Cooking with What You Have

Today, even though I was standing downtown in the freezing cold for over an hour, I had one of the best, most rewarding experiences I've had in a while.  That's because John & I volunteered today with our local Food Not Bombs chapter to cook and serve free "rescued" food to anyone who wanted some.  The Food Not Bombs movement has independently run local chapters whose purpose is to gather vegan and vegetarian food that would otherwise be thrown away, prepare it, and serve it to the public.  John has always liked volunteering to feed people, and with how much I love to cook, it was a natural fit for me as well, but it was also a heck of a unique experience!

The Worcester group seems to have recently experienced a change in members, so it ended up that John and myself, along with the group leader Julia, were the whole group (at least today).  We showed up at noon to see what we had to cook with.  I sometimes cook at home based on what I have hanging around, especially when making a tofu scramble or a stir fry, but this was definitely my first experience with having such a specific and limited range of ingredients to work from, and my first time to make such a huge serving size.  I'm usually cooking just for two, and maybe making enough for four so I can have leftovers. We had about 8 eggplants, 10 yellow squash, a great deal of baby bok choy, a package of mushrooms, and some tomatoes.  Julia and her housemates also had a great variety of spices and other staples like oil and soy sauce to work with as well.  Based on what we had, we decided to do a stir fry.  I taught John how to chop squash, and he did a great job (seriously, he was a champ!) manning the two stir fry skillets.  We had to use a third pot since we had so many veggies, so I decided to add all the tomatoes to that pot and make a kind of curry soup.  (Sorry, iPhone pics again...)

Veggie Stir Fry - This started in two pans and cooked down to one

Curry Soup

Both dishes plus brown rice - pay no attention to the grilled cheese in the foreground -- not for us!

The curry soup started out as more of a riff on ratatouille, but about halfway through, after looking at the spices, I decided to go Indian instead.  It turned out to be a big hit with John, and I was happy we made a soup since it was so cold, and the people on the street were very excited about it.   The other challenge I didn't mention, which turned out to be my favorite thing of all, is that we cooked all of this on a wood-burning stove!  It was challenging, but so much fun to cook the old-fashioned way!  We also had bags of oranges and some bread that we gave out as well.

At the moment, the main challenge for Food Not Bombs Worcester is to get people out to eat the food.  Although we were able to serve quite a few meals (and we got rid of all our oranges and bread), we still had a good bit of soup and stir fry veggies left over.  However, with the cold today, we still considered it a great success.  John and I will definitely be volunteering again, and hopefully going forward we can get more consistent with when and where we serve food so that we can get more people out to eat.  If anyone in the Worcester area (of like the two of you who read my blog, haha) is interested in volunteering, let me know.  We plan to try to make and serve these meals every other Saturday, more than likely somewhere on Main Street until spring comes.  Next time, I will post as soon as I have more info so any of you who wants to can come on down and eat!

A Snobby Joe Kind of Day

When I left the house to go to work this morning, I was pretty happy that the roads didn't look too terrible, considering we got freezing rain from yesterday afternoon until early this morning.  My driveway, on the other hand, was a different story.  It was a total ice rink! Fortunately, after a few tries, I was able to get the car out into the street, and I managed to do it without killing (or maiming) a pedestrian or causing an accident.  After the big storms that we've had two weeks in a row, with no melting time in between, the shoveled snow is piled up on either side of the driveway over 5 feet high.  Then I hear that we are supposed to get another foot of snow on Friday.  UGH.  I am not a winter person even when it's just cold and the ground is clear, but these types of winters, where you're taking your life into your hands every time you go to work, really do bad things to me.  I get the blahs something awful.

In addition, I'm team captain of a healthy eating/weight loss challenge at work, so I've been getting into a new routine with eating and exercising.  I guess since I'm the vegan, I'm a natural choice to lead the team toward healthier eating (and believe me, I'm pushing plant-based meals; I like to convert through delicious food since I don't want to bring politics to work--just wouldn't be a great idea at my job), but over the winter so far, I've been more of a baked goods and convenient, quick meals vegan than an oil-free whole foods vegan.  I know most people choose to make their dietary changes on New Year's Day, but since my birthday is on January 3, I like to postpone any food-related resolutions until later in the month.  So this challenge is well-timed for me in that respect, but in another way, it's not perfect, because with this kind of weather, all I want to do is eat cookies and curl up in bed, not work out and cook healthy meals.  So tonight, I tried to compromise.

I was definitely in a sandwich mood, and I was thinking about some type of burger-style food, but none of the recipes I was finding were appealing to me, so I decided to go with the Snobby Joes from Veganomicon, aka the vegan bible.  It seemed like a good choice, because it's comforting and super-delicious, and even better news for you, the recipe is online here:  http://www.theppk.com/2009/11/snobby-joes/.  So you can try it yourself!  I made a couple of changes, using brown lentils instead of green, and eliminating the oil to lower the calories & fat (by sauteeing the onion & pepper in water).  Otherwise, there's not much reason to change something that is working so well.

Those are some sexy sweet potatoes in the front, dry roasted with salt, pepper & garlic powder

Although this wasn't a dinner I could curl up in bed with (lentils in the bed doesn't sound like a good time, but I guess I have some friends who would disagree--you know who you are!), it certainly hit the spot.  It felt like a guilty pleasure, but there was nothing to be guilty about!

To those of you who are in the central Massachusetts area, stay warm and be safe on the road.  The life you save may be mine!  To those of you elsewhere, please be appreciative that you are elsewhere.  As for me, I'm going to keep exercising and trying to eat good mood food, because even I am getting tired of my miserable attitude!  ;-)

Tofu Veggie Stir Fry

Most of the time, I try to grocery shop with a fairly solid menu plan in mind.  I like to buy veggies that can easily fit into a number of dishes so that I can stretch my budget while still having a variety of meals.  I have tried to do the "make a big pot of soup and eat it all week" thing, but I get bored easily, and John is even worse.  So instead, I am trying to make a couple of pots of different types of beans on Sunday (last week it was Tuesday) and use them throughout the week for different meals.  For example, this week, I did chickpeas and black beans.  The black beans made their way into a bunch of burritos, and a portion of the chickpeas went into the "tuna" salad, and I'll finish the rest tomorrow night.  

So all that is by way of saying, occasionally, I will see something that looks really good and get sidetracked, both in the grocery store and on my blog, apparently!  Last week, it was a napa cabbage.  I saw a really good one, and it made me want to cook up a veggie-packed stir fry.  I got it home and put it away, and then I promptly forgot about it for about 7 days.  I thought about it yesterday and realized it was about to be unusable, so tonight, it was stir fry time.  I am putting together my recipe here, but I would suggest using whatever veggies you have on hand that would hold up well in a stir fry.  

Tofu Veggie Stir Fry

1 tbsp canola oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped into half moon slices

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

3/4 cup carrots, peeled and sliced on the bias

1 cup sliced cremini mushrooms

4 cups napa or other cabbage

4 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp red pepper flakes (more or less depending on your preference for heat)

1 block firm tofu, pressed and cubed

1/3 cup soy sauce or tamari

2 tbsp sugar or agave nectar

Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Toasted sesame seeds and additional red pepper flakes for garnish

In large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium heat.  Add vegetables to pan in order listed, stirring for 30 seconds to a minute between.  After cabbage has been added, add garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and stir fry until cabbage has reduced by at least half.  Add tofu cubes and mix with vegetables until heated.   Pour in soy sauce and sugar and mix well.  Continue to fry for several more minutes until cabbage has reduced in half again.  Add other spices to taste.  Serve over cooked brown rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and red pepper flakes if desired.

Eat with chopsticks if you have them!

This made enough for us to have a couple of bowls each, and I'm going to make a teriyaki tofu burrito with the rest for lunch tomorrow.

On a very different note, please take some time today to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. in whatever way seems most appropriate to you.  He was truly a great man and someone who was lost far too soon.  Interestingly, Martin Luther King, Jr. has a connection to veganism.  His son Dexter Scott King and his widow Coretta Scott King applied his philosophy of non-violence to animals, and both became vegans, he for more than twenty years and she for more than ten before her death.  Please enjoy some quotes below from this truly inspirational civil rights champion and philosopher of peace.  His words are just as powerful and appropriate today as they were when they were spoken over 40 years ago.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. "

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. "

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."

"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. "

"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."

"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. "

Vegan "Tuna" Salad

One of the things I thought I would miss after going vegan was tuna sandwiches. Fortunately, there is a vegan substitute that is just as delicious and, unlike tuna fish salad, which I grew up erroneously believing to be a health food, the vegan version is actually not that bad for you.

There are a ton of vegan "tuna" salad recipes out there on the internet, and I've tried quite a few different variations, but for me, they were all missing something.  I grew up on tuna salad with chopped boiled eggs in it, which I guess is a regional thing, and that was the flavor I have been missing.  So since I have been cooking with black salt quite a bit lately, I decided to add it to my mock tuna salad, and it worked!

Vegan "Tuna" Salad


1.5 cups cooked chickpeas (if canned, drain & rinse)
1 tbsp vegan mayonnaise (I use Vegenaise, but Nayonnaise could work just as well)
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp sweet pickle relish
3 generous pinches black salt (Kala Namak - salt with a sulfurous smell/taste; can be purchased in some health food stores or online)
1/2 tsp kelp powder (optional)


Using a fork, coarsely mash chickpeas.  It is okay to leave a few chickpeas whole, as it gives the mixture a nice texture.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Serve on a sandwich, over lettuce, or even alone, if you like.  Makes about 3 servings.

I'm a sandwich girl myself.  I usually add tomato right before eating.

If you didn't grow up on the tuna & egg salad like me, then you could use the basic mashed chickpeas and vegan mayo and customize it to your own taste, by adding chopped celery or other ingredients that say "tuna salad" to you.  Whatever your veggie add-ins, you will be avoiding the problems with the original, like mercury-laden tuna and eggy, fatty mayo, while still getting a delicious, high protein lunch.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that most of you are off tomorrow.  I'm not, but at least I'll be earning a floating holiday and having a fantastic sandwich!

Sahara Restaurant

For Christmas this year, my work team got me a gift certificate to Sahara Restaurant, a Lebanese place on Highland Street in Worcester.  What can I say--they know what I like! Not to mention, they are fantastic people, and they are the main reason I consider myself to have a pretty decent job.

Before I went vegan, I was the most boring person on the planet as far as food is concerned, and John was too.  We used to eat at your standard American type places: burgers, fries, deep fried appetizers, etc.  We did occasionally get Indian or Chinese, but these trips were more the exception than the rule.  Now that we eat plant-based, we have opened ourselves up to ethnic foods a lot more, and it has been great.  John's definite favorite is Indian food; he would eat samosas for every meal!  I love Indian too, and we both enjoy African as well, but my favorite has to be Middle Eastern.  I am a bean fiend, and no chickpea is safe in my presence, so it's the perfect cuisine for me.  

This past week, we decided to use our gift certificate to go to Sahara for an early dinner. Because I always get the falafel sandwich, earlier is better, because after 5 PM, the sandwiches get more expensive (you have to pay a fairly exorbitant markup for a salad, which is pretty standard around here at the other Lebanese places as well).  Apologies for the iPhone pictures; we headed straight to the restaurant after John picked me up from work, so I forgot the camera.  I would probably call this meal bean overload for most people, but for me, it was heaven.

We started with the falafel appetizer as well as a plate of hummus with ful mudammas, which is a fava bean and chickpea mixture with lemon, garlic, tomato, onion and parsley. So to recap, fried bean balls and bean dip with beans on top.

Falafel appetizer with tahini sauce

Hummus with Ful Mudammas

For our meals, John probably wisely decided to break up the bean party by ordering the vegetarian Sheik El Mishi (this is their spelling on the menu; I've seen it called El Mashi elsewhere), which is an eggplant and tomato sauce dish, delicately spiced and served over rice pilaf.

This smile says, please take the picture so I can eat.  :)

I, on the other hand, have no concept of too much of a good thing, so I got my falafel sandwich, served with garlicky pita chips.

Falafel rolled in flatbread with lettuce, tomato, tahini sauce, and mixed pickle

As if you hadn't realized this already, I am a huge falafel fan, and I will try it from everyone to see how it measures up.  At the moment, Sahara's falafel is the standard by which all others are measured.  It's super crispy (I think it's twice fried, so it's also probably super-unhealthy, but I'm not going to a restaurant for health food usually), and it tastes just right to me.  It's great on its own and in the sandwich, depending on your taste.  I love the sandwich because it contains the mixed pickle, which I asked about, and was told it's a homemade pickle made of turnips and a beet thrown in, which gives it that beautiful pink color.  The pickled turnip just sets it right over the edge.  El Basha and Fantastic's Pizza--also in Worcester--do serve excellent falafel, and I have heard (from my similarly falafel-addicted friend Pam) that a new contender has just shown up on the scene, with the opening of Firewood Cafe, so I am looking forward to trying it as well.  So far though, Sahara just does it for me.  

So, the food at Sahara is a definite recommend.  Beyond the meal we had this time, other veggie options include the Mixed Vegetable Saute entree and the Vegetarian Platter, where you can combine a number of the veggie appetizers to make a meal, including the delicious stuffed grape leaves.  (It's not on the menu, but if you ask, your server will get them to make you a grape leaves entree.)  It's got a nice atmosphere as well, the folks who work there are pleasant and friendly, and it has its own parking lot, which is kind of a big deal on Highland Street, since there is limited street parking in the area.  The major drawback is price, as I do find Sahara to be on the expensive side, especially if you add beer or wine to your meal.  It's not a place we would go to every month, but it is nice for a special occasion, when you are in the mood to splurge a bit, both on calories and money.  They sometimes have live music, which makes your dinner an even more special experience, so if you can, plan to visit on one of those nights.

Necessito Burrito!

Do you remember the commercials with the Taco Bell dog?  I love chihuahuas, so I liked them, even though they did get old.  I do not, however, love Taco Bell, and never really did.  Mexican food is great, but I don't know if Taco Bell really qualifies, and with menu items like "Beefy Cheesy Burritos," I would rather stay as far away as possible, even if they are one of the only fast food places you can get something vegan (special ordered of course).  We travel a good bit, so for us, a much better option for food on the go (when we run out of what we packed) is the new places like Chipotle, Boloco, and Moe's that have been popping up a lot lately.  We have a couple of Moe's (Moe's'?  How do you pluralize that?) around here, and it's also a nice option when we want to go out with our non-vegan friends (and I'm talking about you, Wayne & Loraine).  We generally go for the big burritos, with rice, beans, grilled veggies, salsa & guac.  So I decided to try my hand at making these at home.  I was looking to get the same type of taste, but with a little bit of a better nutrition quotient.  Here is what I came up with:

"Jo's" Burritos


(makes about 3 giant burritos)


3 large tortillas (like 12"+)
1/2 cup non-dairy cheddar cheese
2 cups brown rice, cooked
2 cups spicy black beans, cooked (see note)
2 cups sauteed veggies (such as onions, red peppers, mushrooms, olives)
Guacamole
Salsa


Note:  For my beans, I used a couple of cups of cooked beans (canned would also be fine), simmered until warm with chile powder, salt, pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes to taste.

1.  Grab a GINORMOUS tortilla.

2.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese on each tortilla.

3.  Spoon on 1/3 of rice and 1/3 of beans.

4.  Spoon on 1/3 of veggie mixture.

 5.  Top with guacamole (your own, or store bought, if you are lazy and/or can't find good avocados, like me).

6.  And add some salsa.

7.  Roll up as illustrated below:

8.  Enjoy your huge burrito!  

Feel free to add tofu sour cream and fresh tomatoes and lettuce, if you like as well.  I don't know if that would have fit in ours.  They were about to pop!  But the tortillas were very sturdy, which prevented it from being knife & fork food.

I call them Jo's, because that was one of my nicknames growing up (among others like Gee and Georgie).  Between my mom, my sisters and me, we would come up with all kinds of names to call each other besides our actual names (nice ones, I mean, for the most part anyway!).  Somehow, I was called Jo-ja and then Jojo, and then Jo, which I was happy about because I wanted to be a writer like Jo in Little Women.  I got off really easy with Jo, based on the first syllable of my name, compared to my sister Astra.  I think you can see where I'm going with that!  :)  

A Quick Snack

Just popping in quickly today to post about a tea time snack I made the other day.  John used to be a big fan of the chocolate chip muffin from Dunkin' Donuts, in theory at least.  Generally when he would get one, it wouldn't be as good as he hoped, and instead would be dry and crumbly.  When we started flirting with the idea of veganism, I bought a couple of cookbooks to try out some recipes, and one of them was How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer.  It seemed like the authors were a lot of fun, and the ingredients were pretty much normal, so I felt like it would be achievable.  The first recipe I picked was the Chocolate Chip Bars, which turned out to be the perfect replacement for chocolate chip muffins, and much more dependably delicious than Dunkin' Donuts.

Sorry for the red tint - low light situation going on here and the tablecloth took over.

These make a great little snack with a cup of tea, or a light breakfast on the go.  I make them with part whole wheat pastry flour to try to up the nutritional profile a bit, and I'd like to try replacing the added fat with applesauce or banana.  I do think the recipe should actually be called Chocolate Chip Muffin Cake, because the texture comes out much more cakey than fudgy, which is not what I would have expected with bars.  The recipe isn't available online, so I can't reprint it here, but I do recommend checking out Barnard & Kramer's book (and their follow up The Garden of Vegan), as both contain a lot of easy, tasty recipes that use ingredients you probably already have on hand, and the ladies are chock-full of personality, which makes the books more fun to read.  You may even be able to find these books at your local library, so don't forget to use that as a resource!