za!

check out yours truly stuffin her face with some vegan pizza!

i was never a big big fan of pizza, but i do remember how excited i got as a kid when mom would make one with us, or (gasp!) order delivery. and i've missed wacky wednesdays at euro gyro (five dolla holla!)

since this whole lactose intolerance thing began, pizza has become one of my most missed dairy foods. so i decided to give making my own vegan pizza a shot.

roasted veggie vegan pizza with barbeque ginger sauce

1 pizza crust (premade, crust mix or make your own dough)

1 can pizza sauce

2 tablespoons minced ginger

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup golden honey barbeque sauce

5 oz. vegan mozzarella style cheese

1/2 jar roasted red pepper strips

7 oz. can mushroom stems and pieces (or about 1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms)

1 cup diced eggplant

pizza is pretty self-explanatory. i mixed the canned sauced, ginger, thyme & barbeque in a container and there was plenty left over after topping my crust. so either make a couple pizzas at once or save it to make another one later in the week (like i plan to). i got vegan cheese from my local food co-op. it shredded so easily and i still have half of it left (more reason to make more pizza!)

what're your favorite pizza toppings? i want to try out making a vegan barbeque chicken and pineapple one next!

summer time = smoothie time

holy homemade mango smoothie!

6-8 oz. mango nectar

3 strawberries, quartered

about 1/3 of a banana, sliced

4-5 small ice cubes

throw that in a blender and liquefy! so i knows this is super basic, but it is maybe the best smoothie i've ever made in my life. no picture because i drank it super fast and have no more mango juice to make more. i used shahia brand mango nectar that they sell in little 8 ounce glasses at the local mediterranean restaurant. i'd already sipped on it a bit, thus the 6-8 measurement. i'm sure it'd be great with more mango, too.

what's the best smoothie concoction you've ever made?

i haven't died

i just haven't been cooking.

i know, i know, that's basically death. i've just been eating a lot of take out, and am now getting rather sick of the few options i have in kent, ohio, for food. so here's somethin i tried out tonight! (inspired by this caribbean black beans recipe at the post punk kitchen.)

sweet black bean slop

(aren't i the greatest at naming things?!)

1 can black beans, drained

1 small cooking onion, diced

1 small red pepper, seeded and diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

a little oil

sauté the onions, garlic and red pepper in oil. add black beans and oregano. cook til all tender, then add the remaining ingredients. heat through and serve!

i feel like this would go really well at the bottom of some kind of baked dish. like, with corn bread on top. it's a little too mushy to be burrito stuffin'z. i'm sure it'd be good over rice, too. i was just lazy so i ate it as is.

i also made this AMAZING stir fry awhile back. i don't remember the order i cooked things, but here are the ingredients:

ginger eggplant stir fry

1 small cooking onion, diced

1 1/2 cup eggplant, diced

1 cup fresh broccoli crowns

2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced

2 cloves garlic, sliced and halved

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons soy sauce

hefty splash lemon juice

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

salt & pepper

guessing by the ingredients, i'd do about the usual: sauté the onions, garlic & ginger. add veggies and liquids. cook til tender. ugh seriously i wish i could remember. this was one of the best things i've ever made, and totally off the top of my head. though of course, when i tried to recreate it a few days later for my boyfriend, it was not nearly as delicious. c'est la vie?

i'm gonna try to venture into some more baking soon here, so keep an eye out.

salt & slush treats

i admit that the title of this entry probably sounds really unappetizing, but "salt & slush" is an awesome food zine i got for free when paper trail distro closed down. either ciara mixed up my order or just threw it in as a bonus. either way, i was happy to find it in my mailbox. this issue has no number. it's just labelled "winter recipes / nova scotia". it's mostly winter time recipes, lots of soups and the like, all of which are vegetarian or vegan.

about a week ago i got in this mood to start cooking and baking more again. as you can see, i haven't made a post since february. i've been cooking a little in the meantime, but nothing too complicated that you kids haven't seen before. mostly it's been the "boil pasta, drain, add jarred pasta sauce" kind of cooking. however, the mood struck, so i made a trip to my local grocery.

my partner was having a really crummy week at the same time, so i offered to make him dinner, and secretly baked him a treat.

for dinner, i attempted to make a recipe for beer-battered tofu that i'd found in another food zine, topped with a pinto bean sauce (made much like the black bean sauce from the molten rock tofu i posted awhile back.) the beer-battered tofu was a disaster. i don't think i pressed my tofu well enough, and a deep frier would have made the whole situation much easier. frying battered things and i have never quite gotten along well. i ended up making the molten rock tofu with the pinto bean sauce (which was much runnier for some reason), on top of some instant rice. i somehow managed to mess even that up! it was not my night, to say the least.

after dinner, he fell asleep on my couch, and so he never got to try the cake! it didn't really turn out how i wanted, either, but it's kind of yummy.

upside-down annapolis apple cake

1/2 cup margarine (lactose-free for me)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg or egg replacer

dash of vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

apple(s)

sugar & cinnamon

(the zine said to make your own buttermilk, add 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of milk or soy milk and let stand five minutes. i used lemon juice in soymilk. it looked super gross.)

the recipe begins "mix wet, add dry" which was far too simple and should have tipped me off. it took me about an hour to get the batter to mix well. after my experience with the nana's raisin bars (below), i'm starting to believe the vegan margarine i use isn't very conducive for baking. it seems to separate from the other ingredients, making mixing by hand quite the task (and i lack an electric mixer, of course.)

once the batter is made, it says to "slice apples thin" (never having told us how many to use.) the original recipe mentions use of a 9 x 11 pan. i actually ended up cutting the ingredients down by a third each and using an 8 x 8-- which may have also led to the cake not turning out so well-- and so i ended up only using one medium granny smith apple.

alright, so, mix wet, add dry, slice apples thin. grease the bottom of your pan (whichever you choose to use) and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. place the apples in one layer thick in the pan. add more sugar and cinnamon, then pour the cake batter on top.

bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then let cool. flip the cake onto a flat surface so the apples face up.

other issues i had with this cake: one layer of apples was simply not enough. or maybe i didn't make my one layer thick enough? anyway, there should have been waaayyy more apples. like 3-4 layers. i'd probably put sugar and cinnamon between each, too. with just the one layer and all of the greasing beforehand, some of the slices floated upward through the cake so that they weren't at the top once flipped.

the cake itself has a cornbread like consistency and could maybe be a little sweeter. i'll probably try it again someday though.

and then there's the treat that didn't sound very good to me, but turned out pretty well!

nana's raisin bars

3/4 cup margarine

1 1/2 cup sugar*

4 tbsp molasses

2 eggs or egg replacer

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups quick oats

2 cups raisins

once again, we're instructed to "mix wet, add dry". this time, i chopped up my stick vegan margarine then nuked it a bit in the microwave. still, it did not seem to want to mix with the eggs and molasses. it sort of looked like oats floating in an egg-molasses mixture which is really strange, but i mixed as well as i could, then dumped in my dry ingredients. this makes for one seriously sticky dough and you'll probably want to use your hands. i mixed it using my favorite rubber spatula and it broke the handle off i was having to use so much pressure!

once thoroughly mixed, dump the batter in an 8 x 8 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. the zine called for 20 minutes, but mine just wasn't quite done. the inside does end up rather gooey, which at first scared me, but i have since decided it makes these that much more awesome!

bridge house vegan potluck #2

sunday we had our second sunday vegan potluck at bridge house. this time there were three different vegan pizzas-- my favorite being a TVP barbeque chicken pizza, holy nomz-- as well as salad, bruschetta, and this:

chickpea casserole

1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained

1 medium sweet potato, peeled & chopped

2 medium red skin potatoes, chopped

1/2 - 1 cup frozen chopped spinach

2-3 small cloves garlic, minced

3 teaspoons smart oil

2 teaspoons tamari

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

salt, pepper, parsley & dried chopped onion to taste

(ingredients are kinda 'eh' for this dish, as i threw it together at the last minute for the potluck. also, please excuse the messy casserole dish. rushing!)

preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. combine potatoes & sweet potato in casserole dish with oil. bake for 10-15 minutes. remove and add remaining ingredients. bake for 25-30 minutes, until soft. let cool and serve!

this was nowhere near as good as the molten rock tofu i made for the first potluck, but everyone still seemed to enjoy it. plus it was super simple to make. everything i already had in my pantry/freezer (thus why i chose it.) i don't think the tamari & vinegar are necessarily needed. i baked mine a little longer than i meant to and needed something to moisten it up a bit. also, i maybe used more oil than that. i think i added more when i added the chickpeas & all.

i based this recipe off of this one from vegweb. pretty darn similar.

lunch and vegan potlucks

the name of this blog came from a project-- a food zine-- my ex and i were once going to make and never got around to. it was because we would ride our bikes out to the 24 hour giant eagle around 2 or 3 A.M., buy whatever he thought sounded good together (gut instinct!), then bike home and make late night meals. the zine was going to be mostly compiled from these recipes we concocted.

he seemed a bit miffed that the title of this blog didn't really fit that idea. but "whatever i have in the fridge/pantry" (the much more appropriate title) just isn't as catchy. so, sorry, j. most of my cooking-- though based on what i have on hand-- is pretty instinctual, though. for example, today's lunch:

veggie stroganoff?? (a.k.a. not sure what to call it.)

1/4 box of shell pasta

1 small broccoli head, chopped with stems

1 medium carrot, sliced

1/4-1/3 cup frozen peas

1 can mushroom gravy

2 tablespoons tamari

3 tablespoons tofutti sour cream

1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/4 cup scallions, chopped

1/2 small cooking onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

bit o' cumin, pepper and garlic salt

boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. meanwhile, sauté the onions and garlic with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in medium pan. add carrots, cook until slightly softened, then add broccoli. again, cook til tender, then add peas. leave on low heat. in a small bowl, combine mushroom gravy, tamari, sour cream, brown mustard, vinegar, scallions and spices. once pasta is cooked, drain, and add to pan with veggies. top with sauce, heat through and serve.

it's pretty tasty but i think i used too much cumin. it's pretty potent stuff. i wanted to add fresh mushrooms, too, but mine had gone bad.

last night i attended a small vegan potluck at the bridge house (my roommate's boyfriend's place) and made a recipe for "molten rock tofu" that i'd found on my zinester penpal maranda's livejournal. she got it from a friend, and made her own adjustments, as did i.

i forgot to take a picture when it was done so, hopefully maranda doesn't mind me using hers:

molten rock tofu (the way i made it)

1 can black beans

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 cup smart balance omega oil

1 stalk scallions, chopped (about 1/3-1/2 cup)

2 cloves garlic, minced

about 2 cups tofu, diced

1 1/2 heads broccoli, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

blend the black beans, soy sauce, water, vinegar, oil, scallions and garlic in a blender, set aside. fry diced tofu in large pan with vegetable oil til golden brown, then add broccoli. fry til tender, then add peas and black bean sauce. cook through. serve with more fresh chopped scallions for garnish.

maranda's recipe went as such:

1 can black beans

1/3-1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon vinegar

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2-1 package firm tofu

1 head broccoli

rice/quinoa

about the same method: blend the beans, soy sauce, water, vinegar, and oil. fry tofu and broccoli, add sauce, cook through, then serve over rice or quinoa. maranda added scallions, garlic salt and plum sauce to her version, as well.

whichever way you try it, i'm sure it's delicious. the kind i made was probably one of the best things i've ever cooked, in my personal opinion, and i really wish there was some leftover (though i suppose that means people liked it, and i did get a few compliments.)

in other news:

since he gave me a shout out, i will direct you over to my friend danny's food blog, fuck yes, i eat food! i def wanna try some of his stuff out. food blogs of kent unite!

also, since i got the above recipe from maranda, who makes the zines "telegram ma'am" and "little acorns", how about you check those out? she's got most of them listed up at her etsy shop, school for maps. they're wonderful, so order them!

i never eat breakfast

it's a very rare occurrence that i eat breakfast. at breakfast time, that is. but for some reason i woke up around 11 today and decided i wanted french toast.

you probably know how to do this already.

ingredients:

3 slices whole wheat bread, cut in half diagonally

2 large eggs

1/4 cup plain soymilk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

several dashes ground cinnamon

1 banana

maple syrup

in a shallow bowl, mix the eggs, soymilk, vanilla and cinnamon. grease frying pan with vegan margarine or oil and put on medium heat. dip slices of bread in the egg mixture, but don't soak. fry on each side until golden brown. serve with sliced banana and syrup. voila!

i wonder if my roommate thinks i'm crazy cuz i keep taking photos of the food i eat?