Spanakopita

Last night I made spanakopita for dinners. Something delicious.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 package (16oz) chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1/2 package of drained and pressed firm tofu.
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
Filo dough (thawed well in advance)
1 cup margarine, melted

1. Begin by sauteing onions and garlic.
2. Add parlsey, saute another minute
3. Add spinach, and lower temperature.
4. While spinach is cooking, crumble tofu by pressing it with a fork.
5. Add salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast to the tofu.
6. Turn off heat to spinach and mix in the tofu mixture. preheat oven to 400F
7. in a casserole dish, place the first sheet of filo dough, brush on margarine, repeat for 3 layers.
8. Add half of the spinach mixture.
9. Add three more layers of filo dough/margarine.
10. add the rest of the spinach mixture.
11. Add final 3 layers of filo dough/margarine.
12. Cook for ~20 minutes or until filo dough is golden and crispy.

Ratatouille

I'm leaving for a conference in San Diego on Friday and it's cold, so I needed to make something that used all the vegetables in the world. I think I might bring my kale with me because I might not have anything else to eat for 5 days.

Tonight I made the french peasant dish mmm. From "Vegetarian" by Linda Fraser

1 eggplant, roughly chopped
2 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 sliced onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1 sprig of rosemary
1/2 tsp coriander
2 skinned plum tomatoes
4 basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

1. Sweat the eggplant and zucchini for 30 minutes (put a lot of salt on them in a colander covered with a plate).
2. Saute the onions in the oil for 6-7 min and add garlic.
3. Rinse the salt off of the eggplant and zucchini and pat them dry, add them to the pot and increase heat for a while.
4. Add coriander and rosemary, cover, simmer for 40 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and salt. Cook for 10 more minutes, add the basil and turn off heat.
6. After a few minutes of cooling, enjoy!

cheese is gross.

Cheese is so bad for you. Don't be fooled by advertisers/governments who tell you to eat it! Dr. Fuhrman knows where it's at.

Every now and then I wonder if I'd still like cheese if I ate it. I'm not sure I would. I've gotten to the point where vegan stuff tastes normal to me, and I can't really imagine eating something as fatty and carcinogenic as dairy (this link too). When I hear the name of a cheese I used to love, I definitely remember it as being delicious, but I very seriously question whether I could consume it again.

Dinner tonight: PIZZA!!!

1 purchased Pizza dough- whole wheat from whole foods
1/2 cup tomato pulp or stewed diced tomatoes
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
3 cloves of garlic diced
1/2 a small onion diced
2 cups chopped mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
1 bunch of spinach
salt, pepper, dried chili flakes
some flour for dusting work space

Preheat oven to 400. Roll out dough to your preferred thickness and put it in the oven to do a little precooking (crust takes longer to cook than veggies do). Saute the garlic and mushrooms together and then add the spinach to wilt it a little. Take dough out of oven. Spread tomato pulp across the crust, sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili pepper flakes. Cover with nutritional yeast, then add veggies evenly across surface. Bake for 20 minutes?

This morning I made oatmeal blueberry pancakes for me and Adrian.
Pancakes
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup soy milk
2.5 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together the dry then add the wet. Pour onto preheated skillet. Serve with Earth Balance and maple syrup.

detox

My body feels really gross here lately, and I've realized that I've been eating a lot of bread products and fewer green leafies. So for the next few days I'm committing myself to eating like a good vegan. That means beans and greens. Tonight I'm having refried beans and red chard. Nothing fancy, but healthy and yummy on this cold night. It's kind of silly to post the recipe, but in case anyone wants to know what I do to my beans, here goes.

Beans-
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 can of refried beans
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet and saute the onions and garlic. In a bowl, blend water and beans. Once onions are translucent, add the beans and more water if they are too thick. Stir in onions until fully incorporated. turn heat way down and allow them to heat on low.

I left the beans to cook on low while I sauteed the chard in a separate skillet. I like to eat them together.

Sweet potato and black bean quesadillas

Tonight for dinner, I'm making these.

1 baked sweet potato, peeled (Eat the peel as a snack while you cook!! It's good for you!!) and cubed
15-16 oz of cooked black beans (1 can)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tbsp water
6 large tortillas (I used half the recipe)

Heat oil in skillet. Saute onions, 3 min. Add coriander and garlic, 1 min. Add cumin and water, 2 min. Add sweet potato 1 min. Add the black beans, cook until warm. Mash a bit to your liking.

Place a bit of the mixture on half of a tortilla and fold the other half over. Cook in a skillet with heated earth balance. I highly recommend serving with salsa and avocado. These are seriously delicious!!!

how it goes

I've been very unproductive because of the stress of the end of last week. I feel foolish for reacting poorly to everything, but I can't help it if every little thing seems like the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen. I can't help it if I'm always on the verge of tears even over things like having to get lunch or my bangs not drying right. It all seems insurmountable, even if I do always seem to surmount it. It's the same as always though, which I'm now pretty used to, so at least I know that I can let this run its course and I'll be able to deal in a little while. I'm doing what I have to to refresh my coping skills and that's really all I can ask of myself. I went to yoga yesterday, which was important. I had a hard time recognizing and stopping my internal chatter, but I did my best and I felt more relaxed afterward. I had stir fry last night, and tonight I went for comfort food and had vegan mac and cheese which I got from my friend Abby's blog. It was delicious and just what I wanted.

Stir fry (adapted from Veganomicon)

1-2 tbsp peanut oil (olive oil works too)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 a bunch of collard greens or 1 whole bok choy (I prefer collards), sliced in ribbons 1-2 inches thick
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, sliced and then slices cut in half
1 portabella mushroom or some baby bellas, sliced
1 stalk of broccoli, chopped
a splash of apple cider vinegar
a splash of tamari
buckwheat soba noodles

Start by beginning to cook the soba noodles.
In a skillet heat the oil and garlic. After a minute or so add the broccoli. Cook for 2 minutes or so (I like my veggies really raw). Add bell pepper and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are almost soft (2 min?). Add greens, cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the tamari and vinegar, stir 1 minute. Add cooked soba noodles, stir 1 minute. enjoy.

Mac and Cheese from Good to Think and Eat with a few changes

2 tablespoons earth balance

1/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tiny pinch turmuric

cayenne pepper

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

2-3 cup cooked macaroni
1/2 cup bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt butter or margarine in a small oven-proof skillet.

3. Whisk in flour and let it darken to a golden brown.

4. Add 1 cup water, soy sauce, garlic, turmeric, and cayenne pepper to taste. Continue whisking.

5. Add nutritional yeast and more water if necessary. You want the mixture to be a thick but saucy consistency.

6. Add macaroni. Toss to coat with the sauce.

7. Sprinkle bread crumbs and cayenne pepper on top. Bake for 10 minutes.

8. Broil for a few minutes so the top gets crunchy and delicious.

joys and concerns

This week went much better than last week. I've reminded myself that I'm capable of breathing and I was sooo busy that I didn't have time to fret. It was pretty crazy. Needless to say, I got it all done cause as all Smithies know 'done is better than good'. So Friday evening Meg came to visit from Northampton, which I am sooo happy about. We had Thai for dinner, went to the GCB then went to Steve's house. Saturday morning was a hard morning, but to help us get through it I made pancakes and vegan scramble. We went shopping and Meg found more j-brands for me at TJ Maxx, which was awesome. For dinner, we made soft tacos with homemade tortillas.

Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom or cinnamon
1 cup soy milk
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together the dry then add the wet. Pour onto preheated skillet. Serve with Earth Balance and maple syrup.

Vegan Scramble
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion (1/2 of a white onion or 1 smallish yellow onion)
1/2 package of tofu (drained, pressed and chopped into small cubes)
1/2 tsp tumeric
chopped veggies- bell peppers, mushrooms, eggplant(must be sweated first)
salt and pepper to taste
red chili flakes (optional)

Heat oil over medium heat and saute onions. Add tofu, tumeric and eggplant, if using. Cook for ~20 min. Add chopped peppers, mushrooms, salt, pepper and chili flakes, if using. Cook until mushrooms and peppers are fully cooked ~10 min).


Soft Tacos (enough food for 3 people)

Tortillas (makes 12)
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
5 tbsp vegetable shortening
3/4 cup warm water with 3/4 tsp salt

With your hands, incorporate the vegetable shortening into the flour until it looks a bit like corn meal. Add 1/2 cup of warm water and mix. Add more water as needed until dough contains most of the flour. The dough should not be sticky wet. kneed the mixture. Split into 12 portions making 12 balls. Cover and let sit for ~30 min. Roll out each ball with a rolling pin, stack them, putting a little bit of flour on each one so they don't stick together. Heat ungreased skillet. Cook each tortilla on both sides (they should bubble a little)

Beans
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cans of black beans, drained
1 tbsp spicy taco seasoning mix (from whole foods)
1/2 tsp salt
water

Heat olive oil in a skillet, add black beans. Mash the black beans to a consistency that you like. I like them a bit more mashy because they don't fall out of your taco/burrito, while Meg enjoys more whole beans for textural reasons. Add the seasoning mix and maybe a little water depending on how dense it is.

Putting the Tacos Together
Tortillas
Beans
2 tomatoes chopped
2 avocados sliced
1 diced onion
arugula or other lettuce like green
salsa
salt

On an open tortilla put beans down the middle, add tomatoes, avocados, onion, arugula and salsa as desired. Add salt if needed. Fold end of tortilla up over beans, then fold sides to each other. Enjoy!