It's a wrap!

Okay, so I've posted what I intend to eat for lunch this week. This got me to thinking that it might be interesting to share some of the stuff I make sandwiches out of (sandwiches being quite a lunchy thing - although I tend to eat them for breakfast and dinner lots too!)

So - sandwich "outsides":

muffins (both english and regular American ones)
bagels
matzoh (Streit's is my favorite brand)
wonton wrappers/egg roll wrappers
crepes
pancakes
tortillas
lavash
crackers
rice cakes
waffles (I get the whole wheat frozen ones from Whole Foods)
pita bread
sliced vegetables
hollowed out vegetables
sliced fruit

For Shawn.

So, for my friend Shawn who is introducing vegetarian and vegan meals into her diet I am posting a list of some of my favorite "go to" cookbooks. (As well as prattling on about other stuff, as I do.)

Cook for Good - http://cookforgood.com/ I like this one because it's seasonal, incredibly practical, and frugal. (And being an eBook doesn't hurt!)

Vegan Lunch Box/ Vegan Lunch Box Around the World - Love both of Jennifer McCann's books. I'd probably go with one, not both. (I'm just obsessed with cookbooks.) Really great ideas for easy meals.

Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon's book blew my mind. Seriously. Really interesting (and disturbing!) read. Lots of great information. The recipes are a little more involved, but once you get the hang of them they are well worth the bother.

More-with-Less - Doris Janzen Longacre's book is one of the World Community cookbooks, and fantastic. The other World Community Cookbooks are also really useful and interesting.

This Crazy Vegan Life - Christina Pirello is a pleasure to read, and this book is quite readable, interesting, and full of really great basic recipes.

Jamie's Food Revolution - Okay, I have mixed feelings about Jamie Oliver. But! This is a great book. The recipes are easy as hell, they use simple and readily accessible ingredients, and they aren't time consuming. Most of them are not vegan or vegetarian, but can very easily be modified.

Mark Bittman. Any of his books - How to Cook Everything, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Food Matters, Kitchen Express... I own them all, love them all and turn to them all time and time again. Pick any one of them up and I guarantee you'll be on the Bittman Bandwagon.

I could go on and on, but I won't - my cookbook collection is a scary thing, I know.

Other sources:

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/index.html - a great source of recipes.
http://vegweb.com/ - another fantastic collection of online recipes.

My personal tips:

1. Cook a big pot of beans every week. You'll end up finding countless ways to use this cheap and tasty source of protein.

2. Be careful about buying vegan/vegetarian ready-meals. Just like the traditional ones they tend to be full of nasty stuff for you, and they are also crazy expensive.

3. Shop the seasons. I can eat for a month on $50.00. This includes buying produce weekly. I mostly manage to accomplish this by excluding meat and dairy from my diet, and only buying produce that is in season - and therefore cheap. You're fortunate to live in Southern California where not only do you have access to all the Mexican markets, but Middle Eastern, Asian... great sources for inexpensive food across the board. Spices, grains and legumes, produce... all at a fraction of the price you would pay in a regular grocery store.

4. Healthy doesn't have to mean boring and tasteless. If you don't already have an herb garden, start one. Herbs can make all the difference between an "eh, well, I have to eat something I guess this will suffice" meal and a "holy crap, I should have made more of this and screw you hippie, get your own!" meal. Just sayin'.

5. Make the investment in a good lunch system. Laptop Lunchbox, Lunchsense, and a lunch jar or thermos as well as a refillable drink bottle. Having something neat and tidy and nifty will curb the temptation to just "pick something up," rather than packing your own. Be sure you pack your lunch the night before, so you're not scrambling in the morning.

6. Avoid "meat substitutes" for the most part. They are expensive, full of additives, and just not worth it. Do I use them? Yes, but infrequently. I rely on beans and grains, which are less expensive, taste better and are better for you.

7. There is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables! Just avoid the ones that come in sauces. 10 minutes and a bag of frozen peas (with some water or stock, a handful of herbs or some pesto) and you have a wicked soup that is awesome for dinner or lunch (and packs easily in a thermos for on the go).

And that's all I can think of for now.

Good luck!

(So... who would you invite to your Presidential VEGAN Dinner Party?)

The high road is hard to find.

Listening to: Rammstein - Pussy
Munching on: Nothing at the moment.

Doing my Meal Plan Monday a day early this week. Mostly because I haven't slept in, um, I'm not sure. Days, anyway. After the matches today I hit the Whole Foods on the way to the 90. If I'd had to detour I probably wouldn't have managed it. Yeah. Still, I'm pretty stoked that I didn't end up with a basket of seriously random selections - which has been known to happen when I'm this tired.

As a change, I'll be posting my dinners and new and excitingly - lunches.

Monday
Lunch: Cheese and chutney sandwich, black grapes, green salad with almonds and
raspberries.

Dinner: White pizza, watermelon, and a green salad with olives and tomatoes.

Tuesday
Lunch: Leftover pizza, watermelon, cheese and crackers and black grapes.

Dinner: Tortellini with tomato sauce and olives, watermelon and raspberry sorbet.

Wednesday
Lunch: Cinnamon bagel with banana and honey, some funky melon that's an heirloom
varietal and I have no idea what it is - looked tasty in my sleep-deprivedyness, green salad
with black grapes and almonds.

Dinner: Veggie chorizo, green rice, black bean and fresh salsa burritos, sliced mango and
avocado salad.

Thursday
Lunch: Cheese and chutney sandwich, green salad and curried butternut squash soup.

Dinner: Fruit salad, black bean tacos, and tomato slices.

Friday
Lunch: Mexican fatoosh with black beans, black grapes, pineapple, and the last of the melon.

Dinner: Slump. (various and sundry bits and bobs from the week turned into a skillet meal,
served with bread or tortillas, depending on what's leftover.)

Saturday and Sunday: I'll be out doing the World Cuppery thing, so I'll be eating stuff I probably shouldn't. Oh well!

Through the storm.

Listening to: Eminem, Recovery
Munching on: Tortilla chips

Yeah. I like Eminem. For some reason that always surprises people. Whatever.

Tonight for dinner I am making Stroganot. No, that's not a typo. I call it Stroganot because it's in the spirit of stroganoff - but it doesn't even come close to being authentic. Recipe to follow.

So - Meal Plan Monday.

Monday: Stroganot with noodles, salad, and these kick ass pluots I bought at the farmer's market.

Tuesday: Tortellini with my version of Puttanesca, salad and blueberry shortcake.

Wednesday: Taco Salad, mango-lime-slush.

Thursday: Homemade pizza, salad, and blood orange sorbet.

Friday: Going out. And stuff.

Stroganot
Okay, authentic stroganoff is it's own thing, and awesome - when you are eating meat and cream and such. Then there's the bastardized Suburban version of stroganoff - made with beef mince, canned cream-of-whatever soup, and sour cream. My Stroganot is neither, but incorporates what I like about both.

Saute a couple handfuls of good mushrooms in a glug of light oil - vegetable oil is good for this. I don't use olive oil because I don't want the flavor. Remove mushrooms from the pan. Make a paste with mustard powder and white wine. Put this in your pan, add some water, stir and cook for a couple minutes. Stir in some crumbles (Quorn, whatever), and your mushrooms. Stir in "sour cream" and quickly remove from heat. Serve over egg noodles, buckwheat groats, or rice.

Ain't nothin' please me more than you.

Listening to: "Home," Edwin Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Munching on: Carman's Original Fruit-Free Muesli Bar

If you are not familiar with either of the above - go out and get them right now! As a firm believer that raisins should stay the fuck out of my food, Carman's Fruit-Free Museli Bars were a thrilling discovery. They are absolutely delicious. They also happen to be good for you and really filling. I just happen to care more about the deliciousness of them.

Lazy.

Currently I am more sleep-deprived than usual thanks to obsessive World Cuppery which makes me even less inclined to participate in time-consuming cookery.

So, the meal plan for this week is super simple.

Monday: Honestly? Totally ate on the fly. Toasted bagel and some fruit salad.
Tuesday: Cheese enchilada stacks.
Wednesday: Tortellini salad.
Thursday: Taco salad.
Friday: Grilled cheese.
Saturday: Eating out.
Sunday: Eating out again.

On the cheap.

Today I went to pick up dates at the market. Whilst there, I ran across FAGE for $.50 a pint - the only catch is that it had a "use by" date of today. I picked up two pints of it, deciding I couldn't resist the bargain. Meal plan be damned, I can make that another night!

So, what does a girl do with two pints of greek yogurt in one day?

Muffins and paprikash!

I make there super simple muffins which require soaking the flour in kafir/buttermilk/yogurt for 12-24 hours, before adding the rest of the ingredients and baking. So that's one pint down.

The second pint was used to make paprikash. I know how to make authentic paprikash, and from time to time I've even been known to make it. This recipe, however, is anything but authentic. It's a total cheaterpants recipe and I really don't care. It's delicious, cheap, filling, easy and quick to make.

You can use any meat you like, firm tofu, tempeh, seitan, or Quorn. If using Quorn - make sure it's defrosted.

So, put a hit of oil in a HUGE pan. Dump in your meat "stuff." If you're using actual meat first chop into bite-size pieces (or you could use meatballs). Saute until browned. Remove from the pan. Add some butter/margarine/oil and a couple tablespoons of flour. Make a roux. Add some water or stock and white wine. Put your meat "stuff" back in the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat add sour cream (or greek yogurt!) and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve over rice, egg noodles, or even better - baked potatoes. Nom nom.

Weekend shenanigans.

This weekend I went down to visit my friend Lea in Oceanside (Hi Lea!). We went for a brunchy nosh at Hill Street Cafe. She had the Greek Salad and I had the Avocado Tacos. I have to say - the tacos were brilliant!

We then headed to Vista where I introduced her to the glories of Sprouts. It is one of my very favorite "inside" places to shop. I scored, because Dr. Bronner's was on sale. Woo hoo!

After that we spent the afternoon exploring the Strawberry Festival. Chocolate covered strawberries. Oh noes! Super yum. Now, I love a fresh unadorned super ripe strawberry - but take the same berry and cover it in white chocolate with a dark chocolate drizzle and I'm entering the sublime.

We also made a stop at The Yellow Deli. I had this date bar... holy crap and a half was it ever good! So good, in fact, that tomorrow I'm making an extra shopping trip to pick up dates to I can reproduce it at home.

We stumbled upon this Tortilleria. I bought fresh blue corn tortillas. I am stupidly giddy thinking about what delightfulness I shall concoct with them.

The highlight was perhaps our adventure in this "weird little book shop." Hippies, wiccans, whatever - they all smell like patchouli. Heh. Anyway! I scored a couple of fantastic cookbooks for 60% off the cover price.

So, in summation:

We walked. We ate. We drove. We ate. We walked. We ate. We walked. We acted like total dorks and giggled over silly things. We drove. We passed out from food indulgence.

A good day.

Next up: We need a Dr. Bronner's Field Trip! And there's some pie company in Julian that I must visit...

Bite Me, Atkins.

I'm on a high carb and low everything else diet. Am I fanatical about it? No. I'm not fanatical about anything really, it's just not me. I'm pretty good about playing by my dietary rules though - mostly because when I don't I feel like death warmed over. But sometimes a girl just needs a grilled cheese sandwich - at least this girl does.

I'm mentioning this, because a few people have asked me why just about every "recipe" I post is "super carby." So, there you go. I'm supposed to eat lots of carbs. Do you hate me? Are you jealous? All you Atkins people can take your bacon and shove it.

Door.

Anyone else have a rather random selection of foodstuffs in their refrigerator door?

Mine currently boasts:

6 kinds of mustard
Prunes
Muyploy
Soy sauce
HP Brown Sauce
Almond meal
5 kinds of jam
Earth Balance
Tamari almonds
Curry ketchup
3 kinds of chutney
Ajvar
Sun-dried tomatoes
Marinated artichoke hearts
Capers
Pickles
Kalamata olives
2 grades of maple syrup
Saki

Am I alone in my fridge door madness?

The Fourth Dimension.

I'm lazy when it comes to cooking. There's no shame in that statement for me. I work, go to school, have time-consuming health problems, a full social life and volunteer work. I'd much rather devote what time I do have to eating my food rather than actively preparing it. I like cooking once and eating a few times. So, I employ certain time savers. (Technology. Glorious, isn't it?)

1) Slow-cooker/crockpot. I use this sucker at least twice a week, every week. I use it to make a big pot of beans, a pot of steel cut oats (which I eat for breakfast almost every day) and a big pot of soup.

2) Rice cooker. Okay, so mine has a 6 cup capacity. This is not huge, but it's certainly enough for one person. The luxury of tossing in my water (or stock) and rice (or barley, or other grains) and ending up with perfect rice (or other grains) that I don't have to pay attention to? Heck yeah.

Sprung.

Saturday is my first real day off in ages. Almost every weekend for the past several my ass has landed in the hospital. (Boo with me here - booooooooooo!) Anyway, in honor of the occasion I have decided to get a head start on my weekly meal planning.

So, a week in advance:

Monday: Taco Stacks. Meal in one, yay! Put some enchilada sauce (or salsa) in a pie dish then put down a tortilla, then a layer of refried beans, a layer of spanish rice, a layer of calabacita, drizzle with a little more sauce, another tortilla. Top with some extra sauce, shredded cheese and olives. Bake until cheese is bubbly. Cut into wedges and serve.

Tuesday: Fried Rice. At the start of the week I cook a big batch of rice. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days. So, fried rice. In a big pan, heat some oil. Throw in a bunch of chopped veggies, stir-fry for a minute. Add your seasonings - soy, garlic, chili, etc. Then put in your leftover cooked rice. Stir fry for a few minutes until rice is warmed through, and taken on a lovely color. If you want, you can add egg to this - but I almost never do.

Wednesday: Jacket Potatoes with veggies and cheese. This is obvious, isn't it? Bake potato. Top with veggies, grate cheese on top. Voila!

Thursday: RiSorta. Grate a bunch of squash - zucchini works well. Lightly wring dry in a towel to get rid of some of the excess liquid. In a big pan, heat some oil/butter/margarine or a combination, sprinkle in a 1/4-1/2 cup rice (not cooked rice). Saute for a minute. Then add your veg. Saute for a minute or two. Then add some stock which you've heated up. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the veggies super tender. Top with a sprinkle of cheese, if so inclined.

Friday: Veggie Frittata. Saute your veg in a pan. Whisk up eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour this over your veg. Put a lid on your pan - slightly askew - and reduce heat. Let this cook for about 15-20 minutes. The egg will puff up. You can also do this traditional style and put your pan in the oven, but eh, then you have to heat the oven. Top with cheese, salsa, nothing- it's all good.

Meal Plan Monday (actually Tuesday). Whatever.

Okay. So my week got off to a rocky start, due to last week being Suck Fest 2010. Anyway! I've decided that from time to time I'll post my weekly meal plans. Thrilling, no? Shut up. You're stoked.

Anyhow! Here they are - I know you've all been waiting with baited breath.

Monday: Taco Soup (this was frozen, as in "in my freezer", as in - I didn't have to make a damn thing, woo!) and homemade honey wheat bread with homemade strawberry freezer jam.

Tuesday: Cranberry bean tacos and watermelon salad.

Wednesday: Sloppy Sams, tomato salad

Thursday: Spaghetti with roasted tomato sauce

Friday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

As ever, unless I'm baking - I don't measure. So, here's the "method" for my meals of deliciousness.

Taco Soup
Start by sauteing a couple cloves of minced garlic in a splash of olive oil. To this, add your stock. I use a 70:30 ration of veggie stock to bean stock (bean stock being the leftover cooking liquid from my weekly pot of beans). To this, add some passata or salsa. Throw in some oregano, pepper, chili powder and cumin. Bring this to a simmer and start adding your "taco" stuff. I usually add corn (frozen is fine, fresh is better in season), cooked beans of some variety and leftover cooked rice. I let this simmer until everything is nice and warm and the stock has reduced a bit. Before serving, a hit it with a squeeze of fresh lime. I top each serving with crumbled tortilla chips, diced avocado, and a dollop of "sour cream." It would be good with cheese, but oddly I prefer it without. Go figure.

Sloppy Sams
I have modified this recipe to my taste and for my dietary restrictions - no onions and vegetarian Worcester sauce.

Roasted Tomato Sauce
I make this in bulk. It's super easy. Take a few pounds of good tomatoes. Slice them in half - I use roma tomatoes. Put them on a baking sheet (make sure it's lipped). Sprinkle over some minced garlic, herbs of your choice and drizzle with olive oil and a splash of wine (or even sherry). Put in a 400 degree oven and roast for about 45 minutes. Dump this mixture into a big pot, and then blend up with an immersion blender (or blend in batches in a traditional blender - be CAREFUL!). That's it. This freezes well. It's also the basis for my tomato soup.

Tomato Soup
Start with some Roasted Tomato Sauce. Add some veggie stock wine or sherry - whatever you used the first time around. Simmer for a while. Add a splash of cream - real, coconut or soy. Simmer for another minute. Serve.

What American girls are good for.

A friend once repeated a remark he'd heard a comedian say - "The only thing American girls are good for is ordering off a menu." Now, I think this is hilarious - I also think there is some truth in there. We're good at other things, sure, but we're especially good at ordering from menus. Why? Because Americans are used to an abundance of choice. Our menus - our world - is options galore. Our problem isn't a lack of options, it's actually that we have too many options - and we don't know how to make informed choices about what we eat.

I have a life-threatening food allergy. Boring! Honestly, it's not something which impacts my day to day very much. The only time it's ever much of an issue is when I dine out. I guess my point is this - if I, with a life-threatening food allergy and all my damn dietary restrictions can still walk into any restaurant (Okay, maybe not The Stinking Rose) and manage to order a meal that I'll survive the consumption of, which is also reasonably healthy and tasty - anyone can. It's simply a matter of making informed and intelligent decisions about what I put in my body.

Tonight I went out to dinner with friends. I did what I usually do - I ordered two appetizers. Why? Because I like being able to have more than one thing, and I've found that the portions are much more reasonable. One dish was a lovely Japanese cucumber salad with seaweed, peppers, asparagus and a sesame and vinegar dressing, and the other was kabocha tempura. No meat. No dairy. Not a whole lot of fat. Yum as fuck.

Random Cookbook Plug: Dolores Casella's The Complete Vegetable Cookbook

Industry. Industrial. Industrious?

There are weekends when all you want to do is hibernate, and then there are weekends full of events. For me, the best weekends are a combination of the two.

Today was a great Sunday. I started my day off by baking bread for the week. Is there anything as fantastic as the smell of yeast bread in the oven? I'm fairly certain there isn't. I also made banana bread. My banana bread is not particularly sweet and is also more bready than cakey - personal preference.

I had breakfast with a friend at a favorite dive in Fullerton which we used to frequent. Ah, nostalgia (in more ways than one!). After that, did a bit of shopping at Henry's market with my friend Bärbel. I love Henry's - it's way up high on my list of favorite markets. Yes, I have a list. The Oly Co-Op is my favorite, but also on the list are Henry's, Herbie's, Co-Opportunity, Whole Foods, Mother's, Glatt Mart, Erewhon, and Northgate. Those are actual markets. There is also the local farm where I get my eggs and raw milk, the farmer's market where I get my honey, etc. I freely admit that grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do. But I digress...

Over frozen yogurt (raspberry tart, hello Yogurtland!) we discussed what we've been cooking lately. As we both eat seasonally, there has been lots of asparagus on the menu. What I love about Bärbel is that she's as food obsessed as I am, so that's okay! Anyway, she's from a region where the good asparagus is grown. White asparagus has a short season, but it's amazing. When it's in season people gorge on the deliciousness. She was telling me about this dish her mother makes that honest to goodness had my mouth watering - asparagus, hollandaise, herbed Flädle and good German ham. Holy crap and a half, that sound wickedly tasty.

So, in honor of Bärbel's mum, tonight for supper I am making savory crepes with fines herbes (sans chive, of course), asparagus and topping them off with hollandaise. Yum.

Besides, I'll have lots of egg whites leftover from making the hollandaise, which gives me an excuse to make macaroons! (Not that I need an excuse.)

Crap... or brilliant?

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I know I am amused by it, but I might also be horrified. Crap, or fab?

What of wisdom?

Bedtime reading this week has been Mary Emma Showalter's Mennonite Community Cookbook. From the cover, "Eleven hundred mouth-watering recipes from old Mennonite cookbooks, brought up to date with standard measures and directions. Simple but wonderful country cookery contributed by Mennonite families all over the United States and Canada."

In my collections it ranks right up there with Liberace Cooks.

She will go down with her ship.

I made this salad for lunch today. Well, a modified version of it anyway. Obviously I didn't use bacon lardons or onion in my salad. Still, it was delicious. I remain a sucker for lentils.

Look her in the eye.

It is a beautiful sunny day in Los Angeles. It rained last night, so the sky is blue, there are "Jesus clouds" in the sky, and it's cool - if only the weather were always like this. Of course, if it were I wouldn't appreciate it as much as I do.

I have lots of "inside" things I need to do today, but the day is much more suited to outside things - so screw it. I am pulling a runner on being responsible today. If you're out and about in "Snata" Monica today you just might see me - I'll be the freakishly pale girl.

Get lost in the sun.

Tonight for dinner I am making calabacitas - which is a delicious skillet squash dish making use of the bountiful Mexican summer squash in all the local markets.

1.5 lbs of Mexican squash cut into bite sized pieces (if you are using zucchini, you might want to add a sprinkle of sugar)
2 cups of frozen or fresh corn
1 medium red bell pepper, medium dice (or small if you like)
1 large (or two small) tomatoes, diced
olive oil/vegetable oil
grated cheese - jack is good, so is cheddar

In a good sized saucepan saute the squash, corn, pepper and tomato in a little oil. Cover pan, and cook over medium heat until everything is tender. Add a handful of cheese on top, do not stir through. Cover again and let the cheese melt into the mixture. Once it does, remove cover, stir, and add another handful of cheese. Let that melt too. Serve it up with tortillas or pita bread.

Oh, and if you're a meat eater you could add some to this if you were so inclined. You could brown off some ground (turkey? beef?) and stir it through when you add the second handful of cheese. Or, you could stir through some shredded chicken or something. I dunno why you would want to spoil perfectly good vegetables with meat, but hey, knock yourself out.

Delicious!