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

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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

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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?)

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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.

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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?

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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]