Although rich dishes are enjoyable once in a while, our favorites tend toward simple soups, stews, stir-fries, and “monk bowls”.  We were inspired to make these simple bowl meals from a dish once available at Blossoming Lotus. Really it was a bowl of whole grains topped with steamed kale, legumes, and a tasty sauce. Truly simplicity and just what we want some meals.

Tonight, after all the Thanksgiving inspired dishes, we had a monk bowl variation for dinner. Brown rice topped with chickpeas and some broccoli crowns that had been chopped up and sauteed with a clove of elephant garlic.

I made a variation of my Ginger Miso Dressing as the sauce to top, with a few slight variations. I added more nutritional yeast, some garlic pepper, and about 2 tablespoons of some leftover toasted walnuts. I didn’t use any other oils or the Bragg’s, but I did have more white miso. The little bit of toasted walnuts gave the sauce a faintly pink hue and a rich flavor.

Delcious Monk Bowl

This came about as a good way to use up the surplus bread dressing and roasted squash we had left after a big Thanksgiving dinner at our house. This year I roasted the stuffed squash directly in the pan with extra dressing along side it. Although I covered it tightly in foil, the result was a bit dry. In the past I’ve made this with the intention of transporting to a potluck and therefore wrapped the stuffed squash in many layers of tinfoil. It really seems like this also helped to retain a lot of moisture as well as making it easy to travel with!

Squash & Dressing in Roasting Pan

I make a great Savory Kale Bread Pudding that’s a huge favorite of ours and it seemed like a a logical step to take with the leftover dressing. I also used some red curly kale we had in the house along with some of the leftover roast squash. It made for a very full pan, but I didn’t need to modify the recipe any further.

The result was incredibly tasty and we think we’ve found the new way to use up the leftover dressing in the future! It was so good with the little bits of chestnut and Field Roast sausage here and there. I roasted some red and yellow beets that we enjoyed with the bread pudding.

Hurrah for Leftovers

The flash photo doesn’t do justice to the loveliness of the bread pudding, but it gives some idea!

When you’re vegan complete strangers often feel the need to interrogate you about what you eat and how you could possibly celebrate holidays without animal products. I’ve been asked so many times how I could possibly get enough calcium, protein, B12, etc. that I’ve honestly lost track of the conversations. Likewise, just about every big holiday comes with the shocked question, “But how can you have a proper {insert name of holiday} without {insert animal product}?!”

Thanksgiving is a biggie because traditionally the meal all revolves around a gigantic roast turkey. Growing up we always had a turkey for Thanksgiving, filled with bread dressing, and accompanied by mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, celery stuffed with cheese, rolls, olives, cranberry sauce (quite usually the canned, jelly kind), a carrot/orange Jello salad, and always lots of pie for dessert. In my mid-20s I hosted this extensive meal for several years, having many guests over. When I became vegan I saw no reason that this holiday should be anything less than a feast that showcased the harvest.

The big one I’m asked about all the time is the turkey. How could we possibly replace the turkey? The answer is incredibly obvious to me; we serve a very large roast winter squash filled with bread dressing. It makes a great presentation piece and is delicious! I usually use a Hubbard style since these tend to be rather large as well as a very nice texture and taste.

Blue Ballet Hubbard Squash

The dressing is one of my favorite parts of the meal and I found it very easy to make a vegan one. I use things like Field Roast sausage (apple/sage), celery, onion, fresh parsley, chopped apple, and nuts along with artisan bread. This year I’ve fallen in love with freshly roasted chestnuts and they went into the dressing.

Ready to peel!

Christie has taken upon herself to perfect mashed potatoes. She makes a lemon and cashew creme sauce which is then mixed into the hand-mashed, Russet potatoes. We serve my miso shallot gravy along with the potatoes and it is divine!

I’ve also played around with making a green bean casserole, but this honestly was never a big hit for me as it often involved cream of mushroom soup. When I’ve tired it I’ve used some potato leek soup, but still wasn’t that impressed. This year a friend brought green beans cooked with pearl onions & almonds and I enjoyed this a lot more. Other friends brought over some fried and braised Brussels sprouts and I loved those!

Cheese spread, usually stuffed into celery, was always a part of big holiday meals in my family. I loved this stuff as a kid, particularly the port wine style. I’ve enjoyed the vegan ones people have brought over in the past and this year I tried my hand at making my own. They turned out great, so I will be coming up with recipes for these.

Although I don’t hate the jellied cranberry sauce in a can, it isn’t my favorite. For Christie the canned stuff is an integral part of her Thanksgiving experience, so we have it in addition to a freshly made cranberry relish.

This year we served a new Celebration Roast from Field Roast. A cranberry hazelnut roast wrapped in puff pastry (en croute)! It was beautiful and incredibly tasty. We look forward to serving one for the open house & games day we’ll be hosting on Christmas Day.

In addition to all that amazing food, we also include the delicious pumpkin pies and squishy yeast rolls from Sweetpea Baking Company. We’ve not figured out a great pumpkin pie ourselves and the ones made by the bakery are fantastic. The rolls cannot be beat and I swear I manage to eat a half dozen of them every Thanksgiving!

Another Squash Picture - So Lovely

As a kid I loved the jellied cranberry sauce in a can, but now find it a little too sweet. I’ve come to prefer the relishes made with fresh cranberries much more, although still find that many commercial varieties use too much sugar. Oregon produces a fair amount of fresh cranberries each year and with our regular delivery of organic produce we often see these great fruits arrive just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. A very tasty relish is very simple to make.

The Stuff

• 8oz fresh cranberries
• 1 large orange (e.g., Valencia oranges work great)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

The Making

Wash cranberries and remove any stems still remaining. Put in small saucepan on low heat.

Zest orange directly into cranberries. Juice orange, being careful to remove any seeds, and pour juice into cranberries. Simmer cranberries in juice until they begin to soften; some might pop, for about 15 minutes. As they begin to soften use a potato masher to squash the cranberries around to break them up.

Add maple syrup to the saucepan and mix in with the potato masher. Cover with lid and continue to simmer the mixture for another 20-30 minutes on low heat. Mash well again to break up all of the cranberries. You may need to simmer a little longer.

Serve in a lovely bowl and enjoy with your holiday feast!

Easy Cranberry Relish

My job to prepare for Thanksgiving meals as a child involved stuffing sticks of celery with cheese spreads. I was partial to the port wine and smoked flavors. I had a couple of years where cheese was the last hold out to my becoming a vegan, but I’m generally good without it. As a vegan I honestly don’t miss cheese the way I thought I would.

A friend of mine, Dave (who has posted several recipes here), has for a few years now been making cheeze balls or dips to bring to parties. In honor of my Thanksgiving heritage of stuffing the celery sticks, I decided to give them a try myself this year. The results were pretty darn tasty and attractive!

The base for both flavors involved soaked cashews, silken tofu, blanched almonds, and a pile of nutritional yeast. I also used some white miso, fresh lemon juice, and mustard powder to provide some saltiness and the sharper bite. Everything was processed very thoroughly in the food processor to make a smooth paste. I did end up drizzling in a little bit of olive oil during the processing when things got a little too sticky.

The smoky cheese ball relied upon a generous amount of sweet smoked paprika and a little bit of Hawaiian sea salt. These things gave it a slightly salty, very smoky flavor and a rich orange hue.

Smoky Cheeze Ball

The herbed cheese ball had more white miso for the saltiness and some fresh parsley added in while processing. This gave the cheese a hue similar to hummus, but with a faintly green cast from the tiny speckles of parsley mixed in.

Herbed Cheeze Ball

Both cheese spreads were put into the fridge to chill. I even stashed them in the freezer for an hour before attempting to make balls. This way the paste would be extra cold while I tried to form into balls with my warm hands. This worked really well and I was able to make very even shapes. The smoky one was rolled into toasted walnuts and the herbed one was rolled through some toasted almonds.

They went great with crackers and looked nice in a serving dish from my childhood! The smoky one was a real hit and most of it was eaten. The herbed one was good, but I think I’d like to play around with the flavors even more.

Crackers & Cheeze!

I had leftover spread that I did put into some celery sticks making my trip down memory lane, Thanksgiving Edition, complete!

Celery Stuffed with Cheeze!

A very simple tasty stir-fry sauce can be made by whisking miso together with fresh citrus juice. The result is bright, savory and delicious! I always keep miso and fresh citrus on hand to have this quick option available.

Last night I put together a quick dinner using extra firm tofu, green beans and carrots sauteed with fresh ginger.

The Stuff

• 1 lb green beans trimmed and chopped into 1-3″ pieces
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 2″ fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced on a bias
• 8-10 oz extra firm tofu, cubed
• juice of one medium to large lemon
• 2 Tablespoons white miso
• 3 oz uncooked buckwheat soba noodles

The making

In a saucepan bring 4 cups of water to a boil. When boiling add soba noodles and cook for time listed on package. When done boiling, drain soba and rinse with cold water. Set aside while stir-frying veggies & tofu.

Heat wok on medium high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent; about 4-6 minutes. Add fresh ginger and saute for 3 more minutes before adding the cubed tofu. Use spray canola oil if the tofu begins to stick. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring often, to brown tofu. Add in the carrots and green beans and saute for 6 minutes. Add 1 Tablespoon of water, reduce heat to medium low, and cover. Steam/saute for 15 minutes to cook beans and carrots.

In a small dish whisk together lemon juice and miso, set aside while veggies are cooking.

Add soba noodles once beans are tender and toss well. Add in lemon/miso mixture and toss well to coat evenly. Saute together for 5 minutes on medium low heat. Serve immediately.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Dinner is served, quickly!

I used to by the Lightlife tempeh bacon pretty frequently, but it was one of those foods that I knew I should just learn to make at home to save money. Finally last year, right before the first annual “Fakin’ Fest”, I knew I had to figure out my own recipe!

Here’s the first tempeh bacon recipe I’ve come up with and been happy with. I’ve made the braising step a separate one for the oven so it is easier to make all of the tempeh at once. If you want to do a half batch and just braise in the pan, that works really well (ditto for using two skillets at once). The “braise in pan” method works extra well with cast iron skillets; just turn the heat off when done frying each side and pour over liquid.

The Stuff

• 8 oz package of tempeh
• 2 Tablespoons tamari
• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup (add more if you want sweeter, use less if you want not-so-sweet)
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

The Making

Preheat oven to 350F.

Carefully slice tempeh into long strips, 1/4″ – 1/2″ thick.

Thin slices = yummy

Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl or measuring cup; something easy to pour from.

Spray a pan heated to medium heat with canola oil and arrange tempeh strips with one side down. You may need to use two saute pans or do this step twice to get all the tempeh strips browned. Tempeh should be browned and slightly dry.

Arrange tempeh strips into a 9×12 baking dish. Drizzle strips with marinade. Pick up baking dish and carefully tip toward each side so that the bottom of the strips are well coated. Carefully flip each strip over and repeat the tipping process with the dish to evenly and thinly distribute the marinade over all the strips.

Ready for the Oven

Bake tempeh strips in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. All of the marinade should be absorbed.

Serves 2-4, depending on how hungry you are!

I Love Sunday Breakfasts!

In the works for “Tempeh Bacon 2” is a method that involves a marinade soak for the sliced tempeh followed by time under the broiler. We’re curious to see if this will yield a crunchier tempeh.

There are a few ingredients I consider indispensable in my kitchen. Several items I’ve been known to bring with me on trips when I know I’m going to be cooking or I’ll have researched where I can procure them locally. Most of these are pretty easy to find and they show up in a lot of my recipes!

Miso – My wife and friends joke that this is my “secret ingredient” in many dishes. I use white miso in light things like a sweet/salty glaze for grilled tofu or salad dressings, the much stronger red miso in stews and gravies, and I’ve used chickpea miso to make some dishes soy-free! It adds a wonderful salty, sweet, savory taste to any dish.

*My current favorite miso is a product called Jorinji Miso made by the Soy Beam Jozo Company right here in Portland, Oregon! They make miso a small batches and it is amazingly good. A friend visiting from San Francisco, who has also lived in Japan, has asked that I please bring some down when next I visit.

Maple Syrup – I love the sweetness that maple syrup adds and will use it a lot in salad dressing, sauteed or roasted veggies, baked beans, and tempeh bacon. I do use agave, but only when the warmer, stronger taste of maple syrup would be distracting.

Nutritional Yeast – We go through so much of this in our house that I’ve been tempted to get it in 25 pound bags! This is one of very best ways to add a salty taste to a dish without adding a lot of extra sodium; only 5mg of sodium in 2 tablespoons! The fine flake is extra nice for just shaking onto stuff or using for salad dressings because it mixes in so smoothly.

Dried shiitake mushrooms – I don’t actually like mushrooms much, unless it is something fabulous the chef at Andina surprises me with, but I will admit that the flavor dried shiitakes impart to broth is really awesome. I regularly use big, dried shiitakes to make my own dashi (a Japanese stock) or just to add a richer, darker flavor to vegetable stocks.

Hoisin sauce – Often mistakenly called “plum sauce”, hoisin is a sweeter, thicker cousin of soy sauce. I occasionally add a little to a quick stir-fry and call it dinner! More than any of the other distinctly Asian condiments I keep on hand, I think the hoisin gets used the most.

Bragg’s Liquid Aminos – I generally add very, very little salt to any of my dishes. If we want a little more saltiness we add it when we eat, usually via a little bit of Bragg’s. Yes, it still has quite a lot of sodium, but it also has a whole pile of amino acids along with that sodium and I like the way it tastes in things like soups.

Citrus – I like to try and keep at least one lemon and one lime on hand. Nothing beats the taste of freshly squeezed citrus in dishes, not to mention the option of adding the grated peel! A little fresh lemon and some miso whisked together and you’ve got yourself an awesome glaze!

It came up in conversation recently that both Christie and I love twice-baked potatoes so I decided to give them a try for dinner. I’d made them before a few years ago using Earth Balance and soy milk to mash the baked potato filling, but I wanted to try out a cashew creme that Christie whips up with she makes her fabulous mashed potatoes. Since we had fresh parsley on hand I used some of that in the cashew creme.

I used one largish, long even Russet, a quite small Russet and a small yam. All of these were first “baked” in the microwave and set on the counter on a plate to cool enough to handle easily. I then sliced the big Russet carefully in half and scooped out some of the insides into a bowl, being careful to leave enough potato behind to make a stable “boat” to fill.

The cashew cream was made with about 1/2 a cup of raw cashews soaked in hot water and then drained. These were processed with 1/3 cup fine flake nutritional yeast, some sea salt, some garlic pepper, the juice of one lemon, and some fresh parsley. This was pretty pasty so I ended up adding in a few tablespoons of water (I wondered about reserving the soaking water for this).

I mashed the scooped out insides with about 3-4 tablespoons of the cashew creme. This honestly was pretty sticky and I should have went with that initial observation!

The stuffed potatoes were put in a cast iron dish and tossed under low broil until the tops were golden. The all-potato one turned out extra lovely.

Gorgeous Golden Top!

I filled my potato “boat” with a mixture of potato and yam; a combination I like a lot. It needs less time under the broiler since the sugars caramelize faster than on the all-potato one. Still, pretty awesome looking.

Love me some yam!

These were paired with a saute of curly green kale and tempeh that was finished with a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar and fresh parsley.

The verdict: Sadly the potatoes were a little dry and sticky (I knew I should have paid attention to thinking it at first!). That said, they were very tasty. When I talked with Christie about the cashew creme she makes she revealed that hers has a thinner consistency than the thick, rich paste I’d made. I think it would be good to add either a little water (perhaps reserving the soaking water for the cashews to mix back in) or rice or soy milk.

This past weekend I paid a visit to my far-geekier past and attended OryCon for a day. It was a lot of fun seeing friends I’d not seen in a long time and hanging out gaming, but the thing that really stuck me was how terrible the food was overall. I was happy I’d started the day off with lunch at Blossoming Lotus before going.

I found myself wondering if the food at science fiction conventions had gotten worse, but I finally realized that it hadn’t. At one point I had been willing to tolerate the cheap peanut butter and slices of white bread or be grateful to have the option of a big bowl of iceberg lettuce with lousy dressing because at least it resembled a vegetable. Taken as a whole it seems like the Con Suite food has always been mediocre at best.

Given the bad and really only snack level food available from the Con, and having heard about the poor quality of the hotel restaurants, a group of us decided to have some Chinese food delivered. I had a very stilted conversation with the restaurant and settled on stir-fried green beans and spicy tofu with vegetables for Devon and I to share. This food was also really lousy. “Not inedible”, was perhaps the kindest description that could be applied.

At this point Devon pointed out that she would have a far easier time finding food-like-substances, not being vegan, and insisted I finish her leftover half a white bean and pesto wrap she’d saved from our lunch earlier at Blossoming Lotus. We’d also picked up some hummus while picking up things for a party, but the wrap was pretty filling and tasty. I was really grateful for it too after having unenthusiastically eaten some of the tofu and green beans.

I was so surrounded by a lack of good vegan options, unusual for being in the middle of Portland, that it was a good reminder of how much concerned I am about what I eat now. After a day of this I have found it interesting to observe how differently I approach food now. Starting first from the compassionate choice of vegan food, then moving on to delicious food, and quite often healthy food as well. This relationship with food has made a profound impact to my life.