Friday Night Pizza Night

I have this certain memory from my childhood, that Friday nights we often went to the Pizza "Parlor". Gosh. Nothing is called a parlor anymore. Maybe I'll open a restaurant someday and call it a some sort of Parlor. I find that word charming. Anyways, I seem to equate Friday nights with pizza or at least some type of comforting food. Almost a reward for making it through the week, and a good note to start the weekend off with. 

Vegan pizza is soooo good. It is one of my favorite treats. I know... I know... what is pizza without the cheese some of you may be saying.... Well I'll tell you. It is a delicious fresh tomato sauce made with the most ripe and delicious tomatoes of the season. It is fresh basil, and in this case sauteed onions and swiss chard, and barbecue soy chicken. I topped it off with a non-dairy white cheddar cheese. An absolute treat.  I don't think I have made the same vegan pizza twice. There are soooo many options with all of the incredible vegetables to choose from. I recommend either roasting or sauteing your veggies first, because vegetables have a high water content, which they release as they cook. With most veggies, if you put them on the pizza raw they will release their liquid as they cook on the pizza, and nobody likes a watery pizza pie!! Just a little tip for ya. 

Garlic & Ginger Asian Noodle Soup with Dark Greens and Tofu

Ginger is a complex and delicious flavor. It is almost fascinating to me that something so pungent, spicy, sweet, and savory can come all in one package, and growing from the earth at that! Ginger is known to help when you have a cold, to soothe your stomach when you are nauseated, and to be a beautifully fragrant tea. But the uses for ginger can go on and on. I love an Asian style broth with a strong scent of ginger, and ginger is always the perfect match to garlic, no doubt. If you have never tried raw ginger, I highly encourage you to do so, (mind you, only a small amount at first) to really appreciate the true flavor of ginger. Cooking it will certainly mellow it out some, and today I had a craving for a nice savory broth loaded with ginger, garlic and lots of fresh veggies. I added some baked tofu I had in the fridge, and some dark leafy greens (I can't hardly go a meal without these) and low and behold, I had a dinner to indulge all of my senses to end a good day of work...

 Garlic & Ginger Asian Noodle Soup with Dark Greens and Tofu

2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon garlic, minced ½ large yellow onion 1 tablespoon tamari 1 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes ¼ teaspoon chinese five spice powder 1 ½ cups filtered water 2 ounces quinoa pasta or brown rice pasta ½ cup snow peas or sugar snap peas, whole ½ cup carrots, julienne 1 cup swiss chard or spinach, chopped ½ cup firm sprouted tofu, cubed 1 teaspoon red miso paste chopped scallions for garnish In a large saucepan, add garlic, ginger, onions, tamari, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, five spice powder, water, and dry noodles. Add water and bring to a light boil. Add snow peas and carrots, then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Let simmer for 10 minutes and add swiss chard or spinach and tofu. Stir, and let simmer another 2 minutes until greens cook down and noodles become tender. Turn off heat and add miso paste. Stir gently until all miso is dissolved into the broth.  Garnish with scallions and serve.

Oat Berry Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic

I love whole grains, like really chewy rustic whole grains. In my pantry at any given time, I have barley, millet, quinoa, wheat berries, farro, brown rice, bhutanese red rice... I just like to have a small amount of whatever I might want to use available at any given time. Recently, I was at Rainbow market (my personal equivalent of Disneyland) and saw Oat Berries, and I couldn't believe I hadn't ever tried these before! Oat Berries are the whole form of oats before they are rolled flat, cut up, or any of the other forms of processing they go through to make the oats that we all know and love. Now that I have tried them, to be totally honest, flavor-wise I don't see a huge difference in taste and texture between oat berries, and wheat berries, but either way the were delicious, and super nutritious too! With any whole grain that I listed above, I recommend soaking the grains for at least 8 hours up to 24 hours before cooking. This is for two reasons- 1.) It starts the germination process, and improves the nutrition (you won't see any sprouting yet) and 2.) It reduces the cooking time. Most hearty grains such as barley, oat berries and wheat berries can take up to an hour to cook! If you soak ahead, you are probably looking at more like 40 -45 minutes cooking time. 

So, after a long day at work I felt like a nice light healthy salad, so I put my pre-soaked oat berries on the stove to simmer, and I roasted up some sweet cherry tomatoes (both red and yellow, and oh so so sweet) along with some garlic and onion. The three roasted up together for a classic combination. When the oat berries were done, I tossed them with some fresh arugula, parsley, and then my trio of roasted delight. I topped it all of with some white balsalmic vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt, pepitas, and fresh cracked pepper. You could make this oat berry salad in similar variation with any number of veggies you might have on hand, tossed with a nice dressing, and some chopped nuts or tofu. A perfect dinner.

Summer on a plate- Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato and Arugula Salad with Corn Chowder and Nectarine Cobbler

Nectarine Cobbler
Corn Chowder
Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato and Arugula Salad

with Avocado and fresh Mint

To be completely honest, summer in San Francisco is not at all replicable of what summer is supposed to be. It is not hot, as a matter of fact it is not even warm. It is usually pretty chilly actually (today's high: 67 degrees) and overcast most of the morning and late afternoon. We usually get our "summer" in late September and October. But, where I grew up summer was hot and very traditional, so no matter what it looks like outside my window, in my head it is July, and there are just certain foods that I want to eat in July. The cold weather has left me deeply craving for summer lately, so I ended up having all my summer favorites all in one dinner to satisfy my longing... 

Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato and Arugula Salad:

I think watermelon and tomato go beautifully together, and when you pair these two with some spicy arugula, and tangy balsalmic dressing, you have the most balanced and tasty salad you can possibly imagine. Just to bump it up to the next level, I added in some mint chiffonade, and topped the salad with a nice creamy avocado. There is a woman who has been at the Alemany Farmer's market lately, and she comes up from Southern California, and she brings the most delicious avocados I have ever had. They are perfectly ripe, and so full of flavor, suddenly I have been wanting avocado on everything... I don't know what I am going to do if she ever stops coming to the market.

Corn Chowder

This is one of the simplest soups I have ever made, but if you use ripe, full flavored corn, it is simply delicious. I started by removing the corn kernels from 4 large cobs of fresh sweet corn. I then took the corn cobs, and simmered them in 4 cups of water for 20 minutes to make a corn stock, to enhance the corn flavor of my soup. In a separate large soup pot, I sauteed a whole yellow onion, and added one clove of minced garlic.  I then added the corn in with onion, along with a teaspoon and a half of ground cumin, salt and pepper, and one medium potato diced. (Leave the skin on- this is where the majority of the nutrients are in the potato, and once you blend the soup you will hardly notice the skin). At  this point, I added my corn stock to the pot, covered it, and let it go at a medium simmer for another 15 minutes or so, until the potatoes were tender. I finished off the soup by pureeing it in batches and then re-seasoning until the flavors are just right. I topped it with a cilantro sour cream (mix chopped fresh cilantro with some tofutti sour cream) and more of that awesome avocado. 

Nectarine Cobbler

My hubby does not like the fuzzy skin of peaches, so I decided to make the cobbler with some beautiful organic nectarines I scored. Again, I like to leave the skins on because there are so many wonderful nutrients and fiber contained in the skins. The nectarines were this beautiful red orange color, and so sweet I hardly had to add in any sweetener. This dessert was so simple, I just finely chopped up a few nectarines, and tossed them with a maple/agave blend from trader joe's (seriously, I don't think I even used a whole tablespoon) and some ginger powder (a little less than a teaspoon) I then used the biscuit recipe from one of my favorite blogs: veganyumyum (which you can also get as an iphone app- so awesome!!) I added some cinnamon to the biscuit recipe, and topped my nectarines with the biscuit dough, and baked it for about 25 minutes until it was bubbly and browned. I served it with some sweet cinnamon spiced cashew creme I had made for another recipe a few days earlier.  

So this meal brought the sunshine into our home, I felt fulfilled, enjoying the bounty of fresh summer foods. After all, it is summer pretty much everywhere else, even though when I look out my window it is still grey and misty. 

Humm, Humm Hummus... Today's variation - Summer Squash and Kale Hummus

I'm not gonna deny it, I loooovve hummus. Every kind of hummus, red pepper, cilantro, white bean, sun dried tomato, eggplant hummus, I could literally go on and on. Although, my utmost favorite is the classic, creamy traditional hummus. I am always experimenting with new variations based on what I have in my fridge at the time, or what I might see in season at the farmer's market. You will  probably see me post multiple times about different hummus variations that I make.. The primary components of hummus are chickpeas, tahini (sesame seed paste) garlic, lemon juice, spices (usually cumin and paprika and sometimes parsley for me, but sometimes I change things up with other spices). Therefore, it is one of the healthiest snacks you can make. You are getting protein,  fiber, folate and iron from the chickpeas, calcium from the sesame seeds, and all of the benefits of raw garlic. If you make it without oil, as I do, you can keep your hummus pretty low on fat as well.  

Not only is hummus a great dip for snacks, it can be used as a spread on sandwiches and wraps in place of higher fat spreads as well.

Today, I had some kale left over from a kale salad, and a fresh yellow summer squash I wanted to put to use in a new way. So, I added those into my vita-mix as I was blending my hummus for my wrap for lunch today. Voila! This is one of my favorite hummus variations yet, and has an even more stellar nutrient profile from the added kale and squash!! And so pretty too. It's a keeper. 

Summertime Barbeque Salads

I don't know many people who can't identify with the great pleasure of sitting outside either in someone's backyard, or in the park, or near the beach in the company of good friends and family, sipping delicious drinks, and enjoying barbeque, and the delicious classic accompaniments. Now that it is July, it was time to hit the barbeque with my husband. So, last Thursday night, I put together a nice cool Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad, and my favorite- A classic style Potato Salad. I put these along side some skewers of BBQ seitan, squash, & crimini mushrooms. It was my first time making seitan from scratch which was very good and quite easy, but we'll save that for another day's blog. Anyways, pair this with a nice cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and what a great way to start off a summertime weekend!

I had scored a nice bag of mixed potatoes at the farmer's market that made for a colorful adaptation to my potato salad. The bag had a combination of fingerling, purple, and red potatoes, and all were miniature, and easy to quickly cut up. I roast my potatoes first, instead of boiling them, because I prefer the texture to be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I have always felt that the potatoes get a little mushy if you boil them, but if you prefer a softer texture, by all means you could definitely boil them briefly instead of roasting them! I also used Garlic Aioli (Wildwood) because it is my favorite vegan mayonnaise replacement, but you could use Vegenaise, Nayonaise, or anyother eggless mayonnaise that you prefer. And always use fresh (not dried) herbs! It makes a huge difference. Actually, I hardly use dried herbs in the summertime specifically, as fresh always just seems more appealing this time of year. Anyways, if you can, let the salad sit in the fridge for at least an hour or two before serving, to let all of your flavors come together. Enjoy!

Classic Summer Potato Salad

1 pound Small red potatoes, or fingerlings, purple potatoes, or combination of- chopped to 1/2-3/4 inch pieces 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon sea salt ¾ cup Wildwood Garlic Aioli, or other vegan mayonnaise ¼ cup scallions , chopped 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped ½ cup carrot or celery (or combination of both), finely chopped 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning, or combination of garlic powder, paprika, and cumin Preheat oven to 375 degrees Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combined chopped potatoes, olive oil, sea salt, and a grind of fresh black pepper. Toss well, and spread out evenly on a large baking sheet. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until starting to barely brown, and are easily pierced with a fork. Let cool completely. Transfer to large bowl. Add in fresh herbs, carrots/celery, lemon juice, and aioli (or mayonnaise) to the potatoes. Thoroughly combine, and taste. Add additional salt or pepper if necessary. Transfer to the refrigerator to cool at least one hour before serving. Serves 4

Gluten Free Lasagna

I remember watching Garfield when I was little, and Garfield and I had one major thing in common, we both love lasagna. Garfield would always scarf down those cartoon lasagnas and who can blame him, lasagna is delicious!

So, here I am as a vegan chef so many years later looking for new ways to make a healthier yet still so satisfying lasagna, and I have made quite a few. From traditional lasagna, to mexican style lasagna, to this one, my latest: Gluten Free Lasagna. For this one I made a batch of creamy polenta, which I spread out on a baking sheet in a thin layer. I then baked this and let it cool, and cut the polenta into "noodle" like strips. I then layered the polenta "noodles" with a mixture of caramelized onions & mushrooms, and a delicious swiss chard  and tofu "ricotta" that I created using tofu, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper. I also roasted some sweet tomato slices to put on top with a final dollop of cashew cheese . Not bad! I think Garfield would have liked this one ...