7 posts tagged “food”

beeeeyoteeeeeful!!!!!!!!  but here is the money shot:

gawjus.  just gawjus. 

i may have taken it out of incubation a little to early.  the mycelium (white stuff) isn't really THICK but i don't care.  it is a firm little cake, just like storebought tempeh.  it has a lovely mushroomy scent.  and since i actually didn't fail this time i can simply repeat the steps i took to make it and MAKE MORE!  woot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i made these tonight.  when you look at them you think "hmm.  chocolate chip cookies." 
yes, from the outside they look like unassuming chocolate chip cookies.  they are, however, NOT!

i thought i'd try the vegan chocolate chip cookies from "vegan with a vengeance".  i only had 1 cup of chocolate chip cookies and the recipe called for 1.5 cups.  i thought of adding raisins (nope).  currants (negative).  dates (no). 
wait. 
how about crystallized ginger?
YES!!!!

so i made the recipe according to directions.  i added the minced (and i mean minced...i chopped mine in the vitamix on low) crystallized ginger at the creaming fat/sugar stage. 

the recipe on the whole didn't work so well for me.  by the time i added all the flour it was terribly crumbly and didn't hold together so i had to add 2 tablespoons of soymilk at the very end, before i added the chips.  by that time i had basically given up hope because i figured the dough had become over beaten. meh!  next time i'm adjusting the recipe from the beginning.
i baked the cookies anyway because what the hell?  the dough was TAAASTTTYY.  num.

they are freaking DELICIOUS.  holy madre.  i have already eaten four/five.  good thing they are small. 

next time i'm adding more ginger and playing with the recipe to reduce the fat.  they're a little greasy for my tastes.  i'd like to see less grease, more flavah.

the dutch oven isn't BLACK yet like my other cast iron pans but it's on its' merry merry way.  the oil heats...

and in the flour goes.


















stir constantly.....


















let bubble and brown.  the roux browned perfectly.  i could clearly see the heat was distributed evenly across the surface of the pan when i stopped stirring.  there were exactly the same sized bubbles spread across the through the whole roux mixture.  it was truly a beautiful thing to behold but i might be veering into geek territory.













add a couple other things and viola!  gumbo.  nummyness.  the kale from the CSA melted into a beautifully silky texture in the gumbo.  truly, truly delicious.  i'm making plans for the chard next.  ::drools::

i don't think i have ever had it.  i've had cracker jack.  popcorn balls.  fiddle faddle.  other popcorn/sugar incarnations.  it's all good.  a little sweet though.
*that*, my friends, is where kettle corn comes in.  it's sweet AND salty and not too much of either.  nice balance.  i saw the recipe at vegweb when i was browsing recipes last week and thought "hmm!  i'll have to try that!"  i was thinking it would be like cracker jacks or popcorn balls but it is *vastly* different.  if you've had it you know what i mean. 
's good.  pretty easy.  try it out--you might like it!

my quest for a GOOD blender began last year:
my favorite breakfast IN THE WORLD is a good smoothie (except in the winter.  winter is a pretty smoothie lite season).  for a long time a wal-mart blender that i inherited from a relocating friend fulfilled the smoothie chore.  it did a really shitty job?  but it was free and it was there.  then i burned it up.  literally.  so i had to buy another one because i love my breakfast smoothie.  i spent about 2 weeks researching the best one last summer.  consumer reports recommended a braun something or other.  so fine, i buy it.  while i was researching, though, i kept reading about the vitamix and how amazing they are.  one look at the price tag, though, and of course it was "no way." 

so i get the braun recommended by consumer reports.  2 weeks and it's dead.  i send it back to get it replaced.  three weeks and it's dead.  by then the place where i bought it (online) wouldn't take it back.  another dead blender. yay.

so i went to walmart and bought their most expensive one.  and it was pretty good.  it actually crushed ice.  it made an AWESOME margarita with no ice chunks in the bottom.  it worked.  then?  b.f. dropped and broke the incredibly heavy glass carafe.  which was fine because it was still winter and i wasn't in a smoothie mood.  but now it's spring.  and i have to have my smoothie.  and i was sick to DEATH of dealing with shitty blenders.  i wanted something that worked.  so i decided to take the plunge and get...[gulp!]...the vitamix.  super 5000. 

some people splurge on electronics, some on handbags, others on shoes.  i?  splurged on a blender.  and it?  so far?  has been The Single Best Purchase i've ever made. 

i was completely unaware of all it could do before i bought it.  i was just thinking "smoothie".  no, my friends.  this thing can make bread (from whole wheat berries to dough in about 5 minutes or so).  it can make "ice cream".  it can literally make soup IN THE BLENDER.  and that soup?  is GOOD!  since it arrived on wednesday/thursday of last week i have made bread, soup, ice cream, smoothies, (smooth!) peanut butter, iced coffees--you name it.  and it's all soooo gooood!

i made this saturday night.  it's a banana/caramel/cinnamon "ice cream" in a homemade pizzelle bowl.  mmm!  pizzelles!  the ice cream is a recipe i made up because i was craving bananas foster.  it's not REALLY ice cream--it's made only with frozen bananas, a little soymilk, a little caramel and a little cinnamon. and it's not THICK like ice cream--it's sort of like soft serve ice cream.  but it's very very good.  and it's great because you're eating really healthy, whole ingredients (well, not the caramel!) instead of processed soy ice cream or dairy ice cream.  it's just frozen bananas! 

even though i spent more on this thing than i really wanted to  i don't think i'm going to regret it.  it has a seven year warranty and there are all kinds of people who are still using theirs from the 70's. 

i am completely in love!

vegan coconut french toast with real maple syrup.  sooo  goooooood!

dinner:

black bean and masa stacks.
i wanted to do some masa tonight and i found this recipe on food network that inspired me.  it's a completely different recipe, though.  i just made refried black beans and added a ton of cilantro because i love it and then i basically followed the food network recipe.  i used some pepper/onion for a topping instead, too.  it was really good but next time i will do some tweaking.