Breathing Some Soul Into My Kitchen

You would think that since I grew up in the South, my formative years were filled with Southern comfort and soul foods. Truth be told I was never a fan of fried chicken, grits, collard greens, or most of the staples of the South. But all of that seems to have changed in the last few years (except for the chicken part, of course), and now I savor the flavors of soul cuisine. So when I was asked to review Vegan Soul Kitchen, a new cookbook by Bryant Terry, I took that chance to breathe a little bit of soul into my kitchen.... and here's what I came up with.




One mandatory recipe to make (for anyone who gets this book) is the one that inspired the book itself; citrus collards with raisins redux. This was my first time cooking collards in my kitchen, and I was worried that the bitterness would be too much for me. Wrong! The burst of citrus and sweetness of the raisins was the perfect compliment to the greens.

Along with the collards, I made whole-grain mustard and cornmeal crusted seitan and sweet cornmeal-coconut butter drop biscuits. The biscuits ended up looking more like cookies, but none of that mattered once you slathered on a little Earth Balance and took a bite... these just melted in my mouth. I also loved the crunch I got from using coarse cornmeal.

Another meal I made was the blackened tofu slabs with succotash salsa. The blackened tofu was quite a hit, and I liked his suggestion of chilling, slicing, and putting it on a salad. The succotash was alright, I don't think it turned out so well because I used both frozen corn and lima beans (fresh is recommended), plus my tomatoes were less than stellar. But during the right season (summer) I think this would really compliment the tofu.
And to round out my review, tonight I whipped up a trio of salads for dinner, including: carrot-cayenne coleslaw, chilled citrus broccoli salad, and roasted red potato salad with parsley-pine nut pesto. The pesto had a very unique flavor, thanks to the addition of miso I am guessing. Next time I would use more red pepper, but this is a potato salad that would certainly please a crowd. The broccoli was also full of flavor, though the citrus wasn't too overpowering. The only unfortunate thing is that the acid in the citrus turned my bright green broccoli into a mucky brown color! The coleslaw wasn't much of a standout, and I didn't end up tasting the cayenne at all. But my cabbage-loving husband still devoured it with pleasure.
Overall, I have really enjoyed the recipes from Vegan Soul Kitchen. Bryant Terry gives us quite a variety of traditional southern recipes, but with a modern twist. The tone in his directions is smooth and relaxed (he actually told me to "massage" my broccoli!). And his soundtrack selection for each dish allows the food to really sing to you in more ways than one (though I didn't have too many of them on my iTunes playlist). Surprisingly, though, I'm not even sure Bryant Terry is a vegan (based on his comments in the introduction... haven't confirmed this!). I guess this is one detail I am willing to overlook, because I sure do like his soul food!

Beeting Hearts and Half-Eaten Chocolates

Yes, I know February is over... all the Valentine's Day flowers have shriveled and died, the last few half eaten truffles have been forgotten in the heart-shaped box, and all the card companies have moved on to the next commercialized holiday (I guess that would be Easter?). But I still thought I would blog about an amazing dinner and everyone's favorite on Valentine's, boxes of chocolates.

For dinner, I made seitan piccata and stuffed mushrooms, both from the Candle Cafe cookbook along with roasted beets sprinkled with celtic gray sea salt and a dribble of balsamic glace. I had to use my heart cookie cutters on the beets, because honestly, when else can you use them if not on Valentine's day?
After seeing a post on the always fabulous Girlie Girl Army about the delicious treats from Allison's Gourmet, I decided to splurge and buy myself a box of truffles (thinking there was no way that John would figure out a way to get vegan chocolates). The box included three types of truffles (hazelnut, mocha, and almond) and three types of caramels (pecan, peanut, and chocolate) Next year I will be ordering a box full of the caramels (pecan was my favorite)! Not that I didn't like the truffles as well, but I had plenty of those to choose from....
Because to my surprise, John did a little online searching on his own and ordered me a box of truffles from Rose City Chocolatier. I was seriously impressed with his effort. This one had all kinds of flavors (hazelnut, vanilla, mandarin, coconut, pistachio, strawberry to name a few). Quality-wise they weren't quite up to the standard of Allison's truffles, but it was kind of fun to eat a box of chocolate the way I used to... take a bite and if it was a less than stellar flavor (the mandarin), I just put the uneaten half back in the box!
And as if I didn't have enough chocolate... I made chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with the last of my white chocolate chip stash. What the strawberries lacked in ripeness, the chocolate more than made up for in sweetness. The strawberries, chocolates, a bottle of champagne, and the Lush sex bomb bath bomb made for quite a relaxing evening.

Seitan From A Can?

I have seen a few others blog about canned seitan, so I just had to try it for myself. I ordered this one awhile back from Vegan Essentials. I must say it made me very nervous to try seitan from a can....

And my gut feeling was correct, I couldn't stand this stuff. I thought it was squishy and weird tasting, made my stomach slither a bit. But, John loved it (I sauteed it in a little coconut oil before serving). So thankfully, it wasn't wasted and he ate up what was on my plate. I wasn't totally lazy in making dinner... we also had the tamarind lentils from V-con (added a bunch of steamed kale towards the end and subbed lime juice for tamarind) and the coconut lime rice from ED&BV. Both were very tasty and made plenty of leftovers. I was expecting the coconut flavor to be stronger in the rice, still trying to decide if it's worth the extra calories (I used lite coconut milk). I also tossed in some toasted coconut with the rice.
And just to show you that I really haven't been all that lazy, here is our dinner from two nights ago, using homemade seitan (recipe from Yellow Rose Recipes); seitan stroganoff from VWAV! I love this stuff and I'm sure I've posted it before. But this time I updated it slightly by adding some vegan sour cream both to the sauce and to top it off (also fresh chives). I think I could eat this every night.... (and luckily there was a bunch leftover, so we will be having it and the lentils tonight!)
And it's hard to contain my excitement, I should be getting my new laptop from Dell tomorrow!! I have been waiting a looonggg time it seems to get a new laptop and I'm finished suffering through the slow machine that I've been using. Plus, it's green! Oh, and I got a recycling kit for my old, dead computer, so I'm interested to see how that works.
One more thing, I sewed the first stitch of my life the other day!! Made me so proud :-) You'll have to wait another month though to find out what, sorry to keep you in such suspense.
Whew, tomorrow is Friday.

Sheep's Wool in Your O.J.

One tidbit I forgot to mention about Christmas Day that was a bit shocking and quite odd... my mom offered me some orange juice when I woke up. I am not typically one to drink juice, but it sounded like a good way to sweeten the morning a bit while opening presents. I picked up the jug of juice, H.E.B. brand, fortified with calcium. Sounded fine, right. Well, I read further and saw that it was fortified with Vitamin D3. I remembered vaguely from reading Becoming Vegan back when I first went vegan that there were two sources of Vitamin D, one plant-derived and one animal-derived. I couldn't quite remember which was which so I did a quick google search and sure enough, Vitamin D3 is sourced from sheep's wool (bleh!). My mom was shocked, how can juice not be vegan? Crazier things have happened I suppose. So no O.J. for me....

Sorry for the random story. I go back to work tomorrow, which I am pretty sad about. So this morning after a run (trying to start my New Year's resolutions a bit early :-), I made myself my favorite Sunday breakfast; french toast. I have stuck to one recipe since going vegan, but figured in the spirit of the new year I should branch out a bit. Take a guess where I got this one from....

That's right! My copy of My Sweet Vegan, which I really can't put down, I'm having so much fun just drooling over the photos. This one uses nutritional yeast, and I thought it turned out delicious. I wish I'd had some thicker bread, but thankfully since I was instructed to toast the bread before dipping it in the batter, it didn't come out soggy. To make up for the lack of O.J. from Christmas, I had clementine wedges on the side.

Dinners the past few nights have focused on new recipes as well. On Friday night, my parents and sister came over and I decided to test out two new V-con recipes on them: the pumpkin baked ziti with caramelized onions and sage crumb topping that so many people have raved about and the roasted fennel and hazelnut salad with shallot dressing. Along with the leftovers, last night we also tried the mustard crusted seitan from Yellow Rose Recipes.

All three of these dishes got a thumbs up from everyone. One thing I would change about the ziti... next time I would use about half the breadcrumbs called for. Not sure if it was because I was lazy and used store-bought breadcrumbs, but there were just so many of them and they seemed to overwhelm the flavor of the pumpkin/cashew ricotta filling. The salad was a huge hit, my parents loved the fennel and hopefully now they will introduce a new veggie to their repertoire! The toasted hazelnuts and the dried cranberries along with the shallot dressing were a perfect compliment. And the seitan was a yummy new discovery as well (I also used her recipe for seitan, which was a bit moister than other recipes I've made). If you love mustard, you need to try this easy way to fix seitan cutlets.

So now I guess I need to go think about some resolutions for the New Year. Plus I need to make a grocery list so I can make a few goodies to bring along to the two New Year's parties we'll be attending....

Been a Bad Blogger

So I should come up with some really good excuse now about why I haven't blogged in over a week, truth is, there isn't one. I felt sick for a few days last week and since have been a bit unmotivated in the kitchen and busy getting ready to leave town. John and I leave Saturday for our delayed honeymoon on St John (any one have vegan food suggestions there?). I have also fallen behind on reading blogs, but I will really try to visit all of them before I leave!! I am a bit sad because I totally blew off the end of Vegan MoFo, I had so many other posts planned that just didn't make it. I could almost do a whole post on that! One of them will be tomorrow, and I'll try to fill in the rest as the month goes on.

Culinarily speaking (is that a word?), not much going on in my kitchen. Mostly we've been trying our best to clean out the fridge and pantry. But I think today I'm going to have to make a run to the grocery store because I'm craving fresh veggies and we have none! Last night I actually ate cereal for dinner. But the night before we had a real meal....

In the front is a stir fry of smoky seitan (used the V-con marinade for the smoky tempeh), red pepper, mushroom, and a bit of zucchini. Served alongside pureed white beans cooked with onion, garlic, and thyme. These taste creamy like mashed potatoes but are probably much better for you! And p.s., I used my new hand blender for the first time on these and fell in love, what a cool gadget! And up top is some pan-fried polenta (straight from the package) topped with roasted tomatoes (which I love on everything). Not bad for a meal when we had not much in the fridge.

For dessert, I indulged in some fudge that my mom sent home with me on Sunday. She enticed me over to the house with promises of fudge to help her decorate the Christmas tree. It's been a long standing tradition in our house, decorating the tree = fudge. Of course, I would have helped without it. And what's even better is that my mom now makes a vegan version, which is apparently also a lot easier than what she used to. Here is the recipe. I'll leave you with a photo of this creamy, chocolately holiday fudge.
Promise I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Spotlight on the Side and BBQ Wars

Very rarely does the side dish get the spotlight. Today is your day to shine!! Without further adieu, here is the Green Bean and Corn salsa from vegetarian times (a few issues back).

This was an very tasty side dish indeed. I used frozen sweet white corn instead of fresh, used about 1/4 of the red onion called for, doubled the cilantro, and added a touch of olive oil for flavor. Next time I may add more jalapeno for an extra kick, but otherwise, this was just about perfect.

On the side, let's say, was grilled bbq seitan ribz, finally! I decided to have my own little bbq sauce war, since I always seem to be trying to find the perfect bbq sauce, not too sweet, just the right about of heat, and a nice smoky flavor. True to my heritage (yes, as much as I'd sometimes like to deny my Texas heritage, sometimes it makes me proud) , I tried out two rival Texas brands, one from Fredricksburg and another from neighboring Austin (a woman-owned company, roar!).

The winner? For me, it was a bit of a toss up. John's favorite was the Austin's own, he thought the peach pecan was too sweet and tasted too much like worchestire sauce. But I thought it was a little spicier, which I liked. I think next time we may go for the Austin's Own chipotle bbq sauce. And just so they don't feel left out, here's a photo of the ribz pre-grill. I made a double match for the war, so I'm still eating leftovers two days later!! Nothing wrong with that....

Sweet, Sour, and Sassy

So many bloggers have been fixing the barbequed seitan ribz from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen, I have been feeling quite left out. But dragging out the grill is almost more of a winter activity for us, so last night I decided to try her variation on the baked seitan theme, the seitan baked in sweet and sour orange sauce.


Baked seitan is definitely the coolest thing. No messing with kneading for ten minutes, boiling for an hour, and cooling for another hour. Just throw the ingredients together, lightly knead, and smash it in pan. My seitan was a little bit stubborn and kept contracting into a ball, but eventually I got it to behave. The sweet and sour sauce was a snap, and it could be even easier (obviously) if you just used one out of a jar. I loved how both the seitan and the sauce had little chunks of garlic and ginger, it really gave this dish quite a lot of flavor. On the side I just sauteed some veggies I had on hand, asparagus, red pepper, and zucchini, and tossed them with some of the leftover sauce (the recipe makes quite a bit). This is definitely a recipe I will be using again, and trying some variations on!

Asian Fusion Plus Runny Cupcakes

Last night we said goodbye to a good friend who is moving out to sunny California (lucky girl!). She has been contemplating veganism for awhile now, so a home-cooked goodbye dinner sounded perfect. I decided to go with an Asian Fusion theme, meaning anything with an Asian flair was game. That way I could try my hand at rolling sushi again! For munchies we had wasabi green peans and nori maki (rice crackers wrapped in nori, I thought they looked pretty fancy). Then we got to the good stuff..... here's a peak at our dinner spread. At the front left is a bowl of Thai Coconut soup, made courtesy of another veggie friend in attendance. It was chock full of red pepper, mushrooms, tofu, coconut milk, lime juice, lemongrass, and red curry paste. I will have to get the recipe from her, it was spicy and delicious, the perfect start to the meal. Fusion of Asian Cuisine ..... Thai, check.



Following the soup course, everyone dug into the vegan egg rolls served with an amazing (store -bought) pineapple-tomato sweet and sour sauce. Everyone raved about the sauce and the eggrolls, and I could see a wave of shock when I told them they were 1. vegan and 2. had tofu in them. I've blogged about these eggrolls before by Banyan. They have three flavors regular, curry, and chipotle, all excellent and they also made the sauce. Fusion of Asian Cuisine ..... Chinese, check.

Then came the sushi. The last time I made sushi it was quite successful and this time was no different. In addition to making the spicy tempeh rolls, I also tried the yamroom roll (subbed portabello for shitake due to an allergy in the group). I thought they were delicious, quite unique. Other fillings included the usual avocado, green onion, cucumber, and carrot. Fusion of Asian Cuisine ..... Japanese, check.

And finally, we filled our plates with glazed seitan stir fry aka my favorite seitan stir fry. Unfortunately I was short on edamame, but no one seemed to notice but me. I think it's safe to say that besides John and myself, this was everyone's (6 people) first time trying seitan!! I was a bit nervous, but knew that it would win them over. Many compliments were muttered in between bites. Fusion of Asian Cuisine .... Chinese again I guess?, check.

Here's a close-up of the spread....




And finally dessert. I had quite a time making these mint chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW, but they were worth it. I decided to make the vegan fluffy butttercream frosting instead of the one the recipe suggested. Maybe that was a mistake. It has been soooooo hot here in Houston, the mint-green colored frosting was just runny and not setting up (but it tasted damn good!). I put it in the fridge and eventually the freezer, which helped, but then after icing the cupcakes I forgot to put them in the fridge, so the "icing runneth over" the cupcakes that is. No biggie, I served them with vanilla soy ice cream, perfect to balance out the minty flavor. These were amazing cupcakes, my favorite so far of the ones I've made. Everyone else agreed as well and the girl of honor just couldn't believe they were vegan and that good! Fusion of Asian Cuisine .... cupcakes? oh well, they were tasty even if they aren't really Asian-inspired. Here's a not so fabulous photo of my overflowing cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache....

Overall a fun night filled with good friends and good food. We had a champagne toast with the cuppers to say goodbye, we will miss you E.M.!!

Too Much Brown?

Usually I like to see something green on my dinner plate, but this one turned out mostly brown (except the plate itself). I meant to make some asparagus, but it just didn't happen .... too many things going on in the kitchen! But hiding in the lack of color is a healthy dinner I believe. On top is Seitan Tikka Masala from Vivacious Vegan along with Three Bean Dahl from Vegan Planet.


I only slightly modified the Tikka Masala recipe by using all coconut milk instead of half soy milk (lower fat version though), replaced the paprika with curry powder, and used regular (homemade from VWAV recipe) seitan instead of the Seitan O'Greatness. This is definitely one of those dishes that improves with time as the seitan soaks up the flavor. Tikka Masala reminds me of being in the UK. Several years ago (pre-vegan days) I spent quite a bit of time there while my parents were living in Chester. I despise pub food, but it seems that on every pub menu, there was always Chicken Tikka Masala right alongside Shepard's Pie, Bangers and Mash, and the Fish and Chips. Of course, the tikka masala also came with chips, sort of odd, but at least it gave me something I would eat!

The Three Bean Dahl (yellow split peas, black beans, and kidney beans) is a favorite of mine, I've made it several times including Christmas eve dinner this past year! It is certainly not your traditional dahl recipe, but I think that's why I like it. Someday I'll have to experiment with different bean combinations.

Can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch today....

Break in Beantown

John and I leave this evening for Boston. The next week will be filled with wedding planning and visiting family, as well as a quick two-night get away for us in New Hampshire's White Mountains. I think I am most excited about tasing vegan cakes from the Hippie Chick Bakery, who will be designing our wedding cake! Of course I hve some veggie dining options scoped out, so hopefully we'll make it to a few of those. I'll have a full report with pictures when we return next Sunday!


Till then, I'll leave you with a photo of John's seitan cacciatore that he made earlier in the week. It was experimental cooking, but turned out really wonderful! He marinated the seitan overnight in white wine, tomato paste, and some herbs and seasonings. The seitan was then browned on its own in a little olive oil. Then he sauteed green and red pepper, zucchini, onions, and garlic, added back the seitan with some wine and simmered for about 10 minutes. We served it over some couscous. It was one of those dishes that improved with flavor, luckily we had enough to last us two more meals...

My Favorite Seitan Stir-Fry

Last night I made (as the title suggests) my favorite seitan stir-fry dish - Glazed Seitan Stir-Fry from the January 2007 Vegetarian Times. Lucky for yall the recipe is posted on their website as well! I love the sweetness of the sauce with subtle kick of the red pepper flakes. I served this over Texas-grown brown jasmine rice. Leftovers for lunch today!

Movie Review: Year of the Dog

Last night, my boyfriend and I ventured downtown to see the new movie "Year of the Dog" starring Molly Shannon (of SNL fame) as Peggy, an animal-lover who is about to embark on a journey of self discovery. The movie began with some light-hearted humor as several of the quirky movie characters were introduced; including her gossipy office mate, a roll-your-eyes boss, a nimrod neighbor, her control freak brother and sister-in-law, and of course her beloved and adorable dog Pencil. Pencil is her closest companion, humans had always seemed to disappoint her in life, but never animals. Sadly, Pencil dies and Peggy is left feeling alone in the world. That is until she meets an ASPCA volunteer who helps her adopt a new dog and discover veganism and animal advocacy. She then becomes an active volunteer, gathering signatures to stop animal testing, trying out new vegan foods, taking her niece and nephew to a farm sanctuary, and finding homes for abandoned dogs. Through this point of the movie, I was both thrilled and touched. It was so exciting to see someone else's journey to veganism played out on the big screen! And of course, the audience was getting exposure to compassion and the concept of veganism. Too bad the movie didn't end there. After that, several events occur that set Peggy off and she goes....well....crazy. While I realize that a lot of these scence were for comic relief, I think they further engrained the belief that mainstream America has of vegans, that we are extreme and irrational. The movie did end on a positive note, but it was hard to forgive some of the earlier scenes. That being said, I would recommend that vegans and non-vegans alike see this movie. It was both funny and heartbreaking, exciting and frustrating.....and especially touching if you love dogs.

Before taking off for the movie, I whipped up the last of my homemade seitan BBQ style using Annie's Naturals Hot Chipotle BBQ sauce (note to self, halve the recipe for the seitan next time!). Served it as an open-faced sandwich along with a simple spinach salad (grated carrot, mushroom, avocado, grapes tomatoes, and roasted sunflower seed with simple vinaigrette made of flax oil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some whole-grain mustard) and some sliced peach. I snuck some Endangered Species chocolate (the Koala bar, dark chocolate and cherries) into the theatre for dessert during the movie.
A few of the other meals this week include: "cheesy" bean and cheese enchiladas from vegweb, pecan-crusted seitan from the Candle Cafe cookbook with french green beans, cashew-buttered sweet potatoes (modified from Vegan LunchBox almond-buttered sweet potatoes), some of my mom's homemade bread, and some sweet strawberries and mango. Also, this morning after a long run with my boyfriend and stopping by the farmer's market (yes! I did it!) I whipped up some french toast with the last of the bread and had some fresh Texas blueberries, grown less than 150 miles from Houston. All of this topped with maple syrup and powdered sugar and a glass of cold vanilla soymilk. I felt I deserved a little treat after running 5 miles. Have a happy weekend!

Happy Earth Day!!

This past week the news has been filled with tips on how to "go green." Often the impact of an animal-free diet is overlooked in these articles (here's one that focuses on vegan diets). And even most that mention the affect of animal agriculture on the Earth's environment, they tend to focus on only meat products, ignoring dairy and eggs. I picked up a copy of the book Green Living, just to look for a few extra conservation ideas that I could add to my routine in honor of Earth Day. I was surprised to see that the first chapter was entitled "The Passionate Palate: Smart Food Choices." With further reading, it mainly discusses the issues surrounding genetically modified foods, the importance of buying local and organic produce, and the "passion" surrounding our food choices. This passion for those who are vegetarian or vegan is described as "avoiding meat for intensely personal reasons, including religion, health, concerns about pollution from factory farms, or disgust over how animals are raised." But of course, it then points out that 'ethical omnivores' are "just as passionate about their choice to eat meat and dairy products only if animals are humanely raised." I let out a big sigh....once again it seems the public is given another excuse to eat so-called "happy meat." I realize this isn't a book about veganism, but to describe and even quote the term "ethical ominvore" seems like a step back. Tomorrow I plan on starting a new chapter, hopefully the suggestions will improve....

I also visited a website today to calculate my ecological footprint. I was pleased to see that the first question asked how often you eat animal-based products. Unfortunately my score was not what I thought it might be. My footprint is 23 acres, the average American is 24 acres. Living the way I do means we would need 5.2 planets. Hmmmmm, what am I doing wrong? I think the biggest impact I have is through traveling via plane. It will be challenging to cut back on that since I have so many destinations on my travel wish list.....but I vow to do a better job to do my part.

For Earth Day I helped my boyfriend take our recycling to the nearest recycle center and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather here in Houston on a long run in the park. For dinner, we tried another new batch of seitan from Vegan with a Vengeance cooked using the Seitan Piccata recipe from Candle Cafe cookbook. On the side, zucchini pasta with fresh basil from my mom's garden, mushrooms and toasted pinenuts. The seitan was perfect, and the sauce had just the right blend of tart lemon with capers and shallots along with the fresh parsley. A glass of Snoqualmie sauvignon blanc complemented the meal nicely.

One last amusing story from the weekend. We went out to dinner on Friday night, a hip restaurant in the Heights. I ordered for my main course the only thing I could off the menu, the vegetable plate. Of course, I asked the waiter to please omit anything containing dairy or eggs. He smiled and said "I'll try to make it as vegan as I can." I smiled back and replied "Well, I won't eat it if it does." The dinner was disappointing, I should have said I was allergic..... They even got my boyfriend's order wrong.

V-V-V-Vegg-er-oni

Sing the title to the tune of My Sharona, it will be in your head the rest of the day!! (it even made me look up the lyrics out of curiosity)

For my first post, I thought I would stick with something simple.....vegan food! No, this is not going to be a food blog, but I do plan on posting plenty of my culinary creations (the recipes mostly thanks to others, but I try to add a personal touch when I feel inspired to do so). Making seitan has been on my to-do list for awhile now, and this past weekend I finally found a recipe I was willing to give a shot. So I made Veggeroni (seitan pepperoni) following the recipe exactly from Fat-free Vegan Kitchen. The aroma of the fennel and mustard seeds made it even smell like pepperoni!

Last night I used the veggeroni in a wrap for dinner for my borfriend and I. Sauteed it with some green and red peppers, then added spinach, brown rice, black beans, corn, fresh cilantro, avocado, and some chipotle sauce.....mmmmm, tasty! You can eat the stuff cold too, it would be great on sandwiches. I think tomorrow night it will be a perfect pizza topping.

So go ahead, give veggeroni a try, remember, fake meat saves lives!!