In Sickness

This year will be my ten year anniversary with Dandelion the Bitter Green. And while neither of us remembers exactly what we said in our vows (which gives us good loop holes for whatever we need, such as "you vowed to never steal the sheets") I'm pretty sure we included something about sickness and health. This week I've been sick and I've been so thankful that someone else in this household knows how to cook and can cook for me. I don't think I could heal as quickly if I were eating takeout every night. (Not that we didn't get takeout a few times.) Healthy food can not be underestimated for the healing properties it can give you. If you're feeling run down or like you have the cold/flu mega virus attacking my office, try cooking some healing food like miso soup and see how you feel.

Last Wednesday night we had pasta with baked tofu. Served with cauliflower and carrots.



Thursday night I was helping the Cheerful Baker pick her wedding dress so I picked Papalote's for burritos on the way home.

Friday night we had the crazy sweet potato green soup leftovers with extra veggies and rice and lentils.



Saturday night we ate at Samovar Tea Lounge after watching Avatar. Sadly I forgot to take any pictures in there because it was such a cellphone-free zone that I felt constrained. They did have delicious food paired with lovely teas.

Sunday night, because I was already sick, I made an old standby: roasted veggies. This time though I added a new dish: almond butter kale. I simply added almond butter and a few dashes of soy sauce to the kale as I was sauteing it. It was very easy and tasted great.



Monday night Dandelion the Bitter Green made me a meal to help me feel better. It was based on a meal we had at Manzanita a while ago: quinoa with rice, squash with cannelini beans, and carrots, kale, and hijiki seaweed simmered together.



Tuesday night: pizza. After being sick for three days sometimes takeout is the only option.

Wednesday night: More of the delicious quinoa/rice with a cauliflower curry and baked tofu with broccoli garnish.





This week's recipe: Miso Soup
*****************************************

We have miso soup every morning for breakfast and people have often asked me how to prepare it. Miso soup is very healing if you make it yourself. Often what you get in restaurants is incorrectly prepared and has none of the good enzymes that miso has.

Miso paste (often sold in the refrigerated section of a store in a small container)
Green onions, cut small (optional)
A little bit of seaweed (kombu or wakame, not nori which is the kind used for sushi)

I really like to do a mix of red miso (sometimes called brown rice, mugi, barley, or just red) and white miso (sometimes called mellow) but if you have to choose between them I'd err on the side of red. It's easier to have a nice flavorful soup with it. Boil some water with green onions and some seaweed (broken into small pieces). Once the water has boiled turn it way down to simmer, take out a small amount and let it cool slightly. You'll mix the miso in the water you took out b/c you don't want the miso to boil ever or you kill the good enzymes. Add two scoops of miso for each person. I use a regular eating spoon and don't fill it all the way but it's probably somewhere between a tsp and a tblsp. Mix that into the water you took out with a whisk if you have one. Then return it to the main pot. You can let it warm for a minute if you want so long as it doesn't boil. And that's it!

New Knowledge

I learned how to make crackers! And it was so easy! I'll include the recipe at the end but now I'm on a kick to learn how to make everything I usually buy. I still haven't gotten my tortilla press but once I have that I will be on my way. Though I suppose the biggest challenge might be rice cakes. Hmmm.

Thursday last week I made a recipe from Yoga Journal. It was very different from my normal fair. It was a green sweet potato soup with sage, essentially sweet potatoes cooked with sage and then blended with two large bunches of kale and chard. A dash of lemon completed the picture. It was refreshing and filling at the same time with a major dose of greens.



Last weekend the Mother-of-Law came for a visit and then Dandelion the Bitter Green threw out his back and was incapacitated for several days. But before the injury happened on Friday night we went to Millennium where the waiter practically knew our names. He gave us tons of free food and drinks and insisted we try new and interesting things. He has always been my favorite waiter and now more so. I only hope he gets to be our waiter during the Cheerful Baker's wedding reception.

I had a Berber spiced portabello on a teff cake with a garbanzo sauce and a meyer lemon salad. For desert I had a chocolate cheesecake with hazelnuts. But I was so full I could barely move, hardly ate my dinner to begin with after the two appetizers and bread. I didn't think the cheesecake was that good at the time but when I ate it the next day I thought it was much more cheesecake like and much tastier.



Saturday was the fateful back-throwing-out day so while Dandelion the Bitter Green recovered, I went to a show that night at a tea house (and Buddhist temple) and drank my body weight in Pu-erh tea.



Sunday we had pancakes and watched movies so we ate leftovers and a quick dish I made for Dandelion the Bitter Green since he didn't have leftovers.



Monday night was squash and adzuki bean soup with my favorite: rice and roasted veggies!





Tuesday night we had soup 2.0. I added the rice to the soup and made a big batch of broccoli and kale as a garnish as well as the best new thing I've learned how to make: crackers! These were whole wheat versions and I didn't use the cuisinart as suggested but they turned out ok. I'm sure next time I make them they will be even better. And the best part? It took about 15 minutes.



******************
Crackers

1 cup flour (I use half whole wheat and half whole wheat pastry flour)
2 Tblsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
water

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Put the first three ingredients in a bowl and begin mixing. Add the water slowly, in 1/4 cup increments, until a dough forms. It shouldn't be too sticky but should stay together. Roll out the dough on a floured surface as thin as you possibly can. Score it with a knife if you want to break it into nice neat squares. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Let cool on a rack and then eat or store in a bag. Note: If you want to add fancy flavorings (herbs, sesame seeds, cheese) I recommend doing that in the mixing stage. Nothing really stuck to the dough once it was rolled out.

Honestly

I was talking to a coworker who has a blog the other day about how honest or not one can be on social media sites. In some ways you're anonymous thanks to the internet. In other ways your friends or coworkers or boss can see everything you've ever written. I have split personalities for my professional life and my personal interests but it's getting harder to keep them separate. And it's not just harder to do, I'm less interested in having to. I'd rather have one personality and be able to say everything I want in front of anyone, though I know that's not always possible. My authors don't want to hear about my food and my boss doesn't need to hear about my lousy day. So with the new wave of social media being ever present we will all be either fully honest or completely repressed. I'm just glad I mostly talk about food. It's easy to be honest about that.

And I'm super excited to post the recipe for the most delicious curry I've ever made! That's what I ate last Wednesday and is now its official title. Squash, cauliflower and coconut milk = yum! Served with a side of sauted baby bok choy and a dash of parsley.



Thursday night we had what tonight I called my standard dish. Rice and lentils with roasted veggies, served with a side of grilled mushrooms and chard.



Friday night I think we had leftovers. Saturday night I made Barley and White Bean soup in the pressure cooker. Lots of root veggies perfectly cooked by the pressure cooker. Love that thing!



Sunday was the first day of Dandelion the Bitter Green's new schedule so no pancakes for brunch. I know, I probably shouldn't be eating pancakes every Sunday anyway so maybe this is a good thing. But it was a good way to use my sourdough starter each week. The alternative is that I'll have to make bread more often, though sourdough bread tends to require a lot of time. I'll have to work on this. Sunday night I made buckwheat with seitan and onions and the roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli dish that I always rave about, with the orange- tamari dressing. This time I used a lime for the dressing but it was still delicious.



Monday night we had polenta with bits of seitan, and a pinto bean, red cabbage, chard and carrot stir fry.



Tuesday night we ate pizza while we did laundry. Because some days are like that. Even in Australia.

Wednesday I made my standard again: rice and lentils with roasted veggies, now with more brussel sprouts! I also made the magic almond butter- miso sauce. So good!



***********************
The Best Curry Ever aka Squash and Cauliflower Coconut Milk Curry

1 small butternut squash, seeded, peeled and diced into cubes
1 medium size cauliflower, cut into florets
1 onion, diced
a couple cloves of garlic, diced or crushed
1 tsp fresh ginger (optional)
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp paprika (optional)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 lime
(Note: You can add whatever curry spices you like or only use the curry powder or go whole hog and do it all by scratch. I just happened to have curry powder this time so I used it.)

Saute the onions in some olive oil. When they start to brown add the garlic and ginger (if using). Cook the garlic for a few moments and then add the cumin seeds, curry powder and other spices. Next add the cauliflower and cook until it wilts a little, maybe 3-5 minutes. Then add the squash. You might need to add a little water at this point to keep everything from sticking to your pan. That's ok if you do, just don't overdo it. Cook the squash for a few minutes and then add the coconut milk. Turn the heat down to simmer and let it cook until the squash is tender, about 20-25 min. Once it's cooked, take it off the heat and stir in the juice of one lime. Serve garnished with sauted greens and parsley.

Peas in a pod

Good luck for the new year! Is it black eyed peas or lentils? I always thought it was black eyed peas that brought good luck. You were supposed to eat them on new years day, in my family usually in a stew. I hated them as a child and only recently have been brave enough to try them out again. Dandelion the Bitter Green heard from his mother that it was lentils, which others have collaborated as a European tradition. I'm sure I ate enough lentils last year and will again this year to bring me the good luck.

I tried on New Years Eve to make black eyed pea croquettes. I was following a recipe and everything but it totally failed. They stuck together well (which is the common croquette problem) but didn't cook all the way through. Not the end of the world as everything inside was either cooked or edible raw but I'm not a big fan of raw onions and garlic and flour. The failed croquettes were served with roasted vegetables (brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, rutabagas) and brown rice.



As proof that I refuse to give up on something (or throw anything out) I decided to try again the next night with the extra croquette ingredients. This time I made what I fondly call "hash," a mix of beans and rice with lots of onions and garlic fried in oil. That was the stuffing ingredient for a stuffed acorn squash which was then topped with the leftover roasted veggies and a nice tahini-miso sauce. (Note: the very awesome new display bowl, a Christmas present from the Cheerful Baker. Much thanks!)



Saturday night I made a simple meal of seitan and chard with some caramelized onions. We ate this with more brown rice. The seitan was some of the batch I made before Christmas. I was concerned about it going bad so I've frozen the rest. I'll report back later on how that turns out.



Sunday night we had such a big pancake brunch that we didn't eat again until the next morning.

Monday night I made a barley and white bean stew. I am so happy to have a pressure cooker because all of the root vegetables I used in the stew (celery root, rutabagas, parsnips, and carrots) were perfectly cooked by the pressure cooker. And the barley too, all in 22 minutes. Amazing!



Tuesday night was another rice and lentils night. Roasted veggies, sweet potato chips and the silly movie Julie & Julia. I had read the book. I like food. I thought I would like the movie. But I discovered that while I liked Julia Child for having a fabulous life and living it with zest, I was annoyed at Julie Powell for whining and complaining about her life. Plus in the book she actually does get fat from all the butter she uses. The thing that I remember the most from the book were the times she had to make aspics, essentially meat Jell-O (blech!) Not only does it not sound good but she had to make gelatin from a calf hoof. Another reminder that being vegan is actually much more pleasant. Not that I mind other people dealing with calf hooves, but I'm glad I don't have to.



*********
This week's recipe: Sweet Potato Chips

This is super easy and can hardly be called a recipe but here it is.
Heat oven to 450.
Cut a sweet potato into thin rounds. I like to use Japanese sweet potatoes because they're not as sweet as yams or traditional sweet potatoes but you can use whatever kind you want. Japanese ones are more purplish on the outside and have white insides.
Put a little olive oil on a cookie sheet and spread it around so that it's coated.
Place the sweet potato chips on the sheet in one layer. It's ok if they're touching but if you have so many that they are all on top of each other spread them out onto two sheets.
Drizzle with more oil and put in the oven.
Check them every 5 minutes or so until they are starting to brown.
Flip them over. Drizzle a little bit of soy sauce or tamari on them.
Cook for another 5-10 minutes until they are at your level of crunchiness/ burntness.
Take them off the sheet and let them sit on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
Try not to eat them all at once or as the only thing you eat for dinner.