The Freshest Bread and Vegetable Soup

Wooo, bread and vegetable soup.  Sounds boring, right?  Yeah, it sounds boring.  But when everything is fresh and home made, holy geez there was a party going on in my belly.

I’ve still been working my way through The Vegetarian Epicure, Book 2 but the bread chapter is so large!  I can only eat and give away so much bread.  Really, bread is becoming a treat for me, not something that I’m going to eat regularly.  But, I had bought a bag of rye flour and wanted to put it to use.  Rye bread is my favorite bread.

I’m still working on my bread baking skills.  I can do anything with white flours, but when I turn to whole grains I end up with something a bit more dense than I would expect.  Does anyone have any tips?  Or is this just the way it is?

The rye bread was actually a mixture of unbleached bread flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour and oatmeal.  The overwhelming flavor ended up being wheat.  Disappointing, but not bad.

To offset the carby carbs, I decided to start the soup chapter as well.  Soup is, afterall, one of my favorite things.  And with the snowy Rochester weather, it’s a perfect time to start cooking some up.

The vegetable soup recipe in The Vegetarian Epicure, Book 2 is really just a loose outline  of a soup.  Here’s what I did with it.

Fresh Vegetable Soup

makes six very large servings

1/2 medium eggplant, peeled

1 red bell pepper, seeded

1 medium potato

2 medium zucchini

a handful of mushrooms

3 scallions

1 medium onion

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 large dill pickle

1 1/2 cups baby spinach

2 medium tomatoes

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper to taste

1) Chop the eggplant – onion into large chunks.

2) Slice the garlic and pickle into thin slices, and chop the tomatoes into 6 – 8 wedges each.

3) Add all of the vegetables to a large stock pot.  To this, add about 12 cups of water, the oil, vinegar, bouillon cubes, and spices.

4) Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for at least 30 minutes.  The longer this soup goes, the better it is!

Really, it’s silly to write up a recipe for this.  Throw whatever vegetables you have in a pot and season them to taste!  I meant to put some corn in there too.  I would try seasoning this differently, using some vegetable stock/broth instead of water or using some Braggs.

Regardless, this makes a very brothy and chunky soup.  Incredibly filling, especially with some bread torn into pieces and thrown on top!

Hey, that exciting news I mentioned before is still coming!  Woo woo woo!

Tags: baking, bread, eggplant, mushroom, onion, Rye, soup, tomato, vegan, vegetables, Vegetarian Epicure

Pictures of Things

Things that I’ve eaten lately!

I’m coming back and I may have something really exciting going on if you get excited about people cooking on the internet.

Until then, I will leave you with pictures of things that I’ve cooked:

You know what I like?  CARBS.

Tags: bread, bulgur, chickpeas, hummus, sweet potato, tofu, tomatoes, vegan, vegetarian

Chickpea Taco Calzones

Oh hey I’m back again!  Really, I am so bad at this blogging thing.  I make food, I take pictures, I plan on writing a blog post.  Then I’m unhappy with the pictures and I decide not to write anything.

But hey, I’ve been making some delicious food.

I was at an antique shop with the boy and I came across a big bookcase full of cookbooks.  Most of them were vegetarian or vegan!  I decided to pick up The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two by Anna Thomas.  Flipping through the book on the drive back home, I realized I wanted to cook every single thing in there.  So, I’m starting from the beginning!

I made my first recipe from it  yesterday, but I’m going to back up a bit because I made some delicious food the other weekend and I want to tell you about it.

Lately I’ve become a fan of Healthy Food For Living and last weekend I came upon the post for Taco Calzones with Avocado Cream.  I showed it to the boy and we were both making our hungry noises, so I decided they should be made.  But without meat!  So I proposed we make them with my favorite taco filling: chickpeas.

Since I changed this recipe around a little bit, I figured I would share it!

Chickpea Taco Calzones

makes 4 calzones

1 lb. prepared pizza dough (I bought Wegmans whole wheat pizza dough, which is surprisingly delicious for a pre-made dough!)

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 can drained and rinsed or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas

1/2 of a green bell pepper, chopped

taco seasoning to taste (I used Trader Joe’s)

1/4 cup salsa (I used Trader Joe’s Garlic Chipotle Salsa)

2oz. reduced fat cheddar or monterey jack, shredded (I used Organic Valley Reduced Fat Monterey Jack)

1) Preheat oven to 450F, place a pizza stone on the middle rack.

2) Divide your dough into four equal portions, and roll them out into circles about 1/4″ thick.  Set them aside while you prepare the filling.

3) Heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan, add the  onion and cook until translucent.  Add the chickpeas and cook until heated through.  Mash the chickpea and onion mixture coarsely, leaving some big chunks of chickpea.  Add in the green pepper, garlic, and taco seasoning.  Continue to cook and stir until mixed thoroughly.  If the mixture is sticking to your frying pan, deglaze with a little bit of water.

4) Stir in the salsa, remove from heat.

5) Divide the chickpea mixture among each dough circle, placing it on one half of the dough and leaving a 1/2″ border to close the calzone.  Top the mixture with some shredded cheese.

6)  Fold the other half of the dough over to close the calzone, and pinch them shut.  Pierce the tops of the calzones with a fork to allow steam to escape.

7) Place the calzones onto the preheated pizza stone with a spatula or peel.  Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the calzones are browned on top and puffy.

Thanks so much to Healthy Food For Living for the great recipe and inspiration!  Please do check out the original post, it contains directions for freezing and reheating (which I didn’t try as it didn’t take us long to feast through these babies).

We ate it with the avocado cream (also included in the original post linked above!) and additional Trader Joe’s salsa.

I’ll be back soon with the results of my first recipe from The Vegetarian Epicure, Book 2 adventure.  Also, I’ll introduce you to the boy that’s been eating all this food with me!

- Ellen

Tags: baking, beans, bell pepper, bread, calzone, chickpea, dinner, entree, monterey jack, salsa, taco, vegetarian

Spicy Peanut Tofu Burgers

Woah dang, I have successfully recreated a burger that I used to eat when meat did not gross me out so much.  Actually I not only recreated it, but I made it way better.

I would make turkey burgers with some finely chopped onion and A Taste of Thai Spicy Peanut Bake, which is like Shake ‘n’ Bake, only with peanuts and spices and lemongrass.  It made the usually dry ground turkey nice and moist and peanutty.

But you know, turkey.  Gross.

I know people have made burgers out of tofu, but I had absolutely no faith that I could create something that actually held together and wasn’t a big mess.  I decided to try anyway.  These baked burgers are fully of spicy peanut flavor, and the flour and fat from the peanut bake allowed for a nice brown crust despite not being fried.  The spice is balanced nicely with the grated sweet potato.  Like always, go ahead and fry them if that’s your thing.  But why would you if they look this good baked?

I’m convinced these would be delightful with a Sriracha/Nayonaise mixture, but since I’m out of both I topped my burger with some spicy barbecue sauce.  My combination made four good sized burgers and I froze two of them, so I’ll have to go shopping and try it.  I’ve heard that tofu burgers get firmer when frozen and reheated, just like plain tofu, so I’m interested in seeing how they are at a later date.  Even fresh out of the oven they held their shape when I lifted them out of the pan with a spatula.  My tofu burger fear went unrealized!

Spicy Peanut Tofu Burgers

makes 4 burgers

1/2 block firm tofu

1/2 small sweet potato, grated

1/2 small onion, grated

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

20 g A Taste of Thai Spicy Peanut Bake

1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1) Squeeze as much water from the tofu as possible, and crumble in a medium bowl.  Add the grated sweet potato and onion and mix well.

2) Add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined.  Form into four burgers with your hands.

3) Cook on a lightly oiled baking sheet in a 350F oven for 20 minutes, flipping once.

4) EAT!

Tags: A Taste of Thai, burgers, peanut, sandwich, spicy, sweet potato, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

Eggplant Ball Z

Guys, I really want to make a Dragon Ball Z joke but I actually know nothing about it.  I’ve come to realize just how geeky I am these days, but I guess it could always be worse.

But anyway, there are plenty of other ball jokes I could make, right?!

I wont.

I’ve had all sorts of meatless meatballs.  Some I’ve bought pre-made, many I’ve made myself with things like Gimme Lean or TVP.  I’m almost positive you could make them with lentils, but that is still on my list of things to try.  This time, I made them with eggplant!

Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables.  As far as vegetables go it is not very nutritious, but it is a vegetable and it is low in calories and high in fiber.  It also sucks up a whole lot of oil, so it can easily be not very healthy at all.  Luckily, the eggplant balls I am going to share with you are made with minimal oil and the eggplant is softened mostly by steaming.  Sure, you could fry them instead of baking if you’re into that sort of thing.

They would make a good appetizer or even a strange version of eggplant parmesan if you want to use some fake or real cheese and a marinara sauce.  I served them with rice, a marinara sauce, and a green salad.  I would also recommend seasoning these to taste, as they would probably benefit from a mixture of spices that I didn’t think to use.  Or even a seasoned breadcrumb mixture, making sure you don’t choose one with cheese in it if you’re not into cheese.

Baked Eggplant Balls

makes 15 – 18 1″ balls

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed

4 Tbsp. water, or as needed

2 prepared Ener-G egg replacer eggs, or equivalent egg substitute product

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup parsley, chopped

salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to taste

1) Heat oil in saucepan or skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until just browned.

2) Add the eggplant and water.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the eggplant is softened, 20 – 30 minutes.  Add more water if needed.

3) Remove eggplant from heat and mash.  Add egg replacer, nutritional yeast, breadcrumbs, parsley, and seasonings.  Mix until well combined, adding more breadcrumbs if needed.  Place in fridge to cool for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350F.

4) Form eggplant mixture into 1″ balls and place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden on the bottom.  Serve with marinara sauce!

Good looking balls, no?

Tags: eggplant, entree, meatless meatballs, vegan, vegetarian

Where’d my sickeningly sweet tooth go?

I have a confession.

There was a time when I could polish off a good portion of a can of frosting all by myself.  I have put away a pound of gummy bears in under 24 hours.

I guess it’s not unheard of, but it is definitely gross.  My tastes have changed dramatically since I’ve lost those one hundred some-odd pounds.  To be honest, eating a can of frosting still sounds like it would be the greatest thing.  But in practice, not so much.

My favorite sweet now?  DATES.  I can’t pass the bulk bins at Wegmans (oh dear I miss Wegmans so much and I need to move back out to Western NY soon because I’ve been shopping at Price Chopper and it is not cool.  SO NOT COOL)  without loading up on them.  As much as I like dates in my baked goods, they usually never make it long enough for me to bake something with them.

I was determined this time, to make some date muffins.  This is a mish-mash of recipes that have all come together into one slightly sweet, crunchy yet still moist muffin.  The little bursts of apple and date make up for the fact that there is only 1/4 cup of brown sugar in the recipe.  I didn’t leave the bran cereal to sit in milk and soften this time, and I liked the crunchy texture it added.  But I don’t imagine it would change a thing if you like your cereal soggy.  I feared these muffins would be too dry.  Not so!  Yum!

Apple Date Bran Muffins

makes 12 muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup bran cereal

1/3 cup dried dates, pitted and chopped

1 1/2 tsp. Ener-g egg replacer

2 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. canola oil

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup soy milk

1 cup apple (peeled if you want, I didn’t want!), diced

1) Pre-heat oven to 375F.  Spray 12 muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or use liners.

2) In a medium bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and bran cereal.  Stir in the chopped dates.

3) In another bowl, prepare the egg replacer with the 2 Tbsp. water.  Add the canola oil and brown sugar, and whisk to combine.  Stir in soy milk and apple.

4) Add liquid ingredients to dry, and stir just until moistened.  Divide among the 12 muffin tins and bake 15 – 18 minutes.

5) Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Tags: baking, bran, breakfast, dates, desert, muffins, snack, vegan, vegetarian

Bran Muffins: The official food of this blog

Bret is the muffin man.  I believe he cooked his way through the entire muffin section of Vegan with a Vengeance.

He even made Ginger Raisin Bran Muffins.  But this time I made muffins of my own!  Raisin Bran Muffins!  No ginger, although I do love ginger a whole lot.

I had a muffin almost directly out of the oven, a puff of steam billowed out at me when i broke it open.  This muffin was incredibly moist for being bran, and has no added fat.  The fresh muffin wasn’t dense in the slightest.

Honestly, I just subbed vegan ingredients for your basic All Bran muffin recipe.  I did use a vanilla flavored soy milk, which added a bit more sweetness than I think there would be otherwise.

Raisin Bran Muffins

makes 12 muffins

2 cups bran cereal

1 1/2 cup soy/rice/almond milk of your choice (I used a low fat vanilla soy milk)

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

egg substitute for one egg (I used 1 1/2 tsp. Ener-g egg replacer with 2 Tbsp. water)

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup raisins

1) Pre-heat oven to 350F.

2) Combine bran cereal and milk in a medium bowl, and set aside for fifteen minutes to soften.

3) Meanwhile, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon in another bowl.

4) After bran cereal has softened, mix in egg replacer and applesauce.  Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until moistened.

5) Add in raisins.

6) Divide mixture evenly between 12 muffin cups that have been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Bake for 15 minutes in 350F oven.

7) Cool for 5 minutes in muffin tin, then remove to cooling rack.

Tags: baking, muffins, vegan, vegetarian

Fatfree Vegan Kitchen, will you be my Valentine?

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine’s Day, filled with hearts and flowers and all that junk.  I spent my Valentine’s Day unpacking and resting after a long drive in a very large truck.  I also went grocery shopping and observed a gaggle of men and children hovering over the sparse supply of bouquets left in the floral section.

I have no recipe to post but I will tell you that Susan from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen posted a cookie recipe for Valentine’s Day.  Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies, to be exact.  And you should make them, because I made them this evening and they are yummy.  Actually, I made Banana-Agave Oatmeal Cookies, but I’d like to try them with maple syrup sometime.

I usually make baked oatmeal (I will get around to posting this recipe) every week to take with me to work as snacks.  What a nice change!  Thanks, Susan!

Making more soup tomorrow, I will let you know how it comes out!

Tags: agave, baking, cookies, fatfree vegan, healthy, low fat, oatmeal, snacks, vegan, vegetarian

Souperbowl Sunday

I don’t really care for football.  I don’t really care for pizza, and I especially don’t care for wings.  So, I made yesterday into a Souperbowl Sunday!

This is one of the most simple recipes ever, as minestrone is a forgiving soup.  Add whatever, season with whatever, and then eat a big bowl and smile.

Here are the specifics for this particular bowl of soup:

Two large carrots, chopped

One stalk of celery, sliced thickly

Two or Three cloves of garlic, minced

A half cup of frozen green beans

A half cup of frozen onions

Three and a half cups of water

Two vegetable bouillon cubes

Twenty-eight ounce can of crushed tomatoes

Three-quarters of a teaspoon dried basil

One tablespoon dried parsley

A pinch of rosemary

Add all of that to a soup pot, and bring it to a boil.  Cover, and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.  Then add:

Three small zucchini, cubed

Fifteen ounce can of kidney beans, drained

A half cup whole wheat elbow macaroni

Bring it back to a boil, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the macaroni is cooked.

I got six big servings out of this pot of soup.  A little cheese or nutritional yeast would go well with this as well.

Pizza and wings?  What pizza and wings?

Tags: kidney beans, minestrone, pasta, soup, tomato, vegan, vegetarian

Helloooo Out There!

Hello internet!  Ellen speaking!

Before it was Poop has been neglected.  Badly neglected.

However, I bought myself this awesome DSLR camera and it is the bee’s knees.  I’ve been attempting to learn how to use it properly and what all the settings do and mean. I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of the foods I eat again.

So I’m back!  If anyone is still out there.  Also, that Bret person said he would post again too, so keep a look out for that!

I will be back tomorrow with some soup!

Tags: back from the dead