Hello! This week we have a slightly different problem with the doodles, you’ll see. I’m choosing not to worry about it. I made lots and lots of delicious things this week, starting with a chickpea-broccoli casserole from Vegan with a Vengeance.
She warns that it’s bland, and it kind of was. I put in some garlic because — garlic, and some herbs de Provence because Megan’s fancy new spice rack had that. I think it could have used some tomato, maybe? I’ll play around with it, because I love chickpeas and broccoli and baking things. I also got the chance to use my breadcrumbs! I decided that breadcrumbs are a naturally occurring phenomenon, so rather than purchasing some or toasting then blending bread, I’ve just been harvesting the crumbs that happen every time I slice a loaf, and putting them in tiny margarine containers in the freezer. I’m smart.
Next I made chili! I basically followed a recipe from Vegan Planet. This picture looked so adorable on paper, I promise.
This was my first time actually using tomato paste (though certainly not my first time trying to follow a recipe that called for it). Useful stuff, that. Get some. I really liked the celery in this — that’s not something my mom puts in her chili — and it was made yet more delicious by the ancho chili powder, but otherwise I kind of prefer my mom’s. I’ll have to email her for her recipe.
Tuesday was Megan’s birthday, so naturally I made her a cake. Megan makes cakes for everyone, so I knew I had to do something really really special. I made her the big berry birthday cake from Joy the Baker, because I had been successful with that over the summer, and some de-veganized vegan buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
This picture: not cute. The cake: cute cute cute! I got some organic blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries from the co-op and put them in the cakes, on the cakes, between the cakes … and then on my oatmeal in the morning. I can’t speak for the taste of the cake, but the fact that it is already gone kind of does.
I also made muffins this week! These were super successful, finally. I used some quinoa flour, which I was surprised to discover does not actually have more protein than whole wheat flour. Bummer. I also baked them for like 20-25 minutes rather than 30. Helpful. I’m going to give you the recipe because I changed Moosewood’s significantly enough that I feel I can take ownership over these muffins.
Banana-Quinoa-Chocolate muffins (inspired by Moosewood Muffins)
ingredients:
1 banana, preferably overripe
1/2C – 2T applesauce
2T canola oil
1/2C honey
1/2C + 2T milk
1/2t vanilla extract
2C quinoa flour
1T cornstarch
1t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
1/4t salt
1 1/2C chocolate chips
1. Mash the banana, then stir in applesauce and oil. Congratulations — you have a bowl of mashed up oily fruit. While it may be tempting to just eat that, keep going!
2. Stir in the honey, milk, and vanilla extract
3. Put the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on the wet ingredients — I don’t know how else to describe it. Then stir them in. Once it is incorporated, and you have no dry patches of flour, stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you are putting the muffin batter in liners. The oven may not be completely up to temperature when you put the muffins in, but that is okay. These don’t need too much baking because they don’t have eggs in them.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
I feel like this recipe reveals me to be very lax and inexact, especially the part about how I never wait for my oven to preheat fully. My apologies if you are offended.
So then I made lots and lots of curry. It’s winter, so why would I not want to do that? First, I made a Thai curry with potatoes and cabbage and carrots. Coconut milk and curry paste are yummy.
With the other half of the can of coconut milk, I made a curried lentil soup with red lentils. I just kept adding curry spices until it was to my liking.
Once again, cumin seeds. So necessary.
I guess I did make a couple of non-curry items. I read this post on the PPK blog and it inspired me to kind of make the tempeh that she made for her salad and put it on mine. I made a super-quick version of it though, by just dumping some soy sauce, maple syrup, and vinegar on my tempeh in the pan. I threw some celery in there, too, because cooking celery makes it even more delicious, were you aware? Then I just put some nuts and raisins and balsamic vinegar on my lettuce leaves, because that’s what I always put on my salad.
Last but not least, I made this weird quinoa thing that was inspired by this, a text my sister sent me about something she ate in her dining hall, and a not-vegan recipe my grandma sent me.
As you may or may not be able to tell from the picture, this salad included quinoa, broccoli, cabbage, walnuts & raisins (of course), and zucchini. Then I dressed it with a tahini-chili dressing that was mainly just lemon juice, tahini, and chili powder. Then I dropped the jar of tahini on my floor, which did not end well.
Speaking of walnuts, I have made this awesome chart for your enjoyment.
All values are for 1/4C of nuts. I just went with what was available in bulk at the co-op, so it’s mostly “halves and pieces” and “roasted unsalted.” It turns out that peanuts are pretty caloric, but they have the lowest ratio, so all that protein is probably worth it. Good news, because I eat approximately one jar of peanut butter every week. Almonds are also awesome.
I’m going to keep working on my doodling, or maybe scanning, skills. Next week is a bake sale, get excited!
All Around The Larder 