Meatless Monday: Israeli Couscous salad

Oops. I was supposed to post this yesterday. Should have investigated the auto-publish a bit further...

This recipe is an approximate guess of a salad my friend Kim brought over when we were house-bound and recovering. It was the tastiest thing I'd had in a while, and we've had it two more times since then. She said it originally came from Martha Stewart, but I've never seen the original recipe. I normally am not a huge fan of mushrooms (unless they have been cooked to death in tons of butter), but I can't get enough of them in this salad. It's that good. Believe it.

Israeli Couscous Salad

2 c. Israeli couscous (also sometimes called pearl couscous)
2.5 c. water
1 package of baby bellas, sliced
1 bunch scallions, sliced
1 bag frozen corn (approx. 2 c.)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
juice from 2-3 limes (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the water to boil and add the couscous. Stir , cover, lower heat and simmer until the water is absorbed. You can alternatively toast the couscous in a bit of butter or olive oil before adding water and cooking for a deeper flavor. Totally up to you. Set aside.

In a large wok/pot/pan, saute the mushrooms in olive oil, just until they lose the raw edge (don't brown them). Then add the scallions and saute for a few minutes more. Then add the corn and black beans and saute until the corn heats through. Then add the couscous and toss everything together until well mixed. Remove from heat and add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.

It should be mildly citrusy, but not overwhelming. You want the veggies to shine through. Of course, this is the lazy version. You can use fresh corn, and make the black beans from scratch instead of canned. Any way you slice it, this salad is yum. Serve with some avocado slices on top. (We have it as a side with sandwiches or wraps or chili.)

Meatless Monday: New Years feast

Black-eyed peas and collard greens are a Southern New Years tradition. We had them every New Years Day in my house growing up - not to mention various other times throughout the year. It's a tasty, easily vegan meal, and will bring you luck and prosperity throughout the coming year. (Or so the story goes.)

There isn't anything difficult about making this meal. I never use a recipe, and so I only have general guidelines to offer you. The full Southern version involves a ham-hock and god only knows what other meat products. I promise you won't miss them. The gist of the recipe is this:

Cook dried beans according to package directions. (We used a pressure cooker this year to pre-cook the beans and it worked amazingly well.) Once your beans are soft, add one chopped onion and a clove or two of chopped garlic to the pot. Add or subtract liquid as you like, depending on how soupy you want the final product to be. Add salt and pepper to taste. (Usually, the more pepper the better.) Make sure your beans are soft before adding the onion. Something about the chemistry of the onion will prevent the beans from softening if they aren't already cooked. I'm sure this is Google-able, as I don't know the exact science behind it, but I've seen it happen in person.

While the beans are cooking, rinse your collards and tear them into bite sized pieces. Put them in a pot (they'll cook way down) with a little bit of water - I usually just use whatever water is left on them from rinsing, plus another splash for good measure. You don't want a ton of water in there, just enough to steam (you don't want to have to pour off a lot of excess water, thereby losing all the nutrients from the cooked greens). Steam the collards until they start to wilt. Once they've cooked down a bit, add a splash of vinegar, a smidge of sugar, salt, pepper and a clove or two of chopped garlic if you like garlic. Now, there are two schools of thought on collards. The "old school" way is to let the collards cook as long as the beans. Collards can be tough and stringy, so I guess cooking the shit out of them makes them tender? The other school of thought is to cook them until they turn bright green, which doesn't take very long. If you go for the first method, the size of the pieces doesn't really matter. If you go for the second, I'd recommend smaller sized pieces. I usually end up somewhere in the middle. I think the take-away lesson is that you can't really overcook them. Just keep an eye out that they don't scorch to the bottom of the pot.

Now, the final touch on this meal is the cornbread. You can make any old cornbread you want to go with the beans and greens. Cornbread is delicious anyway, but when used to sop up the bean liquor, well... It's just heavenly. My favorite cornbread recipe is from 101cookbooks.com: Firecracker Cornbread. I've never made the vegetarian version, but veganizing the recipe is super easy. Instead of buttermilk, I use 1 cup of almond (or soy) milk plus 1 tsp. of cider vinegar. Instead of an egg I use 1/4 cup of soy yogurt. You can likely use 1/4 cup of applesauce instead of yogurt - you just need a binder. I also just put a few tablespoons of margarine plus a few teaspoons of red pepper flakes directly in the baking pan and pop that into the oven while I combine the ingredients. Then swirl it around the pan a bit before pouring the batter in. You can easily customize this cornbread. I've kicked it up even further by adding a minced jalapeno, but you could go the other direction by omitting the red pepper flakes and adding blueberries or some such to the mix. You'll never go back to packaged cornbread mix once you've made this. Super easy and so tasty!

When serving, you can mix the collards and black-eyed peas into more of a stew, or you can just put a serving of collards right on top of your beans. Make sure to have hot sauce on the table. Black-eyed peas and collards just aren't complete without the hot sauce.

Happy New Year! Luck and prosperity to you all!

Meatless Monday: Christmas traditions.

Everyone seems to have a Christmas meal tradition. If you grew up in my family, you would have had cheesy meatless lasagna with assorted veggies (olives, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, etc.) and garlic bread for Christmas dinner (or Christmas Eve, depending). It's a tradition my brother and I continued into adulthood, and only recently, when Allen and I became vegan, did we abandon the tradition. It's a little sad, but there really isn't any vegan substitute for what we had, so I'd prefer to let the memory of a delicious meal remain a fond one and start a new tradition instead. (My parents went out to visit my brother in Arizona this year for Christmas, and they did, in fact, have the "traditional" lasagna.)

Since we are on the eve of having our first baby, it's time to start some traditions of our own. And, since it was just the two of us this year, we tried what we thought was something novel. Chinese food on Christmas. Turns out, not so much. There was actually a wait for a table at our favorite Chinese place. We were kind of shocked. The food was delicious - our local place has an extensive vegan menu - and was much more cost effective than putting on a huge "traditional" Christmas dinner for just two people. I don't know if this will be our go-to family tradition from here on out. We're unlikely to have many Christmases with "just us", and I'm not sure how amenable either of our families would be to Chinese Christmas dinner. I'm not even sure it's something I'd like to do frequently. It was a nice change of pace, to be sure, but there's something about baking and cooking while chatting with family and smelling the pies in the oven that just screams Christmas to me. Maybe my own old traditions are buried deeper than I thought?

One tradition that we've started that is sure to stand the test of time: homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning. There is a super easy (with a stand mixer) recipe in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Joy of Vegan Baking. (Pages 175-176, available in the Google Books preview.) It's well worth your time.

I hope your holidays, whatever your cause for celebration, were happy and full of fun and loving (and maybe one or two of them meatless...) traditions.

Meatless Monday: Italian Soup

My Mom came up with this recipe and I am here to tell you it is fantastic. We made this the other night and both had huge bowls and then seconds even though our stomachs were full to hurting. It's that tasty. You can thank me when you wake up from the food coma. This makes a huge pot, so feel free to halve the recipe or just be thankful you have leftovers for lunch for a few days. Also, the orzo soaks up most of the liquid by the second day, so you might need to add more when reheating for round two.

Italian Soup a la Mama

olive oil (for sauteing)
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced (this is highly variable - Mom used 2, we used 5 or 6.)
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
2 stalks celery, diced
1 pkg Tofurkey Italian Sausage (or your fave vegan sausage), chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes (and juices)
2 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 bag frozen (organic) chopped spinach
1 pkg orzo or other tiny pasta
12 cups of water, broth or combo

Method:
Saute onions in olive oil for a few minutes to soften, then add garlic, fennel, celery and sausage. Once that starts smelling delicious and the onion is pretty translucent, add everything else except the beans (you don't want to burn or caramelize the onions and garlic, though so watch them and add in liquid before that point). You may need to adjust the amount of liquid based on the pasta you choose, and whether you want more of a soup or a stew. Bring to a boil and boil gently for 8-10 minutes to cook the orzo. Add the beans in and heat through for a few minutes. Serve as is or with garlic bread.

Meatless Monday: The Tuesday Edition.

In my distress over stretch marks yesterday, I totally forgot to post for Meatless Monday. I had a post all written up and ready to go ranting about Congress trying to get pizza classified as a vegetable in school lunches, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I think I'll post a recipe instead. Not that it's a traditional Thanksgiving recipe or anything, but it's still tasty and you should give it a try. (This recipe originally came from my friend Jon who is a fabulous cook and all around fun guy.) 


So, here is a delicious recipe for Chana Masala - an Indian chickpea dish. This recipe makes a huge batch, so it will either make a big enough serving for several people (at least six), or you will have yummy leftovers for a few days.


Chana Masala:

2 Cans Chickpeas (or one 16 oz. bag dried - you'll need to increase the spice amounts a bit if you use the entire bag of dried beans) Rinse and drain if using canned. If using dried, soak with the quick soak method, drain, rinse, add water to cover and boil until soft (or use a pressure cooker, if you have one - cuts the cooking time dramatically). Then drain and add to recipe.

1 onion sliced thin
ginger - 1 in. piece, minced or grated (or approx. 1 Tbs powdered)

garlic (a few cloves, minced)
jalapeno (minced, optional - if you want the flavor but not much heat, make sure you scrape the seeds out before mincing it. one jalapeno in an entire batch shouldn't make it too spicy, but you can leave it out if you are worried about it)
1 Tbs turmeric
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs cumin
1.5 Tbs coriander
0.5 Tbs pepper

1 pinch asafetida (if you have it - can leave it out otherwise)

2 Tbs lemon juice
cayenne (just a dash. I'd put in a smidge even if/especially if you leave out the jalapeno, but it isn't crucial.)
salt (to taste)
1 quart vegetable broth

2-3 medium tomatoes, diced (or 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes)

1 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce (or juice)

Measure the spices out first and have them in a little bowl by the pot on the stove. You don't want to be measuring them in individually at that step because you need to stir them constantly to make sure they don't burn. Trust me on this one...

Caramelize onion in olive oil (this is the key - get them really brown and sweet!)
Add ginger. Cook for a bit. (until fragrant and soft - make sure you stir frequently so nothing burns - maybe a minute if using fresh, 30 seconds if using powdered)
Add garlic, jalapeno - cook 30 seconds or so
Add the spices - cook until toasted and fragrant, 30 seconds - 1 minute, stirring constantly

Add 0.5 cups water to make a thin paste

Add beans, broth, tomatoes, and the juices. Simmer until liquid is thickened and reduced. If the taste is a little too tomato-y or otherwise flat, add a bit more salt and maybe a bit more of the spice mix. (Just add in dashes of each until it tastes right. Wait until the liquid gets thick before you taste and adjust, though. Some spices take a while to cook and develop flavor - like turmeric - and concentrating the liquid will concentrate the taste.)

Garnish with cilantro, if desired. Serve over rice with a side of raita.

Rice:

The perfect ratio is 1/3 coconut milk, 2/3 water. For example, for 3 cups of brown basmati rice, use 2 cups coconut milk (basically, use 1 can) and 4 cups of water. Add (golden or regular) raisins, cardamom pods (green or black or a mixture) and turmeric before cooking (1-2 teaspoons for color). YUM! (Either fish out the cardamom pods before fluffing the rice - they should all be sitting on the top - or warn people they are in there!) That will make enough rice to have leftovers.

Raita:

Peel one cucumber, slice it in half down the length, an scoop/scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Then grate the halves with a box grater and squeeze out excess liquid from the shreds. Mix with one big container of soy yogurt (or greek yogurt or regular ol' yogurt), but make sure it's the PLAIN flavor! Add some salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. You can also stir in parsley or cilantro or a bit of mint if you like. Serve chilled on the side, or put a dollop on top of the chana masala when you serve it.

Yummy all around! Happy cooking!

Meatless Monday: Red Radio.

I'm thinking of trying out a new feature. I'm going to try to post something every Monday that has to do with food activism or veganism (vegetarianism). This blog is about our journey as a family, and that necessarily includes those topics. It won't all be in-your-face-activism, though occasionally it might be. I promise to post recipes and other stuff, too. We'll see how it goes.

What finally pushed me over the edge into trying out this feature on the blog was Jamie Kilstein - a vegan comedian - and Citizen Radio, a political and activism radio show that he created with his wife. Jamie Kilstein is hilarious, by the way.

Citizen Radio started a new program called Red Radio (hosted by Erin Red), which is specifically about veganism and animal rights. The inaugural episode features an interview with Colleen Patrick Goudreau who wrote one of my favorite vegan baking books - The Joy of Vegan Baking. (I make the cinnamon buns out of there for all special occasions and they never last more than 20 minutes out of the oven. Then I have to make a second batch for everyone else...)

I started listening to the show, but I couldn't make it to Goudreau's interview. Erin Red, the host, began with "what's actually in your McRib sandwich" and detailed some of the allegations of abuse and neglect at the factory farm which supplies McDonald's with pork. (They are being sued and investigated by the Humane Society for gross violations.) What actually goes into a McRib is disgusting, but the abuse allegations were unimaginably cruel. I had to turn the program off before she could get into the worst of it because I just couldn't handle it. This is part of the reason I'm vegan, anyway. I can't stomach animal cruelty, so I don't eat animals. Even though I couldn't make it through the episode, I highly recommend you give it a listen. If you've ever wondered how your food gets made, this is an eye-opener.

As I've said before, I don't advocate a vegan diet for everyone. It's hard work: it requires time, money and vigilance - which are three things in short supply in this economy. You also have to be extremely well educated to insure you are getting proper nutrition. Being vegan is easier for me than trying to make sure I ethically source all of my animal products, which is another part of the reason I do it. But if you are eating meat and/or dairy, I strongly feel that you have a responsibility to know where your food is coming from and how it's treated before it hits your table. It's not just an animal rights issue, though that's a big part of it. It's also a human rights issue (migrant and illegal labor), a health issue (hormones and antibiotics injected into the food supply), and an environmental issue (pollution, run-off, e. coli contamination, a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico from farm run-off...).

I also strongly believe that how we treat those who are weaker than us defines us as human beings, and defines us as a species in a larger sense. I saw a bumper sticker years ago that has stayed with me and really resonated: "People who abuse animals rarely stop there." Violence is becoming pandemic in modern society and if we can't be kind to a cow who is destined to become our dinner, how can we expect to be kind to one another?

Check out Red Radio's inaugural episode. It's worth listening to, even the hard parts. (It's also totally free and available online or via podcast.)