Orto Love

This little garden is busting out of it's recycled door boundaries! I, of course, have overcrowded all the vegetables growing in this small little box of bounty, and the zucchini are encroaching on the poor little peppers who are the runts of this litter. The tomatoes, after months of weak stems, are reaching to the sky at amazing speed, and the lettuce has been harvested. I am amazed at how little effort that this blooming little patch of earth required and I have so many plans for the next one! My goal for the summer is to have a salad of greens and tomatoes entirely from my garden served with zucchini and pasta. The little hot peppers need a miracle to make it, but if they do survive a mean salsa is in store!



If you can catch a glimpse of it, I also have some mild onions and arugula in the side pots!

Tomato Pesto

My vegan friend Jennifer got me hooked on the fabulously beautiful blog Vegan Yum Yum, which I totally recommend, though it makes my messy blog look like a third grade craft project entirely created in blue-green crayon. Among the fabulous recipes, I must thank Lolo for teaching me how to chop an onion correctly so that I can now enjoy hacking into those tearjerkers as much as I love eating them. She also has some fab tips on food photography, which, as you will note, I am not so good at taking to heart. In any case, despite how inept this online masterpiece makes me feel, I love her blog and book (aptly entitled VeganYumYum) so much, that I really can't feel bad for long.

So, as I was writing, one of my few vegan friends sent me a link to a magically quick and creamy recipe for Tomato Basil Cream Pasta. I loved it, but in a quick pinch to replicate it one day when I was too lazy to turn on the computer to seek it out anew, I came up with this Yum Yum inspired tomato pesto that had me going for seconds! Plus, this is a really rich way to take care of those tomatoes that are just about ready to go.


TOMATO PESTO

Ingredients:
3 large tomatoes quartered and squeezed of seeds
1/2 C pine nuts
1/4 C sun-dried tomatoes
1/8 C fresh basil
2 cloves garlic chunked
2 T olive oil
1 tsp salt

• Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for about 15min to rehydrate.
  
• Add all ingredients into a food processor and process until well integrated but still chunky.
• Mix with your favorite pasta!
  

I loved this recipe and found myself counting down the seconds until leftover lunch the next day. So, whip up some of this and start checking out the much more refined culinary creative force of Lolo's version!

Fresh Red Leaf Lettuce with Tart, Sweet and Creamy Dressing

This post comes straight from my own New Jersey yard! My very first harvest from the experimental box garden is a bunch of crisp red leaf lettuce. I have previously posted about my sprouting, planting and nurturing of this first attempt at more sustainable living, but today is all about the luxury of moseying on out your kitchen door to make dinner. Nothing is more fresh, organic and eco-friendly then your homegrown food, and nothing is going taste better than the fruits of your own hard labor and care. In honor of this momentous occasion (did I mention that my name and green thumb have never quite been used in the same sentence?) I am whipping up some uber simple vegan dressings to lightly accompany the earthy goodness of the greens. Because these leaves have such a delicate flavor I wanted to make a simple salad lightly spritzed with my favorite flavors. And, basically I wanted to show all the non-vegs out there that animal-friendly condiments will knock your dairy-eating socks off!

THE COMPASSIONATE CONDIMENT TRIFECTA

Creamy Tahini
Ingredients:
2 T Tahini (sauce made of ground up sesame seeds)
2 T cold water
1/4 tsp salt
herbs

This is the vegan's answer to ranch dressing. It is creaming, flavorful and so darn good that I basically try to put it on all my veggies raw or cooked. This is amazing on salad, but absolutely crazy-good on sauteed greens. Whisk the tahini, water and salt together until combined. Add more water for thinner dressing. Add chopped parsley or cilantro for added flavor.

Tart & Sweet Balsamic Lime
Ingredients:
3 T high quality balsalmic vinegar
juice of 1 lime

The easiest and healthiest of all dressing. You must be sure to have good quality balsamic vinegar or it will be too strong. Add the lime juice to the vinegar until desired flavor. Let sit for a half hour and serve. The result is a smooth, rich and slightly sweet dressing that goes with a lettuce or bean salad.

Light Miso
1 T light miso paste (made from fermented soybeans)
3 T warm water
1/2 T olive oil

I love the super salty flavor of miso for soup, but it is also a fantastic dressing as well. Simply add a bit of warm water to the miso and whisk until thinned out and dissolved completely. Add a bit of olive oil and serve.

I couldn't even wait to cut a tomato to dig into this perfect salad, I just added some almonds (always protein!) and drizzled a little of each of these on the bed of greens. Fantastic!!!

Garden Experiment - It has survived!

So, along with my food posts, I am also updating the blog with my very unprofessional, experimental foray into gardening. There has been no formal research about this tiny, crowded raised box garden, and I haven't even solicited free advice from local green thumbs. Nope, I am just wingin' it. I grew all of these from seed and transplanted them into this make-shift garden box. So far, zucchini and red leaf lettuce seem to be the most robust, but I am holding out for the tomatoes and pray for the hot peppers! Here is shot of the baby garden and the tender shoots while Baci, my cat lurks around the perimeter.

The Grill is Not Just for Men Who Love Meat!

It is definitely spring. The azalea's are bursting into bloom and the thick winter grass is in need of some serious TLC. It is that tentative moment before the heat of summer when we venture outdoors without the bulky winter coats, pale skin exposed to the long missed warmth, allergies reminding us that the world is a buzz with life. Yes, spring is a happenin' time, and nothing marks its coming more for me than the smokey aroma of the outdoor grill. Yes, you read me right, I mean that classic contraption cultivated for men's culinary carnivorous delight (excuse the excessive alliteration!). Ahem, well, I am here to tell you that the grill can be vegan BBQ friendly, and it may even get some of your grillmasters to leave some room by the flame for zucchini, asparagus or squash. Ladies who love veggies, listen up, the grill is your new BFF!

Forget the mysterious hot dog, or the oh-so-boring meat pattie, slap on some of your favorite vegetables and maybe some hot tempeh and people will be asking to take a bite off of your plate. For my first spring BBQ, I marinated some tempeh steaks as hot as I dared and added a basket full of crisp sides. If you don't have a grill, then a grill pan will work just as well, but you'll miss out on all the fun of being outside!

Vegan BBQ
1 package tempeh
1 red pepper cut into small pieces
1 onion cut into quarters or eighths
1 asparagus
1 medium squash cut into spears
1 large tomato

Marinade: 1/2 C red wine, 2 T soy sauce, 3/4 C hot sauce, 2 T lime juice, 3 garlic cloves pressed

1. Cut the tempeh to half of its width. Thinner slices will soak up the flavor better. Cut the thin sides into four rectangle steaks. Marinate for about an hour or longer. *
2. While the tempeh is marinating, cut up all your vegetables and sprinkle them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Skewer some if desired.
   
3. Warm up your grill and let it go for about 1/2 hr until it is smouldering and hot.
4. Place everything on the grill. Note that the peppers, onions and tempeh will take the longest, so I tend to put those in the middle, and then gradually add the tomatoes, squash or zucchini and asparagus. I also like really charred things so I leave everything on the grill until it is black and juicy in the vegetable's case, crispy for tempeh.
   

Enjoy this! What is better than eating a plate full of charred vegetables and super hot tempeh outside? Nothing.





* If you are not used to tempeh, you might want to boil it in water or steam it for about 10 minutes as this takes away some of the bitterness. I tend to like the stronger flavor of tempeh so I don't do this step. You could also easily marinate tofu steaks as well.

Garden Photos

My garden is sprouting all over my kitchen! I cannot wait to move everything outside, but in the meantime, I don't mind these cheery shoots getting in my way! I have started some hot peppers, grape tomatoes, arugula, green onions and zucchini.

Mediterranean Noodle Casserole

I remember with longing the Tuna Noodle Casserole of childhood. It was rich and creamy, crunchy on top, and each bite so flavorful. I often wonder why this was one of my most relished dishes since I harbored such a forceful aversion to both mushrooms and fish, but something about this combo made the strange texture and taste of those sworn enemies edible. The meal was so satisfying that as a post-undergraduate adult who was leaving behind quick eating for sit-down meals, I was shocked to find out how easy it was to make. At the time, the ease of the canned-dinner-casserole was heralded as a smashing success in our household. Although I do not decline the sometimes necessary use of canned consumables, I have found that using fresh ingredients as close to their natural form as possible yields rather delicious results! But don't crucify me for using the highly unnatural Textured Vegetable Protein and canned artichoke in this very recipe. Here is my albacore-friendly, non-dairy creamy TVP* noodle casserole!

The original recipe (even without the canned tuna and cream of mushroom soup) is almost 100% non-vegan, so this was a bit tricky to tweak, but I think that by taking a more Mediterranean inspired approach I was able to come up with a super satisfying meal that did not try to dupe my taste buds. Word of advice: when veganizing your fav foods of yore, it is always better to upgrade and derive then to try to approximate. Trust me, your results will NEVER be like the spoonfuls of homey goodness made perfect by years of distance and nostalgia.

As I was saying, this recipe's ingredients were difficult: egg noodles, tuna, milk, Parmesan and believe it or not, most bread crumbs (most store versions have some sort of dairy in there). I basically had to recast the entire show! The result: a super-fab casserole with a hint of cheesy saltiness and sweet red pepper.

Mediterranean Noodle Casserole
* The original inspiration is from a Martha Stewart recipe, but I have changed most everything but the title, which I liked.

Ingredients:

1T olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 lb rombi pasta (these give a great egg noodle-like texture, but you can use rotini as well)
1 red bell pepper sliced into very thin strips
1 can artichoke hearts quartered
1/4 C flour
1/2 C soy creamer
2 C rice milk
1/8 C soy butter
1 C Textured Vegetable Protein (rehydrated w/ vegetable broth and a 2tsp kelp granules - optional)
3 scallions chopped
1/2 C vegan Parmesan
1/4 C vegan bread crumbs

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Boil water and add pasta for about 8-10 min until done.
  
• While the pasta is cooking heat the oil and butter in a skillet and saute' the pepper until soft. Salt and pepper.
  
• Add the flour and stir until a paste forms.
• Slowly add the creamer and milk until a creamy sauce forms.
• When the sauce begins to simmer turn off the heat and add the rehydrated TVP, onions, artichoke hearts, and noodles and mix until combined.
• Salt and pepper.
• Add 1/8 C vegan Parmesan to the sauce.
  
• Place ingredients into a baking dish and cover with bread crumbs and remaining Parmesan.
• Bake 25 minutes until the crust is browned.

There you have it! It is a tasty casserole to sate the comfort food craving!

*TVP - textured vegetable protein is made by extracting the soybean oil from soy flour. It is a great source of protein and has essentially no taste, so it is easy to throw into any meal. It naturally resembles tuna flakes, so I basically added some salt with the broth and some kelp for a mild sea aroma.