Cookbook of Heresies

On that note

2011-05-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

On that note, last night I combined some leftover Jasmine rice that was cooked with a spoonful of Better than Boulion and olive oil with what was left of some organic tomato soup. I threw in some chopped up fresh spinach, sliced baby portobella mushrooms, a healthy dose of yellow curry powder, and 'creamed' it with almond milk. The almond milk was an experiment, the result of which I'm rather please with.

Today, breakfast consisted of goat's milk yogurt, blue berries, and local Texas honey. I'm about to go to lunch at a friend's house, and cookout later this evening at another friend's house. G. bought veggie burgers just for me.

Tonight I plan to cook up another pot of rice to last for a few days, and either adzuki beans or lentils, and some more spinach.

Re-purposing

2011-05-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Theme is again changing, and this is now my food blog in general.

Eating habits went to shit and I seem to have been relapsing into the old emotional eating neurosis. I gave myself too much slack after getting hit by a truck last fall while riding my bicycle, and sitting around waiting for my femur that was nearly cracked to heal. I also started working a very sedentary job, and got a car as part of the fallout from said accident.

That ends now. Gas is too expensive for the 20 mile commute to downtown from my new place, and though my let isn't quite up that same commute yet, I am easing my way into it. And getting my physical activity level back up to where it was also means fixing my eating habits. The body is a machine, and I simply can not do all the things I'd like to do when I'm eating crap all the time.

Not all calories are created equal. The line is drawn here.

Cheap and Easy 1

2010-01-26T18:57:00.001-08:00

This blog has officially devolved into a note-keeping process for the real thing. Onwards, then!

Cheap, fast. 20 minutes, tops.

Cook up half a cup of basmati rice with a few tablespoons of yellow curry, a little soy sauce and siracha.

Chop up a whole carrot and set to steaming right after you put the rice on. Carrot will be just about perfect right before the rice is done.

Combine. Eat.

Variants - any other vegetable. Ever.

Cream of Ginger Carrot Soup

2010-01-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

Last week for musician's dinner (check out Ladyfingers), I tried to recreate this pot of awesomeness I came up with in Fairbanks, ginger carrot soup. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that the recipe wasn't vegan, and I don't have much experience making "cream" soups without dairy, so the following is NOT a vegan recipe. Granted, I also forgot the veggie stock, that might have made a difference too. As soon as I figure out how to substitute the cream without ruining it, I'll post it.

The show was a lot of fun, and it was pretty rewarding when our main act, Adam, looked up at me from his bowl and said softly, "I haven't had a home cooked meal in... weeks." He kept bringing up during his show how much he likes Lubbock because people do things like make him soup. That was awesome.

This is another dish I pulled off for under $10, including the cheap french bread we picked up. There were probably about 15 bowls of soup out this pot, stretched out with rice. Important lesson - make sure there are enough bowls, I had forgotten we only had four and they had to keep getting washed and rotated.

You'll want either a blender, food processor, or potato masher for this.

Two or three pounds of carrots - preferably bulk
One large onion of any variety
Four cloves of garlic
Five russet potatoes
1 - 3 tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Salt
4 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Red pepper
At least an inch of fresh ginger root
Vegetarian vegetable stock (which I forgot, but it turned out ok this time)
Small container of heavy whipping cream

Fairly straight forward.
Dice everything up - make the guys who keep asking if they can help do all the carrots and garlic. Try to get the potatoes and carrots pretty small so they will cook faster.
Grate up at least an inch of fresh ginger root - if you like it strong feel free to double or triple this.
Sometimes I sautèe the onions and garlic before hand, sometimes I just toss everything in a pot of water and boil. If you do sautee, do so if a few table spoons of oil.

Combine vegetable stock and water (I just fill up a big pot and go from there, I should start measuring for this blog). Add all your spices, and another tablespoon of olive oil if you did not sautee the onions and garlic first. Add the onions and garlic if uncooked, and the ginger.
Put the stovetop on High and bring to a boil.
Add the carrots and potatoes.

Boil until carrots and potatoes are soft. Carefully ladel solid bits into a blender and puree. Or into a bowl with a flat bottom to attack with the potato masher. Return to the soup pot. Repeat until all the vegetables have been pureed. Stir well.

Taste, season further to preference. I like to lower the heat and let this soup cook down a bit so that it thickens up. Just before serving, add the cream and stir thoroughly, heat back up to a boil and reduce the heat again.

Serve over rice or with thick bread. Nutmeg makes a good topper for this dish.

Oh, I don't normally do this, but Shmoo had a huge container of cremini mushrooms that needed to be used soon, so in the name of experimentation we sliced up the mushrooms and added them to the soup. It added a good texture and the shrooms soaked the flavor of the broth right up. Yay experiments going well!

Of feeding the musicians and the masses

2010-01-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

Frankenstink continues to be difficult. Had to scrape mold off of him the other day, reduced the culture by half, and started feeding a quarter cup of flour and water daily all over again. Damn it.

In other news, I am once again feeding large quantities of people during events at one of my favorite projects, Church of the Holy Spoke. We have house concerts in the living room, and it's a policy to provide a hot meal for all these artists who have been on the road for weeks or months. So I'll be posting a recipe every couple of weeks directly from that event.

Last week we had Nicole Reynolds, and I made Spicy Vegetable Spaghetti. Unfortunately I neglected to have pictures taken of the cooking process. In short, I fed between 15 and 20 people for about $8.00, everyone was full, and every last bite was eaten.

Pretty simple. Start with my Spicy Spaghetti Sauce, and after that has cooked for a bit, toss in your vegetables. I usually stick with Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Mushrooms, though for the adventurous, broccoli, carrots, and eggplant are all tasty options. I did stretch it out for the crowd with an extra can of tomato sauce, just use judgement on the spices.

I boiled up all of one of those large bags of spaghetti noodles that go for about $2.50 generic brand with some olive oil, Italian spices and garlic salt, which leaves one with a pot of noodles flavored and tasty even before adding sauce or cheese.

It was fun reigning supreme in the kitchen for a bit, with the boys eager to help, dicing up vegetables, stirring the sauce and tending the pasta. As our audience for the show began to fill up the house, folks kept drifting into the kitchen wanting to know what smelled so good.

Nicole and Wood, her partner, gushed gratitude over dinner, though we were just as grateful to have such an awesome songwriter playing in our living room. Seriously, check her out, she has songs about earthworm sex.

My favorite comment on the food all night was, "You make vegetables I normally hate taste good!" I think that was from James.

So, Spicy Tomato Sauce recipe, stretched with an extra can of tomato sauce, plus any assortment of vegetables, and the largest bag of noodles one can get at the grocery store. $8 to $10, will feed at least 20 people a full serving.

Free Range Eggs - Lies of the Industry

2010-01-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

Dinner and Bread Status Report

2010-01-07T21:59:00.001-08:00

Frankenstink decided he's just not ready for his big debut. We made a valiant effort, but the first loaf ever attempted out of this sourdough culture just didn't want to rise. I'm giving him extra love this weekend and plan to try again in a few days. It may be that I should have let the sponge sit longer, or left the first rise longer, or left the bread loaf itself to rise much longer. But now the geese are going to get a tasty snack tomorrow when I brave this ridiculous under 20 degree weather to go to the park!

On to dinner.

I've put on some weight since coming home to West Texas, partly due to the lack of a bicycle, and partly due to diet. I've been a very lazy vegetarian these last few months, and my pants have officially become too tight. So, a little retroactively, I've decided to steal a page from the lovely and hopefully future-contributor Renee and go vegan for the new year.

Today we played the game What's About to Spoil? and found half an onion, some slightly squishy potatoes, about five cloves of garlic purchased around Thanksgiving, a basket of sweet potatoes and a bag of old chopped carrots. I chopped all of that up except the pre-cut carrots and threw it in a casserole dish, tossed with black pepper, sea salt, and olive oil, covered the dish with foil and set it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. The carrots weren't quite done, so I ended up throwing it back in there for about fifteen minutes. Everything else was about stew-quality soft in the end, and very tasty.

Meanwhile, I cooked up a big pot of basmati rice (post on perfect rice without a cooker coming soon), and mixed it up with yellow curry powder, grape seed oil (yes, still on that kick), and two cans of diced tomatoes.

Using the Curry Tomato Rice as a base for the Sweet Potato Garlic Bake worked out very well. For a little more flavor, and/or kick, a dash of soy sauce and siracha really brought out the curry and the sweetness of the yams.

Cheap and relatively fast, depending on how good you are at dicing up sweet potatoes. It was one of those moments where the non-vegetarians kept coming into the kitchen to find out what smelled so good, and wanted a bowl of what I was hoping would last me a week. Silly carnies.

Quick Snacks

2010-01-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

Basmati rice is one of the most awesome things, and super cheap.

I like to buy it in those giant 15 lb burlap bags. On my own, eating out of said burlap bag, it takes me between four and six months to kill it. It's an aromatic rice, and kind of smells like popcorn when cooking. I sometimes find myself just eating it plain, it's so flavorful. Jasmine rice is also good in these ways.

Because it's so flavorful, and filling, and quick for a rice, when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to dice up a bunch of vegetables, Basmati rice is definitely my quick-cheap-tasty starch of choice.

One of my favorite snacks is warm basmati rice with honey and red pepper flakes. Yes, I was stoned the first time I came up with that. But, even in this empty, substance-free existence I'm living during the job hunt, Spicy Honey Rice still rocks my world. It's good with a little bit of butter, or olive oil, or what have you. I've found myself craving the stuff. It's a good light but filling snack, nice and warm during all this cold weather.

Another thing I've discovered lately is the heavenly combination of Basmati rice and Grapeseed Oil. By the way, grapeseed oil is also one of the most awesome things ever; I make salads just so I have something to put the stuff on. The other day I had a big pot of rice just finished, and tossed a tablespoon or two of grapeseed oil on a bowl of hot basmati, and it was tasty. I also added a dash of soy sauce and saracha, with the grapeseed oil still standing out in all its glory.

Hopefully this Sunday I'll be putting together either a soup or a sweet potato stirfry to share, as we're having a show over at The Church of the Holy Spoke and I have to feed some folk singers or something. Also, first attempt at baking bread with the new sourdough culture is currently in progress. Pictures coming soon.

Spicy Lemon Marinara Sauce

2009-12-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

The Sauce of sauces

One large red onion
3-6 good sized garlic cloves
Crushed tomatoes, largest can
Can of diced tomatoes
Oregano, basil, rosemary.... "Italian Spices" mix
Red pepper flakes
Yellow pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sea salt
Olive oil

Dice up a large red onion and all the garlic cloves you can stand. That means at least two, you pansy. I like six. Or eight when I have a boyfriend comfortable with hippie odors. Sautèe in a good sized sauce pan in some olive oil until the onions caramelize. Be careful not to burn the garlic, I do that way too often. Add the can of diced tomatoes, some black pepper, a dash of red pepper flakes, just a little bit of sea salt, and a table spoon of your Italian spice mix. Stir that few about a minute, then empty the large can of crushed tomatoes and the lemon juice. Stir all the ingredients up, turning the heat down to low. Give it a taste and adjust any spices according to preference. I usually add more black pepper, a touch of oregano, sometimes more red pepper. If the sauce is heavy on the garlic, add small amounts of lemon juice to taste. If you have more than two tablespoons of lemon juice in there, you screwed up pretty bad.

Bring your sauce to a boil, then take the heat down to low, cover and simmer, the longer the better. If I'm going to use the sauce in the evening, I usually let it go all afternoon.

Now for cheating! Of course, making this sauce as bad ass as possible is the best way to go, but if you are baking a dish like Zucchini Parmesan or Vegetable Lasagna, you can technically get away with this cheat; just dump everything into a mixing bowl, get it as even as possible, and distribute across your baking dish according to its recipe. The flavors won't be nearly as well developed, but if you're feeding kids or drunken savages, it's not that big a deal. If making pasta, though, you should let the sauce simmer for at least half an hour.

Zucchini Parmesan

2009-12-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

You Need:
2 large zucchini, or three small ones
One yellow squash
One red or yellow bell pepper
Baby portobello mushrooms
A can of bread crumbs
One bag of 'fancy' shredded parmesan
Olive oil
Batch of Spicy Lemon Marinara Sauce

(Note: there is a short version of the directions at the end of this post without my rambling ruminations on mostly unrelated tangents.)

Ok, so, your tomato sauce has been bubbling all afternoon and is ready to go, right? Good. I mean, you could cheat and use the bottled stuff from the store, but unless there is a screaming horde of children threatening to eat each other in the next room, you really don't have an excuse to do it the quick, bland way.

Slice up your vegetables. The zucchini and squash do best in medallions. I was making this for my parents one time, and my dad decided to "help" by pulling out this fancy thing called a mandolin, with which he cut my zucchini up into long strips he claimed were noodles; they were very difficult to eat later on. He also continues to call this dish "Vegetarian Lasagna," even though there is NO PASTA in it at all. Slice up the mushrooms and bell pepper however you like them, just make sure there's enough to spread across the length of your casserole dish.

Empty the bread crumbs into a mixing bowl, with a tablespoon or two of Italian seasoning, and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. If you're going to be weird and measure, I'd start with two and see if it's too dry. Take a fork and mix the oil into the crumbs. I use a mash-stir-mash-mash-stir sort of pattern. By the way, bread crumbs in a can is the most awesome thing ever. We used to dumpster fresh whole wheat bread from this bakery in downtown Austin, and there was so much of it I ended up toasting some of the frozen loaves and hand grating them into crumbs. Took all damn day, good thing I had sauce going on the stove. I also hand grated a huge bowl of parmesan off of this gigantic wheel we scored out of Whole Foods. Ah, the promised land...

Rub some olive oil all over the casserole dish, or spray it with Pam, whatever you do, and spread a third of the bread crumbs evenly all over the dish bottom. Use the fork to push the crust down until it's even.

Now for cheese! And sauce! And all that stuff you sliced up.

I recommend setting aside a fourth of your shredded parmesan to make sure there is enough for the last layer. I've screwed this up enough times to know it's important. Cover the bread crumbs with parmesan. Follow this with a layer of zucchini medallions, usually half of it. From here on out the order doesn't matter as much; I do it different every time I make this dish. Cover the zucchini and cheese with a layer of tomato sauce, ladled on good and thick. You should have enough sauce left to do this two to four times.

Do a layer of squash, cheese, sauce, a layer of bell peppers, and a layer of mushrooms, cheese, sauce. At some point do a second layer of bread crumbs, making sure there is enough left for the top. Finish up with a layer of Zucchini, the last of the sauce, a crust of bread crumbs, and the cheese you put aside at the beginning.

Put all of this in the oven for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Go catch up on some those Venture Bros. episodes you DVR'd. Or make a salad, get a loaf of french bread all buttered and garlicked up to toast after you pull the dish out of the oven. Ooh, or get a wine and fruit compote going for dessert (recipe coming, hopefully from the lovely lady who taught me that trick).

Let the whole thing cool for a few minutes before serving. Be prepared for professions of undying live, marriage proposals, and attempts to eat your soul and take your cooking powers.

Enjoy!

No Frills Recipe Below:

Red's Vegetable Parmesan

Prep Time: About an hour, depending on the tomato sauce.
Servings: 8-10
Calories: Shut up and eat

A large rectangular casserole dish (deeper is better)
Mixing bowl
Fork for mixing
Ladle

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini, or three small ones
One yellow squash
One yellow or red bell pepper
Baby portobello mushrooms
A can of bread crumbs
One bag of 'fancy' shredded parmesan
3 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbspn Italian Seasoning
Spicy Lemon Marinara Sauce (click for recipe)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice up the zucchini and squash into thin medallions. Slice the mushrooms.

In a large mixing bowl combine bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, Olive oil. Mix with a fork until oil is evenly distributed. Treat the casserole dish with a bit of olive oil or nonstick spray. Spread one third of crumbs evenly across bottom of dish, pressing down with fork. Cover crumbs with 1/4 of your shredded parmesan, then half of the sliced zucchini. Ladle 1/4 of tomato sauce over zucchini. Repeat with squash, cheese, sauce. Repeat with bell pepper. Use another 1/3 of bread crumbs for a middle layer of crust. Follow with the mushrooms, cheese, sauce. Add the remainder of the zucchini, the last of the sauce, breadcrumbs, and shredded parmesan. Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool. Enjoy with salad, garlic bread, red wine.

A 'taste' of what's coming

2009-12-24T15:25:00.000-08:00

An illustration from one of many characters soon be featured across the epic Cookbook of Heresies, the Carrotic itself! Drawn by the inestimable Ashley, aka Pink, of local Lubbock tattoo artist fame.

Coloring, in progress, by Red.

Sporatic! Occasional!

2009-12-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

Totally unpredictable!

This, dear reader, is how often I post.

I promise, however, tonight there will be a feature on my new pet, Frankenstink the Sourdough culture, who has been brewing and bubbling on the back of the stove for a few weeks now. Also, tonight, a rant about eating at Zookini's on 82nd Street and the irony of not being able to eat any of the four different soups at a restaurant with a SALAD theme.

And tomorrow, I reveal the wonder that is my most adored of recipes, Zucchini Parmesan.

Monday Night Food Hack

2009-11-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

I am lucky that my mother has come to terms with my vegetarianism, especially as it seems to give her a sense of purpose to grocery shop for her adult children. Unfortunately, that often translates into the exact same set of dairy heavy t.v. dinners every week, and a stack of bland and overpriced noodle bowls that triple package everything and seem to gleefully mock my efforts to minimize waste.

However, free food is free food.

Tonight's adventure begins with a Simply Asia 'pad thai' noodle bowl, a zuccini, a yellow squash, some creepy mini bell peppers, generic soy sauce and the ever present love of my culinary life, Cock Sauce. If I had purchased said noodle bowl myself, this meal would cost around $4.00.

The noodle bowl is quick, but the noodle bowl is bland. The dried vegetables in their own special little package usually just end up stuck in my teeth, and contribute less flavor than the microwaveable plastic bowl. I have no idea what sort of sauce is really in that little cellophane pouch, but it does not make the noodles taste like pad thai. It makes a decent base, though, and that's all that counts in packaged food. Any good cook can turn lame into awesome.

I found a bag of those mini bell peppers in the fridge, and chopped up two yellow and two red, threw those into some olive oil in a skillet, and attacked the other vegetables. I sliced up half a zuccini and squash each, and tossed those on top of the bell pepper, mixing them up until everything was covered with the oil. Letting that cook for a minute, I set up the noodle bowl according to directions, but using only the sauce packet and ignoring both the vegetables and "topping" packages. As soon as the microwave started, I went back to the skillet, now sizzling.

The vegetables needed a good stir, after which I doused the pan with soy sauce and one cautious circle-squirt of siracha. Always make sure you mix siracha up thoroughly, there's not much worse than biting into a big glob of the stuff that was hiding between squash slices.

Once the microwave was done, I mixed up the noodles with their sauce and dumped the entire bowl into the skillet, mixing up noodles and vegetables then letting the whole thing cook another minute or two. I killed the heat just before the zuccini and squash could lose their crunch.

It turned out better than I expected. The veggies soaked the sauce right up, and I ended up eating all the squash and peppers before half the noodles were gone. This dish could have been for around $1.50 to $2.00 if I had used some noodles from the Asian Market up the street, some teryaki with the soy sauce and sirachi, maybe some garlic. But it's good to be open to turning boring boxed food into a tasty meal, especially when boxed food is the mostly likely thing to come out of food banks or other donation-run food sources. It's also a great way to show off to your friends that being vegetarian can also be simple, convenient, and way tastier than that frozen thing they just ate that used to be a slice of beef and some potatoes.

Preachy Picky Eaters

2009-10-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

We have decided to bring back the cookbook. In that spirit, here's some vegetarian humor.

Accidental Shepherd's Pie

2008-11-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

Wine and Shepherd's pie

Make too much vegan chili. Screw up the loaf of bread that was supposed to go with the chili. Cuss for at least three minutes, and leave the bread to stale for bread crumbs.

Eat half of the chili.

Forget about the rest for a week. Make a run to the Strip and get some cheap box wine to give some meaning to your English degree.

Find what used to be the zucinni that was to fried with the bread crumbs. Make the room mate transport ooky gooyness to the compost pile.

Get a glass of cheap box wine from the fridge. Find the chili in the fridge just before it's due to go bad. Freak out. Have an epiphany and go buy a bag of potatoes.

But drink the wine first if you aren't driving. Do not stop at the coffee shop for chai on the way back. Just go home, the cat gets lonely.

Slice up the bread, and toast it in the oven. Try not to set the oven on fire, like I did. Four inch flames all over a nice cookie sheet borrowed from my mom, and a mess of wet charcoal that was left to sit on my back porch over night...

However it turns out, pour another glass of wine and drink throughout the remaining steps.

Take out the left over chili and leave it on the counter, letting it warm up a bit until you need it. This should be chili that has set for a few days and is good and thick.

While the bread is toasting (not burning!), cut up four or five good sized potatoes and put them on to boil.

When the toast is done, take the pan out, but leave the oven on at about 400 F.

Break toast up into pieces, and place in a bag of some sort (plastic will rip, I had bread dust everywhere). Take your hammer, visualize any ex-lover, and smash the toast into bread crumbs.

When the potatoes are good and soft, drain the water and mash them up in a bowl with some olive oil, sea salt, soy milk, pepper, chili powder, cumin, and any other spices that the chili was made with, to taste/texture. Don't forget a few dashes of hot sauce. Dump the bread crumbs into the mashed potatoes and mix it all up.

Mush 2/3 of the potato and crumbs mix all over the inside of a casserole dish, making something that vaguely resembles a pie crust, including up the sides of the dish. Throw the casserole into the oven until the potatoes are crispy. Take it out and get the chili.

You should be due more wine. Take care of that first. Maybe pet the cat if he's been screaming about being ignored.

Spoon the chili into the dish. Hopefully you have enough to fill the crust up to about a half inch below the crust edge. Take what's left of the potato/crumb mix, and spread it over the chili. Lots of variables can make this tricky. If the mix is too thick to spoon smoothly, or the chili still has a lot of liquid, you may have to crumble it like cheese all over the chili. Cover the chili as best you can.

Throw the dish back into the oven.

Pour another glass of wine. Wash the dishes, play with the cat, make a new collage for your Dinosaur Wall, it's gonna be a while.

When the top crust is somewhere between golden and dark brown, take the pie out of the oven. More wine, to celebrate.

Eat your kickass shepherd's pie.

Bother me until I type out the directions for my new vegan chili.