Mom Is, Say, Joan Jett, or Some Other Rocker-By-Title, But Even Then Maybe Still)

Oh, look at that. One blog-entry ago, you thought I was a liar. You thought to yourself, That bitch, Lindy Loo. She tells us on Monday to stay tuned for vegan T-day recipes later in the week AND THEN SHE NEVER ACTUALLY POSTS THEM. That's exactly why I hate her and want to rub orange oily feces all over her and her cats.

Well, touché, friends. Touché.

Because my mom TYPED UP AND EMAILED ME EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER VEGANIZED THANKSGIVING RECIPES TODAY, so rather than spread them out over four days, I am just gonna blow your mind with them ALL IN THE SAME POST.

In yo' face, 4-times over!!!!!

(And seriously--isn't she a goddess??)

VEGAN GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE




INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz green beans cooked or steamed then drained


instead of one can cream of mushroom soup:


• 8 0z container of tofutti, and


• 1/2-3/4 c. soy milk




• 1 T. of hummus (or more to your taste )


• (if mix is too runny you can add a tsp of flour to thicken slightly)


• Salt/pepper to taste


• Large can of Durkees french fried onions

DIRECTIONS:

Scoop cream cheez into a bowl and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup soy milk to it gradually, stirring each time to avoid it lumping.

Combine all ingredients but 1/2 can of the onions in a 2-quart baking dish.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees..25-30 minutes..

Add rest of the onions as topping & continue baking 5 more minutes.

Bon appetit!





VEGAN STUFFED SHROOMS



INGREDIENTS:

• 16 large mushrooms


• 1 T. olive oil


• 3 T. dry sherry or white wine


• 1/4 c. finely chopped parsley if desired


• 1 T. vegan parmesan


• 1 T. unseasoned bread crumbs


• 1 clove finely minced garlic


• 1/4 t. dried thyme


• 1/4 t. oregano


• salt & pepper (or my mom used equivalent of Mrs Dash & seasoned to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

375 degrees..15-20 minutes.. 13 x 9 pan..cooking spray

Finely chop stems. Set caps aside.

Combine oil with wine. Reserve 2 T. of oil/wine mixture. Pour 2 T. of oil/wine mixture into 8" skillet & warm over low-medium heat. Saute stems six minutes until mix is dry. Add finely chopped parsley, cheese, crumbs & seasonings. Remove from heat. Stir in wine.

Spoon mix into caps using teaspoon.

Spray a 13x9 baking pan, and place a single layer of mushrooms inside.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Halfway thru baking, brush caps w/remaining oil/wine mixture.

Serve hot.




VEGAN APPLE CRISP



INGREDIENTS:

• 4 apples cored/pared cut into cubes


• 3/4 t. lemon juice


• 1/2 c. granulated or 1/4 c. brown sugar


• dash cinnamon


• 1/4 c. water


dry ingredients:


• 1/4 c. + 2 T. flour


• 1/4 t. cinnamon


• 3 T. butter (Earth Balance)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix apple cubes with lemon juice.

Add half of the sugar, dash of cinnamon and water.

Place in lightly greased 1 quart baking dish.

Mix dry ingredients cutting in butter with whisk or fork.

Sprinkle over top of apples.

Bake 30 minutes.





VEGAN SWEET POTATO CAKE



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c. butter (Earth Balance)


• 2 c. granulated sugar


• substitute for 4 large eggs (for each egg, my mom used 1/4 cup well mashed tofu + 1/4-1/2 tsp baking powder--so I guess that would be 1 c. well-mashed tofu and 1-2 t. baking powder)


• 2-1/2 c. cooked mashed sweet potatoes


dry ingredients:


• 3 c. all-purpose flour


• 2 t. baking powder


• 1 t. baking soda


• 1 t. ground cinnamon


• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg


• 1/4 t. salt


• 1 T. vanilla extract



• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream vegan margarine and sugars in a large bowl. Add tofu and baking powder gradually, mixing well to minimize lumps. Add cooked well mashed lump-free sweet potatoes.

In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients.

Combine dry ingredients with sweet potato mixture, stirring into a stiff batter.

You may add pecans at this point.

Pour into a well-greased baking pan (13 x 9 or loaf pan).

Bake for one hour if 13 x9.

If using loaf pan check after one hour using toothpick to make sure center done.

Sprinkle top w/chopped nuts if desired during the last 5-10 mins baking.

Cooking times may vary slightly.

Let cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or top with a vegan cream cheez frosting if desired. (I used leftover vegan cream cheez frosting with some of the leftovers, and it was DELISH!)

Pumpkin Biscuits

I said that sometime this week I was going to post some more of the Thanksgiving recipes I mentioned on Monday, but I lied. I LIED! BAHAHAHAHAHAH! Instead, I give you this pumpkin biscuit recipe, and the soft caressing promise that I will post at least the stuffing recipe sometime next week.

I whipped these biscuits up with some autumn harvest stew the other week when I had guests over, and (despite the fact that they're not rollable, cuttable biscuits like the original recipe claims--I think this may be because I chose their "vegetable oil" option instead of just subbing in Earth Balance for the butter) they were really fricking good. Enough so that, despite making enough for all my dinner guests to have two biscuits each, folks liked them so much that I somehow got sweet-talked into throwing another batch in the oven for everyone. The end result was that 16 biscuits were consumed within an hour by only 4 people. That is disturbing, and yet a testament to the fact that these biscuits are indeed yummy.

Also featured is one of the delightful little Ohio-shaped butter-pads that The Vegan Ronin whipped up for the Post T-Day Foodfest I had this past Saturday. Aren't they the cutest? <--- Clearly, this is foreshadowing some of next week's recipes/blog entries, if you hadn't figured it out... Lots of Post-T-day-Foodfest recipes to come... DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour


• 1 T. baking powder


• 1/4 to 3/4 t. salt


• 1/2 t. ground allspice


• 3/4 c. canned pumpkin


• 1/2 c. soy milk


• 3 T. vegetable oil (or vegan margarine)


• 1 T. pure maple syrup

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450F. Lightly oil a baking sheet (or alternately, lay out a sheet of parchment paper on your baking sheet) and set it aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and allspice in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, soy milk, vegan margarine (or oil), and maple syrup and stir until smooth.

Combine the flour mixture with the pumpkin mixture. Stir just until the mixture holds together; avoid over mixing, or biscuits will be tough.

Here is where I think the biscuit-forming will differ, depending on whether you used margarine or oil:

If you used margarine, and the dough seems to be stiff enough, roll it out on a lightly-floured work surface and roll out to 1/2-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter or a drinking glass, cut out dough into rounds and place on prepared baking sheet. Reroll dough scraps and continue to cut out until all dough has been used.

If you used oil (which I did), your dough isn't going to be rollable, so you'll want to just make drop-biscuits instead. To do this, using a spoon, scoop up a generous amount of dough and plop it onto your baking sheet. Press down slightly so that it flattens out a little. Continue until your baking sheet is full.

Bake in the center of the preheated oven for 12 to 16 minutes, until tops are golden brown. Serve hot.

Makes about 20 biscuits.

(Original recipe from Green Living)

T-Day Numblies

Oh man, was this Thanksgiving bountiful. And honestly, it's all because of my mom who, despite her assertions that she's never liked to cook, managed to veganize not one, not two, not THREE, but FOUR MOTHERF-ING RECIPES for us. And that just plain rocks.

T-day was just three of us--me, my mum, and my brother (one sister had to work, and the other was in Chicago) but we cooked like we were feeding small armies. And that is the way T-day should be, exploding with foodie goodness, way too much for just three people to handle.

What we had:

• Zucchini & mushroom lasagna


• The apple-chestnut stuffing from the most recent Vegetarian Times, with walnuts subbed in for the chestnuts


• A mixed greens salad, courtesy of my bro


• Vegan stuffed mushrooms--courtesy, again, of my mum




• Green bean casserole--my mom is truly an artiste, veganizing this completely on her own using vegan cream cheez and... strangely enough... hummus, and this was seriously seriously some bad-ass shit, leaps and bounds better than the T-day standard




• Veganized apple crisp--courtesy of my mum; and


• Sweet potato pound cake, also BRILLIANTLY veganized by my mom, after several calls about what to substitute in for eggs

Hopefully I'll be bringing some of these recipes to you this week... Definitely the stuffing, and hopefully (if my mom can remember exactly how she veganized the cake) the cake as well. So hold onto your seats or hats or whatever the expression is.

Today, I bring you the lasagna recipe, from my **VERY LARGE AND VERY WHITE PASTA BOOK**. I tried linking to the cookbook on amazon, but it's one of those vague cookbooks just named "Pasta," and I'm having a hard time figuring out which one it is exactly, since none of the pictures match. But good lord do I love this cookbook--it is THE cookbook for pasta-sluts.

And this lasagna was no disappointment. It's a bit time-consuming to prepare (I actually cut down a bit on that though by using store-bought pasta-sauce instead of their homemade "winter pasta-sauce" that they recommend), and it doesn't make NEARLY as much lasagna as those recipes I usually use, but good god good jebus good allah good mother, this lasagna is KILLER. And it totally is all about the white sauce, and how the white sauce sexily commingles with the meaty shrooms. It is decadent, without making you feel like you're killing yourself on butter. The zucchini also sexes it up remarkably well with the white sauce. And, shit, I just kept praying that my family would stop eating it so I could have more left-overs. For those of you looking to feed a good number of people, I'd recommend doubling the recipe and using a 9x13-ish sized pan. You will not regret it. Not at all.

Jesus, I'm getting tingly just thinking about it.

ZUCCHINI & MUSHROOM LASAGNA


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2-oz. dried porcini mushrooms (or I just used a "Steak Mushrooms" mix from my local grocer)


• 3/4 c. warm water


• 2 T. olive oil


• 1 lb. zucchini, thinly sliced


• 1 onion, finely chopped


• 6 c. brown (or baby bella) mushrooms, thinly sliced


• 2 garlic cloves, crushed


• 30-oz of spaghetti sauce


• 1 t. dried marjoram


• 6-9 "Ready Baked" lasagna noodle sheets


• Vegan parmesan


• Salt & ground black pepper


For the white sauce:


• 3 T. vegan margarine


• 1/3 c. all-purpose flour


• 3-3/4 c. soy milk


• A couple dashes nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour the 3/4 c. cup warm water over them, allowing them to soak for 15-20 minutes. Squeeze the liquid from the rehydrated shrooms and set liquid aside. Chop the rehydrated shrooms finely and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375. Heat 1 T. olive oil over medium heat. If your pan is large enough, add all your zucchini (otherwise add them in half-batches) and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook the zucchini over medium heat, turning the slices frequently, for 5-8 minutes until they are lightly colored on both sides. Remove the zucchini from the pan and allow to drain on paper towels.

Heat the remaining olive oil in your pan, and then cook the onion, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Again, if your pan is big enough, add all your fresh mushrooms and garlic to it, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste (otherwise do so again in half-batches). Toss the shrooms over high heat for 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are JUST becoming juicy and tender. Transfer to a bowl.

Make the white sauce: Melt the vegan margarine in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook, stirring over medium heat, for 1-2 minutes. Add the milk a little bit at a time, whisking well with each addition. Bring to a boil and then cook, stirring, until the sauce is hot and thick (it may not thicken up as much as you had thought while OVER the heat, but no worries--once you remove it, it should thicken up a wee bit more). Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

Add about 1/2 of your rehydrated shroom-liquid to your spaghetti sauce. It's ok if it's a slight bit thin.

Add the zucchini to your bowl of fried mushrooms, then stir in the rehydrated shrooms and the marjoram.

Spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce in a baking dish (I would recommend a fairly small one--maybe a 9x9 or something). Add half the veggie mixture, spreading it evenly. Top with about 1/3 of the white sauce and about half the lasagna sheets. Repeat these layers, and then top with the remaining tomato sauce and white sauce, and sprinkle with vegan parm to taste.

Bake the lasagna for 35-45 minutes, or until the pasta sheets are tender when poked with a fork.

Let stand for about 10 minutes at least before serving.

Serves about 6.

Mexican Pumpkin and Sweet Tater Casserole

It almost seems wrong posting non-Thanksgiving-related recipes the first day after a holiday weekend, but as I forgot my T-day recipes at home, YOU WILL DEAL, AND YOU WILL LIKE IT! NAY--YOU WILL **LOVE** IT AND YOU WILL BEG FOR MORE!!!

Also: sidenote: Mondays back at work after a lengthy holiday weekend are the fricking PITS. *sobbing and wetting myself a bit*

Anyways...

Here's a recipe I made a couple weeks ago. I saw a link to another link that mentioned these Marth Stewart enchiladas, but I just ended up borrowing the pumpkin sauce recipe and that's it. All in all, I wasn't TOO bowled over by the enchiladas. They were ALMOST mind-blowingly tasty, but I think they needed a) a really salt layer (like refried beans or something) to counter the sweetness of both the pumpkin and the sweet taters, or b) a really crunchy layer, since everything was so softy.

But I share the recipe anyways. Perhaps at some point I'll get a chance to make it again and tweak it some. Or perhaps you can do the honors.

Apparently Mondays back at work after a lengthy holiday weekend are the kryptonite to my sense of humor as well, so please insert funny, slightly pervy food-related comments here so I don't have to.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium/large sized sweet potatoes


• 1 t. agave nectar


• Scant soy milk*


• 2 1/4 c. black beans


• 8 to 12 corn tortillas


• Vegan "cheddar" cheez


• 6 scallions, thinly sliced

For the sauce:


• One 15-oz can pumpkin puree


• 4 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 jalapeno chili, quartered


• 1 t. chili powder


• 2 c. water


• Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

For the sauce:

Throw all your sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

For the enchilada-casserole construction:

Preheat your oven to about 425.

Peel your sweet potatoes, and steam or boil them until they are tender. Mash them in a bowl with your agave and just enough soy milk to make them a wee bit fluffy.

Pour about 1 c. of sauce in the bottom of a baking dish (an 8-inch square one will work best for thickest layers). Layer on enough tortillas to cover the bottom (you may end up tearing some in half to do so). Smooth out about 1/2 of your sweet-potato mixture on top. Sprinkle half of your black beans evenly over it. Add about half of your remaining pumpkin sauce on top. Layer on more tortillas. And then repeat another layer of taters and more beans. Add on a final layer of tortillas, and pour the remaining pumpkin sauce on top. Add shredded vegan cheddar to taste, and sprinkle your scallions on top.

Cover with foil, and bake until heated through (anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour--I think mine took a bit shy of an hour). Remove, and if the cheez is not fully melted, toss into the broiler for a minute or two.

Let sit at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Serves about 6.

----------
* I am not exactly sure what "scant" means, but I like the sound of it. Here I'm using it to mean, "just a wee bit to fluffy-taste." In other words, you'll want to use just enough to fluff up your sweet taters.

Last Call for...

LINDY LOO'S VEG
POST-TDAY POTLUCK!!!



WHEN:
Saturday, Nov. 24th, 7:30pm

WHAT:
Veg Post-Tday Potluck
(& Truth or Dare Jenga)

If you're interested, let me know y 4:30 tomorrow and I'll email you directions. All the cool people will be there, and by "COOL," I of course mean mainly a) me, and b) The Vegan Ronin.

Don't YOU want to be cool TOO??

Not a Recipe, Unless You're Looking to Bake a Lindy Loo

I am feeling recipe-lazy today, so instead I'm following the lovely and brainy (mmm, brains) DEOTS's lead and surveying. TAKE THAT!



1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Soy milk. I like to milk me some soy-boobies. *Squirt squirt squirt*

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Hmmm. I am planning on making vegan paprikash for my post-T-day smorgasborG, a lasagna for T-day, and chocolate bread pudding, because good god do I love that shit.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
I don't like popcorn. I got a piece stuck in the back of my throat way back in the day when I was seeing Short Circuit in the theater with my mom, and ever since then, we've been arch-enemies. Sidenote: Remember when Steve Guttenberg seemed dreamy and not just horrifying? Those were the days.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Maybe the Chicago Diner burger fiasco or the uber-greasy brownies of death from Vegan Planet.

5. Favorite pickled item?
A nice crisp dill.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
Organization? What's that?

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
I was composting for a while until our compost heap was disbanded. Now trash, or the occasional veg scraps left out for the neighborhood groundhog.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Avocado
Vegan "tuna" salad
Peanut Butter Cannonballs

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Paprikash cooked for us by request on our birthdays

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Tofutti Chocolate Cookie Crunch

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My half-melted toaster. Which is not really used for cooking anything, but I heart toast.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Basil--I don't think I could deal with not being able to rub its leaves and then inhale inhale inhale the glorious scent off my fingertips.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
The giant white vegetarian one whose name I do not remember.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Raspberry.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Oooh, anything cookie-related (or desserty) really. I just like the whole, "This is *vegan*??" response.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Oof. A tie between seitan and tofu. They both rock me in the sack in very good, but different, ways.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Dinner. At night (der). Nekkid.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
My microwave. A large plastic punch bowl. A wheezy plant that just does NOT want to live like a normal plant. A shitty fire extinguisher. A large chip-bowl. Loose peanuts. Dust. Vegetable oil. A canister-y type thing. A Groucho Marx nose/eyeglass/moustache set.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Really old green beans. Freezer-burnt ice. Vegan "lamb" from the Asian market.

20. What's on your grocery list?
Right now: parchment paper, frozen green beans, french onions, macaroni, fake meat crumbles, soy milk, sweet taters, onions, garlic, mushrooms, vegan mushroom soup, cat food, vegan sour cream, "chicken" chunks, vegan parmesan.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Nature's Bin.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
Shit! Ummmmmmm. Pretty much anything non-vegan in the Veg Times, just to prove that they COULD offer an easily-veganized version of it. But other than that, probably the lasagna I plan on making for T-day.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Have Cake Will Travel--because it makes my eyes happy
Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk--because I want her to eat my brains, *growr*
Vegan Yum Yum--also because it makes my eyes happy

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
The Nussnougat that Nicole sent me. Holy crap is that shit good. I dream about it sometimes. And it's always scantily clad and flying. And then I realize I'm nekkid and that I'm late for a test.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
The blood of a hundred vegan virgins.

General Tao's Eggplant (Sorta)

I've had WAY too many weekend seminars in the past month (For what, you ask? I am a Topless Crocodile Wrestler, In Training), and when I'm doing a seminar, I inevitably end up in the deli section of the Mustard Seed for lunch. Which is where I stumbled across their Thai Eggplant (I think that's what it's called) which is seriously like the BEST STUFF EVER INVENTED. Sweet JEEBUS. And after gorging on it a couple weekends in a row, I decided to try making some myself.

Unfortunately, it didn't come out anything like their version (*sigh*), but it *was* still tasty. The problem is that their eggplant is *clearly* deep-fried, but I think I was trying to convince myself that it *wasn't* in fact a big greasy unhealthy mass of eggplant and that I could duplicate it in the oven. No dice.

I also went a bit overboard with the sauce, and even my sauce-whore self was like, "Lady-pants, you need to CALM DOWN on the sauce front because this shit is absolutely SWIMMING in it." I think I was just overwhelmed by how much diced eggplant one eggplant yielded, so I thought I needed a double-batch of the General Tao's sauce to handle it. But trust me, you can get away with just one.

And now that I've yammered on about all this, I've just realized that I don't really have a concrete recipe to share with you.

TRICKED YA!

So I guess this is moreso just me showing you a pretty picture of eggplant (doesn't it look kinda like a wet-lipped model?), and telling you that if you wanna play with something along the lines of this dish, here's what you can do:

* Whip up a serving of General Tao's sauce:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-3 T. oil


• 3 chopped green onions


• 1 T. minced ginger


• 1 T. minced garlic


• 2/3 c. vegetable stock


• 2 T. soy sauce


• 4 T. sugar


• red pepper to taste


• 1 T. white vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Heat vegetable (or sesame) oil in pan on medium heat. Add green onions, ginger and garlic, cook for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn garlic. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper and vinegar. Mix 2 Tablespoons water with 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and pour into mixture stirring well.

* Dice up an eggplant and cook it in your most favoritest of ways (I broiled it, but I wasn't too bowled over by the results--frying would probably be best).

* Add eggplant to General Tao's sauce and also 1/2 to 1 c. of cashews.

* Serve over rice.

Post-Thanksgiving Veg Smorgasborg

It's that time of year again, when we bust out our vegan moves (or our tofurky) and kick some Thanksgiving ass. And since several of my friends will be in town for the holidays, I'm tentatively planning a post-thanksgiving smorgasborg (best word ever) at my place on the evening of Saturday, November 24.

I extend the invitation to any of you local veg folks as well. The deal is that you just need to bring a vegan dish of some sort for entry. Mmmmm, entry. ARGHLGHLGHL. *STOP, DIRTY LINDY LOO!!!*

Anyways, if you are interested, please RSVP in my comments before, say, the 19th and leave your email address, that way I can send around an official invite and a sign-up list to get a sense of what people are bringing.

Oh, and this time boobs are not a requirement.

And I have no clue who or what that is a picture of, but it is kind of turning me off to ever wanting to eat Tofurky again. *shuddering in horror*

"Best Soup Ever" Alert!!!!!

WOOOOOO!!!!
WOOOOOOO!!!!
WOOOOOO!!!!
SOOOOOOOOU!!!! PPPPPPPP!!!!!

That's the "Best Soup Ever" Siren, siren sounding, which means you should immediately take cover in your kitchen with all of the following ingredients and COOK COOK COOK if you ever want to make it out alive.

(Seriously: This soup is beyond delicious. It is rich and decadent, awesomely autumnal, and just damn scrumptious. I was particularly fond of the addition of apples into it. It makes eating the soup that much more entertaining, because I found myself trying to guess whether each white chunk was an apple or a potato, and regardless of whether I won or lost in my guessing, my tastebuds were always always pleased.)

QUICK CURRIED RED LENTIL SOUP WITH VEGETABLES

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 c. water


• 1.5 c. red lentils, rinsed


• 1/2 t. salt


• 1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice


• 2 T. vegan margarine


• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced


• 1 small red bell pepper, finely diced


• 1 celery rib, thinly sliced


• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice


• 1.5 T. curry powder


• 1.2 t. ground cumin


• Dash of cayenne


• 1 T. soy sauce


• 4 oz. (or 4 c.) fresh spinach, torn into tiny pieces

DIRECTIONS

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in the lentils and salt. When the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook 20 minutes, stirring often. Scrape off and discard any foam that accumulates.

Stir in the potato and cook 20 more minutes, stirring frequently.

In a separate pan, melt 1 T. of vegan margarine over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Stir in the red pepper, celery, and apple, and saute until tender (about 10 minutes). Sprinkle on the curry powder, cumin, and cayenne and cook 2 more minutes, stirring often so the spices don't burn.

Scrape the veggie mixture into the soup. Add the soy sauce, spinach, and remaining T. of vegan margarine. Cook about 10 more minutes, or until the soup is the consistency of heavy cream--not watery or pasty. Stir often. Let the soup sit a few hours before serving. Rehead and check the consistency. Add a bit more water if it's too thick.

(Original recipe from god knows where because my friend D mailed it to me and I wasn't able to decipher his chicken scratch. But thanks, D. =)

Disco Stew

Somehow I did not get the GORGEOUS, Marilyn's-lipstick-esque, vivacious color of soup that the always brilliant Have Cake, Will Travel did, but I suspect she may have either used a) magenta beer (brilliant and deviant, you!), or b) the diced tomatoes of a thousand virgins. And alas, I had neither in my cupboard at home. I *did*, however, have a lager from the Brooklyn Brewery, so that's what got belly-flopped into this recipe.

And, as Have Cake, Will Travel stated when posting it, it definitely is a recipe that gets richer and more flavorful the longer it sits (so give it like 32 weeks, and perhaps it'll have turned into pure gold! Or pure sex! Or Julian Casablancas! Mmmmm. Julian Casablancas... Um... I'll be right back. Must use, um, the facilities...)




Ok. Back.

Anyways, this was a very yummy stew. The only thing I was confused about is the fact that mine had very little broth in it (in comparison to the picture Have Cake, Will Travel posted). But perhaps I just accidentally bought the Super-Absorbent Tempeh without realizing it. Regardless: as the brisk November weather creeps in, you'll definitely want to be checking this out.

*AND* what made this stew even more fun is that I got to take it to work for lunch all week and amuse myself by thinking about the fact that I was downing beer for lunch. Alas--not nearly enough, mind you. But beer nonetheless!

Oh, and ps. Best name for a recipe EVER, HCWT!


INGREDIENTS:

• 2 T. peanut oil [other oil works fine]


• 1/3 c. chopped white onion


• 2 cloves garlic, pressed


• 1 big Russet potato, brushed clean, peeled, chopped in small pieces


• 1 8-oz package of tempeh, chopped in small bits


• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes [undrained]


• 2 T. chili powder


• 2 t. ground cumin


• 1/2 t. dried oregano


• 1 squirt agave nectar [about 1 t.]


• 1 14-oz can kidney beans [drained and rinsed]


• 1/3 c. frozen green peas


• 1 c. vegetable broth


• 1 12oz beer bottle [your choice which kind]

DIRECTIONS

In a large saucepan, heat oil on medium high for a minute. Add the onion and garlic, and let cook for a minute. Add the potato and tempeh, and let cook on medium heat for about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, spices, nectar, beans, peas, broth, and beer. Bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes or until potato bits are tender.

(Original recipe from Have Cake, Will Travel)

Lemon-tastic Pasta

Every once in a while, a quickie can be *OH* so good. And this is one such example.

Picture yourself in the backseat of your car, only 15 minutes to spare, windows all steamed up, skirt hiked up around your waist, less than 5 ingredients on the seat next to you with their pants down, and 10 minutes of heaven until that cop shows up and starts tapping his flashlight on the window and trying to get a good look inside, and you've got this recipe.

Even *my* sauce-whore self (who drowns any and every noodle in as much sauce as humanly possible--think 1/2 a jar of spaghetti sauce for one serving of pasta) thought it was delightfully flavorful and ridiculously simple. Toss in a bit of vegan parmesan with yours if you want a bit more oomph (I didn't have any around).

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 box thin spaghetti noodles (or any long noodle really) cooked according to the box's directions


• 1 T. olive oil


• 2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice


• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced


• Freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Once your spaghetti is cooked through, empty it into a collander and return your pot to the burner (on low). Add your olive oil and once it's hot again, add your garlic. Cook the garlic for a few minutes until it's just about to start browning. Add your noodles back into the pot and toss. Add your lemon juice and cook for about a minute, and then serve with freshly ground black pepper and/or vegan parmesan.