Cool Slaw

Cool Slaw (page 38)

I ate several meals out downtown this weekend with others whom I was attending a conference with. This means I ended up eating several salads. You know-- it just doesn't seem to occur to most restaurants that it is quite possible to prepare a satisfying meal without meat, dairy, or eggs... unless it's a salad. Of course, even then, everything still has cheese in it somewhere, you know-- to make it "satisfying." Now, I had some great salads this weekend. Really, delicious salads. And at home, I eat many, many salads as the main part of my meal... but the salads I make are HUGE. I think I first heard Wendy use the term "Hugh Jass Salad." Hugh Jass, indeed. But these restaurant salads, while quite delicious and bursting with flavor, were no Hugh Jass salads.

I'm getting a bit ramble-y here, but the point I'm trying to make is that it was nice to come home and have some "real" food.

El Hombre planned a little cook-out for our Sunday afternoon, with some veggie burgers, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and fresh guacamole and chips. There was still an unused half-head of cabbage in the refrigerator leftover from the Curried Cabbage & Peas, so it seemed appropriate to also make the Cool Slaw to go with our dinner.

I've made this recipe before, but as a component of the Buffalo Tempeh Wraps, which were so, so good. Have I mentioned how *~*magical*~* cashews can be, when blended into sauces and dressings? Cashews, a little onion, a bit of apple cider vinegar, mustard, agave, some water... that's it, blended into oblivion - the perfect creamy, dreamy dressing for this coleslaw. So. Freakin'. Tasty.

Anyway, this is good stuff. The perfect people-pleasing coleslaw for summer cookouts and potlucks. If you haven't already, give it a try!

Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing, page 33

Really, you just can't beat the salads in Appetite for Reduction. I have loved (almost) every single salad in this chapter, so far. I knew I would also love the Pad Thai Salad as soon as I had my first taste of that glorious Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing. El Hombre commented that he could probably just drink it.

I added a thinly sliced red bell pepper to the salad, and I topped it with some broiled tofu cubes, lightly glazed with a bottled Thai sweet chili sauce. Perfect.

Some very dear friends of ours are moving into a new house in our neighborhood (lucky us!), so I brought them some salad tonight while El Hombre was over there helping them unload the moving truck. There were positive reviews for this recipe, and according to his lovely wife, our friend Bill even remarked that he might consider moving to "Planet Vega" one day. I think that means he has enjoyed my Vegan food, right?

Sanctuary Chef Salad

Sanctuary Chef Salad, page 28

I have been simultaneously looking forward to and avoiding making this salad. It sounded so good, but the prospect of preparing all the individual components seemed like a lot of hassle. I wondered, would it be worth it?

I'm happy to report: it is SO worth it. By the time we sat down to dinner, I was kind of tired and irritable about all the dirty dishes, and skeptical about the pay out for all the hassle. But with the very first bite, my taste buds said, "Oh, yeah!" and each bite after that got even better.

So let me break it down for you here. First, I whipped up the Sanctuary Dressing (you know, because "ranches are not nice places for cows"):

Sanctuary Dressing, page 29

Very tasty. The kids liked it, too, even though they never really liked regular ranch dressing. El Hombre asked, "How did you do that?" I only had soft silken tofu on hand in the pantry, so I used that instead of the extra-firm. It was fine.

Then we have the Eggplant Bacon:

Eggplant Bacon, page 42

You can see that a few pieces got a little burnt, but it was all good. Man, I love that stuff.

Here we have the Basic Baked Tofu...

Basic Baked Tofu, page 144

... which is perfect for a salad like this. Then there is the Herb-Roasted Cauliflower:

Herb-Roasted Cauliflower, page 108

The cauliflower was really, really tasty. SweetPotato especially enjoyed it. I did notice an error in the recipe, however... the instructions said to "drizzle in the oil" and mix it into the breadcrumb and herb mixture, but there is no oil listed in the ingredients. I went ahead and made it without any oil, which is what I would have done anyway, and it turned out great.

And finally, all the other salad veggies:

Chopped Romaine, tomatoes, red onions, carrots, radishes, and bean sprouts

I couldn't find sunflower sprouts at my grocery store, and alfalfa sprouts didn't strike my fancy this week, so I went with bean sprouts. They were nice and crunchy.

Delicious. And filling. And definitely worth the hassle. Bless El Hombre... he did all the dishes.

Caesar Chavez Wrap

The Caesar Chavez Wrap, page 271
(romaine lettuce, sauteed seitan, black olives, and Caesar Chavez dressing in a whole-grain wrap)

SweetPea has had her eye on the Caesar Chavez Wrap for a while, now. She adores seitan, and she loves the Caesar Chavez Dressing just as much as I do, and who doesn't love good things wrapped up in a neat whole-grain package?

I made the Surefire Seitan (page 262) earlier in the day. The flavor was excellent, but I've had better texture results from other recipes. I want to say it came out a bit "spongy," but not like it does when the broth boils too rapidly... it was different than that. It seemed like the dough was just a bit too wet before simmering in the broth. Next time, I might try reducing the liquid a little and see if that works better.

The Caesar Chavez Dressing is probably my favorite salad dressing from this book, so far. Again, I found myself practically licking the blender clean - it's that good. I made a double batch this time, so I can have some extra on hand for my lunch salads during the remainder of the week. There is just something magical about this combination of shallots, miso, tahini, cashews, lemon, and capers. It's magic, I tell you.

Thumbs-up of approval all around the dinner table tonight. These wraps will show up again, I predict. I'm thinking they would make perfect pack-ahead picnic food.

Have you tried any of the sandwich or wrap suggestions from AFR? How about the Surefire Seitan?

Lettuce, seitan, olives, and dressing - ready to roll

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans & Toasted Cumin Seeds

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans & Toasted Cumin Seeds, page 31

I love quinoa. I love black beans. And I love cumin. So, I thought, what's not to love about this recipe?

I made the salad early in the day and then let the bowl sit in the refrigerator until our late dinner, so the flavors would have a chance to develop. And it was good, and satisfying, and refreshing. But still, it was missing some kind of oomph for me. Maybe a little more lime juice? I think that would be good. Maybe even some more cumin. I don't think the agave was necessary at all, and I'd probably leave that out next time.

There were mixed reviews from the family; El Hombre said it was good. As for the girls, it was the opposite from last night's dinner: SweetPea just kind of pushed things around on her plate, while SweetPotato gobbled her portion right up. I made little baby corncakes to go along with the salad, and everyone seemed to enjoy those.

My dad is coming to visit for a few days - anyone have suggestions on which recipes to try out on him? He's certainly no vegetarian, but he's not necessarily averse to meatless meals, either. I was thinking the Chipotle Lentil Burgers sound good... any other ideas?

Big Fat Taco Salad

Big Fat Taco Salad, page 22

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I hope yours was much more exciting than mine; I spent the day on the go around town yet again, getting home just in time to make dinner. Is this week over yet?

I started with making my own oven-baked tortilla chips, like these, because I needed to use up some corn tortillas getting stale in the refrigerator. Easy enough.

Then I made the Fresh Tomato Salsa Dressing. Since I was going to need the food processor for the Guacamame, I went ahead and used it with plenty of pulse action to make the salsa dressing as well. Also easy. As this recipe uses red wine vinegar for the sour and cayenne hot sauce for the spicy, it is a pretty good recipe to keep around for an easy salsa when my kitchen is lacking fresh limes and fresh serranos.

After washing and chopping the romaine lettuce, I started on the Guacamame. This is the part I was particularly curious about; I adore guacamole, especially El Hombre's, so I wasn't sure how we were going to feel about a version made with basically about half avocado and half pureed edamame. We were pleasantly surprised! There was enough avocado to keep the flavor and consistency about right, while the edamame cut down on the fat while boosting the protein. And it was also easy. A win! The only thing I would do differently next time is in the technique: instead of using the pulse mode on the food processor to get the onion and tomatoes chopped up, I think I'd rather chop those ingredients finely by hand and just fold them into the avocado-edamame mixture. Pulsing with the food processor seemed to make the otherwise lovely green color get a bit muddy.

Supergreen Bowl

The Supergreen Bowl, page 266

Sigh. I really don't like being over-busy, but this is One of Those Weeks. With Cinco de Mayo and Mother's Day, the girls have three different ballet folklorico performances this week, in addition to practices. Piled on top of that are a few medical appointments, cleaning and laundry from the last camping trip and preparations for the next one, and all the usual schoolwork, errands, grocery shopping, housework, etc. etc. Again, sigh.

A bowl dinner seemed like a good grab-and-go option for tonight. I went with the Supergreen Bowl since I already had some quinoa in the refrigerator, some edamame in the freezer, and I loves me some o' that goddess dressing. The broccoli and greens were easy enough to chop up and steam in the microwave, and before I knew it, these bowls had practically assembled themselves. I tossed them in a soft-sided cooler and hauled everything along with us for the evening. After the girls were done dancing tonight at a community performance for Cinco de Mayo, we headed to a nearby park and enjoyed our bowls while watching the various ducks, geese, and other waterfowl in the creek.

With the quinoa and edamame, these bowls were not only delicious, but packed with plant-powered protein. I used roasted garlic in this batch of Green Goddess Garlic Dressing, and I think it turned out perfectly. I really liked this bowl combination, and will definitely eat it again.

Has anyone else tried any of the suggested bowls from Appetite for Reduction? Do you have a favorite?

Supergreen Bowls, packed and ready to go in the 'fridge

Sushi Roll Edamame Salad with Green Onion-Miso Vinaigrette

Sushi Roll Edamame Salad with Green Onion-Miso Vinaigrette, page 20
(Oops! I forgot the green onion garnish. Still delish.)

I think the "Full-On Salads" chapter is my favorite part of Appetite for Reduction. Seriously: who knew salads could be this delicious and fun?!? I've always enjoyed a good salad, but Isa is a master at making the salad interesting, full of flavor, and just plain fun to eat. The Sushi Roll Edamame Salad is no exception.

My usual routine is to eliminate any added oils in these recipes, but I think the small amount of toasted sesame oil is essential to the flavor of the dressing here. Even with the sesame oil, the fat clocks in at only 2.5 grams per 1/4 cup. I think that's okay.

Really, every single dressing I've made so far has been phenomenal. Do you have your own copy of this cookbook yet? It's worth every penny for the dressings alone, I swear.

Buffalo Wrap (more like soft tacos, actually)

El Hombre's plate of "Buffalo Baja Tacos," based on the Buffalo Wrap, page 271
Taco filling: Buffalo Tempeh (page 161), Cool Slaw (page 38), and diced tomatoes

This was an excellent dinner tonight.

The Buffalo Tempeh rocked. After the last tempeh fiasco (thanks, y'all, for the insight!), I decided to play it safe by simmering the tempeh wedges in a little water for about 10 minutes before marinating; this method seems to not only "open up" the tempeh to soak in the marinade, but I think it draws out most of the bitterness as well. Also, my tempeh sat in the marinade all afternoon, not just for one hour.

I couldn't find the large whole-wheat wraps in my grocery store, only soft taco-size tortillas, so I'm calling these Buffalo Tacos instead of Wraps. Topped off with the Cool Slaw and some diced tomatoes, El Hombre and I were in taco heaven. Because of the coleslaw, they were reminiscent of baja fish tacos... so let's just call them Buffalo Baja Tacos, shall we? Next time, I'll even include some lime wedges for squeezing fresh juice over them just before devouring. Ooh, and some avocado, too. And cilantro.

And the Cool Slaw: this recipe is pure genius. Those raw cashews are amazing tricksters, turning this slaw dressing into a cool, creamy, dreamy concoction. Even the kids were crazy about this one.

So, all-in-all, a very good dinner. And a pretty good day. I got a run in, I ate well and within my personal eating plan, and the scale told me this morning that there is no real lasting damage from my indulgences in wine and desserts over the last week. No losses, but no gains, either. Whew! Moving onward and up!

Goddess Nicoise Redux

Poolside Goddess Nicoise, page 25
substituting tofu in place of chickpeas

The Goddess Nicoise Salad has been one of my favorite AFR recipes, by far, so far. I decided to bring it back for Easter to share with the rest of the family, since they weren't around the first time I enjoyed it.

We chose to spend our Easter afternoon lounging poolside in this glorious Austin spring weather. As I whipped around the kitchen beforehand, steaming baby potatoes and green beans and buzzing up some goddess dressing in the blender, I suddenly realized that I had no chickpeas for the salad. Ack! Then, inspiration struck as I considered SweetPea's suggestion from earlier that day that we eat some egg-less (tofu) salad sandwiches (I guess veggie salads don't excite her like they do me): why not use some diced extra firm silken tofu in place of the chickpeas? I think the result was lovely; it was light yet still sophisticated.

This marks the third time I've made a batch of the Green Goddess Garlic Dressing. The first time was with my friend Anne, when we made it with young green garlic, and it was positively divine. The second time, I used the full amount of regular garlic; it was still delicious and pleasing, but it had a much stronger bite from the raw garlic that was too spicy for the girls. This time, I made a double batch of the dressing (to use throughout the rest of the week), and I only put in half the amount of garlic. It is again an excellent dressing, but the raw garlic still gives it a fairly spicy kick that makes it hard for the girls to enjoy as much as El Hombre and I do. I am thinking that the next time I make this dressing (because I will - I love it!), I'll try using lots of roasted garlic instead. I'm imagining that it will give the dressing a deep and rich, yet mellow and sweet garlicky taste, rather than the sharp zing of raw garlic.

I haven't been very diligent during the last week or so about sticking to my personal exercise and eating plan... tomorrow morning I will step on the scale to see what kind of damage I need to deal with. Sigh. I have no real excuses; I just need to realize that it's important to stick to the plan even when I'm feeling busy and overwhelmed with all the little details of life. Maybe even more important during those times. Anyway. Moving on...

Goddess Nicoise with Green Goddess Garlic Dressing

On Friday night I had a chance to slip away and spend the night with my dear friend Anne, who lives down in Bastrop. She lives in a beautiful historic home in the old downtown area, and it's always lots of fun to visit. Anne was a good sport, allowing me to choose a recipe from Appetite for Reduction for us to cook and enjoy for dinner on Friday evening.

Goddess Nicoise, page 25

I settled on the Goddess Nicoise salad, figuring it was an appropriate choice for two goddesses such as ourselves. We had a grand time and drank far too much wine throughout the evening; even so, we managed to pull off a delightful supper.

A briny mashed-chickpea-and-capers mixture here replaces the traditional Salad Nicoise components of tuna and hard-boiled eggs. Our tastes called for a little more dressing, caper brine, and salt than the recipe stated.

We were lucky to have the freshest red leaf lettuce available; Anne had just returned from visiting her cousin's farm that day, and she had brought back some farm-fresh produce with her, including some green garlic that we opted to use in the Green Goddess Garlic Dressing, instead of regular garlic.

The dressing... whoa. Deliciously mesmerizing. Delightfully titillating. Highly recommended.

Spicy Blue (or Red) Potato & Corn Salad

Spicy Potato & Corn Salad, pg. 18
with mixed salad greens

First, the obvious. Those are not blue potatoes up there. I had no luck finding blue potatoes, so I went with baby reds, instead. The other minor substitution I made was shallots for red onions, because I used up all my red onion in last night's korma. Oh, and I took a lazy shortcut and used about a cup and a half of thawed, frozen sweet corn, instead of slicing the kernels from 3 ears of steamed corn on the cob.

Now, I don't want to seem disingenuous by gushing about practically every single recipe in this book, but seriously, again, this was super, duper good. The amount of chipotle called for gave immense flavor with just the right amount of heat. The pinto beans rounded everything out to make it a filling salad. When tasting the finished dish to determine if I wanted to add any more salt (no) or smoked paprika (yes), I found myself going back for more than one test bite. Maybe two, or three. Possibly four. Okay, maybe five. You know, to get it right.

For this recipe, Isa gives instructions to steam the potatoes, which I had never done before. I had always boiled potatoes before, when making a potato salad. The steaming technique turned out to be brilliant, however; the potatoes were tender while still firm, never mushy or falling apart.

This would be a great potluck dish; it's sure to impress folks.

Breakfast (for Dinner) Sandwich

Breakfast Sandwich, pg. 269
Whole -wheat English muffin, tofu scramble with wilted spinach, Eggplant Bacon, and Caesar Chavez Dressing

El Hombre started his weekly golf league playing tonight, so the girls and I are on our own for Tuesday night dinner now, for several weeks. The plan tonight was to try Isa's suggestion for a breakfast-type sandwich, something we could take with us as we headed out for the evening for SweetPotato's ballet folklorico class and a few errands. I'm talking about a whole-wheat English muffin stuffed with scrambled tofu, wilted spinach, eggplant bacon (!) from the chapter "Full-On Salads," and that ahhhh-mazing Caesar Chavez Dressing.

This was really good. Tasty, easy, and convenient. I did not do the Curry Scrambled Tofu with Wilted Arugula suggested in AFR; instead, I just whipped up a simple tofu scramble with our family's favorite scramble seasonings, something I knew the girls would like - nutritional yeast, garlic and onion granules, and salt, with a couple handfuls of spinach wilted into the mix.

Chickpea Piccata, Cauliflower Mashed Pototoes (Caulipots), and Romaine Lettuce with Caesar Chavez Dressing

Chickpea Piccata (pg 115) served over Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes (Caulipots) (pg 54)
on top of a bed of arugula and baby spinach leaves
In the left-side background - romaine lettuce leaves with Caesar Chavez Dressing (pg 43)

After a long, busy weekend during which I fell off the wagon a bit, diet-wise, I made up for it tonight with a dinner using three, count 'em: three!, recipes from AFR. And let me tell you - this was a FANTASTIC meal, with rave reviews all around!

But first, a bit about life since dinner last Wednesday night...

On Thursday, the girls and I went to our weekly homeschool co-op meeting, during which we had our end-of-the-month potluck lunch. My dear friend Paula made these amazing Lebanese stuffed grape leaves, and I could. not. stop. eating them. Also, one of the other moms made cupcakes to celebrate March birthdays, which were very thoughtfully vegan (for our family) and gluten-free (for another family). How could I turn down one of these cupcakes?

On Friday, our family attended another potluck, this one hosted by Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet. While all the food there was plant-strong and oil-free, it was also quite delicious, and I'm sure I ate too much. In addition, someone brought these gigantic chocolate-chip banana muffins, and I ate one of those, too. The whole thing. It was really good. But, beyond the food, it was a really fun event, and we got to meet lots of new people. A highlight was meeting Natala from Vegan Hope. She is such an inspiration!

On Saturday, El Hombre and SweetPotato got up early to make chocolate-chip banana muffins for breakfast, inspired, obviously, by the delicious muffins at the previous night's potluck. Saturday's breakfast muffins were smaller than those at the potluck, but ultra-delicious, and of course, I ate more than one.

And finally, on Sunday, we spent the day adventuring around town and thrift-store treasure hunting. We stopped for lunch at Counter Culture, on Natala's recommendation, and thoroughly enjoyed everything we ate. I had the Jackfruit BBQ sandwich, El Hombre had the Tempeh Reuben, SweetPea had the Philly Seitan sandwich (a big sandwich, for her!), and SweetPotato had the Almond Butter & Apple sandwich. And then, because obviously we had been food-deprived all weekend (um, not really), we sampled the desserts - the raw brownie bites, the donut holes, and the lime-basil cheezecake. Wow!

But back to tonight's dinner...

First, the Chickpea Piccata: I've been trying to make this dish for almost a week now, but someone kept drinking the cooking wine I purchased especially for this recipe! More than one bottle mysteriously emptied while I wasn't looking. I'm not naming names, but I have my suspicions. El Hombre claims it must be the cat's fault, but that doesn't sound right to me. Anyway. One of SweetPea's all-time favorite dishes is seitan piccata, which, while delicious, is not exactly low-fat or plant-strong. So, we were both excited to try this dish. She decided the chickpea piccata is equally as delicious as the seitan version, and even went back for a second helping, along with the cauliflower mashed potatoes.

Which brings me to the Caulipots, or cauliflower mashed potatoes: I was a little wary of this recipe, since I've made mashed cauliflower before and didn't really enjoy it very much. I suppose, then, I was expecting mashed cauliflower to be like mashed potatoes. It's not. But! When you combine mashed cauliflower WITH mashed potatoes, it's like magic! I couldn't really tell the cauliflower was there; it was pretty much like eating just mashed potatoes. And who doesn't love mashed potatoes?!?

And finally, the Caesar Chavez Dressing: Holymoly!!! Amazing! Devine! SO GOOD!!!! Words are not adequate to describe how delicious this salad dressing is. I wished my tongue was long enough to lick the inside of the blender jar. I'm so excited to have more of this on my salad at lunch time tomorrow.

All-in-all, this whole dinner was a winner. Raves all around, from every member of the family. Date-dinner- or dinner-party-worthy. I will be making this again, and again, and again, for sure!

Want the recipe for the Chickpea Piccata? You can get it here, but why not just get your own copy of the book with all 125 rocking recipes, while you're at it? You won't regret it.

Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad, pg. 16

It was El Hombre's night to cook, so I did some of the prep work for him earlier in the day, and left the rest for him to finish and have on the table by the time the girls and I got home. We had the salad with some cooked greens, sliced cucumbers and carrot sticks, and some whole-grain bread.

The balsamic dressing was the key element to bring everything together for this salad. I've generally found that balsamic dressings are usually boring and predictable, but this recipe here was probably the best one I've ever had. It is a cashew-based dressing, which gave it a nice creamy, emulsified texture.

The main components of the salad are all some of my favorites - chickpeas, quinoa, romaine lettuce - but the dish would have been unremarkable if not for the dressing. Did I mention the balsamic dressing was really good?

We did not include any of the optional add-ins suggested by Isa this time, but next time I definitely would play around with it more. Shredded carrots, fresh basil, chopped tomatoes, and even a few kalamata olives would be great, I think.