Another version of chickpea curry, but with cashews added for a little extra sweetness and a surprising crunch.

After more than two years of doing the whole Weight Watchers thing, I came to rely heavily on stir fry.  I stir fried just about everything.  It was quick, easy, and took relatively little planning.  Just cut up some defrosted chicken breast, throw in some broccoli, serve over rice and you’re done.  Since making the switch to veganism, though, I’ve discovered a new passion for curries.

Granted, the preparation is pretty much the same, but I’ve noticed that I’m more willing to experiment with curries than I ever was with stir fry.  Tonight’s curry has a base of chickpeas with some green pepper, onions, minced garlic, carrots, frozen peas and a handful of roasted cashews for a little different texture.  I added ground cumin, curry powder, five spice, garlic powder, and turmeric.  Then I added two teaspoons of the chunky Sriracha sauce (my favorite for cooking; the one in the squirt bottle is much better for a garnish).

Fluffy pillows of whole wheaty goodness!

This is the coup de grace for tonight’s dinner, though—I must say I’m really proud of these.  Since I knew I was making a curry tonight, I thought that fresh baked na’an bread would be a perfect accompaniment—plus, Sean has been begging me to try this recipe for ages.  I used a mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose flour, so it’s a little denser than typical na’an.  The soy yogurt worked just fine.  I still need to work on my rolling technique a little.  These were a lot more like pita than na’an.  Just takes a little more practice, I’m sure.  They turned out really pretty, though.

Chickpea and Cashew Curry with brown rice and whole wheat na'an. Tasty!

Here’s a picture of the whole dinner, complete with brown rice on the side.  Yum!

"Sloppy Janes" and a homemade bagel.

Sean took leftovers with him for lunch today and sent me a picture of what it looked like after he got it all ready.  It’s vegan sloppy joes (which he decided to rename “Sloppy Janes”—not sure why, exactly), vegan cheese, and one of the bagels he made last night.  I have to admit, I got hungry just looking at it, and I was the one who made it!  The bagels came out nice and savory—lots of flaxseed, caraway seed, garlic powder, and some other spices—and the texture was pleasantly chewy.  It’s nice to know I’m not the only one in the house who can make bagels now!

After dinner we both wanted something sweet, so I made Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies, but I made them healthier (and vegan!) by substituting all of the recommended ingredients with a can of black beans.  To do this, just empty the can with the liquid into the blender and let ‘er rip.  I did add a little bit of water to them—maybe a tablespoon or so—because the puree seemed a little thicker than I wanted it to be. After that, just mix the pureed beans with the brownie mix and bake as directed.  You can also do the same thing with pureed pumpkin, though I like the black beans better with brownies.  It works with cake mixes, too.  Just one more tip I picked up from Weight Watchers.  ☺

No salt, little bit of melted "butter", hot out of the oven--just the way I like 'em.

Sean was begging for pretzels today.  I have one of the Top Secret Recipes books by Todd Wilbur that has a recipe for Auntie Anne’s pretzels.  I’ve made them several times before, but I think I got them almost perfect this time.  Yay!  They’re best when they’re fresh out of the oven, but they’re still pretty good if you put them in a Ziploc bag and eat them within the next day or so.

I’ve taken a few days off from blogging because for some reason, I have been inexplicably exhausted since about Thursday.  It’s kind of annoying, really—I have stuff to do!  Namely, baking and cooking more new vegan recipes.  And I have a brand-new brunch cookbook that I haven’t really even sampled yet.  So stop being tired and dumb, body!  I have plans!

For him

For her

It has been quite the movie week here, though, even with my being so tired recently.  We took the kidlets to gender-appropriate movies on Friday night:  Transformers:  Revenge of the Fallen for Daniel and Ice Age:  Dawn of the Dinosaurs for Sylvia.  I’m not sure how it’s happened, but I haven’t seen the new Harry Potter movie yet.  What’s up with that?!?!  Though I was talking to the kids’ swim instructor yesterday, and she told me about a few things that are in the movie that never happened in the books.  *sigh*  I hate it when they do stuff like that…

For the grownups

On the vegan front, Sean and I went to see Food, Inc., last night.  Very informative.  The production value of this film is definitely better than Earthlings, but I’m afraid that I wasn’t quite as moved to action with this one.  I am convinced, though, that I’m going to try to do as much cooking and preparing of my own food as I possibly can and try to stay away from overly-processed stuff.  I can almost hear the arguments starting that “cooking is processing,” and all that.  But I think even the argumentative ones know the difference between making your own tomato sauce from scratch using fresh ingredients and opening a jar of Prego.  There really is a difference.

Once again, I’m feeling that sense of tiredness sweeping over me.  At least I’ve had an easier time waking up in the morning than I usually did.  Maybe this is just my body’s way of telling me that I really do need some rest, despite all the “stuff” I feel I need to accomplish.  Besides, the puppies are sleeping, and they just look too darned cute not to join them.  ☺

Things to do on a rainy day: Bake cookies!

The kids’ swimming lessons were cancelled again today—this time because we were in the middle of a thunderstorm and the Y had to close the pool.  I’m still not entirely sure why it is they have to close an indoor pool for a thunderstorm, but since it’s out of my control, I suppose I just have to deal with it.

In the interest of finding something fun’ish for the kidlets to do while they were stuck inside, we came up with the idea of making cookies.  Daniel was all for it, but Sylvie (in her pre-teen, angsty way) decided to spend time in her room brooding instead.  So be it.  She missed out on some super fun cookie making madness.

Sean was asking for peanut butter cookies, so I found a recipe here. I figured the easier, the better for my guys.  I took a shower and left the boys to their work.  They didn’t disappoint:  perfect peanut butter cookie taste, texture, and… some other third thing that escapes me right now.  Anyhow, they were good.  And Sean’s creative use of cookie cutters paired with the fork-tine crosshatching was really cute.  ☺

I’m probably going waaaay out on a limb here, but I think I want to make Chana Masala tonight for dinner.  Yes, the kids will most likely freak out.  They will likely cry and complain and claim that I’m the worst mother in the world for trying to force them to eat chickpeas.  They will dither and delay and dillydally, determined to deviate me from my planned dinner (like that alliteration?  Hah!!).  I figure if I make them eat at least one or two “weird” meals a week that maybe we’ll expand their ridiculously small palates.  I really would hate to see them living on macaroni and cheese (or even “cheeze”) forever.  There’s so much more interesting food out there to try!

I still want to try the chocolate tofu that’s sitting in my fridge right now.  Of course, now that I have it, I don’t entirely know what to do with it.  Put it in a smoothie with a banana and some peanut butter?  Mmmm…  Use it for pudding or pie filling?  I did just find a recipe for a cookie crumb crust that calls for Newman’s Own cookies, and I just happen to have a package in the pantry…  Find some other way to use it that I hadn’t even thought of yet?  The possibilities are endless!

I would be completely remiss if I didn’t plug my sweetie’s thread over on Post Punk Kitchen’s forum .  He’s getting popular, and he loves every minute it.  Come to think of it, I should probably start reading and contributing over there, too.  Those ladies are my vegan heroes.  ☺

This is sooooo good when it's warm and fresh!

My kitchen has been invaded by ants this week.  I find this most distressing.  All the time I’ve lived in this house, I have seen an occasional straggling insect.  This invasion goes way beyond that, though.  This week, I have found a tiny battalion working its way to the dogs’ food dishes.  I looked around for humane methods of convincing the little buggers that they should look elsewhere for food.  Chili powder, curry, and vinegar haven’t worked.  Combinations of all three haven’t worked.  The last time I tried the chili powder trick, I found them walking through it to get to the food dishes.  I have cleaned the dogs’ bowls, mopped the floor, emptied the trash daily and swept the kitchen floor every night hoping the stem the tide.  So far, I haven’t seen any more today.  Let’s hope that maybe they found someplace better to go.  I will admit that I squashed a few while trying to sweep them up, and I’m pretty sure a few were drowned in vinegar.  I will also admit that I felt absolutely no remorse over the casualties.  This is why I will most likely never be a member of PETA.  ☺

I had a couple of overripe bananas sitting around the kitchen, so I decided to make some banana bread.  In the interest of trying to be a tad healthier (and possibly drop the 5 or so pounds I’ve gained since becoming vegan—ick!!), I made some changes.  I used 1 ¼ cups of whole wheat flour, ½ cup of unbleached all purpose flour, applesauce instead of oil, only ½ cup of sugar (I figured it would be sweet enough with the applesauce and the really ripe bananas) and I added about ½ cup of chopped walnuts.  I shortened the baking time to just under an hour—about 50 minutes or so—because the bread was starting to look overcooked.  As it turns out, the bottom was still a little underbaked, but it’s edible and not too sweet.  The whole wheat flour made it kind of dense and it didn’t rise very much, but it’s really tasty and doesn’t taste as desserty as some of the other sweet breads I’ve made recently.

After reading Skinny Bitch (and skimming Sean’s copy of Skinny Bastard), I have been trying to cut down on my caffeine intake.  It sucks.  Not that I’m usually too crazy with it—I got myself down to 1, maybe 2 cups of coffee a day, and I don’t drink soda at all anymore—but I really should be drinking more water.  I drank a full glass of water with the banana that I ate for breakfast (trying out the suggestion of eating a piece of fruit for breakfast, wait a little while, and eat another piece of fruit if still hungry), but I still wanted something else.  So I made a cup of chai tea with Silk creamer and a packet of Truvia.  Truvia is a tricky substance for me in beverages:  one packet isn’t enough, and two packets are too much.  I hate having half-packets lying around, so I’m thinking I may just try to deal with my tea being less sweet.  Either way, I greatly enjoyed my chai with a slice of fresh banana bread.  You didn’t really think I wasn’t going to taste it the second it came out of the oven, did you?  *grin*

Tonight is Weight Watchers, and I’m not looking forward to seeing the scale.  I have been hovering in the same 5-pound range for months, and now I’ve completely overhauled my eating habits and gained a few pounds.  Ick…  I know it’s just a matter of finding the right balance, and I have been eating so much bread lately that I’m surprised that I haven’t gained more.  It’s still been kind of frustrating not getting to my goal weight yet, but I’m still working at it, still trying, and still keeping that goal in mind.  I really need to remember that just because it’s vegan doesn’t automatically mean that it’s healthy and low-calorie.  It’s still all about calories in versus calories burned, and unfortunately baking cupcakes doesn’t burn enough calories to justify eating three of them in a day.  I should probably start my running regimen again.  I’m turning into a lump…

Enough pouting!  At least I’ve been keeping up with my kitchen (granted, it’s mainly so deter the ants, but still—an accomplishment is an accomplishment!), and I’m thinking I should probably get the kids out of the house for a while today.  Maybe we’ll go to the Y and they can swim while I run laps.  It’s a perfect day for it, really.  Exercise time, everybody!  ☺

Yummy whole wheat bagel with herbs and seeds in it!

Thank goodness for vegan cookbooks, that’s all I can say.  So many wonderful ones out there – we have a stack of them in the kitchen – but a few of my favorites so far have to be the writing style, awesome recipies and photography of the Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Visit their web-site, join the forums, buy the books – or at least check them out at the library first.  Each are extremely useful and an enjoyable read as well – not boring, for sure!

Of course, having said that, the recipe that made the bagel above isn’t from PostPunkKitchen, but so many things we’ve made this week have been.

Getting the kids to eat vegan food has been something of an adventure.  Last night’s dinner was a total miss for them—too strong of a wine taste in the sauce, beans, and any number of other stuff that just turned them off completely.  Tonight, I decided to try to duplicate something that Daniel really loves:  meatloaf.

Vegan meatloaf is a challenge.  Trying to find something with the right consistency that won’t fall apart or dry out is tough when you don’t use eggs, dairy, or meat.  So here’s the recipe I used (cobbled together from about 3 or 4 different recipe suggestions):

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TVP “Meet Loaf”

1 ½ cups TVP
1 ½ cups boiling vegetable broth/stock
3 tbsp dried minced onion (or more, to taste), rehydrated in water
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp Italian spice mix
1 tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
4 oz baby bella mushrooms, diced small
2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer, mixed with 2 tbsp water
1 cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup ketchup

Mix TVP with boiling vegetable stock in a medium-sized bowl; let sit for 10 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed.  Combine all ingredients except ketchup in bowl and pour into loaf pan or baking dish.  Bake at 375F for 35 to 40 minutes.  Spread ketchup over top of loaf and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Cool for 5 to 10 minutes.  Serve with more ketchup on the side, if desired.

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The result:  the kids ate every bite, Sean mentioned how moist it was compared to my last meatloaf attempt (made with ground chicken, I believe), and I was fairly happy with the outcome.  I have read that there are some rather noxious side-effects that often go along with eating TVP, but Sean and the kids heartily enjoy their flatulence so I’m not too worried.  ☺  I wish I had gotten a picture of it before I cut it, but I didn’t think of it until after it had already been consumed.  At least there was a tiny bit left for someone’s lunch later on and for the picture posted above.  Since the kids are going to be here next week as well, I’ll probably be making this again soon.

The Death Cupcakes from yesterday weren’t so bad after they sat out overnight in an airtight container.  They’re definitely more brownie-like than cupcake-like, but at least they’re edible.  The kids have liked them a lot!  And the icing really is awesome.  I have plenty left, so I may make some more cupcakes soon—especially since Sean picked up flour for me tonight.  ☺

I made bagels again today.  This is my third attempt with them, and I think they keep getting better each time.  Today, I made them with half unbleached all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.  I also added some caraway seeds, flax seed, wheat germ, garlic powder, and onion powder.  I wanted a savory bagel this time, and I think I got it.  You really can’t taste the garlic and onion so much, so next time I might try minced garlic and onion instead of the powders, but they also went over really well.  I almost forgot to dip them in the boiling sugar water to give them their nice crust, but I caught it before they were completely baked.  Even with that little oversight, they’re really, really good.

All in all, a good cooking day.  Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means that it’s time to pick up more veggies from the CSA farmer.  I hope we get some tomatoes soon.  I know it’s still early in the season, but I’m looking forward to making some homemade tomato sauce and salsa so I can stop buying the jarred stuff.  And hopefully we’ll be getting the Vita-Mix soon.  We ordered it a week ago, and the waiting is just killing Sean.

Time for a nice long puppy walk followed by dessert!  Vegan “ice cream” and a brownie-cupcake, anyone?  ☺

Today was a most disappointing day in the kitchen.

First, I made cornbread muffins and totally left out the sugar.  I also ran out of cornmeal and substituted corn grits for half of it.  They weren’t bad, but not exactly what I was hoping for.  Sean insisted that they were okay, but I’m going to try it again sometime.  Sylvie liked hers, and Daniel said he liked them, too, even though he only took one bite and left the rest on his plate.

Then there was dinner itself.  I made pinto beans with vegetables and vegan red wine over brown rice, and it was received with a little less enthusiasm than I had hoped.  After the disappointing cornbread muffins, I just didn’t have the heart to dice up a carrot, so I used frozen mixed vegetables instead.  They cooked so long that they really didn’t have any flavor by the time it was all done.  And the red wine flavor was a bit strong, even after I cut it in half and used water for the rest of the liquid.  There was a puckered face to accompany pretty much every bite taken by the kidlets over the dinner table tonight.

As a reward for their perseverance and relative lack of complaining, I made the cupcakes that are pictured above.  Adorable, aren’t they?  They’re chocolate cake using this recipe with peanut butter frosting piped into the centers and around the top edge, and then chocolate buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I’ve made all of these already, except for the chocolate buttercream.  It’s pretty similar to the vanilla, though, so I wasn’t too worried.  The frostings came out perfect.  The peanut butter was so much better than the last couple of times I made it—probably because I used super creamy peanut butter this time instead of the natural stuff that’s never quite as smooth.  But this is the only time I’ve ever gone ahead and iced the cupcakes without actually tasting the results of the baking first.  Usually, I have enough batter left that I can make some mini cupcakes, and they’re perfect for taste-testing.  The batter was so thick and dense this time, though, that it barely filled my cupcake tins.  I let them cool, piped the peanut butter inside them, and then got creative with the edging.  Then I did the chocolate buttercream, and they looked positively wonderful.  I gave one to Sean and took one for myself, not really noticing how very heavy they were this time.  I just thought I overdid it on the icing.

They’re terrible.  Dense, half-baked, and just generally nasty.  No flavor, gritty, and just… Yuck!  I checked them to make sure that they were done, and the ones in the front seemed fine.  It looks like some of the fuller muffin cups weren’t quite baked all the way through, though.  And they barely rose at all.  Maybe I used whole wheat pastry flour with this batch?  I had all of the dry ingredients pre-mixed in a Ziploc bag in the pantry, and I can’t remember what I did.  Oh, well.  Maybe the kids will enjoy them.  I’ll just make sure to use plain old all-purpose flour from now on.  That was just entirely too sad to ever repeat ever again.

Since it was raining off and on this evening, we thought that taking the kids to the Gallery Hop downtown would be more fun than sitting in the park getting wet while waiting for fireworks to start.  They always have fun, and tonight wasn’t very crowded for the first time in ages.  Of course, the line outside Jeni’s Ice Cream was still huge even with the rain, so we skipped it.  Sad, too—I had really been looking forward to trying some of their vegan sorbet selections…  Oh, well.  Maybe next time.  ☺

For dinner, we went to Z Pizza.  They were really helpful during the ordering process, letting us know that the soy cheese they use isn’t vegan (it has casein in it—more sadness), and that there’s sugar in the pizza crust.  We got the California pizza sans cheese for the adults and a half-pepperoni, half-cheese for the kids.  What we didn’t tell the kids is that we had them use soy cheese instead of the regular.  They never even noticed the difference.  Not quite as good as all-out vegan, but it’s a step in the right direction.  And we did get to see some fireworks from the car when we were driving home.  Not too shabby a night, really.

I made a couple of new recipes today.  For lunch, I made black bean burritos with chopped onions, salsa, fresh spinach, some rice “cheese”, and green pepper strips on whole grain tortillas.  For a snack that will hopefully last the week, I made the vegan chocolate chip cookies from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch.  Sean and the kids liked them, and they’re okay, I guess, but I think I’m going to try some other recipes, too.  They were just a little crispier than I like them, even after playing with baking times and things.  Of course, the recipe called for 1¼ cup of refined coconut oil, and I didn’t have any; I used Earth Balance sticks instead.  I wonder if that could account for the overly-crispy results?  I might try it again with the coconut oil at a later date.  Sean got creative and made a chocolate-peanut butter quinoa pudding using the recipe I found here as a jumping-off point.  I haven’t tried a full serving of it yet, but what I got from the spoon was pretty tasty.

I think what I’m learning during this transition is that—well, I have a lot to learn.  There are so many things to consider that I had never really given any thought to in the past.  Just like the sugar thing tonight.  It never would have crossed my mind to be the slightest bit concerned about sugar just a few weeks ago, except from a health standpoint.  Now that I know more about the ethical ramifications that go along with sugar (namely, the use of charred animal bones to process sugar to its gleaming white state), it’s harder for me to ignore.  I feel like I’ve spent the last three weeks completely obsessed with the food that I eat, buy, and prepare, and maybe that’s not such a bad thing.  Maybe I’ve needed to pay a little more attention to what I’m putting in my body.  Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m focusing nearly as much attention on nourishment as on taste.

I will say this, though:  I am so grateful that Sean is doing this with me.  I don’t think I could stick with it if I had to go it alone!