Friday, October 31, 2008

Navy Bean and Sweet Red Pepper Soup

We made it to the end of the Vegan Month of Food!  As I forewarned, I'm ending the month with a simple soup recipe.

Navy Bean and Red Pepper Soup

 The quinoa sprinkled on top is a silly share of the spicy quinoa I ate on the side.

Earlier this week I was planning my work lunches and found myself with a few leftover veggies looking to be used, basic spices and frozen navy beans (which are not blue, fyi)  that I'd cooked a couple months before.
It being the end of the pay period and me buying cheap, I wanted to use what I had on hand and with rainy season upon Portland, some hodgepodge soup was delivered.  
Please note that this recipe was simply feeding me, so double if you want more soup.  

Ingredients:
4 cloves of purple garlic, minced
1/2 small, sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 German butterball potato, peeled and diced
1 sweet Italian red pepper
1.5- 2 cups of navy beans
2 cups of vegetable broth (or more, depending on what you like)
good pinch of white pepper
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
pinch of crumbled thyme
1/2 teaspoon of savory seasoning mix or other dried herbs - I used Spike salt-free seasoning salt - I've had it for years!
dash of paprika
dash of crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons olive oil

Let's have a go at Instructions:
It's easy.
-Add the oil to the saucepan and put the heat on medium.  I have an electric stove and this is really low-medium for me, so be careful not to burn anything and heat as you reasonably like.

-Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring often.

-Add the chopped potato and red pepper.  Stir and cook another 5-7 minutes.

-Add the garlic, salt, pepper and spices, cook for another couple minutes, stirring frequently.  

-Add the broth and stir once.  Bring to a boil and decrease the heat to low.  

-Add the beans - frozen or defrosted, cover, and let sit for 25-30 minutes, however long you like.

-Stir occasionally.

-Puree to desired consistency.  I'm not about to eat an onion chunk, so I smoothed things out in my Magic Bullet blender in two batches.  

-Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.

-Eat in a mug with a spoon.  

Take that, cold and rainy day in Portland!! 

I personally really like how the creamy butterball meets bland bean and sweet pepper in this.  I ate it and thought "Man, I don't even want to put hot sauce in this!"  

Thursday, October 30, 2008

the girl behind the blog.

Please excuse this interruption from the regularly scheduled Get Sconed! brand of vegan-food-obsessed posts for an artistic glance at the girl behind it all.
Can you believe I'm doing this?  Really, I've had a few photos I've almost added now and then and held back because this blog is about food, not me!, but what the hell.  The meal I made last night was photographed in the dark so I'll just throw it at the end of the post for good measure.

I'll start with the  artistic representation of myself and a Sweetpea cupcake by the lovely Evan (aka Rayray) of Bjorked Off!
It's from a 2007 cupcake drawing series, which also included cupcakes with Isa Chandra Moskowtiz, Terry Romero, Jay Z and Katie Jane of Sweetpea Baking.  I was so, so honored. Check out more of the series on Evan's flickr - as well as millions of photos of  peanut butter centric creations.
Jess
Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Frosting
Sweetpea Bakery Portland, OR 

Here's the aforementioned, adorable Katie Jane of Sweetpea and myself hitting up 
VooDoo Donuts on a Tuesday evening.  
She went maple, I went coconut.  
So you can see what I really look like.

Oh, she's on the right, I'm on the left.

And the foodz: Kung Pao Seitan with peppers and peanuts over quinoa.

The sauce was based on a recipe from the Whole Soy cookbook.  Far too sweet.

Tune into tomorrow for the final day of the Vegan Month of Food 2008!  

Don't be too excited.  It just may be about the white bean and red pepper soup I made for lunch today.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

It took me two years to make these damn bars.

Apparently there was some 'Make it to 20 Posts!' MoFo goal that I recently picked up on. Fortunately, I'm on track.

Here's my #20!
Apple Peanut Butter Caramel Bars

I remember seeing the recipe (scroll down) for these Apple Peanut Butter Caramel Bars pop up on the Post Punk Kitchen forums and meaning to make them.  I didn't see how this recipe could be available and I would not jump on a reason to make it!  The thread is from September 2006 and I didn't find myself making them until this past weekend for a party.  To be fair, I was gleely swallowed up in Veganomican recipe testing at the time.

For the crust, I used a double recipe of the Date Nut Diamonds base from Vegan with a Vengeance, also a recipe I've never made.   I thought I had read about it being used instead of graham crackers, which I didn't have.  It seemed a bit thick, but I can't really complain or approve because I didn't get to try one!  I'll just have to make them again.

I mentioned my fear of bugs, especially in my produce, in my Broccoli post a couple weeks ago.
How FUCKING HAPPY I was to find this friend in the basil I had bought the weekend earlier and forgot about.  LIVING IN IT.

AHHHH.  I felt the evil coming from his basil scented antenna.  I carried him and the basil to the dumpster and then locked my door and took a long shower.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Seitanic Struggle: A Historical Rant.


Bird's Nest with added Roasted Gluten from Nhut Quang.  
I wish this place was closer to me!  
Why must I live near the other vegan Vietnamese restaurant, gosh?  Photo by Aaron.

At home.

The story of the first time I tried making seitan is on par with the infamous seitan as brains tragedy.  
I made the basic boiled seitan recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen and thought it was a beefy smelling blob and no one ended up eating it.  I recall throwing chunks into a tray of roasted vegetables and them going untoched.
I had the clever thought of making jerky with the remainder, but I couldn't bring myself to touch it anymore and that never happened.  
I'm still not a fan of my own boiled seitan but I have finally come to enjoy other's - like Isa's at June's Vegan Benefit Dinner at Sweetpea.  Go figure.

No Name from Grasshopper.  Photo by Uits.  

At Restaurants.

When dining out, I couldn't bring myself to like or explore many seitanic dishes until the past couple years.  The term 'wheat meat' did not tempt!  Why would I want to eat something trying to be meaty?
I would always opt for tofu, with bare exceptions - like the splendorously sweet No Name at Grasshopper in Allston, MA pictured above (remember my big long post about Boston last year?)  That was reasonably the only seitan dish I'd touch for years.  
I remember trying #69 - the Spicy Garlic and Peppers with Beef Style Seitan almost six years ago and thinking the texture was vile.  Same goes for a 'fake chicken' dish at Buddha's downtown, my local favorite back then - it was so close to the Emerson dorms!  


Back on topic, I don't think it was till I sampled the General Tso's off of my sister's dish at New Harmony in Philadelphia that I found another seitan I dug.  Granted, both this and the No Name are battered and sweetly sauced, but you can see the hope here.

Recipes and Evidence.

These days I not only order seitan at restaurants like Nhut Quang (their roasted gluten at top the of the post is like crack) and opt for the 'vegan chicken' at Vege Thai from time to time, I bake it, steam it and cook it at home.  I am a big fan of Veganomican's Seitan Cutlets and have made them twice in the 
past week!  
I enjoy this basic baked Chicken Style seitan loaf and have made awesome beer battered seitan strips with it, if I do say so myself!  My other blogged seitan dishes include Red Curry Seitan, Sundried Tomato Seitan O'Greatness, and many makings of Julie Hasson's steamed sausages
and variations.  There's still tons of badly prepared and served seitan out there, but I've finally gotten a taste for the tender and have fun making it at home.

The easiest and yummiest at-home seitan ever.  
This is Isa's Chorizo version of Julie's Sausages, from Brunch Testing.

Who's that peeking out of the broth?

Veganomican's Baked Seitan Cutlets

I've also been eyeing my girl Joanna's new recipe for Chicken Style Seitan Cutlets on Yellow Rose Recipes.  She's currently on hiatus from Portland and back in her home state of Texas, working on a new book!
Look at that!  
I had successful seitan for dinner last night....

Sliced and pan fried seitan cutlets, broccoli, sweet and spicy peppers, 
eggplant, garlic, spices, tamari, olive oil.  Over quinoa with hot sauce.
Throw everything you have in the fridge into a saucepan and go!

Here's take two of the Seitan Cutlets.  I upped the garlic through the recipe and added white wine, mushroom broth, oregano, ketchup, paprika and pepper to the broth.  Last night's version, not shown, included chili sesame oil and hoisin.  Exciting!


Monday, October 27, 2008

I went to a fancy benefit dinner in the name of cats

That's how vegan I am.  And Portlandy.  And a fan of Isa's vegan food and Sweetpea.  

But mostly, cats.

The benefit dinner was to benefit the House of Dreams Cat Shelter, where my friend Sharin volunteers.  I had been having a horrible day and this night out for kitties with friends like the Shiz really helped turn things around.  

Every table was adorned with at least one ceramic kitty to take home - here's a group shot of the ones passed on at the end.  How sad at an event to benefit a No-Kill Cat Shelter, right?

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup with Fresh Rosemary



Between courses, I sent my camera all by its lonesome into the kitchen for
 behind the scenes action.

The busy staff.

The entree was an Autumn Plate: Acorn Squash with cornbread stuffing and chorizo sausage, Smoky Grilled Tempeh and Wild Mushroom Ragout over Garlicky Kale


I think about moaning whenever I eat tempeh that Isa has prepared.  I think I have.  It's the woman responsible for bringing homemade tempeh bacon into my life!

Dessert was a bowl of Warm Apples in a Caramelized Maple Sauce with vanilla soy cream, candied ginger and a homemade Gingerbread cat cookies.  

Knowing the chef= an extra cookie!
My table also sent Veganaddict an extra cookie from across the room.  
Check out her blog for more pretty photos!

The Master Chef, hanging out back.  
Check out the PPK blog for her thoughts on the event and some fun photos.  Thanks, Isa!

Squash Prep Station - including blogger Kimmykokonut.

Phew.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Life got in the way..and cart love.

Of today's MoFo post.

I did technically post something today, but it was to Stumptown Vegans.
You can check out the new review of the I Love Thai Food cart downtown here.

Sometimes I think about posting a current list of my top Portland eateries, since so many folks inquire and our Top Ten List in Herbivore's Travel Edition is from almost year ago.
Today I do have enough time to talk quickly discuss carts I'm fond of.

In case you were wondering, my favorite Portland food carts include:
  • Potato Champion - late night Belgian frites in SE! Vegenaise! Vegan poutine (even if I'm not a fan..)
  • Taqueria Los Gorditos - do I need to explain? The nachos knock me out, though I'm usually happy with Beans + Rice + Avocado for $4 with chips instead of tortillas. They're working on opening an all vegan cart in SE in the future! Soyrizo!!!
  • Sip: Milkshake season is over but they're making special hot cocoas and daily soup is coming.
  • Tastebud Pita at the Farmer's Markets - just make sure it's a basil pesto, not cilantro day if you're a hater like me. love their whole chickpea hummus and devotion to seasonal produce. they bake pitas in their wood fired oven on site! fyi: their bagels are boiled in honey.
  • Toddbot's Triangles - O-nigiri! Todd's the sweetest ever and for $2.50, satisfies hunger with his adorable, salty rice triangle bargains.
  • The Whole Bowl - no dairy, no cilantro, extra sauce! I'm usually gifted extra avocado as well, holla.
  • Al Forno Ferruzza - Excellent pizza crust located by PSU that I haven't had in ages. What? The fresh toppings are simple, the dipping sauce is perfect, but the Sicilan style crust is the star.
  • India Chaat House - it's probably world renowned! $5.50 = eat for what seems like forever.
For more focused ramblings on Portland carts, check out our first podcast here and the
Portland Food Carts website (not vegan specific FYI).

Obligatory vegan food cart porn:

Veggie Pita from Tastebud 

(just at market's close - they'd run out of chickpeas and wheatberry salad and
 sold it for a $1 less)

Nachos with Soyrizo from Los Gorditos

Vegan Poutine from Potato Champion

The Big Big Big Lunch Special from India Chaat House


Tonight Veganshizzle and myself are dressing up for our date at the fancy House of Dreams Vegan Benefit Dinner at Sweetpea.  It sold out!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Besties, Cookies & Accidentally Vegan Chips


I came into this month of Vegan Food Writing with the intention of working on and posting recipes, telling stories, maybe explaining the origin of tempeh in Indonesia, writing about my favorite vegan-related places in Portland... and in actuality I've been posting like I always do, just with increased frequency.  I'm obviously comfortable with my conversational style and everyday photo postings, and can only assume a few people reading this are as well.  Maybe.

I have no real problems with that so far, but there will be 6 more Get Sconed! posts this month, and thanks for hopefully staying tuned!

Today, I'd like to again declare my devotion to the the Post Punk Kitchen's Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I've been making these cookies since my Pre-Portland and forum days, and it's still my go-to cookie.  The recipe is published on the PPK recipe database here, and an updated version was included in Veganomican with less sugar and liquid.  They're the besties.

This past weekend, I made a batch as a vehicle for vegan white chocolate chips to bring to a friend's brunch.  

 Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip with White Chocolate Chips!

The white chocolate chips are Oppenheimer brand Kosher chips, and were purchased at Food Fight! - You can buy them online as well.  I had a bag presented to me for my birthday, and have a bag waiting at home for over a month now that I've promised to Erica of littlepretty etsy wonder.  I'm getting on it! 
I'm notoriously slow at mailing, as a certain Broke Ass Vegan knows! <3

You can also buy vegan white chocolate chips from Pangea.  I tried them years ago and like these accidentally vegan Kosher ones more, plus I can walk to Food Fight! from my apartment and not pay shipping...

Kosher Accidentally Vegan White Chocolate Chips


Over the summer, I made these bad boys to bring to the 
PPK Gathering.  
It was only appropriate.

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Vegan Butterscotch Chip!

In case you missed out on the news, Price Chopper carries accidentally vegan butterscotch chips. They totally taste like little nips of sweet Earth Balance.  That's a good thing.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

My freezer is a terrifying place.

First, I'd like to start with something that benefited from my over-stuffed freezer - a smoothie.
I made it in my Magic Bullet with frozen blueberries*, raspberries*, banana, peaches*, cranberries and Vitasoy Strawberry Banana Milk, bought for a $1 at Grocery Outlet a couple weeks ago.

*All hand picked by me on Sauvie Island this summer!  

I was tagged by Chelsea of Vegan Mecca Love to spill the contents of my freezer.  Truthfully, my freezer was organized within the past couple weeks, but a search for this or that brought it back to overstuffed peril.  I've been told enthusiastically before that I could realistically use a second freezer.  I could have cleaned it up a bit for this deluxe photo shoot, but people going for ice, including myself, have to encounter this clutter so I figured I'd be straightforward.

While I rarely freezer leftovers, ewwww, I freeze soaked beans, extra tempeh, picked fruit, chocolate, breadcrumbs, sprinkles, pasta and the occasional extra tofu.  

Inside shot:
Please see my flickr photosteam for notes here and here!    

The door:
And what I've been eating for lunch this week, since surely it's not cool enough to warrant it's own post:

(Soon to be) steamed kale, baked sesame tofu and baby carrots

I tag Jordan of Hope Sinks, Kati of The Veggie Voice, and Paula of Semi Circular Vegan.  Go MoFo!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Weekend of Cookies and the Snobby Joe Dinner.

Catch up!  Let me take you back to a time, when the weekend before last, my brother and I questioned our sugar craving souls and reviewed my kitchen's ingredients - and decided to make Peanut Butter Cookies.  

Peanut Butter Cookies 

Rick added some ground chocolate chips and vegan butterscotch chips to half the batter 
and made some cookies..

And some cookie bars!  


My brother seemed at least a tad impressed that I not only had the idea to put the extra batter as cookie bars after he became tired of scooping after a batch, but had a pan to do so (courtesy of the ever-so-talented Julie Hasson).  
He came up with the idea for the delish topping himself.  

That same weekend we had a few of my friends over for a Snobby Joe dinner.

Snobby Joe on organic sourdough, roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts, broccoli with garlic.

For dinner, Rick had told me to pick anything vegan to make (as if I wouldn't..), and I had lentils and leftover tomato sauce on hand and he liked spicy - so! the Joes were chosen as the main course.  I hadn't made them in months either, and do like them - even as someone who never ate those vile Sloppy anythings when I was younger.  
A couple of us ate them over rice, a couple over bread.  I'm glad my brother has experienced great vegan food at home and out in Portland - he seemed to enjoyed the Joes and remarked that they were almost "too flavorful".  He has tastebuds afterall!

I thought it was an amusing family-friendly thing to pick as a homemade vegan meal.  I gave myself surprisingly little to do with the meal besides throwing the lentils together and then having Rick keeping an eye on them - 
Rick and Kevin of the new Tofuligans blog were behind it all.

I sat back with the Shiz* and sipped classy wine.


We all joined forces to make this apple pie with granola topping:

Photo by Kevin.

Rick made the filling, Kevin made the topping and I simply made the dough earlier in the day.  The apples were picked up from the Apple Festival.  
Some vegan butterscotch chips from Bazu were thrown on top for good measure.

*Who just might hit me for including that photo, but didn't you want to glimpse my busy baker's rack?

Monday, October 20, 2008

glorious produce

gloria! gloria! gloriiiia
glorious! proooooduce! proooooduuce!

I went all out at the Portland Farmer's Market this past Saturday.  I spent almost $20 on fresh produce, jubilantly buying yellow tomatoes, peppers and fresh basil in what is now late October. It was my first time in months going by myself, and was relaxing and adventurous. Pushing through out of towners and families with dogs and strollers to get to my favorite stands, and compare who's selling eggplant for how much a lb..

My haul included, with estimates:

 sweet, hot and bell peppers
eggplant $2/lb
a sweet onion! $1/lb
yellow and red tomatoes $1.95/lb
bag of garlic $3
basil $2
Asian cucumbers 2 for $1
broccoli
kale $2

Now here's the pasta dish I created using fresh vegetables and whatever the hell I had around - 

Hodgepodgepasta

With chipotle sundried tomato sausages, broccoli, garlic, fresh basil, eggplant, hot peppers, kale, olive oil, tamari and nooch.  Probably more..
with flax & multigrain spagetti from Trader Joe's.
It's fairly terrifying to think about, and certifiably hodgepodgey, but it was actually tasty.

Back to my market adventure, where I show you photos of things that caught my eye and some I wish I'd bought...

Chanterelles

Yellows!

Purples and Oranges!

Whites!

Where I bought my broccoli and more hot peppers.

Leaving the market for the day.  

I fought the urge to run back for more tomatoes, and immediately ran and caught the streetcar to another part of town after I took this photo, camera in hand.

Don't you just love that this market goes until December????