The Makeshift Cook

For a few weeks, all I've been doing is eating various squashes and kale, potatoes and kale, whatever and kale. The CSA is done and I guess I haven't quite gotten back in the hang of buying vegetables, especially green ones. My backyard kale is still going strong, so my tendency has been to chop it fine and throw it into everything, in the manner of stealth vegetables. It's hard to be stealthy with kale, though. Fortunately no one around here really minds.

Anyway, grocery shopping. I'm just not on top of it yet and it seems like there aren't a lot of ingredients in the house, at first glance. But I had a batch of roasted and pureed green tomatoes in the freezer, and I started thinking they'd make an interesting base for chili, or stew, or something.



What's that you say? You've never roasted green tomatoes? Well, I hadn't either, until a month ago or so. We had loads of tomatoes in the garden, but many, many of them never ripened. I window-ripened some.



In fact, I still have a few in the window right now, and they have actually turned red. But overall, I was pretty disappointed with our tomatoes; they were Jet Stars, and I just didn't like the variety for eating raw. So I roasted and/or froze LOTS of them.



To roast green tomatoes, cut them into wedges, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 350 or 375. When they come out, you can eat them straight up--they are delicious, melty, caramelized little things--or puree them. I did a bit of both. The puree is super-tangy, without the sweetness of ripe tomatoes. And it's great in a simple curry, like this one I'm about to drop on you.

Roasted Green Tomato Curry with Chickpeas and Brown Rice
Oil for the pan
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pinches red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons of your favorite curry powder or sambar (I used both)
2 cups roasted green tomato puree
4 cups water
3/4 cup brown rice
4 carrots, diced
1 large can of chickpeas
A dash of agave or other sweetener
Salt to taste

In a medium soup pot, saute the onion in oil until translucent, then add the garlic. Let that cook for a minute or two, then add the red pepper flakes and spices and cook a minute or two longer. Dump in the puree, water, rice, and carrots, and bring the whole mixture to a low boil. Turn the heat back to a simmer and do something else for awhile, while the rice cooks--say 25 minutes or so. Add chickpeas and simmer awhile longer. Taste for salt and sweetness and add agave and salt accordingly. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and some cilantro, if you have them on hand. If not, eat it straight up.

Fresh green tomatoes would probably work just fine in this. I'd just chop them and let them cook down with the onions, garlic, and spices for awhile before adding water and rice. This would also be great with some fresh spinach tossed in at the end, but then I'll put spinach in anything.

Picture to follow, when it's not pitch black outside. Siiiiigh--that's the bad thing about Falling Back.

ETA: here it is, in lunch form:


and with the rest of Mr. Bento:

Last weekend, the Brit asked me where we should go to get lunch and I said "somewhere where I can get a crapload of salads." My ideal refrigerator would be filled with combinations of beans and grains, veggies and vinaigrettes, fruits and nuts, olives and salty cheeses, and all I would have to do is scoop a bit of each one out onto a plate for instant meal mania. Unfortunately, sigh, I will only have that ideal fridge if I spend a bunch of money at the Whole Foods deli or make everything myself.



When I'm in the mood to make everything myself, this salad recipe from Anger Burger (which is a great read apart from the food stuff) is just the kind of thing I want to make. Hearty, light, tangy, full of delicious cilantro--and I'll just say right now that if you're cilantro-averse, move along right now; there's nothing for you here.



Sometime I'll make this exactly as the recipe says, but this time I used what I had on hand (which is, after all, what this blog is about). Here are my mods for this time around:

• In the absence of red peppers I used about a cup of grape tomatoes and a big shredded carrot. I realize they are not at all the same thing, but they did add a bit of sweetness and crunch.
  
• And I was scraping the bottom of my olive oil supply, so there's only 2/3 c in the dressing, which is just fine.
  
• I used agave instead of honey, and the dressing is just a bit too sweet for my taste, so I'm guessing I can cut down on the sweetener.
• I finished it with a squeeze of lime.
• And I'm eating it with lettuce, because our CSA started last Wednesday and I now feel intense pressure to eat a lot of greens. I think this particular variety is called "Frizzy Headed Drunken Woman," so I'm happy to eat it.
  

I didn't really learn to cook properly until I stopped eating meat, and I wouldn't have learned to cook very well at all without the Moosewood Cookbook (and its sequels). When I was a newly-minted vegetarian, Mollie Katzen's Gypsy Soup was one of the first recipes I ever tried, and my curried chickpea stew reminds me a lot of her recipe. Or maybe it's just a straight-up ripoff. You can decide. The Gypsy Soup recipe is also one of the only recipes I've ever managed to bollocks up twice in exactly the same way. That recipe calls for paprika; I inadvertently reached for cayenne, and the result was inedibly hot. (You'd think this would be a good argument for labeling your spice jars, but I still buy in bulk and go by smell.) My boyfriend at the time actually bought me two different fancy varieties of paprika after that, as a gently mocking gift--which reminds me, I really ought to buy more smoked paprika. It's delicious.

Anyway, you might call this a "stewp," since it starts out like soup and ends up like stew the longer it sits and absorbs the liquid. It's definitely more delicious the next day. And it is easily veganized, and goes great with nooch.

Curried Chickpea Stew
Olive oil for the pot
1 medium onion, diced
1 big carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3 fat cloves of garlic, minced
1 fat inch of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 big can of tomatoes
2 potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1 can chickpeas, or 1.5 cups cooked if you are a good planner
1/3 c quinoa (optional: I had this on hand and like it for the extra protein and texture.)
1-2 T curry powder (this depends on your taste and your curry powder. I added 2 T and it is a bit much.)
1/2 c plain yogurt/soy yogurt (optional, but tasty)
2 good plops of ketchup. You may judge all you want, but ketchup might be the magic secret ingredient here. You could also stir in some tomato paste and maybe a bit of honey or agave, but this does need a little something sweet.
A big handful (really, as much as you like) of dark greens (kale, collards, spinach), chopped

In a big soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and saute until onions are translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cook for a minute or two longer.

Dump in tomatoes, chickpeas, potatoes, quinoa, and curry powder, plus an extra cup or two of water (start with one; you can always add more later). When it starts to bubble, reduce the heat and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are tender. Taste the broth and add ketchup and salt to taste. Stir in the greens and cook until wilted. Add yogurt last of all. Taste to adjust the seasonings and serve with crusty bread.

This soup makes excellent leftovers, as evidenced by this picture:

Note the sad office lighting and industrial desk. At least the food is tasty!

Dear little food blog, I have missed you. I have taken many pictures of my food over the last few months, but these pictures have languished on my hard drive with no recipes to anchor them in the world of cooking. But it's spring now and time for a new leaf and all that, and I'm about to go unleash my latest creation on a crowd of assembled family members, so I thought I'd unleash it on you first.

What is a wheatberry, you may ask? A wheatberry is the whole dang kernel of wheat. You cook it like pretty much any whole grain: add water, boil, then simmer until the water is absorbed. Once cooked, it's chewy and nutty and delicious. It is also good for you. I used hard wheatberries, which are higher in protein and gluten, but soft would probably be fine too.



This salad has a mustardy vinaigrette and is studded with pear chunks, walnuts, currants, and celery, and topped with bleu cheese. If you want to keep it vegan, leave the cheese off and the salad is still super tasty. I know, because I tasted it at every stage.

Wheatberry Salad with Pears, Walnuts, and Arugula
1 1/2 cups hard wheatberries
4 1/2 cups water

Combine in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until the water is absorbed--about 50 minutes. While that's cooking, assemble the dressing.

2 T flaxseed oil
1/4 c olive oil
2 T maple syrup
2 T mustard
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
a pinch of dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together in a small bowl and set aside. Then prepare:

2 stalks of celery, diced
2 small ripe pears, cubed
2 handfuls of arugula, chopped
1 c walnuts (toast these first if you're fancy), chopped
1/2 c currants
1/2-3/4 c crumbled bleu cheese or gorgonzola

When the wheat is cooked and has cooled a bit, you can add the dressing right away and let the grains absorb the dressing until you're ready to put together the rest of the salad--before mealtime, or the next day, even. I did the grains the day before, and added the currants and dressing before popping it all into the fridge overnight. This helped to rehydrate the currants a bit.



About an hour before serving, mix in all the rest of the ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Let the whole thing come to room temp and enjoy.

(Update: the salad was duly housed by the whole family.)

We had a little going-away potluck for a friend last week and I volunteered to be in charge of the sweets, which is most unlike me. It's not that I dislike baking. What I don't like is how nearly-impossible it is to salvage baking mistakes, whereas cooking mistakes can usually be turned around with a little improvisation.

Fortunately, this cake was super-easy and possibly idiot-proof (and also praised by omnivores who love them some rich, fatty cake). It mixes quickly, bakes up beautifully, and goes down easy. I can't take credit for the recipe--it's just a slightly bastardized version of the Moosewood Restaurant's Deep Chocolate Vegan Cake--but of course I changed a few little things. There's half the sugar, less oil, more cocoa, and tons of deliciousness. I also think it would be amazing with cinnamon and cayenne pepper, or banana, and definitely with peanut butter frosting.



Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
3 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold brewed coffee
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9 X 13 cake pan--I used Spectrum spray with flour. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In another bowl, combine coffee, oil, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth, using a hand mixer to pump some air into the batter. Add the vinegar and stir to combine. The vinegar and baking soda will start to react immediately, so pour the batter into your prepared pan quickly. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center of the cake comes out clean.

While it's baking, why not whip up some easy chocolate-raspberry topping?

Chocolate-Raspberry Topping
(I hate the word "topping," but this is neither frosting nor glaze.)
1 cup or more raspberry fruit spread
1 cup or more bittersweet chocolate chips
A few tablespoons of water

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, warm the raspberry spread over low heat with a little bit of water, stirring until it is smooth. Add the chocolate chips and whisk until melted and thoroughly combined.

What you do next is up to you. Maybe you just want to take the sauce and go be alone with it. You could pour it directly on the (slightly cooled) cake, where it will fill in any cracks and drip down the sides. You could also chill it so that it thickens up, and then apply it to the cake more like a frosting.

I can also tell you that leftover chocolate-raspberry topping is excellent on plain, slightly salty wheat crackers.

I am still happily in the CSA's thrall, and last week's box had a big, beautiful purple cabbage in it. We're splitting our box with another couple, so I only brought home half the cabbage, but even so, it is a substantial vegetable and I still have about half of it left. Here are two ways I used it.

Stir Fry with Carrot "Noodles"
For the tofu:
A little oil for the pan
Soy sauce, tamari, or Braggs
1 pound of extra firm tofu, drained, pressed (if you have the time) and cubed

Heat the oil and soy sauce together over medium heat. Add tofu, toss to coat, and fry until golden on all sides. Set aside.

For the veg:
Half a medium onion, sliced
A cup (or so) of purple cabbage, sliced and diced or shredded
Half a head of broccoli, broken into florets. Please include the chopped broccoli leaves and the peeled and sliced stalks--they are delicious
Any other vegetables you have on hand
Sesame oil
Rice vinegar
Soy sauce

In your recently-vacated tofu pan, add a bit more oil (canola, peanut, etc) over medium-high heat and chuck in your onions to soften for a few minutes. Add cabbage and broccoli and toss to coat. As the vegetables start to fry and cook down, add a bit of water (like a tablespoon at a time) to encourage the vegetables to steam. Sprinkle with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

For the "noodles":
2 large carrots, made into noodles with a good old fashioned vegetable peeler. I just set the carrot down on my cutting board and peeled away, turning the carrot to hit all sides and keep the peelings from getting too wide. Snack on the pointy leftovers.

Just before the stir-fry vegetables are done, toss in your carrot noodles and let them wilt and incorporate into the mix. Add the tofu back in and garnish with chopped scallions, sesame seeds, and Sri Racha sauce.

This would also be delicious served with actual noodles, though you might need more sauce.


Thai Slaw
This is one of the prettiest things I've ever eaten. The part about it being Thai is bullshit, but at least you know what flavor profile I am trying to evoke.

2 cups shredded purple cabbage
2 grated carrots
1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 chopped scallions
a handful of chopped cilantro
chopped peanuts for garnish

For dressing:
Rice vinegar (cider vinegar would be just fine too, though you may want to adjust the flavors a bit)
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Sri Racha or other chili sauce
About a teaspoon of minced ginger (I have to admit that I bought a jar of this and it is extremely convenient, and inexpensive)

Mix together in pleasing proportions until you are satisfied. You can also dash in some balsamic and olive oil--this was left over in my cruet from the previous night's salad, and my "Thai" dressing mixed in to it deliciously. You want about a half cup of dressing for this amount of veg.

Mix all your vegetables together in a big bowl and feel free to adjust the proportions. Add the dressing and toss it all together. Voila! If you can let this sit and marinate for at least a half hour before serving, it will be much more delicious. Top with chopped peanuts.

(At this rate, it looks like I'm shooting for one post about every three weeks. That's a good way to please your vast readership, is it not?)

Unfortunately, my friends, it seems that summer has officially ended. September 1 rolled around and brought with it chilly evenings and blustery rain. Oh sure, today around 4 it was fabulous and perfect outside, to the point that running around the lake didn't feel like much of a chore at all. But I know that these days are numbered, and when the nights are chilly, a makeshift cook's thoughts turn to soup.

I've had potato soup on the brain for a few days, knowing that I'm a bit overloaded with potatoes at the moment and need to use them up. This soup whipped up quickly and easily with just a few ingredients and I can't stop eating it. Really, it's still on the stovetop and every time I walk past, I dip another half-scoop of it into my bowl. As soothing as mashed potatoes, but with the kick of jalapeno peppers and the sweetness of corn to keep things interesting.

Spicy Potato Corn Soup
Olive oil for the soup pot
One good-sized onion, diced
2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
4 smallish carrots, diced (or two large ones)
3 big gloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp of cumin
About 2 pounds of gold potatoes (I used 10 medium), peeled (or not, if you like) and cubed
About 6 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of frozen corn, though if you have fresh, by all means use it
Fresh oregano if you have it
A few handfuls of fresh spinach
2 scallions, chopped
Salt to taste

Chop your veg first. You are probably virtuous and you do this sort of prepping already, but too often I find myself having to chop another vegetable while I'm right in the middle of the cooking, and this recipe has a lot of potatoes which, between you and me, are a pain in the ass to peel and cube.

Then. Heat the oil in your soup pot and add the onions, jalapenos, and carrots. Saute until the onions are translucent and then add the garlic and cumin. Let that sizzle a few minutes more, and then chuck in your potatoes, stir to coat, and add the vegetable broth, which I suspect is what pulls this soup together. I made some from scratch awhile back and froze it, and this is what allows me to say smugly that making your own veggie stock is the way to go.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and let everything simmer until the potatoes are tender. At this point, use an immersion blender, blender, or old-school potato masher to puree some of the soup. If you forget to do this until later, like I did, the soup will still be delicious.

Add the corn and cook a bit longer. Last of all, add the fresh oregano, spinach, and scallions, stir it up, and turn the heat wayyyy down or off altogether. Salt to taste and let the soup stand for a few minutes to come together.

Serve with crusty bread, obviously.

There are lots of vegetarian and vegan Reuben recipes floating around out there, and most of them use tempeh. I am all for it because I totally dig tempeh, but sometimes you don't have any at home and you want a big sloppy sandwich anyway. A Reuben-esque sandwich, even, despite the fact that you're missing some of the key ingredients.

Enter the Veganomicon Chickpea Cutlet, which I have referred to numerous times and even bastardized once with kidney beans. Every time I make these, I intentionally make enough dough to keep a wad in the fridge for later frying. So I fried up some cutlets with my leftover dough.

Also, I had no sauerkraut, but I did have a hunk of cabbage, so I sauteed the cabbage with some thinly sliced onions and a splash of cider vinegar until it was soft and starting to brown and caramelize.

Here's what you'll need if you want to replicate this sandwich, which was eaten so quickly I couldn't get a picture of it:

Dark rye bread or other delicious bread of your choice
A chickpea cutlet the size of your bread (google the recipe, which has been passed around the interwebs many a time)
Swiss cheese (or not)
Sauteed cabbage or sauerkraut
Thinly sliced green peppers, which I love on this kind of sandwich
Prepared Russian dressing or your own concoction of vegan mayo, ketchup, pickle relish, and horseradish, all mixed up together

Grill the bread in a little olive oil or butteresque fatty fat. Layer the cheese and cutlets on one piece of bread and cook over low heat until melted. Remove to a plate and pile on the rest of the ingredients. Eat with a knife, fork, and french fries.

My cooking and eating life have been completely consumed by the CSA box lately. The CSA box more or less dictates what I eat, and it's been really nice. But it's also been a lot of salads and slaw and stir-fried veg and sauteed greens with pasta, and not so much creative recipe action. Did you know you can eat pretty much any vegetable top sauteed if not raw? It's true. Here are some novel greens I have eaten in the last few weeks:

-Kohlrabi
-Radish
-Carrot
-Broccoli
-Cauliflower

I weep for all of the supermarket vegetables, denuded of their greens, and I weep for the many years I was too dumb to think of cooking and eating the greens attached to my vegetables. I'm telling you, you can eat just about anything sauteed in olive oil with garlic and some red pepper flakes and salt and pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon.

In non-CSA ingredient news, I whipped up the following brilliant little snack a few weeks ago:

I've made green pea hummus two ways: with and without chickpeas. If you want a completely raw snack, do all peas; if you enjoy the chickpea action, use half chickpeas and half green peas. It's delicious either way, and a little lighter, sweeter, and springier than traditional hummus.

Green Pea Hummus
2 cups frozen green peas, thawed (I just soaked them in water for 15 minutes or so), or fresh ones if you're lucky and industrious (the shelling, you know)
2-3 tablespoons raw tahini
2 small minced cloves of garlic, or more to taste
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
a sprinkle of cayenne
olive or flaxseed oil as needed--not mandatory, but rather tasty and smooth

Whip it all up in a blender and serve with veggies, crackers, or your fingers.

Hat tip to What the hell does a vegan eat, anyway, for depicting a version of this dish and sending me on an internet quest for more information.

Turns out not much information is needed. This is a one-pot meal with potatoes, pasta, green beans, and pesto. I added olive tapenade and Gimme Lean snausage for extra flava.



Pasta Genovese
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 ounces of pasta (a short cut of pasta--I used farfalle)
A few handfuls of green beans (I used frozen)
As much pesto as you need--at least 3 tablespoons, I'd say
Tapenade if you have it, or some chopped kalamata olives
Gimme Lean sausage, or your favorite alternative

Bring a big pot of water to a boil and then salt it. Add potatoes and cook until tender but holding their shape. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.

While this is going on, heat a bit of oil in a saute pan and add your veggie sausage in little plops and cook until nicely browned.

About 3 minutes before the pasta is scheduled to be done, add the green beans. If you're using frozen, add them a bit at a time, so you don't interfere with the water boiling.

When everything is done, drain in a fine colander, reserving some of the cooking water. I didn't actually need any, but it's a good thing to have on hand in case your pasta plus adornments seems a bit dry or sticky. Pour the pasta mixture into a bowl and stir in the pesto and olives/tapenade and sausage. If cheese is your thing, add some parmesan too. Salt (if needed) and pepper to taste and chow down.

It's been the week of the chickpea here at the makeshift kitchen. Several days ago I cooked up a huge batch with no real plan for them, but it's been nice to have cooked beans on hand to use as I wish (and with which to make yet more Chickpea Cutlets). I just cooked an even larger batch of aduki/adzuki/azuki beans, so stay tuned as I explore their manifold uses.

Anyway, this slaw thing just sort of came to me after I shredded a bit of beet for a variation on the house salad the other day. I love beets in all forms, but I have to say I haven't done a lot of raw beet goodness apart from the occasional trip to a juice bar (my favorite: carrot apple beet juice with lots of ginger). This recipe totally remedies that situation. It also made use of an old-ass apple I had in the fridge. You know that one apple? It's gotten a little too wrinkly to eat as a snack, but you only have one of them, so you don't want to make applesauce? Here's one way to use that apple.



Carrot Apple Beet Slaw with Chickpeas
Mix up a vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil
a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
a healthy plop of dijon mustard
a few squirts of Braggs Liquid Aminos (or plain old soy sauce)
1/2 tsp of thyme
1/2 tsp basil

Whisk together in a medium bowl and add 2 cups cooked chickpeas. Let that all mellow together and work on your veggies.

2 large carrots, grated
1 medium beet, grated
(Note: I just scrubbed the veggies really well instead of peeling. They're organic and there's good stuff in the skin, you dig?)
1 apple, peeled and grated
1 rib celery, chopped, including the leafy bits, why not?
1 scallion, chopped

Mix it all together with the vinaigrettey chickpeas, add salt if you need it, and garnish with black pepper and pumpkin or sunflower seeds or serve over lettuce.

I used to make this stuff all the time, especially when I lived by myself, and have no idea why it fell out of rotation because it's the easiest meal ever, endlessly adaptable to whatever you have on hand. The only thing you really need is chickpeas.

Chickpea Hash
Olive oil
1-2 smashed and diced cloves of garlic
A big pinch of chili flakes
A few big pinches of dried basil
A can of chickpeas, or a cup and a half of cooked ones
One big quartered and sliced zucchini
A few big handfuls of fresh spinach, chopped

Saute the garlic and herbs in olive oil. Add chickpeas and toss to coat, then add zucchini and cook until tender. Throw in spinach and saute another minute, just til wilted. Salt and serve. That's it.



The next day, I added to the leftovers a cup of frozen corn (cooked), a chopped fresh tomato, and a sliced Quorn cutlet. And some baguettes on the side, from the New French Bakery.



Chickpea Hash is also great with crumbled tofu, veggie sausage (cook separately and mix into saute), diced bell peppers (raw or cooked), a little chopped onion, salsa, chili powder and oregano instead of basil, feta cheese, etc. GO NUTS.

I made this bomb-ass salad for Mother's Day potluck and it disappeared before I could photograph it, as did my Veganomicon Curried Carrot Dip.

Sesame Ginger Rice Salad
Pop 1.5 cups of brown rice into your rice cooker.

Meanwhile, start pressing the water out of a brick of tofu (wrap in a clean, lint-free towel or paper towels, set on a plate, and put another plate and a can of beans on top of it).

Meanwhile, clean a small head of broccoli and steam the florets until just tender, about 5 minutes. Peel all the fibrous stuff off the stalk of the brocc and slice thin. I left these raw for extra crunch.

Meanwhile, whisk together:
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp grated ginger
1 minced clove of garlic
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
A few shakes of red pepper flakes

Meanwhile, you can chuck your chopped brocc stalks in there. Also grate a carrot while you're at it, and throw it into the dressing.

Meanwhile, your tofu is pressed (but your rice is still cooking). Heat a little veg oil and soy sauce in a non-stick pan, cube your tofu, and fry the cubes until golden and delicious.

Meanwhile, chiffonade some spinach--a few handfuls, including the stems which you will chop into little pieces. Chop a few scallions while you're at it.

Combine everything when the rice is cooked and serve room temperature, if you can wait that long.

I accidentally got a subscription to Bon Appetit, which is less a cooking magazine and more a lifestyle magazine, although really what magazine ISN'T a lifestyle rag? What happened was, I bought something from Amazon's home and garden section and got to choose a free magazine. The last freebie I got was Domino and I have had enough of rolling my eyes at that particular wad of advertorial, so I opted for recipes instead.

So far there's little of real use in Bon Appetit, but this little recipe for Ground Coriander and Cilantro Flatbreads caught my eye because it looked super-easy AND I had an overabundance of plain yogurt that needed to be used. I altered it a bit because I didn't have any cilantro, but damn I bet it would be delicious. Just sub cilantro for parsley. Bon Appetit also calls for whole milk yogurt; use it if you have it, but lowfat worked fine too.

Coriander Flatbreads
1 1/2 cups (or more) AP flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
3/4 cup (or more) plain yogurt
Olive oil (for frying)

Sift dry ingredients together. Stir in fresh herbs. Add yogurt and moosh together with a fork until dough starts to clump together. Then knead in the bowl, adding more flour or yog as necessary, until you have a soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for a minute. Divide into 8 pieces, roll into balls, and then roll out with a rolling pin (or my favorite makeshift, a wine bottle). Heat a generous plop of olive oil at medium high heat in a non-stick skillet and fry the breads three at a time until golden and puffed, about 3 minutes per side.

I made the soup to go with it on a day when I really felt like I had no food in the house. It just goes to show you how pampered and silly I am, because look at the bountiful soup I came up with! I think I'm just craving copious farmer's market veg and we're not quite there yet, weather-wise.

Curried Red Lentil Soup
Olive oil for the pot
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp garam masala or curry powder
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 cups red lentils
1 large sweet potato, cubed
8 cups of water
Fresh spinach (frozen is fine too)
Salt to taste

Rinse and pick over the lentils, discarding any foreign objects (duh). Drain in a fine sieve/colander.

Heat the olive oil in your soup pot at medium-high heat. Add onions and spices (feel free to improvise), and saute until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook a bit longer. Add sweet potatoes and stir to coat with spices. Dump in the can of tomatoes, lentils, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until lentils are tender and sweet potatoes are cooked through (20-25 minutes). Blend some or all of the soup in your blender or with an immersion mixture (optional). Return to pot, add chopped fresh spinach, and cook just until wilted. Salt to taste.

Serve with brown rice or all by itself, and definitely eat flatbreads.

I spotted some bags of home-grown sour cherries in the co-op freezer last week and grabbed a bag, even though I had no real plans for them. I thought I'd dump some in my green smoothies (which I just now remembered thinking about, so obviously I haven't done it yet), but instead I busted them out for a little dessert tonight.

Tart Cherry-Pear Crisp
For the filling:
About 5 cups of fruit (frewit). Peel, core, and cube the pears (I used two fat ones) and make sure your cherries are pitted.
1/4 cup of packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp cornstarch

For the crumbly stuff:
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup ground almonds (trying to use up my nut pulp. Nut pulp!)
1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance
2 tbsp soaked flax seeds (I was trying to use these up also)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix fruity ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Mix crumbly ingredients in another bowl with your hands until the butter stuff is incorporated and all is crumbly. Dump fruit into 8 X 8 X 2 baking dish and top with crumble, making sure it's all covered. Bake for 40 minutes.

This was totally delicious but needed ice cream. Also more buttery stuff in the crumble, or maybe some oil. Something fatty, in any case. Still, I ate it:


Also for breakfast, with yogurt:


Next time I shall amp up the fruit, fat, and ginger content.

It hardly seems worthwhile to post a recipe for something as adaptable and easy as miso soup, but I'm home sick today with a head full of snot (bon appetit!) and all kinds of aches and pains and miso soup is one of the only things I reliably want to eat when I feel crappy. It also uses stuff I always have in my kitchen and requires minimal preparation, which is perfect when you really only have the energy to lie on the couch and maybe moan a bit.



Miso Soup
For the broth:
2 cups or so of water, just off the boil
1 plop of miso, to taste--I use about a tablespoon
A squirt of Sri Racha or other Asian hot sauce, to taste
A dollop of sesame oil

For the soup's insides:
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp of fresh ginger, minced
1/2 a brick of firm tofu, cubed
A little oil for the pan
Veggies: shredded carrots, scallions, bean sprouts, chopped spinach, chopped romaine, or whatever your sickly heart desires. Today I used spinach, carrots, and romaine.
Sesame seeds

Heat your water (in a teapot is best!) and heat the oil over medium-high heat in a saute pan. Add ginger and garlic and cook for a bit, then pat your tofu dry and chuck that in the pan too. Sprinkle a little soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos on the tofu, if you like (I like).

Meanwhile, chop your veggies into sweet little bits. When the water is hot, pour it into your biggest soup bowl and dissolve the miso in it. Add Sri Racha and sesame oil (if you have it). Stir well and taste it to ensure its deliciousness. Finally, scrape your saute pan into the broth and top with veggies and sesame seeds.

This is also delicious with noodles, obvs.

I wanted to make something savory for tonight's gathering--again, without visiting the grocery store--so I whipped up this dippy-dip based on what I had on hand, which is really what The Makeshift Cook is all about.

Pesto Bean Dip
1 can white beans--I had soybeans, so that's what I used, mostly drained
1 bunch fresh basil (about 1/2 cup, super-packed), roughly chopped
1 small zucchini, grated
1 clove garlic, pressed/minced
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
Fresh lemon juice and zest to taste
Salt and pepper ditto

Dump the beans and olive oil into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add other ingredients one at a time until incorporated. Feel free to add more olive oil or lemon juice as needed to get the texture you want. I used a blender, so I probably erred on the side of more liquid.

I swirled this together with the tail end of some delicious olive tapenade my sister brought me a few weeks ago (using up leftovers!!).

This stuff gives you the pesto flava without quite so much pesto fat, plus it has sneaky vegetables in it! Dip crackers, vegetables, pita chips, or your face into it.

BONUS: I used the leftovers as part of a pasta sauce. Leftovers in my house know who's boss.

There is a gathering of the ladies tonight, and the Buckeyes a la Kickpleat I made for the clothing swap a few weeks ago were specifically requested. I love these particular ladies, so I am willing to do a bit of manual labor to deliver the treats they desire. However, I was low on crunchy peanut butter and only have Kashi Go Lean cereal, and wanted to avoid making a special grocery store run, since I feel like I'm constantly food shopping. AND I made another batch of almond milk today and have all of this nut pulp (another hilarious nut-related phrase) left over. There was also some date soaking water, which is sweet and syrupy, and that needed to be used up. So I decided to combine all of my seeming problems into a single solution.

I'm glass half-full, it's true.

I don't recommend making this recipe modification I'm about to drop on you unless you've just made some almond milk and have a bunch of ground up, squeezed out almond stuff left over. Or I suppose you could pulse your own almonds into meal status, but I can think of better things to do with almonds. I spread the nut pulp out on a sheet and dried it out in the oven at the lowest setting for about an hour before adding it to the mixture.

I also cut the amount of sugar by more than half, and that definitely affects the texture. I found that I needed something to soak up all the delicious fat, so I chucked in some oat bran and coconut. I'd probably skip the coconut if I do this again. It really starts to make this taste aggressively like a healthy treat.

ALSO, I had some chocolate problems. My little chips melted just fine, but the chocolate was so thick I knew I was going to run out. So I tried to thin it with soymilk and the chocolate seized up and became unmeltable. I ended up laying a veneer of it on top of the balls, which was actually far less messy than the dip/roll technique. It tasted exactly the same--it just wasn't glossy.

Overall, an experiment with mixed results. But here's the recipe anyway.

Chocolate Salty Balls with Almond Meal
1 cup natural crunchy peanut butter, room temperature
1/3 cup Earth Balance, ditto
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons date soaking water, if you happen to have any--otherwise just skip or add more powdered sugar to taste
1 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal, crunched up so that the long twiggy bits are nice and small
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups melted semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 tsp cinnamon (if you like)

Mix everything but the chocolate together in about that order. Roll into 1 inch balls and stick in the freezer to firm up (at least an hour). Melt the chocolate, but don't let it get too hot. Mix in the cinnamon. Dip/roll the balls in the chocolate and line them up on a tray for refreezing. They don't need to stay in the freezer particularly long--just long enough for the chocolate to harden thoroughly.

This version is less Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, more Hippie at a Potluck. It may not be the treat the ladies requested, exactly, but tis still delicious.

I'm experimenting with more raw and vegan foods these days, which has led to some new recipes, which is always good times. Last week I tried making my own Almond Milk from a recipe at happy foody and while I'm not sure I'm a total convert, it was super-easy. I used soaked dates to sweeten and good old fashioned gauze fabric to strain (since I don't own a nutbag, and seriously, how do people not laugh hysterically whenever they think about, mention, or use a nutbag? NUTBAG!!), and it worked just fine.

This almond milk has a thin texture that won't be a surprise to anyone who drinks rice milk, but it is thinner than the commercial almond milk I've tried. This doesn't really bother me. I'm also not sure it's more cost-effective than buying almond milk, at least if you're using organic almonds. But it certainly makes less waste and isn't really a drain on your time, so why not?

So far I'm liking it best on cereal and in smoothies. I haven't figured out yet what to do with the leftover pulp--maybe make a tart crust of some kind? Also, who knew that soaking almonds would make them so juicy and delicious? You might try that (with raw almonds, that is), even if nut milk (ALSO a hilarious phrase) doesn't interest you.

Sorry; I'm immature.

Local co-op Mississippi Market has a few housemade treats that I get on a pretty regular basis: the vegan muffaletta, which is fresh and delicious, and the curried lentil-rice salad, which is full of curry goodness. I've been meaning to try my hand at replicating this recipe for ages, and I finally got around to it recently, with reasonable success. The main difference between mine and the co-op's is that mine was drier, even though I kept whipping up extra dressing and adding it in. I guess I'm condemned to buying and eating more of their salad in the service of stealing their recipe.

Curried Lentil-Rice Salad
1 cup rice
1 cup french green lentils
Half a head of cauliflower
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup currants
1/2 an onion, minced
3/4 cup cashews

Get the rice cooking and cook the lentils in a few cups of water until they are tender but not mushy. Break the cauliflower into little florets and lightly steam them--again, mush is not welcome here.

Then attack the dressing. Whisk together:

1/4 cup olive oil (the market's ingredient listing also uses peanut oil, but I didn't have any)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar--again, didn't have any on hand)
1 tsp of good quality curry powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
A healthy plop or two of apricot fruit spread. In fact, eyeball all of these measurements, because I was completely playing it by ear. The dressing looked like this when I made it:


Dump the currants into the dressing to rehydrate a bit. Get to chopping your veg, if you haven't already. I also whisked the onion into the dressing, to mellow it out a little bit. When the rice and lentils are cooked and cooled slightly, mix them together with the cauliflower and bell peppers. Pour on your delicious dressing, add chopped cashews, and salt to taste.


It was imperfect, but I ate this every day for a week. Serve room temperature or cold.