VWAV Ginger Pear Waffles

Vegan with a Vengeance (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz) is practically my cookbook paramour, which makes these waffles a comforting gustatory embrace. The zing of ginger, the warmth of cinnamon, the delicate touch of pear. As my waffles merrily cook, spices tingle under nose as if to whisper, “Autumn beckons, can you hear it?” to which I bluntly parry, “Not when it’s 97 degrees in Sacramento.”

So make these waffles to welcome an ersatz autumn. Or perhaps where you live, the real thing.

Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

Takes 15 minutes
Makes 2 1/2 Belgian waffles

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground or freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 cup orange juice
3/8 cup (half of 3/4 cup) almond milk
1/6 cup (half of 1/3 cup) applesauce
1 T canola oil
2 T unrefined sugar
1 T  ginger (1/2-inch nub), very finely minced
1/2 pear, grated

1. Preheat and grease waffle iron. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the juice, almond milk, applesauce, oil, and sugar until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and slowly blend until combined. Gently fold in minced ginger and grated pear.

2. Pour 3/4 to 1 cup batter onto the griddle and cook according to your waffle iron’s instructions. Mine cooked in 5 minutes.

Shiitake on a Stick, I’m Done

Headline of the week: Operation Emily-Freaks-Out-In-The-Kitchen Is Resounding Success Despite Devil Oven.

I’m happy to say the Huston Thanksgiving shebang has never  been so vegan-friendly, even if there’s only one veg*n among the bunch (moi). I cooked up all my favorites: chickpea cutlets, mashed taters (mine had less left over than the buttery ones, just sayin’), roasted broccoli, roasted garlic brussels sprouts (<3 <3 <3), and post-rock chickpea gravy. In addition to the two poor turkeys that died for the omnis, my Oma created a slow-cooked Indian-spiced cauliflower main, stir-fried sweet potatoes (not yams), fresh cranberry sauce (confession: I much prefer canned. Yes, I know!) and broccoli bell pepper dish: all delish. My Aunt Annabelle made a tomato caprese salad and was sweet enough to make me my own portion sans mozz. And my Aunt Nora made an amazing fruit salad complete with fresh persimmons and rasberries. Not to mention the snacklets: blue corn tortilla chips dipped in a bomb hummus, a dark chocolate/dried cranberry/almond mix (must recreate soon), and assorted veggies.

To end the night, I noshed on VWAV gingerbread apple pie with a big mug of coffee splashed with Pumpkin Pie soymilk. I think the pie’s success was best represented by my picky sister licking her plate clean: another victory for vegan baking.

Sadly this is the only picture of the night. Sorry folks: use that thing called your imagination.

Other than a can of Soyatoo which refused to dispense (I  later got a refund), all went relatively smoothly. I basically killed myself in the kitchen most of the day and later compensated by eating at least three plates of food and downing as many glasses of wine possible to distract from the stomach pains. Board games were played, Punkin Chunkin was watched, and it was an all-around spectacular night of food coma. Thanksgiving, you were good to me.

And another milestone: I survived Vegan MoFo IV and tallied a total of 21 posts in the process; that’s a forking miracle for this lazy blogger that usually cranks out–at most–5 posts a month. It’s been difficult posting when the schoolwork is calling, but I say just don’t pick up. Har har har I made a funny. Now, for a well-deserved MuffinTopped break as I devote my full attention to a never-ending to-do list. Die, pointless cover letters, die!

Vegan MoFie out.

You No Want Free Muffins?

You know what makes me sad? That no one entered my stupid little muffin contest. All it takes is one measly comment, people! Choose a muffin, any muffin: blueberry, chocolate, pumpkin, apple strudel, oreo, I don’t judge!  If there’s no entries by tomorrow, I’ll go throw myself off a bridge, or, more likely, I’ll extend the deadline ’till next week. Please don’t make me choose between the two and comment.

On a happier note, the sun is shining, I’m almost phlegm-free and Friday beckons. And I made soup. Lovely, lovely curried split pea soup. This is an easy peasy recipe from VWAV, minus cardamom and a few other spices I didn’t have. I grated a bit of carrot on top and ate the rest bunny-style (chomp chomp chomp) later.

Off to gallivant in the clouds, pet a puppy, and enjoy life. Oh wait, that’s right I have no life- just this:

Reeeeeeadiiing Raiiiinboooow

**Now I’m gonna get on my hands and knees here and it’s mighty embarrassing from where I’m groveling. But please enter the contest before tomorrow at 6 PM PST! Free muffins! FAH-REE, people.

Eh… dignity: who needs it?

Hijiki!

I’ll be the first to defend the glories of school and learning and books and other lovely things, but sometimes it’s not all-perfect-and-amazing-thank-you-very-much. Infinite amounts of reading and essays have taken over what I have left of my life. It’s a time suck, no doubt.

Fear not: even though I’ve been on a baby blogging break I still cook as much as I ever do.

Enter segue to… seaweed! It’s all healthful for you (lots of iron, vitamins, blah blah blah) and–most importantly– it’s oodles and oodles of yum. I bought a bag of hijiki at a Japanese market recently and it’s changed my cooking style for the better. Can you think of anything more comforting on a cold night than miso soup with soba, veggies, and hijiki? Nuuuuuu, that’s right you can not.

This was a “let’s throw everything in there” kind of soup and I’ve made it again since this picture, altering it a bit every time.I’m feeling terribly lazy so instead of a proper recipe I’ll give you the gist of it. Feel free to smack me (or for the civilized: email) if you want more details.

Bring soba, hijiki (I kinda kept dumping more and more on), julienned carrots, and whatever other veggies you want to a boil. Add 2 T miso (adjust to taste), a splash of mirin, 1 T siracha, a bit of soy sauce, some salt, and whatever other spices your heart desires. Dump in anything you want to use up such as frozen corn, leftover rice, chickpeas, edamame, tofu, etc. Keep in mind the more stuff you add, the more water you’ll need to keep it a soup as opposed to a stew. I learned that one the hard, scratch that, yummy way.

Taste-tested your broth? Added everything and it’s all heated up? Ok then, serve hot with freshly grated ginger.

In related news, udon noodles are pretty good but soba will always win in my book. Special thanks to my roommate who made this for me. She will disagree with me on the soba vs. udon preference, but that’s her loss

The hijiki was just meant to rock the sandwich. It’s amazing I tell you. This was my first time using the scary black hijiki and the chickpea magically transformed it into all that is great and good in this world a.k.a the Chickpea-Hijiki sandwich. Because I had no vegan mayo, I substitued olive oil and reduced the amount from 3 T to 2 T: still yumz.

If you want to try this out (and you really should) the Chickpea-Hijiki sandwich recipe can be found in Vegan with a Vengeance (VWAV). Isa Chandra Moskowitz, props to you and your awesome recipes. Your cookbook gets prime spot on my shelf- it’s dog-eared, food-splashed, and extremely well-loved.

You could say I’m feeling pretty giddy, fancy free, heading up to my beloved NorCal this weekend. The sun is shining and it was a whopping 106 degrees the other day. I know I’m supposed to hate the heat, but it makes for one very happy Emily. Seriously, fall is overrated and I know I’m soon going to miss the sun terribly. Bask it in it’s warm little rays while you still can!

au’voir  and keep eating your veggies!

*Tip: to make the title of this entry even more entertaining, say it out loud real fast-like and enjoy in your childlike glee. Who cares what people may think HIJIKI HIJIKI HIJIKI HIJIKI!

I Eat Ugly Food

And sometimes, it’s really not all that blog-worthy. Does that stop me from posting it? Heeeeeeells no. Let the random food porns commence.

Fried marinated tofu, raw carrot slivers, and greens between two toasted slices of sourdough slathered with siracha. I wolfed down this sandwich like nobody’s business. In simple vernacular: it was really good.

Aloo Gobi. Recipe from Vegan Awakening. Yummy. Comforting. Makes the apartment smell like Indian food! Always a plus.  (Is that enough choppy sentences for ya?)

VWAV Curried Carrot Bisque. This reheats beautifully for busy days that make me want to bang my head against a wall. And I’ve already made another batch as it’s quickly becoming part of my  recipe repertoire.

VWAV Sparkled Ginger Cookies, except without ginger because I have none. I made these as “thank-you” presents for people who loaned me textbooks. Except I kinda ate most of them before I could give them out. Ummm, woops.

VWAV (noticing a theme?) pesto spaghetti. This is what I like to call yummy, oily carb loading.

My plans for the next few days? Bake these lovely pantry-friendly Mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodles from Isa’s blog. I’ll try not to eat them all this time so I can actually gift them. Try being the operative word.

Think of me as you enjoy your weekend while I am slowly bludgeoned to death by a never-ending stack of reading. Cheers!