Veggies and Musings II

My schedule and a new course that I didn't do enough prep for this summer caught up with me last week and I got so busy I had to let the week go. Then I got sick! How does that happen? Here I am eating all this healthy goodness and blaaaaaargh! Sick. Diagnosed Wednesday as a multidimensional sinus infection... in other words it had spread to my right ear, throat, and was heading for the chest. Yippee.

Needless to say, I haven't done a whole lot of thinking about food. Well that isn't really true. I spent a few hours one day laying on the couch looking at vegan recipes for Thanksgiving. But cooking has been a chore, best left undiscussed. I have stuck to my vegetarian diet, but it has consisted of a lot frozen veggies, Boca Burgers, and eggs.

While surfing around the net and reading vegan/vegetarian blogs I ran across a posting about how many cookbooks vegetarians own. In my case, I've been collecting cookbooks longer than I've been vegging. My omnivorous collection is pretty big on its own, but I have enjoyed picking up the odd vegan/vegetarian cookbook.

So today I offer a mini review of my collection presented in no particular order.

Veganomicon - Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

This is my go to book. I must admit it has become my vegan Joy of Cooking. This is the book that I can look in the refrigerator, see what I have and find an idea of what I can make. When following the recipes, I have never had a recipe not turn out. Besides, this is just a fun read.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

Love, love, love this book! I've made fourteen of the cupcake recipes and my current favorite is the gingerbread. Yum.

Vegan with a Vengence - Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

I got a gift certificate for B&N and bought this book. Honestly, I haven't done much with it. I did try the tempeh sausage crumbles and really enjoy that as a topping for eggs and rice.

Soy of Cooking - Marie Oser

I picked this book up at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago. I been tempted a by a couple of recipes, but really haven't tried any seriously. I guess I was a bit turned off by finding Gimme Lean products included. Although, flipping through it right now, it fell open to Tofu in Burgundy Sauce. That looks interesting.

The Everyday Vegan - Dreena Burton

I got this with a couple of other books from Half.com. The recipe for "Neat" Balls is tagged and I was thinking about another meatlessball recipe this weekend. I really like the introduction to the book, like Vegonomicon, it is very informative.

The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook - Louise Hagler & Dorothy Bates

I bought this from Half.com with The Everyday Vegan. I was looking for information on making soymilk before I bought my soymilk maker. Really made it look like a lot of work. I do like the instruction for making tempeh, tofu, and using dried beans.

The Vegetarian Epicure - Anna Thomas

I got this from the library at the high school where I used to teach. I admit, I haven't done a thing with it.

Other books - not strictly vegetarian I find helpful and actually use!

The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook - Beth Hensperger & Julie Kaufmann

Great recipes and helpful hints for using the rice cooker for more than rice. Love the instructions for cooking beans.

Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch - Ellen Leong Blonder

Where to begin. I love this book. The recipes are easy to follow and prepare in an American kitchen and I am a sucker for dumplings! Many vegetarian recipes are included.

Sushi: Taste and Technique- Kimiko Barber & Hiroki Takemura

Dedicated mostly to seafood, there are some vegetarian recipes offered. Overall a great book for the techniques that are explained with easy to follow instructions and a lot of pictures. My kids bought me this for my birthday.

Japanese Cooking at Home- Hideo Dekura

My favorite Japanese cookbook. The first one I bought for myself. I have made many recipes from this book including: O-nigiri, Yaki-meshi, Yaki-soba, Tamago-yaki, and Agedashi-dofu.

Today's brew: Eight O'clock 100% Colombian

Bunnies like eggs...

Breakfast is my least favorite meals. I would much rather dig into the refrigerator for some leftovers, down enough coffee to kill the hunger, or wait for brunch.

The little diner by my house called the Wooden Spoon has an omelet on its menu called a Bunny Omelet, a blend of veggie and cheese. On of the better vegetarian options in the county. I always order this when I eat there and make several; versions of it myself. This summer when I was living up north on my own for a few weeks this was one of my favorite meals and I wasn't too concerned what time of day it was!

Today's brunch was another version.

I used left over broccoli, carrot and cauliflower mix, a couple of mushrooms, and a small onion which I sauteed in a nonstick pan with some Earth Balance and cooking spray. When the onions were soft and the carrots cooked a bit I stirred in a couple of eggs and and some Swiss cheese. My free form omelet: all the flavor and none of the fold.

A word on eggs - This summer we saw the danger of commercially produced eggs. This wasn't the first time that the egg industry was scrutinized for unhealthy practices. Even the expensive all-natural, free range, vegetarian fed designer eggs may not be all that they are cracked up to be... egg humor! I buy eggs from a small goat farm up the road from my house. They sell their eggs on the honor system in a small fridge near their main gate. I have been buying eggs from them for almost three years now and love the quality of the eggs I'm buying. There is nothing like a farm fresh egg.

Today's brew: Eight O'clock Dark Italian Roast - the one in the purple bag!

The Search for the Perfect Meat-less-ball

Today I tested a vegan meatball recipe that I found online at Supervegan.com. I liked the idea that it was made from beans and did not contain any vital wheat gluten, which can sometimes upset my tummy. This was one of the tastier recipes for vegan meatballs that I have tried, but it did not stand up to the sauce and got rather gooey after sitting in the sauce for a while.

Here are the "balls" before going into the sauce.

The texture wasn't what I was looking for, more pasty and gooey rather than the tender toothsomeness of it carnivorous cousin. But I am undaunted and will experiment more to find the perfect vegan meat-less-ball.

Don't you think they need a better name?

The big hit of the Sherlock and Finger-food event was the gingerbread cupcakes from the recipe found in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I made twenty-four mini cakes and three full-sized treats. I love the ginger and lemon combination. I bought crystallized ginger at the Ypsilanti food co-op and it is spicy, sweet, and yummy on its own. I chopped extra for the topping on the cupcakes giving an added bite of ginger. I have made a lot recipes from VCTOTW and haven't run into a bad one yet. It is one of my most recommended books for those interested in vegan baking.

Today's brew: Eight O'clock Dark Italian Roast - I found this at the local Meijer!

Well, that's not what I planned...

I planned an early trip to the grocery store to pick up supplies for tomorrow's Sherlock and Finger Food event, but things never go as planned... sometimes.

I found a recipe online for mushroom ravioli with a walnut sauce at Suite101.com that I wanted to try. That will have to wait until later this week because my quick trip to the store didn't happen. We finally got home after 9pm and there is no way that I'm up to starting dinner preparations at that time and we can't really eat out in the veg-unfriendly town of Jackson.

To the freezer...

Tonight's dinner: pizza! We made two. Digiorno's Mushroom, Spinach & Garlic and Amy's Pizza Pesto.

Now, I will admit that my hands down favorite frozen pizza is the DiGiorno's Mushroom, Spinach & Garlic. I love the smoky flavor of the mushrooms and the chewy texture of DiGiorno's crust. If I can't lay my hands on a Lawry's veggie pizza because Ishpeming is too far away than this pizza will satisfy. The Amy's pizza was a test run and... it passed. I liked the fresh quality of the tomato and broccoli, but the pesto was a bit overpowering for the vegetables. I really only got a good taste of the tomato when it slid off the pizza in a bite and I have to say it looked better than it tasted.

I spent some time searching the net to see if the DiGiorno pizza was truly vegetarian and found mixed opinions. One posting claimed that the low-moisture part skim cheese did not use an animal-based rennet, so I'm going to consider it good-to-go, but under evaluation.

What's next...

Tomorrow is Sherlock and finger-foods. I am planning a cider cheese fondue with some fresh cider from Sweet Seasons Orchard, a new veggie "meet"ball recipe, and plaintains patacones. I don't know what else will be brought, and I don't have the lowest calorie or fat menu, but there will be a ton of veggies to fill up on.

Today's brew: Eight O'clock 100% Colombian

Veggies and Musings...

I was very geeked to participate in VeganMoFo and then I found out it was going to be November. When I lurked around some of the MoFo sites I followed I really couldn't figure out why the change, but I did find that it is Vegetarian Awareness Month and today is World Vegetarian Day.

HAPPY WORLD VEGETARIAN DAY!

I took the pledge and am going to go VEG this month. I'm still planning my menus and working on some exciting lunch ideas. You can find out more about the pledge and how you can participate at www.worldvegetarianday.org.

So, in honor of VeganMoFo I have pledged to go VEG this month and blog about it! I think of this as a warm up to VeganMoFo. November is going to be a tough month to be devoted to a completely vegan diet. I live with large omnivores who are expecting Thanksgiving dinner... including the bird. To my omnivorous sons, it was bad enough that I stopped making Campbell's soup based green bean casserole, how are they supposed to celebrate without a turkey coma?

What about now?

My plan for today is to prepare the menu for next week, including lunches for the teaching days. I'm also having veg-loving company on Sunday and need some finger foods for the occasion and I'm thinking vegan "neatballs". Time to peruse the cookbooks!

Today's brew: Eight O'clock 100% Colombian