Farmer's Market Finds - Sweet Corn Recipe

So this weekend we had amazing weather, and decided to take advantage of it by hitting up a few farmer's markets. I'd had this yummy sounding Corn Chowder recipe from "The Conscious Cook" (available HERE) and had been waiting for some farmer's market sweet corn to make it.



It was definitely one of the best soups I've EVER made, and it was also super quick and easy. I changed up a few ingredients to make it a little cheaper - I don't keep fresh herbs around very often besides basil, because I find that they just go bad after I use a little bit for one recipe, so I switched out fresh thyme for dry. Dried chipotles are a bit hard to find as well, so I was happy to find that the chipotles in adobo sauce gave it plenty of smokiness. As for the stock, the recipe originally calls for faux-chicken stock, but that costs about $5 for one 3-cup box, so I used vegetable stock instead ($1/can) and I can't see how it could have tasted any better.

This is one of those recipes that is so good & hearty (even though it's meat and dairy free) that my boyfriend will sometimes go on a little post dinner rant about how glad he is that I became vegan. This from a man who grew up on a cattle farm - so I consider that a victory!

Corn Chowder from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen
serves:6

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups diced Vidalia onions
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 celery stalk, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 red bell pepper, de-ribbed and cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
5 cups vegetable stock.
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 tsp dried thyme
Kernels from 6 ears of corn
1 1/2 cups thick Cashew Cream (see below for recipe)
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Sprinkle the bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds, being careful not to let it smoke. This will create a nonstick effect.
2. Add the onions, carrots, celery, bell pepper, and chipotle pepper. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the stock, potatoes, and thyme, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. With the back of a spoon, smash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot and stir to thicken the soup. Add the raw corn and Cashew Cream, season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve!
   

Cashew Cream

2 cups whole raw cashews (not pieces, which are often dry), rinsed very well under cold water.

1. Put the cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cover them. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. (I skipped this step, and it was still perfectly fine.)
   
2. Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Place in a blender with enough fresh cold water to just cover them. Blend on high for several minutes until very smooth.

This cashew cream recipe will make you extra, which I definitely recommend, because it freezes VERY well. It can be added to just about anything to make it creamy, and since the cashews have such a mild taste they don't alter it to be more "nutty" at all.

Vegan Yum - Seitan Braised Cabbage

So this recipe, I'm willing to bet, is even more delicious fresh off the stove. Unfortunately, I do not know, at the moment, because my dog decided to spill Kool-Aid all over my brand new white & blue ottoman the minute the timer went off, so I only got to taste it after reheating.

Fortunately, it was still super yummy. I'm pretty nuts about this cookbook - being vegan AND on Weight Watchers sounds a little insane, but "Appetite for Reduction" (by the cooking geniuses behind Veganomican) is amazing, totally revamping traditional vegan recipes normally filled with cashew cream & earth balance and replacing them for littler oil and more broth.


I know cabbage is kind of a love-it-or-hate-it thing, but if you're in the former party you will LOVE this.

I'm going to preface this by saying that this is great over a baked potato, so in advance of serving, toss 4 potatoes - rinsed, rubbed with kosher salt, wrapped in aluminum foil, and poked 6 or 7 times with a fork into a 425 degree oven for an hour or two.

Braised Cabbage with Seitan
adapted from "Appetite for Reduction" available HERE.

1 tbsp olive oil - the recipe originally called for only 1 tsp, but even in my nonstick pan, everything just burned with that little oil. If you can pull it off with less, however, go for it!
8 oz seitan slices
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups veg broth
1 head green cabbage
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the seitan in oil until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Use nonstick cooking spray as needed. Add the garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes, and saute for a 30 seconds more. Add a splash of the veg broth to deglaze the pan, then add the cabbage and the rest of the broth. Sprinkle with salt. Cover the pan and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste for salt and serve immediately, over a baked potato.

Vegan Reads - Kathy Freston's "Veganist"

So today I got all into joining "Good Reads", an awesome website where you can review and post what you're reading, as well as find out opinions from other people. It's like a giant internet book club. That got me thinking - I should totally post about all the awesome books I read while trying to decide whether or not to take the vegan plunge.

So the first one I went with was Kathy Freston's Veganist. This is mostly because the reason I became vegan at all was because of the "Oprah & 300 staffers Go Vegan!" episode, which was very controversial amongst actual vegans, but I thought, incredibly informative and approachable.



So Ms. Freston's book does have a misleading cover - seriously, there are no recipes in this thing, it is not at all a cookbook, so I'm not sure why she's holding dinner out like that.

But inside (and to me, more important than recipes) are interviews with a lot of very smart doctors who have done a lot of very successful research on veganism and why it's all around better for everyone to eat a plant based diet.

She also provides awesome resources like shopping lists - never having had to BUY vegan cheese before, or know what to substitute for what in some of my favorite pre-vegan recipes, I REALLY appreciated Kathy recommending the best brands for some of these things (Daiya, Tofutti, Ener-G, Gardein, and Field Roast being a few of her faves.)

Additionally, she talks about what it's like to live with an omnivore and cook for them (hi vegan world...we did not all pick partners based on food choice) and how to be polite about your veganism. I know, sounds strange but people are sometimes downright offended at my choice to not eat animals. This is where I got the idea to always bring my own food to dinner parties and keep a granola bar in my purse for times when the whole group decides on Cracker Barrel, etc.

This book has a very friendly approach, while still being convincing, and is usually the number one book I recommend when people tell me they'd like to know more.

Also helpful are some fantastic answers to questions like:

"Where do you get your protein?"
(Beans, quinoa, tofu, nuts.....we're all so freaked out about it, but the average American actually eats TWICE the daily amount of protein we need.)
"It can't be healthy to eat that way, otherwise, why wouldn't my doctor recommend it?"
(Because he thinks you won't stick with it - vegans are 40% less likely to have heart disease, but most doctors think of it as "extreme" to ask patients to cut out meat and simply prescribe medicine instead. You know what I think is "extreme?" Bypass surgery.)
"Don't you miss (insert cheese, BBQ, mayonnaise, chocolate)?"
(Not really. Vegan cheese is yummy, and after letting real cheese go, I realized I never was that crazy about it anyways. You can still BBQ things that aren't pork, I dare you to tell the difference between Veganaise and mayonnaise, and most of the really good chocolate like Ghirardelli is made with soy lethicin instead of milkfat anyways.)

So if you're thinking about becoming vegan, or are just interested in reading an informative book about diet, I'd give this one a try. You can get it at Amazon HERE.

Vegan Faves - P.F. Chang's

I'll be honest with you - we don't eat out much. Me and my boyfriend are recent college grads on a pretty tight budget, and since restaurant eating often ends with me either having to order something sub-par, or being forced to complain and send back food they've obviously tainted with animal products (butter, parmesan, once I was given actual chicken after telling our waitress I was vegan), it's not really our number one activity. Usually kept to one weekend night each week, if that.

But this week my parents stopped through town to visit and we went to P.F. Chang's, where I was pleasantly surprised.

I have this app (I'm an iPhone addict) that tells me what's vegan at a bunch of average chain restaurants, and when I looked them up there were like 20 choices-way more than I usually have. The best part? What I had was AWESOME.

So here are my P.F. Chang's recommendations:

Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps - The meat eaters were convinced they were better than the chicken!

Spring Rolls - Really good, although not necessarily on my diet...one was totally worth it though.



Spicy Green Beans - Again, YUM. I shared these with a few other people.



Ma Po Tofu - My boyfriend even ate this, and he's a tofu hater in general. Actually, my feeling were a teeny bit hurt when he said "I'd like tofu if you could cook it like this!" But I tried to let it roll of my shoulders and decided to just be glad he liked SOME form of tofu.

So yeah, I know it's a chain. And as far as restaurant recommendations go, it's not the most creative thing. But we don't live in San Francisco, L.A., or New York City, so we'll take our good vegan food where we can get it!

Plus, in the non-health related category, they make a really yummy pear mojito. : )

Thai Curry Soup

Now, I recognize that this is going to seem counter-intuitive. It is the 4th of July, and I'm sitting in my house eating coconut curry soup. But we partied ourselves out for America all weekend long, and by today, all I wanted to do was sit on my couch, in my newly decorated living room, and eat soup. So I did.

Plus, I'm on a bit of a kick with this soup - it's seriously good. Maybe my favorite ever.

The ingredients can be a bit of a pain in the butt to find - I got almost everything at either Whole Foods (seitan, tamari) and the Global Foods Market (thai basil, coconut milk, thai red curry paste).
So here's a cheat sheet: seitan can be subbed with extra firm tofu, tamari is basically gluten-free soy sauce, & thai basil can be plain old basil. However, coconut milk & thai red curry can't be substituted, so if you don't have at least an Asian grocery nearby, you may be out of luck. Thai red curry & coconut milk are actually canned though, so if you ever see a store out of town, just run in because those things aren't temperature sensitive.

It might be weird, but to me, this is perfect wild-weekend recovery food.

Thai Red Curry Soup

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 6-8

1 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 container button mushrooms, chopped

8 ounces seitan, chopped

4 Tablespoons vegan red curry paste

2 heaping cups peeled and diced russet potatoes

2 cups green beans, trimmed

2 cups unsweetened coconut milk

5 cups vegetable broth

1 Tablespoon tamari

salt and pepper, to taste

heaping 1/4 cup fresh thai basil, chopped

Sriracha sauce, optional condiment

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Saute bell pepper and mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add seitan and red curry paste. Stir to distribute curry paste, about 2 minutes. Add potatoes and green beans and saute about 1 minute more. Add coconut milk, broth, and tamari. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, or until potatoes are done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in fresh basil before serving. Garnish with Sriracha sauce for a spicier taste.

Untraditionally American

As a new-ish vegan, I've appreciated (more than I could possibly say) all the vegan bloggers out there who have recommended recipes and tested the best vegan food offerings out there.
I live with an omnivore, and my biggest concern when I decided to take the plunge was whether or not I'd be able to keep him happy, since I do ALL the cooking. Not that he makes me or anything - I just really like to cook.
Thanks to all those with links on the right, it hasn't even been an issue, and my omnivore guy has lost 30 lbs without even really trying!

I make no promises about where this blog is going to go - I'm hoping to make it into some kind of collection of recipes, product discoveries, tips for non-vegan food situations, and an all-around praise of all the fantastic things about being vegan - but we'll see!

Today I'm going with a recipe. It's 4th of July weekend, and we are going to a friend's house for a pre-outdoor concert & fireworks dinner. In general, when I go to somebody else's place for a meal I always ask if I can bring something, and then make sure to bring enough for everyone because otherwise I might end up with nothing to eat - and then I feel insanely rude. I immediately leaned towards something Asian - by far the easiest and yummiest thing to cook when you're vegan since they don't eat much meat and ANY dairy at all. However, my boyfriend pointed out that it was "weird" to bring Asian food on a 4th of July weekend and I needed to come up with something more "American" to eat. So I got out the stack of vegan cookbooks I've acquired recently and started to flip through. Darrell ended up picking for me - Vegan Chicken Salad from Tal Ronnen's "The Conscious Cook," (a rather traditional chicken salad just made with Gardein instead.) I picked this yummy concoction I made last week after finding it on one of my favorite food blogs.




Tofu Feta, Watermelon and Basil Salad
adapted slightly from Healthy Happy Life blog
serves 6-8

14 ounces firm tofu, drained/squeezed dry
2 cups fresh watermelon, cubed
1 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tsp cayenne
several grindings of fresh black pepper
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (found at Whole Foods in the grain bin aisle)

Tofu Marinade:
2 Tbsp white miso paste
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil

garnish: basil leaves, pepper

Directions:

1. Prep your tofu - drain, squeeze dry with paper towel, slice into cubes.

2. In a tall glass, briskly stir your white miso marinade until the miso paste blends into the liquid.

3. In a large bowl, toss the tofu with the miso marinade. Place in fridge to chill and marinate overnight or for at least 2-3 hours.

4. Toss your tofu with your diced watermelon cubes and finely chopped basil. Add spices and nutritional yeast flakes. Top with pepper.

recipe & image courtesy of healthy happy life