Zucchini Pappardelle Salad

Hey all! Just returned from a glorious weekend in NYC, to catch the last night of the Scissor Sisters tour supporting their new album, "Magic Hour." if you haven't done so, check it out, it a keeper.

Thankfully one of the things I haven't been doing these days is a lot of shopping, one of the reasons the blog has been a little quiet. Here in New England, it has been in the 90's, sometimes close to 100 for the last couple of weeks, and frankly, cooking hasn't seemed like a good idea. I've been relying on salads, and the occasional simple stir-fry most of the time. Mixing things up, keeping some nuts or garbanzo beans handy for protein. Also, don't underestimate the satiation power of a hummus and tomato sandwich or wrap on a hot day. Simple, simple, simple, low maintenance, low cost, and low drama.

Another change in my routine has been the incorporation of the CSA into my weekly meal plan, so depending on which veggies or fruits are included in each week's cornucopia, has been dictating what's going in my belly. Last night I whipped up a fresh, raw salad that I think you'll just love. It took about 10 minutes to prepare, and incorporates a bunch of great favors, luckily enough, most of it was hanging out in my pantry!

Raw Zucchini Pappardelle (props to Kai Hersher and Nourishing Habits for turning me on to this one!)

3-4 zucchini or summers quash
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
Seasonal fresh herbs to taste
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup of raw almonds
Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
A splash of raw cider vinegar

Feel free to mix and match quantities, or make additions or subtractions, that's the beauty of salad, isn't it? This just happened to be what was in my version last night, the herbs I used were basil, sage, and oregano from my garden.

The only real instruction here is this: peel the squash, discard the dark outer peels. Then, using your peeler, continue to peel long, wide "noodles" into a large bowl, until you get down to the seeds, at which point stop and move on to the next squash or zucchini. Give your sun dried tomatoes and your olives a medium sized chopping, toss everything in the bowl, mix and enjoy. If you don't like it, the don't enjoy it.




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Location:Madison, CT

The day we thought would never come

Rest assured, dear blogophiles, wherever you may be, that the strange things happening around you are only temporary. For instance, if while enjoying your morning coffee you glanced up at the sky to see a pig swooping gracefully through the clouds, don't be alarmed. If you were struck by the beautiful chartreuse color of the noonday sky, don't panic. If the mainstream news media began broadcasting things people might actually need to know, rest assured that there is a simple, succinct and easily identifiable explanation for this somewhat feathery-ruffly chain of events: my father ate vegan food last night. Without being asked. And he liked it.




This handsome fellow is trepidaciously, but under no form of duress, sampling vegan French onion soup, by dipping a toasted baguette with melted "mozzarella" into the broth. He is doing this before helping himself to a large soup mug full of the stuff. We can't see what is behind him in the picture, I know, however rest assured that all our firearms are locked safely in our basement arsenal, and there is in fact, no gun held to his head.

This is a moment that those of us familiar with my dad would take as assure sign that there may be some credibility to the Mayan calendar theory, and begin preparing for the end.

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Location:Madison, CT

Vegan Grilled Cheese???

Hello Blogosphere! And greetings to new readers in Germany, Hong Kong, and New Zealand! I hope you'll continue to check out Orbiting Vegan for all that's best in vegan food, nutrition, and the occasional literary departure from reality, or foray into wild abandon. And of course a dubious relationship with the onion.

Speaking of onions, they figure semi-prominently in today's entry, but I'll get to that shortly. They say never keep an onion waiting, I say, if they don't like it, throw them to the Clomes.

Ok, getting vaguely serious, one of the people who keeps popping up mysteriously in this blog is my father. Mysterious because, quite frankly, he generally won't touch anything I cook with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. And if I characterize my diet these days as "orbiting" vegan, he has his own gravitational pull, and is generally encircled by the "four food groups": ground beef, chocolate ice cream, diet soda, and rippled potato chips.

One of my clients (Hi Anna!) turned me on to a great new cookbook, Vegan Cooking for Carmivores, by Roberto Martin. Martin is notably the personal chef of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi, both vegan, however Martin himself was not vegan when he took the job.

He enters with a unique perspective, and one of the primary aims of the book is to create recipes that resemble the comfort foods you love, and substitute vegan alternatives. Having really only leafed through it at this point, my major criticism is that he frequently makes use of faux meats, soy products such as tofu, so there are some ingredients that are a step or two further from the source than the purists among us would prefer. That said, we all know I believe in moderation, so some gardein beef less beef tips here and there don't really bother me. To be honest, I have yet to try a vegan "meat" product that was truly exceptional, and so I prefer my vegetables do not burden themselves with aspiring to be animals.

I bought this book, However, with an agenda, namely, preparing something that looks, smells and tastes so good that my dad won't be able to resist it. I frequently offer, but never push, and frankly, as his child, I have enough insight into how he thinks to know that if he's going to try something new, he needs to choose it himself. Frankly, I think he walks into our kitchen these days and wonders what on earth he's going to live on with all this actual food taking up so much space. Ah, the generation gap.

I the spirit of this agenda, dinners for the next entire week will be taken directly from Martin's book, and my hope is that something will at the very least raise an eyebrow or perhaps flare a nostril or two.

I began with Martin's variation on grilled cheese. I'll have to make this one again later in the week, because by the time I got home from the store, it was well past dinner hour, but I was starving so I had dinner at 9:30 anyway. This "grilled cheese for grown ups" involves making a simple, and much to my chagrin, succulent red onion jam, and a healthy serving of baby arugula.

Here's the Jam Biz:

1 tbsp high heat oil (I used sunflower oil, safflower or grapeseed are also good. Olive oil bad, it has a low smoke point, so in this instance it's not really your friend.)
2 red onions sliced thin (the thinner the better, if you have a good mandolin, break that sucker out!)
1/2 tsp kosher salt (I used sea salt)
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp fresh rosemary (right from my garden!) minced
2 tbsp balsamic
2 tbsp agave

Making the jam takes a bit longer than I would prefer to wait, at what was for me about three hours past dinner time, but was well worth it. As prep goes, the hardest part was chopping the onion. Ps, if you are like me, aside from being devilishly handsome, you are also probably extra prone to tearing up in the presence of raw onions. Slicing open a citrus fruit and keeping it on your cutting board will help to neutralize the onion's "mace factor.".

Heat a large, deepish pan on high heat, then add the oil, then add the onions when the oil is hot. Throw in your salt, pepper, and rosemary, and continue to cook on high heat for a few minutes. Keep stirring and do not walk away, kitchens burn down this way. That's a funny story for another day. Turn down the heat to lowish-medium and let the onions continue to cook until they are all well carmelized and soft (15-20 minutes.). Then, add balsamic and agave, remove from heat and let those puppies cool down. Reserve about a tablespoon for each sandwich, then you can store the rest in the fridge.

Here's the sandwich biz:

4 slices of whole wheat bread
2 tsp vegan butter
Dijon mustard
Red onion jam
1 plum tomato (sliced and paper-towel dried)
Sliced vegan cheddar cheese (Martin prefers "follow your heart" brand, but I found a vegan cheddar not made from soy or rice, but from almonds. This was far and away the best cheddar substitute I've purchased or made myself. I will update with the brand name in the near future.)
8 oz baby arugula

One the onion jam is made, the rest is a cake walk. Perhaps a flourless, eggless, gluten-free cake walk?

Butter two slices of bread, and spread Dijon mustard on the other two, add the jam, tomato slices, cheese and arugula, in that order, on top of the Dijon. Then, top the sandwich with the buttered bread, butter side facing up.

Preheat a large frying pan with a lid, lowish-medium, in fact, if the pan you used for the jam still seems clean enough, just go ahead and use that, any residual flavor will just get soaked up by the bread. Melt the rest of the butter, and put the sandwiches in the pan. Cover. After 4 or 5 minutes, check the bottom for loveliness. In this case, loveliness equals a copper tone golden brown. Then carefully flip the sandwiches over, and cook until the other side achieves an equal state of loveliness.

Then eat them. You could let them cool for a minute or two, but I was so hungry at that point I was willing to risk burning the roof of my mouth in the name of facilitating the movement of these sandwiches from the plate to my belly.







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Location:Madison, CT

Key Lime Goodness

Many of you may have seen the pic I posted last week on twitter @orbitingvegan, of these delicious mini-key lime pies. If you don't follow me on twitter, what are you waiting for? I try to retweet articles and information that I think my readers will enjoy, as well as post the occasional pic when I don't have time to sit down and compose an entire blog entry.

Anywho, I've made this dish before, several times, but it occurs to me that I never shared an actual recipe on this blog. You can find a plethora of easy to make recipes for this dish online if you google "raw key lime pie" or "avocado key lime pie." at this point, I tend to fudge the details a little bit if I don't have quite enough this or a little too much that. Make sure your this and that are both raw, vegan and organic please!

Here's how I did it this time:
For the crust:
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of Brazil nuts
1 cup of dried, unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup of pitted dates (remember the nice thing about this recipe is how forgiving it is, and how unrelentingly fabulous the end result is anyway! Most "crust" recipes call for macadamias, but I didn't have any so I used brazil nuts. Easy peasy, George n' Ouisy.)

Blend in the vitamix until you have a well mixed, doughy mixture. Then "flour" a pie tin, or in this case some individual sized dessert saucers, with a little more coconut, and smooth the crust evenly inside each one. I will admit, the brazil nuts seemed to produce a bit of excess oil, but it didn't affect the taste. The crust has a sweet taste and a cookie dough texture, and of course eating it brings memories childhood, stealing a bit of cookie dough from the mixing bowl, or licking the leftover frosting off the beater. It healthy, delicious, and makes you feel like you're getting away with something, what could be better!?!?


For the filling:
6 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted (if you have a vitamix, you can throw the halves right in, if you're using a less powerful apparatus, you'll probably want to give the avocados a healthy dicing.)
1 cup Agave (more or less depending on how sweet, or how tart you like your key lime pie)
1 cup key lime juice (see above, key lime is nice but not crucial if you can't get it, regular lime juice will work too.)
Zest of one lime
1 mango, diced (we all have a method for peeling and slicing mangoes, don't we? I'll share mine as an afterthought.)
1 tbsp coconut oil (this helps bind the mixture.)

Into the mighty, mighty Vitamix it goes, and in about a minute you should have a lovely smooth key lime mixture with a warm pudding consistency. Spoon the filling evenly into the saucers, and refrigerate to solidify the crust and thicken the filling. This should happen quite nicely with about 40 minutes of refrigeration.

If you're traveling with these, I'd pop them in the freezer to make easier, and far less messy work of the transport, and then defrost and garnish at your destination. I chose mint, lemon balm, and lemon verbena from my herb garden as accents, and little cocktail umbrellas from the craft store for a hint of whimsy.

Here's a couple shots! Don't they look great?!








As for mango peeling, I like to turn the mango on its side lengthwise, then make a cut just to the left and right of the longest part of the center, this will yield a nice thick hemispherical slab, and you'll avoid crashing into the pit with your knife. Take one slab, and carefully slice a checkerboard into the flesh, going just deep enough to touch the skin, but not enough to cut through it. From there it's a simple matter of inverting the skin, and sliding your fingers in between the cubes of mango you've just cut, to gently peel them off the skin.

Then you can cut any residual flesh off the stone piecemeal, but you've made short work of the bulk of the mango!

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Location:Madison, CT

The Onion---Nature's occasionally tasty red-headed stepchild

Greetings from New England! As you may know, especially if you are local, late spring is a strange time for the natives. One day it's chilly, the sky is gray, and the words "traffic jam" might sound at first, to many of us, like something we would spread on toast. Then, on the last full weekend of May, as of out of nowhere, interstate 95 becomes a parking lot from DC to Boston, the temperature jumps ten degrees overnight, and you can't order a coffee at your local Starbucks without someone being rude to you, and I might add, it is never the person behind the counter.

My point is, after memorial day weekend, we transition instantly from being the kind of place where you can hear a seagull sneeze half a mile away, to the The kind of place where all you can hear is the constant verbal diarrhea of Rich New Yorkers with an overblown sense of entitlement flapping their tongues, complaining about the noise. Anyway, we can overcharge them for everything, so I guess it works out in the end. Life has been busy.

The Premier CSA pickup of the season included some fantastic fresh veggies, namely strawberries, spinach, lettuce, sugar snap peas, and an entire basil plant. This weeks pickup is tonight, and I still have the lettuce to get through from last week. So, all in all, it's proving thus far to be a good investment, although it can be a challenge to fit copious amounts of leafy greens into the fridge.

So, aside from the obvious conclusion that strawberry and spinach salads have figured quite prominently on my dinner menu for the last several nights, I have cooked up a few things I want to share! The first of which being grilled Cipollini Onions, which I served spooned over Fingerling potatoes and Haricots Verts with Lemon Dill Dressing. Both recipes come from what I sometimes mistake for my right hand, Terry Walters "Clean Food." Conveniently enough they are on adjacent pages of the book, so two seagulls with one stone. Or depending on your mood, New Yorkers.

For the Onions:
Cipollini Onions, as many as you like
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (if you don't have an extra virgin just use the one you have)
Lemon Zest and Juice
Coarse sea salt

Grill the onions with their outer skins on until they are soft and charred on the outside. I used skewers to keep them together but I suppose you could just thrown them on the grill higgledy-piggledy (a real mess!) if you want to work much harder for no reason. Many people do, you know you just thought of someone specific as soon as I said it.

When they are cool enough to touch, discard the outer layer of skin, and dress them with the other ingredients.

I spooned these over the fingerling potatoes and Haricots Verts, here's the biz:
2 pounds fingerling potatoes
2 pounds Haricots Verts (aka green beans. If there is a real difference, I welcome someone to explain it to me)

For the dressing:
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (at this point of course, if you didn't have an extra Virgin on hand, you're out of luck now)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (at least, I like it a bit tart to contrast with the virgin.)
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

If I need to explain how to make the dressing, this may not be the blog for you.
To prepare the rest, steam the potatoes until they are just a hair from lovely, add the green beans and steam an additional few moments until the beans are thoroughly embarrassed. Put them in a large bowl, add the dressing, toss around a bit to coat and serve. Once again, the onions made a nice complement to this dish and I simply spooned them over top of it, lemon zest and all.







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Location:Madison, CT

Coming soon!!

Sorry I've been quiet for the last week or so! Still cooking up a storm and can't wait to share some new recipes and ideas with you!!

Also, Bishops Orchards CSA begins on Tuesday, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's included in the first bundle of fresh fruits and veggies!! The other exciting aspect of this is a real education about what's in season throughout the spring and summer, and how that will influence my meal planning!

I also want to share some other ideas, musings on wellness, and of course personal anecdotes as well as departures from results that are completely absurd(like the republican party.)

Be Well, still orbiting!!

Michael


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Eggplant rolls with Tapenade

It has often been said that a meal without an eggplant is like a chainsaw without a rainbow, and I couldn't agree more. Eggplant is not for everyone, and it seems to fall into the category of foods that people either love or hate. If you love it, you know there's a lot to love, if you hate it, who asked you anyway?

Eggplant was invented by Lord Alfred Eggplant in 2003, and was, like all fashionable vegetables, only available to those with an Overblown sense of entitlement. . In this enlightened modern age, however, we have transcended such oppression, and eggplant is freely available to the masses.

Traditionally, my favorite thing to do with eggplant was bread it, fry it, smother it with ricotta cheese, homemade tomato sauce, and mozzarella. Often I find myself involved in verbose detail describing what turn out to be very simple recipes on this blog. Rest assured this is exactly the opposite. Making eggplant Parmesan is a full day process, if not a two day process. That is why when I would make it, I would make enough to share with everyone I know, and set aside about a weeks worth of meals for myself.

To those of you gasping for air at the mention of real cheese, this entry is not, I repeat NOT, about Eggplant Parmesan. I was just going off on a tangent, as I tend to do, it's part of my charm. Deal with it. Although, speaking of tangents, I did buy a very tasty vegan mozzarella cheese at Whole Foods last week, just to try. It wasn't quite the real thing, but it was a totally satisfactory facsimile. It even melts. Who knew?

Some of you have probably guessed at what I want to talk about today is "Eggplant Rolls with Tapenade," and if you we're one of those people, good eye! The long introduction will be more than made of for by the brevity of the actual details. Ready?

Biz:
3 largish eggplants
Olive oil for brushing

For the tapenade:
8 oz green olives (I used green olives, you could use kalamata olives instead, honestly, the only thing I would seriously avoid would be black olives from a can.)
3 tbsp of capers, drained
2-3 cloves of garlic
A few pigs of fresh parsley, stems removed (in truth, parsley stems are not really very woody or substantial, and I don't see why you wouldn't just throw them in as well. In fact, that's exactly what I did. One of the big joys in life comes from the having the confidence to say "balls!" to the little things that don't make sense to you. I you're right, it can be strangely validating, and if you're wrong, eh, you learned the hard way, but the worst of it was a crunchy stem in the tapenade. I do not suggest taking this approach to the operation of heavy machinery, blowtorches, motor vehicles, karaoke, congressional appointment, gymnastics, or online shopping. However, indirect observation seems to indicate its a perfectly acceptable way to parent a child.)
3 tbsp olive oil
Lemon juice to taste
A splash of tabasco if you're feeling frisky

Cut the ends off the eggplant and slice it longways into 1/4" slices. If you have a kickass mandolin, that might work. If you have a mediocre one, such as I do, you will just end up with a mangled eggplant and you're better off with a steady hand and a sharp knife. If you don't have any of the above, simply ask one of your servants to do it for you and I'm sure they'll oblige. No servants? I'm out of ideas.

Brush the slices on both sides with olive oil, lightly, or else the result will be quite oily. Broil them for a few minutes on aside. The recipe, which incidentally came from Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian, suggests five minutes on a side. I am here to tell you that my broiler disagrees, and they were quite ready to be flipped around 2-3 minutes. Leave them in to long and they become too soft to work with.

To make the tapenade, get out your food processor, and either blend the olives capers and garlic, then add the rest and blend some more, or just throw caution irreverently to the wind and dump it all in there at the outset! I'm a bit of a trivial daredevil, you see.

Spread the tapenade thinly on the eggplant slices, roll them up and they're good to go. I actually made these to share with my friends at Bodymind Thai Massage, as a well-deserved snack after an afternoon of fundraising for the Polaris Project.. I can tell you this transports quite nicely in the car as well!







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Location:Madison, CT

Celery-cashew Ragout!

Hello world! It's a beautiful day in New England, and my herb garden is surely soaking up the sun. I've taken to spending some time with my herbs and a cup of coffee each morning, and even lighting a stick of incense or two out on the deck. I'm sure my herbs like to smell nice as much as I do. I've come to look forward to these peaceful moments as some of the loveliest of each day, the act of cultivating these young seedlings into more full fledged plants has been an exercise in the appreciation of patience.

As many of you are well aware, Mother's Day was this past Sunday, a day for the purchasing of greeting cards, chocolates, a day for Brunching, a day essentially created for the financial gain of a privileged few who tirelessly peddle this stuff to us throughout the year. But more importantly, a reminder to let our loved ones know we care about them one day a year, so we don't have to be bothered with it when it's really important. Let it be said, I am not big on "Hallmark Holidays.". That said, I did make a lovely dinner for those adventurous enough to try it. Celery-cashew ragout, served over polenta squares (which I made using the same recipe as last weeks "polenta pizzas.")

This one was made with relative ease, which is especially nice as my corner of the world warms, and I become less and less inclined to stand over a hot oven. A little bit is also quite filling, another p,us for those of us who have portion control issues, though it is of little comfort to those who just have control issues in general. Sorry guys, you know who you are.

The recipe comes from Rose Elliot's epic tome, New Complete Vegetarian, which is just insanely crammed with delicious deliciousness. It's scope is frankly broad enough to compare to Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," but I must caution the hardcore vegans out there, it is by no means a vegan cookbook. Recipes frequently include the use of dairy products and eggs. This isn't a discouragement against picking up a copy, just a forewarning that you may need to do some creative editing and/or modifications to suit the gravity of your personal orbit.

Here's the biz:

1 onion, chopped insidiously
1 bay leaf
1/2 stick butter (I use a vegan equivalent, but do not judge.)
1 head of celery, chopped and boiled until tender
1 tbsp flour
24 oz tomato purée (I am going to digress here, as often I do, to mention that one thing. Elliot frequently switches from measurements of volume to measurements of weight. I don't keep a scale in my kitchen, so I end up guessing when she suddenly switches from cups to ounces, for example.)
Juice and rind of 1 1/2 lemons
6 oz cashew nuts, grated
1 tbsp parsley
1 pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Elliot suggests hot toast or crostini, I chose to make polenta squares and make this more of a meal.

Sauté the onion with bay leaf, in the butter,or "butter" with the lid on, until translucent. Elliot frequently makes a point of emphasizing the words "tender but not browned." Do with that information what you will, but know that in my mind, there is no real limit to which one may subdue an onion.

Drain your celery, which, if you were smart,you chopped before you boiled and add it to the mix. Add your flour and tomato purée, let thicken, and add the remaining ingredients. I would give them a little happy hour to mingle and get to know one another before introducing them to the polenta and/or your dinner guests. Not an actual hour, but another 5 minutes or so.

This was delicious spooned over the polenta with a parsley garnish and some lime wedges for a little splash of springy color. :-)



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Location:Madison, Ct

Mediterranean Lima Beans!

Hello! I know its been almost a week since I updated the blog, my apologies, life, as you know, has a way of intervening occasionally. If you follow @orbitingvegan on twitter, or you "like" Orbiting Vegan on Facebook, I have been posting a snippet or a picture here and there. Hopefully if you aren't already doing so, you will think about it, I tend to share links and articles via tweet or status update that don't generally make it onto the blog, so there are some great resources coming your way if you start following my tweets and Facebook posts.

Of course, since I've been out of the blogosphere for a few days, I have a backlog of things to share, but I want to begin with the Mediterranean Lima Beans, as promised, that I served with the tomato caper couscous last week. So let's just jump straight in shall we?

This tasty gem comes to us from where else, but the Veganomicon. I'm sure you've noticed I turn to the same cookbooks time and time again, and hope you're encouraged to invest in one or two of them. They really are tremendous resources, and generally sit magnificently on any adequate counter or shelf space designated for cookbooks.

Here's the biz:
1 pound dried Lima beans, soaked 8 hours (I couldn't for the life of me find dried Lima beans anywhere, not even at the great and powerful Whole Foods. As a result, I used frozen beans, so there was no need to rehydrate them.)
2 quarts organic, filtered, organic cooking water :-)
2 bay leaves

Sauce biz:
1 veggie bouillon cube
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, thoroughly smashed to little bits
1 medium yellow onion, chopped without pleasantries
1 small carrot, shredded
28 oz diced tomatoes
2 tbsp wine vinegar
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp agave or maple syrup
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley
3 tbsp fresh mint

Bring the Lima beans to a boil with the bay leaves, in the organic, filtered, rag nic cooking water (preferably fat-free extra virgin organic cooking water, but let's not be picky). Then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, during which time you can prepare the sauce.

Preheat the oven to 375. Be certain that you have the oven switched to "vegan" mode, you might have to consult the instructions on how to do this, or ask your Clome. If you don't have a Clome... [see picture below]



Use a large Dutch Oven to prepare the sauce, this way you can simply add the drained beans and bake them all in one fell swoop. Over medium heat, cook the garlic in the olive oil until it begins to sizzle, add onions, and cook until they are tender and translucent. Then add the carrot.

A note about the bouillon, the book says to fully cook your Lima beans, then at the end make the bouillon using a cup of reserved liquid from the boiling water. This will really prolong the process, and truthfully, I consider myself very lucky to have the time to come home and prepare a nice meal everyday, but I realize it's a privilege, and many of us simply don't have that kind of time. If this is you, just spoon out a cup of water and dissolve the bouillon in it when the time comes. As long as your oven is in vegan mode, it won't make a difference.

So at this point add the bouillon, tomatoes, vinegar, syrup, oregano, thyme, and tomato paste. Bring it to a boil, then simmer 10-12 minutes.

Add the beans, parsley, and mint, cover, and pop that sucker in the oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. As soon as its cool enough to eat, have at it.




For those of you who may feel strongly that you don't care for Lima beans, I especially urge you to give this a go. Or possibly a-go-go. The flavor of the beans is very subtle compared to the other favors in the dish, but their creamy texture is a big part of what makes this meal so delicious!






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Location:Lima Bean City, Arkansas

Duck-duck cous-cous!!

Spoiler Alert: There is no duck in this couscous. I know this is "orbiting" vegan, and I even bought some real, aged Gouda cheese at whole foods this week, to sprinkle of a dish I'll be making later in the week, but rest assured, you are not likely to see duck on this blog anytime soon, unless it's for clever rhyming purposes.

I love tomatoes, in essentially all their forms. Sauce, purée, paste, raw, broiled, grilled, sun-dried, juiced, blended, heated up, cooled down,gazpacho'd, you name it. Some might argue that my indiscriminate love of the tomato makes me a bit of a whore, but I prefer to think of myself as a connoisseur who just happens to like everything that a tomato touches.

Tomatoes are, after all, half of life. That's right, a full 50%. And as much as I have used this phrase over the years, I must attribute it to my dear friend, Beth Woodall, artistic genius, wife and mother extraordinaire, and fellow tomato-lover. Beth, if you're out there, I miss you and it's been too long by an extreme long shot.

Last night I made two delicious tomato-inspired dishes from the Veganomicon , but for the purpose of simplicity, I'm going to write me in two separate blogs. The Tomato Couscous with capers is a nice starter, and would be lovely hot or cold, and for a main course, a Mediterranean baked Lima bean casserole, rich, creamy, and satisfying.

I know I frequently return to the idea of satisfaction, partially because I think it's important to let people who are on the fence about healthy eating know that eating well does not mean going hungry. A healthy serving of either of these dishes will leave you convinced, promise.

Let's begin with the couscous shall we?
Heres the biz:
One 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (there is some debate over whether or not it's a good idea to use tomatoes from a can, although I am not particularly well-educated on the topic. In any event, if you so choose, you can buy the boxed Pomi brand tomatoes, or cook and dice your own tomatoes, or use fresh. In this case, I think that cooked tomatoes add a richness and full-bodied flavor that would not be present with raw.)
1 1/2 cups of couscous (I found brown rice couscous at Ocean State! Score!)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ground cloves (optional, but totally worth it.)
A generous pinch of cayenne ( I chose to define a generous pinch as about an eighth of a teaspoon, present, but not overpowering. Cayenne can be a domineering mistress, or mister, be careful.)
2 tbsp of capers, drained.

Ok, several steps here but it's like a cha-cha, it all happens fast. Strain the liquid from the tomatoes, reserve 1 1/2 cups. If you don't have enough liquid, please consult this useful Instructional Video for alternatives.

Bring the liquid, oregano, and olive oil to a boil. Once boiling, slowly add the couscous while continuously stirring. Its kind of like tapping your head and running your belly at the same time, but, if your the sort of person who's proficient at tasks like walking and chewing gum, or talking on your cell phone while driving, you'll have it down in no time, which is good, because that's about how much time it will take. Stir in the salt, cayenne, and cloves, then, with a subtle flourish, cover the pan, remove it from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes or so. If you let it sit for 6 minutes, or even 10, rest assured the universe will not collapse. We're all busy people, and given the rapid pace of our modern lives, there's no predicting whether or not we will become preoccupied with other important tasks, such as texting, during those precious five minutes. I cannot vouch for the consequences of fifteen or twenty minutes, please consult your stovetop's instructional manual under the heading "armageddon-inducing culinary catastrophes, frequently asked questions, and warranty information.". If you don't find this section, it is more than likely only included in the Spanish version. I have this information in good confidence from a qualified spaniard.

At this point you may fold in the strained tomatoes and capers, then cover and let sit a few more minutes. Please see previous paragraph for serious warnings concerning couscous neglect, as they are often augmented exponentially by the addition of capers.

Then you can eat it.




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Location:Madison, CT

Polenta Pizza with Kale and Maitake Mushrooms! Go Terry!

I went to Barnes and Noble the other day and picked up Terry Walter's second book, Clean Start, and I just couldn't wait to crack it open! Walters has really become one of my favorite authors, and I just can't wait for her next cookbook to be released. I noticed today a revised edition of "Clean Food" is available for pre-order, which leads me to wonder, like a child staring at clouds in the sky, making shapes out of the cottony folds, what on earth could be in the original that needs improvement? Oh Terry, you saucy vixen, what are you up to?

Perusing "Clean Start" for the first time, I noticed it is also organized by season, which I think is just an incredibly smart way to organize a cookbook. Also, at each page turn, I found myself thinking wanting to put each new recipe on the menu for the upcoming week. Then I would turn the page and rethink that decision.

My first foray into this new time was Polenta Pizza. Walters mentions that many gluten-free folks she knows cite pizza as one of the things they miss the most. I'm not gluten-free folk myself, but I know at least one person regularly checking in here is, and presumably many more of my fellow orbiting vegans as well. Even if you are gluten-friendly, try this one because it's yummtasmic.

Polenta crust:
3 cups veggie stock or broth ( I tend not to keep big cans or containers of veggie stock around for "real estate" reasons, ie I can't spare the space, and instead keep a tiny little box of Rapunzel bouillon cubes handy, so I can make up as many cups as I need in a jiffy.)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp each dried basil, oregano, and parsley
Black pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cups polenta
Cornmeal to "flour" baking sheet

Bring your broth to a boil, reduce heat to medium and stir in the salt, herbs, and oil. Whisk in your polenta gradually, whisking as you go, and keep on whisking. The continuous whisking gets old after a minute or two, but soldier on, and don't stop until your mixture has the thick consistency of hot cereal, like grits or cream of wheat. At this point, pour, or more likely spoon, the polenta into a tart pan, or a pizza pan with at least a 1/4" to help inch depth, and evenly distribute the polenta, being careful not to leave any holes or thin areas. Walters says you can fill two 11" pans , I was only able to fill one. I do suspect that maybe I let the mixture get a little bit too thick, and perhaps if I'd giving my whisking arm a reprieve a minute or two earlier, I could have spread the batter out to make a thinner crust, and thereby doubled the surface area.

As it was, I certainly didn't mind the thick crust. Put your pan, or pans, into the fridge to cool and firm up, 30 minutes or so. Then overturn the pans(s) onto a baking sheet floured with cornmeal.

As you will see, my crust didn't crumble in the process, however it did stick to the pan a little, and I was left with a few separate pieces, but I did a reasonable job of smoothing it back together. It re-separated in the oven though, so be warned, maintaining the structural integrity of the dough is crucial if you're overly concerned with a "pretty" result. When it comes out pretty, I'm generally stupefied, but as long as it comes out tasty, I'm pleased.

For the topping, I chose to use TW's suggestion of kale and Maitake mushrooms, but really, you could do just about anything you would put on a "conventional" pizza.

To make the Kale topping:
1 leek, sliced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp Mirin (a sweet rice cooking wine, Whole Foods has gotcha covered.)
2 Maitake mushrooms (they're sizable, and you'll real them up in the process, one 4 oz package will be just a little more than you need.)
1 bunch of chopped kale (save yourself the trouble, and buy a pre-chopped bag, unless for some reason you need the leaves intact.)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup tomato sauce (you could easily purée one tomato, a little olive oil, and perhaps a spice or two in the vitamix to make a small batch, or buy a jar of something, just be wary of too many ingredients on the label.)

To make the topping, your going to sautée your leeks in the oil until they're nice and tender, you'll eventually get a handle on when they're how you like them, then youll add the next few ingredients one by one, giving them a minute or two each to meld, soften, and otherwise commingle with the other swingers at the party. Crumble the mushrooms, with your hands, before you add them to the pan. You can buy an expensive mushroom crumbler at Williams Sonoma, but it won't save you any time, and it's a bitch and a half to clean. Some say two bitches.

Once you add the kale, drizzle another tbsp or so of olive oil and give it an emphatic pinch of salt. That is to say, use very little, but really throw your wrist into it. It's always more fun to put your body into it. I'd give it another few minutes to wilt a bit, then you're ready to put it all together.

First, congratulate yourself on bearing with me thus far, then spread the sauce on the crust, and bake for 40 minutes at 350.

Then smother lovingly--being careful to allow your fledgling pizza some personal liberty, otherwise it will just rebel--with the kale topping, and bake another 15 minutes.

You will love this! Wonderful things happen to kale when you introduce it to a saucepan, and a little threesome with the mushrooms adds a nice savory touch that you'll still respect in the morning.






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Location:Madison, CT

Tempeh Reubens!

In the folly of my youth, I spent large quantities of time hanging out in a 24-hour diner with my friends, smoking cigarettes, drinking cup after cup of coffee, and eating some seriously delicious if not nutrient-bereft foods. Cheese Blintzes were a personal favorite, and coming in just second was a delicious corned beef Reuben sandwich, smothered with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing. All on a clue slices of heavily buttered, pan-fried, Jewish Rye. In retrospect, it sometimes shocks me that I didn't have a coronary at 20, considering the amounts of nicotine, caffeine, sugar, and saturated fats (probably all trans-fats at the time) that I was pumping into my port little body. The real irony is, of course, I was skinny as a rail. Go figure.

Flash forward several years, and I'm sitting here writing a wellness blog, having basically given up on animal, exercising regularly, and diner-free for months if not years. One of the staples on many vegetarian/vegan menus these days is a tempeh Reuben, A slice or two of marinated tempeh (a fermented soy product with a meaty texture) topped with sauerkraut, vegan thousand island dressing, and some rice-based "cheddar cheese."

I consulted a few different recipes on the net, but this was essentially the product of just winging it, as it were. Marinate the tempeh in soy sauce, worcestershire, Bragg's, balsamic vinegar, or any conglomeration of the above to give it a nice flavor. Tempeh, like tofu or quinoa, is going to take on the flavor of what you cook it in. I used some Bragg's and Worcestershire sauce, cut the tempeh into thin slices, and brought it to a simmer for a few minutes in a sauce pan. You could throw in some ground cumin to give the amrinade an especially meaty flavor, but as you know, meatnessosity is not a quality to which i feel other types of foods need to aspire. Then I reserved the marinade, added some oil to the pan, and cooked the slices until they were nice and golden brown on both sides. I did this with a pan full of tempeh and it took forever, next time I'll just brown one or two pieces at a time, in the center of the pan. I also se an electric range, which gas-stovetop people tell me is just inferior in most respects. It is my suspicion that evenly heating the surface area of a saucepan might well be one of the bigger flaws.

The dressing was a quick easy mixture of veganaise, organic ketchup, and about a teaspoon each of capers, dill relish, and something else. Can't remember. Old age.

I then added sliced Jewish rye to the pan, spread dressing on the "top" slices, added the cheese, and some well drained sauerkraut, putting the sliced tempeh on the bottom slices. Give it a few more minutes to toast in the pan, and when the cheese starts to melt, you can put the sandwich together and enjoy.

If you don't want to mess around with tempeh, just toast the bread, and substitute some fresh avocado, and/or some mixed greens with a light vinaigrette. If you don't want to mess around with avocados, (shrugs) I feel sorry for you. And as The Immortal Erykah Badu says, if you don't wanna be down with me, you just don't wanna be down.

It's all about attitude, my little vegan chickens.


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Location:Madison, CT

House calls?

I had a wonderful day with my great friend Jennifer on Sunday, who, like me, has recently decided its time to step up her wellness game, especially in the diet department. What she does have is an apartment in close proximity to Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. What she also has are two adorable cats, two jobs, and no time. So we decided to start small, and make up a batch of something that could last her through several meals throughout the week. That ended up being pinapple cashew quinoa stir fry from none other than the Veganomicon.

The good news is we made a delicious meal together, Jenn loved it, and some of her coworkers liked it too ( though who can blame them, the stuff is awesome!)

I'm looking forward to out next culinary adventure together!



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Location:Blinnshed Rd,Madison,United States

Yamarama!

Another rainy morning in my part of the world, but after such a dry Winter, we need it for sure. I'm just chomping at the bit waiting to take all my herb seedlings and plant them in the big terra cotta pots on my deck. Soon enough, however, the temperature dropped down to 27.5 the other night (to those of you not accustomed to a Fahrenheit scale, this is about 5 degrees below freezing.) it seems prudent to wait a little longer, in the meantime, I'm hardening them off by putting them outside during the day, and I can tell by the growth I'm seeing that they're happy about it.

I also have a beautiful new jade plant to hang in my bedroom, which, like my avocado sprout, is in need of a name. For some reason I feel inclined to name it Fern. What do you think? So far the only suggestion for the avocado is Demitri, which I rather like. Barring any other suggestions, I think Demitri wins.

Last nights dinner was leftover Asparagus soup from Tuesday, and a brilliant sautéed yams dish with limes and ginger. I realize at this pointi have neglected to post the soup recipe so here come both!

Asparagus Soup (from Terry Walter's Clean Food)

2-3 bunches fresh asparagus
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
3 leeks, white parts, chopped
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 cups "milk" (I used coconut)
1/2 tsp dried dill
Salt'n'Pepa
Fresh Parsley
White Miso

Like most recipes I choose, this was pretty easy, and just takes a little bit of time. Break your asparagus at its natural breaking point. If you're unfamiliar with this concept, it's best to make snide personal criticisms about its physical appearance. Alternatively, if you're asparagus doesn't have particularly low self-esteem, simply take hold of it by both ends and snap, it will break toward the thicker end of the stem. Then chop it into smallish chunks.

Sautée your leeks and garlic in olive oil until tender, in a large pot. Add everything but the last three ingredients, and enough water to cover the asparagus, (maybe an additional cup or two.) Bring it to a boil, and simmer until its soft.

Once the asparagus is nice and soft, turn off the heat, and purée with a handheld blender. When you're ready to serve, add a healthy spoonful of miso, some salt and white pepper, parsley, or any other garnish you wish. We don't add the miso directly to the cooking soup because we want it to retain some of its healthy raw benefit, and I think the flavor is a bit stronger when you do it this way.

Despite the presence of real dairy, this is a very thick and creamy soup, and could very well be a meal served in a nice big soup mug.

In keeping with the idea of warm, inviting comfort foods, the sautéed yams, also from "Clean Food," are filling and sweet, and the juxtaposition of those flavored with the pungent ginger and tangy lime work very well together.

Here's the biz:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp grated ginger (probably about a 2"x1" piece, grated)
1 red onion (fear not, they are sautéed into submission! Take that, Onion!)
2 large yams, grated (I didn't have particularly large yams, so I used about 5 smaller ones, which produced, roughly speaking, 4-6 cups of grated yam, Walters doesn't really specify a precise amount so I just had to kinda do it to taste. I like yams, so I went probably a little heavier)
3 tbsp lime juice (once again, I easily doubled this, probably the juice of four good sized limes)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
Sea salt and pepper

Begin by sautéing ginger and onion in olive oil, until soft. If, like me, raw onion is not your friend, let it go longer so the onions are not only soft and translucent, but beginning to brown and carmelize a bit. Add the yams, lime juice, turn up the heat a bit and sauté until the yams are soft. I added the nutmeg at this point as well, Walters says do it at the end and cook for a few more minutes.

What I liked about this method of preparation is that the yams sweeten a bit, but still retain a nice, raw ish, crunch to them. I you want it even sweeter, I don't see why you couldn't add some agave or honey.

I know there is a real debate out there about whether or not agave is really any better for you than other sweeteners. What I can say is this, you can buy it raw, which I like. It's much sweeter than refined sugar, so despite the high fructose content, a little goes a long way. Lastly, it's lower on the glycemic index than refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. What this means is it is not going to cause your blood sugar to spike like processed sugar. Indirectly, this translates to feeling "full" for longer, which means you're likely to eat less.

So, until some serious evidence proves otherwise, I will use agave as a sweetener. Despite a higher calorie intake than sugar, it is less processed, less volatile to the system, and packs a sweeter "punch" with less quantity (which also indirectly means less calories.) Ps, did you know refined sugar is not actually vegan? It is refined with bone char, which comes from the ones of cattle.






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Location:Madison, CT

Sprout! Sprout! Let it all out!

Hey folks!

It's a somewhat dreary but not very cold Spring day in Southern Connecticut. Everything is budding and blooming, and the wooded areas are spray-painted with that beautiful, impossible to replicate, bright Spring green that simply makes you happy to be alive.  Soon the leaves will deepen in shade, and be a whole different splendor of lush, summery hues.  But right now, the buds seem suspended in midair, as if floating around and through the trees, and I can't help but soak it in with child-like wonder, if not particularly imaginative language. 

The growing world around me has got me thinking about sprouting.  For those of you, like me, who are beginners on this journey toward good health, sprouting is probably a new concept.  We're all familiar with packaged alfalfa or mung bean sprouts in the produce department;  I love to include these in a salad or perhaps a hummus wrap.  Most of us are probably less used to the concept of doing it ourselves, but I'm given to understand it's not only easy but cost effective.  In fact, sprouted grain, beans, buts and the like can yield up to 30 times the original volume.  It's simply a mattter of soaking, draining, and vigilant rinsing/moistening, and of course time.

I put a sprouted quinoa dish on the menu for last week, and according to Allissa Cohen, they should take about 3 days to sprout, and one cup of grain should yield about 3 cups of sprouts.  It's over a week now, and I'm only just seeing little tails growing out of my quinoa.  Grumble, grumble, grumble. 
Perhaps it's the cooler ambient spring tempuratures..perhaps its the humidity, perhaps its the quinoa rebellion, but they're taking a long time and certainly havent tripled in volume.  I'm wondering whether or not hanging them on the dry side of the shower curtain might help, since at the very least it gets warm and steamy in there on a daily basis.  Any expert sprouters out there with advice, I'm more than open.

So there's a learning curve, and probably it has a lot more to do with patience than I would like to acknowledge.  But, I am committed to not simply writing about my successes on this blog, since I believe that doing so would be ultimately discouraging to people in the real world, trying as I am to take their wellness to a higher level.  My mother remarked the other day, upon tasting a new dish that I found especially delicious, that I "love everything" I prepare.  This of course prompted me to share the disaster that was "Zippy Tomato Soup" or as it should be known "Onion-Tomato Death Gargle."  The point is, it doesn't all come easy,  but it's worth sticking to it, and the exploration, successful or not, can be full of all manner of insight. 

I am including a couple of links to sprouting resources, since at this point, you're better served with the wisdom of others on this matter. I do know that in terms of the health benefits, aside from being tasty, beginning the germination process takes nuts, seeds, and grains to a higher level of nutrition and ease of digestion by neutralizing the enymes inhibitors that exist in dormancy.

Primal Seeds

Sprouting Chart

Health Benefits of Sprouting

A challenge to Orbiting Vegan Readers...

A week or two ago I received a phone call from a dear friend, wanting some pointers on picking out a good juicer for her home. She's a very busy woman, working two jobs, and hasn't got copious amounts of free time. Nevertheless, she is determined to make some positive changes not only in her diet but her life, which I just think is fabulous.

So, two things happened. I told her to buy a Vitamix and start drinking smoothies, because, let's face it, there is no such thing as easy, quick, or low maintenance juicing. The man or woman who invents such a contraption will surely be a billionaire, and perhaps even have lawn flamingos erected in their honor all over the world. The second thing that happened was this: I had the idea to make her an "emergency wellness kit" including a rice cooker, some organic quinoa, a small bottle of raw cider vinegar, a bottle of raw agave, and a bag of lemons. I also got some olive oil and dark chocolate (which I forgot to put in the kit, they're coming! You know who you are!)

My thought was to provide on or two small and easy options that could be instantly integrated into her week, and it don't get easier than cooking quinoa in a rice cooker. But really, going back to an earlier post entitled "the Secret Ingredient," what better way to help somebody start a new journey than with a healthy dose of love?

My challenge to all who may read this entry is this: do one small, unexpected thing this week to bring happiness into someone else's life. I'd love it if you'd share your experience with the rest of the Orbiting Vegan community via commenting on this entry! So knows who else will be inspired by your story!

Thanks!



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If red beets turn your pee red, will yellow beets turn it yellow?

A philosophical quandary for the ages, to be sure. I bring it up because I will shortly have an answer, since I seem to keep coming across yummy siding recipes involving yellow beets. This one came from Cohen's "Living on Live Food" and feeds roughly four to five-hundred guests. I'm kidding of course, but I am on day three of lunches from this meal. My secret suspicion is that when you shred beets, they somehow multiply in the process, because three medium sized beets shred up into roughly enough to fill a football stadium. More or less.

Golden Beet Salad:

3 medium golden beets, grated
2 medium pears, diced
1 cup of Jicama diced.
8 cups of mixed greens
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c walnuts (optional)
Fresh cilantro to taste (also optional, you may choose to skip this if you don't have any and are too lazy to go back out to the store. Incidentally, my herb garden seedlings are doing quite well, though it seems to be a bit frosty at night to keep them out all the time. However, I lost both my cilantro seedlings, they just refused to thrive. My mints, basils, and oreganos are growing like friggin weeds though!)

Marinate the jicama and pears in lemon juice for 30 minutes, then combine with beets. Stand on one foot, and distribute the mixture over the mixed greens on a large serving bowl, add walnuts and cilantro if you wish!

There was no suggested dressing, but I favor a honey mustard, so I got out my "good seasons" shaker and my boom-box and mixed it all up to the beat of the Pet Shop Boys. Dressings are a nice area to begin exploring your personal touch and creativity, try adding different juices, fruits, spices etc to the mix and see what you come up with.

I also added some grape tomatoes to the salad, and there's certainly no rule against cucumbers, bell peppers, or perhaps even some lovely fresh goat cheese if the spirit moves you. Maybe some pumpkin seeds, a dash or two of nutritional yeast, or a nice scoop of homemade veggie pâté? Maybe not, who am I to say?






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Location:Madison, CT

Yes, Virginia, there is a such thing as too much onion.

Made a quick tomato soup today from Cohen's "Living on Live Food", described by the author as zippy. It even took a really pretty picture.



Thats about where the things I liked about this recipe ends. Here's the biz:
4 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup of onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp olive oil
3 basil leaves
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp thyme

Throw it into the Vitamix and liquefy. It will only take a few seconds.
Then throw it directly in the compost heap because it's horrible. I don't frequently post the recipes on here that fall into the "personal miss" category, but I share this one because A. It could be potentially delicious without the onion and B. some of you might even like it.

I ackowledge and accept my longtime feud with and distaste for the onion. Sometimes a worthy adversary is necessary in order to form a strong, clear, and authentic sense of self. "I defy the onion, therefore I am it's master." or some other equally silly sounding affirmation. I have even mentioned in the past how I've come full circle on other distasteful concepts, like puppies. The problem here is that the onion, unlike the puppy, possesses no innate desire to win me over, and therefore it also does not overcompensate like crazy in the hopes of earning my admiration, respect, or affections. This was all to clear today.

The soup, while aesthetically pleasing, was so overpowered by the flavor of the onion that I couldn't stomach more than a few spoonfuls. We're talking, burning, tear inducing, good-lord-Marilla-what-did-you-pit-in-that-soup? Simply inedible. I thought twice about subjecting worms in my compost bin to it.

It did make a pretty picture though, too bad it was godawful.

Onion:1 Michael:0. For now.




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Location:Madison, CT

Check out my Avocado!

Almost since the very inception of this blog, I've been attempting to grow an avocado plant from a seed. I sat this avocado seed in water on February 18th, and after countless weeks of nothing, it began to grow roots!



Now, the seed has split, and the first hint of a sprout has just barely peeked its little green head out from inside the seed.



What should I name him?

Please comment with your suggestion, the favorites will be the subject of next week's poll!

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If you like our new logo...

Check out the web portfolio of Denise Banks, who was the winner of Orbiting Vegan's logo design contest on Logo Tournament.  You can find more designs from her company, Piddlepen, Ink.  Denise also has a secondary website, The Musings of Gert, which features humorous diet related poems, which are also available in a variety of merchandising formats.  The poems are also written and designed by Denise!

Thanks again, we just love our new look!!!!!!

Ah-tichoke Dip!

Anyone who has ever visited Boston is wicked familiah with the size of the void created by the removal of the letter "R" from everyday speech. Except in rare instances where it has no business whatsoever, to which my dear friend "Angeler" can attest. This is frequently parodied around the world with the use of the expression, "Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd." so much so that is a well-worn cliché. Less well known is the expression, "Hey Angeler, I got in idea, let's go to the store 2-4, (pronounced stowah too-fowah) get some ahtichoke dip and get retahded." sorry to be little politically incorrect there, but that's how it was repeated to me. Regardless, it leads me nicely, if not somewhat crudely, into my next topic:

Artichoke dip(from "Clean Food.")
Here's the biz:
1 garlic clove
1 shallot, peeled
2 tbsp lemon juice (I only use fresh now since I discovered they put preservatives in the bottled stuff. Besides, a $2.00 bag of organic lemons from Trader Joe's is a good investment.)
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (I prefer Vegenaise)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup great northern beans (if you can't find these, navy beans or cannelloni beans will work fine.)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1 4-ounce can of chopped green chiles
2 1/2 cups of canned, drained artichoke hearts

Begin by processing the garlic in the food processor. If you've been practicing your telekinesis, a small clove should be no problem for you by now, but remember, you can always cheat and plug it in. Once the garlic is minced, scrape down the sides of the food processor, add everything else, save the artichokes and blend well. Then add the artichokes, blend briefly, so you have a chunky dip as opposed to a purée.

Serve with pita chips or any other favorite vehicle for dip consumption. Let's face it, eating chips is all about the dip anyway, why not make it indulgent and reasonably healthy? (save perhaps the mayo, which if nothing else is at least all natural.)

Another variation I thought of after the fact is this: why not make the same dip with everything but the artichokes, then serve it with steamed artichokes instead of chips? I can't wait to try it this way! Steamed artichokes are really easy to prepare, fun to eat, and delicious!

I had some friends over for a small feast last night and served this as an appetizer, along with watermelon soup, roasted portobello salad, and for dessert a raw carrot cake, all of which you can find in earlier blog posts!








PS.. Orbiting Vegan now has its own Facebook page, which you can find and "like.". You can find it, like it, and further admire our sparkly new logo by clicking on this link!!!

Thanks again for all the positive feedback coming through the blog, Facebook, twitter and in person!
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Location:Madison, CT

The Vegans are Brunching!!! Part Two

Welcome back,

Sunday was such a productive day in my kitchen I'm still catching up here on the blog, and as of yet, our journey hasn't even reached noon! Continuing in the preparation of mushroom Blintzes to go with our Blue Flannel Hash, both recipes from Isa Chandra Moscowitz' glorious tome, The Veganomicon, we left off with our hero and his trusty Clome whipping up a batch of vegan crépes!...

Meanwhile, he was simultaneously gathering, measuring, and boiling potatoes to include in the filling for the mushroom Blintzes...

Here's the Biz for the filling:
1/2 pound of potatoes suitable for mashing
2 tbsp canola oil (I used olive oil, plain Ol' devirginized since it isn't really for taste in this case.)
1 small onion diced (The onion and I, as you may have gleaned, do not share a great fondness for one another, and yet it seems to pop up in 9 out of 10 recipes I intend to prepare and share on this blog. Unless distinctly specified, I opt for a sweet onion or a red onion, since they seem less predisposed to causing me to want to gore out my eyeballs with my bare hands--even in such cases, always more gratifying to use your own hands than a kitchen implement--it's worth mentioning that until 2010, I didn't care for dogs either, and now I fawn over them like a first-time grandma pinching baby cheeks.)
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced thin (save yourself some time and but a pound of sliced mushrooms, the other half can go into the gravy anyway.)
Salt-salt-salt-salt'n'pepa (I'm rapping.)

Ready? This isn't hard at all..

Sautée the onions in the oil in a large sauce pan, while you're doing this, boil some some water for the potatoes, they'll need 20 minutes or so to soften. Once the onions are nice and transparent and start to brown, add the mushrooms, caraway seeds, and cook it all down until the mushrooms are tender. When your potatoes are ready, drain them, give them a quick but thorough mashing, and mix them into the onion/mushroom mixture. Season to taste, if necessary, this filling is very flavorful in my humble opinion.

You can get creative with toppings, I opted for a mushroom gravy, also from the Veganomicon (why mess with a good thing, right?)

Mushroom Gravy:
2 cups veggie broth
1/4 cup flour

2 tbsp olive oil
1 meduim onion sliced
10 oz crimini mushrooms (I did nt come across these were nowhere to be found, I used my leftover portobellos from the filling, and the gravy tasted just lovely.)
3 count'em, 3 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp salt
Fresh black pepper
1/4 cup cooking wine (I am of the school that believes if you wouldn't drink it, you shouldn't cook with it.)

Dissolve the flour in the broth and put aside.

Sautée your onions, when tender add the mushrooms, when those are tender add your garlic, herbs, cook for another minute to left your garlic sautée a bit, then add the wine and simmer. Add the flour/broth, and stir until your gravy is thickened. Your Clome will come in handy during this process as well, since we're all aware of the political and social pitfalls of lumpy gravy at Sunday brunch.

You can add some stuffing to each crépe, fold them over into Blintzes, and give them a quick Preston each side in a frying pan to seal the deal. Conversely, if you've been cooking all morning, and you're simply too tired and hungry to consider prolonging brunch long enough to dirty another dish that you'll just have to wash yourself later on, you can do what I did: namely, spoon the filling into the crépes burrito style, plate them, smother them with gravy, and serve them alongside the hash and your morning coffee. I you still have e patience for it, slice up some fresh fruit to add a little color to the ordeal. I skipped this, too hungry, and by this point ravenous brunches were congregating around the kitchen island, and it was becoming touch and go. My fellow brunchers are not vegan, and one can only assume that if delayed long enough, they would eventually give up on hash and Blintzes and throw me on the rotisserie. I couldn't risk it, and I lived to tell the tale.

Oh, and I made coffee. Vegan coffee...hehehehe.







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Location:Madison, CT

The Vegans are Brunching! The Vegans are Brunching!

Ok, I've been super veganically-productive today! Before baking my first attempt at gluten-grain-sugar-dairy free bread (see earlier post) I spent my morning whipping up a luscious, hearty vegan brunch.

What did I prepare, you ask? Well, I will tell you (as if there were some sort of danger of my withholding information, lol.). I made Blue Flannel Hash, served with Mushroom Blintzes, smothered in Mushroom Gravy! Every last one of these recipes, incidentally, can be found in the fabulous, brilliant, and dare I say bible-esque, Veganomicon.

If you haven't got a Veganomicon, then perhaps you are lost in the desert? Surrounded by wolves? At a republican fundraiser? Anyway, get one.

So, first things first, get your head together, because there are several steps and sub-recipes involved here, and I am going to try to present this information in with clarity, humor, and logic. This might lead to a breakdown in weaker people, but in the words of Tine Fey, I would like to thank my parents for "somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities. Well done. That is what all parents should do.”

I hope you brought a pencil and paper, here goes nothin'

Blue Flannel Hash:
1 1/2 lbs blue potatoes, skinned and 1/2" diced
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz tempeh, 1/2" diced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt'n'Pepa to taste (as if that wasn't given)

Heat oil in a pan. Confirm readiness with sizzle test, ie spritz a drop of water in it. If it sizzles, you're good to go. Cook the onions until they are soft and transparent, the book suggests 15 minutes. It might not take that long. Add potatoes, tempeh, and red pepper flakes, cover, and continue to cook for what could quite possibly be another ten minutes. Add the soy sauce, cook for a few more minutes. Then you're done. Whilst you do all this, you'll have a few moments to start getting setup for your Blintzes. I put this in a serving dish, covered it with tin foil, and it was still nice and toasty when I'd finished up with the rest of my cooking.

The Blintzes have two components, crépes and filling.

Crépes:
1 1/2 cups soy or rice milk (I used coconut milk, nothing exploded.)
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1/2 tsp salt

Into the Cuisinart or Vitamix, and blend until lump-less. In rural Texas, there are a small, imprecisely evil, obsessive compulsive population of magical creatures own as Clomes (think clown-gnome.) whose general preoccupations in life involve lurking in closets, but also organizing them while they're in there. A mixed blessing to be sure. What most clomologists don't know, is that they are also quite adept at checking batter mixtures for lumps. So if you've ever wondered about the label on canned gravy that reads "CLA Approved" you now know it stands for Clome Lump Assocation.

There is also a Spanish Clome, generally native to the southern regions of Spain, however, they are not as skilled in the pronouncement of the absence of batter lumps. Most experts presume this has to do with the large amount of Jamon Serrano in their diet.

Anyway, next time you're scratching your head wondering who arranged your ties so neatly by color and pattern, it was probably a Clome.

If you don't live in rural Texas, just be sure the batter is really well mixed. You'll know when it is.

I'd always presumed the making of crépes to be trickier than it actually is. Heat up a small pan or skillet, get it nice and sizzle-test-hot, give it a little non-stick spray and you're ready. If you have a non-stick pan, even better.

Pour some batter onto the skillet, then slowly tilt the pan to allow the batter to spread out into a nice even circle. Eventually you'll get the hang of both how much batter to use, and getting it to spread evenly. I've seen crépes made in small pans where the chef encourages the batter all the way up the sides of the pan, but I tried this and found it infuriating. Instead I switched to a larger, flat skillet, and just let the crepe extend to a nice round circle without covering the entire surface area of the pan. When the edges are brown and the top is bubbly, it's time to flip your crépe. The top will not be thoroughly browned, but should no longer look wet. 20-30 seconds on the flip side should do it, maybe less depending on the temperature of your skillet. Respect your crépes, and don't let them burn.

If you're questioning your crépe making skills, make a double batch of batter so you can have plenty of practice tries. The Clome, if you have one around, will be appreciative of these dress-rehearsal-crépes as a snack and a thank you. If not, they'll make a nice munchy for you while you continue preparing your fantastic brunch!

To be continued.....




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Grain free! Gluten Free! Sugar Free! Dairy Free! Bread???

It's a dismal, dismal rainy afternoon in New England, but this is good news because, as you may or may not have heard, we've been at high risk for wild fires due to our virtually snowless winter. I took advantage of the rain to set all my terra cotta planters out to soak it up, this way when I transfer my herbs and scented perennials into them very shortly, they won't immediately sap all the moisture out of the soil.

I'm pleased to post this entry as a result of my first ever reader request!!! ( You know who you are :-)!) the request came shortly after I posted about a roasted portobello cap sandwich on sourdough bread, and our special reader felt a hankerin' for some bread, but is on a gluten-free, sugar-free vegan diet. Well,I wasn't about to let this, my first culinary challenge, go unanswered! I began scouring the internet and discovered a few things.

First, most bread, with few exceptions, require the combination of yet and flour, and oftentimes sugar. Yeast actually feeds on the sugar, and or the carbohydrates (as we all know, sugar-in-disguise,) in the flour, producing carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. The CO2 is what causes he dough to rise, and the alcohol burns off in the baking process. I don't know where this reader falls on carbohydrates, but in the interest of satisfying her dietary requirements, I restricted my search to breads that did not require carbs or sugar. Let's not forget either, that grain and gluten tend to go hand in hand. While there are plenty of gluten-free bread recipes to be had, virtually all of them contained animal, be it milk, eggs, or butter, and many many involved the addition of some form of sugar to the mixture as well.

What's aspiring blog-diva to do? This was a tall order.

A tall order, to be sure, but I did manage to find one recipe! Here's a link to the recipe for Kiva's Golden Flax Bread, which you may click on for the recipe specifics, I will just share my notes and thoughts here.

The recipe calls for two eggs, but any determined vegannabe (pronounced vee-gan-a-bee) will not be thwarted there. The google is simply awash with egg substitution ideas, I found this one to be a good reference: Vegan Egg Substitutes..

This guide, among others, will offer suggestions as to the strengths of different kinds of egg substitutes, which will help you discern which one is appropriate for your specific needs. Some are wonderful sources of moisture, some are very good binders, some act as leavening agents. I used 2 tbsp of potato starch to one tbsp of water for each egg.

The recipe instructs enough water to make the batter pourable, but cautions against overuse of water, because it will take longer to for the bread to bake through. I probably ended up using half a cup or so.

The result? A bread-like substance, that I would happily serve as a preamble to a meal, or even pair with jam for a delicious breakfast or brunch idea. What you will not be able to do with a loaf of this bread is cut off a couple of slices and make a sandwich, which is unfortunate since the desire for a sandwich was what launched this whole exploration. But, never fear, I have suggestions!

Suggestion number one: use an egg replacement that will enhance the leavening aspect of this bread. Since the recipe does not include any yeast, what you see is essentially what you get, ie it is not really going to rise much in the pan. Moisture does not seem to be an issue, as my end-product came out very, very moist and dense. So if you can encourage some leavenation (I know it's not a word, get used to it!) I say go for it.

Suggestion number two: if you want to use this bread for sandwiches, add very little water, so that your dough is shape-able rather than pourable, and form yourself a couple of thin round buns. Simply bake them, and use them as is to make your sandwich.

I will say that by itself with a little "butter" this was a tasty and satisfying creation, and the taste is very much bread-ish. In fact, I plan to take my own suggestions to heart in the very near future, and prepare some sandwiches. I'll try very hard to remember to share what happens!!


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Location:Madison, CT

Beet it!

Ok. Many of you may remember last weeks raw-violi, made with an almond cheese sandwiched between two thin slices of rutabaga..mmmmm....

Tonight I made a similar variation on filled pasta, raw pierogi! Considered the national dish of Poland, pierogi are essentially dumplings made of unleavened dough, which are then filled with various ingredients. Popular in my house, especially on Christmas eve, the best pierogi known to man come from the Polish Deli of Yonkers, NY, which you will find on Nepperhan Avenue. I've always been partial to the sauerkraut filled, but the potato and cheese, or potato and onion are also delicious options. Christmas in my house simply wouldn't be Christmas without their pierogi. It would be, Instead, like a really ill-timed and disappointing version of Arbor day, or something equally unmemorable.

The raw version, courtesy of Ani Phyo's "Raw Food Essentials," was an instant favorite! I can't wait for lunch tomorrow! Even better, it involved very little preparation, looks great plated, and a small portion was very satisfying.

This one involves a couple of Sub-recipes:

For the filling:
1/4 cup sauerkraut
1/4 cup coconut bacon (this requires coconuts and a food dehydrator, neither of which I was equipped with at that particular moment in time. I am pleased to say that the pierogi still kicked some coconut-baconless keister!)

2 cups of simple cheese:
2 cups nuts (I used pine nuts and cashews)
1 tsp of fresh garlic (1-2 cloves depending on their size)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water

For sauce/garnish:

Miso butter:
2 tbsp raw white miso
1/2 cup softened coconut butter

Cashew Parmesan:
Handful of cashews
One clove of garlic
Pinch of salt

For the pierogi:
Yellow beets, thinly sliced with a mandolin

Still with me? I promise this is mere minutes of work despite the somewhat chaotic conglomeration of sub-recipes and prep instructions. Seriously, the whole thing took 20 minutes. No joke. I would not lie to you about something as serious as pierogi.

Moving on. For the cheese, all ingredients in the Vitamix, blend until smooth. For the miso butter, combine ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a spoon. It might help to warm the butter slightly to soften and mix the ingredients. It won't take much heat though, remember that going above 118 F is enough to kill the living enzymes in your food, at which point it is no longer raw. 118 is the high limit by the way, and the more accepted 104 should be a general rule of thumb.

Mix the cheese with the sauerkraut (drained of its excess liquid y pressing I paper towels) and layout slices of yellow beet on your plates. Top each slice with a teaspoon or so of the filling, add a second slice of beet, and garnish with a schmear of miso butter and a sprinkle of cashew Parmesan.

Super easy, right? I loved these, and while I will stick to the Real thing from the Polish Deli on Christmas Eve, these will be a welcome presence on my dinner table year round!






On a side note, Ani Phyo instructs you to "drizzle" the miso butter on top of the pierogi. She must know some trick for melting it at a low enough temperature, because the closest I could get without heating it up was a "wet brown sugar" sort of consistency, and therefore I was forced to schmear rather than drizzle. Either way, these things were kickin!

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Location:Madison, CT

Pasta with Arugula Pesto

Hello World! Im tickled pink to say that as of last week, Orbiting Vegan has had readers from India, Macedonia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Poland! Initially I conceived of this blog as a means of being accountable to myself for the quality and nutrition, and watching it grow and expand organically has been a great pleasure! I even had a reader contact me on Facebook and make a special request, which I hope to honor in the very near future! Once again, let me thank each of you that are checking in and reading, and knock on wood, finding some useful information here once in a while! I'd love to hear more from the Orbiting Vegan community interns of comments, suggestions, and any feedback, positive or negative on recipes or ideas you've tried out or would like to share!

A thousand small changes have been going on in the last few days. I picked up a compost bin at Ocean State Job Lot. Its a great big behemoth of a thing, that will hold up to 115 gallons! What I'll ever do with that much compost I don't know, but what I do know is this: since I've been eating vegan and raw foods, I'm also generating a lot of organic waste (peels, stems, cores, seeds, juice pulp etc.) and I would much rather see that material just return to nature than seal it up in plastic bags and haul it to the dump. I found a reasonably inconspicuous location for it near the shed in the back yard, and even got a little indoor compost receptacle for easy transport back and forth.



Here's a shot of its meager insides:



I did as many websites suggested and put a layer of dry material, twigs and leaves mainly, at the bottom, and once I get some volume going in there, which shouldn't be too far from now, I'll add some "compost accelerator" also picked up at job lot. Although my "vegan-martha" dream garden exists years into the future, composting just seems like a good idea from a conservation standpoint. Not to mention saving on trash disposal, plastic bags and the like, in the long run. There are many, many websites that will guide you on what and what not to compost, and since I am not qualified to advise you, I will leave it up to you to find some information that resonates with you. If I come across something I feel I can really get behind, I will share it on this blog, however, right now I've seen about a hundred lists of compostable/non-compostable items and there seem to be several conflicts between them, not the least of which are items like bread, paper, and compostable plastic.

Moving on, I made a lovely quinoa pasta with arugula pesto for lunch! Te recipe came from Chesman's "Serving Up the Harvest," which is a wonderful cookbook organized by season, then sub-categorized by different seasonal vegetables. This is not a vegan cookbook by any standard, and in fact many of the recipes incorporate some kind of dairy product, and others still, though less in number, incorporate flesh. For many of you, and myself in theory, this is no issue at all, and this book will present you with many healthy seasonal options to prepare throughout the year, as well as a chance to "get to know" certain seasonal ingredients a little better by preparing several different recipes using the same focal veggies.

For myself in reality, or what passes for it these days, I have no current desire to eat meat, so there are several pages in this book I skip fit over. I don't mind the occasional coffee with cream, or a taste of real cheese here and there, but for the most part I am dairy free as well. And no, real cheese does not come in individually wrapped slices or a spray can, nor can you buy it in a box unrefrigerated.

For the pesto:
8 cups fresh arugula
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (you may simply skip this, or include it if you wish. I chose to add a few cashews and a pinch of salt to the mix, to incorporate the "cashew Parmesan" flavor into the pesto.)
8 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, minced (you can skip mincing if you're going to Vitamix it, same for the garlic.)
Salt and pepper to taste

Everything else:
16 oz vermicelli (unavailable, used linguine)
1 small can of chopped black olives

First blanch the arugula. Essentially, 20-30 seconds in boiling water, then remove arugula from the boiling water and immediately submerge in ice water until it cools down. The ice water stops the cooking process.

Chesman says, first chop the nuts and garlic in your food processor. Add the arugula, and continue processing until fine. Add the oil and cheese, or not, and continue processing until you have a thick paste, at which point you may add your minced tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and Voila! Pesto.

I say throw everything in the Vitamix at once and you will have pesto in about 15 seconds, if that.

I used Quinoa pasta (linguine to be precise) in order to at least get a little protein out of the deal, rather than a traditional semolina flour, processed, bleached, blah, blah, blah...you get the idea. There are several alternative pastas available, made from quinoa, spelt, vegetable flours, and rice, all of which are likely better alternatives to the garden variety, to be slightly ironic. If you're quick off the mark, you kept your water boiling from the arugula and are ready to go! I like my pasta a bit firmer, so I gave it about 8 minutes or boiling before straining.

Combine the pesto and pasta in a large bowl and mix well, add a small can of sliced black olives to the mix, and serve with extra cashew Parmesan on the side! Delicious, and the pesto has a bold, nutty flavor that almost makes you think there's avocado in it. This, paired with the olives, is simply exquisite.

My suggestion however is either double the pasta, or halve the sauce, because, as you will see, the pasta was more than well coated, in fact, you it say the pesto was well coated with the pasta. I gave it a simple parsley garnish, which is useful on two fronts; aside from being aesthetically pleasing, it will freshen your breath nicely. You will need it.




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Location:Madison, CT