Behold the Green Smoothie!

This has got to be the ugliest health food slop EVER.  That's why I thought you might like to see it in action.  I was eager to try some vegan protein powder I just got my hands on called Peaceful Planet's Supreme Meal.  If I've tried this before, I don't remember, but I might have just tried it with water and dismissed it.  I recommend NOT just mixing protein powders with a liquid (unless it's an emergency) but instead adding them to an already-palatable smoothie.

Other ingredients I threw into the blender: Banana, frozen peach pieces, soy yogurt, water, flax seed, and beet greens that I had frozen while fresh.  The great thing about green smoothies (and the greens are essential to round out all the fruit sugar!) is that they are an anytime food.  Keep fruit, greens, and bananas on hand and in the freezer and you won't even need to add ice.  It's nice to be able to put whatever you want into it, whenever you want.

For all you independent coffee-shop lovers out there, don't hate on the Starbucks cup!  I love this thing because it's perfect for smoothies (and Sbux passion tea lemonade).  I have a fond, fuzzy memory of taking green smoothies to work, but I can't remember if I was working at Starbucks, at the gym, or in sales...  Anyway, some guy looked at my smoothie and actually grimaced at me, as if I was going to pour my breakfast down his throat while splashing patchouli in his eyes.  I won't force healthy food on you unless you want me to, generally.  Besides, it's just a cup full of brownish-green liquid that I'm sipping on... don't be such an assparagus.

Slop I Am Eating This Week

Tamale Casserole

This casserole from Happy Herbivore is a good example of a decent meal I will make to stretch throughout a busy week.  It does taste good and it's economical, but eating a serving everyday for 5 days can become less than vibrant.  I might start to hate it!  And I'm picky about freezing things.  Casseroles are so easy, though, and easy to customize.

I'd like to get across is that many of my meals are not very pretty.  I know there are vegans posting their fanciful dishes out there, but I tend to think that a lot of healthy foods look boring and ugly even if they taste good.  Oatmeal, soup, rice and beans, slow cooker delights.  Winter especially brings out the uglies but need those nutrients, people!  (Summer foods are nice and light and colorful - it will be a fun vegan summer this year.)  Maybe if you are lucky I will work on adorning my slop with cute props and sassy dinnerware.


I had a recipe request, but I modified it so much that I will just post my own version here:

Tamale Casserole
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 c favorite salsa
1 c frozen corn
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 (4 oz) can sliced black olives
2 T chili powder
2 t oregano
2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 recipe Cornbread, uncooked (see below)

-Preheat oven to 400.
-Combine all ingredients except Cornbread batter into a greased large casserole dish (9x13).
-Mix ingredients well to combine, and pat down mixture firmly and evenly into dish.
-Pour Cornbread batter over the mixture and try to evenly distribute into a thin layer on top.
-Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  The top should be slightly browned.
-Serve with hot sauce, salsa, sliced black olives, non-dairy cheese or Tofutti sour cream on top.

Cornbread
1 c cornmeal
1 c whole-wheat pastry flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c non-dairy milk
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c pure maple syrup
2 T raw sugar (optional)

-Preheat oven to 400.
-Whisk cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
-Add non-dairy milk, applesauce, maple syrup, and sugar, if using, on top.
-Using a spatula, stir until just combined.
-Pour batter into a greased or nonstick shallow 9-inch pie dish, cast-iron skillet, or square casserole dish.
-Bake for about 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Notes:
T = tablespoon
t = teaspoon
c = cup

I don't use onions, but if you want to add an onion to the Tamale Casserole recipe, then chop and saute it in a pan with some minced garlic in oil or water.  Add that mixture in the casserole dish before adding the batter.  Be sure to omit the garlic and onion powder.

I love this Cornbread recipe and can't wait to make some muffins outta this stuff!

Breakfast, Take 2

Perfect Nomelet

Mushroom, Spinach and Mozz Daiya Nomelet with Home Fries

I present to you... the Nomelet.  Please see in Exhibit A that J's nomelet is perfect, while my nomelet in Exhibit B happens to be falling apart and spilling over the sides.   They were both good, but way too much food so next time we will split one.  I'm very impressed with this recipe from Happy Herbivore, it uses silken tofu and chickpea flour and is baked.  Silken tofu is probably not for everyone, but I looove this made-up food.  Eggs are a toughie to recreate.  I admit, I was being skeptical so I added Daiya cheese (forking awesome if you haven't had it!) just to be safe on taste.

For some reason I have it in my head that putting a lot of things in the oven makes them not cook as well.  Did I make this up or is this a true story?  I was worried to put two omelets and a big batch of home fries in the oven at the same time (especially since they called for different temperatures, whoops!) but it turned out to be okay.  It just took more time and some adjusting, and it was worth it to me to have everything done at the same time.  Truthfully, it makes me downright giddy when that happens.  Mental note for future reference: Sweet potatoes cook faster than white ones, so cut them up into bigger pieces.

Breakfast, Take 1

Banana French Toast

Berry Oatmeal Muffins

Vegan French Toast not too shabby!  This recipe used chickpea flour with almond milk, and it was minimal and fast.  I infrequently make pancakes, waffles, and French toast, and I do not have an innate "feel" for what level heat to cook on (it was also unspecified in the recipe).  So I generally get a good browning by the third or fourth try, which is usually the last pancake, waffle, or piece of gooey bread.  I suppose late is better than never, or whatever.  Need more practice.

The idea of muffins is very pleasing to me.  I wanted something that I could snack on throughout the week or have for a quick breakfast if needed.  Turned out well, and I'm excited to try the other similar muffin recipes.  The only problem was that I decided to use frozen mixed berries instead of the called-for frozen wild blueberries, and I forgot about the awfulness of blackberries.  The seeds got stuck in my teeth a lot and were uncomfortable - I hate that.  Blackberry seeds got me down!

These recipes were out of Happy Herbivore, and I wasn't too sure about this book until now.  It's a fairly new book, I've found mistakes in it, and I initially thought it was really lacking on the vegetables.  I made a few recipes at first that I wasn't crazy about, but then decided that many of the baked recipes are decent.  Between this cookbook and Appetite for Reduction, I am definitely good to go with vegan, low-fat recipes for a while.  The AFR is my new bible, and Isa rocks my socks off.  The HH is a good supplement for what I need.

Heart-y

Heart-Beet Rosti with Tempeh and Chard

"Red" Velvet Cupcakes

I was feeling romantically domestic for Valentine's Day and made a Heart-Beet Rosti (Party Vegan) with some chard and sauteed marinated tempeh.  The heart-shaped pans from Target that I used for the Rosti worked surprisingly well, so the hardest part about making it was actually shredding the beets.  I used my mandoline slicer (which I never use since it scares me) for the beets and potatoes because I thought it'd look prettier.  The Rosti was under-salted and the tempeh was over-salted, so it turned out pretty well when I mushed it all together.

I managed to squeeze in some cupcake-making too.  Well, I thought I could squeeze it in quickly so that these could bake and cool during dinner and be timed perfectly, etc.  But I can't ever remember making any cupcakes, especially not vegan ones, so I encountered problems.  Pretty basic baking no-no's such as forgetting that a liquid cup does not equal a dry cup AT ALL.  I put my boyfriend J in charge of frosting and verbally gave the wrong instructions.  He made it work anyway by doubling the recipe, and he even remembered Alton Brown's ziplock-bag make-shift piping-bag trick for pretty frosting (swoon, J's a genius).  

These things turned out fluffy!  (Thanks, Vegan Celebrations!)  Probably because of shortening, which I've never used before.  Kinda gross, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.  On top of everything, the natural vegan food dye that was indeed very expensive DID NOT make my cupcakes red, so it's a good thing they were fluffy.  Despite the mistakes, I felt very 1950's because I cleaned the house that day and wore a skirt, apron, and lipstick to make dinner.  It was a nice change from my usual pajama ensemble.  

I used to shrug off flowers and hearts and romantic things when I was a younger, boot-stomping feminist.  I'm definitely more of a sap now and trying to be a more amorous person overall.  I have a new-found respect for silly heart-shaped things because I want to be a Cardiac Sonographer and have recently become obsessed with learning about the heart.  Flowers are better than candy, making vegan meals together can be more romantic than restaurant food, and expressing love is good for the heart and mind.   

So he says to me...

Today an old friend offered me one of his two popular blogs that focuses on food in Baltimore.  It was confusing but flattering to me - confusing because I don't really write anything, ever, much less a blog, but flattering because he noticed that I regularly post pictures of slop that I make everyday for dinner.  I informed him that I eat vegan food now and even if I could deliver food pictures and recipes like clockwork, it would probably mess up the entire essence of his blog.  His blog is about Baltimore.  My story at the moment is about recently choosing to go vegan, making new recipes all the time, experimenting with yoga, and trying to lose weight without going nutty.  I happen to live in Baltimore.  But it got me thinking, why couldn't I write a blog about that?  I failed to come up with a reason.  This may very well be the first of many failures.