A Week In Review

you eat those massive cakes, boo

This week was rather busy for me, but I have been able to come home and have dinner with the boo at night, which is a new thing for us. Andy decided to make pancakes for dinner the other night. In the 10" skillet. Go big or go home, I guess!

vegan/glutard alcohol sponger

potato spinach hash


purple potato (par cooked)
frozen assorted veggies
spinach
baked tofu
daiya mozzarella
earth balance
sliced onion


In a hot skillet, melt some earth balance, caramelize the onions. Add potatoes and brown, add your other veggies and spinach. Dump in a bowl, sprinkle with vegan bacon bits and daiya. Inhale to soak up all that whisky.

 knock-off sushi bar ginger vinaigrette
If you don't have a microplane, its cool, use your box grater.

1 small carrot
1"x1" chunk peeled ginger
2T rice vinegar
2T lemon or lime juice
2t dijon mustard
splish splash of water
soy
olive oil



Using your fancy purple handled microplane, shave the shit out of a carrot and that hunk o' ginger into a mason jar that has a lid. Dump in all other ingredients, screw the lid on, and shake it like a polaroid. Or a shake weight. Use your imagination. Adjust seasonings to your taste preference, and shake more if it needs more emulsification. Pour over romaine and tomatoes with carrot shavings, and feel like royalty.

"life is short, eat dessert first."

plantain + chocolate 

"dirty" plantain shake and champagne, cause I keep it classy.

The grocer nearby sells it's "on its way out" produce at a sharply reduced price. Being a scavenger who likes to preserve things, I decided to buy some of these "over ripe" plantains to see what I could make of them. They are now my go to dessert, or other snack staple! Straight out of the peel with some peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon. Cut into pieces, freeze, and you have a base for some smoothies or "ice cream". Vegan ice cream is crazy expensive, at $2 for three to four massive plantains, this is a much more inexpensive alternative for snacks and desserts.

frozen plantain + dutch cocoa + peanut butter + sweetener + H2O

    

  Enjoy with halvah crumbled on top. Or cookie scraps. Or dollops of lyngonberry jam. Oh Ikea...

The First Supper

There are great positives and great negatives to being unemployed.

The first is that you have many hours to devote to a sculpting a meal, taking your time to make reductions and construct regional flavor profiles... but the cons inevitably are "damn... I spent $70 on groceries today at Whole Foods because of lack of self control in the gluten free aisle and produce section". However, in light of attempting to be a Manhattan Minimalist, I did score some frozen veggies for $1.70 a bag that were a tasty component of the first meal I've cooked as a resident here. The technical first meal, really, was Thanksgiving... which was not a minimalist meal at all, complete with duckfat gravy for the boys, mushroom tahini gravy and Field Roast for me, potatoes, green bean casserole, several bottles of wine.. you get the point.

Tonight was kind of special though. I had been fortunate and gracious to have a few bottles of wine I brought with me from PA, and most of my spices as well. Since I literally threw a bunch of stuff in a pan and tasted as I went along, with a moderate Moroccan/Sri Lankan bassline as my guide... indulge me a moment to write this like I would a menu, it's much easier...

Chenin Blanc Nederburg 2012

Crispy Fried Chickpeas | smoked paprika + coconut oil

Mediterranean vegetables | Marrakesh + almond milk + tomato + Hunan dried chili

Jasmine Risotto | toasted mustard seed + fried onions + cardamom

toast mustard seeds and ground cardamom in coconut oil, proceed per usual for pilaf, finish like risotto

savoryspiceshop.com's free gift from my last shipment

blurred out simmering veg

toast chilis in coconut oil, add almond milk and spices, reduce and add veg

mega chickpeamoneyshot. fry those puppies in coconut oil and smoked paprika to make your boyfriend say "these taste like..." your response, "bacon?" yes. vegan bacon tasting chickpeas.

serve on your classy plastic tote like the heathen you are.

mix everything together as you go, or eat separate!

So total cost of the meal, sans wine... like a few bucks. It was Andy's jasmine rice, maybe a half a cup of chickpeas, half a bag of those vegetables, and spices, coconut oil, and almond milk I already had on hand. Twas one incredibly filling totally vegan, glutard friendly feast. We are currently sipping coffee to take the edge off of the fullness, plus there are leftovers for tomorrow, and leftover plain chickpeas for making hummus.

Thanks Tamasin Noyes, I remember those potato skins she made at Singing Bowl I that had coconut flake bacon bits and recalled the wonderful combination of smoke + coconut = baconish flav. Check out her blog, she makes amazing things.

Cook strong chai wallahs. xoxoxo.