magical mystery tacos?

according to the recipe i found, these are linda mccartney's tofu tacos. whether that's true or not, they were easy to make and tasted great.

pineapple lentils

these little lentils cooked themselves on saturday afternoon. all the more time to fold laundry!

note: i used only 2 cups of dried lentils and 5 cups of water. i kept everything else the same. i know the ingredients sound pretty bland, but this does taste quite nice. it's a great reprieve from taste bud overload.

cupcake in a pod!

i haven't even eaten this yet, but it's too cute to not love. it's such a sweet little cupcake pod. it's from 'snice in brooklyn (where we also enjoyed a triple decker club and sesame chicken wrap).

brooklyn pancakes

years ago, pancakes and i had a falling out on the side of a highway in rhode island.  we have since resolved our issues and begun loving each other again.  these pancakes come from vegan with a vengeance, which was born and bred in brooklyn.  isa always knows what she's doing, so, of course, these are fantastic.  the only problem is that joe won't let me eat them every day, even though i ask at least that often.

tempeh chicken salad

joe is constantly seeking out the best soy dogs and vegan chicken salad. i found a recipe online and modified it a bit to get the right taste. my recipe is below.

tempeh chicken salad

1 large block of tempeh

3/4 C vegan mayo

1 long celery

small onion, chopped

2 t mustard

3 t soy sauce or braggs

1 clove garlic, minced

boil a small pot of water and boil the tempeh for 10 minutes. when cool enough, dice the tempeh into very small bits. mix together all the ingredients well.

tofu stir fry

this stir fry was great, and it whipped up in just a couple of minutes.  our brooklyn grocery store has tons of vegan options (5 kinds of tempeh, 2 brands of tofu, hundreds of soy dogs), so we bought a package of teriyaki marinaded tofu cutlets.  they were easy to work with because no pressing was required to get the right texture.

the tofu even comes with char lines!

i now have a small kitchen.

one of the things missing from our tiny kitchen is a blender or food processor, so i have been compiling a list of things i wish i could eat but am restricted from making. i'm sure this list will turn out to be far from complete, but these are just the things i've come up with so far.

philly (minus the cheesesteak)

while we were waiting for our chinatown bus to take us from philadelphia to new york, we went into a large market and found a vegetarian cafe, the basic 4.  needless to say, we were thrilled to have an opportunity for a vegan fast-food style breakfast.  we had a tofu scramble sandwich, home fries, and a mango smoothie.

our food came wrapped in newsprint!  that's rare for vegan fare.

tofu scramble sandwich

home fries with onions, peppers, and cayenne

mango smoothie

other appetizer-y things.

when jason and holli came, we also made some potato wedges with chili dip, tostones (seen in the previous post), and hummus with oiled and pressed french bread.

chili dip for roasted potatoes

since i am in new york, and the cookbook containing the chili dip recipe is in michigan, here is how i would make it while winging it brooklyn style.

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can diced/chopped tomatoes

1 jalapeno or other hot pepper

some balsamic vinegar...?

a teeny bit of cilantro (for garnish)

s&p, to taste

in a small saucepan, sauté the onions and garlic in some olive oil for a few minutes. when the onions are soft, add the rest of the ingredients. allow the mixture to simmer for at least 5 minutes.

it seems to me that there must be some balsamic vinegar in here, but i can't remember for sure. perhaps just add 1T and hope it tastes right.

the leftover dip was really tasty when we ate it cold on those delicious pretzel cracker things.

summer soups.

one weekend in august we turned a trip to the market into two wonderful summer soups. we made gazpacho and velvet corn soup. both were wonderfully cool against the august heat, and we fully enjoyed an evening with jason and holli.

many mix-ins for our gazpacho

i can't remember exactly how we made the gazpacho because we combined ideas from several recipes, but here is the recipe for the velvet corn soup, which i found at NPR online.

cold velvet corn soup

makes 4 to 6 servings
6 ears of fresh corn, husked
2 leeks, white parts only
4 cups vegetable stock
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
chopped scallions for garnish

rub the ears of corn with a towel to remove the last silk threads. cut the kernels off of the cob into a large mixing bowl. break the cobs in half and put them into a stockpot.

halve the white part of the leeks lengthwise and rinse them well. chop them coarsely and place in the stockpot. add all remaining ingredients except corn kernels. bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes.

remove corn cobs and the bay leaf and discard. add the corn kernels and simmer for 5 more minutes. using a blender on high, puree the soup in batches. (the recipe suggested to strain the soup through a sieve, but we just blended it very well and served as is.) after blending, chill the soup for at least 4 hours before serving.

mock duck.

it's uncanny (seriously, no pun intended) how much this gluten seems like meat.  the texture is quite convincing, and this little can of "meat" is just over a dollar.  we're just careful at our oriental market to grab the least dusty and least faded can.

with a little vegetarian stir fry sauce from the same market, a mongolian duck stir-fry whips up in just a few minutes.