Crazy ranting | Cheribundi™! | Lentil-spinach soup | Test recipe

I’ve never felt particularly comfortable suggesting to others what they should eat. I’m strong in my opinions about what I eat, and what I believe constitutes a healthy and cruelty-free diet, but so is everyone else. If someone asks for my opinion or guidance, I’m there, but I don’t like trying to convert others to my way of thinking. Everyone has a different opinion about what foods make for a “healthy” diet. Some think a healthy diet consists of raw foods, and some think all food should be cooked. Some think a diet should contains lots of meat and dairy, and some abstain from all animal products. Some think fat and sugar in “moderation” is fine and others try to eliminate as much fat and sugar as possible. Some eat only white flour, some only whole wheat flour, and some eat no flour at all. I know people who think their SAD diet filled with Twinkies and burgers is healthy, and others who think brown rice and veggies is all that’s necessary for good health. Some believe no animals should be eaten, and some think animals exist for our gustatory pleasure. One big thing all these different eaters have in common is, based on what they are used to eating, they all have an opinion on what tastes good. Our taste buds are trained by what we eat. If you eat a lot of salt, less salty food tastes bland. Eat lots of sugar, and unsweetened foods taste boring. Eat lots of butter ... you get the picture.

I recently read a review that suggested vegan baked goods are all pretty much inferior to baked goods made with dairy. Maybe for someone used to traditional baked-goods, that’s true. (And, in fact, I often adjust my cooking if I am preparing food for people used to a meat-and-dairy-based diet.) But the point I want to make is, when you change your diet, your preferences tend to change, too. The thing is, I don’t really care if my chocolate chip cookie tastes like it’s made with a pound of butter. I don’t want it to taste that way because it won’t taste good to me; it will taste greasy. If food is too salty or sweet, I find it unpleasant to eat. My tastes have changed as a result of changing my diet, and I’m not trying to replicate animal tastes or flavors from the past; I’m not trying to make my bean burger taste like a cow. High-fat, high-salt food doesn’t really give me comfort, and I sometimes find myself less appreciative than others of restaurants or cookbooks that specialize in vegan comfort food. I love great-tasting food, but my idea of what tastes good doesn’t depend on replicating the flavors of a meat-and-dairy-based diet. When I first became a vegetarian, these kinds of foods were considered transitional — foods to bridge the gap between an animal-based and plant-based diet, or foods to serve omni friends. Lately, it’s starting to feel like these foods are a kind of new vegan diet — one that is the same as an omnivorous diet, only cruelty-free. The race is on to create new vegan cheeses and meat analogs that more closely replicate animal foods, often with long and scary ingredient lists.

The more people who find their way from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet, the better, and if this is the root of the current emphasis on comfort foods, then I’m all in favor. I just hope we’re not losing sight of the connection between diet and health, the pleasure of eating simple foods, and learning to taste and appreciate the real flavors of the foods we eat.

Speaking of simple foods, my husband had oral surgery this week, and needed to eat soft foods for a few days. I made a simple lentil and rice soup that was both easy and delicious. (This soup would be even better if the cumin seeds were whole and toasted, but my husband couldn't have seeds.) If you use brown rice, it will need to cook about 15 minutes longer. The soup has no added fat.



Soft and simple lentil and rice soup with spinach

• 1 cup dried red lentils, washed and drained
• 1 cup short grain white rice, washed and drained
• 8 cups water
• 1 cup tomato purée
• 2 cups vegetable broth (low sodium)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 cups (approx.) frozen spinach
  
• juice of 1 lemon

Place everything but the lemon juice, salt and spinach in a 5 quart soup pot. Bring to a boil then turn down heat to simmer. Simmer covered for 25-30 minutes until rice is tender and lentils are cooked. Add spinach, salt and lemon juice, and heat gently until spinach is defrosted and cooked. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Add more broth if soup is too thick.

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Cheribundi™!
When the makers of Cheribundi™ cherry juice asked if I'd be interested in sampling their juice, of course I said yes. I love tart cherries, and each eight-ounce bottle of Tru Cherry™ contains 50 cherries — two servings of fruit. The Cheribundi™ Web site says: "Our proprietary juicing process, which was developed with Cornell University, bottles all of the good nutrients of tart cherries rather than boil them away. The phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals in cheribundi™ will keep you feeling great and living life to the fullest." The cherry juice is not from concentrate.



The juice comes in three flavors, one of which contains whey. I received the two without whey, Tru Cherry™ which is lightly sweetened with apple juice concentrate, and Skinny Cherry™ which is sweetened with stevia, and is lower in calories. I sampled the Tru Cherry™ for breakfast this morning, and it tastes just like cherries! It really does. It's perfectly, deliciously tart. I can't wait to try the second flavor.

Full disclosure: This product was sent to me as a free sample with no requirement that I blog about it or make positive statements about it. All statements in this post are my honest opinion.

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Recipe testing



I tested a recipe for Clem Chowdah for the amazingly creative and productive team of Celene Steen and Joni Marie Newman. Yum!

Zucchini-spinach soup etc.

Buffy in her traveling crate

On Aug. 15 we set out for a four-day car trip from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest and we've been trying to get settled into our rental house since we arrived. I don't think this was what Buffy had in mind when I asked her if she'd like to go for a ride in the car. It's been a long time since I've written a blog post, and I've got so much to say I could write at least ten. I don't want to bore those who come to this blog for cooking ideas, so I'll try to condense and leave out as much as possible. Scenically, the most surprising part of the trip was through eastern Washington which looked just like New Mexico. When the cascade mountains formed, they cut off the moist air from this half of the state and it became much drier and sunnier than the western part. I've been told if the winter gray is really getting me down in Seattle, a two-hour trip to the eastern part of the state will provide some relief.





Being here still feels more like a vacation to me than "real life" since I no longer have a job, and my husband hasn't started his new one yet, giving us lots of free time. And our whole family is together again which means we see each other often for dinner, parties, etc., and that usually only happens during holidays.

We live near Green Lake, which is surrounded by possibly the most popular walking/running path in Seattle, and have taken advantage of that. Unfortunately I bashed my big toe on a piece of raised sidewalk the other day, and walking for pleasure and exercise has temporarily lost some of its appeal. We're also within walking distance of various shops and restaurants and have sampled some of the local offerings. Restaurant food prices are surprisingly reasonable here considering the high cost of everything else. At the local farmers market last week I saw green beans for $9/pound! I also saw them for $3 and $4 which seems like a lot compared to back home. And the regressive sales tax is a whopping 9 percent, 9.3 in restaurants.

This week we're taking care of our granddaughter full time until her new day care center opens next week. She's napping now and I thought this would be a good time to catch up with the blog. My husband took her to the zoo this morning (I didn't want to do the walk with my wrecked toe) and I used that opportunity to make a soup that I've been wanting to experiment with since before we left Madison.

Before I get to the soup I have to mention some of the food-related places we've visited recently starting with the Theo chocolate factory. We didn't plan enough ahead to get a spot on the factory tour, but we visited the storefront, and holy cacao! All you chocoholics would have been in bliss consciousness. There are displays of all the different chocolates they sell with heaps of samples in front of each one. I bought two bars and a lip balm but I think I may have eaten my weight in chocolate samples. Sorry Theo...


Ginger-sesame bowl


Thai peanut bowl

We ate at Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe twice. The menu is half raw and all vegan, and I ate raw on both visits. The first time I had a ginger sesame bowl and my husband had a Thai peanut bowl (cooked). Both were delicious. The second time I had a raw nacho plate that I mostly didn't like. The flax chips didn't have a taste and the sunflower dip was, um, gritty. The salad and mango chutney were both great but I couldn't eat much of the rest. My husband, however, enjoyed his (cooked) lentil burger.



We've also been to Sidecar - a completely vegan store that supports an animal sanctuary, and a handy little sushi spot called Kisaku. At Kisaku we had delicious edamame and very good vegetable rolls. To our surprise, the rolls came with a complimentary salad and bowl of miso soup. Too bad the soup was made with fish stock, and when I told the waitress we were vegetarian, no offer of veg soup was made. Bummer.

So about the soup I made for today's post.. I was trying to make something similar to the soup we had at a vegan meet-up dinner back in Madison, and while the two main ingredients are the same, the soup tastes very different. My son and I liked it a lot but my granddaughter was not thrilled. T be fair to the soup, she wasn't very hungry today, and mostly dumped her food onto the floor, to the delight of the dog. I think she would have liked it more yesterday when she seemed to have the appetite of a young bear. (You can view her reaction below.) I didn't spice the soup up as much as I might have because I was planning to offer some to the babe, but I probably would have added something hot. I have to say that the soup had a very fresh taste exactly like the veggies it was made from.



Zucchini spinach soup

• 6 cups fresh zucchini, in small cubes
• small bunch fresh spinach, washed well
• 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 - 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup) plus zest
• 1-1/2 cups white kidney or cannelini beans, rinsed well and drained if from a can
• 1 cup water or broth
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar (evaporated cane juice)
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon dried dill weed (to taste)
• fresh ground pepper to taste (optional)

1. Saute the zucchini and garlic in the oil in a wok or large pan until the zucchini begins to brown and soften, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the spinach, and toss to wilt, about 1 minute or less.
3. Place the vegetables, lemon juice and zest, beans, water or broth, salt*, sugar and dill in blender and blend until very smooth and creamy. (*If you are using broth, blend and taste before adding salt.)
4. Place blended soup in a pot and heat gently to desired temperature. Grind pepper over the top if desired.

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We went blackberry picking along a bike path and now I've got blackberries in the freezer.

Spinach and tempeh pie from Celine

Not exactly pie-shaped pie a la Mr. X (read on...)

I printed out Celine's recipe for spinach and tempeh pie because it looked so delicious, and imagine my surprise to pass by the kitchen to find "Mr. X" (identity protected due to content) preparing to make it for dinner. Seeing mutilated oranges on the counter top, I paused to observe. "Is orange zest the white stuff inside the skin?", he inquired. "No, it's the orange stuff on the outside — not the white stuff," I replied. I returned a short time later to observe Mr X trying to scrape off the zest with a pastry crimper. "Here, use this zester, it will be easier," I suggested, offering a quick zesting demo. Everything under control, I was off again, expecting to be called back for the crust-making. Mr. X had never made any sort of pie before. The next time I passed by the kitchen, Mr. X could be seen intently scraping dough out of the food processor with his fingers. "Be sure to use a light touch with the dough," I said. Mr. X is lacking the "light-touch" gene when it comes to baking. He's been known to produce cake with the texture of a yoga mat. But I went away, thinking it was probably too late anyway. And I'd had such high hopes for making this savory pie.



The next time I saw the pie was when it came out of the oven. Mr. X baked it on a piece of waxed paper instead of parchment paper, as called for in the recipe (which could account for the burning smell in the kitchen). He also shaped it kind of like a loaf of bread instead of a pie, but in spite of everything, IT WAS GOOD! And the crust, though perhaps a little harder than intended, was delicious in texture and taste. You should definitely go to this blog and get the recipe so you can make it, too. But don't use waxed paper!

p.s. The crust is made with spelt and tahini.

Be sure to visit Ricki's brand new blog location (Diet, Dessert and Dogs), and enter her contest to win a bottle of wonderful maple syrup! If you live in the Toronto area, you can also win a fabulous custom made chocolate layer cake. Click here.

Seattle food diary - party time

Miss 1-year-old bypasses the cute gift outfit and goes for the tag.

I've just returned from nine days in Seattle (that's why no posts) partying, playing, hiking, shopping and of course, eating, with family. We had a fabulous time, and consumed mounds of wonderful food that we didn't have to cook ourselves! Our kids are amazing cooks, and between their hospitality and Seattle's vegan offerings, we ate too well. Over the next few posts I'll describe what we ate and offer recipes when available.

We went to Seattle to celebrate our granddaughter's first birthday, and the event included an open house party with lots of kids, grown-ups and food. Here's some of the party fare:


Spinach dip made with Trader Joe's vegan mayo


Pasta salad made by Uncle Aaron


No-bake oatmeal chocolate treats made by Grammy Judy


Cake from PCC Coop

The cupcakes sank dramatically, so an emergency run was made to the PCC food coop to purchase two vegan cakes, banana and chocolate, which got decorated with raisins. The cupcakes were then rescued by filling in the craters with mounds of frosting! They looked perfectly normal...


Chocolate cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World"


Antipasto


Red bean salad


Sweet Oliver keeps an eye on things. Wait, is that frosting on his nose?


Miss 1-year-old thinks food is good but cards are better.

Spinach and mushroom enchiladas with tomatillo sauce

I've only been to Mexico once, and it wasn't what I'd consider a "real" travel experience. I went to a conference in Cancun with my husband. He was a keynote speaker and the conference organizers had offered to bring the spouses of the main speakers to the conference all-expenses paid. At first I declined the invitation, not being a fan of large resorts in artificial settings, but then I had a last minute change of heart, and decided it would be more weird to not go than to go. After all, it was January and cold here, and January and warm there.

The resort was pretty much what I expected, but I did my best to be friendly and join the other spouses each day for beach going, shopping and relaxing. I took the bus to the tourist malls and bargained for jewelry (a bracelet that I still wear every day), and soaked up the rays and breezes on the beach. I do love to walk for a couple of hours on a beautiful beach, but the previously storm-battered and sadly eroded beach was not what I had envisioned. It was very narrow and filled with cabanas, and the sand at the water's edge, where I like to walk, slanted at about a 45˚ angle and was mushy instead of firm. After a short stroll, one leg hitting the sand at a much higher point than the other, my hip began to ache, and instead of enjoying the sight of miles of ocean lapping at sand, I envisioned a chiropractic adjustment table in a sterile room, and knew it was time to return to my cabana.

The resort was unwilling or unable to make vegan food accommodations beyond plain pasta with no sauce, so we opted to bus into town for our meals. We found a small chain of natural foods restaurants that served amazing local foods. The meals were so delicious that we tried repeatedly to lure other conference attendees to come with us, but they were all frightened of the word "natural" and chose to eat at the hotel instead. Interestingly, a large number of the group started disappearing. We later found out they had succumbed to dysentery and were recovering in their rooms. Although we ate enthusiastically, neither one of us ever had any problems. I just wish I had taken notes and photos so I could remember and recreate the wonderful traditional Mexican food we ate.

And this brings me to Rick Bayless. At first glance, Mr. Bayless seems to cook only animal-based Mexican dishes—with lots of chorizo and lard. Not exactly vegan food for thought. But, if you look beyond that first impression, you can find lots of inspiration for amazing meals. He was recently in Madison for a fund-raising event at which I was supposed to help, and I was really excited to meet him and watch him cook in person. At the last minute, I was unable to attend. I was very disappointed, but had a post-event opportunity to purchase one of his (signed) cookbooks for half-price. There were two choices, and I poured over each one, trying to determine which I was more likely to use. I chose "Mexican Everyday" instead of "Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Edition," because it contained meals you could make in 30 minutes. But the latter contained a treasure trove of information and would be a wonderful reference book. He provides so much insight into the flavors, ingredients and techniques involved in authentic Mexican cuisine, it's relatively easy to adapt the dishes into vegan versions without losing the fabulous taste. Plus, for many of the dishes in the book I selected, he offers vegetarian alternatives. And the side dishes and vegetables sound amazing. For example, you can skip the pork but make the Smoky Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Guajillo Salsa. I'm looking forward to substituting tofu, tempeh, seitan, beans, avocados and eggplant or other veggies for the animals, and using the preparation methods and sauces from the book, to create exciting flavors.



Our first try was Tomatillo-sauced enchiladas with spinach and mushrooms. We had only a few tomatillos in the house so we supplemented them (as per Rick's suggestion) with bottled tomatillo salsa. For the spinach we used a 12-ounce bag of chopped frozen spinach. We used eight ounces of white mushrooms, and we substituted vegetable stock for chicken stock and left out the shredded chicken (which is listed as optional in the recipe). We have lots of frozen jalapeños and other hot peppers from our garden, and we used those instead of fresh. This dish was easy to make and so delicious I had to force myself to stop eating. And following Mr. Bayless' easy method for softening corn tortillas, the tortillas were so much better than any we had prepared before. If you would like the revised recipe, e-mail me.

Spinach Enchiladas with ranchero sauce

I recently posted about making quesadillas for the first time after being inspired by a Public Television cooking show. The TV chef (TVC) was really into shredded chicken and cream, but he cooked enough stuff that I was able to take a little of this and a bit of that and concoct my own version of his dishes. One of the things he made was ranchero sauce. He used the ranchero sauce for a spinach-stuffed poblano pepper dish, but I decided to stuff corn tortillas with spinach and use the ranchero sauce (no cream) to make enchiladas.

I try to stick to a theme of "easy vegan cooking" when I prepare food for these posts. This doesn't always translate to "fast" vegan cooking. This dish truly is easy, and can be made faster with jarred ranchero sauce, but I was staring at a giant bowl of plum tomatoes just picked from the garden, and was not about to go buy a tomato-based sauce. So I'm going to give a recipe for the sauce and then the enchiladas, and anyone who wants to make this can make or buy whatever. However, if you have access to fresh, ripe plum tomatoes, please make this sauce.



TVC said to use 3 pounds of roasted, peeled and cored tomatoes, but he didn't say how to roast them. I love roasted veggies and make them often, but would you believe I've never roasted just tomatoes for the purpose of making sauce? I tried to find a recipe, but all the ones I saw were for slow-roasted and reduced tomatoes. I filled a 9 x 12 pan plus a 9 x 9 pan with tomato halves drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano. These I put into a preheated 400˚ oven for about one hour. (Cooking time will vary with the size of the tomatoes. Larger tomatoes will take longer.) Maybe because I used plum tomatoes which have a much lower water content, or maybe because I didn't slow roast them for hours, my tomatoes really didn't reduce much. The picture you see is how they looked when I removed them from the oven. Although they didn't reduce, the flavor was intensified to the woohoo stage! I let them cool a little and started to remove (and eat) the skins but the skins were so tender and delicious that I abandoned that idea and decided to just puree the whole lot.

After pureeing, I froze one pint unseasoned, and used the remaining 2 to 2-1/2 cups for the recipe below.



Ranchero sauce

• 3 pounds ripe, roasted tomatoes, peeled if the skins are tough (see above text)
• 2 serrano chiles or jalapeños (or unidentified medium hot peppers!) I used 2 jalapeños and the unidentified choice
  
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (TVC used 1/4 cup)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• fresh black pepper
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar

1. Puree the tomatoes, peppers and garlic until smooth.
2. Cook onions in oil until translucent (about 4 minutes) and add to tomatoes.
3. Stir in salt, cinnamon and sugar.
4. TVC said to simmer the sauce 30 minutes until slightly thickened. Since I was planning to bake my sauce, I skipped this step. Besides, my sauce was already really thick and delicious beyond belief.

Now for the filling. Normally I use fresh vegetables but TVC suggested using frozen spinach to save time. He said it would take 2-1/2 pounds of fresh baby spinach and you'd have to wash, chop, steam and squeeze it. This sounded like a lot of work so I decided to make the project seem more manageable by taking his advice and using frozen spinach. My bags of frozen spinach were from Whole Foods and really, when it was cooked, I couldn't tell it wasn't fresh. Anyway, the spinach was supposed to be defrosted and squeezed out, but of course, I planned poorly and was faced with using the spinach frozen or not making the enchiladas. It worked perfectly so I don't know what to say about this step. Here's what I did.



Spinach with pine nuts and raisins

• 20 ounces frozen chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup plain unsweetened soy yoghurt (optional but recommended)

1. Sauté the pine nuts and raisins in the oil until the pine nuts begin to brown and the raisins plump up. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN THEM. Stir in the spinach and cook until fully defrosted and dry.
2. Season if desired.
3. Stir in the yoghurt if using.

We're almost done. And really, I think it's taking longer to write this post than it did to make the enchiladas. The last part involves softening corn tortillas, stuffing them with the spinach and baking them. TVC used 1/4 cup of oil in a skillet to warm each side of the tortillas before draining them on paper towels. I sprayed them with a little olive oil, heated them in a small cast iron skillet, flipping them over until they were pliable. If you know a better way to soften corn tortillas, please let me know.

Assembly

• 12 softened corn tortillas
• spinach filling
• ranchero sauce
• vegan cheese
• plain unsweetened soy yoghurt (optional, but creates a sour-cream-like effect)

1. Divide the spinach filling in the pan into roughly 12 parts.(you know, spatula lines)
   
2. Place the ranchero sauce in a 9" x 12" heavy baking dish.
3. Soften, then fill the tortillas with spinach and roll up.
4. Place the tortillas in the dish and spoon a little sauce over them.
5. Place shredded or thinly sliced vegan cheese over the top.
6. Drizzle soy yoghurt here and there.
7. Bake at 350˚ for 30 to 40 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

Post Script I mentioned before and I'll mention again that we just had our first taste of Teese. That's what I used on the enchiladas. I sliced rather than shredded it and it didn't quite melt all the way but it was totally my fault. I probably should have waited a little longer or covered it for a few minutes. No matter. It's really in a class by itself as far as vegan cheeses go. It's scarily like the real thing. I was actually a little embarrassed at work when I reheated my lunch and it smelled like actual cheese!

On the other hand, the nutritional value of Teese is somewhat suspect in my mind. According to their Web site, there is zero protein, 9 grams of fat and zero everything else, per serving. I see it as a condiment rather than an actual food. Kind of like drizzling olive oil on hummus. It does taste great though!

Spinach salad

I'm going to continue with the theme of presenting recipes from from my kids' cooking. I'm in Seattle this week visiting with the kids, and enjoying some great food and company. Our first night here we had dinner with our middle son, Aaron and his wonderful partner, Erica. Aaron cooked a delicious and beautiful meal that started with an excellent spinach salad. Aaron doesn't really use recipes - he makes things up as he goes along - but he tried to pay attention to measurements because he knew I wanted to post the recipes.

Spinach salad
Dressing
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 clove garlic, minced
5-10 raspberries (or 3-5 strawberries)
handful fresh mint (or basil)
Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Salad
1 large bag spinach, washed
1 thinly sliced red onion
sliced strawberries
1/4-1/2 cup toasted walnuts
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and serve.

Spinach Lorraine

My friend Lorraine is a wonderful artist and an excellent and creative cook. Whenever she describes some fantastic dish she's prepared, my first thought is to pack a bag and go live at her house. I'm far too lazy to re-create most of the lovely food items she describes, but the other day she e-mailed that she'd made something really easy and worthy of making again. I agree.

Lorraine said, "I did a sort of easy dish last week that makes me want to try it again. I browned a little fresh garlic in a dash of oil, added a splash of vinegar to reduce for just a minute. Then turned off the heat and threw in a lot of spinach and stirred it around. While I was waiting for it to wilt I sectioned a grapefruit into it and zested a little lemon. I wasn't sure how it would be but it was just the right mix of tangy, pungent and healthy!"

Sounded good to me so I tried it and she was right. It was excellent and easy. I made it with orange segments instead of grapefruit and it was festive as well as delicious. Try both! We had the spinach with cauliflower puree (see previous post) and garbanzo bean salad.

Some personal spinach history: When I was eight and the third child in our family was born, my mother needed bed rest and a nurse came to live at our house for a week. One of her duties was to keep us other kids from bothering our mother, and that included feeding us lunch. One day I was confronted with the most horrible and frightening blob of slimy green crud on my plate. It turned out to be creamed spinach which I'd never seen before and the tiniest taste of which made me gag. The nurse was mean, and said we had to eat it. I snuck into my mother's room after lunch to tell her that I was sure the nurse was trying to poison us, and she should make her leave.