Pre-dinner preparation, meal ideas from scratch, and timing

All of the ingredients shown here were used in the recipes this week. Except the salsa, which was actually not used for this dinner. Before dinner each day this week, I grabbed all of this to begin.

A lot of stuff for dinner right? I find it's easier to just grab a couple dressings, a protein source (tempeh this time, sometimes tofu) and every fruit/vegetable I have. I grab 20 items without thinking about it. Green and red stuff goes bad, eat it as soon as possible. Never wait till tomorrow or "breakfast" to eat the good fruit. Eat as much-as soon- and often as it's there!

After pulling out this mountain of stuff (tomato, zucchini, lettuce, celery, green pepper, dates, onion, strawberries, tahini, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, bread, spaghetti, cheese, tempeh, olive oil) I need a main theme.

Here it's pasta, so I start some boiling water as soon as I decide that. I grab a bowl, add some water and plate lid to steam something in the microwave (http://veganbot.posterous.com/using-a-microwave-to-prepare-steamed-vegetabl ) and wait to cook it. Usually this is Brusselsprouts or zucchini, but sometimes squash or sweet potatoes..

If making a sauce (see the last post) I throw some nice fresh stuff in oil and let the scent pick the next ingredients.

How to Make a Salad (and why)
With everything out of the fridge, I try to plan a salad (daily), picking the best raw produce from my lot. Aiming for bright red and green.

I wash everything at the same time in a collander (mushrooms are not washed as it will waterlog them). I always wash before slicing and try to cut with the grain (preserves freshness according to a french- Italian chef I've stayed with).

Then they're sliced using my big chef's knife. I just roll everything out and slice it up small enough for a salad. I halve tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms (before chopping) and cut the lettuce, celery by a fork size rows and then across. It's very quick and makes a perfect salad.

Good salads are so easy to eat, fresh ingredients are the only way to eat them. Salads are a non-replaceable part of your diet- they are a huge source of raw vegetables and fruits-- precious minerals you need to function at 100%. Mix it up until you find one you like and keep tinkering with it and trying new fruits and vegetable combinations.

If you need to sweeten up a salad, try cranberries, crushed black pepper, or a little oil.

I can't emphasize enough how much a good knife helps. You will love to cook if your knives are good and have enough dishes and cookware to do it well. I did some research then paid $100 for this knife (Global Chef's knife) a few years ago and still am happy with the purchase-- good cutlery is so important for predictable/fun/safe cooking -- I use almost no other knife. I also have a large wood cutting board as shown in many pictures. I highly recommend a similar setup and as a metalurgist geek believe stainless steel to be the cookware of choice for most purposes (cast iron is good too). Non stick aluminum is fine for my sauce dish and I never use metal utensils -- er try to never use them. Once the coating scratches away it's aluminum - not something you want in your diet.

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Fast! Deep dish "Chicago" vegan pizza

Take the leftover sauce from spaghetti the other day (http://veganbot.posterous.com/vegan-spaghetti-with-hearty-salad-and-sides ) and pour it over a thick piece of bread then toast in oven or microwave for a couple minutes if you like a chewier crust (it's also a lot faster).

Again I used ciabatta and this time I wanted food in a hurry so I microwaved it. It was excellent! Substitute garlic bread, French bread, or different fresh baked rolls.

If you want to make it without leftovers, it takes just a few minutes:

The spaghetti sauce was the thick 28 ounce Trader Joe's "Tomato Basil Marinara" (~$2). I chopped to chunks: brown mushroom, tempeh, and onion, then threw into hot olive oil, in a sauce pan. It smelled wonderful. Last time I added green pepper and next time maybe olives. If you need even more spice, try a little fennel and tell me how it works. After the onion starts browning / assuming you're stirring, throw in the sauce and heat on low.

Served here with cucumber salad (celery, tomatoes, red onion and balsamic vinegar).

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New to tofu? Buy this (and other tips)

Tofu is the "weird" thing that vegetarians eat. Tempeh is another, but this is all about tofu. These are soy beans, which are in many processed foods, breads, cereals, and of course soy sauce.

Soy beans are considered a healthy food to eat, and like anything else the way it's prepared and the quantity consumed will determine how healthy or unhealthy it is for you. Unless you're allergic, you should explore tofu as a cooking accessory, not a backup / replacement for meat (this is often how it's used in American cooking: Thai, Chinese, Japanese as well.

But since you're new, the first step is buying some that doesn't suck. I recommend the Soga Twin Pack.

This is available from Trader Joes for around $2. It lasts a month in the fridge. Since there are two sealed sides, you can use one half one week, and another a couple weeks later.

It's also not "offensive" in odor or taste. It's pretty subtle. Worry about developing a taste for different tofu later. I say start with a plain one first. The worst / smelliest are usually the Chinese or Japanese brands you'll see at major grocery stores. You should go out of your way (at least once) to find a better source of tofu for beginners. I don't find Chinese etc bad now. But at first, yes. I recommend Trader Joes, Whole Foods, or a veggie / health store to start.

It's extra firm. You want extra firm, especially at first. The firmer the better until you know how to use it in recipes, again in my opinion.

I think the best tofu is fresh at a deli. In a plastic cup and you pay by the pound. This isn't as common as it should be.

A couple things to note:
Once opened you should fill the tofu with clean/fresh water each day it's stored. It should stay fresh for about 3 days, maybe longer once opened.

You can use it anywhere you used chicken or other meats. Try making marinade (see previous entry), grilling it with onions and mushrooms, garlic and oil once cubed up. Try baking or using in place of scrambled eggs (nice with onion, green pepper, seasonings).

It's a whole-nother weapon for your arsenal. It's cheap and healthy as long as you eat other stuff too. ;)

Marinated baked tofu (vegan), crispy top mashed potatoes, hearty sweet salad - Sunday Dinner

Salad: red leaf, celery with leaves, crushed almonds, cranberries, raisins, (look for a trail mix!), and peperonici from a jar. Dressing: tahini with peperonici juice.

Steamed brusselsprouts (2:30 covered in microwave with some water)

Crispy potato dish: Boiled yellow potatoes (35-38 minutes), mashed with vegetable oil (butter), and broiled in oven (5 minutes gave a crispy top, mashed core) sprinkled with parsley.

Entre: Baked (approx 20 minutes at 375-400 in toaster oven) marinated tofu with chopped crimini mushrooms, sliced on the vine tomato (added toward end of heat)

Marinade for entre: Menjool dates, garlic, olive oil, chopped onion, soy sauce, Porto (red wine), fresh thyme, red chili sauce. Blended in food chopper. Microwaved for 30 seconds. Mushrooms and tofu marinade for 10 minutes in fridge once mixed. Raisins or brown sugar could be substituted for dates.

Bread: ciabatta with olive oil, garlic and fresh chopped basil.

Dessert: dubliner Irish cheddar (aged 2 years), strawberries, half a peach. (not vegan)

Total cook/prep time: about an hour, around 45 minutes if timed properly (start potatoes and marinade right away).

Vegan Spaghetti with Hearty Salad and Sides

Were rabbits

The Daily Tiffin: bless your hands

Quick Pasta Alternatives to Spaghetti

Pasta is a staple dinner that should never be neglected. It takes minutes to prepare, is easy to clean-up, and almost always hits the spot. It may lack certain nutrition, but it all depends on what you add to it. To prevent starvation as a vegan, you should try experimenting with many pastas. As you can tell from the recipes of this site, I try a lot of different things, but often resort to plain spaghetti and red sauce. I made this one tonight and it was pretty good, so I figured I'd post it up here.

Ingredients

• Fresh Broccoli
• Garlic (jar is fine)
• Pasta of choice (I used farfalle)
• Olive oil
• Soy sauce
• Meatless Meatballs
• Optional seasonings: Spike, Crushed Red Pepper

Directions

1. Put hot water in pot and start heating for noodles. Add once boiling
2. While cooking noodles, steam the broccoli in microwave and leave covered
3. A few minutes before the noodles are done, microwave the meatless meatballs (I use 4 "balls" for a single serving, microwaved for 1 minute)
4. Drain pasta, put in the bowl with the meatballs, drain/add the broccoli
5. Add a couple splashes of soy sauce and olive oil
6. Add a 1/4 teaspoon or so of garlic (1 clove)
7. Sprinkle spike and crushed red pepper over the pasta

EAT!

Using a Microwave to Prepare Steamed Vegetables

For years I never used the microwave until I moved in with my current roommate. He's an extremely technical and educated person, yet his biggest strengths are in his ability to adapt practical solutions based on experience. One example is his microwave cooking skill. He cooks almost everything in the microwave, and after living with him a few months I began using it more and more to prepare certain foods. It's very fast and requires minimal clean-up or wasting of water, but can give you some excellent results with practice. I've steamed vegetables in the microwave almost daily for the past month. Sometimes it's carrots, potatoes, Brussels sprouts (great with hummus!), or broccoli. The technique is pretty much always the same and the results are always excellent.

1. Put the vegetables you wish to steam into a microwave safe bowl
2. Add enough water to cover the vegetables about half-way
3. Cover with a microwave safe plate that fits well against the top
4. Depending on serving size, microwave on high 2-5 minutes. 2-3 minutes is fine with my microwave for a single serving like the picture, longer may be required. Just test the waters for now

Once the cooking is done, leave covered for 1-5 minutes depending on the size of the serving and what you're cooking. Some things take longer, like potatoes. Three brussels sprouts cook in 2:30 minutes for me (and sitting another 2-3). Broccoli is a bit quicker. If you remove from the microwave, be careful as it'll be very hot. Remove the veggies with a fork and you're good to go!  If they're not tasty enough, grind a little pepper over them.

It might take a few tries to get it right but don't be discouraged. Once you have the skill down, it'll save you hours each week of cooking and cleaning.

The brusselsprouts on this plate were steamed in 2:30 microwave time:

Vegan Foods @ Trader Joes

There are a few items sold at Trader Joes that make being a vegan cheap and easy. Next time you drop-in, scout for the following: - Hummus "Dip" (the plain variety). It's cheap and really good for a hummus. It's 100% vegan. I buy this stuff almost every time I head to the store, even though I make it at home in a food processor sometimes. There are a few other vegan varieties at TJ's, including the "white bean" flavor. But some of them have milk, casein, or whey. So read the ingredients. - Pita bread. The naan sold at TJ's and most of the breads have milk or eggs. However, the pita bread and flat bread are vegan. Read the ingredients if you're worried, but there are a few types sold here that are decent... and really cheap. The "genuine handmade tortillas" are good, too. - Tofu. Actually, the tofu @ Trader Joe's is not great. It's not very good compared to the baked brands at a more expensive grocery store or the fresh varieties sold in bulk at more vegetarian-oriented stores. But it's really cheap (around $1), and you can even buy the twin packs for under $2. It's a good way to experiment with tofu and cooking it. For raw/cold tofu I'd still recommend a baked or more expensive brand at a higher-end store. - Cuties. In the frozen food department, check for the Tofutti brand "Cuties" ice cream bars. They are ultra cheap here... I think $3 for a box of eight. They only sell the vanilla/chocolate type at my local store though. There's also a Trader Joe's generic brand of soy ice cream bars. These are called "Soy Creamy Mint Ice Cream Bars". They are pretty good, but I think it's more per ounce than the Cuties. - Vegetable Masala Burger

This is the holy grail of vegan snacks sold at Trader Joe's. These are sold in a box of four for about $2.50. You can microwave, toast, toaster oven, oven-bake, or fry the patties. They go great with buns and fresh lettuce/tomato, cut up into pastas, eaten plain, wrapped in pitas, or just about anything else you can imagine. They are really really really good and quite spicy. Made of potatoes, onion, and that sort of thing. Relatively low sodium and fat, etc. as well. These are the best veggie burgers I've ever had. - Meatless Meatballs. I mentioned these in the last post about Trader Joe's, but thought I would plug them again. These come in a large bag of about 30-40 frozen balls, made of wheat/soy and spices. The bag costs around $3.50 I think. You can microwave four balls for about 1 minute and they're ready to add to pasta. Great for spaghetti or creating random mixtures of noodles and sauces. These things have some spice and a good flavor. - Indian Fare Punjab Choley. In the boxed foods area (probably near the jars of curry spices and canned beans, or ethnic foods) you'll find a series of small flat boxes of Indian foods called "Indian Fare". There are many vegetarian varieties, and at least two vegan ones. The Punjab Choley is a fairly spicy mixture of garbanzo beans, tomatoes, onions, and other spices. I'm not usually a fan of stuff that comes in a pouch and it's pretty high in sodium (25% daily value per serving), but damn this stuff is tasty. It's also really easy to prepare. You just empty the pouch to a microwave bowl, cover, and zap for about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. Serve with rice (I prefer Basmati white) and flatbread. PS - sometimes this boxed food is way spicier than other times. Try it twice or three times before deciding if you like it. It's really cheap ($2ish) and makes a pretty hearty meal. There's also a vegan eggplant variety, but I can't recall its name. It's not bad but I prefer the choley. - Curry Simmer Sauce. Probably near the stuff above, you'll find jars of sauces. Many of these contain milk or cheese, but there's at least one vegan jar called Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce. It's around $2, which is a steal compared to the same type of sauce at a typical grocery store. You can simmer this with chunks of tofu, carrots, and cauliflower then serve with rice. Or just simmer anything you want to absorb the flavor. This is a really good foundation for a lot of good dishes. If you don't have a Trader Joe's in your area, I apologize for this cruel post. :(