a variety of dinners and some semi bad photos I took of them

So I have this problem where I drink a little bit before and during cooking so that by the time I need to take pictures of the food, I'm too tipsy to hold the camera steady. Since I eat dinner at like 11 pm every night (ugh!) the lighting is bad too. Therefore, if you ever wonder why sometimes my photos suck hard even though I have a masters in photography, now you know. Plus, I'm still not an expert at digital photography and the fact that the shutter doesn't click as soon as I want to, although my dad's camera is much better than the OTHER one I was using. Anyway. I just uploaded a bunch of craptastic pictures and wanted to explain ahead of time. On the plus side, there is someone who is happy about the fact that Michael and I drink a lot of beer:

ghostface's new home

And so he won't get jealous, here's Bill Murray, looking particularly evil:

Ok, so first off, a few photos of random stuff I've made that haven't fit into other posts so far. This one is a nice salad with calendula flowers (edible!). The petals are kind of buttery tasting. But don't eat the middle parts, they're just there for show for the photo.

mmmm flowers

This is one of our favorite, junky, go-to meals when no one feels like cooking. CroissantDogs! It's highly processed and not good for you. Best served with lots of ketchup and spicy mustard.

This is obviously fairly simple... Just wrap up some soydogs in croissants and bake them according to the croissant package. It's a nice twist on pigs in a blanket (ew!) with the flakiness of that croissant. It's better than it should be, actually. This time, we used Worthington's Linketts. WHAT! They are so good. Even better than Yves, despite their creepy light pink coloring. Michael says that's how real hot dogs look, but I'm not so sure.

croissantdogs

Oh, and this is a chocolate pie I made for my grandmas' (plural!) birthday party. My one grandma used to be like... a baking expert and somehow I managed to catch this gene in my DNA. Yay! The only problem is that her best best best recipe is a chocolate pie that mostly consists of cook n serve pudding and butter and milk. And I veganized it, much to my family's surprise. I even made the crust. I suppose you want the recipe....

TOO BAD! It's a family secret, sorry. Well, the orginial recipe was a secret, and this is based on the original and tastes just like it. So... if you want to come over for dinner, I'll make it and you can taste it for yourself. Oh...maybe someday I'll post it. But not right now.

grandma's chocolate pie. VEGANIZED. check!

Ok, what's next.... *sigh*

(I can only upload pictures in batches of 5 so I might need to take a break here)

Remember how I got even MORE swiss chard at the farmers market? In a valiant effort to eat more leafy greens...this is what I keep doing. I buy them, and then have no idea how to make them edible. I can't stand the kale that's sold in our grocery stores (it's so bitter!) and the one time I tried just cooking chard, I made it really vinegary, and I kind of hate the taste of vinegar by itself, so for some reason that scared me off from cooking it like that. Anyway, so we stuck to stuffing it for this round. Also, Michael did saute some up that was really good, so maybe he should be the one who cooks it from now on. But this time, we went south of the border with Mexi Swiss Chard Rollups! Um... all the photos I took of prep turned out terrible, so you'll have to just listen to how we ate them with and what's inside them.

more creative swiss chard solutions

We put some brown rice with cumin in our rice cooker and let that cook up. After it was finished, we mixed in a can of kidney beans and seasoned to taste. Again, blanche the chard to make it easy to work with. Then, just a spoonful or two of the rice and beans went into the leaves and we rollllled em up and baked them at 350F for maybe 30-40 minutes. That's Follow Your Heart mozzarella on top. By the way, it only melts truly when you cover it with foil. We did not know this until this point, so foil yours. Served it all up with some homemade salsa and guacamole on a small bed of tortilla chips.

Next is something I AM SUPER PROUD OF!!!! No really, after I made this, I danced around the kitchen in complete ecstasy for about 10 minutes. And me dancing is like a combination of Elaine and Michelle Tanner. Bad. But humorous! Anyway, this is Sausage, adapted from Vegan Dad's recipe. I used a little less fennel, because I'm not a huge fan of the licorice taste, and added some thyme. Oh, and we didn't have pinto beans, so we used butter beans instead. Um, but, seriously.... amazing. You won't know what hit you. And it was so easy! Ok, enough gushing. We used these in a stew that was delicious, but photographed like babypoop, so I'm not showing it. There were lots of veggies, the sausage, a lot of soymilk, 'beef' broth, and Earth Balance. Rich, to say the least. But delicious.

better than any sausage on the planet

When we went camping, we took one of these links and sliced it very thin, left it in the oven on about 100F for around 2-3 hours and ended up with jerky! Which we took camping. Mmm.

Zucchini Bread Muffins

My buddy AllyChristine from VegWeb gave me this recipe. She sent me these muffins when we had a package exchange a couple months ago, and I literally needed the recipe. Like, I needed it. And you need it. She dusted hers with cocoa powder, which was awesome. But I was lazy, plus I don't have a sifter, so I didn't do that.

INGREDIENTS

3 tbs ground flaxseed or 4.5 teaspoons (tsps) ener-g egg (I used ener-g)

.5 cup water or 6 tbs if using ener-g

1 cup neutral oil or 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I actually used 3/4 C applesauce, 1/4 C canola oil)

1 tbs white distilled vinegar (I used redwine vinegar here cause i didn't have white and it was fine)

2 cups gran. sugar (I used Sucanat here)

2 cups grated zucchini (no need to peel)

2 tsps vanilla

3 cups unbleached AP or whole wheat pastry flour (I use the latter)

2 tsps cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

one tsp salt

Preheat to 325. Lightly grease 8x4x2 loaf pans, 4 mini loaf pans, or 2 muffin tins. In food processor or bowl (I just use a whisk), combine flaxseed and water...or ener-g and water. Whip until thick and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add oil, vinegar, and sugar, and combine. Stir in the zucchini and vanilla. If using food processor, transfer oil/vinegar/sugar mix to large bowl before stirring in zucchini and vanilla.

In separate bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Add nuts and raisins if using. Stir dry into wet until just combined. Divide into prepared pans, and bake 60-70 for standard loaves, 40-45 for mini, 30-35 for muffins (I did like 25). Check with toothpick!

Last night we made lasagna. The sauce is sauteed onion, zucchini, squash, and crumblers with some of our homemade marinara and some storebought as well.

oh yum.

So the noodles are layered with the sauce, some spinach, and my basil/spinach/tofu ricotta (huge bunch of basil, 3 garlic cloves, package of spinach, extra firm tofu, salt blended in a food processor) with a little Follow Your Heart mozzarella on top. This time, we foiled the top so the cheese would melt. But halfway through cooking I wanted to unfoil it in order to brown the cheesiness, but when we looked only half of the cheese was melty. I said it would be fine. It turned out just like the cheese on the mexi chard rollups. So guess which side of the lasagna I got to eat, since it was my fault? haha...I don't care, it was still delicious.

Ok, and finally I have a little Indian food for your tasting happiness. I was in a curry mood. And I had a lot of beets and sweet potatoes. This resulted in sweet potato and beet curry salad. Which was not good until the next day, but the next day, it was sooooo good. So if you make this, make it a day ahead and refrigerate until you're ready to eat it. I needed something to go with it, so I whipped up a quick Chana Masala to go over some brown rice. Chana Masala = chickpeas, onions, garlic, tomato paste, curry powder, soymilk, and salt. You can find a recipe you like online, yes? It's really simple.

Indian food does not photograph particularly well. especially when the photographer is a tad tipsy. oh well.

Here's the recipe for the Sweet Potato and Beet Curry Salad:

sweet potatoes (cubed)

beets (peeled and cubed)

tahini

plain soy yogurt

scallions (thinly sliced)

dijon mustard

red curry powder

a tiny amount of garam masala (optional)

I know there are no amounts up there. But this is pretty versatile, and you can just use as many beets and sweet potatoes as you like, then adjust the rest to fit. Ok, so cook your beets and sweet potatoes first. Note that it takes longer to cook beets than cubed sweet potatoes, so adjust your cooking time for this. I boiled all mine together and my potatoes were a tad mushy and the beets were a tad crunchy (they went on the stove for about 25 minutes, so I'd say 15-20 minutes for the potatoes, around 30 for the beets). Once the beets are cooked, peel them and cut them. To the lovely root veggies, add your tahini first. You will want to have like... a 2:1 tahini:yogurt ratio, however much you use. So, more tahini, ok? Then just add your mustard, scallions, curry (I used around 3-4 Tbsp here, but remember that RED curry is spicy, so be careful - do it to taste [and remember that the flavor will intensify and get better the next day]). Salt to taste, give it a really good stir, and plop in the fridge for several hours.

The sweetness of the sweet potatoes and the beets (and the earthiness of both) goes really well with the curry flavoring, while the tahini and yogurt make this creamy creamy creamy. You will be pleasantly surprised, I promise!

I'm done for now. I will (i will i will) post about our camping trip next, as I'm pretty much caught up on our meals now. I might even do it later tonight. But my hands are a little tired right now. Go make dinner! But don't drink so much you can't photograph it...

a little bit of random

Well... I didn't really cook anything yesterday because... I kinda got drunk again. So my dinner ended up being a roll of crackers with hummus. That's not really picture worthy. Therefore, I'm going to take this opportunity to post some pictures (and maybe recipes if I'm up for it) of past dinners I've taken photos of that seem pretty good. Here goes!

Spinach Curry with Veggies and Cashews

This one's pretty self explanatory. Michael wanted some curried spinach. I wanted veggies, and cashews for some protein. I just popped some rice into my rice cooker (love this), then defrosted a couple packages of frozen chopped spinach. If I remember correctly, the veggies are onions, garlic, broccoli, carrots, and peas. So I just sauteed the onions, garlic, and carrots in a little EVOO, then added the spinach (after squeezing out the water). At this point, I did my spicing. Garam masala, curry powder, coriander, turmeric, cayenne... In whatever quantities you like. I didn't realize garam masala had a bunch of cinnamon and cloves in it, so ours was a little...clovey tasting. Oh well. I just added a bunch of curry powder to make up for it. Then I dumped in maybe 3/4 cup of plain soy yogurt, plus some soymilk. Stir it all up, put your broccoli and peas on top to steam, then cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes. Yum.

Tabouli

This is some tabouli I made last weekend. Michael's mother came to visit the night after I made it and had some. She liked it so much that apparently I'm making some for his sister's wedding next month! Cool. It's also incredibly easy. Here, I'll even do it up recipe style for you:

1 cup dry bulgher wheat, cooked according to package instructions

2 big tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 large cucumber, seeded and diced

2-3 scallions, sliced thinly

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 bunch of parsley, chopped finely

1 bunch of mint, chopped finely (about 1/4 cup - 1/3 cup of each of these)

2-3 Tbs dill, chopped finely (optional, but it's good, believe me)

2-3 Tbs olive oil (I just kind of poured some in...this is an estimation)

About 3 Tbs lemon juice, or 2 lemons, juiced

Salt & pepper to taste

While the bulgher is cooking, chop everything up and put it in a med-large bowl. It's really important that you seed the tomatoes and cucumbers, so that things don't get too wet in the salad. Soggy is bad. But seeding is actually kind of fun, once you get the hang of it. Just prepare to get your hands dirty, is all. Also, it's very important that the herbs you use are FRESH. Anyway, after the bulgher is done, put it on top of the veggies, add your olive oil and lemon juice, and give it a good stir. Salt and pepper to taste here. It's really good right at this moment, but try to refrain from eating it all because if you cover and refrigerate for a few hours (2-3), then the flavors marry and it's heavenly. Eat with fresh tortillas, or just by itself. Most delicious.

Burritos (enchiladas?) 3 Ways

So I know everyone knows about burritos (but I baked them, so are they enchiladas?) But I'm proud of these. Because I made them from scratch (literally) when we had nothing to eat in the house before a payday. There are 3 fillings, spinach/garlic, spiced potatoes, and taco seasoned kidney beans. Then I made a nooch (nutritional yeast) sauce, texmex style with lots of cumin and some diced tomatoes mixed in. But the best part... is that I made my OWN TORTILLAS! This was a first. Well actually, we tried to make our own tortillas the day of the tabouli, but they turned out crappy because they were too salty, too oily, and too thick. But these were awesome. Ridiculously easy recipe to follow in a minute.

bean and spinach fillings

potato filling, and a misshapen tortilla

homemade whole wheat tortillas

So here's how you make tortillas:

Dump a bunch of flour in a big bowl (I used whole wheat, but you can use regular, corn, or whatever). Try to imagine how much you need, because I didn't measure. It was maybe 3 cups for 6 tortillas.

Add some salt. Not too much! Just a sprinkle.

Drizzle with oil (seriously small drizzle).

Then mix in water in small amounts until you have a flexible, but not sticky, dough. If it becomes sticky, just mix in some extra flour until it's not anymore. Use your hands to mix. It's strangely satisfying.

Break off little chunks of dough and flatten them out. How you do this is up to you, but I smooshed them and then rolled them out into an impossible thin circle (you will want to flour your rolling surface or they'll stick and make you sad). Like you really want them thinner than you think is necessary.

Then drizzle a little oil on the surface facing up and rub it in. Have your NONSTICK or cast iron skillet hot, but not on high heat. More like medium. Plop that baby facedown (oil side down) onto the skillet. Keep an eye on it, and when it starts to poof up with air bubbles, you'll want to flip it (this takes...like 30 seconds to a minute, because they are super thin). If you see nice little brown spots (like tortillas have), you've done good. Cook it on the other side until more spots appear, or it moves around easily in the pan. Repeat until you're out of dough.

Yeah, it takes a minute. But it's so worth it. By the way, I learned how to do this by watching Victory Garden on PBS. Watch PBS, you might learn something!

So anyway, then i just wrapped my fillings up in the tortillas, put them in a casserole dish, poured on the nooch sauce, and baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes, until the sauce was brownish and bubbly. Top with lettuce and salsa (and guacomole, if you've got some avocados), and enjoy!

Spicy Ginger-Coconut Rice

Try this recipe.

The only things I did differently were that I subbed some of the onion with leeks (LOVE LEEKS), only added 1 red pepper, and instead of frying the tofu, I marinated it in about a cup of coconut milk w/some ginger. It was insanely good.

Vcon Chickpea Cutlets w/Baked Herbed Rice and Maple Dijon Brussels Sprouts

My cutlets didn't turn out very pretty... But I think maybe we didn't add enough gluten. Or maybe smooshed the chickpeas into a mush. Not sure, but worth trying again, because the flavor was yummy. The brussels sprouts were really good, except for one thing. I didn't have the recipe on hand and just kind of...remembered seeing it, so decided to experiment. I ended up putting some balsamic vinegar in them. DON'T DO THAT! They would have been perfect, besides. The baked herbed rice was fricking delicious. I used wild rice instead of brown and just chopped up half a regular onion (which I sauteed instead of baking it...that seemed unnecessary). Seriously try this. It was amazing. Oh, that sauce up there is a creation of Michael's that is heartstoppingly good. He just makes a roux (rue? I can't spell it right now) from margarine and flour (equal amounts of each), then adds soymilk and whatever spices he feels like. I think this one had scallions and parsley and salt. That's all. But it's so thick and ...gravy-like that....mmm....well, it's just sexy.

Mac n Cheese that ended up eerily like hamburger helper

The nooch sauce that I am in love with comes from this recipe. It's so versatile that you can do ANYthing with it. I browned some Morningstar Meal Starter Crumblers with a few scallions, which I added to the pasta (some whole wheat squiggly stuff). Then I poured on the sauce and mixed in a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Bake it for awhile (however long the recipe says). Then try not to have a seizure over how awesome it is.

Paella

This paella was based off of many recipes. I have to say... It didn't knock my socks off. However, Michael was in love with it. I don't think I like saffron, and since it's unnaturally expensive, I most likely won't be buying more any time soon. I got a vial of it with like half a teaspoon of threads and it was $5. What! Anyway, this has a bunch of crap in it, and I think if I had left out the TVP chunks (protein?) it would have been fine. Arborio rice is rad. Creamy. Yessss.... Anyway, find a paella recipe and try it out, if you're interested. There's like a thousand of them online. Just not here right now.

peachy yummy salad

Last but not least, a salad I made awhile back that DID knock my socks off. I still can't find one of them. Anyway, this is chunks of peaches, scallions, bacos, chopped almonds, and tomatoes on lettuce (out of my mom's garden) with a poppyseed dressing. It would have been even better with avocado (isn't everything?). Lately, Michael and I have been intrigued by the idea of lettuce-less salads. This isn't one of them, but it was inspired by one, with very little lettuc and big chunks of stuffs. I think we did one with peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, and scallions the day before this. Anyway, go add some peaches to your salad. And find a sweet poppyseed dressing. I've only found one I've liked. I think it's Bryanna brand? I dunno, it's in the fridge and I'm not right now, so it will remain a mystery.

Well. That's it. For now. It's a pretty day outside and I'm sitting on the couch. Travesty! So off I go.