finally springtime?

May has been a tough month. I thought April was bad. But May is the everything-going-wrong-at-once-and-there’s-nothing-you-can-do-about-it sort of bad. I can’t even go running to relieve the stress because on Sunday I tore something in my knee. I did a new yoga routine that morning and I must have stretched something a little too much, because the first step I took running I felt something sharp, but since I never learn form the past, I kept on going. For 5 miles. I thought it would be okay, but by that night I couldn’t put weight on my right leg. However, I’m proud to say that I managed to bike to work the next day with the help of a Chinese herbal plaster, and I have been hobbling around with great facility for the last few days. The only problem is, I’m not stupid enough to go running again until my knee improves markedly. I’m pretty sure it was the yoga, not the running, that hurt my knee. I’m so flexible that I don’t ever feel things until too late.

I’ve been cooking a lot, though, mostly curry and cookies. Maybe one day soon I’ll start posting about food again.

simple black bean congee

I don’t know how I managed to acquire so many cans of black beans, in addition to my ample supply of dried black beans. I think I have at least a dozen cans. Black bean congee is a perfect way to use lots of black beans. There are other perfect ways to use lots of black beans, but none quite so easy as this:

simple black bean congee
2 (15 oz.) cans of black beans
1 cup red lentils, rinsed
1 cup brown rice, rinsed
ginger, minced (I used about a tablespoon)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt to taste

Cook it all in a big pot with however much water you want. Bring to a boil, then turn to low heat and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hrs. Cooking time is less because obviously the beans are already cooked since they came from a can. I don’t bother to drain the beans because Eden Organics does not add any salt and the kombu they use is nutritious. Add more water as needed to maintain desired consistency. This makes a large quantity of congee so it might be a good idea to freeze some.

coconut chickpea curry

Another one of my endless curry variations.

Coconut Chickpea Curry

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1 heaping tsp curry blend (I used muchi curry this time because it looked lonely and neglected in my cupboard; feel free to double it depending on the desired spiciness)
1/4 tsp cayenne or to taste (I add more to my own dish so it isn’t too spicy for everyone else)

1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 gloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped finely

1-2 sweet potatoes, chunked and boiled until just slightly soft
1 can diced tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups chopped roma tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained (15 oz.)
1 can coconut milk (15 oz.)
8 oz. sliced mushrooms of your choice
1 large red bell pepper, chopped into large pieces

1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons – 1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons – 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, optional

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Instructions.
1. Boil the chunked sweet potato in a small pot until just slightly soft. drain and set aside. This should take less than 10 min. from when the water starts to boil.
2. Heat up the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop (which mine never seem to do, perhaps because they are so old?) add the spices, cumin through optional cayenne, and stir for 30 sec or so before adding the garlic, ginger, and then shortly thereafter, the onion. Add a few tablespoons of water as necessary so nothing sticks to the pan.
3. Sautee the onions until translucent. This may take ~7 minutes.
4. Add tomato, chickpeas, coconut milk, and mushrooms. Cover and let it cook until the mushrooms have cooked down significantly. Maybe 10 minutes? Check it and stir every couple minutes.
5. Add salt.
6. Once the rest has cooked down significantly, add the sweet potato and the red bell pepper. You can add the red bell pepper earlier if you like it less crunchy. Add the lemon juice. Mix in brown sugar if the flavor needs harmonizing.
7. Cook until perfection. Remove from heat. Add cilantro. Serve with rice, preferably basmati or jasmine.

I had so much of this curry over the course of the past two days that I practically burst my seams. But it was just so good!

smoothie fail

My most recent smoothie tastes closer to pond sludge than I would like. I thought I was using acceptable green smoothie ingredients, and I had to use the cilantro because it will go bad soon. Maybe if I record the recipe I will figure out where I went astray.

Not a yummy smoothie (makes 4 cups)
2 cups water
3/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 avocado (actually, only about half because it was getting brown inside)
1/2 cup cilantro
1 stalk celery
1 large handful baby spinach
3-4 large romaine leafs
1 tbsp vegan protein powder
1 tsp wheatgrass powder
2 tsp chia seeds

Basically, I stuffed the blender full of greens, blended it, and then added the other stuff because there wasn’t room at first. Now, I cannot decide if the avocado ruined it, or the cilantro.

I should also avoid 3-week-old almond milk in baking. Bleh. If only I had noticed before it was too late. Thankfully, no one got sick. Also, almond milk is not the best choice for baking powder biscuits, even when it is unsweetened and unflavored. Maybe rice milk next time.

Colorful Veggie Soup

Since I don’t usually like soup with lots of floaty things in it, I made this primarily for Papa Miao. I am doing my best to avoid veggies going bad in practice for the CSA this summer. Sometimes you just have to toss everything in a pot and cook it.

This soup isn’t strongly seasoned, but so long as the veggies aren’t overcooked (still colorful and crunchy), I think it is edible despite all the floaty things. My recipe is based on the Farmhouse Vegetable Soup in Vegan Planet, with some variations.

Colorful Veggie Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, sliced
1 celery rib, sliced
6-8 cups water with vegan bullion cube or seasoning
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz. can aduki or other beans
3-4 small red potatoes, chopped into chunks

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chunked
3 oz. fresh green beans, cut into 1 in. pieces
2 smallish yellow squashes, sliced into quarter-circles
salt
black pepper

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in a pot and add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the water with the beans and potatoes and bay leaf and vegan bullion cube. Bring to boil, lower heat and cook for ~30 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients except cilantro and cook for another 10-15 minutes, until the veggies are cooked through but not mushy. Turn off heat. Add cilantro.

looking forward to spring

Who isn’t?

I am in the process of signing up for a CSA share for the first time ever. I found someone to share my share with and it is exciting and affordable. I also bought a new pair of running shoes. The cold does something unpleasant to my lungs so I have to wait until it is at least 45F before I can run outside. That might be a while, especially since I’ll be running in the morning.

The roads are super slushy for biking and I had to take a couple detours on my way to work, mostly to avoid an overpass that has turned into a waterfall. For the most part, I can bike on the road, but there are some streets were there isn’t room and I’m forced onto the sidewalks, which are awful. I arrive at work frozen and dripping mud, but oddly cheerful. Except when there are cars that insist on turning in front of me even though I am walking my bike across the intersection (my bike can’t handle the ice ravines in the gutters) and I have the walk signal. What is wrong with people? They get to sit warm and comfy in their cars and spray slush on me, so the least they can do is wait a couple seconds for me to finish crossing the street. Maybe their hobby is squashing bicyclists in intersections.

a bowl of sprocket

I discovered a new kind of orange at the co-op today: Cara Cara. They are pink like grapefruit inside, and very flavorful. I don’t like most oranges, but I like these.

I also made orange agave chocolate chip cookies from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. Yummy enough, but I still prefer plain chocolate chip cookies.

Whenever my mixing bowl is sitting on the table, Teeny Sprocket has to hop inside. It is the perfect size for him.

lazy veggies with red wine and herbs

I had a bunch of veggies in the fridge, but for once I didn’t fel like making curry. So I made this. It is lazy because it doesn’t require much effort, but thanks to the red wine, it is flavorful enough to satisfy.

My version may or may not have a black spider in it. I reached for the minced garlic, walked over to the frying pan, dropped it in, and saw a medium black spider spiraling up my arm. By the time I was done squeaking and squealing and flailing, I had lost track of it. I looked in the frying pan, but it is cast iron and I don’t imagine a spider would have long remained recognizable in it. I looked everywhere. I took off my sweater, because I was sure it had crawled up my arm, and I still have a feeling it is lurking in my hair. Or in my tummy. *shudders*

Lazy Veggies with Red Wine and Herbs
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 gloves garlic, minced
8 oz. mushrooms (cremini, baby bella, etc), sliced
1/3 to 1/2 cup red wine
1 red pepper, cut into half-length strips
1 small zucchini, cut into strips
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt

In a skillet, sautee the onions until translucent. Add the garlic. After a minute, add the mushrooms and cook for several minutes, until the mushrooms have cooked down. Add half of the red wine at this point. The mushrooms have a tendency to absorb all the flavor. Add the red pepper, cook for a couple minutes, then add the zucchini, the rest of the wine, the spices, and the salt. Once the zucchini are soft but not mushy, it is done. Serve and eat.

Papa Miao suggested the eggplant would be a yummy addition to the recipe.

The soup that wasn’t

About six or seven years ago, my mother gave me two pounds of Minnesota-grown wild rice vegetable soup mix. It was tasty stuff, if you spiced it up a bit. But at that point in my life, I did not know how to cook and I did not have a kitchen. I had a sad little electric kettle in a basement laundry room. Everything I made turned to sand and I generally confined myself to Larabars, pre-made hummus, and those little soup cup things with flavored lentils.

Even though I couldn’t make soup, I still appreciated the soup mix. It was filled with delicious little morsels of dehydrated vegetables: carrots (my favorite), sweet corn, green beans, and red bell pepper. I systematically picked out these little veggie bits for snack food. Then, after I moved, I completely forgot about the soup mix until it resurfaced a few weeks ago.

So tonight I started making soup. 8 cups water per one cup soup mix. It was boiling along happily, and then I found the label the soup had come with. Shelf life of six months? Really? If it were just beans or rice, I would ignore the label, but there were all the little bits of dehydrated celery (not yummy). And could I honestly say that my hands had been clean when I ate my veggie snacks? I had been living in a spider-infested basement, after all. And however casual I am about expiration dates, 6 months vs. 6 years is quite a difference.

mani and soup mix

The soup tasted meh. Naturally it would be bland without adding more ingredients, but I don’t want to waste good food in suspiciously old food. So I am composting it, and probably the rest of the mix, even though I think wild rice is worth its weight in gold.

I have had bad luck with food recently. I found some forgotten kale in my fridge and sauteed it, only to discover that it tasted bitter and foul. The fact that when I washed it, all the green came out should have been a clue, but it was organic and I did not want to waste it. Now it is being organic in my compost heap along with some perfectly good garlic and ginger.

Not stuffed butternut squash

I was going to make stuffed butternut squash last night but I changed my mind. The squash got overcooked even though I left it in for less time than recommended. :/ Not sure what to call this. Butternut squash with veggies. Or something.

Butternut Something

1 butternut squash, baked then cut into chunks, skin discarded (obviously)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large carrot, sliced thinly
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1 small zucchini, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
3 pieces sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2-ish cup leftover rice

1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme

1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon (or slightly less) salt
fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions: Bake the squash. I thought it was supposed to be 30-45 min at 400F, but even after 30 min mine was overcooked. I always overcook squash no matter how hard I try not to. Maybe I’m just not used to an oven that actually works. So, anyways, cut the squash in half length-wise, scoop out the seeds, sprinkle olive oil on the exposed squash, stab the peel-side of the squash repeatedly with a fork, then place both halves face-down on a baking sheet with an edge so that you can add a bit of water to the bottom. Bake for however long is necessary.

Then, in a skillet, sautee the onions in olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic, sautee for a couple more minutes. Add the mushrooms and wait until they are cooked down. Add the carrots next. The bell peppers don’t need as much time to cook, and the zucchini needs even less. Add the rest of the ingredients through the dried spices, including the diced squash (mine was mushed squash). Cook until the zucchini are starting to turn translucent but not dissolving. Add the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Add cilantro. Serve.