Citrus-Marinated Veggie Sandwiches

As a vegetarian, I tend to be at a loss for ideas for sandwiches. I don't like tofu or any meat substitutes and one can only eat so much egg salad. We also prefer Mexican food, and I just don't picture sandwiches when I imagine Mexican cuisine.

But you can improvise, no?

I decided to get a bit creative when I saw this gorgeous Sourdough French loaf at the DanJo Farms stand when I was picking up our CSA. Brett and I have fallen in love with the Herb Focaccia, so I decided we needed to try this.

I wanted something spicy, yummy, filling, and at least reminiscent of Mexican flavors, so this is what I came up with...


















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Citrus-marinated Veggie Sandwiches

Citrus-marinated Onions and Mushrooms:
3 oranges, squeezed
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 guajillo chiles, washed
1/4 cup cilantro *
a few dashes of cumin
1 large red onion, halved and sliced
1 pack button mushrooms, sliced

Combine and cover. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least a couple of hours to allow the flavors to meld.

Once onions and mushrooms are marinated, heat 2 tbsp safflower oil over medium-high heat. Remove the onions and mushrooms from the marinade and tranfer to hot oil.

Cook until caramelized and cook through, about 15 minutes.

Other Fixin's:
1/2 loaf of Sourdough French bread, sliced in half
1 avocado, smashed with a little lime juice and salt
mayo or Veganaise mixed with two chipotle chiles in adobo
pepper jack cheese or "cheese"
Preheat broiler.

Place bread halves on a pan, if using cheese, top one slice of each pair with cheese. Place under the broiler and remove when bread is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Spread chipotle mayo on the "dry" slice of bread and avocado mixture on the cheesy slice, layer on half the onion/mushroom mixture for each sandwich.

Enjoy!

*These could also be prepared to be eaten "open faced".

'Til next time!

Random Eats of Late

I have been cooking lately - mostly variations on favorite tried and true recipes, but I have been lazy and too overwhelmed to blog - well not anymore! Not only will I share these variations of tried and true recipe, I hope to post the new chili recipe Brett and I made sometime this week. A new recipe! Wahoo!















First off, our Everything Granola Bars. We have worked with the ratios and nut/seed combinations and I think we have them how we want them. I highly recommend trying these and playing around with the recipe until you find the way you like 'em best. We found a combination so tasty that we have eaten these for breakfast (and even snacks) for a couple of months now. Oh, and check out our "newsed" new plates. A little brightly colored for my taste, but I love the swirly and Southwestern feel to the plates (cups, bowls, etc). My Dad and step-mom Stacey got some new dishes and split the set between Brett and I and my step-brother Zac. We certainly didn't need a whole set when half of the set included four place settings of each. Wahoo for hand-me-downs!

Next up: J. Finally. Baked. Bread. !!!!!















Check out these two gorgeous ciabattas! I followed the recipe provided by the super cool Jessy from Happy Vegan Face, I used all purpose flour for the "sponge" and local, Missouri-grown whole wheat pastry flour for the rest of the recipe.















Check out the air pockets! We had this delicious bread with some pasta and St. Louis-made Zia's pasta sauce.

The verdict on the breadmaking? Why the hell did I wait this long?! This wasn't hard at all and I don't even have a stand mixer, so I just used my hands. Brett and I have agreed that flour tortillas should be the next mission.

I do have to thank Selina (from Vegans Rock!!!) for helpfully dealing with my frantic text message inquiring as to whether my dough should have been as sticky as it was. Selina, you should change the name of your blog to Selina Rocks!!!

And now on to one of our favorite Asian meals in our "rotation", Veggie and Egg Fried Rice.















We originally got this recipe from Leng over at A Fat Cat Who Created A Vegetarian, and have since made it our own.

I love fried rice since you can throw in whatever veggies you have on hand.

To make this version of Veggie Fried Rice, we sautéed about a third of a head of red cabbage (not local, but purchased from the Root Cellar), 2 carrots peeled and chopped, one yellow onion, sliced thick (not local, but purchased from the Root Cellar), 1 head of broccoli florets, chopped, edamame, and green peas in canola oil in a very large skillet over high heat until the veggies begin to char. Then whisk together 2-4 tbsp shoyu (or other soy sauce), 2 tbsp of hot or sweet chili sauce (we use sweet chili sauce), and a pinch of black pepper. Add half to the veggies and stir constantly for about one minute. Add about 3 cups of day old, cooked long grain brown rice and the remainder of the sauce. Mix well.

We also added 2 local eggs to our veggie fried rice for some extra protein and brain food. To add the egg, scooch the rice and veggies to one side of the pan. Crack the eggs and scramble. Cook thoroughly and then combine the eggs, rice, and veggies.

It is a quick, yummy, one pan dish!















This is my bowl with the requisite big 'ol squirt of sriracha.

And for our lunches, we have been digging on lots of homemade hummus and falafel.















My favorite plain old garlicky hummus. The only thing that makes this better is a good couple of dashes of cayenne on top. I would rather have sumac, but I haven't found any in CoMo yet.















A yummy plate of baked falafel. I experimented a little this time and used dried cilantro flakes in place of the ground coriander and added a tablespoon of raw sesame seeds to the mixture. They turned out really, really well this time.

Well, Brett and I are taking a much needed night off together to do something we rarely do - sit in front of the "boob tube" all night. Seriously, I don't think there is anything that Brett and I need more right now than some serious snuggle time. We picked up some "reinforcements" for our evening: a locally made Uprise Bakery baguette, some garlic and herb Boursin cheese for Brett, some local Goatsbeard Farm herbed goat cheese for Brett, some super spicy cracked chili hummus for yours truly, and some olive tapenade for us to share. We've also got massive quantities of fruit waiting to be washed and cut. No dinner for us, just a night of munching - though our choice in snacks wasn't too bad.

We'll probably also work on making newspaper pots while we watch. Nothing likely double-duty, eh?

Tomorrow? Wednesday night is for the worms! We will be starting another working tray for them. We'll also (hopefully) be planting our second round of seeds! We've gathered all the needed materials, what has been missing of late is the time to actually do it. When we start more seeds, we'll also take pictures so I can do a garden update.

I apologize for the sporadic nature of my blog posts and comments on others' blogs, I've been really lazy with the computer lately, it has been the last thing on my mind.

Song of the Day:
Golden Pond - Chris Thile

'Til next time.

J&B Do Indian - Take 3: Whole Wheat Veggie Samosas and Garbanzo Bean, Cabbage, and Potato Curry

Over the weekend, since I wasn't able to get a loaf of ciabatta from Uprise for our usual soup and bread night (aka Saturday), I decided that it was the right time to try Indian food again. I've long been interested in Indian food as there is a lot of vegetarian fare and I understand it is spicy. However, our first two experiences with it were pretty bad.

I decided to try out a simple curry and veggie samosas. I've never seen an Indian samosa, I've only had Thai ones at a local restaurant, so I wasn't entirely sure what they were supposed to look like, hence why they are in many different shapes. I also decided to try out a curry as our main dish, as that is the type of Indian food I see most often around the blogosphere.

The verdict? The samosas were pretty good - the dipping sauce pictured below was horrible, so I won't bother with a recipe. I will say though, I like the Thai ones a lot better. And the curry - I think if you like Indian food, you would like this curry, but for us, it was just too strong. I know curries are normally served with rice or bread - which I imagine tones down some of the something that is so overpowering about the dish, but already having samosas too, I decided against pairing the curry with anything. In the end, I think we just don't really like Indian food. We were able to eat this meal and see the positive qualities it would have to someone who likes the combination of flavors used, but it just isn't for us. I love Thai food though, so I am interested in trying a Thai curry. We like spicy, but there is just a little too much flavor for either of us to handle.

Don't let that stop you from making these though, if you like Indian food, I think the curry would be very pleasing. And the samosas were really good, their filling was very flavorful, but not overwhelmingly so. I think I will make sure to have some sort of chutney or other dipping sauce that isn't icky next time I make samosas.















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Wheat Veggie Samosas
Makes about 12 samosas

Samosa dough:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp safflower oil
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
a pinch of salt
enough water to work dough

Combine ingredients in a bowl (I used my hands to get it all combined) and let rest for 30 minutes.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until very thin. Cut into 12 even portions (I used a sharp knife, a pizza cutter would work well too).

Filling:
4 small potatoes, boiled and drained +
1 carrot, peeled and chopped +
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced +
6 shiitake mushrooms, chopped +
1/2 cup peas + (not local but from a local store)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1 tbsp curry powder
pinch salt

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the carrot, jalapeno, mushrooms, onion, and garlic. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the peas and heat through. Drain any excess liquid.

Using a fork, mash the potatoes with the curry powder and salt. Stir in the rest of the veggies.

Spoon a tablespoon or more of the filling into each section of samosa dough. Apparently they are supposed to be triangular in shape, but I just rolled them up like eggrolls or burritos. Either way is fine.

In a large heavy pan, heat about 1/4-1/2 inch of safflower oil over medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes.

Carefully (I used tongs) place the samosas in the oil and fry for about 8-10 minutes and flip. Watch the other side, it doesn't normally take as long to get done. Drain on paper towels.

Garbanzo Bean, Cabbage, and Potato Curry
2 cups garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked
1/2 head cabbage, chopped +
4 small potatoes, cubed (I left the skin on) +
1 yellow onion, chopped +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1" ginger, minced
2 small tomatoes, chopped +
2 tbsp curry powder
dash salt and pepper
1/2 cup veggie broth

Heat a few tablespoons of water or safflower oil in a large skillet. Add the potatoes. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times.

Add the cabbage, onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Add the tomato, garbanzo beans, broth, and spices. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

I would recommend serving this with rice or naan.

I had also mentioned that I had planned on taking the weekend off from baking - well that kind of fell through. I am making baked goodie baskets for our families for the holidays and one of the recipients is allergic to caffeine and chocolate, so I needed to try out a couple of recipes for him. Not to mention, we had our holiday party yesterday, so I also had to bake another loaf of our Pumpkin-Walnut Bread. I've gotta tell ya, I am going to be very happy to be done with these. It has been fun, and improved my baking skill, but I've felt like I've spent the whole weekend working between baking multiple things a weekend and all the dishes that creates. I also haven't had time to play with many of the new dishes I've wanted to, and to be honest, there are times when I don't want to make dinner at all after baking and doing dishes for 10-12 hours. I am down to two recipes to test, and hopefully, if those go well, I will be able to take not this weekend, but the next, off of baking. Wahoo!

Needless to say, I had a couple of successes this weekend and will post about them later this week. I also made the time (though I was exhausted at the end of the day) to make a homemade enchilada sauce from scratch, which I will be using in a nice (easy!) dinner tonight.

'Til next time!

Homemade Baked Falafel with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Lizzy's Vegan Tzatziki

It feels really weird to do two posts in one day, but I am getting behind and don't want to get "backlogged". I wouldn't get used to as many food posts as you will see this week on a regular basis. I've had a long weekend and naturally I have done more in the kitchen.

I wish I could describe how good this meal was, so simple, nothing special, but a real treat nonetheless. It probably looks like I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, as there is a lot of stuff here, but I didn't. This is an easy meal, and pretty much everyone likes falafel.

I made some roasted red pepper hummus, as this is Brett's favorite kind (he got really excited when he found out I was making the hummus, I love seeing him happy like that!) to go with it, and now I'll have easy lunches when I go back to work Wednesday and there will be food here he likes enough that I can be confident he'll actually eat (I wonder how he survived before me...).

I also made Lizzy's Vegan Tzatziki. I love tzatziki, Brett loves tzatziki. That tangy cucumber-yogurt sauce is a wonderful compliment to Middle Eastern meals. The only problem, well most yogurt is dairy and for Jennifer that = very stuffy, snuffly, it's not pretty. The last time I had tzatziki (incidentally, I believe also the last time I intentionally had dairy), was when I was on vacation. Shortly after I enjoyed my delectable treat, I was standing in Union Station in Washington, DC sounding as if I had some sort of disgusting, very communicable disease. People were literally shying away from me, I couldn't help it! My nose was runny, I was coughing, sneezing, it was awful. Anyways, so I've always longed for a vegan version of the sauce, but have never been too much of a fan of any soy products or "replacements", so I thought it just wasn't going to happen. When I saw that Lizzy had made some tzatziki using soy yogurt, and said it was good, I knew she wouldn't let me down, so took down the recipe. This weekend, I got some soy yogurt, some local cucumber, and made her tzatziki. I am very serious when I tell you I could not tell the difference. It was amazing, and so simple. Thank you so much Lizzy, you have livened this meal like you wouldn't believe!

This was also my first time making falafel from scratch. I've been finding out lately that many of these culinary things I have been intimidated by are not really anything to be scared of, they aren't as hard as we make them seem in our minds. This was no exception. I just kind of went with what I learned via Brett from a cool dude from Jordan he used to work with, what I've had, and what I found online.

Enough yammering, here are the pictures and the recipes. And I seriously, strongly urge you all to try Lizzy's Tzatziki, it was really good.















Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
3-4 cups of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked*
1/2 cup water*
1 large fresh red bell pepper, roasted and stem removed (trust me, fresh is better)
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tbsp good olive oil (optional, but recommended)
cumin (to taste)
salt (to taste)
cayenne pepper (optional, to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, adding water until hummus has reached desired consistency.

Refrigerate for about an hour to allow flavors to meld.

*If cooking beans from dried, reserve about 1/2 cup of the bean cooking liquid.















Falafel batter.

Basic Baked Falafel
1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas), soaked in water for 12-24 hours, drained
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp good olive oil
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
cumin
ground coriander
parsley (fresh is best, just a little bit)
cayenne pepper (seriously, I put this stuff in everything)
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until blended and of a fine grain.

Lightly oil a baking sheet (or line with parchment paper).

Form falafel into golf ball sized balls and lightly flatten out.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking time.



















With the falafel, hummus, and tzatziki, we also had fresh local lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber slices, whole wheat pita bread, kalamata olives, and pickled peppers.

'Til next time.

Dr. Kathy's Cupcakes and J's Perfect Lunch

So this should come as no surprise but I hate the dentist. To a fault. You see, I have a tendency to avoid going to the dentist until the problem gets really bad, and I have no excuse (though I will try to come up with many). Case in point, about 6 months ago, I noticed that I was getting a cavity in one of my back teeth. Well, I decided I would just ignore it, pretty much. Let's just say, that over the past few months it has really started to bother me, so I finally decided to set up an appointment. Over the weekend, my tooth decided it was going to start really giving me trouble. The pain was off and on until Sunday, then it was pretty much on all the time. It was so bad that I couldn't sleep last night, so I ended up staying home from work in hopes of getting some sleep and maybe getting in to see the dentist sooner. I got some sleep, but the dentist situation isn't looking very good. What I can say though, is Brett (so sweetly) got up around 4 in the morning with me, when my pain was really intense, and put a cold pack in the freezer. Thanks to that, I am experiencing a reprieve from the pain, and I was able to sleep. I think I'm also going to get some Advil or something, I hate taking medicine, but I think I'll just deal with it at this point.

Anyways, woe is me, right? Well, don't feel too bad for me, I've known this was an issue for awhile, I have dental insurance, I've had the money to pay for it, I have sick time and an understanding employer, I just put it off because going to the dentist sucks and it's always painful.

You know what I don't understand either? It doesn't hurt when I eat, or anything like that, it's just an aching in my jaw. Argh! Dumb teeth!

Anywho, enough of my complaining. A positive aspect of this is that I can catch up on my blogging! I got a bit behind this weekend, as I was busy in the garden and such.

I'll start with the baked goods. A dear friend and co-worker of mine, Kathy, recently successfully defended her dissertation and is now officially Dr. Kathy! (Congrats again Kathy, I am so proud of you!) Well, of course I had to do what any good vegan does: bake for her! I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Who doesn't like chocolate on chocolate?

A couple of notes: these are not healthy. I generally use less or no oil in my recipes, but find that when I feed vegan goodies to omni's I like to make things really decadent, it makes us look better. :-) So this is an oil laden recipe, but I did use whole wheat pastry flour.

I also attempted to make my own chocolate frosting. It must be an art, it seemed like all was going well, and the next thing I know I have something resembling a marshmallow. So I took Bianca's tip and got store bought 'accidently vegan' (but really unhealthy) chocolate frosting. Thanks Bianca!

This picture is obviously sans frosting.

Dr. Kathy's Chocolate Cupcakes

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups organic raw sugar

6 heaping tbsp unsweetened organic cocoa powder (I used Green & Black's)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup vegetable oil (eeek!)

2 tbsp white distilled vinegar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Slowly add in the oil, vinegar, vanilla and water and stir until smooth.

Fill muffin cups (or an oiled muffin tin) 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when cupcakes pierced in the middle.

They turned out really good, and I had to leave some at home for Brett, but apparently what I left him wasn't enough as I had to make another batch this weekend. Brett is weird with chocolate, I think he and Katie (the Chocolate Covered Vegan) would get along just fine.

Next we have what is a very common 'Jen Lunch' over the summer. Hummus, veggies, pita, etc. The type of hummus and veggies change but the general idea is the same. What is pictured below is my lunch packed into my Zojirushi lunch jar. I really like that thing.

It's classic hummus (with extra cayenne pepper on top), pitted organic kalamata olives, pickled hot peppers :-), organic 'baby' carrots, sliced organic red bell peppers and organic broccoli, and whole wheat organic pita bread (called 'Bible Bread'). This makes for an awesome lunch.

J&B's Classic Hummus

Makes about 4 cups of hummus.

4 cups of garbanzo beans cooked

1 clove garlic, minced

juice of one lemon

1-2 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon olive oil

cumin to taste

cayenne pepper to taste

salt to taste

water for consistency (bean cooking water if possible)

In a food processor combine ingredients until desired flavor and consistency.

Well, I've got one more post and then I'll be caught up!