Bruce Springsteen's Radio Nowhere sounds like 867-5309
Hey kiddos. S'been a while!
I have been lucky enough to do a lot of sweet stuff since the last time I contributed to my Live Journal. It turns out that my life just keeps on happening even when I can't bring myself to actually sit down and describe it. Since that beautiful rainbow that warm spring day in Athens...
I stayed at a
that was train-themed. There were old timey paper mache people everywhere. Indianapolis sort of sucks. We were hungry and were forced to eat at a Qdoba.
We stayed in Indianapolis because we were on our way to Michigan. While in Michigan, I took the time to
As well, I went to my hometown of Grand Haven, where I ate pizza with my entire family,
Of course I went to the beach.
It was Nick Certa, Carl, Megan, Matt Ten Clay and myself.
Before heading out of state, I had the privilege to attend
We drove straight back from South Lyon, MI, to Athens, GA, the day after the wedding, minus one phone and with a brand-new tear in my green silk dress from so much dancing.
Since being back in Athens, I took this
This is inside one of the most haunted places in North America, but I dint see nuthin.
The famed Bonaventure cemetery:
Taken from the Tybee Island Beach - where sweet dudes made fun of my sun hat - of the Tybee Island Pier - where daiquiris were had.
Also, I will be going to Seattle for five days in two days. I guess I've been pretty lucky, and yet I still have a lot of things I need to figure out. My life has felt pretty sad lately and I am trying to climb out of this hole. I miss a lot of people. More and more I feel like my life is just made up of five-year blocks of time where everything is basically the same for that five years, but the blocks are virtually indistinguishable from each other. I stay basically the same but I change everyone and everything around me. It's making me really tuckered out. It's also making me feel really lonely.
Talking about my life is getting harder and harder for me. So, basically I think I am going to talk about things that I've cooked in this journal, with little sprinkling of my life here and there. Cooking fills me with a lot of happiness and so talking about cooking also brings me pleasure. Maybe y'all would like to try out some of my favorite recipes and let me know how you liked them.
With that, here's what I've been tossing together in the kitchen this weekend -
I really, really liked the way these turned out. This is a vegetarian recipe from Vegetarian Times Magazine that I adapted into a vegan one by removing the egg. The patties still held up fine. I like that they're baked instead of fried, lending them a softer texture (they felt sort of like falafels) and making them more healthful. The color was great, as I love eating green foods. You can pretty much dress them up any way that you'd like. I grilled pita bread in a little bit of olive oil and stuffed the pocket with the burger, a huge slice of tomato, clover sprouts and some plain yellow mustard. Since these are pretty Asian-inspired, they would be really good with some wasabi mayo and/or pickled ginger and/or mung bean sprouts. Do what you like. I halved this recipe and it turned out just great.
1/4 c. millet
2 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more as needed
2 Tbsp. finely grated, peeled, fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. mirin or sherry
1 lb. frozen blanched, peeled edamame, thawed
1/2 c. cold water
1 large carrot
2 large red radishes
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 tsp. Asian chili paste
1 1/2 c. panko (you could probably use any breadcrumbs to hold these together, but panko is extra-crispy and keeps with the Asian theme of these patties)
1 Tbsp. water mixed with 1 Tbsp. miso
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp. horseradish sauce
vegetable oil for brushing
Heat millet in a small dry saucepan with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Cook, shaking occasionally, until the millet begins to pop. Continue toasting the millet until popping subsides, about 2 minutes. It should smell like fresh popcorn. Set aside to cool.
Add water and 1/4 tsp. of the salt to the saucepan with the millet and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat, but don't uncover, and set aside for 10 minutes. Fluff the millet with a fork and transfer to a large bowl.
Using a grater, grate the carrot and radish into the bowl of millet. Add the ginger, garlic, lime juice, mirin, horseradish sauce and chili paste and stir to combine.
Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. Add the edamame, cover, and return to a boil. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Drain and immediately add to the boil of the millet mixture so as to lightly warm everything. Stir to combine and set aside to cool. When cool, season edamame mixture with the remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Transfer to a food processor and puree into a paste. Return the edamame to the bowl and stir in panko and miso until incorporated.
Using your hands, form the edamame mixture into 8 patties about 3 inches in diameter. Place on a greased baking sheet and refrigerate until set.
Place a rack about 4 inches from the broiler element and preheat. Brush both sides of the patties lightly with oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Broil until the tops are lightly browned, approximately 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip the patties. Broil until browned and hot, about 3 minutes more. Serve on your desired bread with desired garnishes. These burgers may also be grilled or sauteed, if you'd really rather.
Makes 8 burgers, baby.
This meal was awesome. Carl even made us cordials with Jameson and Blenheim ginger ale, the single spiciest ginger ale I've ever had in all my life. It was a good night to be in this house.
My favorite food in the whole world is a big mess of greens. I'll take them off of any continent, from the American South to Ethiopia or China. They always feel so healthy, but still a comfort food. Collard greens don't have to have a huge chunk of meat in them to be tasty as hell.
Have you ever cooked with plantains? If not, you should. If you don't like bananas, don't let their likeness scare you. They are sort of like potatoes, but more versatile. Depending on the ripeness, they can be cooked in infinitely different ways, from fried to mashed to glazed, baked, and on and on. Tonight I put them in gingerbread. This recipe is from The Ethnic Vegetarian by Angela Shelf Medearis. The recipe I am posting here is just a little bit different based on the results that I achieved from my plantains, tried and true, just for you.
For the plantain gingerbread:
1/2 c. sugar
2 yellowish-green plantains, peeled and sliced into rounds
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter (I did not use a "stick," but I used 1/2 c. of Earth Balance, the best vegan margarine in the whole wide world)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup plain soy milk
1/2 c water
2 1/3 c. whole wheat or all-purpose flour (I used what I had around, which wound up being about 1 cup ww flour, 1 cup ww pastry flour, and 1/3 cup all-purpose; turned out justfine)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c. molasses (I just used sorghum molasses. Blackstrap would give you a really strong flavor, but if you're a molasses freak like I am that might be a welcomed result)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the sugar and the water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the plantains and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the plantains from the syrup and discard syrup. Allow plantains to cool to room temperature.
Grease a 9-inch baking pan. Spread the plantain slices evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl.
Place the butter and molasses in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Slowly pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture, stirring until smooth. While stirring constantly, add the ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and soy milk. Pour the batter over the plantains in the baking pan. Bake for 50 minutes (NOTE: The book says 50, I checked mine at 40 and it was a little more well done than I would have liked. All ovens are different, so to be on the safe side you might want to check yours at 30 or 35, unless it's a notoriously slow-cooker) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan to a rack and allow to cool. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Turn the cake upside-down onto a serving plate. Tap the bottom to loosen the cake from the pan.
Makes 8 servings.
When I sliced into the gingerbread crosswise I discovered a very sad face -
For the collard greens:
2 bunches collard greens
1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1/2 large red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 veggie bouillon cubes (or to taste) - I have grown accustomed to using the kosher kind of vegetarian bouillon cubes found in the kosher food aisle of the supermarket. I don't know if they're the best or not, but they are tasty to me, they're vegan and kosher and they're a product of Israel, Shalom! They also come in packs of three, which is a plus for this recipe.
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
a few dashes of liquid smoke
First cut the tough stems out of the center of the greens. Next cut the greens into 1/2- to 1-inch strips. I've found the best way to do this is to roll each leaf up like a cigar and just cut horizontally down the leaf, which creates little collard strands. Then transfer the greens to a large bowl (you will need a LARGE bowl, as greens are huge-looking when you first cut them and then they wilt down a lot in the cooking process) and submerge them in water to clean. Water should run clear. Set greens aside.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, saute the onion and peppers in oil until they have begun to soften, then add the ginger and garlic.
The O's and the P's
Add about 5 cups water and the bouillon cubes and greens. Sprinkle the baking soda over the greens and then pour the vinegar over the baking soda (this takes away some of the bitterness inherent in greens). Bring everything to a boil and simmer on low heat with the lid of the pot partially on for about 2 1/2 hours or until the greens are as tender as you like em, stirring occasionally and making sure the bouillon cubes are breaking up nicely.
10 minutes before serving out the greens, remove the top from the pot and add the liquid smoke. Stir and simmer uncovered for the remaining 10 minutes. Serve over brown rice (like I did), potatoes, or any other grain that makes you happy.
Serves 4 to 5.
As if having gingerbread for dinner wasn't dessertish enough, I made up some baked apples. These are from the Moosewood book Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Instead of using honey like in the recipe, I substituted agave nectar to make these guys vegan. Feel free to use the honey or maple syrup as a sweetener for equally delicious results. The filling of these apples is so simple that it's sort of amazing, and that goes out especially for those who like to have a box of Grape Nuts in the pantry for breakfast like I do. I topped these with vanilla rice cream...
Four 2 1/2-inch-diameter tart cooking apples
1/4 c. Grape Nuts cereal
1/4 c. finely minced walnuts
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a small handful of raisins or currants
2 Tbsp. agave nectar
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Carefully remove the cores from the apples. Try to get all of the seeds and all of the icky stuff you don't want to eat out of there.
Combine the remaining ingredients and fill each apple. You can make the centers of the apples more hollowed out, if you prefer more filling.
Place the stuffed apples in a shallow baking dish, and add about 1/4 inch of water. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes (check these before 40 minutes, please, as apples sometimes explode).
Serve hot, room temperature, or cold.
4 servings.
I have been lucky enough to do a lot of sweet stuff since the last time I contributed to my Live Journal. It turns out that my life just keeps on happening even when I can't bring myself to actually sit down and describe it. Since that beautiful rainbow that warm spring day in Athens...
I stayed at a
that was train-themed. There were old timey paper mache people everywhere. Indianapolis sort of sucks. We were hungry and were forced to eat at a Qdoba.
We stayed in Indianapolis because we were on our way to Michigan. While in Michigan, I took the time to
As well, I went to my hometown of Grand Haven, where I ate pizza with my entire family,
Of course I went to the beach.
It was Nick Certa, Carl, Megan, Matt Ten Clay and myself.
Before heading out of state, I had the privilege to attend
We drove straight back from South Lyon, MI, to Athens, GA, the day after the wedding, minus one phone and with a brand-new tear in my green silk dress from so much dancing.
Since being back in Athens, I took this
This is inside one of the most haunted places in North America, but I dint see nuthin.
The famed Bonaventure cemetery:
Taken from the Tybee Island Beach - where sweet dudes made fun of my sun hat - of the Tybee Island Pier - where daiquiris were had.
Also, I will be going to Seattle for five days in two days. I guess I've been pretty lucky, and yet I still have a lot of things I need to figure out. My life has felt pretty sad lately and I am trying to climb out of this hole. I miss a lot of people. More and more I feel like my life is just made up of five-year blocks of time where everything is basically the same for that five years, but the blocks are virtually indistinguishable from each other. I stay basically the same but I change everyone and everything around me. It's making me really tuckered out. It's also making me feel really lonely.
Talking about my life is getting harder and harder for me. So, basically I think I am going to talk about things that I've cooked in this journal, with little sprinkling of my life here and there. Cooking fills me with a lot of happiness and so talking about cooking also brings me pleasure. Maybe y'all would like to try out some of my favorite recipes and let me know how you liked them.
With that, here's what I've been tossing together in the kitchen this weekend -
I really, really liked the way these turned out. This is a vegetarian recipe from Vegetarian Times Magazine that I adapted into a vegan one by removing the egg. The patties still held up fine. I like that they're baked instead of fried, lending them a softer texture (they felt sort of like falafels) and making them more healthful. The color was great, as I love eating green foods. You can pretty much dress them up any way that you'd like. I grilled pita bread in a little bit of olive oil and stuffed the pocket with the burger, a huge slice of tomato, clover sprouts and some plain yellow mustard. Since these are pretty Asian-inspired, they would be really good with some wasabi mayo and/or pickled ginger and/or mung bean sprouts. Do what you like. I halved this recipe and it turned out just great.
1/4 c. millet
2 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more as needed
2 Tbsp. finely grated, peeled, fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. mirin or sherry
1 lb. frozen blanched, peeled edamame, thawed
1/2 c. cold water
1 large carrot
2 large red radishes
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 tsp. Asian chili paste
1 1/2 c. panko (you could probably use any breadcrumbs to hold these together, but panko is extra-crispy and keeps with the Asian theme of these patties)
1 Tbsp. water mixed with 1 Tbsp. miso
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp. horseradish sauce
vegetable oil for brushing
Heat millet in a small dry saucepan with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Cook, shaking occasionally, until the millet begins to pop. Continue toasting the millet until popping subsides, about 2 minutes. It should smell like fresh popcorn. Set aside to cool.
Add water and 1/4 tsp. of the salt to the saucepan with the millet and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat, but don't uncover, and set aside for 10 minutes. Fluff the millet with a fork and transfer to a large bowl.
Using a grater, grate the carrot and radish into the bowl of millet. Add the ginger, garlic, lime juice, mirin, horseradish sauce and chili paste and stir to combine.
Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. Add the edamame, cover, and return to a boil. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Drain and immediately add to the boil of the millet mixture so as to lightly warm everything. Stir to combine and set aside to cool. When cool, season edamame mixture with the remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Transfer to a food processor and puree into a paste. Return the edamame to the bowl and stir in panko and miso until incorporated.
Using your hands, form the edamame mixture into 8 patties about 3 inches in diameter. Place on a greased baking sheet and refrigerate until set.
Place a rack about 4 inches from the broiler element and preheat. Brush both sides of the patties lightly with oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Broil until the tops are lightly browned, approximately 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip the patties. Broil until browned and hot, about 3 minutes more. Serve on your desired bread with desired garnishes. These burgers may also be grilled or sauteed, if you'd really rather.
Makes 8 burgers, baby.
This meal was awesome. Carl even made us cordials with Jameson and Blenheim ginger ale, the single spiciest ginger ale I've ever had in all my life. It was a good night to be in this house.
My favorite food in the whole world is a big mess of greens. I'll take them off of any continent, from the American South to Ethiopia or China. They always feel so healthy, but still a comfort food. Collard greens don't have to have a huge chunk of meat in them to be tasty as hell.
Have you ever cooked with plantains? If not, you should. If you don't like bananas, don't let their likeness scare you. They are sort of like potatoes, but more versatile. Depending on the ripeness, they can be cooked in infinitely different ways, from fried to mashed to glazed, baked, and on and on. Tonight I put them in gingerbread. This recipe is from The Ethnic Vegetarian by Angela Shelf Medearis. The recipe I am posting here is just a little bit different based on the results that I achieved from my plantains, tried and true, just for you.
For the plantain gingerbread:
1/2 c. sugar
2 yellowish-green plantains, peeled and sliced into rounds
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter (I did not use a "stick," but I used 1/2 c. of Earth Balance, the best vegan margarine in the whole wide world)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup plain soy milk
1/2 c water
2 1/3 c. whole wheat or all-purpose flour (I used what I had around, which wound up being about 1 cup ww flour, 1 cup ww pastry flour, and 1/3 cup all-purpose; turned out justfine)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c. molasses (I just used sorghum molasses. Blackstrap would give you a really strong flavor, but if you're a molasses freak like I am that might be a welcomed result)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the sugar and the water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the plantains and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the plantains from the syrup and discard syrup. Allow plantains to cool to room temperature.
Grease a 9-inch baking pan. Spread the plantain slices evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl.
Place the butter and molasses in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Slowly pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture, stirring until smooth. While stirring constantly, add the ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and soy milk. Pour the batter over the plantains in the baking pan. Bake for 50 minutes (NOTE: The book says 50, I checked mine at 40 and it was a little more well done than I would have liked. All ovens are different, so to be on the safe side you might want to check yours at 30 or 35, unless it's a notoriously slow-cooker) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan to a rack and allow to cool. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Turn the cake upside-down onto a serving plate. Tap the bottom to loosen the cake from the pan.
Makes 8 servings.
When I sliced into the gingerbread crosswise I discovered a very sad face -
For the collard greens:
2 bunches collard greens
1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1/2 large red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 veggie bouillon cubes (or to taste) - I have grown accustomed to using the kosher kind of vegetarian bouillon cubes found in the kosher food aisle of the supermarket. I don't know if they're the best or not, but they are tasty to me, they're vegan and kosher and they're a product of Israel, Shalom! They also come in packs of three, which is a plus for this recipe.
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
a few dashes of liquid smoke
First cut the tough stems out of the center of the greens. Next cut the greens into 1/2- to 1-inch strips. I've found the best way to do this is to roll each leaf up like a cigar and just cut horizontally down the leaf, which creates little collard strands. Then transfer the greens to a large bowl (you will need a LARGE bowl, as greens are huge-looking when you first cut them and then they wilt down a lot in the cooking process) and submerge them in water to clean. Water should run clear. Set greens aside.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, saute the onion and peppers in oil until they have begun to soften, then add the ginger and garlic.
The O's and the P's
Add about 5 cups water and the bouillon cubes and greens. Sprinkle the baking soda over the greens and then pour the vinegar over the baking soda (this takes away some of the bitterness inherent in greens). Bring everything to a boil and simmer on low heat with the lid of the pot partially on for about 2 1/2 hours or until the greens are as tender as you like em, stirring occasionally and making sure the bouillon cubes are breaking up nicely.
10 minutes before serving out the greens, remove the top from the pot and add the liquid smoke. Stir and simmer uncovered for the remaining 10 minutes. Serve over brown rice (like I did), potatoes, or any other grain that makes you happy.
Serves 4 to 5.
As if having gingerbread for dinner wasn't dessertish enough, I made up some baked apples. These are from the Moosewood book Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Instead of using honey like in the recipe, I substituted agave nectar to make these guys vegan. Feel free to use the honey or maple syrup as a sweetener for equally delicious results. The filling of these apples is so simple that it's sort of amazing, and that goes out especially for those who like to have a box of Grape Nuts in the pantry for breakfast like I do. I topped these with vanilla rice cream...
Four 2 1/2-inch-diameter tart cooking apples
1/4 c. Grape Nuts cereal
1/4 c. finely minced walnuts
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a small handful of raisins or currants
2 Tbsp. agave nectar
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Carefully remove the cores from the apples. Try to get all of the seeds and all of the icky stuff you don't want to eat out of there.
Combine the remaining ingredients and fill each apple. You can make the centers of the apples more hollowed out, if you prefer more filling.
Place the stuffed apples in a shallow baking dish, and add about 1/4 inch of water. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes (check these before 40 minutes, please, as apples sometimes explode).
Serve hot, room temperature, or cold.
4 servings.