Every Sunday I'll post a list of my family's vegan dinner menus for the week, and throughout the week I may include some recipes and general thoughts about being vegan and parenting a toddler.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Simple stirfry with white wine sauce

This is a favorite of mine because it is so simple. I serve it w/shortgrain brown rice. Veggie: whatever is in the fridge! I like to pick about 5 veggies, plus garlic and sometimes onion. That way each vegetable gets its chance to shine. Plus I rarely plan ahead, so 5 is as many as I'm likely to find edible in the bin. This time we had celery, carrot, zucchini, collard greens and mushrooms. Score - I'm so happy when the refrigerator yields a good mix - we've got orange vs. green, crisp vs. soft, and something leafy. Add a pound of tofu cubes. Fry, stir, make sauce.

Good marinade: One yellow bouillon cube, 1 cup of hot water (dissolve together), big splash white wine, medium splash soy sauce (more if your bouillion cube is not salted), some pepper, and if you like spicy, a teaspoon of chili garlic paste. Add to almost-done veggies

In a separate cup I mix a teaspoon of corn starch with a couple tablespoons of water, and whisk it in last. Glossy saucey.

A few December foods

12/3 Tortilla Soup - from Vegetarian Times Jan '02 - really good. Recipe at http://tinyurl.com/yzmmmf. Somehow I magically had all the ingredients in the pantry.

12/4 Tofurkey Sandwiches - we usually have some kind of sandwich once a week.

12/7 Tofu scramble with oven fried potatoes and yams. See picture below.

12/10 Failed soup - the beans never cooked! Cooked for 3 hours, soaked more overnight, tried again for 2 hours - no results. Old beans = will never cook. Resulting depression kept me from cooking again for next 4 days. Note to self: throw away old beans. They can ruin your week.

12/15 Stir fry with white wine sauce. See entry above.

Smart Dog with sauteed kale and onions on a bun


Smart Dog on Greens


Smart Dog on Greens
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Tofu Quiche!


Tofu Quiche!
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Pasta e fagioli


Pasta e fagioli
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

HMmm! Brussels!


HMmm! Brussels!
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.
Not a menu per se, but I would like to temporarily pause and plug Brussels Sprouts!

Stir Fry with Tofu. Baby Bok CHoy and Red Peppers


Well Baked Soy/ Maple Tofu


Well Baked Soy/ Maple Tofu
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Tofu Scramble with Potato and Sweet Potato fries


Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Kale Dogs

Hot dogs are still junk food, even if they are made out of tofu. 'Cause you know they make them out of all the bits and ends of tofu left over after they've used all the good parts for Tofurkey. Just try not to think about the soy snout and okara skin, hide them in a good whole wheat bun - and smother them with a thick layer of sauteed kale and onions. MAN that tastes good with mustard!

Yellow Soup

So, it's soup, and the broth is yellow. We used to call it "Free the Chicken Soup" but somehow that name didn't really roll off the tongue. The idea is to make chicken noodle style soup. Over the years, we've strayed from striving for authenticity and moved toward simplicity.

My mom taught me that if you cook the noodles separately, and store the leftovers separately, they don't get soggy and drink up all the broth. Sometimes I follow her advice - other times I embrace the fat-noodle way. (Don't be reading anything dirty into that.) Separate is faster, because you can start the water before chopping the vegetables. Start plenty of water, so you can have some ready hot for the broth, too.

I saute an onion, with some carrots and celery and oil, add potatoes and about 2 quarts of boiling water. Cook for about 10 minutes, add a cube of bullion, lots of pepper, and a half to a full cup of nutritional yeast. Maybe a can of white beans or a handful of chopped fresh parsley. Cook until the veggies are spoon tender. Adding extra salt makes it taste salty. I mean, makes it taste more comfortingly like childhood.

Slurp...