Your Vegan Mom

Mark Bittman's Spaghetti with Broccoli Rabe

I feel my cooking mojo coming back.  After the nausea of the first trimester which lingered into the beginning of the second with stomach-turning sensitivity to delicious smells like garlic and onions and then just plain exhaustion for a couple weeks (There's all sorts of crazy stuff going on in there like the formation of extruding ears!  I think if your body is producing a brand new pair of ears, you deserve to sit on the couch and order takeout.), I am now ready to return to the kitchen, and for more than just inoffensive sweet stuff.  

Just last Saturday, I sauteed onions, and then I did it again on Sunday.  Last night I toasted garlic to make this pasta for dinner.  By the way, when I'm making a really simple pasta like that, the sort that usually calls for parmesan cheese, I mix in a bit of the salty pasta water and a scoop or two of nutritional yeast to give the minimal sauce a bit of body and nutritional heft.  And of course, taste for salt, because that parmesan you left out is salty.  And then it's nice to serve your pasta with a wedge of lemon if you have it laying around.  It looks pretty and gives a simple dish like this that little something it might be missing.  

I always enjoy Mark Bittman's Minimalist column (and Desmond's a fan of his short cooking videos) for simple meal ideas, but lately they've been particularly vegan-friendly or at least easily adaptable. Plus, his quick and creative recipes are a really good way to motivate my big fat teetering baby steps towards the stove.  

My Hot Saturday Night: the vegan drive-thru experience

*On second thought, I probably shouldn't have even brought this place up.  Their suppliers seem to be inconsistent so there is little way to tell if their products are completely vegan.  Read the comments for gross stories.*

Since we now live something like three miles from Orean, I thought it was time I give the old drive-thru another try.  I reasoned that without the cross city trek building up my expectations maybe it wouldn't be such a disappointing experience.  

This time around I knew enough not to order anything with the African salsa (I just don't like it.  Others do.  Please don't let me dissuade you.)  Or cheese (it's soy-based, but not vegan).  Or the breakfast sandwich (I can't remember when you're allowed to order it.  Rules, man.)

On a beautiful Saturday evening when we weren't quite ready to be home or cook dinner, Paul and Desmond and I settled into a red picnic table nestled into the 70's era fast food hut just next to the drive-through lane.  In between keeping a toddler from hopping into traffic, we took bites of sandwiches and fries.  

Paul's chicken burger with all the fixings was pretty satisfying - a breaded chickeny sort of patty on a soft wheat bun with barbecue sauce and vegenaise and lettuce and tomato and pickles and onions.  My filet-o-soul tofu burger was an inch-thick slab of mildly seasoned defrosted tofu with tartar sauce replacing the barbecue.  I won't be ordering it again.     

The air fries were mostly crisp, much better than the week before when they were thick and starchy and tasted like beef.  Consistency is not Orean's strong suit.    

And then there was the soft serve.  We strolled away with perfect drippy, creamy cones, somehow diverted Desmond's attention from the McDonald's Playland across the street, and appreciated Orean for what it is: decent fast food for Pasadena vegetarians.   

Also, where else in the city (let alone 3 miles from my house) can I get a vegan root beer float while my toddler, none the wiser, sleeps contentedly in the back seat?  (That's not a rhetorical question.  If you know, please tell me.) 

Orean Health Express
817 N. Lake Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91104
(626) 794 -0861

9:30 - 9:00

Waffle Weekend

As you consider your weekend breakfast options, might I recommend Tofu Mom's Belgian Waffles?  They are everything I have been looking for in a waffle - light and crisp with that slightly custardy center - just perfect.  

Would you please check out that eyebrow?  Also, I highly recommend that little red box of soyatoo - it whips up quite nicely.

And as long as you have the waffle iron out, make enough to freeze so that you can eat waffles all week.  Some frozen blueberries, a bit of sugar, and a squeeze of lemon simmered for a few minutes make an easy sauce to turn your Tuesday waffles fancy.  

Happy Weekend!  And what will you be eating?

Easter Candy

I had such grand intentions for Easter.  There were going to be tiny egg-shaped carrot layer cakes (next year), and at least three kinds of homemade candy (someday).  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was trying to come up with a perfect food-craft tradition to take the place of the traditional family egg dye.  Amidst the chaos that was the last ten days, I found a couple hours on Tuesday afternoon to quickly make something.  

The boy, at two and half, seems to be giving up his nap.  This is a life-altering drag for the whole family.  I have yet to figure out how and when I can get anything done.  I think my to do list just needs to be scrapped, as it has outgrown standard size sheets of paper.  The boy is no longer at all charming in the late afternoon, and poor Paul is picking up the slack, whisking the crazy toddler to the park at the end of the day so I can sit down for five minutes in a row, and then coming home to make us dinner.  We're all tired and grouchy.  But back there a few weeks ago I was excited about spring, damn it, so last Tuesday I whipped up some quick peanut butter eggs that I've been periodically snacking on ever since, putting us in peril of not having any Easter candy at all.  

So while this was not at all the precious mother-child experience I had anticipated, it was shockingly quick and easy to do by myself.  Really, so easy, that I can imagine actually allowing the boy to participate next year with his more patient (and well-rested, because we will get through this, right?) 3-year-old fingers.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs
This is emergency candy dipped in chocolate, with recipe guidance from chow.

3/4 c. peanut butter (I used natural chunky salted.  Add a pinch of salt if your peanut butter's unsalted.)
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. cheerios-type cereal

1/2 lb. chocolate to coat (I used 70-some-odd-percent dark chocolate.)

Put the cereal in a ziploc bag and go over it several times with a rolling pin to crush it.  It does not need to be a fine powder, some bigger chunks are fine.  This will be a perfect kid contribution to the project next year.  In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and crushed cereal until combined and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.  (I imagine this could also be done in a food-processor, starting with the cereal crushing and adding the other ingredients, but mine's not big enough.  Also, of course you can do this all by hand, but it's a stiff batter and would give my arms more of a work out than this delicate flower is interested in.)

Scoop the peanut butter into teaspoon size (or really any size you want) balls and then roll between your palms to make little eggs.  Chill the eggs while you melt the chocolate.

I don't temper.  I just melt and dip.  Actually to be honest, this time around I decided to temper and I wound up with the least tempered chocolate I've ever worked with.  I'm back to melt and dip.  I say leave the candy thermometer in the drawer, but you do what you want.  I will refer you to Martha Stewart right now for your tempering tutorial if that's the way you roll.  Also, this was the first time I used candy molds - those ones turned out really cute, but here's the thing - I only had one tray which made nine perfect little eggs.  They needed to chill for 11 - 13 minutes before being popped out of their mold, all while I kept the chocolate at 86 degrees.  So I made nine perfect little eggs, and then 36 little turdy eggs.  I photographed the turdy eggs, and will go that route from here on out unless I buy myself more candy molds at post easter prices (They're actually really cheap.  I bought mine half off last year after easter for 69 cents.)  

So, as I was saying, chop up your chocolate and put it into a metal bowl that fits snugly over a pan (or the top of a double boiler, you fancy).  Heat some water in the pan, just enough to come beneath the bowl without touching it - the rising steam will heat the bowl and melt the chocolate.  Place the bowl of chocolate over the hot water and stir occasionally until your chocolate is smooth.  Remove the pan and bowl to the counter, and dip your eggs.  I use chop sticks.  You can also use a fork.  Dip one egg, gently shake off as much chocolate as you can, place on parchment paper to cool.  Repeat.  Once all the eggs are dipped, place in the freezer to set up.    

For actually inspiring candy-making ideas:

homemade kinder surprise (Thanks Cassie!)

adorable marshmallow bunnies! (planning ahead required) 

pastel mints (I haven't tried this yet with non-dairy cream cheese, but you know I intend to.)

Happy Spring!

Swell Vegan, or How I Became Obsessed With Chia Seeds

Did you read about the chia seeds on Swell Vegan?  Did you run out and buy some and have become so obsessed with these nutrient-rich magic morsels of delicious at the expense of all other food stuffs that you are somewhat ironically malnourished?  

Maybe it's their claim to be the best plant source of Omega 3s that sold me, what with that little burgeoning brain in my belly, but I think it was the tapioca comparison.  I love tapioca.  And the lure of a no-cook pudding that was coincidentally some sort of miraculous health food, was just too good to pass up. 

So since tracking down the tiny seeds in their little plastic tub near the bulk bins at Whole Foods during super hot family grocery shopping date night last Friday, I have made, let me see, 6 versions of chia pudding.  My favorite is a pretty straight up vanilla with all the soothing properties of a bowl of tapioca, plus it makes my baby smart.  

Despite the claims of many raw food sorts on various message boards and blogs, the seeds (or at least the ones in my kitchen) do not completely gelatinify, no matter how long you leave them to soak.  There will always be a slight crunch at the center, that is not unpleasant, but will make it fairly clear to any dinner guests that this is a non-traditional pudding.  Save it for a comforting afternoon snack.  More for you.   

Vanilla Chia Pudding
1/4 c. whole white chia seeds
1 c. soy milk
1 - 2T. maple syrup (depending on how sweet your milk is, and how sweet you like it)
1 t. vanilla extract.

Combine and stir.  Leave on the counter for ten minutes, stirring every couple minutes so that large clumps don't form.  Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.  The pudding will continue to thicken the longer it sits.