Fortunella

Not together!

Forgive me, I’m tired. I actually have some AMAZING pumpkin lasagna to share, but I need to write up the recipe, and it’s going to take me a bit. So please forgive me, while I share two other photos instead.

This is cold udon noodles with peanut sauce, plus cucumber, red pepper, carrot, scallion, and black sesame seeds.Really, I just took the recipe from VwaV (cold udon noodles, peanut sauce and seitan) didn’t add seitan, and added a few other veggies. It says to layer it, but I find I like to mix the noodles in sauce so I get a taste of the fabulous peanut sauce in every bite. Seriously, this is the best peanut sauce I’ve ever had.

This is another recipe from Veganomicon. I got a bunch of cookbooks for Christmas but I still can’t stop cooking out of my usual ones. I actually made this while I was in Ohio with my family, and everyone loved it – there were no leftovers to speak of. Cinnamon sounds weird in a tomato sauce, but it is amazing, and the pine nut cream ….. heaven!

I promise I am going to post the pumpkin lasagna recipe soon! Here is a teaser photo of it in the meantime.

Sometimes I don’t know what I’d do without Veganomicon. Soooo many of the recipes in there are absolutely priceless. For example: the black bean burgers. Sadly, I never think of actually taking pictures of them, but if you google image “black bean burger Veganomicon,” there are a number of tasty looking pictures.

However, for making them the best ever, you need sweet potato fries with lots of ketchup, guacamole, and these:

Why you ask? Because quite simply they’re the best pickles in the entire universe. I actually hated pickles until my Dad made me try these. The funny thing is I’ve actually never been to Tony Packo’s (and no they’re not paying me to advertise their pickles ), and since I’m vegan I obviously wouldn’t be able to eat 99% of the stuff they make. Nonetheless, they’re an Ohio institution, and if you love pickles you MUST get these. You can actually order some off their website. My husband and I are addicted, so these are the only pickles in our house. We always get a few jars whenever we go back to Ohio to visit my relatives.

Anyway, I mention this because I had guests this past week, and you can imagine my surprise when I found out the two of them, native Ohioans, had never tried a Tony Packo’s pickle. Now I’m on a mission. A pickle mission. ….. Not really. But I still needed to mention them because everyone needs sweet hot pickley goodness in their lives.

Anyway, this weekend I have to drive back to Ohio, so other than stuffing my car full of pickles, my sister is actually giving me her old air conditioners. I’ve also been thinking about making her some chocolate peanut butter bombe cupcakes, as her birthday is on the 21st. At first I was thinking about making them here and bringing them, but it’s a 12 hour drive, and they’re kind of delicate, so I think I’m going to make them once I’m actually out at my parents’ house.

Anyway! I have real food news too!

I got the really horrible idea of making a recipe of poor man’s fudge from the livejournal community veganfoodpics last night. Of course, I veganized the recipe given, so I used earth balance and silk lite soy milk instead of butter and milk.

I think I might have boiled it for just a tad long, but nonetheless it’s delicious, if not way more sugary than stuff I normally like. And yet I keep eating it! I need to throw it away or something. I feel like I’ve been experiencing sugar highs and crashes all day from eating this.

And! I have probably been eating way more peanut butter than I should be lately. It’s mostly because I’ve become obsessed with this recipe for peanut sauce/marinade. I actually don’t put peanuts in mine, because I use natural peanut butter that I buy from the farmer’s market (they grind it fresh right in front of you). Now, I don’t know if it’s because I use natural peanut butter rather than the really processed stuff at the grocery, but the consistency is more marinade-like, but it’s really great as both a marinade for tofu and a more subtle flavoring for stir fries (I don’t like stuff inundated with sauce, so I find it perfect for this purpose).

Peanut sauced stir fry!

I can’t really give a specific recipe for this, since I kind of just tossed stuff together and added things until it looked right, but I can give you an idea of what I did.

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut into 12 square pieces
peanut sauce or marinade
1 T. peanut oil or other high heat resistant oil
half 1 large onion, chopped*
2 medium sized carrots, peeled and chopped*
the florets and peeled and chopped stalks of 1 head of broccoli, separated*
a handful or so of snow peas*
1 c. frozen corn, partially thawed (measuring out before you start things up should get it there by the time you need to toss them in)*
1 c. frozen peas, partially thawed*
leftover brown rice

*These are the vegetables I used because I had them around. Obviously, you could use whatever vegetables you have hanging around your fridge, waiting to be used.

DIRECTIONS:
Marinate the tofu in the peanut marinade for at least an hour – I like to do this in a 9 inch pie pan (you should have enough in there so that the marinade comes up at least halfway up the tofu), turning over halfway through. About 25 minutes before the tofu is done marinating, heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Once done marinating, place the tofu on a cookie sheet, place in the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, flip the tofu over, and put back in the oven to bake an additional 10 minutes. Both sides should have a nice bit of a crust, chewy and taste subtly of peanuts and spice.
Heat a wok to medium-high heat, pour in the oil. When it’s good and hot, put the onion, carrots and chopped broccoli stalks in the wok. Cook until they’re almost soft, about 3-5 minutes.
Mix the snow peas in, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add in the peas and corn, mix, and add in the brown rice about a handful at a time, until it seems like the right mix for you. Cook until everything is nice and hot and the peas and corn are cooked through.
Mix the marinade (if you use natural peanut butter like me, the little peanut parts tend to settle at the bottom), and then pour about 1/4 c. of the marinade at a time into the wok, mix, and taste. Keep slowly adding more until it’s to your taste. When serving, cut the tofu into half, forming triangles, and arrange on top of the stir fry.

Tomorrow I’m going to be cooking up mustard greens (assuming they haven’t gone bad on me already … AGAIN – mustard greens refuse to stay good long enough for me to cook them), and making burritos, to try and use up veggies before I head up to Ohio. If I can get motivated, I’ll try to post again tomorrow.

My problem is an addiction mostly – I am addicted to burritos. They’re so easy, nutritious and delicious. Sure, they dirty up a few pans, but the stuff is so easy to throw together that it’s seductive. My husband also loves them because he’s an omni and my feelings don’t get quite as hurt as when he throws meat and cheese into his portion of my vegan meals.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the burritos because I tend to eat them up before they fall apart/ before I can photograph them. I do however have a very simple recipe for how I fix my black beans for the burritos.

I tend to treat my black beans the way I treat my guacamole – I use it to get rid of bits and pieces I have hanging around the fridge, so feel free to change up/adjust what I put in.

Black bean stuffing

1 T. olive oil
1/2 small onion, or 1/4 a large onion, chopped
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, partially seeded (or completely seeded, depending on your spice preference) and minced
1/2 large ripe tomato, chopped
2 handfuls of frozen corn (1/2-1 c., depending on your taste)
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 t. coarse sea salt
1 T. chile powder (preferably chipotle chile powder)
1 t. cumin
1 t. coriander
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped (optional)

Preheat a small pot with the oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic, onions, and jalapeno, and cook until the onions are translucent. Add in the tomato and corn, and cook until the tomato’s soft and given off a good bit of its juices, and the corn is no longer cold. Pour in the black beans, salt, chile powder, cumin, and coriander. Cook for about 5 minutes, taste and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Cook until there’s no longer any real liquid, and the beans are just slightly mushy. Throw in the cilantro, cook for one more minute, take off the heat.

Put in a heated burrito shell with jasmine rice, sauteed onions and peppers, salsa (I like trader joe’s chipotle salsa), and guacamole.

In other meal news:

Pumpkin cinnamon rolls, from Don’t Eat off the Sidewalk. They are time consuming but so amazing, I’m thinking of making a huge batch and freezing them for when guests arrive. The problem is I’m afraid having a huge batch of those would be way too tempting for me to handle.

Also, since pictures of my cats with food seems to becoming a theme in this blog, I must share this:

That’s a piece of chickpea broccoli casserole (from VwaV), with a fun blend of grains I got from Trader Joe’s – I think it was called harvest grains blend and had israeli couscous, red quinoa, orzo, baby split peas, and a couple other things – cooked with garlic, leftover broccoli stems, carrots, vegetable broth, and a good amount of white wine. And of course, Tati is looking on, wondering why I didn’t serve her up a plate.

Try as I might, I just do not like tempeh. There’s something about the texture that I just can’t get over. I’ve had it at restaurants and have tried making it at home, and the outcome is always a plate full of unfinished tempeh.

I’d been wanting to try the spicy tempeh, broccoli rabe and rotelle recipe in Veganomicon, but seeing as I cannot stand tempeh, I used tofu instead. However, substituting tofu for the tempeh complicates things a bit as the recipe calls for you to essentially braise the tempeh, I was afraid it wouldn’t work as well with tofu, so I changed things up a bit.

First thing that had to change was the marinade. I needed something that would marinate well, and would have enough liquid in order to be able to soak the tofu. Fortunately, I didn’t have to change it too much – I just added 2 T of olive oil, and increased the red wine vinegar from 1/2 t. to 2 T.

I marinaded both side of the tofu, then baked it at 375 degrees for 20 minutes on one side, and 10 minutes for the other. However, I did this because I cut my tofu into 12 pieces – 6 pieces lengthwise, and then halved it all. If you like your tofu chunkier, you might want to turn the oven up to 400 degrees.

Next time, I might try poking holes in the tofu with a fork, and then baking it in the liquid. Nothing was wrong with the way I did it, I just think if maybe I baked it in the liquid it might have been a bit spicier. Thankfully, I saved the marinade so I poured some on after it cooked, and also put some in with the cooking broccoli rabe. The combination of fennel and crushed red pepper in the marinade was just …. heaven. It’s amazing how you’d never think of combining two ingredients like that and yet they can sing so harmoniously together.

Mmmm. If you don’t have Veganomicon or if you haven’t tried this recipe, you should run out and do so immediately. I am very sensitive to bitter foods, but the way the broccoli rabe is cooked makes it perfect!

Also, if you don’t have Vegan Planet, you should get it, if for no other reason, for banana split tea bread. I know the bread looks a bit dark but it is perfectly tender and delicious inside. Sooooooo good. I have been informed by a friend who doesn’t care for nuts that I am welcome to make this for her anytime (so long as next time I omit the peanuts). It has banana (obviously!), dried cherries (which I am now addicted to, such a wonderful snack), chocolate chips, peanuts, and crushed pineapple. Yum. I think this is quite possibly the most delicious dessert bread I’ve ever had.