Hail to the Chief and See ya El Diablo Bush!

Today is a very historical day in history. For the first time I can remember I was actually excited about voting. It feels like real change is coming...good change. OK I'll stop spewing my political joy and get down to the real business of this blog...FOOD.

Tonight I am attending an inauguration celebration. I wanted to bring food that was Obama - esque, but hadn't a clue what to make. I plunked around the internet and read that the Obama's are fans of Rick Bayless. Easy enough. I set out to find a good Bayless recipe. I found quite a few that would be easy enough to veganize. The one that kept catching my attention was his Tequila-Infused Queso Fundido. I have grown to love nooch based "queso" so this is right up my alley. I wanted it to be flavorful and spicy and a little special for such an occasion. I think I may have come up with my favorite queso to date. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Tequila Scented Queso with Hatch Green Chiles

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 medium red onion diced small

1 large heirloom tomato diced small

2 hatch green chiles, roasted, peeled, and diced (seeds left intact if you like the heat)

2 Tablespoons of your favorite tequila

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1/3 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon Earth Balance or other vegan butter

1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

Heat oil in saute pan. Add onions and saute until just soft. Add tomatoes and chilies and saute for about 5 more minutes. Deglaze with tequila. Cook down until mixture is slightly sticky. Turn off heat and let cool while preparing the rest of the queso.In a medium sauce pan whisk dry ingredients into water. Turn heat to med-low and cook while whisking frequently. Don't leave the pan unattended or you will end up with a glop of yuk. Once it has thickened turn off heat. Add Earth Balance and stir until melted. Add tomato mixture. Finely chop cilantro and stir into queso.

Serve warm with chips.

So Long 2008

As 2008 comes to a close, it is time to reflect on the things that made this year a happy time. The most incredible thing that happened was that Fred and I got engaged!

I also spent lots of quality time in the kitchen testing for others and creating my own recipes. Food brings so much joy and comfort to our lives. So memories are made by the delicous smells and flavors coming out of kitchens all over the world.

My cooking goals for 2009 are simple. First and foremost I feel the need to conquer bread making. This art has been lost on me...until now. I just got Peter Reinharts The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I plan on studying this from cover to cover to discover the secrets to the perfect loaf.

My second goal is to develop more of my own creations. I aspire to someday put out a cookbook, 'zine, or just a nice compilation of my originals for friends. I seriously can think of few things in my world that make me more satisfied than coming up with unique dishes that people go crazy for. It is fun, fullfilling, and really tasty. So with that in mind, I head into 2009 with my spatula and whisk held high. 2009 is sure to be a delicious vegan gastronomical year.

I leave you with a picture of one of Fred's fabulous 2008 creations - Green Chile Hash!

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. There are so many things to be thankful for. My list is long. While I did have to work this holiday, I still took a lot of time in the kitchen this week. Sadly, I wasn't as good with the camera as I usually am.

I did however, get a fantastic picture of a pie I am particularly proud of. I found this recipe on Epicurious back in 2004 or so. It was love at first bite, really. It is called the Cranberry Apple Ribbon Pie. It was very easy to veganize. I used the Basic Pastry Crust for Veganomicon. This is a wonderful crust for fruit pies. The bottom of the pie has a layer (or ribbon) of home made cranberry sauce. It is then filled with tart/sweet apples tossed with lots of cinnamon. I used a combination of Fujis and Granny Smiths. The top was sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. I'm not usually a huge pie fan, but I have to confess, I ate two pieces of this one yesterday.

Vegan MOFO Wrap Up

As you probably know, today is the last day of Vegan MOFO. I'm having mixed emotions about wrapping things up. Vegan MOFO got me motivated to get back to what I love-creating new dishes. I really loved the iron chef challenges. It seems like everyone else did too. It has been suggested that iron chef continue and I really hope it does. I look forward to making some crazy ass food spontaneously.

This month got me thinking about what this blog should become. I'm hoping in the future it will develop into a fun and non-threatening place for aspiring vegetarians and vegans to come for information on different ingredients and how to use them. I am also hoping it will keep me creating. My hope is to start developing tasty, workable recipes that might someday form into a cookbook or 'zine. This is a pipe dream with my current crazy schedule, but you never know what the future will bring.

This brings me to the crazy schedule thing. I entered 28 posts this month. That was no easy task. Sometimes it made me feel stressed out. I actually got in a tiff with Fred about how much time I was spending on my blog. That said, I will still continue to blog, but not at near the pace I did this month. I'm sure I am not the only one on the forums that is very busy. This year I am working, going to school, planning an annual breast cancer hike, and planning my wedding. Daily blogging just won't fit into that craziness. But this month has made me realize how much I like sharing my ideas and thoughts about food. It has made me remember I have a blog and need to use it more. For that I thank you Vegan MOFO!

I must thank all of you who have commented and enjoyed the blog this month. You really made it worthwhile. Hopefully you tried and enjoyed some of the original recipes. Check in periodically, there will be more. Until we blog again....Bon Apetit

Vegan MOFO Day 30 - Re-making a classic Coq au Vin

I was very inspired by Vegan Hezbollah (sp?). I didn't get in on the fun of converting some very meaty recipes then, so I thought I would take a shot at it now.

My grandma was an incredible cook. When I was very young I remember her making, what to me, were very fancy dinners. One such dinner was Coq au Vin. This is a pretty sophisticated dish for a little girl, but I instantly fell in love with it. Years later while in culinary school, I was re-introduced to this classic dish. Again...total love! I have this incredible yearning to re-create a vegan version of this dish.

I am working 12 hour shifts for the next few days, so for this experiment, I am enlisting the help of my man, Fred. Poor guy is going to be the guinea pig for yet another kitchen expriment. He is ususally an incredibly good sport about being the victim of my experiments. I'm hoping this one doesn't put him over the edge.

I'm posting the recipe preemptively as I may not get to post later today. I'm hoping it will be successful. I will post the results, pictures and any tweeking that may have happened in the process as soon as I can.

Koq au Vin

Serves 4

1 cup Butler soy curls
1 cup vegetable broth
¼ cup inexpensive red wine
5 tempeh bacon style strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 cocktail onions
1-8 oz package cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, reserve about 1 tsp for garnish
1 cup inexpensive red wine
2 cups vegetable broth
1/3 cup flour
2 bay leaves
Salt
Pepper

Re-hydrate soy curls by heating vegetable broth and ¼ cup wine to just barely starting to boil and pouring over soy curls in medium sized bowl. Let soak for 10 minutes. Once re-hydrated, drain and squeeze out liquid. Make sure to save the soaking liquid. In an iron skillet sauté soy curls until browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

Slice tempeh strips into matchstick sized slices. In same iron skillet, add olive oil and sauté tempeh strips until they are golden and crispy. Be careful not to break up the pieces. When golden, remove from pan and set aside.

If there is no more oil in the pan, add a bit more oil. Add cocktail onions and sauté until dark golden brown. Once the onions are browned, add the mushrooms and sauté until they just start to release their liquid. If needed add more oil. Add thyme and fresh cracked pepper. Saute for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Stir in flour until well incorporated. Add 1 cup of red wine to deglaze pan making sure all cooked bits are released from bottom of pan. Add reserved soaking liquid and 2 cups vegetable stock. Add bay leaves. Simmer until reduced by half and sauce is thickened. Add chopped parsley and soy curls. and tempeh. Simmer for 10 more minutes. If sauce is too thick, add small amount of vegetable stock until desired thickness is achieved. Carefully stir in tempeh. Simmer on low for 5 more minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve over roasted or mashed potatoes, or wide noodles.

I made a few tweaks as we were cooking. The recipe is updated to reflect the changes.

Holy moses this is delicious! I'm not kidding. This was rich flavorful bliss. Fred did an awesome job with the prep. He did most of the work. I did a few tweaks to get a good final product. I really loved this dish. My grandma would be proud.

Vegan MOFO Day 29 - Touting Tofu

When I first tried tofu, it was anything but love at first bite. The texture weirded me out. Looking back, I'm fairly certain the preparation had a lot to do with my bad experience. While I am still certainly no expert in tofu preparation, I have learned the nuances between silken, firm, extra firm, smoked, etc. No longer will I attempt to make grilled tofu with soft tofu. This would seem to be a logical assumption, but when you are first diving into cooking with tofu, the choices are overwhelming.

It didn't take me long (once deciding to eat more veg and vegan food) to figure out that tofu is indeed my friend. I worried about giving up some of my favorite fried foods like fried chicken and fish and chips. I was very surprised to learn that tofu could fill this bill easily. Below is a crunchy fried version that fills the bill!

Tofu is wonderful to use in breakfast dishes. Tofu scrambles are fast, easy, and healthy to whip up for breakfast. You can get all creative with your bad self by mixing in your favorite veggies and spices to make it your own. Another dish I mistakenly thought I would have to do without was eggs benedict. Well feast your eyes on this. I want for nothing!!

I never knew about pressing tofu. It really makes a difference in the texture. If you are needing a firmer less moist tofu for a particular dish, you must press it. I find the best method to be using two 8x8 glass baking dishes. Place the tofu in the bottom dish, put the other dish on top. Put a heavy can or a bag of beans in the top pan and let sit for about 30 minutes. You will see how much liquid comes out. Now you can use it as a base for many "steak" like dishes. One such dish is this lovely Tofu Marsala from YRR. This is one of the dishes I never thought would come close to the non-vegan version. This one is even better. So cheers to tofu. How I now love thee.

Vegan MOFO Day 28 - Baking Mysteries

Bread making has never been my strong suit. It continues to perplex me. The other day I planned on a fun day of baking, only to find out the yeast I had purchased was dead. Two different packets...no good. How frustrating is that?

This weekend I decided to give it another go. I had Fred get a different brand of yeast. As soon as I put the new yeast into my liquid/sugar mixture, it gave off that beautiful yeasty smell and foam. I knew I had a live one. First I attempted a round loaf. It turned out very nicely, but didn't get the lift I was hoping for. The flavor and texture were excellent. Light flaky, yummy.


I was feeling encouraged and decided to try another type. This time I modified the recipe on the King Aurthur flour bag. I probably shouldn't have modified, but sometimes I just can't help myself. I subbed 1/4 c pecans, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup ground flax for the 3/4 cup walnuts the recipe called for. Fred thought it was a bit bitter. I loved the flavor. The texture was pretty dense and heavy. It only raised up to 1/2 the height of a normal loaf. Although I wouldn't call this an unqualified success, I really like it! It is really filling.


I will not give up on my quest to make a more fluffy loaf. If you have any suggestions on a great vegan breadmaking book, please share! I love the smell of that bread cooking in the oven. I'm looking forward to getting some proper loafs soon.