Miss Rachel

Tonight's dinner

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:28:06 -0400

Curried cauliflower, chickpeas, onion, spinach and tomatoes over rice. In a large skillet, saute a coarsely diced onion in some oil (I used about 1 T of coconut oil) with a few cloves of garlic (crushed), 1 T of curry powder, 1/2 t of cayenne, and a little salt. Add 1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes including their liquid. I also added about half a can of water. Bring everything to a boil and once it’s bubbling, add cauliflower florets (I used a 12 oz. bag). Cover and turn heat down a little so mixture is still bubbling somewhat. After about 5 minutes, add 1 15 oz. can of drained, rinsed chickpeas and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Then add spinach (I used a 6 oz. bag) on top of the mixture and let wilt for a couple minutes; then stir in the spinach and let cook for about three more minutes. Serve in bowls as is or over the grain of your choice. (I used brown basmati rice. I don’t have much white rice left.)

This dish would work with other types of beans and possibly other vegetables. Making it further enforced my belief that one should always keep cans of beans and tomatoes on hand for dinner creations.

Saturday night’s dinner: broccoli and cauliflower florets...

Sun, 05 May 2013 10:08:25 -0400

Saturday night’s dinner: broccoli and cauliflower florets cooked with coconut milk, curry powder and garlic and served over basmati rice.

Last night I made one of those dinners that was super simple,...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 09:53:03 -0400

Last night I made one of those dinners that was super simple, but so good. I loved it. I braised green beans and an onion with olive oil and garlic. Then I splashed on some lemon juice and mixed in cooked pasta. I used bow-ties. You could call the pasta farfalle if you’re being fancy, but then I guess you’d also have to call the green beans haricots verts.

Chickpeas & cupcakes

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:47:38 -0400

Tuesday was Sweetie’s birthday, and since I knew I had to work that night I decided we should have a birthday-inspired dinner the night before. I cooked up some chickpeas with garlic, onions, tomatoes and a bunch of spices. It wasn’t quite Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe, but I did follow the spice combination in her Very Spicy, Delicious Chickpeas recipe and dinner was indeed delicious and spicy.

I served the chickpeas over basmati rice. I used up all our brown rice, and I’ve decided to try white rice for a change.

For dessert, there was no question of what we’d have: cupcakes. I took VCTOTW out of the library again, and made some birthday cupcakes. (I ran out of sprinkles by the time I got to the last few.)

I put some candles in one for Sweetie and snapped a pic before he blew them out.

Blueberry muffins

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:25:00 -0400

I’m not one for getting up early and cooking. Most mornings, I’m a sip-coffee-for-an-hour+ before doing anything kind of person, but on Sunday I decided to make blueberry muffins. I followed this recipe from Madhuram’s Eggless Cooking: Vegan Blueberry Muffins (leaving out the lemon zest and lemon extract because I don’t want lemon flavor in my blueberry muffins).

I also poured the batter into only 9 muffins cups so I’d have nice muffin tops.

Sweetie and I enjoyed them with some Earth Balance vegan butter.

They were a bit fall-apart-y, but I can’t complain about homemade muffins, fresh and warm out of the oven. I had two.

Curried lentil soup

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:23:00 -0400

I’m a big fan of lentil soup, and a coworker was looking at a magazine that featured lentil soup that included some ingredients I don’t generally use in mine: curry and red peppers. I didn’t follow the recipe nearly, but I decided to try using those ingredients the next time I made lentil soup. The recipe also called for sweet potatoes, and while I usually use carrots, I just happened to have some sweet potatoes on hand so I used them. I sauteed some garlic and onions in a little coconut oil and curry powder. Then I added mushrooms, a red bell pepper and sweet potatoes, then about 3 cups of red lentils and 8 cups of water. I simmered everything for about an hour and a half, and that was dinner. Here’s my bowl which I served salted to taste with some freshly ground black pepper on top.

Greens make a nice addition to lentil soup, and although I didn’t have any available at first serving, I did add some fresh spinach leaves on subsequent servings. I just put a handful of greens in the bowl, ladled some soup on top and heated it together in the microwave. Spinach cooks so quickly, it was done in short order, and it looked really pretty too.

Detropia raises questions

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:22:00 -0400

Visually, the movie Detropia is beautiful and haunting. I sense the intent behind the movie was just to show viewers the place and let us make our own conclusions. However since Detropia presents Detroit as something of a post-apocalyptic desert, we’re definitely being guided to see it in this particular light. I found the movie frustrating for what it did not show. Although it showed the Detroit Opera House, it did not show the Detroit Institute of Arts, a museum which has a large and significant collection. Although it showed the vast, empty automobile factories, it did not show the major corporations that have moved into Detroit. Although it showed some young people were moving in, it did not show the Live Downtown project and the incentives its providing for businesses and people to move there. I don’t think anyone would deny that an American city whose major industry used to be automobile manufacturing has some big problems, but Michael Moore told us about that in Roger & Me in 1989. Detropia would have us believe that Detroit is continuing to devolve into a wasteland, but I’m not sure if that’s the case. I haven’t been to Detroit. I’m just someone who watched a movie and uses google, but I sense that Detropia may not be giving us the most balanced view of the place. I’d be glad to hear opinions from anyone else closer to the problem.

Winter pizza

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:37:00 -0400

Last summer during farmers’ market season I discovered my favorite way to make pizza was with fresh, local tomatoes and zucchini. However, Joey blogged about a most delicious, winter-friendly pizza even though she said she didn’t like pizza (what?!). It featured caramelized onions, and I was intrigued.

While the onions were caramelizing on the stove, I made the crust and drained the tomatoes. After the crust had risen, I pressed it out and assembled the pizza: garlic, tomatoes, cheese (I used my latest vegan shreds discovery - Trader Joe’s - cheaper than Daiya and still good!), and I also added some sliced mushrooms I had hanging around. I put the pizza thus far into a 425 degree oven.

After 15 minutes I took the pizza out and added the onions and some marinated, sundried tomatoes. Then I baked it for another 6 minutes or so, and it was done.

I adore caramelized onions, and they work really well as a pizza topping so I can say that this pizza was an unqualified success. It will definitely be gracing my table again while I wait a few more months for local tomatoes and zucchini.

Spinach & Shallots

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:39:00 -0500

Most of the time I don’t follow published recipes, but there are some that I have tried that make such a good impression I return to them. One such recipe is Tatie Wawo-Runtu’s Spinach with Shallots from Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, an excellent cookbook that I recommend you seek out. The recipe is very simple: it just requires spinach, shallots, a chili pepper and oil. It requires a LOT of spinach - 2 lbs - but as you know spinach cooks down a great deal.

I toasted and steamed some Israeli couscous and served the spinach over it. Delicious!

Birthday cupcakes!

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:43:00 -0500

Yesterday was my birthday, and although I enjoyed a delicious meal with Sweetie at one of my favorite vegan restaurants, It’s Only Natural, I was disappointed when I found they didn’t have much in the way of desserts. So I decided to make my own birthday cake in the form of cupcakes!

I followed your basic vegan cupcake recipeusing rice milk in place of soy and corn oil in place of canola and increasing the vanilla to 1 tablespoon. Also I didn’t do any sifting and they came out just fine. I topped them with your basic vegan vanilla buttercream frosting and sprinkles, put a candle in one of them and then Sweetie sang to me.

Then we enjoyed our cupcakes.

Curried pumpkin soup

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:56:30 -0500

Yesterday I made up a curried pumpkin soup. Real(ly) quick. This method works really well with pieces of of squash, but since I had a can of pumpkin puree hanging around, that’s what I used. Lightly saute 2 onions, a few cloves of garlic, salt and spices in some coconut oil. Add a can of pumpkin puree and a few cups of water. Let it all simmer for an hour or so, puree in the blender and you’ve got soup.

And I’m taking some to work in a jar.

My delicious, steaming plate of dinner that I had planned on,...

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:40:00 -0500

My delicious, steaming plate of dinner that I had planned on, and consequently looked forward to all day: angel hair pasta with sauteed garlic, shiitake mushrooms and tofu and steamed broccoli. It did not disappoint.

Recent eats, featuring tofu

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:31:00 -0500

The storm hit us hard in central Connecticut, and I don’t feel like talking about it here yet or posting “OMG! so much snow!” photos so I’ll just show you some food stuff. I went to Whole Foods on Friday and brought home a nice big haul.

I did not lose power and hence, I was able to cook some good meals. Friday night’s dinner was tofu with curried potato and collard greens. I cook the tofu separately in a nonstick pan with some oil so it develops a nice crust.

I’ve been enjoying tofu a lot lately, and I also had some for breakfast yesterday. This was seasoned with turmeric and cooked with some mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. I sprinkled the whole thing with fresh cilantro.

That’s it for now.

Here’s Blue checking out the yard as the snow begins.

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:07:50 -0500

Here’s Blue checking out the yard as the snow begins.

Rice & beans

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:56:00 -0500

It’s wintertime, and we’re expecting a big storm. Rice and beans is a good combination anytime, but it’s especially appealing when the weather is cold and blowy and snowy.

Here’s what I did: I sauteed a diced onion and some crushed garlic in a little oil for a few minutes, added 1 t of chili powder and 1/2 t each of coriander and cumin and 1/4 t of cayenne and cooked and stirred for a few more minutes. Then I added a can (15 oz.) of black beans and a can (14.5 oz.) of diced tomatoes and simmered everything for about an hour.

I served it over rice. Note: I also think this would be really good over a potato, but I had some leftover brown rice hanging around so that’s what I used. (And this post is called rice & beans so I had to use rice - ha!)

Groundhog night dinner was baked macaroni and (vegan) cheese and...

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 10:39:00 -0500

Groundhog night dinner was baked macaroni and (vegan) cheese and baked sweet potatoes.

Made yummy date, oatmeal & walnut bars last night; the...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:44:40 -0500

Made yummy date, oatmeal & walnut bars last night; the recipe was adapted & veganized from Bar Cookies A-Z by Marie Simmons.

Two pine trees in the backyard were uprooted. Fortunately, they...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:40:00 -0500

Two pine trees in the backyard were uprooted. Fortunately, they fell next to the house and not on it.

Last nice dinner: steamed kale and mushrooms and stir fried tofu...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 09:41:00 -0500

Last nice dinner: steamed kale and mushrooms and stir fried tofu over brown rice.

(That was supposed to say “night’s.” Good typo I guess.)

Squash & sprouts

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:43:55 -0500

I love winter squash in general, although acorn squash in particular has always seemed kind of bland and dry. However, I tried cooking it Nikki’s way (with vegan butter and maple syrup for the variables) tonight, and it came out pretty nice.

I also roasted some Brussels sprouts (with olive oil and salt and pepper).