Pumpkin Goodness!

.Why I love fall, besides Halloween, is mother fuckin' pumpkins! Pumpkin bread is one of my classics and this time it was a twofer. Here at the Green Tortoise Hostel, we have two lovely gluten-intolerant ladies, who deserve to eat just as many yummy things. I've never worked with gluten-free flour before, this was definitely an experiment. But I has success! Along with two gluten-free loafs, there was a regular loaf, and a variety of pumpkin seeds. So lets get going...

Bubble seed!
It was a very peculiar white pumpkin.

The whole pumpkin bread began when I found out that Chelsey, one of the hostel's concierge, usually received a loaf for her birthday. It also being around Halloween, I wanted a pumpkin, and last year I discovered that the white one are unique in taste and texture (great for pumpkin butter!). (No picture for Chelsey's bread)

This is Otter and this is her gluten-free loaf.
She's awesome circus folk.

This is Colleen's loaf, she's my awesome manager, unfortunately not present for picture. She supplied the gluten-free flour, Red Mills brand.
That decimated plate in the background was the unbleached flour loaf for everyone else.

Totally not a vegan loaf. Melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, sugar, ginger, nutmeg, paprika, and a bit of baking powder.

And the pumpkin seeds! Three kinds (L to R): Cayenne pepper/paprika/salt/garlic powder/nutmeg, brown sugar/paprika/salt/nutmeg/pepper, turmeric/curry/garlic powder/paprika. Slightly dry roasted then, lightly drizzled with olive oil.

Now I want more. I shall see what Pike's Market has in store for me.
Enjoy!

Comfort and Discovery

New favorite thing: GOLDEN BEETS! Sooo tastey. Also Uwajimaya supermarket in the international district is magnificent. This together, well, noms are bound to happen.

First Round:
At Lexy and Mike's abode, after running around Pike's Market, with Fullsail's Wassail and Nikasi's Sleigher intow. Lamb had been rolling around in the back of my mind and palate for awhile, along with and good ol' stand by of marinated squash. Then mac n cheese popped up out of no where, so a mini feast began!

So this was a bit of a mac n cheese cheat, but the thing about the powder they provide, it can be used for the base of a roux. (But some prefer no roux! Hahaha!) And don't for get the garlic!

Yellow squash and zucchini marianted in a zesty Thai dressing: lemon, tanini, dill, tiny bit of thai chili, garlic, lemon grass. The saute if you can't grill it on an open flame.

LAMB! With heirloom tomatoes, garlic, red onion, paprika. Sooo delicious! Lamb was seared quickly on each side, then steamed through with the tomatoes.

Round Two:
At the Green Tortoise Hostel, again with a veggie kick accompanied by vegetarians.Maybe more beets? Korean rice noodles are served with this, just for got to take a photo.

Golden beets (suprise), red onion, garlic, thai eggplants, chantrelle mushrooms. Sauted with turkish olive oil.

Kobe beef slightly seared with a little bacon grease.

As usual, very tasty. Go to your local shops, more countries more varieties.
Enjoy!

Ready for an eye candy explosion?

...cuz I've got a month's worth of photos just waiting to be oogled!

Now, this may be a bit overwhelming, so I'm just going to caption the photos and elaborate where needed.

curried cous cous with tomatoes and chickpeas + braised red cabbage with red wine vinegar, onions and apples + acorn squash with brown sugar

I just found out that Blogger has a "jump break" feature, which I have now dubbed the "not as awesome as lj-cut" feature. So, to avoid having this photo-laden post clog up the homepage, I'm hiding it behind the following link that says "Read More...". Please click it! That is, unless you clicked a link directly to this post. In that case, you're good.

Beer O'Clock

Here is a recap of some of the fine hops and malts I've been privy to here in Seattle. Some local to the west coast, some east, and of course from across the pond.

A lovely winter beer, not to heavy and rather drinkable. 7.0%

Less than two bucks! A bit sweet, but has that nice Belgian tang. 8%

One of my favorites at Pike's Brewery, tad expensive but wonderful to get in a growler. 9%

Samuel Adams decide to try their hand at specialties. I did appreciate this one, very straight forward, no frills.

Nikasi strikes again! A rather metal brew being a dark double alt. 7.2%

 Music: Nails - Unsilent Death
            Bisc 1 - Electric Falls

Food: Mac n cheese, lamb, squash, beats, greens, kobe beef, and more!


Always more to come! Enjoy!

Finally... meet my scramble!

I'm surprised it took me this long after starting the blog to make my tofu scramble. It is a staple for me, and if you've ever had Sunday brunch with me, you've probably had it!

The ingredients of my scramble vary depending on the veggies I have, but this version included many of the common ones: Twin Oaks herbed tofu, zucchini, kale, onion, sweet pepper, carrot, garlic, and tomato on top. The spices are based off of the PPK version of tofu scramble: cumin, turmeric, thyme, and nutritional yeast. I just realized that turmeric has two Rs when spellcheck corrected me just now... how have I not noticed that?

By the way, yes, that is a jack-o-lantern plate. It's not just a seasonal plate, either. We eat off of it all year!

Speaking of seasonal- next, we have my first soup of the season. I make some stews here and there, but vegetable soup doesn't really rear its head until the cold air starts filtering in through the cracks in the doors and windows. Thank you, Fan apartment. It's almost time to tape up some plastic...

You may notice that this isn't a very soupy soup. I have a habit of filling my soup pot with so much veggies that there's hardly any room for broth. Oh well, I guess I really do just make stews. This one has split peas, barley, gold potatoes, collard greens, carrots, and corn, as well as a box of that Imagine brand portabello mushroom soup, mixed with the bouillon-laden broth. It was awesome, and a hell of a hearty soup. I killed the huge container of leftover soup in two days, and I still want more! The barley was new to me- I've never cooked with it before. I really enjoyed the texture of it, though. Wonder what else I can do with it...

There were two nights in the past week where I made essentially the same thing two nights in a row. It was a really fast stir fry that I had to whip up in a jiffy, and I only ended up using half of the veggies and tofu the first night. It was so tasty, I just made it again the next night. The only difference was I used quinoa the first night and brown rice the second night.

I pan fried some Twin Oaks tofu, broccoli, Japanese eggplant, kale, and onion in sesame oil and liquid aminos, and then I poured a touch of teriyaki sauce on the whole thing.

I swear, I don't usually eat this much tofu. This blog must have jinxed my cooking tendencies. And that last block came in my farm share veggie box. But I really do love that Twin Oaks stuff.

My most recent veggie box came last Thursday, and I also got a huge bag full of veggies from my co-worker/boss/she-wolf, Rachel's, garden. When I laid my jackpot out on my counter, this is what I had:

Holy. Cats. Red cabbage, acorn squash, kale, portabello mushrooms, onions, Roma tomatoes, and Fuji apples from the farm share. Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, green tomatoes, and green onions from Rachel's garden. My first mission was to make a big bowl of salsa. I think there may be a touch left in my fridge, but for the most part, it's been demolished already. 

Later, I was thinking of making soup with more of the veggies. But I just made soup! I know, I could have made a totally different soup, but I went with a chili instead.

This one is a little on the untraditional side, because I used sweet potatoes and kale. Now I don't know if I ever want to make it without them! There was also a whole bag of kidney beans, a can of black beans, onion, green bell pepper, and tomatoes. I think the sauce/spices included tomato paste, bouillon cubes, cumin, chili powder, a touch of molasses, and a bit of cayenne.

So, you recall that awesome breakfast sandwich I made the other weekend? I still had some Daiya and Tofurky slices left over, as well as those tomatoes, and that sounds like an awesome grilled "cheese" to me... NOM!

And last, we have this morning's breakfast. If you didn't notice in that photo of all the veggies, I have a boatload of sweet potatoes. Not a bad thing, mind you, but I gotta switch up my preparation of them now.

I fried them up in some Chinese five spice (which I don't actually have, I just have the five spices individually... easy 'nuff), along with some liquid aminos and kale. The bread in the background has a few slices of tomato that were left over from the grilled sandwich... with a bit of balsamic vinegar and pepper on it. The apple came from my parents, who brought me a big bag of apples from a local orchard. There might be some kind of pie or cobbler in my future.

Now that's a future I can get down with.

-panda-

Currently playing: Elliot Smith- Son of Sam, Mister Heavenly, Deer Tick- War Elephant, Jawbreaker- Dear You

Fancy Pants Affair

I decided to bring a little east coast thing to the west. Fancy Pants Dinners started out of wanting to get all the most amazing people under one roof, and be the pimps that we are: fine food, drinks, shenanigans, and of course fancy pants.

This evenings menu:

-Spaghetti Squash cooked with clove and sage, served with sauteed leeks and garlic.
-Arugula salad with baked cinnamon pears and broiled beets accompanied by herded goat cheese, pomegranates and a lemon tarragon vinegar honey dressing.



-Paella involving mussels cooked in pork fat and beef leek broth, sauteed pork, shrimp, rice cooked in beef leek broth, with onions, tomatoes, and peppers sauteed in grape seed oil and parsley.
-Brownie cupcakes layered with raspberry filling.
-Mimosas with mango juice, Hop Czar Beer, Rainer Beer, PBR Beer, and Black Box Wine.

All about that prep work.

Prebaked spaghetti squash with cloves, sage and butter. Along side the cinnamon pears.
This dish was orchestrated by Sophie.

Lucie's Mini Raspberry Filled Chocolate Cakes. Sooo Tasty!

Pork Cracklin'! Used the pork juice to saute the leeks.

So, all the food went to quickly for any pictures to really be captured. Sign of a good meal, one could say...

GO GRAB YOUR FRIENDS AND SHARE!

Wins and fails.

The last week has produced some hits and misses in my culinary world. Let us review them.

I made this dish soon after my last blog post, and I can hardly remember what went in it. Like many meals I've made lately, it was a less-than-half-hour dish I threw together before Webber ran off to band practice. Let's see, if I examine the picture closely, there's quinoa, onion, local zucchini, and mushrooms. Also present: hot sauce crack and Chuck Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon. I wasn't really planning on putting red wine in this kind of dish, but Webber insisted to cook the onions and mushrooms in it.
Verdict: semi-win.

More novelty items courtesy of the PPK: Tempeh Helper. Definitely hurried through this one. I made it cuz I wanted to use up some tempeh I had, and it didn't require many ingredients. And then I forgot the frozen peas, so it ended up just being a lot of protein and carbs... yay. I might consider making this again, but with broccoli or other veggies mixed in. There was just so much of the super salty sauce, which stemmed from the combination of the immense amount of bouillon and nutritional yeast. Now I know what to do next time, that's for sure.
Verdict: fail, with potential for the future.

Sunday morning, Webber told me he wanted breakfast sandwiches. One that would satisfy a craving for your run-of-the-mill diner/fast food sammiches. In exchange for such a request, I made him a list of weird vegan products and had him take the trip to the grocery store. Sammich components include: Twin Oaks tofu (pan fried in liquid aminos and hot sauce), peppered Tofurky slices, local tomato, and Daiya mozzarella on a toasted English muffin. 

So as not to keel over from fake meat and cheese overload, I sautéed some mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, and broccoli in herbs. To round it out, a local Gala apple, and some Chai Spiced Maté.

Verdict: total, absolute win.

Tonight's dinner stemmed from a need to use turnip greens that I acquired in the last veggie box. Probably my least favorite of the greens, I have yet to really understand them. In a haste, I sautéed them (and some leftover tofu) in liquid aminos, sugar, and a bit of apple cider vinegar, none of which helped cut the bitterness. Thankfully, there was some tasty asparagus, baked with olive oil and lemon juice (I was out of dill), and that Trader Joe's wild rice/basmati rice/veggie mix. Not pictured: the star of the meal- local acorn squash, baked and topped with brown sugar. That was easily the best squash I've ever had. Need. More.
Verdict: flailing fail on the greens, thumbs up on rice and asparagus, and a face melting win on the squash.

Currently playing: Dead Kennedys- Plastic Surgery Disasters, Alkaline Trio- Remains, Fear Before the March of Flames- The Always Open Mouth, Primus- Green Naugahyde

-panda-

Weekends = brunch!

Seriously... one of my favorite things about weekends. Sometimes I don't even get my day started 'til well after noon because I'm sleeping in and cooking.

Yesterday, I was ogling the beautiful swiss chard I received for my farm share.

Ohhh... the colors.... the pretty colors...

I felt like destroying something beautiful, so I chopped it, sautéed it, and baked it into a "frittata". This is one of those dishes where I hate calling it something that is 100% not vegan by definition, but that's what the recipe I used called it. (see: Swiss Chard Frittata in Vegan Brunch.) A frittata is an egg dish similar to quiche or an omelet, and it's usually pan fried. This, however, is made with tofu, and it is baked. Let's just call it... squished tofu mixed with deliciousness, pressed into a pan, and baked. 

Yah.

Next, we have an out-of-focus picture of the kitty.

Cool. Okay, so this morning, I made one of my two default breakfasts. The first is tofu scramble, which is cliché, I know, but I make a damn good one. I'm sure that one will show its face in this blog soon enough. My second most common breakfast is potatoes.

This is an adaptation of a dish my dad used to make. He made it with potatoes, onion, garlic, and paprika. I usually like to add the Twin Oaks veggie chorizo, but I've had that a lot lately, and I'm out. Instead, I used an Anaheim pepper from the farm share. Sometimes I'll use mushrooms, and Webber will often throw in broccoli or cauliflower when he makes it. Cayenne pepper is a must, and I think I've finally mastered the skill of not putting in too much of it.

Check out the chickpeas soaking in the background. I'm about to make some hummus. :-)

Currently playing: Every Time I Die- New Junk Aesthetic, Cursive- The Night I Lost the Will to Fight, Man Man- Life Fantastic (on repeat... and repeat...), NEW MASTODON ALBUM

-panda-

Mehrinara sauce.

Sometimes I want to make pasta, but I don't want boring ol' marinara or tomato sauce. Instead, I go with an herbed olive oil toss. Mmm...

Pasta, onion, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, Twin Oaks veggie chorizo sausage, sunflower seeds (I often use these where expensive pine nuts would be used), nutritional yeast, lemon juice.

I love one pot/one dish meals. Can you tell?

Got my veggie box yesterday. This week, I got... tomatoes (see above), zucchini (see above), golden delicious and gala apples, swiss chard, okra, Anaheim peppers, and a small pumpkin. I have gained a small obsession for munching on fresh okra. I never knew it was so tasty! The things society hides from us... tsk tsk. Oh, also, I have never cooked with real pumpkin (as opposed to the canned stuff), so this should be fun! It can't be too different from any other squash... and I'm stoked about the prospect of pumpkin pie in my near future.

Mmm... pie.

Currently playing: Beirut- Elephant Gun, Romantic Gorilla, Adele- Rolling in the Deep (do I even have to link that one?)

-panda-

May I introduce...

...my go-to vegan chef, Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Yes, it is quite predictable, but every food niche needs their celebrity chef. The French cooking enthusiasts had Julia Child, there was Betty Crocker... well, Betty Crocker was a name for a brand- it's not even a real person. And then there's Rachael Ray... I'm not even sure what she does other than make obnoxious acronyms.

I'm getting sidetracked.

Ah! Yes, Isa. Isa is a chick I can relate to. With the help of Terry Romero, also pictured above, she started off with a public-access television cooking show, The Post Punk Kitchen, and moved on to publish cookbooks and maintain a rockin' website. Well, maybe I can't relate with any of that stuff, but that kitchen looks a lot like mine, and I like punk rock too!

I felt the need to introduce you to Isa because you will see many of her recipes pop up in my meals, whether they're just influences or full on replicas. Actually, you already met one of her recipes- the banana pancakes. I just added the flaxseed powder... all by myself, woo. Well, here's another one:

I still had mushrooms and green beans left over from last week's farm share, which naturally sounds like it needs to be made into a casserole. So, I made this recipe, but I didn't really have enough green beans. Also, I knew I wanted to make lentils with this dish, but I couldn't figure out how I wanted to cook them. So, I'm stuck with a casserole with too much sauce, and lentils with nothing to go with them. Hm. Screw it, just mix 'em!

Now, I feel very much like being recumbent and reading, cuz that was heavy.

Soundtrack for the preparation was Deftones- Around the Fur and Mastodon- Blood Mountain. There also might have been a little bit of Boys Night Out- Make Yourself Sick. Okay, fine, there was a lot.

-panda-

Blog title origins.

You can blame the following dish for my retarded pun of a blog title. The terrible photos, however, are entirely my fault. I will perfect the white balance settings one day, promise.

Twin Oaks herbed tofu, onion, broccoli, and Trader Joe's wild rice/Basmati rice/dried veggies blend. 

Okay, so you will realize very quickly that I "cheat", but this ain't no vegan chef blog. Well, it kind of is, but I'm not original. Just hungry. OM NOM!

On Thursday, I got my weekly farm share from The Farm Table. This week,  I got golden delicious and gala apples, sweet potatoes, kale, green beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and green bell pepper. I abducted some tomato, kale, sweet potato and bell pepper for this:

It also contained onion, Twin Oaks veggie chorizo, jasmine rice (ran out of brown), black beans, tomato paste and a dollop of Veganaise on top. You heard me! Secret ingredient: homemade carrot lime habanero sauce that Mo and Jeremy from The Wingnut gave me. It's like the crack of hot sauces- even more so than Sriracha. (Gasp!)

Saturday morning, a sleepy Webber awoke and stumbled into the kitchen and find these:

Banana flaxseed pancakes with apple compote.

A few hours later, we got hungry again, and we wanted to make sushi. However, we didn't really have the time for tedious rolling. This is where a bowl comes in handy. Actually, I can think of a few other times, but this is most relevant:

Yeah, I totally obscured the layers, but it tasted awesome. Sushi rice + zucchini and carrots sauteed in aforementioned hot sauce crack and tamari + avocado + spicy sauce (Veganaise, Sriracha, sesame oil) + nori + rice sprinkle stuff.

My weekend of noms in a nutshell. Now, I am off to New York Deli for mug night. Next time I will try to make it a little bit more wordy and less picturey. Ha! Yeah right.

You hungry yet?

-panda-

In the very beerginning...

...there was ale and it was probably a belgium.

I

Incredibly rich and luscious at lovely 10%
Oh yes so good. Was enjoyed with vegan pho duck with bok choy and squash.

Earlier that day...
While at QFC in Capitol Hill with two awesome gals, and beer fairy visited and magically deposited this in my hands.

Sweet. Hoppy. Bitter.
Definitely should be accompanied by food, maybe some nice crusty bread with olive oil and tomatoes.

To finish off the night...

"The Antithesis of Unearthly."
Majestically dark and smooth, standing around at 9%. So much love for Unearthly but this beer definitely speaks on it's own.

And then! There happened to be...

"The ancient Sumerians worshipped the beer they made, and praised the goddess Ninkasi for the mircale of fermintation. Beer is a staple of civilization. Worship the goddess."
This is really quite lovely for an Oatmeal Stout. Complex but not overwhelming.


The dinner was mock duck seitan with pho noodles, veggie broth, carrots, onions, bok choy, yellow squash, and basil. Its kinda viewable in the background of the triple abbey.


And music that accompanied this was Atlantis EP Mini-Mix by Profresher, Redarkulous: Conjured by Akasha, and No Heroes by Converge.

[paprika]