Where's the food???

I've been extremely uninterested in making food, even though Goods would say differently.
I think I lost my Mojo, maybe a mojito would help.

Even our neighborhood hawk is looking for food...

(on the brush pile in our garden- Goods built for the winter for the birdies)

Even Guido weighs nothing-

And Fluffy has resorted to threatening to run away to get food....

(not true always tons of kitty food out)

So here is some of the food I've made-

Spicy Peanut Sauce from VWV served over stirfry of veggies, preseasoned- prepressed tofu (see I told you no Mojo) and oriental noodles. Made enough for two dinners.

I love this sauce, I always make a batch of it for my lettuce wraps.

Whatever Bean Soup (made up as I went)...Mixed beans, veggie broth, seasoning, tomatoes & tomato paste, carrots and some other veggies- threw together and cooked in the slower cooker for 10 hours.

Another slow cooker recipe I made "What a Dal", from "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker"

I served it in rolled up with fried potatoes & peppers and some fire roasted tomatoes - oh and a little "cheese". The concept was good but the "Dal" needed a lot more seasoning - we are "high seasoning" people. And the recipe stated to cook for 8 hours- well it was done in about 1/2 the time. It made TONS so the next night I made "Dal patties" - added some chopped veggies and more seasoning-

Then for dinner #3- the next night, we put the patties in buns and had "Dal Burgers" with all the burger fixings. I still have a huge container left of the lentils, they are going in the freezer, I'm lentiled out.

And lastly, I am fairly certain that I am the LAST person to finally make "Tamari-Roasted Chickpeas" from EDBV.

OMG- they are the best, LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Great with the baked potato I served with them. The organic baby zucchini that I got at Whole Foods was so sweet- excellent.

So that about wraps things up. Eating out a little bit more - have to give a shot out to the Majestic Cafe , in downtown Detroit, where I had the most kick ass Tempeh Sloppy Joe - oh and great hummous and all it's garlic loveliness! I was giddy with all their vegan options.

Until next time Ciao!

A Good Addiction

Okay – Let’s see where to start – Let us see- Letus see – LETTUCE!
That’s it, Lettuce wraps.

Goods & I have a serious new addiction to lettuce wraps.
It all started when we went to Mon Jin Lau’s -He ordered their lettuce wraps. He loved their lettuce wraps (none for me, they consisted of chicken) – so that put me on a quest to make my version.

So here we go…..

First I press 1- block of extra firm tofu- (I do mine for at least an hour)

Make the marinate for both veggies & tofu:
¼ c. minced onion
1 T. fresh grated ginger
3-5 minced garlic cloves
1/3 c. of canola oil
½ T. sesame oil
2 T. rice wine vinegar
1 T. tamari
2 T. Hoisin sauce
½ c. water
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 T dried parsley
1 tsp. cilantro (I would use fresh, but I didn’t have)
Ground pepper to taste
Dash of Cayenne Pepper (if desired)

**this should make about 2 cup of liquid – if it doesn’t add more of liquid of preference to do so.

(sometimes I add orange juice - to be wild)

I receive weekly, beautiful veggies from Door To Door Organics.
So I cut up all sorts of fresh veggies in small pieces- approx 8 cups total
Some suggestions:
Broccoli
Carrots
Boy Choy
Onion
Bean Sprouts
Peppers – Red, Green, Jalapeno, Banana etc.
Waterchestnuts (canned of course)

After the tofu is done being pressed– cut in small pieces (½” square or smaller) pour some of the marinate on the tofu (how does ¼ c. sound??)
Pour the rest of the marinate on the cut up veggies…oh - make sure they are in a bowl or some sort of container before you pour it on the veggies.

Now let the marination begin! I let it set for at least an hour.

After all the flavors have infiltrated the tofu & veggies – it’s time for cooking-
Tofu: Heat a skillet with a tablespoon of peanut oil (or oil of choice). Stir fry tofu until desired crispness. Reserve liquid marinate for tofu or veggies if needed.
Veggies: In separate large skillet, stir fry veggies (no need to pre-oil pan)

After all is done to your liking – toss veggies and tofu together.

Door to Door sends beautiful leaf lettuce that allows us wrap the veggies & tofu to feed our lettuce wrap addiction. Take a lettuce leaf and spoon in the cooked mixture.

I like to top my wrap with chopped peanuts and put a big smidgen of Vegan with a Vengeance Peanut Sauce (Page 165) . (BTW, I don’t cook the sauce as in the recipe- because I’m lazy- but it is still excellent!) Goods prefers a Ginger Dressing that we buy at a local oriental market. Also I like to put top it with some chopped peanuts. (Also served store bought veggie potstickers.)

Oh – have lots of napkins ready......

Now this is the first time I have written anything down for making lettuce wraps. I like everything highly seasoned, so I would increase the amount of seasoning next time….but over all I was happy with the outcome.

By the way – if you want to know how many this recipe serves – humm…. yes this is scary- but it’s 2 with a some left over for a lunch for me. I told you we had a problem of lettuce wrap addiction.

Overall rating 5 out of 5 forks - or should it be forkless?

POMEGRANATE SUNDAY

I've had a thing for pomegranates recently. I've been wanting to make pomegranate martinis recipe that I printed off the Internet- AND COULDN'T FIND yesterday. Well I came up with a recipe from Oprah's site. I opened the bottle of pomegranate concentrate I bought at our local Mediterranean store- brown goo came out. Yes, it tasted like pomegranate but there was NO way I was drinking a foofoo martini that was brown. So I did what I do best- improvise- and it turned out delish! Just look at the delish-ness!

The improvising went as follows

juice of one fresh pomegranate
juice of one fresh lemon
juice of one blood orange
enough orange juice to make total of 1 1/2 cups of total juice

2 oz of Vodka
1 oz of Grand Marnier

Combine in shaker with ice- and of course- shake!
Serve in sugared rimmed glasses with few pomegranate seeds in the
bottom for an extra treat! Makes 2 servings.

So as I was enjoying the above beverage, I made dinner. And to follow the theme of things; I made BBQ Pomegranate Tofu (pg 149) and Coconut Rice with Toasted Coconut (pg 109) from Vegan with a Vengeance.

I threw in the tofu some veggies I had on hand - broccoli, red peppers, carrots and onions. Oh- I ate more then I have shown in the photo! Both Goods and I went back for seconds. It was not only delicious, it was fairly easy to prepare.

Overall rating out of 5 forks - if I could it would be 6 forks- but 5 it is!