on the subject of dinner

just some dinner

on the subject of breakfasts

this is my new daily breakfast.
one frozen banana cut into chunks
some frozen pitted cherries that i bought when they were cheap and ripe and delicious
a tablespoon or so of peanut butter
some chocolate flax seeds
a good big slosh of hazelnut milk
blended in a magic bullet

goddamn is it delicious.

CHIA FRESCA!

After reading Born to Run I've become slightly obsessed. Part of this obsession has resulted in chia fresca, a raw food energy drink. I feel like I have goddamn energy legs. It looks kinda like dragonfruit snot and if you don't watch out it will turn into a gel, but its amazing. I can't wait to bring it on my next run.

delicious healthy snack

matt just said "vanessa. i've discovered an amazing, delicious, healthy new snack.




lettuce.
hot sauce.
yum"

vegan by trial

Vegan Sweet Potato Gnocchi with cashew pesto

:::::::for the gnocchi::::::
one large sweet potato
two russets
a pile of flour

chop up the taters, steam em till they're soft. took my chunks (thumb sized) about 30 minutes.
pull them out, mash the crap out of them. i used an electric mixer and then went in with a fork to get the leftover lumps
wait until they cool, (or dont and just cook your fingers in this next part):
cover the potatoes with a cup of flour and mix in. then keep adding more flour and mixing by hand until it's not sticky anymore, or only barely. but dont mix until it's tough, just enough to get the flour in there. the less mixing you do the fluffier the gnocchi will be instead of like little dense stones. this isnt bread, people.
roll the dough out into logs about as thick as your ring finger (or, what you would estimate a normal ring finger looks like if you have abnormally skinny or fat fingers)
chop up the logs into finger-width pieces and roll down the back of a fork for more sauce grabbing ridges
chuck into a big pot of medium-boiling water (not super vigerous or you'll never know when the gnocci are done)
pull them out as soon as they float (too long and they'll get slimy)

like lil pillows of heaven yum


cashew pesto
chop some basil leaves
chop some cashews
chop some garlic
chop them all together
chop some more
squeeze some lemon on it, let it soak
pour in a little warmed olive oil


oh hell yea.

Perfecto Cookies

I had some cookie dough left over from when I made last-day-of-school goodbye cookies for my students. I froze the dough (wrapped in wax paper in a log, then in a plastic bag) and then decided today that I had enough cookie appropriate events coming up that it was a good time to bust out the rest of these guys. Plus I thought it would be really great to heat up the house with a 350 degree oven on a 90 degree day.

The recipe comes from the New York Times perfect cookie search. The first time I used this recipe, I basically used it as an outline and the cookies were just alright. This time around, the only thing I changed was to use "buttons" instead of "discs" for the chocolate. Sticking to the recipe produced some of the best cookies I have ever made or eaten! Resting the batter, high quality chocolate, and a flour blend I think are key here. I guess sprinkling on some salt does something too.

When I made them for my students, I used probably half-sized dollops of batter to make little quarter-sized cookies, which I thought were a nice little treat and spread them out better amongst 30-ish teenagers. The ones from today are about 5 inches in diameter.

Coffee

So, it's terrible. I've been making (and eating!) tons of delicious meals, and yet I never seem to remember about the camera until after I've polished off the whole plate! Also, I'm trying to go somewhat vegan... as in, I dont use milk products or eggs or meat at all if I can help it at home, but I'm not pressed enough to keep from ordering my favorite breakfast at a diner that has it (creamed chipped beef over toast with a side of bacon). I know, it's dichotomous.so what.


But anyway, here is a quick update to make sure that this blog doesnt die:

here's the meat and potatoes: i bought a cappachino maker. oh yeah. this is almond milk steamed up with a (big) shot of espresso in it and a teaspoon of dark brown sugar. this shit is the bomb, and amazing. and almond milk is awesome in coffee, way better than soy or rice. those guys suck. almonds rule! YUM.

I've been making some good brunches lately

It's like I said. Even though things have been nuts around here, I've been finding a little time to make some pretty epic brunches. I've done some things with french toast, pancakes, benedicts, etc. This week I was inspired by the egg sandwich. I never thought I was an egg sandwich person, but I had my first one ever recently and realized that they are pretty great. This one here has cheddar cheese, spinach, tempe, ketchup, and artichoke hearts with a side of hash browns.

On the side of THAT we have some homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit.

fried tortellini and veggies

If you can fry dumplings, why cant you fry tortellini? Amirite?

Jesus, just to get the veal off the front page :( :(

How do you make vegan french toast more palatable? cook 'em in butter! And serve with sausages yum.

Great French Toast  (from www.thekindlife.com, a pro-vegan website run by alicia silverstone)

INGREDIENTS
Yeast-free bread slices (French Meadow Summer Bread or whole spelt bread are good options)

1 1/2 cups firm tofu

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons rice syrup

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon corn oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Oil of your choice (olive, safflower, sunflower, etc.) for frying



STEPS
Blend all ingredients together until smooth and creamy.
If too thick, add more soy milk. 

Dip bread in batter and fry in hot oiled skillet until browned on both sides. 



Topping: 
Serve with maple syrup. 
Or you can make a great cinnamon butter by mixing cinnamon together with Earth Balance to taste. 
You can also make a maple/flax syrup by mixing 1/2 cup maple syrup and 2 teaspoons flax seed oil (that kind of ratio, because you don't want to make more syrup/flax than you will use)
Mix them together well. 
The oil adds a nice layer to the syrup. 

Don't Hate

Vealburger cooking


Vealburger on toast with coarse mustard, jarlsburg, spinach, tomato, onion

Baked Udon

In my old house we had 4 gas burners to 3 people and it was never enough. Imagine a house with 4 people and 2 electric burners. Needless to say, sometimes you just cant cook when you want to. The other night Kyle and I ran into this predicament before work. Our idea, make Oyako Don/Udon in the oven. My mother gave me two cast iron cobbler pots that were still unseasoned and I figured it was time to break them in.

Below: First we preheated the oven, added some sesame oil, and dropped in the cut chicken and onions.


Below: We added udon noodles over the chicken and dropped some broth over it.


Below: Everything cooking up nice? Time to add some mushrooms.


Below: We dropped in some beaten egg and scallions and let everything cook in and set. The final product. Delish. Needed just a little bit of soy sauce but everything was cooked to perfection.


Conclusion? Fuck electric burners.

Just dinner

Mashed sweet potatoes, sauteed veggies, and beer steamed sausage.