For weeks now I’d been looking forward to attending the local PPK brunch meet-up that was being hosted by Your Vegan Mom. I’d planned to make the delicious sounding recipe from Vegan Planet for the Pumpkin Rum Couscous Cake. The recipe seemed super easy to make and I liked the idea of trying couscous as an ingredient in something sweet.

I realize couscous is not something you usually associate with cake, or dessert for that matter, but trust me… this cake is really wonderful and doesn’t taste weird at all. It’s not much like a cake actually, the texture is similar to thick pudding (like bread pudding) or a lumpy cheesecake. The flavor is a lot like pumpkin pie… so basically imagine a textured, pumpkin pie cheesecake. Yeah, it’s kinda like that… only better than it sounds. And vegan. As hoped for the recipe is beyond easy to follow… there is no cooking involved, the most complex things you need to do are boil water, measure out some spices and run a blender. Since there were going to be kids at this gathering, and because I’m not big into the hooch myself, I left out the rum (though I’m sure the rum in the recipe makes it that much more extra special).

Anyone who likes pumpkin pie, or cheesecake, or even just the idea of those two being in the same room together should like this cake-pie-pudding. I’ll also note that this cake makes for not only a delightful dessert, but also a perfect breakfast. No one needs to be told it’s vegan or even that it’s made from tofu and couscous. Just tell them to put it in their mouths & shut up until they are ready to thank you and ask for more (believe me, they will ask you for more). I’m not saying that the fact that it’s vegan needs to be a secret at all, but you know how some people are… they’ll turn up their noses and won’t even want to try it if they hear the words “vegan” or “tofu”, so with these types of folks it’s best to hook ‘em in first through their tastebuds before laying your cards out on the table.

Now back to this party and why I titled this post “the cake that no one almost ate”. The thing is, I’m a moron. I somehow got my days confused and thought the brunch was on Sunday (today) when it was actually on Saturday (yesterday). See? Moron. So after bragging all this time to the PPK folks about how my couscous cake was going to knock their socks off, I ended up being a no-show. What a dork! I’ve heard since that the gathering was a smashing and delicious success, so all’s well that ends well.

Thusly my cake was to remain mostly uneaten other than by myself, but thankfully my mom came to the rescue wanting to taste the thing (I told you I’d been bragging about it). Once she’d had a bite it was no work at all for me to convince her to take it home with her (the last thing I need is to be left alone in a house with an entire cake all to myself.. it wouldn’t end well for me, or the cake).

The moral of this story is twofold:

1. Always make a note of important dates so that you don’t miss events you’ve been looking forward to attending. Especially if you’re planning to make cake and are going to brag about it.

2. You should get a copy of the Vegan Planet cookbook because it rocks and is full of awesome recipes like this cake, and everything else under the vegetarian sun. The book is a mighty tome of all things vegan and delicious.

ABOUT VEGAN PLANET:

Vegan Planet:
400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World
by Robin Robertson

“Vegan Planet is a Joy of Cooking for vegans. Like that book, it is authoritative, encyclopedic, and complete.” -VegNews

Vegan Planet introduces a world of delicious choices to the millions of Americans who are vegans or non-vegetarians who have food sensitivities or are simply trying to eat healthier. A vegan diet contains no eggs, dairy, or other animal products but is chock full of delicious nutritious, and satisfying whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and proteins from plant sources.

In Vegan Planet, Robin Robertson shows how to make vegan cuisine exciting, flavorful, and full of variety. First she provides a complete rundown on the vegan pantry and the tremendous health benefits of eating vegan. Then she presents 400 tantalizing new recipes for breakfast (Pumpkin Pie Pancakes), lunch (Portobello Fajitas) and creative ideas for entertaining guests (Ginger-Scented Pot Stickers, Curried Cauliflower Pakoras). Taking advantage of the many cuisines around the world with large repertoires of naturally vegan recipes, Vegan Planet is truly global in its culinary offerings.
Buy Vegan Planet Cookbook…

Robin Robertson is also the author of a brand new vegan cookbook:

Vegan Fire & Spice:
200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes

Inspired by a few different recipes I found online for roasted brussels sprouts, I took what I liked best from each and ran with it. I’ve never tried roasted brussels sprouts before so I wasn’t sure if I’d like them; the last time I had this vegetable it was not prepared well and the results were awful. I was pleased to discover however that when roasted this way they are delectable.

Below is what I came up with, my own version of a roasted brussels sprouts recipe - if something this simple can even be called a recipe. I’m not giving any exact amounts because that’s really just not how I roll when I’m cooking on the fly. Plus it’s all going to depend on how many brussels sprouts you’re planning to cook. Be creative and just season these according to your taste.

Chop off the knobby bits on the end then slice the brussels sprouts in half. The young, small ones taste the best.
In a large bowl mix together the brussels sprouts with:
- just enough olive oil to coat
- two splashes of balsamic vinegar
- one large crushed garlic clove
- couple dashes each of sea salt, black pepper, red chili flakes and nutritional yeast
Place on baking sheet and roast at 400 for about 15 min. Turn and roast for another 5 minutes or until the tops get nicely browned and slightly crispy.

I made a quick dipping sauce of balsamic vinegar, agave nectar and more red chili flakes.

At this point I’m addicted to roasted brussels sprouts and I’ve been making them almost everyday for the past week. They make for the perfect quick, cheap and super healthy snack, something I’m grateful for right now as I’m attempting to shed the winter weight.

I may have just found my new favorite recipe, the Tamarind Lentils from the Veganomicon cookbook. Oh mama, were these good! I love this delicious vegan recipe not only for it’s inherent deliciousness, but also because it was super easy to make, and from start to finish I prepped, cooked and ate my food all in less than one hour. The recipe is pretty foolproof.

Described in the book as “savory, tangy, and sweet… Indian-inspired lentils”, that’s exactly how they taste. The flavor is full and exotic, the tartness of the tamarind cut nicely with sweetness coming from agave nectar, garam masala and tomato paste. You also get a nice spicy kick now and again from cayenne and ginger.

I did make some of my own modifications because I’m the sort that just can’t leave well enough alone. The recipe calls for onion which I wasn’t going to subject myself to, so instead I used fennel. Yes, I realize that fennel tastes nothing like an onion, however it does look kind of similar when cooked… and what the heck, I love fennel. Whatever change this gave to the flavor of the dish did nothing but enhance it’s greatness. The recipe also calls for 3 tablespoons of coconut or peanut oil, neither of which I had on hand, so I used canola instead and cut it down to 1 tablespoon. Really, 3 seems excessive, don’t you think? I needed to cook the lentils a little bit longer than the recipe suggested in order to get them tender, so I just added a bit more water and let them simmer until they softened up.

The recipe suggests having this with basmati rice but at the time I was making it I was already very hungry and wasn’t about to mess with making rice or the like. Instead I made a Jamie Oliver inspired (and veganized) raw-slaw of red & purple carrots, yellow beets and red cabbage* with miso-seseame dressing.

If you don’t already own a copy of the Veganomicon then you’ll want to get one now for your uncensored, all-access pass to the tamarind lentils recipe. If I were to tell you that your life will never be complete until you’ve made and eaten this dish, than I would only be slightly exaggerating.

*Why is it called red cabbage when we can all clearly see that it’s purple?

And so here we have it. I told you in my last post about the fantastic tempeh stuffed mushrooms we learned to make at the Spork Foods vegan protein cooking class (say that ten times, really fast). I loved this recipe so much and found it so easy to make that I immediately made my own version at home. Here’s the results…

The biggest change I made was using the super large portobello mushrooms whereas the recipe uses the small ones (really, there is a huge mushroom under all that stuffing, I swear). To compensate for size I also had to wing it on amounts when putting together the marinade as I needed a lot more to cover these beauties. The only other real changes I made were using garlic instead of shallots and I also added in a generous amount of fresh chopped ginger; a little voice inside my head told me to.

As I mentioned in the Spork Foods post, I won’t give away Jenny’s recipe, but in all fairness you can pretty much look at this and figure out how to make something similar. How about the Cliff’s Notes version? Make yourself up a nice balsamic based marinade for your mushrooms and let them chillax for a bit. Chop up some of your favorite veggies and cook them up for a few minutes along with some crumbled, seasoned tempeh… then stuff those lovely mushrooms, throw the whole kit-and-kaboodle in the oven and bake.

Oh. My. Yum.

The nice thing is that you can really adapt this and change it up in so many different ways, from the spices and seasonings used, to the types of veggies that go into the stuffing. So have at it!

This evening I found myself at home with very little food left in the house and no desire to go out. I created this dish out of basically everything that I had left that would play well together. Let’s call it a sweet potato and tempeh hash.

Ok, so it’s not really very hash-like but just go along with it and humor me. To start I used the food processor to shred two medium sweet potatoes, two small fennel bulbs and one red bell pepper. In a skillet I heated up some olive oil and pressed garlic (one large clove), then added in the sweet potato. After letting that cook for few minutes I added in one package of tempeh, crumpled. The easiest way to stir and mix this up was to use tongs. After about two minutes I added in the fennel and bell pepper, along with about a tablespoon of lemon juice and a bit of water. At this point I added in a few shakes each of corinader, cumin, ginger powder, black pepper, chili pepper flakes, a dash of yellow curry and about two tablespoons of agave nectar. I let this cook while occasionally mixing until the potatoes were soft and the tempeh cooked through.

Very nice! It was surprisingly tasty for something I just totally made up as I went. Would have been nice though to get it all a little more crispy… I’ll aim for that next time I make something like this.

Here’s a recent salad I made…

Torn spinach leaves, garbanzo beans, satsuma tangerine, fresh cilantro, walnuts, vegan baco bits, lime juice and Bragg ginger & sesame dressing.

I am obsessed with satsuma tangerines right now and eat them with everything, as well as on their own of course. The nice lady who sells the organic satsumas at the Hollywood Farmers market told me that this week was the last of the season (for her) and that the recent rains had messed up a lot of the local farmers crops. I did notice that all the offerings of these delightful tangerines this week were very tiny. How sad that their short season is nearly over. You better believe I stocked up.

Tonight I made the cholent recipe from Veganomicon. It came out really good, though it didn’t really remind me of real cholent the way my mama and her mama used to make it, but it does make for a delicious and hearty stew all the same.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I used red lentils instead of French lentils because that’s what I had on hand. I used peas instead of lima beans, not because I don’t like them but because I couldn’t find them already cooked (I wanted to make this now and not wait for beans to soak… the recipe said peas could be substituted), and I used ready made seitan instead of TVP chunks. They specify in the recipe that it must be TVP chunks and not the flakes, however TVP chunks are impossible to get just about anywhere unless I wanted to bother mail-ordering some (or try harder), which I didn’t. The seitan made a fine substitute and allowed me to make the entire recipe using all organic ingredients.

I really liked the flavor that came through from the caraway seeds. Next time I make this I’ll use more garlic, leave out the lentils and instead use barley which is more traditional. I’ll also acquire lima beans as it’s not really cholent without them. Overall, a great recipe as is, regardless of whatever you call it. There’s lots of interesting info on cholent to be found in the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholent

Le Chaim!

So of course I was eager to make something with the purple cauliflower from the farmers market. I mean hello, it’s purple! Simple is what I do best, so very simply I roasted the cauliflower along with butternut squash in a light coating of olive oil, agave nectar, coriander, ginger powder and red pepper flakes. It came out very tasty, with the butternut squash perfectly caramelized at the edges.

To go with this dish I also tried my hand once again at the infamous Veganomicon Chickpea Cutlets. This time around I was much more successful (you can read about my not so successful first try, here). What did I do differently this time around?

As suggested by Your Vegan Mom, I made sure to use the exact measurements of liquids so as to not mess up all the mysterious wheat gluten magic action. Since I didn’t want to use as much soy sauce as the recipe calls for (2 tablespoons), I instead used 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of Bragg’s and substituted the last 1/2 with water. Also, this time I fried them instead of baked.

The texture and consistency was much better. They are quite good! I had to use a lot more oil in order to fry them up nicely than I’d normally like to use when I cook (my fault for not using non-stick pans), so next time I’ll try baking them again but will make sure to use enough liquid, perhaps even a bit extra to compensate.

Before I forget, here’s a few more things I recently cooked up…

Yummy salad of red cabbage, fuji apple, garbanzo beans, lime juice, flax oil and ‘Bragg Healthy Organic Vinaigrette’.

Quinoa cooked with kale, garlic, coriander, cumin and turmeric.

Kamut pasta with a sauce made from walnuts, red bell pepper, garlic, lemon juice, flax oil, sambal, agave nectar and a dash of black pepper. Wow, this came out way better than I could have hoped for as I was inventing it on the fly. The picture doesn’t make it look very appetizing (that’s Nooch sprinkled on top btw), but you’ll have to take my word for just how good it tasted. Would I lie to you?

This past Sunday was a monumental day of fantastic vegan food eating for myself, VegYogini and Your Vegan Mom (let’s just call her Trina). It started off as a beautiful sunny day brunch at the home of Trina with her lovely family and friends. It ended with an amazing dinner at a new (not-yet-open but sure to blow your mind) vegan Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo. I’ll be telling you all about that special adventure soon, but for now let’s get back to brunch, shall we?

We were greeted first thing at Trina’s to a basket of scrumptious, freshly baked muffins and mimosa. One type of muffin involved apples and all other manner of yummy, the other muffin was carrot… and dang, I don’t really remember what all went into these. In a testament to their awesomeness though I can tell you that I ate them in multiples (and got to bring some home with me too).

VegYogini and I got to lend a helping hand in sectioning grapefruits for a fresh citrus salad with mint and agave nectar.

Trina’s pièce de résistance were these incredible little mini crustless quiches. They were based on the recipe over at the Fat Free Vegan blog but using different veggies. One was made with Swiss chard, the other with sweet potato and roasted Pablano peppers (it’s highly possible that I’m getting the details all wrong, so if Trina is reading this, feel free to correct any errors). Anyhow, these were soooo good! They tasted exactly like an egg quiche but were in fact totally vegan… and totally delicious. I’ve got to try and make these.

Tasty rosemary roasted potatoes.

And here’s my plate bringing it all together…

What a groovy way to spend the day. I highly suggest that you find someone to invite you over to their house for a homemade vegan brunch. Or if you’re up to it, host one yourself. Then invite me.

Check back soon for “Foodeater’s Day of Vegan Feasting, Part 2: Dinner”

I’ve written before of my love for Korean style barley tea (Mugicha). I’d heard it was pretty easy to make so I decided to give it a go. I combined what I learned about making it from various online sources, as well as some info I picked up from Alton Brown on his recent Good Eat’s episode on barley.

First I dry roasted the barley in a skillet. I wasn’t sure exactly how much to roast them, so I let them go until they got nice and browned, removing from heat just before they were about to burn.

The roasted barley then went into 2 liters of boiling water, continued to boil for about 3 minutes, then was removed from the heat and left to steep. I also added in about a quarter cup of agave nectar and half a lemons worth of juice.

After steeping for half an hour, I strained the liquid from the barley and set it aside to cool. The cooked barely looked and smelled really good too, I’ll get back to that in minute.

And here’s the result! It came out pretty good for my first try, though it wasn’t exactly like I wanted it to be. I didn’t like the lemon, or maybe I just used too much of it. The lemon idea came from Alton Brown (damn you, Alton!)… next time I make this I’ll leave out the lemon all together and add some in afterwards if I think it needs any. Also the tea had taken on a bit more of the roasted flavor than I would have like, so maybe I did let the barley roast for too long after all. It didn’t taste burned, but the taste had crossed over from a delicate tea flavor to more of a roasted coffee flavor.

Now back to the cooked barley. When cooking barley to eat it should be cooked longer than the half hour I boiled this batch for, but because it was left to steep in the hot water for a while, it got cooked through and was only slightly “al dente”. It had a wonderful nutty scent and the taste of sweet agave nectar had been cooked right in, so instead of wasting it I decided to make a hot cereal out of it.

I added in some rice milk, cinnamon and drizzled on a little bit more agave… and this turned out to be one of the tastiest late night breakfasts I’ve ever accidentally invented by way of making something else.

And it’s with those delicious New Year’s eve brownies that I kissed off a bittersweet 2007. Now that it’s 2008 I’m getting back to basics after some much deserved indulgences.

This was a quick sauté of chickpeas, mushrooms and red chard in small amount of olive oil, lemon juice, Bragg’s, fresh garlic and red pepper flakes. I served it over a mound of quinoa tabbouleh which I picked up from HealthyCA. I’m not sure exactly how they make it but I can tell you that it’s better than crack. Yeah, it’s that good.