Midweek Munchies

A Veg*n Meme What wonderful foods did you bring home from the grocery store?

Midweek Munchies: What VICKI is contributing for the week: Our kitchen is well stocked right now, so I just basically picked up some staples and a few other things that I found intersesting. Produce: *Grapefruit *Yams *Sun-Dried Peaches *Bananas Ingredients: Agar Flakes (bulk $75.95/lb.) Egg Replacer Hemp Seed Nuts (I found them! There were 3 lonely bags in the cooler) Eden Sea Salt (French Hand Harvested) Other: Silk Tasty Bite (Bengal Lentil & Bombay Potatoes) 2 Lara Bars (Cherry Pie & Cocoa Mole) 2 packages Tofu Pups * White Grape Juice Black Bread Return Bag credit = .15 * = Organic Links to other Midweek Munchies (If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below; or, you can post in the comments)

Click here for the Midweek Munchies code
Click here for Harmonia's blog

Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!
Technorati Tag: Midweek Munchies

A special thanks to Running2Ks and Rift for all of their help with coding, graphics, and encouragement for this project.

PURPOSE of Midweek Munchies: Put together by a small group of Veg Women, we hope to spread the word about healthy vegetarianism while obtaining idea starters for meals, recipes, learn about new products, and meet other female veg*n bloggers. Visiting and commenting on other participants lists are encouraged but not required. Have fun and Go Veg!

Aloo Gobi Potatoes & Cauliflower + Spices

I've never made Aloo Gobi before, though we've eaten it several times at Electric Lotus. I found the recipe in La Dolce Vegan! and thought it was easy & fun to prepare. As Art said, "Yours isn't as saucy as Electric Lotus'!" and I'm pretty sure he was talking about the food. He was right, and we both missed the sauce. But this was also good, so we decided we'll make it again with other Indian dishes -- or at least something other than a French baguette!

Do you have any Indian dish ideas? I just bought a couple Tasty Bites - Bengal Lentils & Bombay Potatoes, both of which are vegan, delicious, quick, & saucy!

It's really all about the spices! (aren't these 2 packets of organic Turmeric & Garam Masala cute?) Here's the recipe spice list:
Fresh Ginger
Hot Pepper (I used Pasilla)
Fresh Garlic
Garam Masala
Cumin
Cayenne
Sea Salt
Turmeric
Fresh Cilantro

Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bundles & Peanut Butter Dip

I still had some brown bananas around so I turned to Vive le Vegan! and found a recipe for Banana Oat Bundles on pg. 32, which was perfect because it calls for 2 large, over-ripe bananas. Dreena suggests adding some nuts or chocolate chips, but I happened to have peanut butter chips, so I tossed about half a bag in the mix. These are sort of a cross between a cookie, a mini-muffin, or scone, and the word "bundle" is a perfect description. We had ours for breakfast and found them quite delicious and satisfying. Dreena can get 12-15 from this recipe, so maybe mine are "too big" because I made 9. But they were cooked all the way through, so whatever. I gave one to my neighbor and we ate the rest over the next couple days. Everybody liked them, and this is my favorite "use up the ripe bananas" recipe.

The peanut butter chips made me think of a recipe I was going to test for Catherine, so I pulled out the food processor and made her Peanut Butter dip to go with the bundles and some apples slices. I like using same flavors to compliment different dishes, you may remember that I tested Catherine's pumpkin dip with pumpkin bread. Again, the the peanut butter flavor was really enhanced and it was a perfect union. We really liked this dip, Catherine! Liv kept saying, "More Peanut Butter. More Bah-beanna!"

Southwest Quinoa Salad & Marinated Cucumbers

I cooked way too much quinoa. Partly because there were other recipes using the grain that I wanted to try - one was the "As-You-Please Grain and Bean salad" on pg. 70 of the New Vegan cookbook. It's a mix-and-match recipe which is a super handy format for using ingredients on hand. With fresh cilantro in the fridge, I went the SW route using: Quinoa, Black Beans, Baby Corn, Sunflower Seeds, Red Onion, Cilantro, Sesame Oil, Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt, & Tamari. Lorna's "menu" consists of 6 categories: The Basics (3 C. cooked grains & 1 C. cooked beans, For Crunch, For an Herbal Accent, For a Pop of Intense Flavor, For Color Contrast, Oil, Acid, Seasoning. You choose items from each category to create your own unique salad. I love this concept.


When I blogged about getting the cookbook, Gourmet Vegetarian Feasts by Martha Rose Shulman, KleoPatra commented that she had the cookbook and wanted to make the marinated cucumbers on pg. 130. This got me thinking about the cucumbers my mom used to make when I was young. I have tried unsuccessfully to make them several times, so I was happy to have a recipe to follow. I cut the cucumbers differently though; my mom would cut them in circles leaving the seeds, and mine are spears with the seeds removed. It's a nice summer side dish to have in the fridge because it tastes better the longer it marinates.

Banana Pancakes & Quinoa Summer Salad

We have some bananas that are too brown for any of us to enjoy. I like mine when they've barely turned yellow, and so does Liv - Abi is less picky, but even these were beyond her. I didn't want to waste them, so I turned to my cookbooks and found a recipe for banana pancakes on pg. 40 in La Dolce Vegan! Though the King of Pancakes still reigns in our family, these were quick & easy to make and thoroughly enjoyed.




Completely inspired by Dreena's Quinoa Spring Salad on pg. 71 of Vive le Vegan!, I came up with my own version using ingredients I had on hand. Starting at 12:00, you see quinoa, tomatoes, shredded carrots, red onion, sesame seeds, sugar snap peas (from our garden!), and corn (cut off the cobb), and my dressing.





My dressing recipe - "Cilantro Vinaigrette"


1/4 C. Wine Vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 Tsp. Dijon Mustard
1/8 C. Cilantro
1/3 C. Olive Oil
1.5 Tblsp. Agave Nectar
Sea Salt
Pepper

Pumpkin Raisin Loaf & Pumpkin Dip

I ran into Starbuck's for a gift certificate, and also got a slice of pumpkin bread for the girls to share because it looked like the healthiest thing available. Liv & Abi haven't eaten pumpkin before so I was a little surprised that both girls devoured the bread. I can make that, I thought to myself. Well, I could if I had a recipe! :o) I was pleased to find this one in The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton. I had all the ingredients and I followed the recipe exactly, using golden raisins and vanilla soy milk. The bread was perfect! The girls liked it as much...maybe more than the Starbuck's bread! I did too.

There was some pumpkin left over from the loaf, and recently I received some recipes from Catherine to test for her cookbook, one of which uses a smallish amount of pumpkin. Perfect! I used the balance of the pumpkin to create this yummy pumpkin dip to go along with some pears & apples. Catherine is right, kids love to dip things, and double-dip, and I even saw some triple-dipping today! Dipping the fruit was a big hit for the kids, but my personal favorite was something slightly different......



I know what you're thinking, and you're absolutely right. The pumpkin dip was amazingly delicious spread on top of the pumpkin bread! They complimented each other perfectly. Thanks for letting me try out your recipe, Catherine!

Thank You, CINDA!

I got another fun-filled package from Cinda! This one was for my birthday - she sends amazing boxes stuffed with all kinds of thoughtful goodies for all of us. She remembers all of us on birthdays, holidays, and knows what's going on with us. What's really amazing is that I've never met Cinda! Back in 1998 (is that the year, Cinda?), we bid on the same stained glass lamp on ebay, and since then, we've been emailing almost daily. She knows more about me than anybody except my husband. We are modern day penpals. Thank you Cinda! Thanks for this birthday gift and mostly for your amazing friendship! Lookie what I got.
A pretty wind chime - and pretty sounding too. Isn't it thoughtful that she picked out pansies? Cinda is the one who got me into blogging!

She's an amazing artist. I feel lucky that she sent me 4 of her prints along with another sheet that has 4 postcards of the purple girl. Aren't those cool collages?

And, look at this booty load. An Eiffle Tower necklace (chosen for very sentimental reasons), XO lipgloss (that's how I sign my emails with close chums), Almond Biscotti bath gel, & some candies (she knows I have an endless sweet-tooth).

But, the best part is this original. The writing says:

She's like a fairy godmother or a fresh drop of rain Inspiring me coaxing me on Everytime I see her name it thrills me to think she thinks of me too! for Vicki

Midweek Munchies

A Veg*n Meme What wonderful foods did you bring home from the grocery store?

Midweek Munchies: What Vicki is contributing for the week: Last night, I enjoyed looking through some cookbooks in search of recipes that I'd like to try this week. I plan on making dishes from: The New Vegan, Vive le Vegan!, The Everyday Vegan, Gourmet Vegetarian Feasts, La Dolce Vegan!, and I'm super excited about testing some of Catherine's recipes for her upcoming cookbook. Here is a picture of a few things I picked up from the grocery store, and my list follows along with some questions for you. Produce: Potatoes *Cucumbers Cauliflower Gala Apples Shallots Green Bell Pepper Sweet Yellow Onions Chayote Squash (pictured above - total experiment purchase) Cilantro Bartlett Pears *Tomatoes *Red Onions Pasilla Peppers (another experiment) Bulk: Gold Raisins Cashews Sunflower Nuts Ground Ginger Whole Wheat Pastry Flour Kamut Flour (pictured above...not technically bulk) *Red Lentils Nutritional Yeast *Quinoa Packaged: *3 cans Pumpkin (1 representative can pictured above) Hemp Brownie Mix (pictured above) Pure Maple Syrup *2 packages Vegetable Broth Silk Vanilla *No Salt Tomato Sauce Honeynut Cheerios Soy Cream Cheese (pictured above) A few questions for you: 1. How do you use Nutritional Yeast? 2. What do you know about Chayote Squash? How to use it? (pictured above) 3. What is your favorite brand of Soy Cream Cheese? 4. Any word on Pasilla Peppers? Would they work in a curry? Links to other Midweek Munchies (If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below; or, you can post in the comments)

Click here for the Midweek Munchies code
Click here for Harmonia's blog

Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!
Technorati Tag: Midweek Munchies

A special thanks to Running2Ks and Rift for all of their help with coding, graphics, and encouragement for this project.

PURPOSE of Midweek Munchies: Put together by a small group of Veg Women, we hope to spread the word about healthy vegetarianism while obtaining idea starters for meals, recipes, learn about new products, and meet other female veg*n bloggers. Visiting and commenting on other participants lists are encouraged but not required. Have fun and Go Veg!

Dijon Mustard Brussels Sprouts

I had some brussels sprouts on hand and wanted to cook them differently, so I thumbed through a couple cookbooks and I found this one in La Dolce Vegan! by Sarah Kramer. It was easy, quick, & deliciously different. I trimmed the ends & cut the brussels sprouts in half and put them in my rice/veggie steamer for about 6 minutes. While the brussels sprouts were cooking, I sauted organic Walla Walla sweet onions with Dijon Mustard in some sesame oil. Then added the brussels sprouts, seasoned them with sea salt, and served with pasta. Brussels Sprouts are rich in vitamins K & C.

Creamy Hummus

There are some dishes I can make without a recipe -- one is guacamole and another is hummus. I've made hummus countless times and enjoy experimenting with different flavors. Recently, I bought Tahini for the first time and decided to follow Dreena's recipe from Vive le Vegan! for hummus since I had all the supplies on hand.






I didn't have as much lemon as I would have liked, so I substituted Lemon Essence Perrier for the water and think that the bubbly made it light & fluffy.

The hummus was super delicious! The whole family liked it. The next day, it was even more tasty, so I put some hummus on black bread and used my new Cut-N-Seal to make little pocket sandwiches.

Crispi Squares

It was time for something sweet, so I thumbed through Vive le Vegan! and came up with these delectable treats! I followed Dreena's recipe, except I did not use hemp seed nuts or cranberries. Art does not like dried fruit to mingle with his chocolate and I'm yet to find some hemp seed nuts in my area. Dreena says to stir the chocolate chips in with the rest quickly so they don't melt too much. You gotta be lightning quick with this, and you can see that my chips melted completely. We're cool with that - we love chocolate no matter what! Another keeper recipe.

Store Run

Olivia had a major craving for chocolate milk, so we headed to the Co-op. Wish I had my camera with me because she was so cute pushing her own kid-sized shopping cart through the store. I picked up some house regulars, and also found some new exciting things. I'll put a * by the new stuff:

1. *organic smoky tempeh strips
2. *spelt sesame sticks
3. *vegan spelt donut (sugar free lemon glazed)
4. organic frozen mixed vegetables
5. two packs of Tofu Pups
6. organic walla walla sweet onion
7. two boxes Nature's Gate Creme De Mint Toothpaste
8. pint of Chocolate Silk Soymilk

Books & Dishes

I'm so excited to have a new vegan cookbook. "The New Vegan" by Lorna Sass. Anybody heard of this? The dude in the bookstore said that Lorna Sass rocks their world. They are a vegan couple and they exclusively cook from this cookbook and another written by her. That's quite a recommendation, so I decided to give it a go. Some recipes that sound darn good include: Stuffed Collard Rolls with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, As-You-Please Grain and Bean Salad (like Vegan Lunch Box's Magical Loaf Studio in that you choose from a menu), Sweet Polenta with Maple-Glazed Walnuts (is that one talkin' to ya, Catherine?) Anyhow, you'll see some vittles from this cookbook in the near future.

I love used books, and this one is a great find. "Vegetarian Feasts: An International Selection of Appetizing Recipes for All Occasions", by Martha Rose Shulman. A nice bonus is the chapter titled "Vegan Main Courses." Some yummy titles include: Curried Millet with Garlic, Potaje De Garbanzos (Tomato and Chickpea Stew), Soybean 'Ground Beef', and Leftover Grains Muffins. Anybody know about this cookbook?




I also picked up these cute books for the girls. Olivia is in love with Maurice Sendak's "Little Bear", so that was a must grab. And "At The Seaside" was a natural choice since we were playing at the beach daily.








I found some Fiesta Ware for a great price in an antique shop. The colors just don't look right in the photo -- the pink should be more of a carnation and the yellow is mellow. She only had 3 yellow cups & saucers, but I guess I can easily pick up another to even it up if I want. The pink is supposedly retired.





My favorites are these two plates. Again, the color isn't right -- they are the softest hint of pink. On the back, they are stamped with "Portugal." I hope I can capture the pretty color of these plates sometime soon, perhaps with a dish from one of the above books.

Crown Point & Multnomah Falls

To go home, we simply take I 84 along the Columbia River. There are numerous places to explore along the Columbia River Gorge, but we could only make time to visit 2 of our favorites. First up was Crown Point State Park, which is 733 feet above the Columbia River, providing a stunning view of the Gorge. They say you can see 30 miles of the river in either direction.





Vista House is the crowning jewel of Crown Point State Park. It is a beautiful, octagonal building built in 1916, but recently restored with a $4 million facelift. It has stained glass, limestone carvings, brass fixtures.....and don't forget panoramic sweeps of sky, rock, and river. We saw carpets of wildflowers, lush hiking trails, and of course waterfalls.




Full circle.....the last photo of our vacation is taken at the same place as the first photo of our vacation. Multnomah Falls. Some facts: it is the second highest year-round waterfall in the U.S., is two-tiered and drops 620 feet. A steep paved trail leads visitors to a platform above the falls. The waterfall is visually complimented by Benson Bridge, built in 1914 by Italian stone masons. AHHHmazing!

Laurelhurst Park & Tempeh Burger To Go

Jess suggested a park for us to stretch our legs after visiting The Daily Grind and before we began our journey home. Laurelhurst Park was a perfect place to play!











Swings....












Balance Beam....














Pull-ups? Yeah, right!













Art macking down the tempeh burger from The Daily Grind. I got a bite of it, and it was really yummy. It's tough for vegetarians/vegans traveling and looking for some tasty vittles on the road! To have a tempeh burger cooked and ready to eat was a little slice of heaven....on a bun!