The Magical Loaf Studio- Create your own veggie loaf!

As you may have noticed, just a couple of days ago I was trying to find the Magical Loaf studio, an online loaf generator founded by Jennifer McCann of Vegan Lunchbox, that allows the user to make selections from lists of ingredients and then receive a customized loaf recipe using those ingredients. At the time it was nowhere to be found. But today I just saw this post announcing that, hooray it's back online!

I used to use the loaf generator all the time. I found my notes from the loaf I made most frequently and these were the ingredients I used:

millet
ground sesame seeds
olive oil
onion
carrot
mashed tofu
bread crumbs
vegetable broth
spices
nutritional yeast
salt

I think the measurements I used changed according to what I had on had at the time, but these were the basic components. I'm going to try my hand at some new varieties soon.

Aloo Palak (curried potatoes and spinach) from the Vegetarian Times

Last night I made Aloo Palak. This was fantastically easy to make, and turned out pretty good. When I make it again I will make some changes to the spices because I found it a little too heavy on the curry powder and needing another dimension of flavor (perhaps ginger), but I love that the ingredient list is short and the spices are easy to come by.

I added a lot more coconut milk than called for in the recipe. I think I used about 2 cups in the end. Also, when my spinach thawed it had almost no liquid in it at all. There was maybe a teaspoon of liquid in the bowl. Hmmmm, weird! So I made 3/4 cup veggie broth with about a third of a bullion cube in some warm water to use in place of the spinach water.

My husband said that cashews would be good in it, and I think that would have been delightful. We didn't have any this time, though.

I served this over brown rice with a splash of Braggs Liquid Amino Acids. It was really delicious warmed up as leftovers the next day.

What about Soy? John Robbins weighs in.

This is an excellent article by John Robbins about soy. In this article he examines the popular criticisms of the consumption of soy, but he does so much more than that along the way. It is a long article, but it's worth the time.

John Robbins' book Diet for a New America was hugely influential in my decision to become vegan. In a way, he is responsible for my husband and I having met each other. My husband also decided to become vegan after reading John's work, and it was through veganism that we met. When we were planning our wedding we had hopes that John Robbins could serve as officiant. It wasn't possible because John had made a commitment to his family to do less traveling, but he did take time out of his busy day to make a personal call to us, and during this call he shared his thoughts about marriage and weddings. What a nice gesture!

Broiled Tofu with Melissa's Biscuits and Gravy

We had a stormy day today so I was ready to make something cozy for dinner. I made Melissa's Biscuits and Gravy from the Papaya Chronicles and served them with some Broiled Tofu from Veganomicon. Not much to say, (other than YUM!) about this dinner because the recipes weren't mine, but we were very satisfied and the house was nice and warm from the oven. Thanks, Melissa!

One thing I did differently was that I sprinkled a little bit of nutritional yeast into the gravy at the very end. I try to use that stuff wherever I can!

This was the first time I broiled tofu and now I'm not sure why I hadn't tried it before. Well, one problem is keeping the little guy away from the oven. That can be pretty treacherous. It's not as hard to do when I can go spend time with him while something is in the oven. But I notice that if I'm standing in front of the oven standing watch to make sure something doesn't burn, he just wants to be right there with me grabbing the oven door handle. But the tofu was so delicious and tender, I loved it.

I generally like to buy soymilk and soy creamers that are not flavored. So I tend to steer away from vanilla soymilk and hazelnut creamer, that sort of thing. But I don't do all of the shopping, so we do end up with the flavored stuff in the fridge. Tonight I was reminded of one of the reasons I prefer the plain, besides the fact that I just like the flavor of plain old soymilk. We did have a container of plain soymilk so I thought I was all set to make the biscuits and gravy. I had enough for the gravy but ran out as I was measuring it out for the biscuits. (Actually, I should have made the biscuits first and then whipped up the gravy while they were in the oven, but that is another story.) I was going to just use creamer to make up for the lacking soymilk but when I pulled it out of the fridge I discovered it was French Vanilla flavor. I had to use mostly water for the biscuits. What I'm getting at is that I like the flexibility of the unflavored soymilk. I like it in my cereal and I can use it in recipes. And it would have been nice to have the plain creamer so I could have used it as a sub. I think they would have been much better with the soymilk, but the recipe worked out ok despite my poor planning. So, no big deal, just a passing thought that came up while I was cooking tonight.

Does the Loaf Generator still exist?

There used to be this awesome webpage that would allow the user to create veggie loaves by picking ingredients from several categories. The link I have is no longer working. Does anyone know if it is still out there on the web somewhere? The link I had was on Vegan Lunch Box.

Ah well. Time to search my recipes to see if I wrote down the loaf I was making via the generator.

Curried Chickpeas and Spinach

This dish was the product of an adapted recipe for curried chickpeas from a cookbook called Great Vegetarian Dishes by Kurma Dasa, a Hare Krishna chef. Though it is not a vegan cookbook, most of the recipes are very easy to veganize.

I added spinach and I omitted the hot green chili (instead using a very small amount of crushed red pepper) to make the dish mild enough for Ansel. If I were ever to make this dish again I would definitely add fresh ginger. I didn't have any on hand so I left it out, but I think that would have made the flavor, which was already very nice, absolutely perfect. So I'm going to add a note to that effect in the recipe.

Ingredients

4 cardamom pods
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
generous pinch of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup cooked chickpeas for puree
chickpea cooking liquid (or sub vegetable broth if not available), about 1/8 cup
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
4 Tablespoons coconut oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
2 cups chickpeas
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
chickpea cooking liquid (or sub broth if not available), about 1/4 cup
2 cups shredded spinach (I used frozen after briefly thawing it in boiling water, but you could easily use fresh)
cilantro for garnish, if desired

Instructions

Use your coffee bean grinder or a food processor to grind the cardamom seeds and the cumin seeds to a powder. Then add the cloves, black pepper, and cinnamon and pulse to combine. Set aside.

Puree 1/3 cup chickpeas with about 1/8 cup chickpea cooking liquid or veggie broth. Set aside.

In a deep pan, heat oil and saute the bell pepper with the red pepper flakes for about two minutes in hot oil. Remove the pot from the heat and add your ground spice mix from earlier and the cayenne, asafoetida powder, turmeric, paprika, ground coriander, and ginger.

Return to heat and add all of your chickpeas (the pureed ones and the whole ones), as well as the salt, lemon juice, and enough of the chickpea cooking liquid to make a sort of gravy in the pot. Allow this to simmer and then add spinach. I was using frozen, so I had already brought the frozen spinach to a boil in some water and then drained and pressed most of the liquid out. I then stirred the spinach into the dish and cooked this on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over your rice of choice. I used white basmati.

Austin, you will see us again.

Oh my. I don't even know where to begin with telling you about all of the vegan things we found to eat in Austin while we were there this past weekend.

First we had dinner at a raw restaurant called Beets Cafe, but sadly I forgot to take a picture of what we had there. I had Pizza Rustica, Ansel had the kid's serving of zucchini noodles, and Mac had the E.L.T. The dessert was the star of the meal (why is it that raw desserts are always the best part? It seems to happen that way every time!). We had a most delicious chocolate cake with some almond ice cream topped with a raspberry compote. I don't think I've stopped thinking about that dessert since.

We visited the HUGE Whole Foods later that night, and although it was gigantic for sure, we felt a little underwhelmed. I guess we just aren't such great fans of Whole Foods even though we shop there a lot. Not too many other options for organic produce in these parts. Personally, I much prefer stores like O.B. People's Co-Op in San Diego. People's does not even sell meat. I'd love to be able to shop in a place like that again.

That evening we made a run to Mr. Natural and went crazy with pastries and other baked goods. Whoooo! Check this out. I think it's safe to say we did not hold back. This is only a portion of what we got...some of it didn't get photographed.


The next morning we had brunch at Mother's Cafe and Garden. I had tropical pancakes topped with strawberries and Mac had some tofu tacos. We shared some new potatoes and Ansel had a little of everything.

Excuse the mess. It's unavoidable.

We spent a couple of hours at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Garden enjoying the beautiful weather and the calming ambiance. Here's our Ansel walking in the garden.

Then we stopped at Wheatsville Co-Op for lunch. Oh man, I wish we had one of those in San Antonio!

The Popcorn Tofu Po'boy we shared was totally yummy. We also had some sesame noodles and some tahini broccoli.

The vegan desserts we brought home were awesome (pictured below are banana cake with chocolate frosting, a Mexican chocolate brownie, and an oatmeal creme cookie).

Yes, all of this is vegan.

After Wheatsville we took our loot and zoomed back home!

Basic Hummus

Hummus topped with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of paprika and cayenne pepper. Just how I like it!

Here I am! I'm trying to get my MoFo back on track. You know, when there's a toddler in one's care, there's really never any dependable planning and never enough time in the day.

BUT...I made hummus for the first time, yum. I used the Veganomicon recipe as a guide (I made some minor adjustments), making it a little on the thick side for spreading. It is delightful.


Ingredients

3 cups chickpeas, well cooked
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/8 cup tahini
3 cloves garlic, crushed
ground cumin, pinch
ground coriander, pinch
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon paprika
about 1/8 cup water (use as needed/desired)

Instructions

Use food processor to puree 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas, leaving it just a bit chunky. Then add the remaining chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients except for the water. Puree well, adding water gradually until the hummus is at the desired consistency.

Be sure to refrigerate before serving.

Weekend plans for lots of vegan eating! And thoughts on cooking dried chickpeas.

We are planning a trip to Austin tomorrow! I think we will be staying the night and driving back on Sunday. It's not too far (about an hour and a half?) but my son can sometimes be really unhappy in the car and it would be nice to not have to do both directions in the same day. Also, we'd be in Austin for more meals, which is great because there are so many vegan-friendly places to eat! Yes, I'm taking my camera, and Yes, I'll post pictures.

I've been prepping some chickpeas so that I can make some homemade hummus. The first and only other time I used dried chickpeas, I was not very pleased with the result. I just could not get those beans to soften up! Well, if you haven't used dried chickpeas before and have plans to do so someday, be prepared to give them a little extra TLC for Tenderness. I just finished cooking today's batch and oh my, they are soft and very tasty!

First, I picked through and washed them several times. Then I soaked them for about six hours. I dumped the water, added fresh water, mixed in 1 tablespoon of baking soda, and soaked them for another four hours (I just read that baking soda may destroy the B vitamins in the beans, but it shortens cooking time, so take that in consideration. As a vegan, I like to get my B vitamins from the foods I eat.). Next, I drained the beans and washed them really well. Then, I brought them to a boil in lots of fresh water with a couple of strips of kombu and a bay leaf in the pot. Finally, I simmered all of this for 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring a few times during cooking. I think the bay leaf really did its job here. Yum.

It's late now, almost midnight, so I'm not going to make the hummus until tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes, but I may not get around to it until we get back from our trip. Have a great weekend!

Tostada Bowls

One thing that is very nice about being in San Antonio is there are always lots of good tortillas to be found. I love tortillas. I snack on them often, sometimes just heating and topping them with Earth Balance. Today I picked up a package of tortillas at Whole Foods that were prepared but not cooked. I decided to give them a try. They were pretty good, maybe a little more fresh tasting than the cooked tortillas. I have made tortillas from scratch before, but I usually don't feel like going through the trouble. Maybe if there were more time in the day I'd make them more often.

Right after taking them out of the skillet I placed them in our serving bowls and they got that tostada bowl shape, but they stayed fairly soft. Maybe if I had kept them in the skillet for a little longer they would have become more crisp.

Our tostada bowls were filled with brown rice, pinto beans (cooked with kombu, cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder), pico de gallo, soy sour cream, mixed baby greens, fresh avocado, and hot sauce.