Breath a little cooking

I'm trying to breath a little cooking life back into this blog which I have been quite neglectful of. I just returned from a week long visit to Maui which while it had beautiful beaches and lovely weather, best of all had one of the best grocery stores I have ever been in - Mana Foods in Paia. While I didn't take any pictures, I can report that Mana foods bakes excellent vegan scones fresh every day, has a large selection of baked on site vegan bars and cookies, and a salad bar that contains a number of vegan items including salads with Veganaise. So awesome that I went there almost every day!

Upon arriving back home, I cooked up some Tofu Florentine from Veganomicon, happy to be back in my own kitchen. I especially enjoyed the potatoes as I am usually too lazy to boil them before frying them, although it makes a much tastier result.

A post before the month is over

Rice bowl with raw vegetable topped with a peanut sauce. I usually make a quick peanute sauce by dissolving 1 Tbsp. of peanut butter in a mixture of 2 Tbsp. water plus 1 Tbsp. soy sauce with a drop of apple cider vinegar in the pot that held the rice on hit heat until it thickens.

Chickpea noodle soup from Veganomicon which is such good comfort food.

Chocolate and vanilla muffin or perhaps it was a cupcake adapted from the matcha chocolate cupcake recipe on Have Cake Will Travel which had a nice texture.

Rice bowl from Fresh with crispy tofu and wakeme hiding under the sprouts and carrots. Topped with a tahinish sauce.

Borsch made with home grown, by my parents, beets. So sweet.
Eggplant fried in a nutritional yeast and wheat germ coating with a ranch style sauce and chopped vegetables.

Curried split pea soup looking less than apetizing though it was pretty good.

Links

I've added a few more of my favorite blogs/sites to the links section. I blame these awesome blogs, in part, for my lack of posting, as they just make it too easy to spend all my time there instead of here. This salad really makes me miss summer and getting buckets of fresh organic produce homegrown by my parents. This salad is topped with cheezy croutons, and by cheezy I mean nutritional yeasty. I mixed the sourdough bread with yeast, oil olive, salt and pepper and baked them in the over.

Seattle & Fall Foods

One delicious chocolate cinnamon donut from Mighty-O. So cakey, and so good.

We also had awesome burgers at Hillside Quickies, biscuits and gravy at The Globe, and a filled pancake at the Wayward Cafe. Walking or taking the bus to the resturants was a fun way to see the city.

Fresh tomato soup, fresh bread, and a watercress salad.

Red wine poached pears. Such a good way to use up leftover old red wine.

Mashed chickpea salad with veganaise, celery, and onion.
Tofu, potato, and swiss chard scramble with lemon juice and olives. This was really good. Wraps with Yves Ground Round, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and tofu chipotle aioli

Back to School and Back to the Blog

I've been very bad about updating this recently, but as I've returned to school, I am hoping I'll get back on track. Being back in school also means being home more, which means more time to get back to cooking and baking!

Chickpea curry, which I have found is much better when I blend up the garlic, ginger, onion, spices, and tomatoes before cooking them, and dijon green beans.

Refried beans (Amy's Organics), iceberg lettuce (which I consider a 'treat'!), salsa made in the processor, and topped with an attempt at a cheezy sauce which was a bit too runny. Delicious and filing.

Oven roasted potatotes and tofu scramble, which was served with the lemon cornmeal waffles with blueberries (from the PPK) which are pictured below. I made this for brunch when I had my dad and brother over.

Mixed vegetable salad with toaster croutons (bread double toasted and chopped into small pieces), which is perfect for when I'm feeling really lazy or hungry! More salad, which cooked beets and chopped basil.

I visited Seattle over Labour Day weekend and checked out some great little resturants. I'll post more on that in my next post.

Summer in the Kitchen

Pesto made with my parent's homegrown basil.

Focaccia with olive tapenade on the top. Its been too long since I've made bread. My first taste of Vegenaise. I'm not sure what I think.
Tonight's dinner: tempeh with bar-b-q sauce, coucous salad, potato salad, and yellow wax bean and chickpea salad with a basil dressing. Prefect for a hot summer night. Raspberry bars - an oat, spelt, and sucanat bottom crust, fresh raspberries mixed with sugar and cornstarch, coconut, white flour, and lemon peel topping. I should have written down the recipe as this was delicious!

Back with Pictures to Show

Home made radish fridge pickles - a result of buying a huge bag of radishes for a dollar.

Green Cuisine herbed tofu steam cooked with a bit of soy sauce and salab olek - yum!

Rice, pinto beans, and bok choy with a seasame miso sauce. A bit of a strange combination, maybe next time I'll use spinach instead.

Springform strawberry rhubard pie (taken at night for it looks even more odd!).

Jerk tofu from PPK (baked in the marinade) and coconut mashed yams (5 yams boiled, then mashed with salt, pepper and half a can of coconut milk).

Chickpea Rice Casserole

1 cup of brown rice cooked, then mashed, then pressed into a 8 by 13 baking dish

Several cups of baked or sauted veggies (I used mushrooms and redpeppers) spread on top of the rice base with some chopped parsley sprinkled on top

Chickpea Sauce

- 1 Tbsp miso, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp vegetable stock, 1 cup of water (more as needed) mixed together and brought to a boil

- 2 Tbsp flour (I used spelt) dissolved in 1/4 of water and added to the miso mixture, then simmered until thickened

- 2 cups of cooked chickpeas added to mix and mashed with a potato masher until chunky, cooked for about 10 more minutes, stirring regularly

-chickpea mixture is poured on top of the rice and vegetables and baked in at 350 F about 20 minutes or until firm on the top

Cauliflower with cheeze sauce, watercress salad, and black bean burgers from Rebar.

Rice bowl with bok choy, avocado, and raw sunflower sauce (blended raw sunflower seeds, miso or salt, pepper, water, lemon juice).
Steamed pre-maninaded tempeh, bok choy, and potato wedges (boiled first).

Raw apple, date, and ground nut balls under saran rap.