The Only Book One Needs

I am convinced "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bitman is the only book one needs. My mom got it for us for Christmas, and when we got back we started cooking! So far I made pancakes (variation with whole wheat, oatmeal, and yogurt) and braised lentils, spanish style. Both were delicious! Luke make potato gnocchi, another success! Later this week, we are going to make beer glazed beans and butternut squash with coconut and curry.

There are so many recipes I want to try!

Cinnamon Rolls!

I made cinnamon rolls today. After all, I have been having this craving for a long time now. I made cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze from epicurious. I only made a slight change: I used part regular sugar in the filling. They turned out really well, but next time I would use all brown sugar or mix the sugar with the butter before spreading on the dough so that the filling doesn't spill out.

In fact, the cinnamon rolls were so good that I ate two as soon as they were done at 3:30 and then didn't make it to my belly dancing class at 4:00. But really, who can belly dance with a belly full of cinnamon rolls?

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a vegetarian thanksgiving this year. Everything turned out well. Some of the recipes were new, some were not. Below are my reviews of the recipes. Note the side sideboard for all the food. BB's parents came out for Thanksgiving. It was fun, and they were nice enough to bring out some of BB's furniture. Now our house finally looks less bare!

Thanksgiving Menu

White Beans with Sage
Mashed Potatoes with Shitake Mushroom Gravy
Cornbread Stuffing
Sweet Potato Casserole with Orange and Brown Sugar
Green Beans with Bread Crumbs
Marinated Cauliflower Salad
Spinach Salad with Warm Walnut Dressing
Curried Creamed Onions
Cranberry Sauce
Whole Wheat Crescent Rolls
Apple-Blackberry Pie

White Beans with Sage
The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

We made these last year. It is very simple, just cook white beans with sage, garlic, and olive oil. We used navy beans and cooked in the cast iron skillet. They should be cooked just enough to be done, but should still hold their shape. I think that the flavor is very nice, and complements all of the other thanksgiving food. Definitely a good substitute for the turkey, without trying to be something it is not.

Mashed Potatoes with Shitake Mushroom Gravy
The Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon

The mashed potatoes had no recipe, just yukon gold mashed with butter and potato cooking water. The mushroom shitake gravy was a hit! BB made it. It is actually a recipe for seitan with a gravy like sauce, but we just did it without the seitan. It started with a stock using garlic, onions, and shitake mushrooms. Then, seasoned with red wine (we used a cotes du rhone) and miso and thickened with a roux. I think this is worth making again, maybe with a bit less miso and the vegetables chopped smaller.

Cornbread Stuffing

We just used the cornbread stuffing from Trader Joe's. I have never made sutffing from scratch before, but next year I want to! This was fine, except that I added too much water so it was a bit mushy. I got my stuffing fix though.

Sweet Potato Casserole with Orange and Brown Sugar The Passioante Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon

I thought this was excellent. I simply roasted the sweet potatoes whole (no peeling) two days before Thanksgiving. The day before I assembled the casserole with butter, brown sugar, orange juice, and Grand Marnier. Then, before baking, added a bit more butter, brown sugar, and Grand Marnier over the top. The Grand Marnier addition as excellent. I would make this again, perhaps with less sugar as sweet potatoes are already somewhat sweet.

Green Beans with Bread Crumbs Martha Stweat Living, November 2009

BB made this also. I thought it was good. He was bit disappointed that the bread crumbs weren't as crispy as they should have been, if he did it again, he would do it is two batches to cook properly. It is simply greens beans sauteed with shallots and bread crumbs. A nice simple side dish, and the different textures make it interesting.

Marinated Cauliflower Salad
Martha Stewart Living, November 2009

This was great because you can make it a day or two before, and then it gets served at room temperature. Cauliflower is blanched and marinated with red onions, capers, and red wine vinaigrette. These kinds of side dishes are a nice break from the richness of the other dishes.

Spinach Salad with Warm Walnut Dressing

We adapted this from a recipe in Martha Stwerat Living, November 2009. Basically, heat walnuts (3/4 cup) in a mixture of 1/2 cup olive and walnut oil. Heat until walnuts are toasted, and stir occasionally (I made the mistake of not paying attention, and they burned. We had to do it again, but it wasn't a disaster). Dress the spinach with red wine vinegar (2 Tbsp.), salt, and pepper. Pour the warm walnuts and oil over the salad, and toss. The spinach gets slightly wilted, but not cooked. I think this might be my new favorite way to eat spinach. Next time, I want to try using hazelnuts.

Curried Cream Onions
Saveur, November 2009

Pearl onions in a curried cream sauce. The sauce is comprised of curry powder, flour, mustard, half and half, and onion cooking water. It turned out too thick. Next time, I would significantly cut down or even omit the flour. BB bought a mix of red, yellow, and white onions. It made for a nice presentation.

Cranberry Sauce
Saveur, November 2009

Cranberry sauce made with brown sugar, orange juice, grand marnier, and spices (cinnamon stick, whole cloves, peppercorns, and allspice berries). This was delicious. BB thought it was very sweet. I will definitely make this again, perhaps using less sugar.

Whole Wheat Crescent Rolls
Betty Crocker Cookbook

This is the crescent roll recipe I started making at Thanksgiving when I was about 11! It is a great recipe, and always turns out. This year, I altered by using half whole wheat. The rolls are really good with whole wheat, but I still like the original best. Maybe because that is what I always had ...

Apple-Blackberry Pie
Martha Stewart Living, November 2009

This is what I am most proud of. I thought it turned out fantastic, it is a great recipe. I followed it exactly. The crust was easy, but there were a lot of steps. I love using the food processor to make crust. It turned out flaky and buttery. I forgot to get leaf shaped cookie cutters, so I cut them free form. Cutting leaves that don't look silly is harder than it sounds! I also like the blackberries with the apples, a nice bit of tartness and color. I will use this crust recipe again, for any pie!

Fancy Times!

Back from Chicago, and now Big Button is Dr. Button! To celebrate we spent some time in Chicago, and went to some old favorite places. It was a bit nostalgic. We ate a late breakfast at Earwax; Dr. Button had eggs benedict with salmon and spinach instead of canadian bacon and I had brioche french toast stuffed with pastry cream and topped with strawberries. They have vegetarian food like I wish places around Wilmington did. For dinner, we ate at Papajin. There was some sizzling rice soup (highly recommended), sushi, and then some sesame tofu. Again, a vegetarian friendly restaurant. Then, for dessert, we went a few doors down to I cream. They make ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and pudding on the spot. There are many flavors to choose from. I got rice pudding with raisins and flavored with almonds.

We also went to the Art Institute. Whenever I go there, I always go to see my three favorite paintings

The Old Guitarist, Pablo Picasso

Bordighera, Claude Monet

Fisherman's Cottage, Harald Sohlberg

This visit, it took me awhile to find my favorites since they have opened the new modern art wing and rearranged a lot. The new wing is very nice indeed.

Pear Cake

Today was cold and rainy, so I didn't want to go anywhere. I also happened to have too many ripe pears, more than I can eat on my own. My solution to these problems? Pear Upside-Down Cake! It turned out very delicious! The only things I would change for next time - make it less sweet (less sugar in cake and topping) and maybe add a spice, like nutmeg. I altered a recipe for pineapple upside-down cake from "The Cake Bible". Here is my version.

Pear Upside-Down Cake

4 pears, sliced
1/2 c. walnuts
4 Tbs. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar (next time I will use less)

3 egg yolks
1/4 c. sour cream
1/3 c. plain yogurt (or sour cream, I ran out so I used yogurt)
2 tsp. vanilla
9 Tbs. butter
1 c. white flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. sugar (next time I will use 1/4-1/3 c.)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 (mine was 300 using convection oven).

Add 4 Tbs. butter to a 10" cake pan or cast iron skillet and place in oven to melt butter. Add brown sugar and spread evenly over pan. Sprinkle walnuts over brown sugar/butter mixture. Lay sliced pears decoratively over top of walnuts. Set aside. Lightly mix egg yolks, sour cream, and vanilla in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, mix together white flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add 9 Tbs. butter (make sure it is very soft) and yogurt. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Mix on medium speed another 1-2 min. Mixture will be very thick. Add the egg yolk mixture (in three batches), mix on medium speed. Dollop batter over pears, spread to cover all fruit. Bake for 30 min, or until top is browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Use a metal scraper to loosen cake from sides of pan. Immediately invert cake, wait a bit to let all the juices out, and then remove pan.

Soup!

We have been soup making fiends lately! In the past week, we made Boston Black Bean Soup, Cabbage Soup with Blue Cheese Toasts, and Broccoli-Cheese Soup. All were from "Vegetarian Soups" by Deborah Madison, and all were yummy.

The cabbage soup was very simple, with only a few ingredients (cabbage, onion, potato) but serving with blue cheese and baguette toasts really made it a meal.

The broccoli cheese soup was hearty. A good soup for a cold day!

The black bean soup is flavored with lemon, cloves, and ground mustard. Sounds like a weird combination, but it is very good. The cloves are spicy and warming without being overwhelming. On the side, sliced tomatoes with lemon pepper and fresh baguette.

Lots of Cooking!

I have been trying to cook dinner more since Big Button is big writing. So ... the crock pot has been my friend. Today (actually, made last night to cook today) I made a Marrakesh Tagine, adapted from World Food Cafe for the crock pot. There were a lot of vegetables, including eggplant, potatos, sweet potatos, peppers (red and green), green beans, tomatoes. It was seasoned with black pepper, cinnamon, saffron, and cumin. We ate it with fresh baguette with butter (bought the baguette today from Toscana just down the street), lots of parsely and cilantro, and a nice salad. This is a meal I am definitely going to make again!

Yesterday, I made a steaming bowl of Pho (vegetarian, of course) from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. It was made with black mushrooms, rice noodles, tofu, and we had lots of garnishes like cilantro, vietnamese coriander, basil, scallions, peppers, bean sprouts. BB really liked it. I thought it was good, but I felt like it was missing something. I have determined that something to be fat, a richness that is missing with no meat. I am trying to think of what would be good; maybe roasted peanut oil? BB suggested coconut oil (just a bit, so as not to detract from the flavors). I have a hard time with meals that have almost no fat. Funny, I don't seem to have a problem with meals that are lacking other beneficial qualities, but that is just the way things go.

On Monday, I made whole grain mustard and cornmeal crusted seitan, roasted sweet potatoes, and citrus collards with raisin redux. I made the seitan from scratch since I can't seem to find a store around here that sells it. It was not difficult, but a bit labor intensive. It turned out pretty good, and was kind of fun. I would make it again. The mustard-cornmeal crusted seitan was pretty delicious, if I do say so myself. Very nice crust, crunchy but not excessively so. Also, very simple to have such nice results. The recipe is from Vegan Soul Kitchen, by Bryant Terry. The citrus collards with raisins were also from that book, and this is the second time I made them. I used a mixture of greens this time (collards, mustard, kale) sauteed with garlic, raisins, and orange juice. The sweet potatoes were cut in half, brushed with olive oil, and sprinkled with Old Bay (a recent discovery of mine, although probably not a recent discovery for the rest of the world) and roasted at 450 while I made the rest of the food. The whole meal was so easy but so tasty! A good week night meal for sure.

Japanese Inspiration

Lately I seem very into Japanese things. It all started with my fascination with the paper chopstick wrapper at the sushi restaurant the other day. I liked the color combination and designs. Apparently, I am not the only one, as this website shows.

I admire Japanese aesthetics in general, but especially in knitting and music. Asobi Seksu is awesome and I have been listening to them a lot lately. As for knitting, I want this book:Although not actually Japanese, but a Scandinavian inspiration of Japanese designs. Upon reflection, I think that Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics have some similarities. Both are sparse and simple with lots of geometric shapes, and use a lot of neutrals with strategically placed bold colors.

I keep seeing Japanese knitters on ravelry, and they impresses me very much. First of all, they seem to make the most intricate yet simple items. How is this possible? I also like how the designs can make neutral colors look so interesting. Normally, I find neutrals a bit boring. In fact, I think a bold color would take away from many of the designs.

I started to look on www.yesasia.com (a website that sells anything Asian) for books I can buy. I don't read Japanese, so will this end up being a bad idea? I hear that they chart everything, so you don't have to read. Hmm ...

I guess if it doesn't work out I can always go get more sushi so I can admire the chopstick wrappers.

Vitenamese Food

This past weekend I made Lemongrass Tofu and Herb Salad with Chili-Lime dipping sauce from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham. It was very tasty.

I want to try other recipes from this book, including the Pho. It helps that I have so many herbs growing in the garden: Basil, Lemon Verbena, Mint, Vietnamese Coriander, and Nasturtium. Gotta love food straight from the garden!

Officially Fall!

Now it is officially fall, which makes me extraordinarily happy. Fall is really the best season-the weather is still nice but you can start wearing sweaters and layers, the leaves start turning colors, Halloween and Thanksgiving are right around the corner, and I get to live in a non-sweltering house.

Another thing that fall makes me think of is projects, as in, projects around the house. I have been planning many of these in my head, but it was just to hot to do anything. Number one on my list is to get the house presentable for guests (for Thanksgiving). Is it sad that I have been living here a year and there are some rooms that look as though I moved in two days ago? I will start with the office, which is a disgrace. My second project is to start making Christmas presents for people. So far, I have ONE. I did it this weekend. Yep. Feeling pretty proud of myself. Project three is to hem all my pants that need to be hemmed (which is, oh, about 10 pairs or so). Of course, this means that I have to get a sewing machine, but that was already in the works. Finally, project four: plan my garden for next year. It is going to be bigger and even better.

But perhaps the BEST part about fall is that the boys finally want to cuddle again!