A favorite meal revisited

When people ask me what I eat,  I always tell them that I don't like things pretending to be meat, that I just don't miss meat that much. That is true - I really do not miss meat that much after over 6 years of not eating it. My husband, however, really does miss meat. He is wonderful about eating whatever I eat and trying to eat vegan foods so we can both be healthier. Because he is so good about it, I was eager to try the recipe for meatloaf in the Engine 2 Diet Cookbook by Rip Esselstyn, professional triathalon athlete, who is now an Austin Texas firefighter . The diet is based on whole foods, including whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

I prepared J for disappointment, even to having leftover pizza on hand just in case we were left without something to have for dinner if the meatloaf failed. No disappointment tonight. I have to say that this is one  of the best recipes I have tried for something pretending to be meat. I served J his favorite meal: meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, and lima beans. I added a salad of the heirloom tomatoes from the CSA, a few French breakfast radishes, thinly sliced sweet onion dressed with a teaspoon of olive oil and an excellent Italian red wine vinegar.

I searched in vain for a long time to find this recipe online and at last it has been posted on the Engine 2 Diet website.

Sweet Potato Lunch

Thanks to Rip Esselstyn for Rip's Sweet Potato Bowl in The Engine 2 Diet   book for the inspiration for this unusual salad. I had a huge sweet potato but I didn't have the mango or red bell pepper called for in Rip's recipe. So I improvised and ended up with a very tasty and quickly prepared lunch.

Ingredients per serving:
1 cup cooked sweet potato chunks, skin removed and discarded
3/4 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 avocado, cut into bite size chunks
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes with chopped green chilies
chopped cilantro
juice of 1/2 a lime
splash of balsamic vinegar

Take some already cooked sweet potato and cut it into chunks into about as big as you think you would like to place on a fork.  If the potatoes are very cold, warm them in a microwave to about room temperature. Put the sweet potatoes into a bowl, add the beans, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice and vinegar.

A healthy and satisfying lunch for a plant-strong diet.

Pressure cooker chick peas

 

Another fine recipe based on one from Susan Voisin at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen! I cooked the chickpeas in the pressure cooker and have made real progress with learning to use it thanks to The Veggie Queen. This time I got all of the steps right and ended up with perfectly cooked chickpeas in a very short time. 

I  had half of a huge raw sweet potato leftover in the refrigerator and nearly a pound of okra that had to be used really soon. I found this recipe at Fat Free Vegan and changed it some, of course. First, I liked it much better without the peanut butter that the recipe says to add at the end of cooking. I tried it both ways because the broth tasted so good without it. I would not include it or the liquid smoke flavoring. With enough smoked paprika, the liquid smoke, which I do not have, was unnecessary. I had no green peppers either, only half a red pepper, so I made half of the recipe. The next time I would use a green pepper.  I left the celery at 2 ribs, used regular diced tomatoes, and Sriracha Hot Sauce because I like the heat it gives to the food.

Although the recipe recommends cooking all of the ingredients until the sweet potatoes are close to falling apart, I found that after 90 minutes, they still were not near falling apart and finished the cooking at that time. 

So this is what cooking is supposed to be like. Start with an idea, use what you have on hand and like to eat and then make the recipe your own.

More soba noodles

Soba noodles with vegetables and sesame seeds

Soba noodles keep calling to me. This salad is bursting with the flavors of ginger and lime juice.

What an excellent salad to eat at room temperature, the way I like to eat food. The salad could also be chilled in the refrigerator and eaten cold. Since the vegetables remain raw, it is important to keep in mind the size of the pieces that will be combined with the noodles. You will want them large enough to have a taste, but not so large that they are difficult to eat.

juice of 1 medium lime
¼ cup reduced sodium Tamari
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon peeled and grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, pressed
3 ounces fresh spinach, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped
½ small head red cabbage, shredded
3 medium carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 small cucumber, peeled and finely diced
6 scallions, thinly sliced
1 10-12-ounce package soba noodles
2 tablespoons sesame seeds or Gomasio

Prepare the vegetables and set them aside.

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions, being careful not to overcook them. Drain and set aside.

In a small food processor, buzz the lime juice, Tamari, sesame oil, sugar, jalapeno, ginger and garlic for about a minute. Pour the dressing over the noodles in a large serving bowl, tossing to coat them well.

Add the remaining ingredients including the sesame seeds and toss to combine.

Serve immediately or chill to serve as a cold salad.

Serves 4 - 6

Soba Noodles with gingered bok choy

The bok choy from my CSA has inspired me to adapt a recipe I found for bok choy over soba noodles. A big fan of these Japanese buckwheat noodles,  I can never seem to get enough of them. For two days in a row, I have made this dish for my lunch. But the recipe still isn't quite right, so I have to keep trying before I have a recipe I  want to share.

If you happen to have Rip Esseltyn's "Engine2 Diet: the Texas Firefighter's 28-day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds," you will find a recipe in that book. I prefer not to have the flavors of the brown rice vinegar and mirin Rip uses in that recipe. However, that is such a matter of personal taste that you may find Rip's recipe perfect for you just the way he wrote it.

Rip was one of the great presenters at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo I attended last month in Woodland Hills, California. It was so worthwhile and inspirational that I hope to attend again in 2010.

Sukiyaki

I first cooked sukiyaki in the early 1970's. Of course, back then as a serious carnivore, I started with slicing beef. I think the recipe was originally one of Craig Claiborne's in The New York Times Cookbook, but I have changed it over the years. A fan of quick cooking meals, my son still phones me from a grocery store to ask me what ingredients to buy to cook sukiyaki.

Today's recipe is a healthier version of sukiyaki with vegetable broth and tofu instead of meat. Without the meat and meat flavored broth, the taste of the fresh vegetables shines through. A one-pot stew served over either noodles or rice, this is a fast and easy meal to prepare. I served it over half a package of soba noodles, thin Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour. The recipe with a whole package of noodles is supposed to serve 4 people, but 2 of us ate it all.

Sukiyaki

8 ounce package of soba noodles
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, peeled and sliced in rings
1 bunch scallions, cut on the diagonal into 3-inch pieces
8 large white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 can sliced bamboo shoots, drained and rinsed
½ cup Tamari or soy sauce
½ cup Mirin
1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable broth (optional)
1 large bunch fresh spinach, well-washed and thick stems removed
1/2 pound extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 3/8 inch slices

Boil water in a large pot to use to cook the soba noodles. The noodles will take only about 6-8 minutes to cook, so during the time you are cooking the vegetables, you will put the noodles into the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions. After the noodles are cooked, you will drain them and set them aside until the stew has finished cooking.

In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook the onion slices in the oil until they begin to soften. Add the scallions, mushrooms and bamboo shoots and continue to cook for about 3 minutes. Stir in the Tamari and mirin. Layer the spinach on top. If you would like more broth, you can add 1/2 cup vegetable stock. Cover the skillet and cook about 10 minutes until the spinach is wilted. Place tofu on top and cook covered until the tofu is warm.

Serve over the cooked noodles.

Too many bananas!

Here in Delray Beach, The Boys Farmers Market is famous for the outstanding selection of produce, the high quality prepared foods and baked goods, and the insanity of the crowds in such a small space. Outside The Boys, there is a stand where they sell their overstock and over-ripe produce for $1 a bag. Jerry always stops and checks it out to see what kind of bargains he can find. And they are bargains, perfectly usable food - if you can consume them right away. Often there are bananas in bags there and we do eat a lot of bananas. But, with half a dozen bananas waiting in the freezer to be used, this most recent purchase may have been too many bananas. I am trying not to waste food, which means I have to use up those overripe fruits today!

Breakfast was the first meal of my attempt and although we usually eat a lighter breakfast, this morning we had banana pancakes. My neighbor just yesterday gave me a copy of "La Dolce Vegan" by Sarah Kramer. I always try to research recipes on the Internet as well, and found several sites with recipes for banana pancakes, supposedly from the same book. However, the recipe in the book varies significantly from the recipe online attributed to Sarah Kramer's book. I have rewritten a recipe as I made it this morning.

Banana Pancakes

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt
1 cup “milk”
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 banana
2 tablespoons sugar
maple syrup
fresh blueberries

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and salt together. In the bowl of a food processor, add the milk, oil, banana, and sugar and buzz until smooth. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently until just combined. (About 20 circles around the bowl with a spoon.)

Heat a non-stick griddle or lightly oiled or non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Using a 1-cup measure or ladle, pour about 3/4 cup of batter for each pancake onto the pan. Be sure to leave enough room for the pancakes to expand and for flipping them over. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat until the centers start to bubble. The bottoms should be golden brown. Flip the pancakes over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Keep cooked pancakes warm and repeat cooking process until the batter is gone.

Serve with maple syrup and a garnish of fresh blueberries.

Now what else am I going to do with nearly a dozen bananas?

Remembering Athens

Tower of the Winds, Athens Greece

Scholarhio Restaurant, Athens

Ever since we had lunch at Scholarhio Restaurant, I have been remembering the wonderful meal we had there. Of course the location had something to do with it. The restaurant is in the Plaka at the foot of the Acropolis and we sat on the balcony at a charming table for two. The owner spoke enough English to assure that we had a pleasant experience. On the menu there is an option to select about 8 out of 11 or so vegetarian dishes for two people to share. With so many choices, it is easy for anyone who wants only vegan selections. All of the dishes we chose were delicious - my mouth is watering thinking about it. One of the most memorable was the Greek salad. Surely some of the taste is a result of the fresh tomatoes, the olive oil, and the olives themselves. Even so, last night I decided that since I will not return to Athens for some time, I would try to duplicate the taste at home with a Greek salad with produce fresh from The Boys.

My version was simple and reminiscent of Scholarhio's salad without the Feta cheese. The ingredients were torn romaine, chunks of cucumber, very fresh local tomatoes, and a lot of pitted Kalamata olives. For the dressing, I looked in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, but I ended up just creating my own dressing with half lemon juice and half red wine vinegar, whisked with more extra-virgin olive oil than usual. I might make it again tonight it sounds so good to me.

Stop wasting food!

Ever since I read the book "Hungry Planet" by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, I have been haunted by the image of a woman and her children in an African country sifting sand to be sure to capture each piece of grain. Thinking of the hunger in their eyes as I sweep into the trash perfectly good food that I just don't want to be bothered with. What are a few grains of rice in the midst of the abundance we enjoy? Lately, I have been much more careful with even the grains of rice, picking up uncooked grains that end up on the floor, washing them and using them.

I have tried to become more conscious of my consumption of food, more aware of what I am buying, cooking and throwing away. Since I have never really cared much for leftovers, as opposed to planned overs, I confess to throwing away huge amounts of food. Thinking more about waste and the health of the planet, I have been trying to make use of leftovers in meals that taste good and are satisfying.

Today I think I hit the leftover food jackpot. The combination of foods that ended up together was so outstanding that it deserves a recipe of sorts.

I had in the refrigerator leftover cooked jasmine rice, roasted sweet potatoes, half a can of coconut milk, and a serving and a half of 3-can soup. 3-can soup is made with a can of drained and rinsed black beans, a can of Ro*Tel tomatoes, and a can of diced tomatoes.

The rice was a couple of days old and a little dried out, so I poured the coconut milk over the rice in a saucepan, added some fresh ginger and slowly heated it. I warmed the sweet potatoes and the 3-can soup separately. When everything was heated, I put servings of each component in a shallow soup bowl and began to eat. The flavors were perfectly balanced and remarkable. Hey, this should become a stew! So I stirred it all gently together so the sweet potato did not become mush and lose it distinctive role. At last, I got through a day without wasting food, and I can't wait until I have this combination of leftovers again.

In season now

Although the local farmers' markets do not open for three more months, fresh Florida produce is available now according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. At their website they have a chart, Four Seasons of Freshness: Florida Produce Availability at a glance. (To print your own copy, go to this link, scroll down and choose download the Florida Seasonal Availability Chart.) Fresh from Florida in July are avocados, cantalope, green beans, green bell peppers, mangoes and watermelon. In August, the produce available fresh includes avocados, carambola, green beans, mangoes, sweet corn.

Although there is Florida produce available now, it has not been easy for me to find it. There is a small stand on Military Trail south of Lake Ida Road that is part nursery and part produce. There is limited produce available there but some of it is locally grown. The Boys' Market continues to be by best nearby source of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Green beans are available fresh from Florida growers every month of the year. I guess that explains why they are always on display in a huge mound at The Boys' Market. July is the only month when fresh corn is not available here. I can't imagine that the list can be rigid since growing plants do not know calendars. Since they know sun, rain, length of day, there will be crops available both later and earlier than the chart indicates.

With weeks more of great avocados, I plan to eat a lot of them. My daughter makes the best guacamole I have ever tasted and I am sharing her recipe below. I will also use them in my new favorite sandwich combined with watercress. When I was growing up and schools were closed for summer vacation, I used to walk with my younger brother and sister to a place we called The Glen. I am several years older, so my mother sent us off with me in charge of the twins who must have been going into second grade. We set off for a couple of hours with a snack in our school lunch boxes and Kool-Aid in our thermoses. (How my mother must have looked forward to those hours!) We walked through a cow pasture, then along the railroad tracks and across a small wooded area to a stream. In the stream grew watercress, which we picked, took home and ate in sandwiches with lots of butter. I guess we must have been trespassing the whole time, but who thought about that half a century ago. In time, the land was sold to a developer and a housing subdivision called Glenside was built. That was the end of the foraging for watercress and I have never had any that tasted as good.

My new favorite sandwich consists of whole grain bread spread with mashed avocado as if it were butter, thick slices of tomatoes, lots of watercress, and a thick slice of sweet onion. It would taste even better with Larissa's guacamole.

Larissa's Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
1 teaspoon grated red onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
juice of half a lime
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Remove the skin and peel from the avocados and in a medium bowl mash them, leaving some chunks the size of cranberries. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well mixed. Serve at once to prevent the unpleasant darkening of avocado that happens when it sits for a while.

Yes, sometimes we do eat salads

When we talk to people at the pool about going out to eat, they often tell us we could eat with them at the restaurant they have in mind because the restaurant serves salad. As much as I would enjoy sharing a meal with them, I do not enjoy having a plate of iceberg lettuce with a tomato slice and watching everyone else eat a complete meal. And that is what happens at many restaurants which seem to have no vegetables except French fries and iceberg lettuce.

The reality is that we do often have salads because we eat many, many vegetables and we like many of them raw. The salad above is a typical salad at our house. It contains field mix, sliced radishes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar-snap peas and whatever dressing I feel like making that day.

This time of the year the weather is perfect for spending late afternoons at the pool. Of course, that severely impacts the time available for cooking and salad is a quick option for dinner. Today was a pool day and we came home hungry.

A couple of days ago I cooked cannellini beans and had them in the refrigerator. At Whole Foods the other day, I bought a large head of escarole. Together, they would become beans and greens, but I didn't want to serve another salad with greens, so tonight we had a different salad. Checking the refrigerator, I found one left-over cooked ear of corn, 3 fresh mushrooms, some sugar-snap peas, a spectacular organic red pepper, half a red onion, and a third of a beefsteak tomato.

A recipe isn't necessary, but this is what I did. I cut the corn off the cob, sliced the mushrooms, cut the peas into pieces about the size of my thumbnail, diced half of the red pepper and the remaining tomato. I tossed that with a couple of teaspoons of Paul Newman's Italian Dressing and topped the salad with thinly sliced onion. You could use any fat-free Italian dressing or make a quick vinaigrette if you are avoiding all added fat. A handful of fresh, sweet organic cherries completed the dinner and I still had time to blog.

Pasta with Baked Tomatoes and Peppers

I have been cooking and reading, but not blogging. The Palm Beach County Public Library West Atlantic Branch has seen me just about daily the past few weeks. At this time of the year with so many snowbirds up north, the library shelves are overflowing with both new and old books. I can't resist! So with each visit, I return 2 books and borrow 6 more.

After seeing a fabulous photo of Deborah Madison's version of this dish in her book Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmer's Markets, I couldn't get to The Boys Market fast enough to purchase the ingredients. Visit your local public library or a bookstore and take a look at this excellent cookbook. I changed Deborah's recipe very slightly by removing most of the fat and serving it hot over pasta and rewriting the directions for that. You will see no photo here because the one in the book is just too perfect.

Pasta with Baked Peppers and Tomatoes

4 large bell peppers, red, orange and yellow
1 large tomato
2 medium yellow tomatoes
6 sprigs parsley
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
12 pitted Kalamata olives, halved
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3/4 pound whole wheat rigatoni or sedoni pasta

Cut the tops off of the peppers, slice into quarters, and removed the seeds and veins. Brush or spray a baking pan lightly with olive oil and place the peppers skin side up on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes until the skins are very wrinkled. Place the peppers into a brown paper bag for about 15 minutes to steam for easy removal of the skin which should then slip off easily. Cut the slices of peppers in half horizontally and set aside.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.

Brush or spray a small baking dish with olive oil to keep the vegetables from sticking and set aside.

Using only the leaves of the parsley, gently buzz them in a chopper with the garlic and remaining olive oil. In a small bowl, combine the marjoram, capers and olives. Add the parsley mixture to the olives and stir.

Combine the tomatoes, peppers, and the parsley mixture in the oiled dish using your hands or a spoon. Cover and bake for 30 minutes*.

Season with crushed red pepper and serve over the cooked pasta.

Serves 4 as a pasta course.

*The vegetables can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before baking.

The pantry - storm and otherwise

After our trip, I went to Whole Foods, The Boys and Publix to restock the food supplies. I am not a tidy housekeeper, but I have decided to show you the food I have in the kitchen when the cabinets and refrigerator are full. People often say to me that our diet must be so limiting. You can see from the overflow of food products that is not the case at all. In fact, we eat a wide variety of foods, probably more than most people on a Standard American Diet.

In the refrigerator, I keep mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as several kinds of flour, soy milk and the usual door full of mustard, ketchup, etc. The freezer contains more flour, breads, bagels, and a few frozen vegetables and fruits, in addition to Boca soy products. This time of the year I try to empty the freezer as much as possible because it is hurricane season. Last year we were fortunate and had no hurricanes, but in previous years, I was really sorry to have a freezer full of food thawing and spoiling in the drawn-out electricity free aftermath of the storms.

The pantry is stocked with canned beans, broths, cereals and vinegars. This is also where Jerry keeps his salsa and home-baked tortilla chips, his main snack foods. Although he cooks almost nothing, he does make the tortilla chips on his own from corn tortillas we buy at Publix.

The pantry also contains the hurricane supplies that can feed us without electricity for storage or cooking. I buy small cans of vegetables and fruits so we will empty them at one meal since there is no keeping leftovers in Florida after a big storm. There are some wonderful recipes for that kind of meal preparation in The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity by Daphne Nikolopoulos. My favorite recipe from that book is the one for Salad Nicoise with canned cannelini beans replacing the tuna. I never use canned potatoes or green beans, preferring to use fresh vegetables. However, after a hurricane, this has tasted fabulous.

Salad Nicoise Hurricane Style

1 8-ounce can sliced white potatoes
1 15-ounce can cannelini beans, drained (not rinsed if water supply has been interrupted)
1 8-ounce can green beans
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained (or used as dressing)
1 2.75-ounce can sliced black olives

Toss together with a simple dressing of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Serves 4.

Okra - Again

Having said I wasn't especially fond of okra, I had to make it again. Just back from a road trip, I was faced with a nearly empty refrigerator at dinner time. In addition, weight begins to creep back on when there is little exercise and too much food and too much fat. I won't say on whose body. So I returned to Dr. Dean Ornish's Eat More, Weigh Less to search for fat-free vegan meals I could make with the foods in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry. I made Dirty Rice without celery. It was good, but the celery enhances both the taste and the crunch so if I had it I would always include it. Eat More suggests serving Dirty Rice with okra. And there in the freezer were frozen okra slices. There usually are because I am slow to include them in meals.

I researched recipes to use for the okra. Most of the non-Indian recipes have onions, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers, celery and bacon along with spices. That's what I used without the bacon for obvious reasons and no celery or green peppers because I didn't have any. What resulted was a dish that was perfect with the rice.

Braised Okra With Tomatoes

1 small onion, minced
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 tablespoons water
1/2 pound frozen sliced okra
1 14-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, mostly drained
cayenne pepper to taste

In a non-stick saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the water until soft. Add the okra, tomatoes and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the okra is hot. It is not necessary to cook the dish for any longer to have fresh tasting vegetables.

Okra Gumbo

Before my first taste of any kind of gumbo, I was definitely an adult. In fact, the first time might have been when I was in my late twenties on my first trip to New Orleans. Of course I liked the gumbo as well as the oysters Rockefeller, the bananas Foster, the fish en papillotte, the Sazerac cocktails. What an experience it was for me to have breakfast at Brennans and dinners at both Antoine's and Galatoire's.

It was then that I learned to like gumbo, but okra and I have a limited relationship. I like okra prepared at our favorite Indian restaurant, Woodlands, in Lauderhill. Once my son used a recipe from one of Emeril's cookbooks and created a fabulous gumbo with shrimp when he and I were both omnivores. And I love this okra gumbo recipe.

If you want to know absolutely everything on the subject of gumbo, read the chapter "Gumbo Zeb: history in a bowl and more" in Crescent Dragonwagon's Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread. It is interesting, but it is important to note that what she says contradicts what Emeril has to say about gumbo. Finally, if you are up to preparing an authentic gumbo, follow Dragonwagon's instructions for preparation of the soup over three days beginning with a base containing over 30 ingredients.

If you are looking for fewer hours in the kitchen and a spicy, delicious and healthy meal, prepare the following recipe and serve it with steamed brown rice and a big chopped salad. The flavor of the gumbo improves on the second day.

Okra Gumbo

1 large onion, diced
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
1/4 cup scallions, sliced
32 ounce can whole tomatoes, broken up
1 pound frozen sliced okra
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Emeril's rustic rub
16 ounces vegetable broth
2 cups steamed brown rice

In a 5 quart pot, saute the onion and celery in 1/4 cup broth until the onion is transparent. Add the scallions, tomatoes and bay leaves and cook for 10 minutes. Add the okra, seasoning and remaining broth. Simmer for 30-45 minutes.

Serve in soup bowls with a scoop of rice in the center of each bowl.

Substitute for 1 tablespoon of Emeril's rustic rub:
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Optional addition: If you like soy substitutes for meat, add coarsely chopped pieces of a soy based sausage such as Tofurky Italian sausage.

Breakfast muffins

I wanted to see what a photo of food in the oven would look like. The first shot I tried was taken through the oven window and it was nothing but white from the flash. The second shot was through the oven window without flash and it was a very foggy image of the cupcakes. The final shot, above, was taken with only the oven light. I really rushed the shot because I didn't want the oven temperature to go too low and ruin the muffins.



The proof is in the Jerry! My biggest fan and harshest critic, my husband, just had his second muffin for breakfast. Now I know the recipe is a winner. You don't have to eat them only for breakfast. They would be excellent with tea in the afternoon and for those without a sweet tooth, like me, they made a fine dessert.

I really recommend whole wheat pastry flour for baking. It is especially good in fat-free baking and is commonly available in larger grocery stores and online.

Zucchini Breakfast Muffins

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup Florida crystals sugar or regular sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce or 3 4-ounce containers
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup rice milk
1 cup firmly packed grated zucchini
3/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Place foil liners in 12 standard size baking cups. (Fat-free baking is more likely to stick to the pan, so I encourage you to use these.)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.

Pour in the applesauce, oil and rice milk (I prefer rice milk because it imparts no noticeable flavor to the muffins). Stir until mixed, stir in zucchini, raisins and walnuts. You want to stir enough to distribute all of the ingredients fairly evenly throughout the batter, but not so much that you begin to take out the air.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a knife in the center of one comes out clean and the tops are lightly browned.

Serve warm, at room temperature, or microwaved for 10 seconds if refrigerated.


Next time I plan to try adding about 1/4 cup of Ghirardelli's Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa. But if no one asks in a comment, I won't tell you how it turned out!

Broccoli Pasta Marinara

Lately I have been too busy playing to spend much time cooking. So even though I love to cook, I also love to swim, spend time at the beach, keep in touch with friends near and far. I may not have a job, but I have plenty to do. I guess that makes me a lot like you.

This is another one of those dishes that doesn't really need a recipe. I made it for the first time at my sister's house when we also didn't feel like cooking, but wanted food more healthy than take-out.

Start with a bunch of fresh broccoli, really fresh with nice tight buds. Cut it into florettes. Or, yes, you can just buy florettes. In a steamer basket over boiling water with a cover, steam the broccoli until it is just starting to be cooked. Just before you remove it, add a couple of cloves of garlic which you have sliced thinly and cook for a minute or two. Remove the basket and run cold water over the vegetables to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Cook spaghetti or rotini according to the package instructions and drain.

Heat a jar of fat-free marinara sauce; I use 365 brand from Whole Foods. Add the pasta and stir to cover with sauce. Gently stir in the broccoli. Just before serving, sprinkle each serving with crushed red pepper to taste.

Chili Mac

My research tells me that Chili Mac is a midwestern tradition, known by some people as Kansas City Macaroni. I made this dish for the first time, and only once, a year ago when I saw the recipe in Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. That recipe includes soy milk and vegan cheddar cheese, which I try to avoid because of the fat and chemicals in it. We both really liked it, so I tried it again replacing the milk and cheese with faux cheese using a recipe in La Dolce Vegan.

Chili Mac

While this recipe takes some planning ahead to have leftover chili on hand, it doesn’t take long to prepare. Most of the work is accomplished while the macaroni cooks, and then it is all assembled and baked.

Faux Cheese Sauce

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons tamari

In a small saucepan, stir all ingredients together until smooth. Bring to a boil and then simmer over reduced heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and set aside. Makes more than you need for the chili.

Leftovers can be combined with jarred salsa for a quick dip to serve with homemade corn chips.

Baked Chili Mac

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
1 small onion, minced
1 cup faux cheese sauce
3 cups bean chili, canned or leftover

Cook macaroni according to package directions, except during the last 3 minutes of cooking add the minced onion. Drain and set aside when the macaroni is cooked.

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine the cooked macaroni with the cheese sauce, distributing the onion as you stir.

Spread the macaroni in a 9 X 13 baking dish. Gently spread the chili over the top of the macaroni.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until it is bubbly. Serve hot.

Asparagus Passion Salad

I have a passion for asparagus in season. This is asparagus I bought at The Boys Market here in Delray Beach. It was fresh tasting as it should be. However, the asparagus I had at my son's house last week was amazing. First of all, he lives in a rural area in New York State so spring is still cool there unlike here in Florida where it is already hot and humid. Second of all, we purchased it at The Carrot Barn, where they had just picked the asparagus in the field behind the store. It couldn't have been fresher unless we had grown it ourselves. I like fatter spears of asparagus and usually peel them, as I did for the dish above. Sometimes about halfway through peeling asparagus for a crowd, I wonder why I started it. Then when it is served, I remember why it is worth it. But the asparagus from The Carrot Barn was thick but so fresh we didn't have to peel it. I don't think we even broke the ends off of the bottom.

The other passion is in the salad dressing. A few years ago, I found a recipe in Bon Appetit and adapted it to my taste and to make it fat-free (almost). I placed the asparagus over a bed of torn fresh spinach leaves and garnished it all with slices of red onion.

Passion Fruit Vinaigrette

3 tablespoons frozen passion fruit juice concentrate
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds, coarsely ground
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Whisk all ingredients together. Drizzle over salad.

Sunday Brunch

Every day is like a Sunday for us, but we still seem to have weekend brunches. Today we were up so early that we had our regular breakfasts and then mid-morning hunger struck us both. I wanted to take a picture of the pancakes with maple syrup dripping over the sides, but pancakes do not wait for photos. We enjoyed them hot out of the skillet. So, sorry, the best I can do is reuse the photo of the raspberries. I expect fresh berries would also work, but I always use frozen organic berries from Whole Foods.

Growing up in maple syrup country, I was very young when I developed a taste for this traditional sweet. My mother tells me that my grandfather used to have maple syrup for dessert so often that I thought the word was "dessyrup". I like the dark, grade B Canadian syrup, but I expect the best would be from a local producer in New York or New England if you are lucky enough to find one at a farmers' market.

La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer was the inspiration for this recipe. This morning the package of raspberries was nearly empty so I used an additional 1/4 cup of berries which worked beautifully.

Raspberry Walnut Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda. Add the milk and oil and stir gently into the flour until just barely mixed. Stir in the raspberries and walnuts until blended.

Using a non-stick electric fry-pan heated to 400, pour in 1/4 cup measures of batter. Cook until the center is bubbled. Flip the pancake over and cook the other side until brown.

Makes about six pancakes.