Your Vegan Mom

Lentil and Frisée Salad With Lemon Vinaigrette

It has been so freakin' gorgeous here the last couple days. So gorgeous in fact that I shelved our planned pasta last night, shook up a quick vinaigrette, grabbed picnic provisions from Trader Joe's, and headed to the beach where the boy could run around and I could occasionally look down at the food section. We snacked on slices of tofurkey sun-dried tomato sausage and bread until the mood struck to "make" dinner. With the salad dressing ready, dinner was a matter of placing a handful of lettuce (from a bag) and a dollop of lentils (pre-cooked and vacuum-packed) on the plate along with a slice of crusty bread. Dessert was alternating segments of valencia orange and squares of dark chocolate so that the flavors mingle on your tongue. Sometimes the simplest pleasures are the most decadent.

Lemony Vinaigrette
2 T. lemon juice (that was the juice of one eureka lemon)
1/2 t. lemon zest
1 T. dijon mustard
6 T. olive oil
pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a small jar and shake.

Notes: The boy was not hip to this salad. He did however enjoy the sausages, the bread, the oranges, and the box of emergency crackers that we picked up at the grocery store when we were foolishly shopping at cranky time. For the grown ups, however, this was a perfect hot day meal. Next time I would mince up a bit of shallot to add to the the vinaigrette, oh, and toss some avocado into the salad. And you? What would you do differently?

To Market: for a kiwi

Does this sound silly? I didn't even realize that we grew kiwis in California until I stumbled across a giant bin of bulbous hairy brown fruit at the Hollywood Farmers Market a couple weeks back. 3 for a $1 fit perfectly into my budget and I couldn't resist the siren song of the "most nutrient dense fruit" as my current life's work is to pack as much nutrition as possible into an active 24 pound frame. Alas, Desmond wouldn't eat it. Though perhaps I cut into the first two too soon - they were awfully tart. This third one, though, managed to escape my notice and sit out on the counter for a good 10 days. Sometimes patience, or neglect, pays off. This is one delicious little fruit. It tastes like a cross between a green apple and a cherimoya. It's like a magical candy, but packed with nutrition, and tiny crunchy seeds. And now it's all gone. Maybe the boy will get some next week. Fortunately, he is loving the navel oranges that are so sweet right now.

And the Oscar for Best Chip Dip Goes to....

I keep forgetting that the Academy Awards are today. Which is crazy because this is my favorite televised sporting event. I'm not interested in any of the ones with the balls and the roughhousing, but give me some pretty dresses to look at and I'll make party snacks. I had even intended to go to the Hollywood Farmers' Market this morning. Silly me. (Avoid that whole part of town, please.) So if perchance you need some last minute party fare that can most likely be whipped up from the contents of your kitchen, might I suggest this onion dip? It would go quite nicely with the oven roasted potato chips that are currently up on the Vegan Vice site.

Onion Dip
2 large onions, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup raw cashew pieces
dash pepper, cayenne, nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup vegenaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons white miso
2 green onion tops, sliced thin and reserved to garnish

Cook onions in olive oil over medium-low heat until they're sweet and brown and melty. In the meantime, grind nuts, along with the salt, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, and nutritional yeast in a food processor until quite fine. Add half of the cooked onion and the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy. Stir in the remaining onion. Taste for salt and lemon juice. Refrigerate until ready to use. Garnish with sliced green onion. Serve with potato chips.

Now in a more printable format

And beer (or root beer). And pizza. With butterscotch pudding for dessert. This menu makes me feel fancy - perfect for today's festivities.

Almost 16 Months

So it's kind of a net loss when the boy occupies himself thus:

whilst I do the dishes. At least there's now room for him in the sink.

Which is good because maybe we can get that tenacious oat that's been stuck in his hair all morning.

Besides smoothies (frozen fruit + soy milk. blend) and oatmeal, Desmond has also recently enjoyed panang curry, spaghetti and bean balls (I'm really not comfortable saying bean balls), and tofu in myriad guises (though we're currently favoring oven-fried with a coating of seasoned bread crumbs and flax seeds).

Nutritional Yeast

I was beginning to bore myself with my weekly reports from the market, so I have decided to change things up a bit today with a visit to my pantry. Once a month or so we’ll take a look at one of those strange vegan staples that I thoughtlessly mention here and there with no explanation. Well, that changes today. For today we will take a look at that veganest of vegan staples - nutritional yeast.

This is the food of the FUTURE....future....(future). If this isn't space food, it certainly should be. Seriously, go put some in your earthquake kit. This food (and I know that I am not selling it here like a bouquet of fresh asparagus spears) is a powdered protein source rich in vitamins and minerals. Plus! It tastes like cheese (a little bit, if you use your imagination).

Nutritional yeast is an inactive form of our old friend, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. I say old friend because this is one beloved one-celled organism. It is a strain of that same yeast that leaves behind air pockets in your bread and puts the oomph in your ale. So say it with me now, “sack or uh my sees - sarah vees see ay,” or “sugar fungus of beer” if you prefer. Back in the day, German brewers would scoop out the yeast left over at the end of the beer-making process to sell as a health tonic, and rightfully so; this inactive yeast was 50% protein and high in vitamins and minerals. Only problem was it didn’t taste very good.

Despite the bitter flavor, brewers yeast is still a commonly used nutritional supplement (and the foundation of a couple of popular spreads), however it is not the same as the nutritional yeast that you see called for in so many vegan recipes. This "primary grown inactive dry yeast" is now cultivated on molasses rather than scooped out of a beer keg. It is specifically raised for its nutritive properties as well as its pleasant taste. It is also frequently fortified with other vitamins, namely B12. You will find it in the form of dry yellow flakes sold in many a health food store bulk bin or canister.

Oh, and find it you will, because this stuff packs a nutritional wollop. In a 3 tablespoon serving of my KAL brand nutritional yeast flakes there are 9 grams of protein and 150% of the RDA of B12 in addition to high concentrations of many other vitamins and minerals. But, as I mentioned before, that is not the only reason for its essential vegan status.

It is the crucial ingredient in the elusive vegan cheese. But don't you go expecting the boldness of a stilton or even a compté; its flavor is mild. I prefer to think of it as an umami element. It gives that certain savory je ne sais quoi to scrambles and cream sauces and seitan.

And you, how do you use the nooch?