Even Better The Next Day

We've been enjoying more vegan and vegetarian meals per week in our household -- even for the omnivore, who's now outnumbered.  Though not gluten-free, this delicious one-pot meal made good use of spring vegetables.  First, four cloves of garlic and a package of white mushrooms, both sliced, were sauteed in coconut oil and olive oil.  Whole grape tomatoes were then added and all was cooked at medium-high heat until the tomatoes' skins split.  Sliced brussels sprouts and asparagus were then added, along with a tiny pinch of salt, a shake of tamari and a couple shakes of cumin.  Then a scant 1/4 cup of good tomato sauce and cooked pasta were stirred into the mix and the pan was taken off the burner and covered.  The green veggies cooked perfectly in the remaining steam.

This was so easy and enjoyed by all.  The vegetarian and omnivore added parmesan cheese to their bowls and I added capers.  After sitting overnight, the noodles had soaked up the goodness, making the whole thing even better.  

Gluten-Free and Green

This was a big hit with the family. I liked the shape of this Tinkyada rice pasta -- it didn't fall apart. I think I've figured out how to work with this product. I cooked it two minutes fewer than the directions suggested, and rinsed it thoroughly with cold water while I finished cooking the veggies.

For the greens, here is what I did:  on medium-high heat I quickly pan-seared the broccoli in coconut oil, along with chopped ginger and garlic, leaving it for a little while to get crispy and brown -- just on the edge of burning -- before stirring. This only took about three minutes, stirring 3-4 times. Then I turned off the burner and added chopped scallions, shredded kale, a little salt and pepper and a dash of Tamari, stirring the veggies until they were wilted. Finally, I took the hot pan off the still-hot burner, added the cooked noodles and a drizzle of olive oil and stirred it all together. The whole process took about 15 minutes, including prep.

I'm working on removing all grains as I strive to recover my immune system, but with baby steps --I'm embracing gluten-free products from time to time. This one's a winner!

Hello, My Love

Look at her sitting there in all her verdant glory! My favorite way to start the day. This is like Yoga in a recycled glass -- then I proceeded logically to actual yoga, courtesy of my friend, Liat. Ahhhh!

Wynne is working on noticing the way different foods make her feel, and is choosing accordingly. She's a pasta girl, but she is broadening her outlook and including more whole foods, and enjoying the noticeable holistic changes.

Here's a recent compromise which provided us all plenty of delicious wholeness:

Clockwise from top left, we have amaranth with sauteed onion, pasta with vegan artichoke alfredo sauce (from a jar, made mostly from cashews) topped with fresh tomato, Chinese longbeans sauteed in olive oil. This food was a hit -- what's not to love?

Never Enough Kale + Odds-n-Ends

I created something fabulous to eat recently -- one of those recipes that continues to call to me from its shelf in the 'fridge. The good news is there was very little guilt associated with succumbing to its pull. Here's the recipe:

Spring Puttanesca

1 bag of brown rice pasta, prepared (I used Tinkyada spirals)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
6-8 leaves of kale, roughly chopped, tough stems removed
1 pint of mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped if large
1-2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
2-3 Tbsp. capers
2 Tbsp. Shoyu or Tamari
3 Tbsp. Olive oil, plus more to finish
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, quickly cook onions and garlic in olive oil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and add mushrooms, tomatoes and chick peas, stir and cover for about 3-4 minutes. Stir a couple of times so the veggies don't burn. Turn the heat back up to medium-high and quickly add the kale and the shoyu, and a little water if the mixture seems dry enough to burn. Stir, cover and steam for 2 minutes, then stir in the cooked pasta, turn down the heat and simmer until warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in capers and additional olive oil to make the pasta unsticky. Don't add too much oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir.

This makes GREAT leftovers, but this post is called "Never Enough Kale" because no matter how much kale I prepare, once it cooks down I want more!

I cannot imagine ever thinking to myself, "Oh, I just ate too much kale," --the idea is laughable.

So, with each reheating the kale/other ratio increases, and the capers increase too. I don't heat the capers because I like them sharp in flavor and firm, but that's my preference. Obviously, the quantities needn't be precise in this dish. There's a lot of room for creativity with a puttanesca, which features antipasto flavors like capers or olives or marinated artichoke hearts -- you get the idea. Just choose your favorites!

And now for the "odds-n-ends" portion of the post, which is really just a lightening-round, stream-of-consciousness report on various and sundry items which have caught my attention over the last week.

This is a roasted cabbage "steak" as I've seen here and there on vegan menus. It is simply a 1/2" slice of cabbage, dipped in oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. It's supposed to be an "impressive presentation". At my house, I was the only one impressed with the presentation, but upon sampling the "steak" I became unimpressed. It was dry and devoid of flavor. I sprinkled more salt, some dill and nutritional yeast --still unimpressed. Instead, I craved juicy, quick-sauteed slivered cabbage and onions with olive oil and earth balance, still green and fresh then brightened with a squirt of lemon {LOVE}. This "steak" (calling it that was actually the first turnoff) was a waste of a good cabbage, in my book. We only learn what we love by trying a myriad of diverse approaches, so I'll chalk this up to a learning experience.

Here are some recent indulgences I've enjoyed. The espresso grinds in the almond butter impart a gentle kick, and the Ginger and Orange Marmalade reminds me of something my Mom, the francophile, used to serve. The bitter candied orange rind elevates this one to a grown-up treat. There are worse lapses, of course, but I've still got to deal with that sugar monkey on my back again.

Speaking of detox, as my final odds-n-ends tidbit for today, I want to feature my old tried and true friend:

The Eziekiel English Muffin -- to my palate, king of the Eziekiel kingdom! My husband, the carnivore, asked me yesterday morning about the muffins. I told him I loved them, but since he doesn't care for most of my fabulous food, I couldn't predict whether he would or not. I was blasted back in memory, oh so many moons ago, to when my doctor, the late, great Christine Gustafson, MD, (RIP Christy) prescribed a cleanse to find any food sensitivities. The list of allowed foods for the cleanse was miniscule, and I remember asking her, "would Eziekiel bread be on my list?"

She nodded and said, "You can have sprouts,"

"That's what Eziekiel bread is?" I countered, incredulous.

"That's what it is!" she answered.

My carnivore loves the Eziekiel! It's going to change his world!

Juice!

Thank you, sweet husband! Look at my wonderful Christmas gift from my hubby. I've coveted this Breville juicer since reading Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet. It's hard to jump in with both feet to Kris' plan without the necessary equipment. This thing is so cool. The first juice we made was carrot, celery and apple. The result was shockingly delicious! The next day, with no more celery, I made apple, ginger, carrot and kale. I tried one less apple (3) than the day before (4) and it was still delicious. After two days of juicing, I am actually craving the next juice. Yes, that's right, with a refrigerator full of decadent vegan meal items from our holiday fare, what I really want more than anything else is my next juice! I'm eating the holiday leftovers too, by the way, but am surprised by the swiftness of this new craving. My 14-year-old daughter and her friends giggle over how thrilled I am with this juicer. I'm so glad I can provide entertainment for the next generation!

Today I think I will make cucumber, apple, romaine and kale. Yesterday and the day before I used the only apples I had, which were not organic but well-scrubbed (I know, that's not good enough). Yesterday I picked up some organic apples: gala and granny smith. Obviously these will be nutritionally superior. I'll let you know about any flavor difference I detect.

Here's our Christmas Dinner table -- just for the four of us this time. Our extended family lives around the Washington D.C. area, except for my brother and his family in China and my husband's brother and sisters in Florida, so it was only us this time. I prepared a turkey breast for the omnis, but the rest was vegan: Mashed potatoes with tofutti sour cream, earth balance and fresh Italian parsley, Wynne's favorite pasta salad with sundried tomatoes and chick peas in a balsamic veganaise sauce and freshly sauteed leeks, collard greens and cabbage with a splash of tamari and plenty of earth balance. I love pairing cabbage with collards. Somehow the cabbage holds the flavor of the "butter" better than the other veggies, so it is a perfect foil to the more bitter collards. This was all delicious and we have plenty of leftovers.

Now for some juice!!

Happy

Ahhh! So that's what it feels like! I don't know how long it has been, probably not as long as it seems, but feeling happy like I do today is like a distant memory. It's amazing how we can somehow cope, and frame our challenges in a way that we can just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's not that I have been unhappy, just more like a nervous wreck. Living with stress is a life sentence for mothers, but we need to understand that managing it is imperative to our health and well-being.

I'm not the best at stress-management, so the recent stress has, indeed, taken a toll. Long-time MLV readers might remember that, 18 months vegan, I had my first MRI ever which showed no additional MS plaques on my brain in two years! I really can only thank the vegan diet for this result, since nothing else had changed during the timeframe. But with the recent stress, I lost the use of my left hand for one morning -- something that has never happened before. The hand has come back, but is tingly most of the time.

Knowing how crucial stress-management is to my health, I do take certain steps which I believe have helped. Here they are:

• Go to bed as early as possible.
• Exercise almost every day.
• Eat greens every day - more than once if possible.
• Keep the "spa" channel playing on the stereo all day long (this helps the mood of all the others around here too, which further lowers my stress).
• Keep the Kindle charged and filled not only with"self-help" books, but also vegan and macrobiotic books, and most surprisingly, "escape" fiction (not trashy romance novels - I never liked those - just good fiction. It's such a relief to get lost in someone else's life. I just recently enjoyed "How to Be Good" by Nick Hornby) You may wonder, if I'm so stressed, where do I find the time to read? The answer -- in the middle of the night as I'm not sleeping because of my racing mind.
• Meditate -- so much easier said than done, and I'm not as regular with it as I should be, but everything is always better on days when it happens. Some days I don't know where to start, so a guided meditation is appreciated. My favorites are from "The Life Program" I put them on one of my hand-me-down ipods I got from the kids as they upgraded.

When I am stressed I have no appetite, so creativity in the kitchen goes away. Some days I am reduced to standing at the kitchen island, in front of a bag of dill-pickle flavored potato chips for sustenance. Those days are rough. Instead, if I can pull it together enough to feed body and soul, like I did last weekend, I can come up with something wonderful like the early autumn stew in the photo above. I simply cleaned out the crisper. I boiled a piece of kombu in filtered water and added five chopped cloves of garlic, a yellow onion, a sweet potato, four small organic carrots, a couple of organic celery stalks, a big handful of shredded kale, a can of garbanzo beans and about half a cup of dry orzo. I found a few grape tomatoes in my garden and threw those in too, and added a little organic veggie broth as the orzo swelled and made the mixture thick. Finally, once everything looked cooked, I turned off the heat, added some sherry and a couple of scallions. I squeezed a little lemon over each bowlful, which made it taste like sunshine, and we ate it in front of a crackling fire outdoors. Happy!

Today I can only be grateful for this happy feeling. Everything is not perfect, it never is, right? But it is fine, I am fine . . . no . . . blessed! I'm going out now to smile at everyone I see so I can spread the happy around. I hope you have a happy day too!

Wynne's Favorite Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is so easy it's embarrassing, but it's what my little girl craves! Wynne has enjoyed lots of different pasta salads I've made throughout my vegan life, and strangely she thinks of all of them as the same, despite varying ingredients. I guess this is because I always find the rejected goodies: olives, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, spinach, arugula, etc. in the bottom of the bowl, so the parts she actually eats do happen to be the same. The common denominators in Wynne's salads are chick peas, sun dried tomatoes and a dressing made from Veganaise and balsamic vinegar.

So, when Wynne was under the weather yesterday I let her stay home, bundled her up and made her favorite meal. Here's the recipe:

Wynne's Favorite Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 1/2 boxes of multi grain pasta
1 packet of julienned sun dried tomatoes (dry)
1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
4 Tbsp. Veganaise
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper


Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cool water and drain. Toss in the packetful of tomatoes and the chick peas, then whisk together the Veganaise and vinegar and incorporate into the pasta salad, mixing well. Finally, season to taste and mix again. 


I believe the trick to this dressing is to use very good balsamic vinegar. A cheaper vinegar might impart a sharp note which would clash with the tomatoes. An aged vinegar is rich, sweet and mild, without that tannic tang which would turn off a tender palate. I liked using the shell-shaped pasta this time. The chick peas tend to find their way inside the shells and the effect is kind of like a chick pea ravioli in texture. This pasta salad was an enormous quantity, but it was by design. Wynne's a bit like me -- if she enjoys a meal, she finds herself craving it again for the next few meals. Also, I always find my husband wanting to eat whatever I make for the kids, though not usually what I make for myself. My food is normally way-vegan and the kids' is just vegan in the guise of omni. Anyway, with the large amount, I knew I would be covered for the next several meals, no matter to whom it appealed. It worked. Wynne ate the salad for lunch yesterday, Wynne, her Dad and I ate it for dinner last night, and she finished it off at lunch today. It may seem this meal is a bit lacking in veggie content, but you'll have to remember it's a huge step up from store bought mac and cheese a couple of times a day, which is the way my kids used to eat.

An update on my shaggy messes conundrum -- I got a response from my wonderful friend, Sherri, who wisely stated that some of her best days were the result of no plan (paraphrasing here). Thanks Sherri! I took a deep breath at this and realized that there was no need to make decisions. I can just clean up my summer garden and let it lie fallow for a season while I plant a couple of things in some pots out of Buster's reach. Future planting decisions will be based on what happens during the fallow season. As for the mop on my head, I trust my hairdresser and think it will be fun to let her do whatever the heck she wants with it. Artists always love free rein. Besides, it's just hair. I did get a good night's sleep and everything makes much more sense today!

Odds-n-Ends, Back to School Edition

Long time, no post, I know. Transitions have always been a challenge for me, creature of habit as I tend to be. With the kids at school, I am now thriving in a new routine, but it has taken me almost a week to settle into it. I'll share a bit of life in general around here during the transition.

The photo above is an example of a lazy way to make the mundane fabulous. This is just whole wheat linguine with jarred marinara, daiya "cheese"and kalamata olives, along with grape tomatoes and fresh oregano from my garden. The others ate theirs without all my chosen goodies.

Here is something tried and true: greens, grains and beans. The addition of french bread makes it vegan junk food, though.

Oops -- I forgot that nobody else at home doesn't really mean nobody else at home. I'll have to shut the door all the way if I want privacy. Otherwise Ellie's gonna get into my business.

On a night out with the man, at Sage, a restaurant/bar where we frequently order tapas with our drinks, I ordered what I usually do -- Mediterranean Crostini without the feta. It is the only thing on the menu veganizable except for a boring salad. Normally the veganized crostini is perfect bar food, but the other night someone in the kitchen must have decided to "improve" the crostini by broiling the toasts covered in feta. Grrrrr -- they thought I had only meant no additional cheese on top! How many times have I ordered the exact same thing? The photo is of the second batch of crostini after I sent the first one back. The cheese had been buried under all the yummy Mediterranean veggies, and we each had a bite or two before my husband noticed the flavor of cheese. I knew it tasted different, but I had forgotten what cheese used to taste like, I guess. Within five minutes of the accidental cheese eating, my head filled with stuffiness and confusion and I really was quite a boring girl for about an hour. Cheese steals my joie de vivre, my witty banter, my sense of humor. I just sit on the bar stool like a lump -- of cheese.

Back at home, after I had finally regained my personality, we decided to watch a concert DVD in our basement theater, and my husband did push-ups on the coffee table. Okay.

Taking a good look at my bread and pasta filled transitional days, I understand why I am feeling a bit, um, fluffy around the edges. Noticing and analyzing trends in cravings is a good way to get a read on what is going on with our bodies. I was craving carbs because of my lack of energy from the B12 deficiency. There is great news on that front, personally, though. I saw my Integrative Medicine M.D. the other day and she trained me to give my own B12 injections! I am no stranger to needles, since my mainstream MS medication is a daily subcutaneous injection, self-administered, but it had been ten years since I had done the intramuscular injections. The longer needle is a bit more of a challenge psychologically, but if one doesn't overthink it, the IM shot is a breeze. Now I can give myself B12 every two weeks! I bought a vial of B12 (30 doses) and a bunch of syringes for $94, and my labor is free. I am going to save a bundle on what it would have cost me to go in every two weeks to have my M.D. administer the shots. I love my doctor. She's always looking for a way to get what I need for less. Isn't she cool?

Odds-n-Ends, Random Eats

Without a cohesive theme today, since life has been flying past at breakneck speed, I nevertheless want to share with you some pretty fantastic, if simple, food I've been eating.

You know what the above photo represents -- peach season in Georgia! Mmmmm. Here I enjoyed an overripe fruit on Ancient Grains cereal, topped with organic granola and almond milk.

This is what I did with my Macaroni Grill leftovers. Have you tried their "Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables" appetizer? Well, that's what I ordered as my entree last week on a night out with the family. I had my husband take a photo of the appetizer since it was so pretty and I had not brought my camera. I've yet to see the photo, but will share it if I do. The appetizer was so large I could only eat half of it, so I brought the rest home and put it on top of Tinkyada brown rice pasta with a bit of olive oil and some freshly torn herbs from the garden. Don't get too excited about the appetizer. Our waiter excitedly informed us that the new menu comes out soon at Macaroni Grill. To me that means higher prices and a likely deletion of some of my favorites, but maybe I'll be happily surprised. I'll keep you posted.

This rice dish does not look too different from the above pasta dish, and I'm guessing I created it becaused I missed the pasta dish so much after it went away. This was lighter in flavor though, with only  my garden veggies and a can of navy beans. My grape tomatoes have been in full swing since mid-June, since Georgia has been Sahara-hot for months now. Normally I see nary a tomato before July. I will post a full garden update soon, since we are starting to become prolific.

I roasted a head of cauliflower and ate it all by myself over the course of a couple of days. These folks around here don't know what they are missing! It was just cauliflower, olive oil, salt, pepper at 450 for 20 minutes. I ate it hot, cold, covered in nutritional yeast and added to canned soup. Cruciferous veggies represented!

Speaking of cruciferous veggies, awww! Isn't that just the cutest little baby bok choy you have ever seen? I bought a huge carton of about 60 of these little guys (no joke) at Costco for $4.99. I used the first 20 of them last night in a repeat performance of my decadent baby bock choy with mushrooms and black truffle oil. This time, since these tiny things were so tender, I did not steam them. I just added them at the end to the sautee pan full of funghi, "butter" and truffle oil. It was delicious and very impressive. We have out-of-town guests, so I have been cooking a lot, but unfortunately not remembering to take a lot of photos. Sorry. This dish was beautiful, but you will have to take my word for it. Also featured at this meal was a wonderful green salad with cucumbers, avocados and tender lettuces, and the fabulous "Caesar Chavez Dressing" from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Appetite For Reduction. My non-vegan guests LOVED the vegan dressing! Sorry again for no photo.

As hostess to our guests -- the lovely and talented sister-in-law, Liana, and her wonderful friend, J.P., I have just been putting piles of food on the table, especially for breakfast -- breads, bagels, every kind of topping one can imagine, potatoes, fruit, scrambled eggs, juices, coffee, etc. It has been fun, but I really wish I had thought to take more photos. No matter, I'll work with what I've got here. This is my plateful, since I'm not an egg-eater. It sort of reminds me of Alicia's "Full English Breakfast" from The Kind Diet.
Of course I didn't prepare any meats, real or vegan, since there was already so much on the table, but the important part here is the bread with beans. On artisanal rosemary bread slices I layered a smear of earth balance, a dollop of hummus and a bean and corn salsa. If you have never tried good bread with beans, you must go do it right now. The result is so much more shockingly delicious than one would expect! I actually put a little Italian twist on my "English Breakfast", featuring succulent tuscan melons (crazy-good!) and a "Florentine" treatment to the eggs I didn't eat -- I threw a handful of spinach and parmesan cheese in there. Everyone loved it and nothing got wasted.

Summer can feel lazy and easy for many folks, but not so much for a full-time mom. The house is always full of people and animals, which I love, but darned if I can finish a train of thought. This is "plate-spinning" season, folks. I've got to keep looking up, no matter what I am trying to accomplish, to see which spinning plate on a dowel rod is getting a bit wobbly and about to topple. If I deliver the proper spin, I can avert disaster  until the next plate starts slowing, and so on. Is anyone else out there in my shoes? If so, how do you handle it?

Thanks for bearing with me in this season of discombobulation! I'll try to remember to take more photos, since the season is flying by too fast.

Odds-n-Ends, Avocado Season

I love avocados. Packed with nutrition and healthy fat, these beautiful fruits afford a lovely, creamy "mouthfeel" which never fails to satisfy. I eat avocados in many ways. Here are some of my recent indulgences. Above, I topped warm, leftover rice pasta with raw kale, avocado and a sprinkle of mozzerella daiya. The warmth of the pasta wilted the kale ever so slightly and made the avocado all slippery. Topped with a sprinkle of kosher salt, this was delicious.

Here's one of my favorite smoothies -- I know, how many green smoothies do we have to see on vegan blogs? But seriously, this one is soooo good, and imparts a healthful, peaceful energy. You've got to try it! Here are the contents:

An avocado, a peeled cucumber, a frozen banana, a large handful of kale, about an inch of peeled ginger, and my secret ingredient:

Coconut water! There are so many beneficial enzymes and electrolytes in this, you will have an energy charge for hours. The smoothie is delicious to me with only these ingredients, but if you want it sweeter, just add a drizzle of agave nectar.

Here's a recent breakfast -- Eziekiel toast topped with tofutti cream cheese, avocado and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Look at how the salt has begun to draw beads of moisture from the luscious avocado. Mmmmm.

Here are recent tacos I made for my husband and myself. They really began as a vehicle for him to use up a rotisserie chicken. Here, on my vegan version, is leftover wild rice with lentils, garlicky black eyed peas (I used earth balance and about 5 cloves of garlic, chopped), an amazing avocado-lime coleslaw (half a cabbage, half a lime, a tablespoon of vegenaisse and half an avocado), and a delicious onion confit (half a red onion, three spring onions, sauteed in olive oil). This was a remarkable flavor combination. I ate two tacos and am still loving the rice and slaw leftovers. The black eyed peas went away very quickly, since I love garlic so much.

In my mind, when I am writing an "odds-n-ends" post, I take licence to veer wildly off topic. So here is my wild veering: this little baby bunny first came to my attention when my daughter noticed him about a month ago.

"Mom -- you've got to see this little guy -- he's microscopic!"

Well, while my daughter's assesment was a bit of an exaggeration, as he was actually visible to the human eye, I got the spirit of her enthusiasm. At the time, the bunny was only about three inches long, but perfectly proportionately formed except for his large innocent eyes, of course. The precious little thing only eats the weeds in the creeping juniper which must be his home. Now he has grown to about 7 inches long and he still chooses his food wisely.

The photo stinks since I had to be quick and zoom in before he noticed me. When I've tried to snap him before, the shy little thing has scurried away. So there you have it -- avocados and a baby bunny!  What could be better than that?

Avocados On Everything!

Yes, I am eating a LOT of avocados lately. My body wants them, so I am complying. It's a system that works for me. Why a season of avocados? Hmmm, the word "season" gives me a clue. Crazy Season! That's right -- we are still in it. Only 13 days left and counting until we find out if Hans passes his classes or needs to sign up for summer school.

"Just relax," some of you may be saying, "whatever will be will be,"

This is true, and it really is what I should do, but it is easier said than done. Hans has a brilliant mind and lofty ambitions, and it seems a shame if he cannot strive for them because he is in bed with migraines.

So -- The avocados and other healthy fats I have been craving lately -- my theory is that the stress of "crazy season" has left me ill-equipped in the sleep department and thus depleted. The fatty foods provide a lasting energy boost besides serving as comfort foods. Am I worried about a weight gain? Marginally. I do find that any time I go off balance, I may pick up a pound or two. But once equilibrium is again established (raw green leafies and whole grains) for a couple of days, the issue effortlessly resolves. I love being vegan!

So . . . the avocados: here they are featured atop a bowl of tinkyada brown rice pasta with marinara sauce. This was obviously very easy and SO delicious! I didn't even add nutritional yeast. I think I will make this again for lunch today!

By the way, I think I've found a way to keep avocados on hand without the disappointment of their rotting. I choose black ones that are still firm, and I keep them in the crisper. I've kept avocados this way for over a week without being disappointed.  Not exactly related, but my stream-of-consciousness mind works this way: I never put tomatoes into the fridge. It spoils their flavor. They are best kept on the counter, stem-side down (it's firmer and can withstand the gravity without getting mushy). But you probably already knew that!

Oh, How I Love Tinkyada!

Here's my latest enthusiastic endorsement of a packaged product -- Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta! This is my very favorite pasta of the moment. Called "fusilli", this stuff doesn't look much like the fat little spirals of "Fusilli George" fame from "Seinfeld" -- but I'm revealing my age aren't I? Instead, these noodles are like loose, very wiggly macaroni. I say very wiggly because the texture of these boogers is so shimmery and slippery -- it's like they have a life of their own. They are positively springy and light. I don't know if you are the type who enjoys the sensation of digging into a bowlful of live worms, but, shockingly, apparently I am! That being said, logically I am aware that I am actually not committing earthwormocide. It's just the wiggly sensation of the noodles that I find so enjoyable. Oh, and the mild, light flavor is also an excellent vehicle to any topping you employ. Here they are featured with a collection of healthy elements reminiscent of Alicia's "Rustic Pasta" from The Kind Life. Without re-consulting the text, I created it from memory. I sauteed half a thinly sliced cabbage, an onion and two cloves of garlic in olive oil and then added a tablespoon of Shoyu and half a jar of Barilla's Spicy Marinara. Finally I added the boiled noodles and tossed it all around and then topped it with nootch, of course. Mmmmmmm. I know I was missing the celery -- my stalks needed to be put out of their misery, unfortunately-- and probably more items, but let me tell you, I sure did enjoy this wiggly panful anyway.

Packaged products usually leave me with a dark-leafy-greens-deficit, but can definitely be appreciated for the role they play. Amy's Organics in the frozen section are much appreciated for busy days where there is a dearth of planning, but the longer I'm vegan the saltier they are to me. A giant pile of arugula on the side counters the saltiness. Similarly, I love Amy's canned lentil soup, but need to add water and a handful of kale to thoroughly enjoy it. The quinoa pasta turned out to be fine after a quick re-boil, but it pales in comparison to quinoa itself, and also, to my current Tinkyada brown rice fave. I guess packaged products to me are at their best as "short cuts" to a meal, or as vehicles for something whole and real.

What are your favorites, and how do you use them?

Riding the Learning Curve

Note to self: next time you go meddling around outside your comfort zone, choose a day when nobody else is home. I love my bustling household on a weekend, but I should have remembered how hard it is to multitask when one or more of the tasking threads is unfamiliar and in need of an uninterrupted train of thought.

Yesterday I tried my first raw food recipe aside from just eating food that is raw. I chose Lisa's Mushroom Alfredo with Zucchini Noodles from her wonderful blog: http://rawon10.blogspot.com/. My execution of Lisa's recipe varied out of necessity. I was out of onions so I used a leek, and I only had one ripe zucchini. I know they are currently out of season, but these suckers were flippin' expensive! $6.50 for 3 squash! And then to discover that two of them were hard as rocks because they were unripe! In my experience, zucchini are not a veggie one needs to squeeze to determine ripeness like, say, an avocado. I forcibly chopped the granite zucchini into manageable chunks for my gizmo but they weren't moving through the lovely wire mesh.

["I'm starving, can you make me some organic shells-n-cheese?" my daughter said as she passed through the kitchen] -- I put on a pot of boiling water.

Not knowing what to do with my possibly-never-edible expensive squash, I put them in a baggie and into the crisper, not that they needed any crisping.

So, moving on, I realized I had a quantity problem. I had been able to utilize my new dehydrator for the first time for the mushrooms and leeks, and I had the right quantity of cashews (I'm allergic to walnuts, so that'll be a variant from Lisa's recipe as well) but I wouldn't have enough "noodles". Time to add one more new variable to my uncharted territory: quinoa macaroni -- I'd been wanting to try it for some time. I could just mix it in with the raw zucchini noodles after it cools.

["Could I get a plate?" my husband asked as he searched for the grill tongs for his barbeque chicken and my son's hot dogs.]

Okay -- back to the quinoa macaroni: "darnit why do they make the writing on these boxes so small?" I said out loud as I held the box at extreme arm's length.  I ran upstairs to the bedroom to get my glasses. By the time I came back down my daughter's water was boiling. I threw in her noodles, put her organic vermont cheddar cheese powder into a mixing bowl with some organic milk, and put on a pot of water for my own noodles.

Whew! regrouping, I pulled out the new pitcher I had ordered for my HealthMaster and gave it a good sudsing. My old one had been leaking out the bottom some very stinky, rusty goo every time I made a smoothie or a sauce, and whether it really leaked upwards into the contents of my food or not, I perceived that it did, so it had been spoiling my healthy efforts. The new pitcher fit onto my blending motor just like the old one, albeit more snugly. I began scooping the warmed, marinated mushrooms and leeks from the dehydrator tray into the blender. I found that my fingers worked better than a spoon for this task.

["Here's the dirty plate. can I get a clean one?"] I'm not sure if it is because my husband is used to a staff at his office or if I was just taking up so much room in the kitchen with all my appliances that he couldn't move around me to get the plate, but whatever.  I used my sticky, marinade-covered fingers to get him a "clean" plate.

Okay -- the water for my quinoa pasta was boiling, so I stirred in the noodles. "Do not overcook" the instructions warned. I carefully set the timer with my sticky fingers, and noticed that I had forgotten to set a timer for my daughter's noodles, but they seemed to be ready, so I drained them and mixed them into her sauce.

Whew! Focus . . . . time to blend my sauce --  I had a phobia about starting my blender with the new pitcher, as if something I was about to do would also ruin this new, as yet unsullied pitcher. I started the blending on a low speed, cringing with each catch in the regular rhythm of the blades. My daughter came in wanting something, but the sound of the blender was so loud she turned around and left the room. I raised the speed on the blender (louder still!) and finally relaxed as it appeared to be working properly. It was finished. The timer went off for my quinoa pasta.

["Isn't my macaroni ready yet?" my daughter said.] I pointed it out to her and drained my own noodles, rinsing them well with cool water so they would not "cook" my zucchini noodles.

["do you have any whole wheat hot dog buns?" my husband said, walking in with a plate-o-meat.] I pointed to the 'fridge for my husband as I popped a quinoa noodle into my mouth. It was still stiff! Ugh!

["Is there any lettuce for my sandwich?"]

If not for all the interruptions, I'd have remembered that the quinoa noodles were still an unknown entity to me and I should have tested one of them before draining the whole pot. So, no noodles today. It was time to eat.

Here's my finished product, obviously sauce-forward with the lack of sufficient zucchini:

There was enough sauce for at least two people, and barely enough zucchini for one, but I offered it to all nonetheless. I got no takers. My husband couldn't get past the color of the sauce. I may add a dash of turmeric next time for this reason. I found the meal to be delicious, but very rich and filling, and after the first several bites I realized it was too sweet for me. I am cognizant of the fact that my particular palate is not as accepting of sweet flavors as other folks', especially after being vegan for a while. I think no agave nectar at all in the marinade, and half of the balsamic vinegar would have been better for me, but that's just me.  I will be making this meal again with these minor changes.

Looking back on the whole experience I can see it as predictably comical. I had sort of a perfect storm going on-- a new way of preparing food, as yet unfamiliar to me, a house full of people and dogs, four different meals for 4 people, an unknown dehydrator, a new blender pitcher, a new type of noodle, raw, rock-hard zucchini. When it was all done, I needed a nap!

He Liked It!

Not superhero, but veggie-filled and luscious, here's a yummy recent meal that my carnivore really loved. My husband famously prefers most foods straight out of the jar, so I always offer everyone that option as well, and I don't mind so much if it is something as healthful as Barilla Marinara.

Imagine my surprise when I jazzed my Barilla up with well-chopped collard greens and smashed garlic cloves and the carnivore came running! He liked my jazzed up version better! I'm happy. I don't have a recipe for the sauce, but I used about 4-5 fresh collard leaves, minus the stems, and two big garlic cloves. I added the garlic while the sauce was warming on the stove, so they got a little cooked, and then I just stirred the collards in as I was pulling the pan off the heat. When I first added collards to a sauce, in days gone by, I thought it would be cool to create lovely chiffonade ribbons. Yeah, don't do that unless you want your chin all wrapped up like a very healthy Italian mummy. Little pieces of collards are better in a sauce!

Under the featured sauce is gnocchi, which is beloved around here. Gia Russa makes gnocchi that is vegan, both the whole wheat and the white varieties. But I picked up an Italian brand that I found at Wal Mart because I was curious. This Italian gnocchi has spinach in it. It was lovely and luscious. I have to fess up and admit that I am not sure the Italian gnocchi was vegan. My one semester of Italian did not afford me the ability to decipher the ingredients. I was looking for some reasonable facsimile of "huevos"  (though trying to use Spanish in place of Italian has gotten me into trouble in the past -- long story) but I didn't see anything that looked like "egg". I apologize to the Italian chickens, though, just in case. I liked the mystery gnocchi, but it wasn't any more fabulous than the kind I know to be vegan, So there ends my straying.

This meal was most satisfying, while being effortless. It takes hardly any time to add piles of veggies to something. Start chopping!

Comfort Food

 Golly, looking at this photo again, I'm drooling. I am so sorry the leftovers are all gone! Branching out and getting into my "vegan freaky" foods I am drawn to lately, I picked up some brown rice pasta. I hadn't tried it previously because, pre-vegan, I used to love Eziekiel bread but did not care for the Eziekiel pasta. I assumed any non-wheat pasta would be a disappointment. How wrong I was! I don't know if it's because my tastes have changed so much or that I just happen to love brown rice pasta, but I like this so much that I am actually inspired to give the Eziekiel pasta another go to find out.

I love the texture of the rice fusilli. If you try it, don't skip the cold-water rinse. It makes this pasta springy and tender. Interestingly, the cold leftovers from the fridge were inedible to me as the springiness had turned into hard waxiness, but as soon as I warmed it up again I was relieved to find it resumed the desired tenderness.

Assembling cheezy rice fusilli before baking

After preparing this pasta I stirred in about 4 tablespoons of my cashew cheez sauce, a sprig of tarragon and a handful of grape tomatoes, sliced thinly. I then baked it all for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Mmmmm.

To me comfort food is necessarily warm, especially in winter, and needs a little something starchy or at least substantial. Here are a couple more comfort food meals I put together:

This is a potato gratin that started out being a way to use up my cashew sauce. Not that I will be eager to see it go, but I just don't want it to go to waste. Baked, the sauce turned out strange on top, but soft and cheezy between the layers. I actually liked the strange crispy-cheez topping, but would not likely serve it to omnivores. I am always careful not to give them fodder for any ridicule of vegans.

To make this gratin, I sliced a large russet potato very thinly along with a large shallot. I layered the dish thus: one-slice thickness of potato, shallot, a grind of pepper and a couple of spoonfuls of sauce. I repeated until all ingredients were used. The sauce was salty enough that I did not feel the need to add more salt. I baked the dish at 375 for half an hour.

The next dish I want to feature as a comfort food is nothing new, you have seen it on this blog in various guises many times before, but it does comfort me so here it is:

Greens-n-Beans:  A can of canellini beans, rinsed very well and added to a panful of collard leaves and shallot slices that were cooked in olive oil on medium-high heat. The key is to use the highest heat you can without burning and stir, stir stir. It only takes about 3-4 minutes. My favorite part is the little bits that form from the few beans that fall apart and get crispy in the oil. I scrape it all up with wooden spoons. Not a speck gets wasted as I (privately after dinner as I'm loading the dishwasher) sit down and scrape it all out with spoons, fingers, whatever necessary in a bit of a feeding frenzy. Ahhh!

It seems the body is in diversification mode lately, craving a wide variety of plant foods. It seems to me, as in any investment, diversification is good! Invest in your own good health -- keep feeding your body and soul what is luscious and pure -- you're worth it!

Full Disclosure

Here is my Christmas Eve dinner! It is whole wheat linguine with olive tapenade, olive oil, steamed broccoli and cannelini beans. I also topped it with a tablespoonful of marinara and some nootch. It was really, really good. Everyone had their choice of pasta types and toppings. I also offered regular angel hair and real parmesan. This was a perfect Christmas Eve plan for myself and for Wynne, but not necessarily for the boys.  They went with the flow anyway though.  Normally we are the lucky beneficiaries of our friends, Gretchen and Sean, who invite us to enjoy their family's Christmas Eve buffet celebration with them. This year, however, my burning the candle at both ends to prepare for Christmas and our party stirred up whatever germs still lingered from my illness the week prior. I woke the day after the party with full-fledged laryngitis and a basically closed windpipe. I finally bit the bullet and went in to see the doctor where I was prescribed antibiotics (perish the thought, but they are working). Anyhoo, since I was sick again we skipped our friends' Christmas Eve and had pasta in our p.j.'s.

Things don't always go as planned, and in most cases, around here, it's because the plan is never really fully formed. My husband and I are a bit of an odd couple.  Most wives are the planners, the social ones. I do try my hand at this, and am as social as most other gals, but my social prowess pales in comparison with my mate's. He's quite gregarious -- the life of the party. As such, he's the one who normally makes our plans. If I manage to make a plan of my own, my husband, who truthfully would prefer not to be pinned into any plan, will usually tweak or alter it. So you can imagine how, through the years, I have lost much of my enthusiasm for the role of planner. Nevertheless, occasions such as holidays tend to go better with at least a loose plan, so try I did.

My husband's best friend, Dan, from Boston, returned last month from Afghanistan so my husband made a plan to meet him, along with his son and ours, for a fishing trip in Miami right after Christmas. So here's me trying to plan our Christmas festivities:

"When are you and Hans leaving for Miami?"

Him: "I don't know, right after Christmas,"

Me: "Right after opening presents or the next day?"

Him: "I haven't decided yet,"

Me: "I only ask because I need to know in advance if you would like a nice Christmas dinner since the store will be closed on Christmas,"

Him: "Won't you and Wynne need to eat dinner?"

Me: "Yes, but we don't eat turkey and ham. I'd rather not make those if you won't be here,"

Him: "Do I need to decide now?"

Me: "No, but just let me know when you do,"

I never got a decision. As our lovely, lazy Christmas day lingered, Andres said, "What have you got planned for dinner?"

We ordered Chinese takeout. It was delicious!

Pre-party Mmm + How to Un-Grinch the World

Here's an example of what I might nosh upon prior to the next Christmas party (tonight). Yes, I will be bringing a vegan appetizer, which I will feature in a future post after I make it, but vegans don't live on app's alone, and a vegan should always be well-fed. No deprivation allowed -- this is a gift we give ourselves!

The above is another version of how I honor the humble leftover, reinventing it by adding some easy, fresh ingredients. I had some leftover sauteed broccolini (am craving this most of the time lately) with shallots and leeks, so I added it to some quickly boiled gnocchi and tomato-basil sauce.  I also topped this off with a generous sprinkle of nooch. I took the photo first so you could see how pretty the bowlful was pre-nooch, as delicious but visually obscuring as it is.

I already ate this the other day, but will create some kind of reasonable facsimile thereof from what I can glean from my larder for this evening. If it, too, ends up looking pretty, I will show you.

Now I am off to the post office to brave the throngs of stressed-out holiday givers. Here's a fun game I play in a crowd of people: from the energy in the room I find the angriest person, and make a point of making eye contact and smiling at him or her.  The result is always so amusing and gratifying.  For about  five seconds the person is completely shocked and befuddled, then is snapped out of the grouchy mood and smiles back. It's really fun -- try it!  You can't do this with a sarcastic or mean smile -- you have to really send good energy.  We've all been in that angry place from time to time anyway, haven't we?  So no need to judge, just fix your little corner of the world as you can, grinch by grinch.  You will be surprised at how much fun it is!  Fa la la la la, la la la la!

What I Do When I'm Starving

Part of being vegan is maintaining a vigilance, a level of organizational skills that keep us ahead of the game. Oh, who am I kidding?  Sometimes, in a bustling household on a weekend, I find myself truly operating as if I were the clown in the circus spinning plates balanced on sticks, running from plate to plate, just trying to keep track of which one needs a little spin to keep it from toppling. That's where I found myself this morning, lost in thought while writing an article, while simultaneously responding to the needs of kids, husband, telephone and dogs. Suddenly I realized I had forgotten to eat. It was way too late for oatmeal.  I needed substance.

I started boiling water before I even had a plan. When in doubt, pull out the pasta. Whole grain penne this time.  Then I began pulling food out of the fridge in a random fashion, really just a collection of things that would each be delightful to me on its own.  While the pasta was still boiling, I filled a bowl with jarred marinara sauce, great northern beans, fresh spinach leaves and capers. I popped the bowl into the microwave for a minute just to take the chill off and then mixed in the drained pasta.  To top it all off, smoky, cheesy nutritional yeast!  (What an unfortunate moniker for such a delicious food!)  Start to finish, this meal took me only 10 minutes!   It was YUM!

I love to think of myself as an artiste with food, I like to imagine that I am worth the extra effort, the time spent perusing stores and recipes, but that is not always reality.  I can't always execute a plan. But I don't have to sacrifice my vegan principles. Keeping your larder stocked with some basic staples that won't go bad is a good idea, for moments like the one I had today.