Saag Tofu

Tonight the omnivore and I are making vegan Indian dinner for his parents. His mom is in charge of bread, and I've already been informed that there is one egg in the naan she's making, about which my omnivore said "it's just one egg in the whole batch, that's barely any in each individual naan piece..." Grrr.

My dish is saag paneer (tofu), which I made vegan/vaguely followed from an epicurious recipe

Saag tofu

3 large bunches of fresh spinach (I'm sure you can use frozen too)
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves diced
1 jalapeno diced
2-3 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I didn't have ginger or nutmeg so this was the closest I could get)
2 tbsp water
1/2 a brick of tofu, cubed small after pressing
2 tbsp veggie oil or earth balance
1/2 cup or so of canned coconut milk (though if I could do it over, I would make my own cashew cream)
1/2 container of single serving plain soy yogurt
salt to taste

Tofu:
1. Boil salted water.
2. Once boiling, add the cubed tofu and turn off heat.
3. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
4. Drain and set aside

Spinach
1. Separate the leaves and the stems, wash leaves well.
2. Wilt the spinach in a pan.
3. Place wilted spinach on a cutting board and chop finely.
4. Leave to cool, after which the spinach must be drained

Everything else:
1. Saute diced onions and garlic in oil.
2. Add spices and water.
3. Simmer for 5ish minutes
4. Remove onto cutting board and chop as finely as you can (or if you have a food processor handy, use that)
5. Add the spinach to the garlic-onion paste in the frying pan, and add coconut milk and tofu.
6. simmer for 5 minutes
7. Add yogurt
8. Salt and respice to taste (be careful!)

let it simmer until ready to serve.

The Omnivore made dahl.

It should all be tasty.

- Hanna

Bad vegan!!!

I'm back! and I must confess that I've been a TERRIBLE vegan. In late August I moved to Washington DC where I'll be continuing my dissertation research at the NIH, and for some reason, I'm finding it uber difficult to be vegan here. The holidays only worsened the problem because I decided not to be a pain in the ass and I basically ate anything that people put in front of me (I stayed vegetarian though). I ate mashed potatoes with cream and butter, gnocchi and gorgonzola (a personal favorite of mine), cheese enchiladas, ricotta tart, pirogis with sour cream (I don't like tofutti), and basically as much cheese as I could down. As a consequence, I've gained almost 20 pounds and I don't fit my pants any more. The holidays are over now, and because I feel like shit, I've decided that I should get back to my healthy vegan lifestyle. I've done really well for the last 3 days since returning from holiday vacation, and I expect to do well from now on. My partner seems to be on board, and I've asked him not to offer me food that isn't vegan because if I wasn't offered it I probably wouldn't have the impulse to say yes. It's really tough being vegan and dating an omnivore. I've also decided to stockpile healthy vegan snacks at work because there aren't many healthy or vegan options from the convenience store at the NIH even though the place is supposed to be dedicated to health! I bought larabars, walnuts, sesame sticks and carob and spirulina chunks, which should keep me well nourished. Here's hoping I can stick with it because I really do feel healthier and happier when I eat thoughtfully.

This week, I'll be posting about the following items from my vegan menu:
Enchiladas with roast veggies
Latkes
Saag paneer and dahl
and more...

Best Pancakes EVER!!

I had a hankerin for some delicious pancakes and I've trying to find a way to use my coconut oil. I did a search online for pancakes and I looked in Vegan Brunch, and came up with the following recipe which is kind of a combination of those I saw.

Pancakes-

1 cup all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp maple syrup.

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Combine wet ingredients and then add them to the dry.
3. Mix well, try to eliminate clumps.
4. In a heated skillet, spoon out about 1/4 cup of batter.
5. Once you see tons of bubbles and it seems cooked.
6. Enjoy!!

cooking up a storn: zucchini curry pasta, lemon poppy seed muffins and other favorites

My mom is here to visit! Which has given me the perfect opportunity to cook! So far I've made quesadillas, zucchini curry pasta and lemon poppy seed muffins. The zucchini curry pasta is a veganization of a dish that my host mother in Florence had made.

Zucchini curry pasta-
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 big clove of garlic, crushed and diced
1 zucchini sliced thin and chopped into quarters
1/4-1/2 cup coconut milk (in a can)
200-300 grams of penne pasta
2-5 tsp curry powder

Heat the oil over medium, and saute the garlic, then add the zucchini. At the same time boil well salted water, and add the penne to the boiling water. Once the zucchini are close to being completely cooked, add the coconut milk and the curry powder. Stir well for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down on the zuchs until the penne is done. After draining the pasta, add it to the curry and turn up the heat briefly while mixing the pasta in. Turn off the heat and serve!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (from Vegan Brunch)-
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup vegan milk of some type
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients together, then make a hole in the middle and add the wet ingredients in the middle. Stir together. Fill muffin tins and bake for 23-27 minutes.

pierogies!

Yesterday I once again had a crazy craving for pierogies, and thanks to my vegan friend Nicole's awesome blog, I was given the means and the drive to make them. As soon as I saw how easy it could be, I headed over to Whole Foods where I purchased potatoes, apple sauce, vegan sour cream, which were the only three ingredients I lacked. I couldn't find the wrappers that Nicole used, so I had to make my own dough which was modified from epicurious. I used too big of a template to cut the dough and mine were huge, but they were really delicious. I'll try to post a picture later today.

Pierogies!

Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1 cup water
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 2 tbsp warm water)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt

Put flour in a large shallow bowl and make a well in center. In a separate bowl, beat water, egg, oil, and salt. Pour mix into the center of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon, gradually incorporating flour, until a soft dough forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting with flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes (dough will be very soft). Invert a bowl over dough and let stand at room temperature ~1 hour.


Filling:

1.5 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup margarine
2-3 Tbsp. soymilkttt
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp. pepper, or to taste


Peel and chop the potatoes. Bring a pot of water to boil and boil potatoes until they can easily be pierced with a fork. While they are boiling, saute chopped onion with margarine, be careful not to burn. When potatoes are done, drain the water from the saucepan, add the sauteed onion, with the margarine and all liquid in the pan, to the potatoes. Add the soymilk, salt and pepper and mash.

Roll dough out until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Use a cup with a small opening or another small round object to cut out circles. Roll each of those circles out until they are reasonably thin. You want to shoot for a 3-4 inch diameter circle.

Fill a small bowl with warm water. To make the pierogies, lay out one dough circle, add a heaping spoonfull of your filling of choice. Wet your fingers with the warm water and use them to wet the inside edges of the dough. Fold the dough over to make a half-moon shape and press down with a fork or fingers to seal. Repeat until all the dough is used up. You can freeze the extras.

In a large sauce pan bring water to a rolling boil. Carefully lower about 6 pierogies at a time into the water and boil until they float, about 3 minutes. When done, dry them briefly and then fry them quickly in canola oil so they brown on the outside.

Voila






Oh, and BTW, we're back together.

final product

cutting my hair

It's time for a change. I'm getting it professionally cut on Tuesday, but I did this today so that I'd HAVE to go through with it on Tuesday.