The cold weather is back and my happiness flees in fright. I hate this season. Early fall and late spring, plus the beautifully hot, colorful, lively summer are the times when I feel and do my best. I cannot stand the drab, cold, colorless days that are ahead of me. I don't even want to think of it.
Thanks to this weather I have not been inspired to cook anything (among all the things I just don't want to do anymore). All the vegetables from this harvest have been eaten or preserved, and everything left in the ground is dying. Now when I go to the supermarket I know that the displays of local food are no more and my tomatoes and zucchini are coming from warmer pastures probably somewhere in California. I can taste the miles.
I'm also saddened that there will be no garden for me to plan, grow or tend this spring. I'll be in the hills of Oneonta for the summer finishing my degree and I will have missed the window to rebuild my garden and plant seedlings by the time I get home. I can only wait and dream of the farmers market, which is quite impressive here in O-town.
Green days are over and I'm making room for the blue (and white) ones.
Goodbye green!
The Blues
Roasted Squash and Roots Soup
There's nothing like a soup that screams fall. I don't even particularly like squash, sweet potatoes or carrots but this soup has convinced me!
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, cut in half, seeds removed, peeled and cut into 1 to 2 inch chunks
3 large carrots, cut into chunks
2 sweet potatoes peeled and also cut into chunks
canola oil
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup soy/rice/other milk
garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
thyme?
Preheat oven to 400F
Toss the chunky vegetables with canola oil and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes.
When vegetables are roasted, add to a blender and blend in 2 parts with the stock (half the veggies and 2 cups stock) and transfer to a pot. Add the milk, a bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. I also added thyme but I can't really taste it. It's very flavorful as it is, however, and doesn't really require much salt or pepper.
Heat through on the stove and serve. Mmmm.
This recipe was adapted from one that called for brown sugar, nutmeg and ginger, but I was not too keen on that. The recipe is here if you want to try it!
Asian Grilled Tofu Salad
Salad:
salad greens (mescalin mix, spinach, green leaf lettuce, whatever you like)
grated carrot
red or green pepper, cut into matchsticks
cashews, unsalted (roasted or raw)
cubed extra-firm tofu
Marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
1 t sesame oil
1 T mirin
1 t chili oil (optional)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T ginger, micro-planed or grated
Dressing:
2 t miso
2 T sushi vinegar
1 t sesame oil or canola oil, or a mix of both
1 t micro-planed ginger
Mix marinade ingredients together in a bowl and marinade the cubed tofu for 30 minutes to overnight. Toss salad ingredients except tofu and cashews together and set aside. Make dressing by combing all ingredients.
When the tofu is done marinating, cook in a wok or saute pan on medium-high until browned, 10-15 minutes.
Toss salad with dressing, add cashews and hot tofu on top, sprinkle with sesame seeds and voila! Delicious. Enjoy immediately before salad gets wilted. Yummmm.
Quinoa Sushi
I love sushi. I love it so much I might just have to marry it. This affair started when I was introduced to sushi (the fishy type) by my mother, probably around the age of 15. I tried all sorts of raw fish, eggs, tentacles and other assorted sushi fillings that would make the average person go "eeww". Frankly, it makes me go "ew" now too, but believe me, my love for sushi hasn't ended since going vegan. I do not miss the fish aspect at all, in fact, the nori has such a rich oceanic flavor and aroma that I don't even notice anything missing. And, thanks to sushi, I have a new found love of healthful and flavorful sea vegetables.
Alas, white rice is the bane of my existence. I would eat sushi all day, every day if it weren't for those infernal little white grains of starchy, nutrient-lacking goodness. Okay, they're not completely lacking, but I can do better. I've tried brown rice, but I just cannot wrap my palette around it. It always turns into crunchy unhappiness. In my internet ramblings I stumbled upon a really interesting idea; subbing quinoa for rice. I tried it tonight and oh, I will be eating sushi until I explode, and the Dietitian in my brain won't be all pissy about it.
A little about quinoa:
Quinoa is an African "grain" (actually a seed), pronounced "Keen-wa". It's an adorable, tiny grain that unfurls a little white tail when cooked. It comes in many different colors, including white and red, though I've only ever had the white variety and don't know if there is a flavor difference. Quinoa a complete protein (which means it supplies all 9 essential amino acids) and one of the few plant sources out there next to soy. It's a pretty good source of iron, folate and zinc, a good source of protein, phosphorus and magnesium and a great source for manganese. It's glycemic load is very low, and lower than white rice. Quinoa does have a slightly higher calorie count compared to the same amount of white rice, but this is due mostly because quinoa is a smaller grain, with less air spaces,which means 1 cup of cooked quinoa is more dense than 1 cup cooked rice. Cup for cup, quinoa is nutricious and something that should compliment anyone's diet.
Quinoa Sushi
Quinoa sushi :
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained (use a mesh strainer, they're so tiny they'll just run through a collander)
1 3/4 cup water
2-3 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
4-5 sheets of nori
fillings
rolling mat
plastic wrap
After rinsing the bitter oils from the quinoa, add to a pot or a rice cooker. Add the soy sauce to the water and pour the water over the quinoa. Turn on the rice cooker. If you don't have one, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Unlike rice, you can stir the quinoa around during cooking if needed. Cook until the water is gone (there should be little steam chimneys in the quinoa). Throw into a big bowl and toss around with the rice vinegar. Toss for a little while, preferably in front of a fan, or be like me and let it sit to cool for 30 minutes or so. It's a little easier to work with the quinoa when it's slightly warm.
Sushi fillings can be whatever you want, but I recommend:
(most should be cut into matchstick-like pieces)
avocado, sliced
green onion
red pepper
carrot
cucumber
shiitake mushroom
mung bean sprouts/white bean sprouts
whatever else you put in sushi
Lay down a piece of your nori on a bamboo rolling mat that has been covered with plastic wrap. Gently spread the quinoa on the nori leaving 1/2 inch space at the top.
Yes, quinoa is much harder to work with than sushi rice because of it's size and inability to stick as well as sushi rice. I got quinoa EVERYWHERE but I'm sure with practice I can get better.
Place the fillings on the lower section of the nori, and roll that sucker up. You can also add wasabi in there at this point. When I'm taking sushi rolls to school, I also put a little extra soy sauce on the rice/quinoa so I don't have to bring any with me, and I also cut each roll once, in the middle, at a diagonal for easily shoving into my mouth.
Cut it like regular sushi and serve with soy sauce. Enjoy!
Edit: The rolls cut in half were a success, except quinoa seemed to fall out everywhere. If you're making them to eat later, make sure you are eating over a table or plate and not your laptop!
Avocado "Bacon" and Beer Potato Salad
Avocado, bacon and beer, a heroic combination. Of course, not real bacon, but bacon bits are so so good for some strange reason. The pale ale really gives the dressing a great flavor! This recipe was adapted from a recipe my friend gave me from his Beer, Wine and Food class. They also made VEGAN STOUT CUPCAKES! I'm so jealous, I didn't even get any. I do have that recipe though.
ugliest photo ever3lb red potatoes, halved
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup green onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup celery, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup sweet pickles, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup red pepper, finely chopped (optional)
2 T parsley, chopped
2 T pale ale, or any light colored beer
2 T cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
1/2 an avocado, cubed + lemon juice to prevent browning
1/4 cup bacon bits
Dressing:
2 T olive oil
3/4 cup white/yellow onion, chopped fine
3/4 cup pale ale
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 t sugar
3/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
2 T dijon mustard
Boil the halved potatoes until fork tender. Don't over-cook like I did, the salad ended up being more of a mashed potato thing! Once tender, drain and let cool for 20 minutes. Slice halves into 1/4 inch half moon pieces.
Gently toss potatoes with red onion, green onion, celery, pickles, bacon bits, beer and vinegar.
For the dressing, heat the oil in a skillet and sautee onions until tender. Add beer, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and stir well. Bring to a boil and reduce by half.
Once reduced and thickened, combine with dijon mustard and blend in a food processor until smooth. Add cubed avocado, pour dressing over potatoes, toss very gently and serve!
This is delicious warm and cold.
This is not pretty after about 12 hours in the fridge because the avocado will end up turning brown (but it is still edible! Believe me!). If you want to serve this to people who might care about it's appearance, either add the avocado right before serving or make the entire dish no more than a few hours before.
