Filed under: Green Links | Tags: environmentalism, food safety, food policy, the future of food, monsanto
The wonderful, eye-opening film “The Future of Food” is available in its entirety online! Don’t know why I’m just now seeing this 2004 documentary about the perils of genetically modified foods and the scary way they have sneaked into our grocery stores over the past couple decades. So fascinating and alarming! Further proves that giant seed company Monsanto is indeed the devil. (Which we of course know from, among other things, this year’s fantastic food documentary, “Food, Inc.”)
Filed under: Buddhism, Photography, Quotes | Tags: Buddhism, Photography, renewal, rose
“If we fall, we don’t need self-recrimination or blame or anger — we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit, to be wholehearted once again. Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention.”
—Sharon Salzberg
Buddhist spiritual teacher
Photo taken by me in the back of a van, November 1, 2009
It’s hardest being a vegan when you are outside your element, your own kitchen, your reliable food sources. On a recent weekend trip to the Poconos with 11 friends I mostly ate a lot of tortilla chips. And French fries. For breakfast, though, while everyone else ate scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and pastries, I quietly made myself a tofu scramble on the side. It was my first, and there was no oil or margarine to grease the pan, so I used salsa. And it tasted amazing!
Basic recipe: firm tofu, crumbled; diced onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms; and a splash of salsa. Sauté in pan until heated. Yum!
Filed under: Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: baking, fall cooking, pumpkin, Sunday, Vegan, Vegetarian
I maintain that baking is the most simple, satisfying, inexpensive, and comforting activity ever. This Sunday morning, I got up and realized I had half a can of pumpkin pie mix to do something with. Without even leaving the apartment to buy extra ingredients, I found a recipe, veganized it, and am now enjoying awesome pumpkin bread!
The original recipe is here: Pumpkin Breads (would reproduce their title here, but it’s grammatically incorrect. “Anyway You Like It”? Really?)
To veganize, use this metric that I just learned: For one egg, replace with 1/4 cup of applesauce and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. I didn’t add anything into the bread, but did crush some almonds for the top, which I would definitely recommend. Also, if you don’t have pre-mixed “pumpkin pie spice” you can always add, as I did, dashes of any or all of: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice.
Filed under: New York miscellany, Quotes | Tags: edward abbey, hoboken, hope, idealism, love, new york, Quotes
“In the evening the great glittering ship of Manhattan seemed to promise the fulfillment of every desire, every wish; one sailed toward it through the purple twilight with a heart full of hope. Hope for what? Hard to say–hope for those things a young man desires so much he hesitates to name them: for love, for adventure, for revelation, for triumph. All of it waiting there in that golden city of electric glory. All of it almost within reach.”
–Edward Abbey, The Journey Home, “Manhattan Twilight, Hoboken Night,” 1977
Photo taken by me from Hoboken, April 2008.
Filed under: Photography, Quotes | Tags: courage, flowers, fort tryon, freedom, independence, Photography
“To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet.”
—Charles Caleb Colton
Lacon, 1825
Photo taken by me at Fort Tryon Park, October 4, 2009
Filed under: Photography, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: bodegas, goya, mexican food, recipes, Vegan, veganmofo 2009, Vegetarian
Many of my postings here focus on recipes I’ve tried, but in reality I most often cook sans-directions. I find this really unleashes my creativity as a culinary artiste. (Tongue firmly in cheek there.)
I live in a largely Latin American neighborhood, which limits my in-a-pinch grocery shopping to bodegas stocked mainly with Goya brand items and Tapatio. This is fine with me, because being from California, I’m most at ease cooking foods with a Mexican flair.
For instance, last weekend I whipped up this bean dip to accompany some Saturday afternoon college-football watching. Deeelish.
Here’s basically what went into it:
1 can vegetarian refried beans
Approx. 6 slices vegan cheese
1/3 of a can enchilada sauce
Mix in microwave-safe bowl, cover, and heat for 2 minutes or until melty and heated through. Stir.
Top with:
1 ripe avocado, mashed
1/4 of one jalapeno, finely chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Garlic powder, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste
Stir these together and drop in center of bean dip. Enjoy with tortilla chips (I prefer blue—who doesn’t?).
Voilà! Easy cheesy beany!
Filed under: Buddhism, Photography, Quotes | Tags: awareness, henry miller, houseplant, living, tropic of capricorn
“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”
—Henry Miller
Tropic of Capricorn
Photo by me in my apartment yesterday morning.
Filed under: Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: autumn, new york times, Vegan, veganmofo 2009, Vegetarian
I finally made this recipe from the NY Times I’ve been drooling over:
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad With Black Beans and Chili Dressing.
And oh lord, is it amazing! I think my batch could use more salt, pepper, and jalapeño, so adjust accordingly. You really can’t go wrong with sweet potatoes, which are delicious cooked any of a thousand ways. But this recipe is a great harmony of sweet and spicy. Just look at this photo I took!
Yowza goodness! I believe I’ll be eating only orange foods all autumn.
Filed under: Photography, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: cocktails, party hosting, recipes, Vegan, veganmofo 2009, Vegetarian
I {heart} hosting parties. I love nothing more than to spend way too much money that I don’t actually have on making delicious food for my friends. Gives me a chance to try new recipes, and affords an opportunity for my friends to tell me what a great cook I am. (Joke!)
This past Saturday I hosted a cocktail party and forced vegan hors d’oeuvres on my guests. Not much forcing was required, though, if I do say so myself. Here’s a roundup of what I made. (I apologize for the dark and blurry photos—’tis hard to be a hostess and food photographer at the same time!)
Crostini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
I basically followed this recipe at VegCooking, although first I roasted the two cloves of garlic. (Wrap in foil and bake for about 40 minutes.)
That’s a lavender-cucumber vodka martini, there, by the way. Mmmhm. See recipe at the end of the post.
Zucchini Bites
Thanks to the Post Punk Kitchen for this fun little recipe. I couldn’t find vegan parmesan so instead used rice mozzarella, and I think it worked! Very popular and so easy.
Stuffed Mushrooms
I love Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, and here I modified her Creole Stuffed Mushrooms recipe. Added a bit of vegan butter to the sauteed veggies for extra yumminess, sprinkled rice mozzarella on top, and used simply a variety of herbs and spices instead of a “creole” mix.
Artichoke Puffs
Yay, again, for VegCooking! This recipe turned out pretty well, even when I couldn’t find puff pastry shells and so had to improvise my own. I bought filo dough, cut it into 3″x3″ squares, and pressed a few stacked square sheets into each hole in a mini muffin pan. Got that? Then I baked the sheets until just golden and followed the rest of the recipe. (I always think the best part of cooking is problem solving on the fly. And the more you cook, the better you get at it!)
Fruit Skewers with Strawberry Yogurt Dip
I had a recipe for this but now I can’t find it. Oh well! All you do is put bite-size chunks of fruit (strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, mango, melon, blueberry—whatever’s in season and cheap) on toothpicks. Then you mix strawberry soy yogurt with a bit of agave nectar and lemon or lime juice. This dip is crazy delicious!
Other party hosting notes:
It’s up to you whether you tell your friends that the food is vegan before or after they try it. Some silly people have preconceived notions and you don’t want to bias them against your wonderful creations unnecessarily. All my friends know I’m vegan (I’m not shy about that!) so they assumed my offerings would be, as well.
It might be a good idea to warn people who have allergies, though. I have a friend with tree-nut allergies who ate the almond cheese slices I put out with bread. Luckily no reaction, though, woot! Having a guest go into anaphylactic shock is certainly a party foul.
I also put out little bowls of vegan chocolate chips and cashews, as well as chips & salsa and pretzels. So many easy vegan snacks!
Bonus: Cocktail recipes!
Lavender-Cucumber Vodka Martini
4 oz. vodka
3/4 oz. lavender simple syrup
4 muddled cucumber slices
Double Trouble
4 oz. brandy
3/4 oz. cinnamon simple syrup
3 oz. cranberry juice
For both, shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker. Pour into 2 martini glasses. (Cocktail creations by Brian. Bravo!)
