Variety
Well, yesterday I accomplished pretty much nothing on my list of things I supposedly want to do. I went grocery shopping in the a.m. and cooked most of the rest of the day. I'm not beating myself up over it; it's more of a "WHY are there only twenty-four hours in a day?" sort of thing. Or "WHY do I have to sleep EIGHT HOURS out of every twenty-four?" Why???
It seems like just about every single time I cook I chop up onions, green peppers, and garlic. Every time. I love onions, green peppers, and garlic -- don't get me wrong. It's just I think that variety is a significant contributor to maximum nutritional health. I mean, to the extent that what we eat contributes to our health (and I have become persuaded that it contributes a HUGE amount), we are most benefited by eating a wide variety of foods.
Yes -- we do well on that score. Undoubtedly better than the average person, due to my relentless search for the new, the untasted, the interesting. But I also tend to be in a rut in the recipes I choose. Granted, my rut is less deep and a bit wider than the average cook's rut, but it is a rut nonetheless.
I HAVE been making a conscious effort to vary our starches. Rather than having pasta all the time I will cook brown rice, quinoa, potatoes, even millet. But I'd like to increase the variety in other ways. Last night's dinner was definitely different, even for us.
First, I made bread again. Same recipe as the last time except I used "white" whole wheat flour. It's whole wheat with all of the health benefits that implies, but it is made with a different variety of wheat (a hard, white, spring wheat as opposed to the more common red wheat). I definitely noticed the difference and like it much better. I'm not thrilled with the recipe, though. The bread is boring. It's fine for what it is -- slapping something on top of it is not a problem. Eating it by itself, though, is not the stuff that dreams are made of. So -- next time I will make a different recipe.
I demanded that Bruce select a recipe for me to cook and he chose something I NEVER would have selected: tempeh marinated in red wine and Kalamata olives. Tempeh is made of soybeans that have been carefully fermented and pressed into a sort of cake. You can make it yourself out of soybeans and tempeh starter, but I bought mine at Publix. I sliced it very thinly and steamed it for five minutes (the recipe said that this would make it absorb the flavors better). The marinade was made of red wine, olives, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I just let it sit on the counter all afternoon (one of the nice parts about vegan cooking is that there are no animal products to spoil; yes, spoilage happens with vegetables, too, but not to the degree nor as quickly as with meat and milk). I sauteed the slices in a cast-iron skillet, adding some of the marinade as needed. At the end I poured all the marinade over it and just heated it up (again -- you would have to really cook a meat marinade in order to eat it, but that's not necessary in a vegetable situation).
Tempeh has a texture that is a little difficult to describe. It's firm and sort of grainy (because it's made of pressed beans, after all). The flavor is not strong, which is why there are so many flavors of tempeh out there (I write that like you just KNOW there are tons of flavors -- did you notice that?). This was a very strongly flavored dish, as you would imagine. Very olive-y and wine-y. I liked it okay, didn't love it. Bruce seemed to like it a LOT. I think it would be good as a sandwich filler -- I could see zapping a couple of slices to warm them a bit and slapping them onto my boring wheat bread along with some veggies -- tomatoes, definitely, and maybe cucumbers, grated carrots, and lettuce. THAT sounds delicious to me.
Anyway, it was my first time cooking with tempeh (I've eaten it before -- Mellow Mushroom has a tempeh hoagie that I like okay, but it's nowhere near as good as their tofu teriyaki hoagie, so that's what I always get). I'll happily cook with it again. It's a good protein source, lotsa fiber, low fat -- nothing not to love.
We also had this: Cosmic Cashew Kale with Chickpeas and Confetti Quinoa. Now THAT is fun to say. :)
A lot of vegan recipes use cashews in various incarnations. There is something called "cashew cream" that you make in your blender and use to provide the silky mouth feel of butter, cream, etc. I have not used it before, but this recipe uses a variation of that. You blend up cashews in water, broth, and garlic and add it to your kale and chickpeas (and onion and garlic and bell pepper). REALLY delicious -- I'm sort of craving some now and will eat a big bowl of it for lunch. The recipe also calls for oregano, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and basil. I love greens with hot sauce, so I sprinkled more on mine at the table, but it is not necessary. The cashew sauce provides a sweet creaminess that really complements the kale wonderfully. The quinoa is basically like a rice pilaf -- serve either the tempeh or the kale over it and it tastes great.
By the way, if you haven't tried quinoa -- do. It cooks up in less time than rice and is a very nice addition to your repertoire. It is the grain with the most protein in it, and that protein is a complete one, too. I should correct myself -- quinoa is not actually a grain. It is the seed of a plant that is related to beets, spinach...and tumbleweeds! Anyway, the raw "grain" kind of looks like small millet. When it's cooked you can see a little white line running around the little tiny kernel. It's a little chewier than rice but like rice has no real strong flavor, making it ideal for serving it alongside (or underneath) dishes like chili -- or Cosmic Cashew Kale with Chickpeas.
So anyway. Last night's meal was the very essence of variety. I like that. I told Bruce that we surely added a year of active, vital existence just by consuming that dinner. And -- it was really darned good. Even the strongly flavored tempeh -- it was interesting to me. :)
This week is going to be a busy one. Tomorrow Alisha and Kael and I are going to the Party City in Montgomery to buy things for Kael's birthday party on Saturday. We have rented a bounce house from a family at our church and will set it up in the backyard. We are thinking, too, of having a pinata, which we can buy at the party place.
Thursday morning I am going to a meeting of women from other churches in our denomination. I have never gone to one of these before, so I don't really know what to expect. I believe there are six of us going from our church -- it's being held at Trinity Presbyterian in Montgomery. The meeting will end at noon and then we're going out to lunch together. The restaurants that have been suggested will be...interesting. Two of them are your typical southern "meat-and-three" places -- and are family style, which is worse for me. They have lots of things that SOUND good: turnip greens, sweet potato casserole, corn, okra-and-tomatoes, etc. But I just KNOW the greens are cooked with meat and the other dishes contain butter. I don't really care if I have to just order a drink, but I know that will displease other people. There was a third restaurant suggested that has a salad that I can order without the cheese, so maybe I will suggest that if no one else has a strong preference. Really, there are TONS of places I can eat -- it's not that hard. It is just that there are certain types of restaurants that are very tricky. Southern-style places are high on that list (barbecue places are another -- for the same reason: the beans, greens, etc., have meat in them). Anyway, I am determined to stick to my program and if that means I'll have to sip tea while everyone else eats, well, I don't mind (honest). And everyone else will just have to deal with it. :) ANYWAY -- after lunch I'm taking Mel to Ulta to buy the hair straightener of her dreams. I think we are also making a fast Costco run.
I don't think I have anything actually scheduled for Friday, but there are some things I need to do to prepare for Kael's birthday party. Cleaning the back porch a bit, sweeping the front, trimming the ivy again (which I don't need to do for his party, exactly, but which needs to be done again). Maybe I will get some actual painting accomplished -- you never know!
For now -- expense report, post office, Magic Eraser!
More later...
It seems like just about every single time I cook I chop up onions, green peppers, and garlic. Every time. I love onions, green peppers, and garlic -- don't get me wrong. It's just I think that variety is a significant contributor to maximum nutritional health. I mean, to the extent that what we eat contributes to our health (and I have become persuaded that it contributes a HUGE amount), we are most benefited by eating a wide variety of foods.
Yes -- we do well on that score. Undoubtedly better than the average person, due to my relentless search for the new, the untasted, the interesting. But I also tend to be in a rut in the recipes I choose. Granted, my rut is less deep and a bit wider than the average cook's rut, but it is a rut nonetheless.
I HAVE been making a conscious effort to vary our starches. Rather than having pasta all the time I will cook brown rice, quinoa, potatoes, even millet. But I'd like to increase the variety in other ways. Last night's dinner was definitely different, even for us.
First, I made bread again. Same recipe as the last time except I used "white" whole wheat flour. It's whole wheat with all of the health benefits that implies, but it is made with a different variety of wheat (a hard, white, spring wheat as opposed to the more common red wheat). I definitely noticed the difference and like it much better. I'm not thrilled with the recipe, though. The bread is boring. It's fine for what it is -- slapping something on top of it is not a problem. Eating it by itself, though, is not the stuff that dreams are made of. So -- next time I will make a different recipe.
I demanded that Bruce select a recipe for me to cook and he chose something I NEVER would have selected: tempeh marinated in red wine and Kalamata olives. Tempeh is made of soybeans that have been carefully fermented and pressed into a sort of cake. You can make it yourself out of soybeans and tempeh starter, but I bought mine at Publix. I sliced it very thinly and steamed it for five minutes (the recipe said that this would make it absorb the flavors better). The marinade was made of red wine, olives, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I just let it sit on the counter all afternoon (one of the nice parts about vegan cooking is that there are no animal products to spoil; yes, spoilage happens with vegetables, too, but not to the degree nor as quickly as with meat and milk). I sauteed the slices in a cast-iron skillet, adding some of the marinade as needed. At the end I poured all the marinade over it and just heated it up (again -- you would have to really cook a meat marinade in order to eat it, but that's not necessary in a vegetable situation).
Tempeh has a texture that is a little difficult to describe. It's firm and sort of grainy (because it's made of pressed beans, after all). The flavor is not strong, which is why there are so many flavors of tempeh out there (I write that like you just KNOW there are tons of flavors -- did you notice that?). This was a very strongly flavored dish, as you would imagine. Very olive-y and wine-y. I liked it okay, didn't love it. Bruce seemed to like it a LOT. I think it would be good as a sandwich filler -- I could see zapping a couple of slices to warm them a bit and slapping them onto my boring wheat bread along with some veggies -- tomatoes, definitely, and maybe cucumbers, grated carrots, and lettuce. THAT sounds delicious to me.
Anyway, it was my first time cooking with tempeh (I've eaten it before -- Mellow Mushroom has a tempeh hoagie that I like okay, but it's nowhere near as good as their tofu teriyaki hoagie, so that's what I always get). I'll happily cook with it again. It's a good protein source, lotsa fiber, low fat -- nothing not to love.
We also had this: Cosmic Cashew Kale with Chickpeas and Confetti Quinoa. Now THAT is fun to say. :)
A lot of vegan recipes use cashews in various incarnations. There is something called "cashew cream" that you make in your blender and use to provide the silky mouth feel of butter, cream, etc. I have not used it before, but this recipe uses a variation of that. You blend up cashews in water, broth, and garlic and add it to your kale and chickpeas (and onion and garlic and bell pepper). REALLY delicious -- I'm sort of craving some now and will eat a big bowl of it for lunch. The recipe also calls for oregano, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and basil. I love greens with hot sauce, so I sprinkled more on mine at the table, but it is not necessary. The cashew sauce provides a sweet creaminess that really complements the kale wonderfully. The quinoa is basically like a rice pilaf -- serve either the tempeh or the kale over it and it tastes great.
By the way, if you haven't tried quinoa -- do. It cooks up in less time than rice and is a very nice addition to your repertoire. It is the grain with the most protein in it, and that protein is a complete one, too. I should correct myself -- quinoa is not actually a grain. It is the seed of a plant that is related to beets, spinach...and tumbleweeds! Anyway, the raw "grain" kind of looks like small millet. When it's cooked you can see a little white line running around the little tiny kernel. It's a little chewier than rice but like rice has no real strong flavor, making it ideal for serving it alongside (or underneath) dishes like chili -- or Cosmic Cashew Kale with Chickpeas.
So anyway. Last night's meal was the very essence of variety. I like that. I told Bruce that we surely added a year of active, vital existence just by consuming that dinner. And -- it was really darned good. Even the strongly flavored tempeh -- it was interesting to me. :)
This week is going to be a busy one. Tomorrow Alisha and Kael and I are going to the Party City in Montgomery to buy things for Kael's birthday party on Saturday. We have rented a bounce house from a family at our church and will set it up in the backyard. We are thinking, too, of having a pinata, which we can buy at the party place.
Thursday morning I am going to a meeting of women from other churches in our denomination. I have never gone to one of these before, so I don't really know what to expect. I believe there are six of us going from our church -- it's being held at Trinity Presbyterian in Montgomery. The meeting will end at noon and then we're going out to lunch together. The restaurants that have been suggested will be...interesting. Two of them are your typical southern "meat-and-three" places -- and are family style, which is worse for me. They have lots of things that SOUND good: turnip greens, sweet potato casserole, corn, okra-and-tomatoes, etc. But I just KNOW the greens are cooked with meat and the other dishes contain butter. I don't really care if I have to just order a drink, but I know that will displease other people. There was a third restaurant suggested that has a salad that I can order without the cheese, so maybe I will suggest that if no one else has a strong preference. Really, there are TONS of places I can eat -- it's not that hard. It is just that there are certain types of restaurants that are very tricky. Southern-style places are high on that list (barbecue places are another -- for the same reason: the beans, greens, etc., have meat in them). Anyway, I am determined to stick to my program and if that means I'll have to sip tea while everyone else eats, well, I don't mind (honest). And everyone else will just have to deal with it. :) ANYWAY -- after lunch I'm taking Mel to Ulta to buy the hair straightener of her dreams. I think we are also making a fast Costco run.
I don't think I have anything actually scheduled for Friday, but there are some things I need to do to prepare for Kael's birthday party. Cleaning the back porch a bit, sweeping the front, trimming the ivy again (which I don't need to do for his party, exactly, but which needs to be done again). Maybe I will get some actual painting accomplished -- you never know!
For now -- expense report, post office, Magic Eraser!
More later...