John Barleycorn’s Salad

I love barley, but it’s not at the top of my list of “go to” ingredients.  I wanted something to go with “chicken” cutlets (we use this variety), I had barley in the cupboard and we love brussel sprouts so, decision made.

I followed the recipe almost entirely.  I didn’t add the flax seed oil though.  Instead, I left a teeny bit of the liquid rather than cooking the barley until all the liquid was gone.  That is really all it needed.  And if I were to make it again I’d cut back on the tarragon (personally, I love tarragon, but it almost overpowered the other flavors).

I love this salad.  It’s substantial enough to enjoy on it’s own (although you would want to add the oil I think to help absorb all the veggie goodness).  The recipe does make a lot though.  There is enough left over for me to have for lunch tomorrow and then some. 

I think it would be fun to take to a summer time pot-luck when you want to take something a little more substantial than a simple salad.

Our little family gave this salad carrots.

 

dawn

Asparagus Season

It's a fleeting time around here when fresh, local asparagus is available, so I always go a little crazy when it happens. I bought an enormous pile of the beautiful, vibrantly green stalks a few days ago, so crisp and fresh still they made a loud pop! when I snapped their stems. The first night, as is my tradition, I lightly steamed the stalks and we ate them with butter. (Yes, butter! My Amish and New England Dairy Farmer ancestry rears its head from time to time.)

Ahhh. Delicious!

Once I had the ceremonial First Feast completed, I was ready to contemplate other ways to fix asparagus. Vegan Infusion has a two recipes for it, so the next night I chose to try Anakin's Asparagus, partly because it looked delicious and partly because my kids are big Star Wars fans; I thought the name might encourage them to try it! Miraculously, I had everything on hand for the recipe except for a fennel bulb and fresh dill. I substituted diced red onion, which is certainly not the same flavor as fennel but does go well with the other ingredients. Instead of the dill I used fresh lemon thyme, which is going crazy in my garden just now. The results? Amazing! Really, really delicious, and very quick to make. So here's how:

Anikin's Asparagus

Ingredients:

12 large asparagus spears
1 large red bell pepper, julienned
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fennel bulb, chopped small
1Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh squeezed (I actually used the juice of the whole lemon...)
1 1/2 tsp dill, minced
1 tsp Shoyu (optional)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
* Sea salt to taste
* Black pepper, ground to taste

Loving Preparation*:

1. Steam asparagus until just tender. Drain and place on serving platter.

2. Place oil in a saute pan on medium high heat. Add bell pepper, fennel and garlic, cook until peppers are just soft, approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and pour over asparagus.

We ate this with a quinoa pilaf of my own creation and leftover quiche. A truly devine Spring meal! My husband and 10-year-old both liked it (hilarity about the physiological effects of asparagus notwithstanding), and my 4-year-old even ate "the red stuff, but NOT the green stuff"!

I'll definately be making this again, so I give it all four carrots--or is it five? Not sure if we've settled on our rating system yet! But Dawn's going to have to show me how to put them in my posts...

~Sophie

* You've got to love a book that demonstrates this appreciation for the cooking process!

eating out

I admit it, our family loves to eat out, especially on weekends.  This weekend my daughter put in a special request to go to her favorite vegan restaurant.  She loves it that she can look at the big menu and order absolutely anything she wants.  She doesn’t have to settle for mac and cheese or grilled cheese or cheese pizza.

We wanted to order one of their specialties, Rose Drummettes but they didn’t have them. Instead we ordered their fried “chicken” which my son loved as they were like really tender chicken fingers.

We ordered the BoBo platter which is a selection of appetizers.  The best is the little kebabs that you get to cook over the cutest little barbeque you’ve ever seen.  Everything is delicious and comes with three different sauces for dipping.

We also had their sizzling rice soup and deluxe fried rice.  Both had lots of yummy rice and lightly cooked vegetables.

My little family’s overall rating  (out of five)

dawn

Thanks to my son for the photos! 

rule #25 eat your colors

I love Michael Pollan.  He has written some amazing books about the way we eat.  My favorite, and the one I refer to all the time (it sits on a shelf next to my computer) is Food Rules.

Have you seen the movie Ratatouille?  If you are a parent you’ve likely seen it more than once.  I can never get the image of his perfect ratatouille out of my mind (but no, it does not bring back memories of my girlhood on the prairies…)

Colors, rats, French cuisine… I do have a point, I promise!

Vegan Fusion has a tropical version of ratatouille, Transcendental Tropical Ratatouille.  I had to try it.  It is the same basics as traditional ratatouille, but rather than tomatoes being the main ingredient, the sauce is a coconut milk/peanut butter combination.  .

The end result of this mash-up of flavors is fantastic.  I served it over quinoa and it was a huge hit.  My husband added hot sauce, but he adds that to everything.  But I think it could use a bit more crushed chili pepper if your tastes lean to the spicy side of food.

My little family’s overall rating  (out of five)

 

dawn

PS Why yes, that is a jar of Jif peanut butter.  When I cook, I choose the ingredients.  But when my family cooks – they choose.  And since they mostly just “cook” peanut butter on toast, well…

PS again.  I actually measured my vegetables (!) so had some left over.  I chopped up another onion and some tomatoes and roasted them with olive oil, salt, and fresh rosemary.  Now I have the base of a nice pasta sauce for the weekend.

Booker T's Southwest Tempeh Chili

It's been almost 8 months since I got the "Vegan Fusion" cookbook, so I'd better get myself caught up with the recipes I've tried so far. I'm not very good about making notes when I try new recipes, but I figure I will have no problem remembering the ones that made an impression. I flipped to page 116 this morning and have very fond memories of this recipe.

Like Sophie (and probably Dawn) I don't generally follow a recipe to the letter - although I follow it closest when making it for the first time (after that, all bets are off). At this point I can't remember what exactly went into the Booker T's Southwest Tempeh Chili, although I can tell you I have never had barley malt syrup in my kitchen, so I'm guessing I used agave nectar. And a mere tablespoon of chili powder? Not likely. Same with the cumin - I'm sure I used at least twice what the recipe calls for and, as for toasting it? No way! The ancho chili gives a nice, smoky flavor so I can't imagine that it really needs the optional liquid smoke...I probably didn't use it.

In my mind, the jury is still out on the whole soy debate. While I think the biggest problem is the genetically modified and isolated variety found in SO many (70% or more) packaged foods, in my humble opinion even the organic, whole variety should be consumed in moderation. However, even those who discourage the consumption of soy make an exception for fermented soy products such as tempeh, miso, and natto. And that is why I am excited when I can add a delicious tempeh recipe to my repertoire. This chili definitely qualifies. And it has cashews in it! Brilliant!!

It comes together quickly, goes down easily, and makes enough to feed a large crew. And for those of you with small crews - leftovers!

Liz

Primal Peanut Sauce and Coco Rice

Not wanting to lose momentum before we've even really begun, I decided to cook something from Vegan Infusion last night. However, I hadn't been to the store in over a week and things were getting a bit sparse in the pantry...so I leafed through the book to see what might work with the two main ingredients I did have on hand: spinach, and tofu (which I had already started marinating before this brainstorm to use the cookbook, because that's just how organized I am). I settled on the Coco Rice from Samadhi Lotus Coco Rice, and Primal Peanut Sauce for a take on the classic Rama Thai (or sometimes "Swimming Angels").

And I will say, the Primal Peanut Sauce is pretty damn amazing! (And yes, there will be other peanut sauces reviewed here in the very near future for comaparison, as you may have guessed if you read the previous entry. We're a wee bit opinionated about food around here, as you probably noticed already. But I digress.) I liked this sauce for several reasons. First and foremost, it's got a lot of coconut milk in it, and I am absolutely crazy about the stuff! I somehow managed not to cut my tongue licking the thick, creamy build-up from the inside of the lid, and refrained from drinking it straight, and put it in the blender with everything else...that's the second reason I loved this recipe--no simmering. Just whiz it up in the blender, and you're done. And thirdly: yum. It's thinner than most peanut sauces I've made, which leads my mind to other uses, such as salad dressings.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will now tell you that I didn't follow the recipe exactly. In fact, I should warn you that it is a rare day indeed when I do adhere to every word of a recipe. I'm rebellious like that. ANYWAY, I didn't have maple syrup, so I used agave nectar instead. And I was out of Shoyu, so in went the Bragg's Liquid Aminos. I haven't whipped up a batch of the Curry Paste from Vegan Fusion yet, but I did have Thai Red Curry paste open in the fridge, so that went in, too. And finally, with the faint hope that my kids might have some, I omitted the red pepper flakes. So perhaps I'm not actually reviewing Primal Peanut Sauce here at all? I seem to have altered at least half of the ingredients! There you have a glimpse into the workings of me as a cook.

The Coco Rice, which I did manage to make entirely as directed, was very good as well, and very easy. Both kids ate a lot of it. Neither kid was very excited about the peanut sauce, but that isn't much of a surprise. Apparently peanut butter outside of a sandwich is highly suspect. My husband, on the other hand, who does love a good peanut sauce, thought it was very good, especially with the rice. (He was less complimentary about the tofu, but that's neither here nor there....) But the thing about the rice is that I already LOVE LOVE LOVE brown basmati rice, and don't really feel that the coconut milk kicked it up enough to justify its use; did I mention how much I love coconut milk? I hate to use it without full justification! It does indeed make the rice extra-good, but I probably won't fix it on a "normal" night (whatever that is!), maybe saving it for special, damn-the-calories occasions.

So there you have it. We're still working the kinks out of this blog, and trying to figure out the rules about posting recipes and so on. Hopefully those will be forthcoming very soon!

~Sophie

behind the scenes

So, now that we’ve started our little blog it is interesting to read the back and forth emails.  We’re all excited about trying new recipes, stocking up on the basics we’ll need, and how to structure our blog entries.

 

Here’s a little example:

Sophie: Do we use swears in our blog?  Because the Primal Peanut Sauce is pretty damn amazing, and I'm tempted to say so...

Liz: I say swears are ok. But I have a raw peanut sauce (actually made with almond butter) that kicks the primal peanut sauce's ass! :)

Dawn:  Oh, it’s on.  Actually, I got nothin’.  Although P (my son) loves loves loves the Thai Coconut Sauce, it has just a hint of peanut butter.

Cause we’re classy.

 

dawn

Welcome!

A few months ago my dear friend Liz sent a recipe to Sophie and I with the bequiling title, Sister Jah Love Roasted Squash Soup. A few days later she shared another recipe then some time later she said, "You know, you just have to get this book." The book in question is Vegan Fusion World Cuisine.

The three of us talked about how much fun it would be to start a blog that follows our progress as we attempt to eat a little healthier using this cookbook and the authors' approach to food as a starting point. We can share our thoughts on cooking and the role it plays in our lives. We can point to recipes in the book and other cookbooks and blogs that we, and our families, like.

Who are we?

Me. My name is Dawn and I am a Mom to two young children, a wife and a printmaker. As my artist's bio states, "I prefer art to housework." Most meals in my house have to be quick and easy to accommodate as little time spent away from my other interests as possible (more about that over at my other blog, moreart). I wrestle with a family of mixed dietary requirements, one vegetarian (my 12-year old daughter), one veg-aquarian (myself) and two omnivores (my husband and 9-year old son).

Liz. Last September. I went on a foodie walking tour of Portland (highly recommended if you are in the Portland area). One of the stops was the Blossoming Lotus restaurant in the Pearl District, where we were treated to some amazing cashew hummus and crackers. A lively discussion about raw food ensued - the tour guide told us that in Portland there is a movement away from calling it raw food to calling it live food. My boss was on the tour with me and wanted to know if those no-bake cookies his wife makes count as raw/live food. I informed him that that was actually called "cookie dough" and that it probably wouldn't pass the live test. Anyway, all definitions aside, the hummus and crackers were delicious. As luck would have it, I was at Powell's the next morning and came across the Vegan Fusion World Cuisine cookbook. And so begins our story.

I love to cook and I especially love to eat. I have also struggled with my weight ever since I was a kid and have spent a lot of time trying to figure out the right way to eat for ME. I've read a lot of books and cookbooks and at various times have followed low fat, low-carb, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, wheat-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free and raw diets. And these are just the ones I've tried for longer than two days. All of this seeking finally led me to pursue a Master's in Holistic Nutrition, which I am very close to finishing.

For me it's all about trying to find the right balance, if not on a daily basis, then hopefully on a weekly or (at the outside) monthly basis. Right now I'm trying to figure out how little meat I can actually get away with eating. I've played around with my diet enough to know that I can't get away with none, so I'm trying to figure out how much is enough - because anything more than "enough" is "too much."

I have an almost 11-year old son who has recently been struggling with his weight, in addition to high cholesterol and ADD. I used to make him separate food. I don't anymore, and he has been a trooper about trying new things. He definitely doesn't always like it, but he's always willing to share his opinions - and I will be including his comments here.

Sophie. I am Sophie, the lucky gal who gets to have Liz and Dawn as friends-for-life! (Seriously, you don't know what you're missing!) I am also a mom, a wife, a nurse, and a gardener, among other things. I've been "veg-aquarian" for about twenty years, which for me means a primarily vegetarian diet with the occasional indulgence of local, wild-caught seafood.

My household, too, is one of varied preferences: My husband, a diabetic, is a devout meat-eater; given the choice, my 10-year old would happily eat nothing but eggs, cheese, pasta and milk; and my 4-year old eschews meat and dairy, preferring a Spartan diet of peanut-butter sandwiches, oatmeal and juice. Needless to say, meal-planning in our home is tedious. I am always looking for new recipes that will appeal to all - or even most - of our tastes.

I am fascinated by the roles foods play in familial and cultural identity, as well as what happens to us as individuals and a society when we become disconnected from our food traditions. My own family has a rich tradition of crowding around tables loaded with sumptuous meals. It is my hope to expand on the meatless dishes at these gatherings, so future vegetarians have more to dig into than the starches that surround the turkey.

In addition to the authors of Vegan Fusion, all three of us are inspired by the likes of Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Jamie Oliver. It is a joy to translate this inspiration into personal change in the company of dear friends! Of course we are still hoping to get Pierce Brosnan to write a few kind words about our blogs (as he does for Vegan Fusion) but that probably isn't going to happen anytime soon, so this will have to suffice.

Enjoy!