New Week, New Job, New Food!

There are a few things I haven't really mentioned on here. First, I quit my job. Second, I got a new one. I know a lot of you were with me for my student teaching earlier this year, and I was really stressed out. I started a job with a very large school district here, and it just wasn't working for me. I think I cried every day except Fridays and Saturdays. So I quit.

Today I am starting a new job at a vet's office. I am really looking forward to it. The best part is that I don't have to do hours of planning at home, so I had plenty of time to get everything ready for this week regarding food. Of course, food is the first thing that pops into my mind when I have any kind of free time.

Sundays now, are spent planning meals, food shopping and cooking. All through the week when I find something I want to make, I put it on the "Dinner Ideas" list, and then add the ingredients to the list. By Sunday, I maybe have one meal to add, and we are ready to go. After hitting Trader Joe's (we are addicted to their granola, aka crack in a box) and Wegmans, I headed back for a nice afternoon of cooking my little heart out.

First up is a batch of seitan, same as I made last week. I had dinner plans, but I really wanted to bake something. I poured through my many cookbooks and ended up on the computer going through Sweet Freedom. I love this cookbook, but I've only made a few things because many of the recipes include things that I should have on hand...but don't. Like agave. I ran out a few months ago and didn't buy it again. There is a lot of agave. Anyway, I settled on a delicious Raisin Tea Bread. Named not because it is to be eaten with tea (which was what I thought), but because there is actually tea as part of the liquid in it. Sweetened lightly with maple syrup and made with whole grain spelt, this baked up beautifully, with a nice crunch to the exterior, but a light and moist interior.

I used Chai Tea, which was intensified by the warm spices added to the bread.

After that, we watched a movie and I have to say that our recent movie rentals have been dismal. One of them we didn't even finish, and the other two...if I had my way, we wouldn't have. Nick said, that's what you get when you get your movies from a vending machine (Redbox), but I really think we just chose poorly.

Dinner was Breakfast. Or the other way around. I wanted to try Bianca's Breakfast Casserole, and I knew I would never actually get around to making it for breakfast. Her recipe calls for the use of any cheesy sauce recipe, and I doubled this recipe, from Fat Free Vegan's Eggplant Parmesan, which was one of the first posts I made on here, actually.

It came out delicious; yummy pieces of soaked bread, chunks of scrambled tofu, and bites of smoky sausage. I used Yves breakfast sausage, and I added garlic and onion to the scramble. Next time I think I will add some greenery to it, maybe mix in some peppers, or spinach.

Of course, it was only natural to follow this up with something else breakfast-y, the Tea Bread! With some vegan cream cheese slathered on, this was the perfect end to my day of food.

How do you go about planning your meals for the week? Do you just play it by ear with what's in the fridge? Go shopping every other day? Plan everything in advance and hope it all works out?

Hope everyone has a fantastic week! I hope to see you back here fairly often since, as my job doesn't start until 11, I will have plenty of blogging time!

Pear Berry-Jam Muffins

I know that fall is synonymous with apples, but pears are really the fruit that has always done it for me. Since they aren't grown locally, their season is sort of muddled, but now is when they're on sale, and now is when Trader Joe's sells a 1/2 peck of them for a few dollars. That, in my pear-loving book, is a deal.

I mostly like my pears unadulterated. Yes, a baked pear is nice, and they could be a nice addition to a salad, but for the most part, I just bite right in.

For this particular 1/2 peck of pears, I made an exception, and modified the Jam-Filled Oat Bran Muffins in Joy of Vegan Baking to include some of these perfectly ripened pieces of fruit.

Pear Berry-Jam Muffins (modified from JoVB)

2 Tbsp ground flaxseed

6 Tbsp water

2 cups oat bran

1 cup spelt flour (could sub any other flour, AP or WW, etc)

1/2 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk

1/3 cup sunflower oil (use any light oil)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pears

1/2 cup blackberry preserves

I've been on a Trader Joe's 'kick' recently (I love the Chili-Lime cashews), and have been buying more and more stuff from them. One of my recent purchases was of my most favorite kind of jelly/jam/preserve, blackberry.

The fact that its low(er) in sugar makes it even better. The lack of sugar is definitely noticeable, but it actually lets the taste of the blackberry peek through a little more. I felt this would pair with my pears perfectly; the deep purple next to the light green is a beautiful contrast, plus...it tastes good.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Whip the flaxseed and water to make your "flax egg" (I like to use a mini-food processor or my Magic Bullet for this job)

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients (even the sugar!): flour, oat bran, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt.

In a small bowl combine the wet: milk, vanilla, oil, flax "egg" mixture.

Stir the pears into the wet mixture, then combine wet with dry, stirring until just combined.

Take out your muffin tins and either grease or apply muffin cups.

Fill cups halfway with muffin batter.

Using a 1/2 tsp, scoop out a dollop of jam (about 1 tsp).

Nestle the jam in the batter, then cover the jam with another spoonful of batter.

Bake 15-20 minutes. I took mine out around 18 minutes.

These came out completely perfectly. Little chunks of pear in a muffin that is warm with whole grain nuttiness from the oat bran, and then the jam...who doesn't like something filled with jam?

If you want to get crazy, these probably wouldn't mind being highlighted with some walnuts too, nuts in muffins just aren't my thing.

I made a half batch of these, and I came out with about 9 muffins. So plan for 16-18.

Nutrition Information: 158.7 Calories; 5.5g Total Fat; 0.5g Saturated Fat; 0.0mg Cholesterol; 24.2g Carbohydrates; 3.5g Fiber; 3.4g Protein.

If anyone is wondering about the sporadic-ness of the nutrition information, that is because while I don't count calories, I liked to calculate in the past to highlight how healthy vegan food is. I don't necessarily have the time for that now, but if I do have time, or if I'm curious myself (as I was for these), I'll post it! And if there is anything where I don't post it, and YOU are curious, let me know, I'd be more than happy to calculate for you!

One last thing...Bianca posted about this the other day, and while I assume I must be the last to know, maybe this will light up someone else's life as it did mine...

Skittles are vegan! This makes me incredibly happy, as they were always one of my favorites (back in high school, I logged onto their website everyday at work to vote to keep the green lime, and not apple). If you buy a pack now, you'll see under the ingredients that they are Gluten Free and Gelatin Free. Pretty cool. Healthy? No. Fake fruit flavored sugary goodness? Yes. Granted, they're a "once in awhile" food, but its nice to know they're there, and they're animal-free.

Enjoy the rest of your Columbus Day weekend! Hopefully you have some festivals to go to, fall is in full swing!

Perfect Cookie

I take my cookies pretty seriously. While it is hard to have a bad one, some are definitely better than others.

Well, I couldn’t sleep the other night, and without even looking for it, I stumbled upon the simplest vegan cookie recipe I have ever seen. No vegan substitutes, just regular ingredients, that somehow make my perfect cookie.

Now, I know that people have differing opinions on cookies. However, I like mine crunchy. If I wanted something cakey, I would eat cake. I like them light, airy, and crunchy on the outside, with just enough chewiness too. A tall order. To have such perfection come from such a stupidly simple recipe was amazing.

To give credit where credit is due, I didn’t come up with this recipe. You

can find the original here. I’ve read a lot of reviews on it though. Other people have said that theirs didn’t spread at all. Mine definitely did. I suspect because I didn't use raw sugar? I'm not quite s But I like a cookie that spreads. I had been trying to make a cookie spread like this all last weekend.

I only changed the recipe slightly, and made two different cookies.

First, I made some Snicker Doodles

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light oil (I used sunflower)

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp sugar

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl mix the oil, vanilla, and sugar. Combine wet and dry.

For Snicker Doodles, I took a Tbsp of dough, rolled one side in a mix of 2 Tbsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp sugar, then flattened them to about 1/4 inch and slapped them on a baking mat. These have plenty of oil in them, so I don’t think you need a baking mat, or even a greased cookie sheet, but my regular baking sheet was in the freezer, and the thing I was using had holes in it...not ideal for cookies.

Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. It should make about 2 dozen cookies.

Cookie perfection, I’m telling you. Give them a minute to cool before taking them off and just be happy. If you’re as happy as me, maybe you’ll make some more.

I made some more. Second came Tropical Orange cookies. This time I used only spelt flour, used orange extract instead of vanilla, and rolled them in unsweetened coconut prior to flattening.

That’s really all I can say about these. Awesome. Perfect. Go eat some now. That’s all I’ve got. Enjoy.

Vegan Challenge: The Workout

On Wednesday I talked about my husband's foray into veganism for the next 30 days.  So here is the second half of his vegan challenge.  Not only eating vegan, but lifting and maintaining an active lifestyle as a vegan. 

When my husband and I were living in Hawaii together, we went to the gym together.  A lot.  I was really stressed out during my last student teaching experience, so I cut out the lifting and stuck mainly to yoga.   

Last night was my first night back to some serious lifting, and while it went well, I definitely am noticing that yoga did much more for my upper body than my lower body.  My arms, back, and chest are still fairly strong, but my legs were getting spasmatic after two sets of deadlifts.  

My husband however, was lifting more than ever while he was in Iraq, so I let him choose this workout plan.  I don't necessarily love it, but I definitely missed lifting, so its good to be back at it.  Plus, I get to pick the next program...heheh.  It will probably be something equally as complicated as the 5-7-9 program I made awhile back.  

Since his is simple, it should be much easier to follow.  The idea was to do the exact same workout three times a week.  Well, I got him to change that at least a little bit.  There are going to be two rotating workouts, and while the big lifts will change a little, the smaller lifts will be staying the same:

Workout 1:  

Deadlift 5x5

Barbell Bench Press 5x5

Dumbbell Military Press 5x5

----------

Pullups 4x8

Dips 4x8

Barbell Curls 4x8

Workout 2:

Back Squats 5x5

Dumbbell Bench Press 5x5

Barbell Seated Shoulder Press 5x5

----------

Pullups 4x8

Dips 4x8

Crunches 4x8

If you knew my workouts well, you would see my obvious influence on this program.  Since you don't, I will tell you.  First, I refuse to do anything more than 8 reps, I get incredibly bored and antsy.  Second, the way it is split into two parts, with the bigger lifts first, and the smaller lifts second...very "me".  As is the way there are fewer, but longer, sets for the second half.  What can I say, he asked my opinion.  

Post workout last night was dinner.  I let him pick something out of The Vegan Table, and he chose the Pan-Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Herb Infused Marinade.  What a mouthful.  These were possibly some of the best portobello mushrooms I've ever had.  I know it seems so simple, and to a degree it is, but the marinade was totally delicious, and the way they were cooked made it really soak in and just taste awesome.  

We had the mushrooms with roasted asparagus and mashed cauliflower (hummus is a good addition to this, if you were wondering).  

You'll have to excuse the lighting in our apartment for awhile.  I still need to play with it to find the best place, but I didn't want my food to get cold!   

He's got what I think will be some of his biggest challenges coming up this weekend.  Tomorrow we are having a BBQ at my aunt's house with some family that is in from Italy.  He'll have food to eat, no doubt, but I think it'll be hard for him to watch everyone else eating meat.  On Sunday we're going to visit his family.  It should be fine, they're really open to my being vegan, but I still think its going to be a challenge for him...but that was what he wanted, right??

Carrot Cake for Breakfast

Its breakfast time here.  I have some time before I need to leave today, and I am eagerly awaiting my drive to school because I can't wait to eat this morning.  

I've made breakfast cookies before (check out the Banana Walnut variation too), but these are extra special...Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies!  It took a few tries to get them right and they are so. freaking. good.  Perfectly amount of spice, not too sweet, with that irresistible cream cheese icing slathered on top of them...perfect.  Plus, who doesn't like cake for breakfast? 

Of course, they have to follow my breakfast rules:  high in protein, high in fat, and won't crumble or get frosting on my pocket.  Such a delicious cookie does exist. 

Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies

15 baby carrots, shredded (food processor gets that done quick)

1/2 cup pecan halves (or walnuts)

1/2 cup flax meal

1/4 cup raisins

1 cup protein powder

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp maple syrup

3 tbsp agave nectar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp salt 

2-4 tbps water (until you get desired texture, I think I used 2)

4 tbsp trans fat free Tofutti

1 tbsp agave nectar

Easy as anything.  Melt the coconut oil and mix it with all wet ingredients, adding only two tbsp of water.  Mix together the carrots and all the dry ingredients.  Add the wet to the dry.  If more water is needed, add now.  Form into 8 cookies.  They will be fairly large.  

Mix the tofutti with the remaining tbsp of agave nectar until smooth.  Dollop 1/2 tsp of frosting on each cookie, and spread out to "frost" it.  Your best bet now is to put them on a cookie sheet or cutting board and let them sit in the refrigerator overnight.  

Thats it.  Very easy, very tasty, very filling (keeps me going for four hours), very good for breakfast.  

Serves 4

Nutrition Information:  550 Calories;  26.0g Total Fat;  8.2g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  60.6g Carbohydrates;  10.4g Fiber;  25.8g Protein.  

Enjoy the day everyone!

Geek Love

Its almost Valentine's Day right?  One of my students asked me yesterday if I am excited for it.  I am not.  But, I figured its still worth showing someone some love right?  

Well, I am choosing to show some serious love for the Geek Squad, who came and fixed our wireless today!  I wasn't here while he did it, and I hear he gave me some flak for having a Mac, but...well he's a geek.  

I have a short post for today, and it is the last recipe that I tested for Robin Robertson's upcoming book, Vegan on the Cheap.  This is Chutney on the Cheap, and it came out pretty yummy.  

This is going to sound silly but...what do you eat chutney with?  I had it on some roasted portabella mushrooms, but I've actually never had chutney before so I wasn't totally sure.  That being said, I know exactly what I am using the rest of it for, but methinks that deserves another post.

Serves 8 (2 tbsp per serving)

Nutrition Information:  91.3 Calories;  1.9g Total Fat;  0.1g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  19.9g Carbohydrates;  1.0g Fiber;  0.7g Protein.  

This was not something I would have normally made, but it was really good, and had the perfect spicy kick to it.

Randomness for the day.  When I went on my mentor teacher's computer this afternoon, he had a window from the New York Times open entitled: Really? - The Claim:  Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold.  It wasn't an extremely compelling arguement for me, but with everyone (but me!) in my house sick, and kids being absent left and right, I thought it was interesting.  Any opinions?  Anyone a non-nose-blower?

Okay, I have a bunch of other stuff I *could* talk about, but I am determined to actually make this post short (I'm not sure why, I just am).

With all that being said, I hope that none of YOU are sick, and that you are having a fabulous week!          

Flashback to a Favorite

My mom is the cookie lady.  She makes about 15 different kinds of cookies for Christmas every year.  She doesn't like to cook, but she is the baking queen.  So how could I not grow up with a favorite cookie?  Of course I did.  

Enter the Oatmeal Scotchie.  I don't know how long its been, but this cookie and I have had quite a long relationship.  It was the first cookie I made myself, it was the cookie my mom sent to me in college, it was the first cookie I made after I got married.  Oh Oatmeal Scotchie, how I have loved thee.  Needless to say, Oatmeal Scotchie has been pretty pissed at me since I went vegan.  I completely ignored it over the Christmas season.  Was I too good for good old Oatmeal Scotchie?  Never!  In all truthfulness, I had intentions of veganizing Oatmeal Scotchie so that I could indulge in Christmas cookies like everyone else, but time slipped away from me.  

Wait, I keep talking about busy I am...how could I come up with enough time to recreate Oatmeal Scotchie today?  If you live in the Northeast, you probably already know the answer to that....snow day!  

So the Oatmeal Scotchie was overhauled...okay, tweaked, to become vegan, wheat-free, light, crispy, crunchy, and, as it will remain forever, my favorite.  

Vegan Oatmeal Scotchies  

If you can't find vegan butterscotch chips, you could use peanut butter chips, or white chocolate chips, or even dried fruit, I don't think chocolate or carob would really work.  I used both vegan butterscotch chips, from Price Chopper, and vegan white chocolate chips, which I ordered at Christmastime from Food Fight! Vegan Grocery. 

1/2 cup + 1-2 tbsp flour (I used spelt, to make them wheat free)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)

3/4 cup white and brown sugar (ie, I filled 3/4 measuring cup about halfway with beet sugar, and the rest with date sugar)

1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax seeds, ground, and 3 tbsp water, blended)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup oats

6 oz butterscotch chips (I used 1/2 cup butterscotch, and 1/4 cup white chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 375.  

2. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, in a bowl

3. In a separate bowl, beat (by hand or with a mixer) the margarine, sugar, vanilla, and flax egg.

4. Add the dry to the wet and mix until well combined.  

5.  Stir in the oats and chips.  

6.  Drop onto cookie sheet* and bake 8-9 minutes, or until golden brown.  

7.  Let cool slightly, then transfer to cooling rack.  

*It is up to you whether or not you want to grease the cookie sheet, use a Silpat, or parchment paper.  For some reason, while they all came off in one piece, one of my cookie sheets stuck a little, and the other didn't.  

Yields:  love.  I mean, about 2 dozen cookies (I got 26)

Nutrition Information:  129.9 Calories;  6.3g Total fat;  2.2g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  16.9g Carbohydrates;  1.5g Fiber;  1.6g Protein

By the way, you may, right now, be getting worried, realizing that I am going to be gone for four days.  I know, I know, its sad.  In all honesty, I will almost definitely still be posting, we have wireless in our hotel room.  Is this ridiculous?  Yes.  Just when you thought you were going to get rid of me...

Anyway, many thanks to my mom, who shared the recipe, and happily admitted that the vegan version of her cookie was really good!  I couldn't be happier that Oatmeal Scotchie and I have been reunited!  

Corn Pasta Fritters

Corn Pasta Fritters with Cheesey Black Beans and 2 Minute Guacamole

...what a mouthful...

Corn Pasta Fritters

6 oz corn pasta

9 oz silken tofu (3 slices of Mori-Nu)

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup chopped scallions

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup spelt flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

season to taste

Cheesey Black Beans

1 1/2 cans black beans

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup canned diced tomatoes (or fresh if you want to be fancy)

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder

3/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp vegan cream cheese

season to taste

2 Minute Guac

1 1/2 avocado 

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup canned diced tomatoes

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

season to taste

 

1.  Set oven to warm

2.  Blend the tofu with everything but the pasta and scallions.  Mix in scallions and allow to sit so that the cornmeal can soften.

3.  Boil a pot of water, and cook the pasta until tender.

4.  While the pasta is cooking, sautee the onions and garlic in a pan, until tender.  Add tomatoes, black beans, spices, and cream cheese, stirring until warmed through.  Remove from heat, and keep covered.  

5.  Coat a pan with cooking spray.  Divide the pasta into 6 portions, and add one portion to the pan.  Add 1/6th of the tofu and cornmeal mixture, mixing the pasta into it, and spreading it out into an even layer.  Cook until browned and firm, then flip (I used a plate, slid it onto that, then flipped), cooking the other side until it is cooked through.  

6.  Keep finished pasta fritters on a baking sheet in the warm oven.  

7.  While the fritters are cooking, combine all the ingredients for the guacamole in a bowl and mash.  

8.  Garnish with sliced scallions.

Serves 6

Nutrition Information:  440.0 Calories;  11.7g Total Fat;  2.0g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  70.0g Carbohydrates;  15.5g Fiber;  17.8g Protein

I bought corn pasta at the Asian grocery near my friend's house a few weeks ago, and with all the driving I've been doing lately, I've had lots of time to think about food, just not a lot of time to cook it!  Well, I seem to have finally gotten my act together.  I got to school perfectly on time, I left and went straight to the gym, and then stopped at the grocery store, and was home by 6.  This left me plenty of time to make dinner for my family tonight, and I had been thinking about making some kind fritter with these noodles for about a week.  It all came out so well, my whole family really liked it.  

If you don't have the pasta, could probably make smaller fritters with actual corn.  And if you don't have vegan cream cheese, it isn't really necessary.  Separately and all together it is really yummy, and really filling.  While it makes a pretty picture all piled, as shown above, but it tastes the best if you smoosh it all over the fritter and eat it together!  

Student teaching is going so well...it looks like we'll probably have a snow day tomorrow and I think it is the first time in my life that I have ever wished that school wouldn't be cancelled!  The teacher next door is giving a mid-term lab, and I really want to help.  It is Regents week, so it was a pretty slow day, but I spent a long time talking with my cooperating teacher.  I know I've said this before, but he is awesome.  

Oh, and my husband is officially home from Iraq.  I may have said that earlier, but you're not really supposed to give exact dates or discuss troop movement, so instead of saying he was in Kuwait, or Germany, or leaving tomorrow, etc, it was just easier to say he was done.  But he called me from Hawaii this morning and...I can tell you that, since the deployment is over!

I am so pumped to send out some CDs too, I love sharing music.  I posted about it on Sunday, and if anyone else is interested, leave me a comment or send an email by tomorrow night.   

This has been such a busy time for me, but I am so happy.  I really love being able to come on here and I want to thank you all for staying with me!