Hummus

I used to buy hummus once a week, but was sick of spending $4 for a tub of good quality hummus. I decided to save money and make sure I knew where each ingredient came from, so I went on the search for the perfect hummus recipe. You know what I found? There are a bazillion recipes for hummus. I tried free styling it for a while and that failed miserably. So, two months in, I think I found my favorite hummus recipe. I was eating two batches a week until I realized that although hummus is good for you, too much of a good thing is...too much. So I make this on Sunday and it'll last me until Friday or Saturday, and still tastes just as fresh as when I first made it. I use roasted red peppers in it frequently because after reading an article Sarah posted, I discovered that red peppers mixed with chickpeas increases the level of iron that is absorbed.

Favorite Hummus

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

juice of one lemon (unless it's a big, super juicy lemon. just use half)

2 tbs tahini

a few big pieces of roasted red pepper (i use the one from the jar, but I imagine if I had some extra time and made my own, this would taste way better)

2 garlic cloves chopped

1tbs water

1-1.5 tbs olive oil

salt, pepper and paprika to taste

I don't have a food processor, so I put the chickpeas in a blender, mix for a few seconds, then add everything else but the olive oil. Then I get it going on a low setting and add the oil until it's as smooth as I like it, which typically hangs out around 1tbs, sometimes 1.5tbs.

Enjoy!

Quinoa: A Love Story

So I'm really bad at blogging. Like, really really bad at it. My mom blogs on a regular basis and her entries are always so entertaining. I feel like when I blog it starts to turn boring and a "here's another recipe" sort of thing.

Anyways, I'm still vegan, so my recipes will still be of that nature. I love it so much and it was so easy, I can't believe it took me this long to get here. I started at the end of August, really just to see if I could last a month, and I can't believe the transformation you go through. I now exercise 4-5 times a week because I have so much energy, I'm down 45lbs and 2.5 dress sizes, and I can't describe the way my body feels. I still have a ways to go, but goal weight doesn't feel like such an impossible task anymore. I feel like I know my body better, that I think more clearly, and I'm not this miserable blob. I don't drink soda but once in a blue moon because it doesn't make my body feel good, which is so weird to me. My diet has switched from mostly processed to mostly fresh and whole, plus cooking is a lot of fun. My mom has been so much fun to cook for because she's not only honest, she's open to trying anything I make, and some of the stuff really impresses her. My dad is even opening up about trying some of my dishes (as long as they aren't too loaded with carbs =P)

Okay, off my "vegan is amazing and everyone should do this!" platform and moving on...

When I cooked this recipe last night, I knew I had to blog about it. A blog I read, apricot-tea.com, is becoming one of my favorites and her husband is a combination of vegan and raw, so she in turn is at the very least vegetarian. When I came across this black bean and tomato quinoa recipe, I had to try it.

There's a small natural food store in Waldorf that sells different grains and whatnot, but their items and hours are very limited, so I usually do a Whole Foods trip on Tuesday when I'm at work since one is fairly close (and a pretty walk). I got my quinoa from the bulk bin and it looked nothing like it does when it's cooked. I also had no idea how to cook it. I read that I had to wash it well plus my coworker reminded me about the importance of washing it, so when I looked up why, I found out that a coating covers the quinoa and can make the dish bitter.

So last night I mustered up the courage, bathed my quinoa twice and made this dish. It. Was. Amazing. It reminded me of rice a little, but it wasn't heavy and it kept me satisfied for a while. Plus, 1 cup of uncooked quinoa swells to 4 cups cooked, so in my opinion it's a pretty awesome deal (and 1c cooked is 4 ww points, which is a very filling meal with vegetables to me). I also paired it with avocado and Tofutti sour cream that tastes so much like regular sour cream to me, that I probably shouldn't have purchased it. I tweaked her recipe a little to fit what I had on hand and I apologize for the grainy picture, my camera phone isn't the greatest. I will be making this again today because I have left over ingredients and this will make lovely meals throughout the week.

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

2 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (really it was the zest and juice of two small limes)
3 tbs Olive Oil
1 teaspoon sugar (used Truvia)
1 cup quinoa
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced
3-4 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Wash quinoa in 2 changes of cold water. If you don't have a sieve like me, wash your quinoa in a pot and empty out the water as much as you can without loosing the quinoa. Then line your strainer with paper towels and dump the quinoa in that. A little more work but it's easy still. Put quinoa in a pot with 2 cups of water; bring to boil. Then turn the fire down low to a simmer & cover to steam. Cook for 20 minutes (or until it’s reached its desired softness and no liquid is left).

Meanwhile, whisk together lime zest & juice, oil, & sugar in a large bowl.

Add dressing to quinoa & toss until dressing is absorbed. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, green onion, & cilantro. Mix well, salt and pepper. You can add avocado and sour cream and eat it as is, or serve it with tortilla chips.

Vegan sour cream?! So excited about this.

Tonight I think I'm going to make some pumpkin bread, which will at the very least warm up the house. So cold today!

Busy weekend ahead

This weekend is going to be a pretty quiet one cooking wise. Tonight I'm going to finish up the last of my pumpkin soup for dinner, maybe add a vegetable. For lunch I went to Pasara's with a coworker, and I had this awesome stir fry of oriental eggplant, peppers, onions and tofu in a spicy bean sauce, but I don't think that was waist friendly, so I'll just have to have a lighter dinner. I'd love to learn how to make it though. They have a couple of vegetarian/vegan friendly options on their menu, plus their happy hour is fantastic!

But this weekend I'll be busy helping a friend with wedding preparations, so I doubt I'll do much cooking. She did get me a vegan cookbook that arrived yesterday, so I'm super excited about cooking from that in the near future. Next week though, as long as it's cooler because right now it's much too hot outside, I plan on making this butternut squash and coconut curry soup recipe I found on loveandoliveoil.com. I'm super excited.

Have a good weekend, all!

Pumpkin Soup

I keep promising pictures and this time, I actually took them. The downside is they are home on my mom's laptop. So, when I get in, I'll add pictures to this posting.

Anyways, I had my "OMGINEEDPUMPKIN" craving on Friday. Friday night however, I went out with two coworkers for happy hour then saw "Going the Distance." It was a very cute, very sweet movie. Saturday my plan was to spend all afternoon/night catching up on True Blood with my sister AND making this wonderful soup, but I was sad and depressed and needed hugs, so after 3 episodes and no soup, I ventured home to snuggle with my Whitney. She apparently needed snuggling too because she did not leave my side when I got home.

So Sunday was the day and Sunday it happened! Now the pumpkin soup I wanted to make involves andouille sausage and heavy cream and although that sounds gross, it's actually really good. A bit more hearty and wonderful if you top it with some smoked gouda. I was just going to make a simple soup and replace the cream with coconut milk or soy milk, but decided since I had time and the ingredients available, that I would stretch the vegan resources.

The result? Actually pretty amazing. My mom liked it and I thought she'd turn it down when she learned of what was in it or because of the spice (she doesn't like spice). My dad enjoyed it and wanted to know the carb count so he could have it. It also had a ton less fat/oil than the previous version which I liked more. This in a bread bowl would be outstanding. It made a ton, so I froze half and have been eating soup for dinner every night this week. I'm not complaining.

Pumpkin Soup
2 cans puree pumpkin
7 cups organic vegetable stock (I used 7 cups of water and 4 -2 cup serving vegetable bullion cubes)
1 onion
4 tbs Earth Balance
8 oz soy milk
1 tsp red pepper flakes
14oz vegan ground "sausage"
pumpkin spice flavor seasoning to your heart's content, but about 2 tsp, maybe 1 tbs
1/2 c packed brown sugar
salt to taste

Saute in a heavy pot (I used my dutch oven) the ground sausage and red pepper flakes over low-medium heat in 2 tbs Earth Balance for 5 min. Then add the diced onion and the remaining Earth Balance until the onions are soft. Add the pumpkin puree (or 1 1/2lbs diced pumpkin), reduce heat to low and mix. Then add stock, sugar, spices and mix well. Cover and let it simmer for about 45min-1hr (if you are using fresh pumpkin, just make sure it's soft).

Yummy pumpkin-ness a'brewin

In batches, transfer your soup to the blender and blend well. Return it back to the pot, add the soy milk and heat, but do not let it boil. Add any remaining pumpkin spice/salt/pepper that you feel necessary.

PUMPKIN

I have an obsession with pumpkin. From now until after Thanksgiving, I will make pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie and drink pumpkin spice lattes (used to be gingerbread lattes until Starbucks messed with the recipe. Thanks guys). I. Love. Pumpkin.

My goal this weekend is to make a vegan pumpkin soup. My pumpkin soup before contained spicy sausage and heavy cream, so finding a nice alternative that matched that flavor might be a challenge. So I will keep you posted this weekend what I come up with =)

Mac and no cheese

The first week or so I was on this plan, I had an intense craving for mac and cheese. I love mac and cheese but I love to hate it. I would never order it out but man oh man, if calories (ha, or lactose) weren't an issue, I'd eat it once a week. Last time I made it though was back in November when I couldn't silence the craving.

Seeing as how I am choosing to not eat cheese, mac and cheese seemed like an impossibility until I started doing some research. Turns out you can mimic the taste and texture of cheese fairly easily. It won't taste just like cheese, but it takes the edge off and for the most part, is not that bad (how many times can I say "cheese" in this blog?).

So I found veganyumyum and this lady not only has beautiful pictures, her recipes seem fairly easy and not too fancy, and her mac and cheeze was under her favorites. I read some reviews and decided this would be the recipe I'd use. Problem was I had never heard of half the items in the ingredients. Nutritional yeast? Tamari? Luckily for me I have a cube mate who is from California and fairly familiar with vegan items. And she doesn't laugh at my ignorance too much. She informed me that I'd probably have to go to a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's to get the items needed for this recipe. Awesome. I love Trader Joe's and have always wanted to visit a Whole Foods, so I googled mapped them near Waldorf and....nothing. Not within 40 miles anyway.

There's a Whole Foods about a mile from my office, so I made the walk there. I really wish I had someone with me because I was so lost in this store and felt so dumb. I knew the items I was there for but didn't know which section or what they looked like, so my first Whole Foods visit was a big overwhelming. I managed though except for the tamari and came back with my list (and the best pear I've had in a while. And no I didn't eat the whole thing, sticker included).

Next time I make this, I will premeasure and set aside my ingredients because it all moves so quickly. I was so worried about over cooking but it was okay. The recipe can be found on veganyumyum here but I made some adjustments based on what I had versus what I thought I had versus what I forgot at the store. Over all though, I really liked it. It wasn't mac and cheese but it was really good for what it was. I will definitely make it again and make sure to have everything on hand =)

Mac and Cheeze
Serves 3-4

About half a box of macaroni noodles

1/2 bag frozen broccoli

1/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Lemon Juice, fresh
1 Tbs White Miso
2 Tbs condensed tomato soup (reeeeally thought I had paste but nope)
1 1/4 Cup Almond Milk
1/3 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1 Pinch Salt
Black Pepper, to taste

Few Ritz crackers to crumble on the top

Begin by heating a sauce pan and adding the earth balance. Once melted, add flour and whisk vigorously until a smooth paste forms, called a roux. Be careful not to add flour to a pan that is very hot, or your roux will be lumpy and you’ll need to start over. If you mix in the flour as soon as the margarine is melted and you should avoid any problems.

To this paste, add lemon, miso, and tomato and whisk until well incorporated. The mixture should still be paste-like. Then slowly pour in the almond milk, whisking constantly, until it is completely incorporated. Add the yeast and mix well. Cook the mixture until it thickens, whisking often. This should take approximately 5 minutes, but it’s flexible. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When you boil the noodles, add the broccoli when you have 5 min left in cooking, just enough so the broccoli cooks but doesn't overcook. Mix the sauce and noodles together, crumble the crackers and bake at 400 for 15 min, just until the top browns a little.

Cake Time!

Eating vegan has been fun and trying. You don't realize how much food you make has some level of animal by-products. One that I thought was going to be the hardest obstacle to overcome but ended up being the easiest was baking. I was bored one night a few weeks ago and stumbled across this recipe and decided to give it a go. I made a couple of alterations to it because I lacked some of the ingredients but it came out so yummy. Very moist and I had no need for icing. My mom, who was a little skeptical at the idea of a vegan cake, really liked it.

This recipe also proves that vegan does not equal healthy all the time. I think next time I'd also cut back a little on the sugar, it was definitely a sugar overload.

Vegan Orange Cake

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease or line with parchment paper a standard round or 8 x 8 inch square pan.

In a large bowl whisk together:

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

In a medium mixing bowl (or I use a large measuring cup) mix together:

• 3/4 c orange juice
• 1/4 c pineapple juice
  
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk until smooth. Pour into cake pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.