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.