Vegan Kibbeh Pie

Kibbeh is a wonderful dish of Lebanese origin that is popular throughout the Arab world. It combines bulgar, lamb or other meat with spices, and a luscious tahini dipping sauce or spread. Kibbeh pie is a non-traditional variation of this classic which combines the main ingredients in layers, a bit like a cake. According to my-secret-Jerusalemi-lover-man Yottam Ottolenghi, this is his spin on a popular dish on his hometown.

As I'm still working my way through the wonderful (*though not vegan) cookbook Jerusalem, this dish caught my eye as something that could be easily veganized- crumbled meat is one of the easiest things to approximate in vegetarian cooking, either through crumbled tempeh, soy curls, lentils, or vegan sausages. I used a sub from my local bio markt, some kind of tiny soy nugget that is often used for vegan bolognese sauce.

I haven't made this totally perfect yet- I think next time I'll use a mixture of faux meat and mushrooms to add a bit more flavor to the middle layer. When I have it totally perfected I'll post the full recipe, but for now let me give you a walk-through that could be easily replicated at home:

Layer 1: Circa 1 c. of prepared bulgar, mixed with a drizzle of olive oil, and a tablespoon or so of flour. You press this mixture into the bottom of a pan as if you were making a crust.

Layer 2: Your faux meat of choice browned on the stovetop with onions, garlic, and pine nuts, seasoned with a few pinches cinnamon, allspice, cumin and salt+pepper.

Layer 3: A thick, creamy tahini sauce that's merely tahini plus some lemon and a bit of water to make it pourable.

You cook the first two layers in the oven at around 375F until good and browned, then add the tahini sauce on top and cook again for another 10 minutes, until its starting to brown in some places. Top with parsley, sumac, and more pine nuts if ya got 'em. Serve with lemon slices.

This casserole would be a perfect thing to set out at a potluck or casual dinner party with a big fattoush salad on the side. As it is, it makes an easy and hearty dinner dish that is exotic yet homey.

Conveniently, you can watch Yottam Ottolenghi make his version in a video here.

Song of the Day: Shostakovitch- Waltz No. 2

Vegan Mofo: Polenta w/ Plantains and Onions

I know what you are thinking. "Sweet Lord, this woman eats a lot of plantains." Yes, ok, but  in comparison to Budapest, Berlin might as well be the Dominican Republic for how many plantains are available and I am taking advantage while I still can. These dear "koch bananen" are so wonderful in savory stews, curries, enchiladas.. you name it, and I miss them terribly when I'm gone. (Gone where, you ask? Weeeelll I am in the first stages of arranging a move to Belgrade, Serbia in a few months to continue the work I started in Budapest on statelessness and legal invisibility. Its exciting!)

For this "recipe" I simply browned some plantains and some onions in a pan while boiling the water for polenta. When said water was boiled, I whisked in the polenta, then waited till it was thickened to add in plantains and onions. On top was plenty of salt, pepper, sweet paprika, cumin and hot sauce. A perfectly decadent comfort food lunch. Also, polenta is so cheap and makes so much, it is an excellent investment for the pantry.

Vegan MoFo: Chipotle BBQ'd Tofu, Polenta w/ Spinach

On the way back from Serbia to Budapest I sat on the Slowest Train in Europe™​ next to a soccer player from the US who was traveling between games. Aside from being incredibly jealous that this 21 year old made more in 1 year than I have... ever, I enjoyed reminsicing with him over the awesome food available in our respective home towns, DC and LA. The pupusas! The pad thai! The kale! (Well, that part was just me.) And although the convo made my stomach hurt a little for the US, I had a smirk on my face, knowing that soon I would be back in Berlin, where I can re-create many of these dishes, even if there aren't restaurants offering them on every corner.

So of course today I rushed out to buy plantains and black beans, *good* tofu, tahini, miso, and all of these things I missed in Budapest which are easily available in my neighborhood in Kreutzberg. To kick things off with a bang, I made this plain old comfort food meal for me and my reunited (#anditfeelssogood) boyfriend, S. (And if you had pre-made BBQ sauce, then you've got a reallyquick weeknight meal here.)

Its the Chipotle BBQ sauce I've shown here before, except this time I added in an extra chipotle because I was just so happy to have them back. As a result it was wicked spicy, but that was a nice contrast to the creamy polenta. No secret to this, I just added in a few handfuls of raw spinach halfway through the cooking of the polenta. I topped it all with a bit of soy yogurt because it was so spicy. Me and S. gobbled all of the tofu almost instantly, but its ok.... I bought a few extra just cubes out of pure, unadulterated joy and optimism to be back in Berlin.

Song of the Day: Same as yesterday, I love St. Vincent!

Mid-Day Dinners

Na? Wie gehts, leute?

I know I've been bitching a lot about my work situation on this blog lately, and although I'm still not totally thrilled about it, its really not as bad as I make it out to be. In fact, there are even some plus sides (aside from the tiny trickle of income I derive only to immediately throw onto the eternal tire fire of my law school debt).

One benefit is that I get to meet interesting people. Last week, at my cleaning lady job, a random, surly teenage girl showed up and started half-heartedly mopping. I couldn't get a straight answer out of her as to why she was usurping my cherished position, but I later found out that she was sent there as punishment! Apparently, she committed some "light fraud" and had the following options in court: spend a month in jail, pay 2,500 euros, or, go work in a kindergarden as a putzfrau for one month.

(Ahem. So this is the German government literally saying that my work is equivalent to a month in PRISON. That is harsh. I'm thinking of telling my boss that the gov obviously thinks my work is worth 2,500 euros so maybe I should get a little raise... like 5 times my current salary.)

Anyways, after I figured out what she was doing we became fast friends based on her love of making fun of my German, and my love is making fun of her for dressing up like a fashion model to come take out trashbags full of diapers. And we both enjoy cooing at the tiny babies and watching them stumble around and do ridiculous things. All in all, the little criminal's presence has enhanced my mornings greatly.

The other nice thing about my schedule is that since I work during dinner hours, I have a huge lunch feast every day with S, often with him cooking while I lounge around and complain about having to go to my other job. Its kind of nice to eat a big meal when its light out! Last week we had the fabulous pineapple cashew quinoa stir fry from V-Con (pictured above). I know I've made it a hundred times, but it really is such a perfect meal! Sweet, spicy, hearty and full of fresh mint, ginger, and basil. It tastes like really healthy take-out from your favorite pan-Asian restaurant.

A second meal was this simple combo: roasted pumpkin rubbed with roasted sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds, rice, and wirsing (a type of green cabage) with a little ketjap manis sauce. Perfect mid-day dinner, and a good way to use up the perpetual head of cabbage always hanging out in our fridge.

Yes, things could definitely be worse.

song of the day: Fettes Brot- Yein

Quinoa Corn Chowder

Perhaps a future chapter in my autobiography will read as follows:


"I shall always remember the first occasion on which I realized that soups could change my life. It was the winter of 2011, and I faced a dangerous trifecta of unemployment, ever-growing debt, and a kitchen practically devoid of fresh food. As I often did during those dark times, I sat on the kitchen cabinet drinking coffee, absent-mindedly flipping through cookbooks, and waiting for the phone to ring offering me a job. As the radio blasted monotonous German electro-pop, I came across a recipe in Terry Hope Romero's now classic, Viva Vegan, Quinoa Corn Chowder with Limas and Aji. I sighed... oh, those fat summer days, when both sweet summer corn and money were plentiful! I pined for the past, before law school, when the world seemed full of meals and possibilities.

Suddenly, I realized: I had some frozen sweet corn in the freezer! Racing to my pantry I discovered I also had quinoa, some red beans, and a passable number of the spices! With a gleam in my eye, I gathered my last few cents and raced to Kaisers, hoping to find a decent avocado to round out my meal. Miraculously, on the top of the pile sat the last passably ripe avocado, beckoning to me.

A few hours later, I sat with S., staring at my creation: bursting with corn, plumped quinoa, red beans, a warming spicy broth, and ripe chunks of avocado, it looked amazing. And friends, it was. I sent up a quick prayer of thanks to God for blessing the planet with that celebrated genius Romero, and dug in. Maybe things were just about to turn around, I thought to myself. If I can eat like this when the money has dried up, just imagine what I can do when that phone finally rings..."

And then hopefully the next chapter will be about when Angela Merkel calls to personally offer me a job heading up the brand new German open-borders refugee agency... or at least that Irish pub finally hits me back for a waitressing gig.

Song of the Day: Die Sterne- Universal Tellerwascher

Pancakes and Grilled Polenta with Portobellos and Gravy

How lucky is my little brother? Not only does he get all my old college poli-sci books, but I make him pancakes with strawberries and chocolate-hazelnut spread (inspired by CCV's contest, natürlich) every morning. Well, I made it once. But still. Lucky!

I guess it was partially for me too... the only antidote to learning boring and enraging shit about our legal system is to eat incredibly decadent food!

I'm studying corporations right now, and may I just rant for a moment? (I'll take that as a "yes.") The basic idea behind corporations is to offer protection to groups of people who wish to make a profit, by making them relatively immune to legal liability individually, and to allow them to hide behind the corporation as a "legal person". I just believe that this is inherently immoral. We don't allow that much power for groups that do NOT entirely exist to make a profit, so why only allow it for greed? The effect is that no matter how terrible the thing a corporation does (cough, cough, Monsanto, Enron, Blackwater, Exxon...ect) the individual members disclaim their responsibility for it to the end... and what's worse, they don't really have a choice! Our society has approved of allowing a fictitious legal representative take the fall for something individual people thought up and accomplished, we encourage it and reward it! The resulting legal and moral crimes never get punished... or do, and get taken out of the corporation's capital, never out of individual pockets. They get a kind of protection that individual people could never dream of, and are capable of perpetuating wrongs that individuals would never be capable of.

Its just. so. enraging.

At any rate, its only 12 more days and this is all over, and I can stop fuming about legal injustices and start getting excited for Berlin, Brussels, and... human rights abuses scholarship... ? Well, what can I say, I like being angry. I'm a glutton for punishment.

And a glutton for other things. This is a delicious dinner my Mom and I made to make studying a bit more enjoyable: Grilled Polenta over steamed spinach, with grilled Portobellos and Vidalia Onion Gravy. It was so marvelous, and extremely quick and easy to put together. I mean, I literally put the spinach on a plate, topped it with grilled polenta triangles, and grilled, marinated portobellas. The gravy is from VCON and though also quite easy, it defines decadent, especially with the summer's awesome supply of huge vidalia onions. This is definitely a good thing to throw together for company, especially since you can make most of it outside on the grill.

Too good to be true. And now, back to horrible, miserable Corporations

Song of the Day: Morphine- Buena

Raising the bar

Oh dear. I promised myself I wouldn't stop blogging just because I was studying for the bar exam. But like most promises to myself (I will make it to the gym 3 times this week, I will never watch "The Shining" again, no more white wine at weddings...) it seems I only had to make it because I knew I would break it.

At any rate, I'd love to say I was off gallivanting around Europe this whole time (only a little of the time, more on that later) but I instead have mostly been sitting inside a quiet room, staring intently at an outline book, and listening to the gratingly-nasal-yet-soporific sound of bar exam lecturers droning on about equitable servitudes and hearsay exceptions. For those of you that are, happily, non-legal people, the Bar Exam is a two day exam one takes after graduating from law school that takes about two months to study for. Despite the fact that everyone has to do it before practicing law, its still insanely stressful. I think its safe to say this has not been my favorite summer ever. (And weirdly, my hair has been falling out because of stress... soooo, um.... that's not good.)

And yet, there are still some things to be happy about. First of all, I am almost 100% moving to Brussels, Belgium in September to begin a masters program. WOOO! Pommes frites, sexy Eurocrats, and amazing chocolate here I come!

Second, no matter what else is going on in my life, food can always cheer me up. And I've pretty sure that vegan food makes you smarter, so I've got that on my side too.

Today for instance, I started off with some of B's magic oat-nut pancakes, spruced up with extra flax seeds for brilliance and some bright cheerful cherries for soul power. These are so good and the recipe is really flexible if you don't have all the ingredients.

For "lunch", aka, cramming food in the general direction of my face while taking furious notes on Contracts, I had a quick saute of faux-beef (the kind they sell in little packages at the groceria) with some broccoli, onions, and plum sauce in a wrap. I've been eating a lot of these kind of wraps lately, since its so fast to throw leftover salad, guac, or tofu together and come up with something marvelous and moderately hands-free. So good.

For dinner, my Mom and I got a little adventurous and decided to try the Eggplant-Potato Moussaka with pine-nut cream from V'Con. This recipe is slightly labor intensive but its all really easy steps and everything came together beautifully. Seriously, it was such a hit. The best part is, its a traditional moussaka with a rich cinnamon-spiked tomato sauce, layers of roasted veggies, and thick, rich pine-nut cream on top... but it tastes really light, not at all the way a regular moussaka or lasagna tastes. And the labor intensiveness got me out of a few hours of studying! We served it with a quickie salad of vidalia onions and cucumbers tossed in Italian dressing.

Anyways, I imagine everyone else's summer is involving a lot more, like...., going outside... at least I hope so! I'll be catching up on everyone's blogs in the next few days in between scarfing down more wraps and contracts. :)


Song of the Day: Belle and Sebastian- A Summer Wasting

Ich will curry essen!

Oh boy, its been a busy few weeks and its set to only get busier! I have been cooking occasionally, sure, but more often I've been gorging on lentils with celery root and pomengranate syrup alongside beets in walnut/ garlic dressing with blood oranges from this local pizza place across the street. Under $4, full of good health stuff (iron! potassium! vitamin c!) AND it allows me to continue reading the Emma Goldman autobiography that's been commanding my every spare moment. (Read it, it's amazing!)

However, there are a few recent creations worth note. First, my Mom and I attempted to recreate the Candle Cafe's awesome 'paradise pie' on a less time consuming scale. To the left is my brother consuming the result of our plotting. Rather than millet, we used quinoa (much quicker!) as a base, spread into an oiled casserole dish. Next, we put a layer of beans: black bean soup and a can of black beans, both drained, mixed with a little cumin and spread on top of the quinoa. Finally, some boiled sweet potatoes were mashed with a tablespoon of miso and generous sprinkling of cinnamon, and spread on top. The "pie" was baked at 350 for about 30 minutes, and topped with some good old mushroom gravy. Not quite as good as what you can get at that dear little vegan restaurant in NYC, but stlll quite delicious.


Adding to the generalized mayhem, my darling S. was in town from Berlin last week, prompting me to bake up a storm of cupcakes, breads and other sweets. Of course, being S., he ignored them all in favor of coffee and cigarettes. And of course, being T, I gobbled them all up. However, I was able to tempt him into eating one luscious gingerbread cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing. (From VCTOTW, naturally.) He was duly impressed, although I wasn't quite sure he understood what I meant by "wee-gan".

However, he proved me wrong! On Wednesday, after a ridiculously packed day including 3 classes and an intense mock-deposition, in which I had to convince some skeptical mock- lawyers that I was sexually harassed by an imaginary employer, I returned home to find an extremely relaxing scene: S. had cleaned up the apartment and cooked a home-made peanut curry, complete with carrots, mushrooms, green beans, and (gasp!) mock-chicken strips! From what I could ascertain, he liberally used peanut butter, soy-sauce, red pepper flakes, curry powder, and soy creamer. At any rate, it was delicious, all the more so because I didn't have to cook it. And soon my imaginary sexual harassment ordeal was just an imaginary memory...

So now S. is back in Berlin and I'm back into the thick of things... but he did leave behind a specially requested gift: Karl Marx's Das Kapital, in the original German, which I intend to translate into English, page by page. By the time I visit Berlin again in May I should be able to bore people with the important features of the commodity... in German! And maybe one of these days I'll attempt some good old German cooking as well... Although I think, for the moment, I'll be preoccupied with the upcoming passover feast.

Song of the Day: Of Montreal- The Autobiographical Grandpa

Beta Carotene Buzz

My current late winter obsessions include:
-Vitamin D
-Jake and Amir
-The Dresden Dolls
-The Rocky Horror Picture Show
-Maritime Law
-Step Class
-Making valentines
.... and apparently, orange food.



Carrot-Ginger-Cashew Pasta
*This recipe is casual with portions, because it can easily be stretched. I usually use about 3 carrots and 2 handfuls cashews.


-Raw, unsalted cashews
-Carrots, peeled and chopped
-1-2 cloves garlic, peeled
-1" ginger root, peeled and sliced
-1/2 tbs agave nectar
-Braggs
-Whole wheat pasta
-Kale or swiss chard, loosely chopped

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil for your pasta. Bring a small pot of water to boil for your veggies.
2. Using a steamer insert, put equal parts carrots and cashews, along with the garlic and ginger in a pot to steam. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and steam for about 5 minutes, or until carrots can easily be pierced with a fork. Meanwhile, cook desired amount of pasta.
3. (Carefully) add steamed veggies to food processor or blender. Add a dollop of olive oil, a splash of braggs, and agave nectar. Blend until smooth-ish.
4. Once pasta is al dente, pour over kale or chard. Then toss with carrot sauce, adding a tiny pasta water if desired.



Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage

-1 Butternut Squash, halved and de-seeded
-4 cloves garlic diced
-13 sage leaves, julienned (roll them up and run your knife through them)
-Olive oil
-Earth Balance
-1 small onion, diced
-1 c. Arborio Rice
-1 c. white wine
-4-6 c. vegetable broth

1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Set up the prepared butternut squash in baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Rub in with your hands, then sprinkle over about half the garlic, all the sage, and salt and pepper to taste. Stick it in the oven. Then, get rest of ingredients ready.
2. After 30-45 minutes, or when squash is fork tender, remove from oven and let cool. When suitable to handle, scrape out squash in small clumps into a bowl. Drizzle any pan juices over top. Set aside.
3. In a large pot, melt 1 knob of earth balance along with 2 T EVOO at medium low. Add in the garlic and allow to cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add in the onion, stirring to coat. Cook until soft, about 3 more minutes. Then, season well with salt and pepper.
4. Meanwhile, put the broth in a small saucepan and place over medium low or low heat.
5. Add the rice to the large pot and stir to coat for a minute or so. Then, add in the wine and raise the heat to medium. Stir until rice has absorbed the wine.
6. Now comes the portion of risotto-making called "ladle and stir." As in, ladle some of the warmed broth into the rice, and stir with a wooden spoon until it has been absorbed. This is going to continue until the rice has lost all of its crunch. If and when you run out of broth, use warmed water.
7. When rice is soft and each grain is encased in a creamy sauce, your risotto is ready! Stir in butternut squash, more salt and pepper if wished, cover and reduce heat to low. When ready to serve, stir one more time.


Song of the Day: Dresden Dolls- Night Reconnaissance
(Listen HERE)

Blood Orange Glazed Tempeh

We had just the slightest bit of sunshine and warmth this weekend and it totally ruined me for winter. All of a sudden my mind was racing, filled with images of Spring: riding my bike minus all of bulky wintry wear and nose frostbite, starting a windowsill herb garden, sitting in the grass at Dupont Circle reading a book and people-watching, dancing on the deck at Nelly's or 18th street lounge... and then, today it started flurrying. *SIGH*. Well, there's still some wintry hibernating in me yet, and there's no time like the present to get all the boring bar/ MPRE/ job search details out of the way, while I'm still confined to the indoors.

In the meantime, citrus-filled dishes have a way of making me think spring isn't too far off. This last weekend my friend K and I made the Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh highlighted on 101 Cookbooks. We subbed out some juicy looking blood oranges, which together with a little mirin, agave, ginger and garlic made for a unique and bright accompaniment to some pan-fried tempeh, quinoa and broccoli. I've never had tempeh this way it was irresistable! Be sure to check out the recipe. Karen, who had never even heard of tempeh before, thought it was awesome.


Also awesome was the fact that I had enough leftover quinoa to make the superbly great Pineapple Cashew Stir-Fry from V'Con.. I've made this before, but this time it was even better- I think that using leftover, day-old quinoa makes a crunchier stir-fry than making a batch just to use for the recipe. It also dramatically cuts down on prep time- I had time to make this AND cherry-chocolate muffins 45 minutes before I had to be at work. All the bright flavors- pineapple, basil, ginger, garlic- came together to make another spring-y meal in the dead of winter. Oh V'Con, you always save the day.

Song of the Day: ELO- Mr. Blue Sky

A Very Soul Power Christmas

Let's face it: holidays are all about food.

Ceremonies, prayers, costumes... all that stuff can be nice, but nothing beats brunch, dinner, or the moments when you are eating candy at 9 am and nobody gives you any trouble. After all, what's the real show of loyalty and family? Not who's around when you go to bed or open presents, but who comes for dinner!

At my house, Christmas dinner is always a special affair because of the fact that it is also my brother's birthday. This makes for unusual holiday fare (chicken wings and velveeta mac & cheese anyone?) and is not always the most vegetarian friendly. Of course, who can blame him? On your birthday, you want comfort food, special food, but not always, say, a Christmas goose, or a seitan roulade. No problem! The fact that my brother picks out the carniverous portion of the meal leaves me in charge of pleasing my younger brother and I, which is convenient since we can sort of go wild on the crunchy hippy stuff and not try to make crowd-pleasing approximations of omni meals.

Although, for breakfast, we did just that. There's this amazing restaurant in Atlanta called Ria's Bluebird which has gorgeous bluebird murals on the wall, a great friendly atmosphere, and absolutely scrumptious vegan breakfast hash. I have to hit it up every time I'm in town, and one of the best things on the menu is the pancakes with caramelized bananas. Although I wouldn't vouch for this being vegan there, the many times I've re-created it it has always been equally fabulous.

So while my folks munched on the eggs benedict which is traditional in my home, we had some pancakes (recipe courtesy of The Joy of Vegan Cooking) topped with caramelized bananas and pecans. The soysage is Morning Star and (!) not vegan, but since it was already bought I didn't want to disappoint everybody.

To make the bananas, simply heat a few knobs of earth balance until melted, then stir in a fist-full of brown sugar. Blend the two until you've got a nice bubbly syrup going, then add in sliced bananas and coat to your heart's burned-ness content. Top with pecans. Mine were a little mushy today, but fabulous nonetheless. Oh Ria!

For dinner, we decided on a feast of my favorites with the main course being Jimmy's pick. We had the paradise pie from The Candle Cafe cookbook, one of the J's favorite meals EVER, plus a yellow beet salad and the brussels sprouts with apples and tofu from 101 Cookbooks. To drink, I mixed a cheap prosecco with sparkling pomengranite juice for a refreshing cocktail. (At least, to me. Everbody else preferred Heinekin. Yatever.)


So first, the bad news. The 'paradise pie' was so amazing at the actual Candle Cafe that I had very high hopes. Unfortunately, I overcooked the millet and didn't get the beans just right, so although the miso and cinnamon-laced sweet potatoes were scrumptious, it wasn't quite the revelation that it was in NYC. Next time I might used canned black beans as a shortcut... and obviously try not to overcook anything.

The yellow beet salad, on the other hand, came together wonderfully and was extremely simple. I was pulled into some yellow beets at My Organic Market and decided that, despite the holiday-appropriateness of red ones I would give them a go. They were drizzled with a home-made dressing from my Mom that was delicious and broiled on each side for about 8-10 minutes.


Beet Happening Dressing

Combine in a food processor: 2 chopped shallots, 1/3 C. Balsamic vinegar, 3 T. maple syrup or agave nectar, pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle in 1/3 C. Olive oil until blended.

This dressing was a sort-of marinade for the beets, and then tossed into the spinach salad with some pecans (leftover from breakfast) as a landing for them after they came out from under the broiler. So perfect.

And saving the best for last, the Brussels Sprouts! OMG the Brussels Sprouts, with apples and tofu and pistachios! I know, I know, it has to stop, this obsession with those undesirables of the produce section, but holy frying pan was this good! The recipe, which is another brainchild of 101 Cookbooks' Heidi, the woman who brought us caramelized tofu, was beyond fabulous. It was by far the star of the meal, both with omnis and herbis, and so easy to put together (although I used pistachios rather than pinenuts). Cook this immediately. The recipe can be found AQUI.


So all in all, this meal was a bit of a departure from last year. I played around with tradition a bit and some things didn't come together. But tastes change, and I'm very happy with the way things turned out. And now, as a new year's resolution, I must find some new vegetables to obsess about. Any nominations?

Hope everyone's Christmas/ Chanukah was spectacular!

Satisfying on a Shoestring

Every year when school starts again I vow to change my life: get more organized, wear someting cute to school every day, pay attention in class, and of course, eat a healthy breakfast and pack my lunch. The food issue is also a financial one- after spending too much money of mararitas and guacamole during the summer, the fall marks a return to frugality: warming, cheap food that can stretch into leftovers and keep one awake during a snoozer like, say, Agency Law.

With that in mind, I invested in a few new cookbooks: Vegan on a Shoestring and Vegan Lunch Box. I recieved VOAS pretty quickly, and I have to say I love the DIY feel of the book- handdrawn illustrations and handwritten recipes, some of which are scaled to feed 300 people! The soups are definitely a huge draw, as are easy to understand explanations of how to stock a vegan cupboard and different cooking definitions.

I immediately fell for the breakfast grains recipe, which I had to alter a little bit for serving size and available grains. Whats awesome is, you can buy a bunch of grains in bulk, mix them up and store them, and each time you can add whatever to make the bowl sweet or savory. Cheap and unbelievably satifying. So I'll give you my altered version, but definitely shell out for the VOAS because its awesome.

Breakfast Bowl
1/2 c. mixed grains (quinoa, amaranth, millet, pearl barley, ect.)
1/2 c. quick oats
1 1/2 c. water
1 T. agave nectar
Raisins, cherries, and a splash of soymilk.

1. Bring water to a boil and add mixed grains. Cook for about 15 minutes or until water is mostly absorbed. Add in oats and raisins, stir until mostly absorbed, and serve. Each serving should get a splash of soymilk and nectar, as well as any fruits or nuts you feel like. YUM!
-------------------

So that takes care of breakfast, but I'm still waiting on Vegan Lunch Box. Will I be too old for the recipes in it? Doubtful. Like a child, lunch is my main source of joy at law school, so I think that tiger-shaped sandwiches and carrot stars will be perfectly suitable for my mentality.

So far i've been living on cucumber, avacado, tomato, and hummus sandwiches, and ginger-lemon cupcakes from VCTOTW for desert. Not bad, if I do say so myself.


But all this still leaves the question of dinner. I think to be cheap, I'm going to spend a lot of the fall eating variations on an old stand-by: rice and beans. This time I made coconut rice (adding a small can of coconut milk and some turmeric when cooking) and spicy beans (add a can of diced tomatoes with peppers to black beans) and had an instant feast. With some soy sour cream and Mexican beer, this really can't be beat. Anybody have equally cheap meal ideas?

Protein Power: Chipotle Black Beans & Red Quinoa

This is another one of those super-easy meals that comes together before you can get annoyed at yourself for not starting earlier. The portions are also ideal for 1-2 people. Not only that, but its packed with protein with the combo of quinoa and beans. Perfect for when you've been relying on beer and soy ice cream as your protein sources for the last week, like some people I know. (cough, cough.)

The red quinoa isn't prepared any differently then regular quinoa, nor does it taste any different. But hey, its cool looking!

Chipotle Black Beans*
-1 onion, diced
-1 can black beans, drained
-3/4 can chipotles in adobo sauce, chopped with sauce reserved
-Garlic powder or other spice mix

So simple. Cook the onions in some oil of your choice on med-low until softened, and sprinkle with garlic powder. Add in the beans and the chipotles and sauce, stir, raise the heat, and cover. In about 15 minutes you have the perfect accompaniment to quinoa and veggies of your choice. I thought it was particularly amazing with some slices of avacado, diced mango, tomatoes and a dollop of soy sour cream.

*I should mention that this was quite spicy, even with the cooling avacados and sour cream. So just be sure to use a little less adobo sauce if you're not a big heat-person.


And speaking of incredibly easy, which is about all I can handle at the moment, I've been making a lot of little parfaits for myself lately with the various kinds of soy yogurt and puddings out there. The best? Fresh rasberries, almonds and chocolate pudding layered in a little cup. It feels so fancy even though it takes about two seconds to put together. So yay for quick, yet distracting, meals!

Also, I wanted to thank all of you for your kind words about my recent break-up. You guys are awesome. However, if you really wanted to put your money where your mouth is, I'd appreciate your assistance in hooking me up with one of the following excellent candidates for my affection. I know someone out there must know at least one of them.
Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal sings the soundtrack to my life, so he may as well be in my life...

James McAvoy is ruggedly handsome, but more importantly, hilarious and seemingly very smart and cool...

And Dave Eggers wrote one of my favorite books (What is the What) but also has amazing taste in music, as evinced by his awesome columns in the old Spin magazine.

So guys, thanks in advance for your help! I will go ahead and clear my calendar for the weekend. :) Don't forget to mention that I can cook.

A Very Veganomicon Holiday, part 1

As bloody usual, I spent the whole of Xmas eve rushing around trying to buy last-minute gifts for everyone. Although the store situations weren't quite as dire as usual (boding poorly for the economy perhaps?) it was unpleasant circling the Best Buy parking lot for 45 minutes in my 1990 Volvo with my younger brother urging me to "be more aggressive". Whatever.

In the back of my mind, amidst all the people I forgot to get gifts for (my college roommate! my boyfriend's Dad's girlfriend! the postman!) was also the distinct possibility that if I didn't book it to Trader Joes, I was going to end up eating the following for dinner: sweet potatoes, french bread slathered with BBQ sauce. (If it hasn't been totally obvious, I've spending a lot of time with my family lately- none of whom are particularly fond of non-meat-centered dishes.) So, as we car-stalked old ladies potentially heading to their parking spaces, I had my little bro flip through Veganomicon to try to find some stuff for dinner tonight and tomorrow.

Typically I would try and use a combination of dishes, or veganize something I've been craving, but honestly, that book is so rock solid that I just knew anything he picked out would be a crowd pleaser. (Yes, its that good.) Soooo... not wanting to be all trad and pick out anything remotely Christmassy, he instead picked out the Pineapple cashew quinoa stir-fry and their take on a pot pie. "Good, grand, wonderful!" I cried, and quickly scoured TJ's for the necessary ingredients.

Now, its past midnight, I'm tucked into bed in brand-new pajamas (thanks, Mom!) and I can say, looking back, that despite lacking certain ingredients (cough, cough, mirin?), the quinoa was a complete success. Succulent pineapple, crunchy golden cashews, and tons of spices in each bite. Relying on Veganomicon was a phenomenal idea for Xmas eve. Tomorrow, I start on the Pot Pie. Maybe this should just be a new holiday strategy for me?

*The sweet potatoes were quite excellent, btw. Its another of my Dad's recipe which I will get into later. (He stole it from the White House kitchen!)