Your Vegan Mom

Roasted Kale and How to Dress Your Seitan

To recap, for Thanksgiving 2011, so far we have made a 2-pound hunk of seitan that will become your Thanksgiving roast and, more importantly, the protein bit in your post-Thanksgiving sandwich.  At the same time, we made about 6 cups of tasty broth to use in your stuffing and gravy.  We made the gravy - cashew mushroom to be precise, and it's delicious.  Now, with Thanksgiving just two days away, it's time to talk about how you're going to serve the seitan.  

Just like a tofurky from the store, you can surround it with any vegetables that you like roasted for an hour.  The roots are classics here.  You could not go wrong with a combination of potatoes, onions, parsnips, and carrots.  But if you're having mashed potatoes as well (and you are, aren't you?), well then this classic combo might feel a bit redundant.  

I wanted something green and bright, but that could withstand all that cooking.  

I turned to my old pal, kale, and he did not let me down.

Simple Creamy Pasta

Did I tell you that on our first date, I invited Paul up to my apartment at three in the morning and made him dinner?  I was so young and naive, but fortunately so was he.

That night, almost 16(!) years ago, in my very first kitchen, I made pasta with bell peppers and tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  (I didn't ditch the cheese until a couple years later.)

This pasta here is just the sort of dish that you could casually whip up at three in the morning with what you probably have on hand, all while sipping a glass of wine, shooing away your college roommate, and looking like a domestic goddess.

Incidentally, it is also a perfect lunch to prepare for two hungry children under the age of five because you need to go grocery shopping and you're out of bread and this will only take about 3 more minutes than pb&j anyway and you're still wearing your sweaty gym clothes from your visit to the Y fives hours previous.

But also, I was thinking we're all going to need some almost instant dinners in our arsenal as the days get shorter and the back-to-school schedules get more harried.  

This pasta is perfect for all those scenarios.  It's flexible.  I used spinach because it's what I had (and of course it cooks quickly) but you can use whatever vegetable odds and ends you have in the house.  Mushrooms or broccoli or kale would all be delicious.   

Almost Instant Semi-Fancy Pasta
makes: 3 grown-up servings 
takes: about 12 minutes

• 8 ounces whole wheat penne (or half a bag)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 big handfuls of baby spinach
• pinch of salt
• 2 heaping tablespoons sliced sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
• 1/3 cup vegan parmesan
• about 1/3 cup pasta water
• black pepper 

About 5 minutes before your pasta is done cooking, heat the olive oil and garlic in a big skillet over medium-low heat.  When the oil is hot and the garlic smells wonderful, add the spinach and a pinch of salt to the pan.  Toss it around with the oil and garlic until wilted.  Add the tomatoes with their oil.  It's probably time to scoop the pasta out of the water and into the pan with the vegetables - if you don't have a big slotted spoon called a spider, well you should probably get one - they're cheap and useful - but if you don't have one, drain your pasta, but reserve about a cup of the pasta water for the sauce.  Add the parmesan to the pan and stir it around to coat the pasta.  Drizzle in enough pasta water to give it a creamy consistency.  Stir.  Taste for salt.  

Serve (grown-up portions) with a few cracks of black pepper.

Notes on kid-friendliness: No, neither of my kids ate the sun-dried tomatoes, but the oil they're packed in gives this dish a nice flavor and the tomatoes are easily avoided and saved for me.  Felix ate around the spinach, sigh, but Desmond ate it.  If I had had more time I would have chopped it finely - that will sometimes work with the 2-year-old.  

One Kid's Meal To Go

That's plain pasta (it never occurred to me that pasta could be a finger food until I had a two-year-old), grilled tofu, and slices of peach.  "The red part is beautiful and tastes sweet," said Desmond as we made the hour drive to Grandma's house during dinner time after a late afternoon swim lesson.  

Then the rest of the drive was pretty much quiet as the boys ate.  No desperate family sing-alongs teetering on the edge of hysteria.  No I Spy.  No crying.  Pretty much just quiet eating while we drove.*  

And ever since, I've been thinking a lot about travel meals for chubby little fingers.  I like this captive eating thing.  We're taking a road trip towards the end of the summer and I'm planning on inverting the traditional drive - stop to eat - drive model for a new drive and eat - stop and play - drive and eat model that will hopefully be friendlier to the abilities of the almost two- and five-year-olds.   

So, help me out.  What's your favorite relatively tidy kid's meal to go?

*Okay, except for the part of the trip where I tried to coach Desmond from the driver's seat in the left lane of the 710 Freeway on how to - no, nevermind, if this blog is still here in 8 years, I cannot tell the Internet this story.  But then, after, there was a cup.  And I said, "Is the cup stable?  Or can it spill?"  And he replied, "No, the cup can't spill.  It's stable."  And I thought, "That's awesome.  He just fluently used his context clues to figure out what that word meant, and then immediately used it correctly.  The almost five-year-old brain is amazing!"  And then we got to Grandma's house, and it turns out that the cup was not in fact stable and all the car books needed to be wiped down or thrown out.  So, we still have that skill to perfect before our road trip.  But there will be two adults in the car to help through such emergencies. 

Crunchy Baked Tofu Sticks and Post-Easter Food Trauma

I am so done with Easter.

And we had such a nice day on Sunday too.  As predicted, we had brunch at my mom's, followed by an egg hunt in the backyard.  And then a long walk for most and a long nap for some.  We played on the beach and then had dinner at my dad's.  There was an egg hunt at his house too.  With lots more candy.  

There were actually four egg hunts with loads of candy over the course of the week.  And it should have been five - we missed one.

Did you read that article on sugar in the New York Times magazine a couple weeks ago?  I may have mentioned it at the park surrounded by Desmond's classmates who were happily scarfing down the spilled contents of plastic eggs scattered across picnic blankets at the park.  Every single mom and dad for blankets around may have gone quiet at the mention of the word toxin.  I may not be particularly socially savvy.  Also, the (toxic) jelly beans may have been from me.  

We had enough.  Way too much actually.  And I am now ready to banish all leftover Easter candy from our house, and get back to our normal way of eating.  I am going to have to work hard though to entice these boys away from their memories of intense sugar.  (On Sunday night, sleeping over at my mom's house, Felix woke up in the middle of the night to demand more cake - did I mention there was also a birthday celebration in the middle of all those jelly bean-filled plastic eggs?)  

So, here's a pretty healthy recipe that I know they love.  I do up a whole block of tofu in this fashion and the leftovers keep well in the fridge.  Re-crisped in the oven, they're maybe even better the next day.  They travel well for dinner on the go if necessary and they meet the super important dippable requirement for a successful kid dinner.  If you serve them with your house's favorite roasted vegetable (asparagus here at the moment) and oven fries, then the whole dinner cooks itself in the oven while you do the dishes or coax your kids down from their sugar high.

Making cornflake crumbs.

Crunchy Baked Tofu Sticks

• 1 pound super firm tofu, marinated overnight or at least 4 hours
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups corn flakes, smashed to crumbs
• 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• pinch of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Get out 3 medium bowls for dipping tofu.  In one, whisk together the flour and seasonings.  In the second whisk together the flax meal and water.  And in the third, mix together the rest of the ingredients with a fork.  

If you haven't already,cut the marinated tofu into sticks.  Then dip each stick in the seasoned flour, tossing around to coat.  From there, dunk it in the goopy flax (give that flax another stir just before your first dunk).  And finally press the tofu into the crumbs.  

Place all your coated tofu sticks on a cookie sheet.  Heat the oven to 375, while you let your tofu just hang out for a bit to get everything nice and stuck together.  When the oven is hot, bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and crunchy.  

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Fall Family Dinner

Paul's home.  He finished "long work" on Wednesday, and now there's a bit of time to breathe for a moment.  And maybe even eat a nice meal together.  Here's one -

Mac 'n Cheese Bites

with Spinach Apple Salad - (that's lettuce up there in the picture, but I really like this salad with spinach) baby spinach, diced apple, toasted pecans, and apple cider salad dressing

 

and Pumpkin Cupcakes for dessert.

(If this is not an occasion, they don't need frosting, and then really, they're awfully easy.)

And you, what are you enjoying these days?