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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Location:Madison, CT

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

Green Papaya Salad

Hi all! Another glorious day today! I took advantage of an open morning to get in a good workout, spend some quality time with my herbs, and make a superiffic Green papaya salad! The recipe came from Ani Phyo's book, to which I've been referring more and more as the weather gets nicer! I find that I naturally gravitate toward more raw foods when the weather is nice.

This salad made a quick and filling lunch, and despite consisting of mostly papaya, does not have the overly fruity, indulgent sort of dessert taste one might expect froma more traditional fruit salad.

Here's the biz: (ps, I've no idea why I keep saying "here's the biz" other than that I heard it once in a B-52's song. Every time I use it I can hear Fred Schneider belting it out in that half-talky half-singy way he has.)

4 cups papaya, julienned (I tried my best, but they were already quite chunked, since I bought them pre-shucked at Whole Foods.)
2 cups of shredded carrots (you can buy them shredded, to save time, I generally have a few pounds of whole carrots at the ready, so I just did mine in the food processor.)
2 mildish red chilies (I seeded them and threw them in with he carrots. Please wear gloves when you work with hot peppers. I speak from the heart on this one.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds

For the dressing:
2 tbsp agave
2 tbsp lime juice

Assemblage:

Arrange the papayas in a fractal pattern radiating out from the center of a large but reasonable deep serving pattern. Place small teaspoon sized scoops of the carrot and pepper mixture over the areas where the papaya sections meet each other, then sprinkle with the almonds, cilantro, and basil, being careful not to garnish one area of the dish more heavily than any other. I recommend. Using a pendulum with slots in the bottom to distribute the herbs and almonds. If you don't have a kitchen pendulum, please check them out at Culinary Pendulum City. Very carefully, overturn the entire platter onto a second platter, drizzle with the dressing, then carefully re-invert the salad back onto the original platter.

Then dump the entire thing in a large bowl, mix it with your gloved hands, and let it sit about 20 minutes before you enjoy it. :-)

I forgot to take a nice picture because I immediately divvied it up in to-go containers for lunch at work today. Here's a shot of the glad ware on the reception desk at work:



Ps.. On a side note, I al very excited to be participating in a CSA program through Bishop's Orchards and I can't wait to share more information with you when it begins in early June!


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Location:Madison, CT

Raw!! Raw!! Raw!!

The incredible weather this weekend put me in the mood for something fresh and raw, so I thought I would try another creation from "The Complete Book of Raw Food,"  and make some raw-violi!  What I hear from a lot of people, mainly through Facebook, is that all this food looks great, but they simply don't have the time.  I have to reiterate that this recipe, like many, many others, took maybe 30-45 minutes to prepare, and the real time saver is planning ahead.  I plan meals several days out at a time, and therefore know ahead of time if I need to advance marinate, soak, or otherwise prepare anything ahead of time.  Soaking and marinating take time, but after the initial time investment of adding water to a jar of almonds, you're pretty much good to go.  It's not like sitting under the dryer at the hairdresser, but if you like you may read a magazine while you wait. My main point here is, this stuff is easy! I probably wouldn't be doing it otherwise.
So...You're haveing an anxiety attack about uncooked ravioli, I can tell, so lets get to the proverbial and ironic "meat and potatoes."  Here's the Biz:
Rutabaga, Daikon, or Turnip (This is the "pasta")
For the Cheese:
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 lemon, juiced
Vitamix it. Then make your sauce,
For the Sauce:
3 roma tomatoes, chopped (no need to go crazy, this is going in the blender, too.)
7 large fresh basil leaves (or more, you can't really over-basil pasta sauce)
1/4 tsp sea salt
5 Medjool dates, soaked 30 min or more (Medjool dates are bigger than regular dates, if you are not using Medjool dates, increase accordingly.)
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked 30 min or more
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper (I only had a yellow, not a big deal, but it will pinkify your nice red sauce, so if color is a strong consideration for you, stick with red.)
1/4 cup red onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp "Italian seasoning," (I'm guessing a packet of good seasons will do, or some Spike, or whatevers fresh and lying around.)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Vitamix. God, I love it so.
Using a mandolin or some other ingenious kitchen device created for the purpose of uniform slicing, slice your rutabaga or turnip into very thin discs. Here's a hint, put the veggie, a rutabaga in this case, through the mandolin length wise so your thin discs are long and easily folded over.  You spoon some of the cheese into the disc, fold it over, and voila, ravioli.  If the discs are too thick, you will have a problem, if they are too small, you will also have a problem.  If you have a problem, here's what you do: simply layout a first layer on the plate, spoon the cheese onto each disc, cover with a second disc of comparable size.  This is what I had to do and it looked just fine. Top with the tomato sauce, and I chose to add a little "Cashew Parmesan" as well. 
Another word to the wise, double the cheese recipe, and halve the sauce.  I had way too much of one and not nearly enough of the other.  You've been warned.

As a Side dish I made some steamed Asparagus with toasted pecans.  This was so easy I"m not even going into a big explanation.  Toast the pecans at 300 for a few minutes, until they darken somewhat and become fragrant.  DON'T OVERDO IT!! This will not take long.  Steam your asparagus until it turns bright green, add pecans, drizzle with a homemade vinaigrette of your choosing.  I'm partial to honey mustard, so I added some to my dressing.  

 

Not raw, but fresh tasting, satisfying, and a nice combination of flavors!!!
Feeling a little stress this weekend due to unavoidable interpersonal contact, so I'm sending out some extra love to all of you for taking the time to listen to my ramblings.

Raw Stuffed Mushrooms!!!

So, Girl's Night was cancelled, but what to do with a fridge full of saoking ingredients? Make the damned stuffed mushrooms anyway!! I will say, this is a great party dish, and the stuffing is delicious, but it yields quite a bit, so make sure you have an extra mouth or two to feed, because there are really only so many gigantic raw portobello caps you can eat, and frankly I could probably have two lunches from one of these suckers!
The recipe comes from "The Complete Book of Raw Food," by Julie Rodwell, which I turn to, at minimum, weekly for inspiration.  Here are the ingredients:
1 cup pecans, soaked overnight
1 cup almonds, soaked overnight
2 tbsp almond butter
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 tsp "poultry seasoning" (I used Spike, but really you can get creative if you have a favorite lemon pepper, powdered bouillon or whatever. Whatever, whatever, as my Aunt Aggie would have said.)
6 large mushroom caps (or possibly 8-10 medium sized ones, mine were pretty huge, and once again, portion size was an issue.)
Ready for the steps? You guessed it, throw everything but the mushrooms themselves into the food processor and get medieval on it!   Two variations I tried and would suggest (also included in Rodwell's book) clean the stems and add them to the stuffing, and clean and marinate the caps before stuffing.  The recipe suggests several hours of marination, as do I, since I let mine sit for maybe two hours and I'll be durned if it made any difference. 
The finished product was rich and yummy, and the stuffing very flavorful, similar to the vegan pate you've seen on this blog in the not too distant past, but with the added richness of the mushroom stems and poultry seasoning. 

I probably would have garnished these up a little to take outside the house, what I did do for a little extra zing was add a little garnish of aioli from yesterday's roasted portobello sandwich.

Roasted Portobello Sandwich with Sun-Dried Tomaoto Aioli

As promised, two posts in one day! Does the excitement ever stop!? Or, conversely, if this does not excite you, does the excitement ever start?
Tonight was supposed to be "Girl's Night," a tradition begun a couple of years ago amongst a group of my former work colleagues. Everybody brings a dish to share, we usually have a theme of some sort, and in my case, I get to be an honorary girl because I bring along my massage chair and give some wicked shoulder, neck and back work!
It also seems to be tradition that girl's night is cancelled at the last minute every April. Always with good reason, and I'm sending some positive energy to the hostess in distress.

Since I'm not the only one who has grown accustomed to having delicious vegan dinners in my household, I whipped up a couple of roasted portobello sandwiches for my lunch, and my mothers dinner (it's wrapped up in the fridge Mom.).
The plan was to do raw stuffed mushroom caps for the girls, which I still plan to make a bit later on, or perhaps tomorrow, but I will share that another time.
The sandwich was surprisingly easy to make, and makes a pretty picture to boot. Here's the biz:
For the aioli:
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked 15 minutes in hot water
1 1/2 cups vegan mayo
2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (whatever's handy)
Don't quite me on this but a tbsp or two of olive oil, and into the food processor.
For the mushroom caps:
(however many you happen to be making)
Brush with olive oil on the smooth side, flip and sprinkle with leftover chopped herbs from the aioli. Salt and pepper and roast at 400 for 8 ish minutes.
Putting it together:
Toast two slices of sourdough bread per cap. Spread aioli on one, top with mushroom, roasted red peppers, sliced avocado and honey mustard on the top slice. Devour.
:-)




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Location:Madison, CT

Jalapeño Jeaven!

I've been a little quiet, I know, but hopefully this afternoon I will get not one but two posts up! Beginning with this one! Those of you living in the States know that the federal and state tax deadlines are fast approaching, and I was keeping quite busy getting that accomplished, and of course, worrying about getting it accomplished. Nothing quite fosters procrastination like the knowledge that you will, indeed, have to pay taxes, which is the curse of the self-employed.

I also realized that all week my stress level has been high, my energy level low, and despite all noble attempts, I splurged on one or two tremendously junky treats. The processed sugar kept me up all night, which in turn fostered the vicious cycle. The moral of this story is get your taxes done early and stop freaking out about it. It's done now, the money is paid, and so begins the scramble toward next April 15th.

In all my psychic glory, it stands to reason that you're thinking what I'm thinking, namely: when I owe money to the federal government I like to spice up my dinner plate with jalapeño peppers! And if you're thinking that, you'd be almost right, except of course, I made this lovely dish the day after I did my taxes. Good job though, you're powers are really developing!

In all my tax frenzy, I elected not to shop until last night, and then, in the signature manner of only those possessing a special kind of genius, I drove all the way to Whole Foods without my wallet. Upon realization of said brilliance, I then spent the next 30 minutes or so pleading with my local bank to please call up another branch and kindly vouch for my identity. In the end I was able to do this, so a big shout out to Debbie in the Guilford branch for having my back! It would probably help some of you head scratchers out there to know that my local area is a barren wasteland of decent food shopping, and WFM is about 40 miles away, so a trip home and back was, simply put, more than my post-IRS-sodomized little mind could handle.

After that, it was all smooth sailing, despite some rather turbulent/beautiful/much needed weather. As reported daily by several "news" programs, the lack of snow this winter has left the northeast primed for wildfires, so some heavy rain was just what the doctor ordered. As i pulled in to Trader Joe's parking lot, the sky was that exquisite kind of ominous electric blue gray color, bright but opaque, the kind of sky that often precedes a a thunderstorm, and which makes the color and depth of everything around you seem somehow twice as real and vivid as it did before. Here's an example:



Moving on...Jalapeños

Last night I whipped up a wicked-easy and flavorful tortilla soup with jalapeño-lime "cream.". This recipe comes from my newly acquired Ani Phyo book, "Ani's Raw Food Essentials," courtesy of the kind folks at Vitamix who let me get in on their promo. Thanks guys! Ani likes to make spelling distinctions to products that would normally be animal-based, like mylk, for example, or kream.

However, you will not find such frivolity here on Orbiting Vegan for two important reasons. Firstly, though much less importantly, I find it bothersome in the same way in which I find the word wymen bothersome in hard-core feminist literature. Frankly, making these silly distinctions creates more of separation than integration of communities, in my humble opinion. But second, and far more importantly, it just presents all manner of spellcheck and autocorrect nightmares, and I simply don't have the phuckyng payshents.

This is the most serious critique I have thus far of Phyo's book, which is nevertheless a treasure-trove of raw food wisdom. I do wish raw food books in general would include more recipes that don't involve an expensive food dehydrator in some way, but time and payshents will solve this matter eventually.

Ok, here come the peppers, I promise...

For the tortilla soup:

You can make your own "salted flax chips" to garnish the soup with, but requires a dehydrator, and frankly, I'm pretty sure you're garden variety unflavored corn chips are about as vegan as can be.

3 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup olive oil
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic, probably 1-2 cloves crushed if you don't keep it handy in a jar
1 tsp jalapeño pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Garnish with chips, fresh cilantro, and..

Jalapeño-lime cream:
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup seeded chopped jalapeño
1 tsp lime zest ( I just zested the whole durn thang.)
1/4 cup lime juice (or more depending on your preference for zing.)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (one of these days I will come up with a real doozy regarding extra virgins, just be patient.)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup filtered water, or more or less depending on consistency and how much lime juice you used.

On both counts, just throw it all in the vitamix and blend it until it is well mixed and lovely. Some people object to subjective terms such as lovely being used to give direction in cooking. To these people, I say, you'll know it when you see it. Trust me.

So, it was really tasty, not overly jalapeñized, and lovely. So lovely in fact , that my mother essentially claimed any and all leftovers as her own. I even think my father would have liked it, but he did after all just recently try my seared fennel, and I would be forced to interpret his eagerness to try new things as the potential onset of the apocalypse.

It was lovely to look at as well, and the creamy red-orange of the soup contrasted nicely with the light pistachio color of the cream. Sadly, I was too hungry for pictures, so instead you get one more weather shot.

On my way out of Whole Foods, the sun was shining brightly in the west, in the east behind the building the sky was completely covered in dark, heavy, slate grey and indigo clouds, on top of which, a steady rain glistened down onto the parking lot, shining in the sun and contrasting with the dark clouds, all of this underneath the most perfect, vivid, rainbow I have ever seen in my life. And literally as quick as this moment arrived, it was gone. I truly consider myself blessed to have taken a deep breath long enough to enjoy it.







The pictures don't do it justice, but I also choose to Internet this as living proof that if there is a god up there, he knew I needed to chill out for a minute.

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Location:Madison, CT

The Secret Ingredient

Over the years I've enjoyed cooking food of all kinds, especially at holidays and special occasions. Every year at Thanksgiving, among other things, my roasted eggplant and tomato soup, the recipe for which I will share some other time, has become a family tradition and a much anticipated staple of our Holiday table. The first year I prepared it, I only made a small batch, figuring that since there were so many options from which to choose, best not to make a great steaming cauldron of something everyone might or might not eat. The end result? Me in the kitchen making fresh "leftover" eggplant soup for my relations to bring back to their homes.

I mention this not to boast, but as a prefix to my actual point. My Aunt Susan, and her husband and children have tried making this soup many times, and it never seems to come out quite the same. Good, or very good, or excellent, but different. Each November when our families congregate, we discuss what they might be doing differently in their kitchen than in mine. I always smirk and reply, "The secret ingredient is Love."

This is not to imply any lack of love in my Aunt Susan's heart, or her family, In fact the opposite. But it is to say that what makes my soup unique to me, is that I prepare it each year with the love and an open heart, and the knowledge that it will be a joy to my loved ones. And that, my friends, will always translate into your food. They always say you get out what you put in, especially in reference to nutrition, but the adage extends to the energy that goes into your food as well. When you make food with love in your heart, you are sharing that love with everyone who eats it. Anyone can throw the right ingredients in a pan, but we've all tasted experienced this difference between our grandmother's cooking vs anybody else's. Grandma always wins.

In fact this recalls to mind a second anecdote. Ever since I can remember, my mother's mother used to make rainbow cookies at the holidays, three layers of almond cake, gloriously stuck together with jam and preserves, topped with chocolate. They go by other names, but Grandma always called them "rainbow cookies," so that's good enough for me. When I was in college, in a small art school with no meal plan, living on frozen chicken patties, pop tarts, and ramen noodles, Grandma would regularly send a tin of rainbow cookies in the mail, usually with a money order stashed inside for good measure... And say what you will, but very few things, even now, have ever tasted as good as those cookies. They became so sought after amongst my friends and classmates that I had to hide them, or lock them in my car for safekeeping. Love.

Last year, I thought I would initiate a little holiday bonding with Grandma, and asked if she would bring the recipe along for her Christmas visit, so that we might make them together. She's long given up heavy duty holiday baking, and at 86 I don't blame her, yet I had hallmarks visions of standing next to her, covered in flour, receiving little gems of wisdom as we shared this holiday ritual.

It turned out to be a disaster! Something I thought we would do together became something I did alone while Grandma critiqued, and at the end of the day, I was just flustered. I don't really know where it all went awry, but I will tell you this much: if there was something missing from my version, we can all be sure what it was. The cookies were fine, technically done the right way, yet mine were somehow more mechanical, just a frustrated guy in a kitchen, who never had much baking prowess to begin with, going through the motions. My point is, the nourishment will be received in the manner it was given, so why not add the love?

I think, also, that we can extend this idea a bit further. We're all aware, no matter how blissfully ignorant some us may try to remain, of the terrible conditions under which animals are factory-farmed for slaughter. We all know about the hormones, the steroids, the unsanitary, cramped living quarters. We've seen the documentaries, the chickens so beefed up, no pun intended, that their legs give out. It's not a pretty picture. Most of the time, we just try not to think about it.

Having said all this, I am not derailing a food and wellness blog into animal rights activism. Both have their place, and I want to keep this blog within the parameters I've envisioned for it. But my related point is this: how happy do you think those animals are?

It's my assumption that the average chicken doesn't spend her days happy. In fact I surmise that she spends her short life under constant stress, fear and depression. Frankly, I think it foolish to assume for a second that we aren't consuming that stress, fear and depression right along with the chicken. If you aren't woo-woo enough to accept this on a purely energetic level, then consider what we know about the chemical nature of stress and anxiety. It seems perfectly logical to me that if animal products are going to be consumed, then the happiness of the animal during its lifetime is crucial, and show respect and gratitude for the sacrifice the animal makes.

Oddly enough, this whole stream of consciousness came to last night while I was laying in bed, wide awake, having just returned home from a rousing evening of karaoke. I love to sing, and when I get up there, I like to ham it up and have fun with it, usually to the amusement of those around me. But last it I couldn't help noticing this little pocket of post-glory-days frat boys. For whatever reason, a confident gay man is very threatening to a certain segment of the male population, and it was clear that they were not entertained by my rendition of Poor, Unfortunate Souls. This was a shame for two reasons: first, my Ursula impression kicks some ass, and second, I could just feel the negativity coming from the other side of the room. The thing that struck me though wasn't fear, or anger, but sadness. I just feel overwhelmingly that I need to share the message, however cliche, that life is too short to be that frat guy, and be that afraid of other people's light, let alone shine your own. Forgive me if I sound a little flowery or saccharine, but it's true.

Cultivate your positive energy, in your food, in your family, I all aspects of your life. Especially in your karaoke.

Namaste.
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Location:Madison, CT

Raw Carrot Cake!

Happy Belated Easter! I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable day, as I did in the company of my friends Angela and John, who host a wonderful, informal sorts fall day brunch every year at their home in East Haddam, CT. Angela, a fellow "orbiting" vegan prepared, among other things, a stuffed porcini mushroom roast that was absolutely to die for, and it is only now that I realize I didn't snap a single picture of any of the healthy goodies we had to munch on. For my part of the effort, I made a lovely raw carrot cake, taken from Alisa Cohen's "Living on Live Food," (Cohen Publishing, 2004.)

I seriously had my doubts about this one going into it but I was pleasantly surprised. I was even more delighted that it was a big hit with the other guests, many of whom were much more daring in their food choices than I would have expected (thanks of course, to Angela's culinary prowess over the years.)

Here's the ingredients:
7 carrots
1 cup walnuts
1 cup pitted dates, soaked
3/4 cup raisins, soaked a minimum 1 hour
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg

For the frosting:
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 cup raw cashews, soaked

Here's a preliminary thought: make the frosting the night before and chill it in the fridge so it is thick enough to use when you are ready. It comes out of the blender creamy and delicious, but a little runny to really do much besides make a mess.
Ps.. All you do is Vitamixify the ingredients together for about a minute.

Making the cake is just as simple. First, process the carrots in your food processor until they are finely chopped. Place in a large bowl. Then, process the walnuts until they are finely chopped, and add to the bowl. Mix with your hands, or a spoon, but it will be more gratifying to just reach in there and do it with your hands. Like a kid playing in a mud puddle for the first time, just trust me.

In a shocking turn of events, process the dates in the food processor until they are smooth, add the spices, and blend a little more. Then add the carrot mixture in with the dates, unplug the food processor and continue to blend the ingredients using only your mind, until they are well mixed. If your powers of telekinesis are not yet sufficiently developed to power a food processor, you can plug it back in and do it the easy way, but once again, the gratification won't be nearly as intense.

My food processor is a fossil from the late 1980's, but it does it job well enough. The real problem is one of volume; it simply doesn't accommodate the amounts of ingredients this recipe, among others, incorporates. So I had to do it in batches, which took some extra time but yielded the same result. I have to admit, I had to plug it in for the last couple of rounds, due to sheer exhaustion. I hear tell that there are food processors out there that accommodate as much as 14 cups, which seems like a dream. In the meantime, batches it is.

To this mixture add the raisins, once again mixing with your hands. The book suggests placing the mixture in a cake pan, the only problem being that will be its final resting place, the mixture is too sticky and wet to overturn the pan onto any kind of platter or serving dish. And if you can get it to break free of the cake pan, guaranteed it won't be in one piece. I excel at learning the hard way. Anyway, what seems to work exponentially better is simply placing the cake mixture on the platter, and forming it into a round cake shape using your hands. Once again, immensely pleasurable in a "5-year-old-first-time-with-silly-putty" kind of way.

Then frost the cake with your well chilled cashew nut frosting, and garnish as you please, I happened to have some fresh berries and mint on hand, if you have more experience with garnishing tools than I, why not do something creative with fresh carrots?

Here's a picture of the finished product:



And here's one of me modeling the finished product (I did look rather smashing if I do say so myself!)



And as a final thought, here's a picture of me and my friend Suzin's new puppy, Maddox,



On an unrelated note, I'd just like to thank the folks at Vitamix for eing extra nice to me and forwarding me a copy of Ani Phyo's "Raw Food Essentials," even though I purchased my unit a few weeks before they started running the cookbook promotion. Its really nice to see a company out there that still has a vested interest in keeping their customers happy, even after they've purchased a product.

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Location:Madison, CT

New York Times reviews G Zen--the Verdict? Worth it!

Just wanted to share this very positive review of G Zen by the NewYork Times. Here's my review of the review, and or the reviewer:

She admits to not being a vegan or vegetarian in the first place, which is not necessarily a strike against her, although she makes one critical statement that causes me to question some of her less favorable judgments. Toward the end of the review she states that the black bean burger "did not satisfy [her] taste for beef.". This is problematic for me on a couple of levels.

Firstly, as I recently pondered in this blog, I don't really believe veggies need to aspire to resemble meat, and although they can sometimes successfully capture the essence, or certain key flavor elements, they're still going to be different. Secondly, if you're walking into the joint with a craving for beef, then you checked your unbiased viewpoint at the door, and you're not receiving the nourishment with an open mind.

Basically, I feel that the first implied statement was, "I expect this to be as good as meat." Which implies the secondary statement, "Meat is better than vegan food."
Amazing how such a small string of words can reveal the clear, if probably unconscious, presence of the reviewer's bias. And although a food review is, like any other artistic critique, entirely subjective, one hopes that a food critic enters every restaurant with a neutral and open mind, hoping to deliver an honest critique.

Once again, an overwhelmingly positive review, but I feel it's safe to presume some of the author's less favorable discernments are, ate at partially, due to preconceived notions and expectations, unconsciously set before fork met plate.

Here's the link: definitely check it out!
New York Times G Zen Review
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Fennel Madness!!

I think I may be addicted fennel! Until beginning this blog, the only time I ever used fennel was as stuffing for my Thanksgiving Turkey (and yes, it has crossed my mind what the menu is going to look like come November, but we'll burn that bridge when we come to it.) But lately it's been on my list every week, and has been a wonderful and surprisingly versatile addition to the menu. Last night I whipped up a quick and yummy severed fennel with Meyer lemons, and it was so easy you won't even feel like you're trying. This one is from "Clean Food," and I have decided Terry Walters is probably god.

Here's the biz:
3 bulbs of fennel (reserve the fronds if they are still attached, and give them a nice chop.)
Zest and juice of one Meyer lemon
1 shallot sliced as thin as you can manage, vivisected even
2 tbsp olive oil

Ready? Core the fennel bulbs, cut them into wedges, and steam them until soft. In a BIG skillet, sautée the shallots in the oil until they are tender, add fennel and seer 2 minutes. If you have the chopped fronds handy, add them in along with the zest and lemon juice. Cook another minute or two, if you please, add a pinch of sea salt. Done. Easy? Wasn't it? Cooking it is barely more work than reading the recipe, and it is gooooood.




I served it with a dollop of cashew dill cream on the side, because I thought it would taste nice, and because I made a big batch earlier in the day from some dill that was threatening to revolt.

As a starter, I made a luscious watermelon soup, once again, effortless to prepare and refreshing to the tatebuds on a warm day.

3 cups of watermelon chunks
1 cup of mango chunks
(on both counts keep a little extra aside if you'd like the soup to be chunkier.)
1/2 cup of lime or lemon juice, (I went with lime.)
A pinch of ground cardamom
A 1"x1" cube of fresh ginger
1/2 a small bunch of fresh mint (1-2 tbsp worth)


If you guessed that it all goes in the vitamix until it can't remember it's birthday, you'd be right. It won't take long, maybe 30 seconds or so once you get up to high power.

Despite the sweetness of the fruit, the lime, ginger, and cardamom really spiced this up and make it much more of a dinner time dish than a dessert. Big Zing factor, I will be making this throughout the summer, and I'm already having visions of serving it out of a whole watermelon at picnics. I can feel the sunshine on my skin already.

I didn't get a nice picture of this, so once again, here's another shot of Orbiting Vegan's fearless, carnivorous mascot, Dusty Springfield.




Ooooh, and here's one of my new "air plant," which grows in nothing and only requires a little light and some leaf misting. The woman at the Garden center promised me the are almost impossible to kill. As many of you know, this is my kind of houseplant.




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Location:Madison, CT

Fabulous Meatless-Loaf and Un-Chicken Noodle Soup!

Meat exists. Presumably for a reason, which seems much more clear when it's original owner is alive. BUT, I am not going to be preachy about it. Once again, this blog is "orbiting" vegan, and although I have not been consuming flesh, and only once in a blue moon a bit of dairy, I do not restrict myself from it. The funny thing about that is, I don't want it, I large part due to the clearly discernible positive impact a plant based diet has had on all aspects of my life. I may even include some cheese in an upcoming recipe, I know a local place that makes some amazing fresh goat cheese! We'll see. I'm getting sidetracked.

As a person who has always loved fruits and vegetables (I'm also generally one of those who would rather fill up on a nutritious dinner and skip dessert altogether,) I've never really understood the desire to make them taste like meat. Why should nourishing foods that taste perfectly good in their own right aspire to taste like something they are not? Especially in light of the fact that acquiring a taste for said foods could be the gateway back into a life of over-consuming animal products?

I'm just going to come out and say it: Veggie burgers are the gateway drug of plant based foods. Next thing you know you'll be scarfing down big slabs of pink slime at your local fast-food chain. (I'm kidding, sort of.)

In truth I've actually often been an eater of veggie burgers,(here comes the but) BUT i have always preferred the varieties that haven't been processed, textured and seasoned to simulate an actual burger. I've tried various ch'kins, and even facons, and with few exceptions, these types of products usually fail miserably at their goal.
I thought I would experiment with a couple such recipes at home, and see if I couldn't get a better handle on why so many of us seem to love meatless meat.

The first selection I chose was a non-meatloaf. The recipe came from the Vitamix "Live Fresh" cookbook, and the ingredients are as follows:

16 oz firm tofu, drained, patted dry, and weighed down in a strainer overnight to expel as much liquid as possible (if you forget, and I'm not saying I did, it will come out just fine if you give it a thorough pressing wrapped in several paper towels.)
2 tbsp arrowroot powder (this is an easily digestible thickening starch, similar to cornstarch but gentler on your system. Bob's Red Mill makes it, and you can find BRM products at Ocean State Job Lot for less then you will generally find them elsewhere. Initially I sleeved out over buying food there too, but they have some great bargains on non-perishables. This does NOT mean I am turning into my father.)
4 tbsp water (organic vegan water is best, but if you cannot find any, clean tap water will do the trick.)
2 tsp Bragg's Amino Acids
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup organic chopped organic vegan celery
2 cups chopped portobello mushrooms
1 tbsp water (see above.)
1 tbsp + 2 tsp no salt seasoning (I used Spike, although I tossed the ox a while ago and I honestly don't recall whether or not. It contains salt.)
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage
3/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (one last interjection here, did you know you can buy cooked rice in the frozen food department? I literally came across this yesterday and was astounded at the sheer laziness of the person who doesn't have a few minutes to plop some dry rice and water into a steamer. Then, as luck would have it, I went to prepare this recipe, and being the last ingredient on the list, had everything else done and had to stop and wait for my rice to cook, at which point I was astounded by the sheer genius of the person who thought of frozen cooked rice.)

Some of you are just wondering why I don't shut up and tell you how to make it? Well, fine. (grumble, grumble.)

Preheat the oven to 325 or 350, but 350 if you want to do it right. Grease a loaf pan with olive oil, and neglect until you have paid sufficient attention to the ingredients. Arrowroot, water, Aminos, tofu, and walnuts into the Vitamix in that order!
Blend until they form a lovely milk-shake consistency. Sautéed onions, celery, and mushrooms in water with spike and herbs until veggies are flaccid.

Combine tofu mix, veggies, rice, and breadcrumbs in a bowl and transfer contents into the greased loaf pan. The cookbook does not instruct you to remove the mixture from the bowl, however, one assumes that one didn't grease the loaf pan in vain, so one takes a bold and flashy leap of culinary faith and goes ahead and transfers the mixture anyway, despite not being told! I stand in defiance of lonely loaf pans! Viva la revoluçion!/i>

Once again, in an unprecedented turn of events, place the pan in the oven and bake for 75 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes, then flip it out onto a serving platter and serve. If you are very impatient, and find yourself thinking you don't need to wait 30 minutes, let my absence of a photo serve as a cautionary tale. While my meatloaf was In fact delicious, and the texture and flavor surprisingly satisfying, some might even say meaty, my flip after 10 minutes was a disaster.

I do have a shot of it in the dish, looking much more like hamburgerless helper than meatloaf.




I also made a spicy Thai sauce to go with, mostly because I happened to have all e ingredients on hand already:

Mighty Thai Sauce (also from the Vitamix Cookbook.)
1/2 cup tamari
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 peeled cloves garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup OVW (Organic Vegan Water)
1/2 cup raw tahini

Blend. All in all it wasn't the best compliment to the meatloaf. The picture is shown with some organic ketchup on top. Sometimes you just don't screw with the classics.

I followed this up with a raw "Un-Chicken Noodle Soup" from the Boutenko's "Fresh" cookbook.

Ingredients:

2 cups OVW
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped celery
2 tbsp Nama Shoyu
2-3 cloves of garlic (word to the wise,stick with two unless you want this to be really spicy.)
1 grated carrot
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
2 white potatoes, grated or Spiralized.

I have to say that while I enjoy this cookbook, the directions are often unclear. For example it begins by instructing you to blend all the ingredients together, then add the next few ingredients, blend some more, and add the last few unblended, which is hard to do if you followed the first instruction correctly. As near as I can figure, your best bet is to blend everything up to and including the garlic, then combine in a large bowl with the carrot, parsley, and potatoes (which constitutes the "noodles" of the dish.)

This one was ok, but not my favorite by any means, and I would honestly suggest skipping the grated veggies in favor of some cooked soba noodles or something else. The "broth," as it were, was spicy but tasty.





I hope you're enjoying reading this blog! I am having a great time cooking things up and writing about them for you! Stay tuned!

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Location:Madison, CT