Our New Address!

Finally, the simplified address I wanted for this blog all along has become available. Find us at:

http://www.vegetarianatlarge.blogspot.com/.

 See you later! Peace, Mari

2012: The Year of Eating Dangerously

Looking out at our winter's first stay-put dusting of snow, it seems wrong that there are still buds on the tree from a few days of 50 degree temps. You can see that there are subtle changes happening in our weather systems, changes that may cause more unpredictability. Changes that will certainly continue to affect how and what we grow and consume. Last year the strawberries in our area were almost non-existent, beaten by hard rains that didn't let up. But the long, mild Autumn kept us in fresh peppers till November.

These little differences do pop up over time, of course, but the gradual shift from 4 clearly defined seasons to a weird melding of three-ish has been noticeable here in WNY. It's not a fluke, it's a sign-- directional or warning, I'm not qualified to say, but let's not pretend we don't see the patterns forming.

I expect that having a versatile cooking style and a well-stocked pantry may become more than convenient in future-- it may become necessity, or at least a huge bonus. Let's face it, being able to cook well with abundant, stellar ingredients is no great shakes. You don't have to do much there. Being able to make nourishing, sustaining and tasteful meals from what's on hand is a real skill, at times maybe even a life-saving one. It's something I'm always working on, aided by a low income and a love of reading about food.

My mother and grandmother both developed this skill. Mom had 6 kids of her own to feed, and later a couple of our cousins, too. Gram lived through the Great Depression. The need was there, and they didn't shirk their duty. I'm hoping to take it farther, in a way: making good food without meat, heat, or a bevy of seasonings if needed. You never know what you'll be up against in a crisis!

So many people have suffered lately from weather events, but we tend to think of those crises in terms of what material goods are lost in the end. What about how they got through it? Surely that is worth focusing on, too. From some firsthand accounts I've read, a shared meal put together by a circle of equally affected neighbors has truly been a way to face down disaster and bolster weatherbeaten spirits, just as a progressive dinner is a way to build up community in good times. I ask myself, how would I come through such an experience? It's not an idle question; I saw the blizzard of '77, and it was no joke, whatever Mayor Griffin said about settling in with a six-pack.

* Perry's ice Cream-- a homegrown favorite!


In the meantime, I think we can hope for the best, and prepare ourselves by learning to be flexible, generous and forgiving, as cooks and eaters; and conscientious as consumers. Do what you can towards keeping this a blue & green planet, and skip the guilt over what you can't.

It's been just over a year since I began this blog. In 2012, I am going back to basics in some ways-- rekindling my hubby-man's connection to our kitchen-life by revisiting old recipes we made together over a decade ago. And I want to learn more, try more ways of eating, more types of restaurants, more styles of food prep, more choices in baking. I'd like to take it to the edge-- but honestly, I'm not sure what that means.

Do me a favor, if you would, and post your own food resolutions, fears or predictions here. Or tell the tale of your year in food... I love to read a good story!

Peace, Mari

Turkey day? I don't think so.

I found these words today, from a writer and person I've long admired:

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."
--Alice Walker

Turkey day? Uh-uh.

Well, there will be one at the gathering I'm going to, because the vegetarian members of my family, several of us, give our whole family the respect we want extended to us: that is, the right to eat what we will and not be ostracized for our choices.

So we ignore the bird, and I thank my mother for making her delicious stuffing with veg broth instead of chicken broth as she did for decades. It's worth some gratitude, with slowly caramelized onions and a moist texture I love; and it's a mouthful of memory.

Thanksgiving has always been about the side dishes for me. Salad, three kinds of cranberries on the table, fresh green beans, peas or broccoli, yams-- let's not forget the ten different starches that might show up, too.

I'm lucky that our traditions have always included lots of vegetables and not just potatoes. It made going veg easier, and it makes my choice of what to "bring" easier too, now that I attend a family dinner instead of hosting. We do a potluck style meal, everyone pitching in to make a true groaning board. We've never bothered with a consolation main course for us vegheads.

For those of you, my friends, that don't have vegetarian friendly families to help them along, I hope you'll treat yourself to a nice little feast of your own. Personally, I'm bringing coffee, one of the cranberries, a dessert I have to decide on TODAY, and the recipe below.

I'm looking forward to Mom's stuffing, my older sister's roasted brussels sprouts, my younger sister's pumpkin pie, whatever awesome new taste my most experimental niece brings (the women do most of the cooking with us, but the guys can cook, especially my brothers... but most of us cook because we enjoy it), and yes, the mashed potatoes. It'll be a big, warm feast just as winter is starting to close in here in Buffland.

Wishing you calm nourishment, whatever you do this week--

Peace, Mari



Cauliflower Cheddar Gratin with Horseradish Crumbs

Gourmet | November 2002 (how I miss Gourmet!)

Makes 8 servings


3 lb cauliflower (1 large head), cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch florets
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk (I'll be using unsweetened soymilk)
6 oz sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated (2 cups)
1/2 cup finely chopped scallion greens
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
20 (2-inch square) saltine crackers
2 tablespoons drained bottled horseradish

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Cook cauliflower in a 5- to 6-quart pot of boiling salted water until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain cauliflower well in a colander and transfer to a buttered 2-quart baking dish.

While cauliflower is cooking, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook roux over low heat, whisking, 3 minutes. Add milk in a slow stream, whisking, and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Reduce heat and simmer sauce, whisking occasionally, 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese, scallion greens, salt, and pepper, whisking until cheese is melted. Pour cheese sauce over cauliflower and stir gently to combine.

Coarsely crumble crackers into a bowl. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and stir in horseradish. Pour over crumbs and toss to coat.

Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over cauliflower.

Bake gratin in middle of oven until topping is golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Making the Most of it All...

The fruits of fall are something we do well here in WNY-- apples, pears, pumpkin are ripe now and full of flavor. I dare anyone to eat a fresh picked NY Macintosh and not love it; that sweet-tart, crisp white flesh also makes any apple recipe more interesting, to me: tangier is better, and Macs give great crunch.

I've been cooking up some of my seasonal favorites the last few days, with my recent haul from the Farmer's Market (of course) where there is still, incredibly, fresh corn, tomatoes in green and red, peppers galore, and many lovely squashes to be had, among the apple-filled aisles. Even a few plums!

But last night saw some frost, I think, there's snow mixed with rain out there now, and we won't be getting any more local 'matoes for a while. Each month we have to say goodbye to another taste. Sigh.

While you can:

Do yourself and any children that hang out at your house a favor and pick up a few little decorative gourds. Leave them out all month on a platter or other tray and let them dry out inside-- not all of them make it, but those that withstand molding give alot of percussive fun! Several that sit on my table throughout the season are from the last two years. (below, how they added to my minimalist Solstice celebration last year)

I wipe them with a dry cloth to shine them up first, but don't wash; they have a natural protective coating, like all fruits and veg, that inhibits mold. It helps them turn from pretty decorations into intriguing instruments that anyone can play.

So the other night, the golden pears in my silver bowl called to me, and I answered by making some of them into muffins, using a recipe we've enjoyed for some years. It was only the second or third recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine I'd ever honestly liked; their food has gotten better in the last 8 or 9 years. These muffins are a prime example-- they're healthy as good muffins can be, and too satisfying for anyone to think about that while eating them. And I can tell you, they make as good a midnight snack as they do a breakfast treat.

My giant muffin tin loves this recipe; the batter holds up in the bigger cups without a problem, but regular sized work too. I've made them with soymilk or dairy milk, and yesterday used Almond Breeze Vanilla, with a good squirt of lime juice to clabber it.

Almond milk doesn't always provide as high a rise in quick breads (in my experience) as soymilk, but clabbering seems to have done the trick-- they were perfect. Even though I had run out of whole wheat flour and had to-- or did, anyway-- sub an even mix of wheat bran and Aldi's cut-rate rice crisp cereal for the WW. Never let them see you sweat!


Pear and Walnut Muffins
Vegetarian Times, March 2006, adapted slightly by Mari
Makes 12 regular or 5/6 large muffins

"These tender muffins wowed every one of our testers. They have a great nutty taste and are studded with chopped fresh pears. You can also make them with apples."

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or you can use a generous 1/2 C of white)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (reduce to 1/4 tsp if using prepared plant milks of any sort)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, or a mix of cinnamon and ginger
1 1/4 cups finely chopped ripe but firm pears (about 2 to 3 medium pears)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted*
3/4 cup reduced fat milk (I use soy or almond, clabbered)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (I use Olive oil)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or a few drops almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Coat 12 standard muffin pan cups with cooking spray.

2. Combine both flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl, and whisk to blend. Add pears and walnuts, and toss gently to coat.

3. Combine milk, oil, and egg and extract in small bowl; stir to blend. Make well in flour mixture, and add milk mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky).

4. Divide batter evenly among prepared cups. Bake 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pan**, and cool on wire rack.

*To toast walnuts:
Spread walnuts evenly in small baking dish or pie pan, and bake at 350F until fragrant and lightly browned, stirring twice, 6-8 minutes.


These muffins seem to prefer sitting in their pan for five-10 minutes first. It sets them and helps keep their shape nicely, no matter what VT thinks. Oh, they ARE good with apples, too-- and you can spice them anyway you like. I often add a little five spice or ground coriander to the cinnamon or in place of it.

Enjoy our last bit of October, and eat something good tonight!

Peace, Mari

Guest Post: Far From Home

Today I'm lucky to have a a beautifully written post. I can say that, because I didn't write it-- Canice from the CLBB did. I've long admired Canice's clear communication skills and her savvy at choosing excellent recipes and then taking them up a notch using her own fine-tuned palate. She's smart and funny and a damn good cook.

Although I was unable to post this as soon as written, it's as timely as could be, as you'll see. Enjoy what's she's dishing up!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


I’m a long-time acquaintance of Heavy Hedonist, and another enthusiastic home cook and lover of soup. When she asked whether I’d be interested in writing a guest entry for this blog, my first thought was “Sure! But I know nothing of summer in the East; what can I contribute that would be authentic?”

After more thought, I concluded that the only truly authentic view I can contribute is my own, natural one - that of a Bay Area native who’s spent her adult life in San Francisco, where the main purpose of the summer barbecue is to give the guests a place to find warmth against the cold, damp weather.

That’s the down side to summer living in the City by the Bay. On the plus side, there’s not a day of the week that there’s not a farmers’ market being held somewhere in this small city - often a number of markets. There’s the large, well-known Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, featuring gorgeous, (mostly) organic produce, each stall carefully marked with a card showing the farm’s location in California, miles to market, the number of people employed full time, and information about the owners.

On that same day, across town, is the much older (dating to World War II) and much more down-home Alemany Farmers’ Market, with low prices, rangy setting, and more ethnic produce, owing to the large Hispanic, Hmong (and other East and South Asian) farmer populations in California’s San Joaquin Valley. And many small, neighborhood markets in between.

No matter the size or location of the market, though, one thing you can count on in August is fresh, local corn. And I’ve always considered it a blessing that corn and fog are peak-of-season together, for that means I can enjoy fresh corn chowder with all of its sweet, warm comfort against a damp grey night.

There are endless permutations of corn chowder, of course, and I love that, too: corn chowder with a fresh tomato salsa; or with diced summer squash, garnished with cheery squash blossoms or bright herbs. Vegetarian or vegan, it’s delicious, and is a fine match to shellfish of many sorts, for those who so choose.

No matter the style, one thing I insist on including in all of my corn chowders is peppers, up to five or six sorts of fresh, and always some hot pepper sauce, for not just heat but also for the nice acid kick that helps balance out flavors. I recently made a summer corn chowder with peppers and a tomato-basil garnish, and it struck me what a wonderfully New World dish that really was, featuring three of the Americas’ greatest contributions to world cuisine: corn, tomatoes and peppers.

And then, the very next day, in my inbox was the monthly newsletter from Rancho Gordo, the amazing little company in Napa, California, dedicated to promoting the consumption of heirloom beans of many, many types, and to preserving them by collecting beans from small Mexican and South American producers and growing them in Northern California - as well as via direct imports from small family farms. But it’s worth noting that the company isn’t “Rancho Gordo Beans” but “Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Foods” - they don’t limit themselves to beans - and in that newsletter was a recipe for a corn chowder that also called for quinoa, a long-time staple of native peoples of the Andes, and amaranth, another Incan staple. While my version of corn chowder may have been “wonderfully” New World, it wasn’t “perfectly” New World - and this one came close!

The recipe provided by Steve Sando (founder and president of Rancho Gordo) is based on an out-of-print book called “Spirit of the Earth: Native Cooking from Latin America” and Steve had this to say about the recipe:



Everybody seems interested in whole grains these days, thanks to the good work of people like Heidi Swanson, Lorna Sass and the gluten-free movement. Grains like amaranth and quinoa are high in fiber, protein and flavor and it's been fun finding ways of incorporating them into a modern diet. Amaranth is particularly hard as it gets a little gooey when cooked. In Mexico, you mostly see it popped and in a sweet treat called Alegria, if at all.



I took some liberties with Steve’s interpretation of the recipe and came up with this deep, nourishing summer soup.



Corn Chowder with Quinoa and Amaranth


Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 cup finely diced celery

1-1/2 cups finely diced fresh peppers - poblano and red bell

1 1/2 cups finely chopped leeks (white and light green parts)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup amaranth

4 cups water, divided

1/2 cup quinoa, well rinsed

1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1teaspoon dried

4 cups corn kernels (from 4-5 ears), divided between 3 cups and 1 cup

1 Tbsp hot sauce

Juice of half a lime

1 cup half-and-half or whole milk

1/4 cup minced fresh herbs for garnish: basil, Italian parsley, or chives



Directions

In a large, heavy pot, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Stir in celery, peppers and leeks. [If using dried thyme, add it here.] Sprinkle salt over and stir frequently until the vegetable are soft, 3-5 minutes.


Stir in the Amaranth and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the Quinoa and [fresh] thyme. Return to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook at a gentle boil, partially covered, for 10 minutes.


In a food processor, puree 3 cups of corn with the remaining cup of water. Stir the corn puree and the remaining 1 cup of whole corn kernels into the soup. Add hot sauce and lime juice. Simmer 5 more minutes or until the Quinoa and Amaranth are tender.


Stir in the half and half and remaining tablespoon of butter. Add salt or other seasoning, according to taste. Divide into portions and garnish with fresh herbs.


Note: The soup may thicken on standing; thin as needed with water, milk, or vegetable stock.


Links related to this article:

Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market

http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/farmers_market.php


Alemany Farmers’ Market

http://sfgsa.org/index.aspx?page=1058


Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Foods

http://ranchogordo.com/


-----------------------------------------------

I have a pot of this soup starting right now-- Peace, Mari

Feeling it

The pleasures of a given season are hard for me to deny myself, and I can deny myself a lot. But the seasonal lusciousness of summer in Buffalo, which for me is part literary, part culinary and wholly sensual, is too much to forgo. Apart from the overbearing heat and the sudden busy-ness, underneath the glossy bullshit snapshot of these few short months that would have us all grilling huge hunks of cow and swimming in waterproof mascara (and not much else) is the real thing: sweet, soft wind and the green smell of mown lawns, music trailing from car windows, melons and berries and real tomatoes and extra time and light everywhere.

Reading and writing have a different quality in the summer, a freer feel— less serious, more flowing. You can put down a book and come back to it without worry, or decide to ignore the other things you’d normally do and just read (or write, or play guitar) all day. It’s a pleasure I give in to often, but I could let it go— it’s harder for me to let go the special tastes of summer, like a chilled Perfect Margarita at El Palenque, or a Raspberry Craze smoothie at Anderson’s. You may be able to have them in November, but they won’t taste the same any more than good eggnog will in August. You have to enjoy them now, and I am a sucker for the taste of a moment.

One special collection of flavors I haven’t been able to get to, yet-- and it’s driving me mad-- is Nigella Lawson’s Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad. I keep buying most of the ingredients and then not being able to find fresh mint, which is a key element. You can use a different onion, you can use almost any kind of black olive, but you can’t leave out the mint and have it taste the same. It’s cooling, sweet, salty, juicy; a bright and sharp mouthful of the best of summer.

You probably made it years ago when Forever Summer came out, or tried some more recent celeb chef interpretation of the concept; but if you haven’t already fallen in love with it, here it is. You’ll never eat anything fresher and more perfectly suited to an August afternoon. It’s a meal in itself for several people, 4-6 at least with baguette on the side, by my serving size. I’m determined to find some fresh mint, somewhere, and eat a plate of this under the shade of the old maple in the backyard, because the nights are getting cooler fast, and this pleasure won’t wait.

Nor does this salad hold up over time— make it not long before you mean to eat it, and share it or halve the recipe—it won’t taste great tomorrow, just now.
Adapted slightly from Nigella Lawson’s FOREVER SUMMER.

WATERMELON, FETA and BLACK OLIVE SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small red onion (hard to find here-- use half a large)
• 2-4 limes, depending on juiciness
• 3 ½ lbs. sweet, ripe watermelon
• 9 oz. feta cheese
• Bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Bunch fresh mint, chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 oz. pitted black olives (I use Kalamata when I can)
• Black pepper

METHOD

1. Peel and halve the red onion and cut into very fine half-moons and put in a small bowl to steep with the lime juice, to bring out the transparent pinkness in the onions and diminish their rasp. Two limes' worth should do it, but you can find the fruits disappointingly dried up and barren when you cut them in half, in which case add more.
2. Remove the rind and pips from the watermelon, and cut into triangular chunks. Cut the feta into similar sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow bowl. Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf, rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the chopped mint.
3. Tip the onions, along with their pink juices over the salad in the bowl, add the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad very gently so that the feta and melon don't lose their shape. Add a good grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime.

The above recipe has been a part of my late summer routine for years-- and that brings me to a new "feature" here on what I am starting to joke about as being the least read blog in the multiverse: for the new few months, I'm going to set aside Thursdays as a day for recipes, those that I truly rely on.

I'd call them Tried & True, for a catchy TRIED & TRUE THURSDAYS theme, but with me, it's more like tried & tweaked... what they will be, though, is recipes that are used so often, I don't measure or look at the book/clipping/scrawled notes anymore. I'll get myself posting regularly, and give out the friendliest, easiest, most affordable veg recipes from my decades of cooking in the process. Other days will remain a jumble of possibilities: reviews, reflections, diatribes, questions. Whatever living the veg life in Buffalo NY is about, as experienced by a foodie with more taste than money.

If you'd like to contribute a guest post, please contact me:
mkakitchenwitch@gmail.com

Peace, Mari

Roasting in August

Isn't it lovely? The wind is high and soft, the air cool and glistening... a perfect day to roast food, after months of using the oven as storage space for too many (unused) pans.

I think my plan of skipping over the end of Summer to early Autumn is working.

Time to turn up the heat and roast whatever is left in the crisper and vegetable bins-- chunked green pepper, lemon, potatoes, onion, garlic. Thrown into an iron skillet with a few Tbsp. of olive oil, a bay leaf or two and a smattering of rosemary. High heat, 425 degrees F or so. Stir after 20, 25 mintues. Continue roasting till everything is browned and cooked through; probably another 20 minutes or a little more. Sprinkle with sea salt or crumbled feta as soon as it comes out of the oven.

MMM. I love a day warm enough not to need a jacket but cool enough to make pie crust or roast potatoes. If Spring in Buffalo was like this, it would still be my favorite season. Sorry, Spring-- It's early Fall for me, now.

Tonight I'll be heading out to the newfangled Cafe Allegro for my writer's group and the Open Mic afterwards; alot of talented musicians and the occasional poet show up to perform, regularly. Nice evening for it, rain or no, and they have a fantastic selection of teas.

Enjoy the day! Peace, Mari

SIY--Smooth it Yourself

The continual heatwave has made us into cold breakfast people; a smoothie a day keeps the oatmeal away. And starts us out cool when the house is still too warm from being shut up during the night... so our cat won't pull out the screens and go off on a prowl. He's the Houdini of Cats, so we have to watch it.

Not that we don't let in a little air through the night-- we just don't keep the windows open enough for him to fit through if he should pull off the screens.

Cold smoothies for breakfast are a good way to get in lots of fresh raw fruit, nuts if you want them, protein powder if you use it.

I don't. Nor do I use all those wonderful smoothie recipes that fill family magazine food pages throughout Spring and Summer. I use a method instead, and it's perfect because it lets me adjust to what is in the fridge, fruit basket, and pantry at the moment of making. And it can be vegan, raw, half raw, gluten free, nut-free; whatever you need.

First, I like to start with some frozen fruit-- it removes the need for ice, which helps when you have a food processor instead of a blender. But if having complete raw is your thing, just refrigerate some of your fruit overnight. About a third of the 11-cup processor bowl gets filled with cold or frozen strawberries, blueberries or mixed berries, and any bananas that might have gotten thrown in there to keep them from dying a moldy death. If the fruit is big, chop it in half or thirds with a sharp chef's knife, even for a blender.

Process until the fruit is very small or pureed, then add the fresh fruit, washed, chopped, pitted & peeled as needed. Apples I peel, peaches I don't. I use as much fruit as I can, and as little of anything else as possible to make a rich, creamy drink. Any fruit is good, but some combos are better than others-- berries and banana work together, banana/plum/peach/nectarine and nuts with some nut butter and/or apple are good. Cherries are great with any other fruit. If you can afford the exotics, you likely know how to mix them. Melons work with berries or apples, but are more watery and better with soymilk than yogurt, so a thickener like ground flax or a handful of raisins or craisins is helpful.

If I'm going to be adding sweetened yogurt, almond or soy milk to the mix, I won't sweeten till the last blend. But this is a good place to add soaked, drained nuts, or flax seed, or a drop of vanilla. For almonds, you can let them soak in cool water on the counter all night, or soak for 6 hours before bed and stick them in the fridge, drained. An hour or so for softer nuts, then drain, etc.

Get the whole thing smooth, taste, and add just enough of any of the above liquids or yogurt to thicken it to your ideal mouthfeel. Or use a splash of any juice you have on hand to thin it a bit, and add more flavor too. A dash of spice like ginger, fresh or dried, or ground cinnamon or coriander, can be nice. We like it simple, most times.

Sweeten to taste with agave, maple, honey (warming this slightly in the microwave helps it dissolve in the cold smoothie) or a little sugar if you want, and process again till fluffy and thick, stopping to swipe the chunks down from the sides of the bowl towards the blades if needed.

You'll have a great cool smoothie without fuss or having to measure things in spoons & cups before your coffee. It makes about three good drinking glasses full, when the old FP is 2/3 or a little more full of smoothie. Add more to make more-- there's just two of us, since the cat doesn't like fruit, and I'm happy with one glassful.

Maybe you'll be more adventurous-- if we had a juicer, we'd be getting veggies in there too, and now that I think of it, some zucchini would easy to hide in a cherry-berry smoothie. Hmm. The hubby-man would never know. Think I'll be trying that tomorrow. Keep Cool!


Peace, Mari

Missing my old FM

Farmer's Market, that is. Today, and yes it later in the month than we would like, is the first day of Kenmore Village Farmer's Market.

And I am too sick to go! It's a small, friendly market with several farmers providing good basic veg and fruit and a few rarer items, such as last year's elderberries. The other vendors range from people selling flowers and herbs to Koop's Hot Sauce to local honey, syrup and jellies to handmade Nigerian jewelry and carved utensils to delicious baked goods and New Day Coffee Roaster's fresh roasted beans in a wealth of flavors.

In other words, it's wonderful. The bounty shown above is half of what I brought home one weekend last August, for about 20 bucks. Yeah, half.

The Market is open on the Village Commons at the intersection of Delaware Rd. and Delaware Ave. every Saturday, rain or shine, from 8am to 12:30 pm, until November. Go and get some real veg-- it makes all the difference to your tastebuds, not to mention your budget, and our environment.
Good stuff all around-- hope to see you there next week. I'll be the one in the black dress with a streak of violet in her hair and full bags of veg weighing her down.

Peace, Mari

Food for Quiet Thursday Thoughts...

Making fajitas-- whacked out fajita veggies!


Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Coming Attractions...

Imagine waiting 3 months for your life to begin...
that's what not having a working computer is like for a writer. That has to wait that long for a new laptop. Like me. I can be a foodie without one, but a writer? Well, yes. But not a happy one.
I'm happy now. Take note; in the month of May, I have backlogs of restauant reviews, a favorite (tweaked!) cake recipe to share, and plenty of raw love. I could also use some help with my garden, if anyone has the time...
Now go buy your mom a card printed in soy ink on recycled paper, and tell her she's the best Mom ever. Even if she wasn't.
My Mom is, though. She's a peach.

A Toad in the Hole is worth two in the garden...

MMM.

and a piece, ready for syrup...

From "The Splendid Spoonful," by Barbara Lauterbach, adapted** to veg by ME; variations, also by me.

TOAD IN THE HOLE


1 C AP/unbleached flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 C whole milk ( or soymilk, which works sooo wonderfully, or almond milk, which works but doesn't rise as high and light; 1/2 & 1/2 is excellent, too)

freshly ground black pepper

12 oz. link breakfast soysage, or 3/4 package Gimme Lean sausage style, rolled into link shapes, or small patties

2 Tbsp canola or olive oil

warm syrup & Frank's hot sauce, for serving

In a medium bowl, sift the flour and salt together. Make a well in the center and pour the eggs in the well. Stir in the milk in a slow, steady stream, beginning in the center and gradually working in all the flour from the sides.
When the mixture is well-blended, add pepper to taste and strain through a sieve into a bowl or large measuring cup.

LET REST for 30 minutes.

Place oven rack in middle of oven and preheat to 475 degrees F.

Add the oil to a 9x11-inch baking pan (I use my 10-inch iron skilllet, it's perfect!) and place the pan in the preheated oven. When the fat is very hot but not smoking, place sausages in pan and pour batter over. Return pan to oven and reduce heat to 425 F.

Bake the custard for 25-30 minutes, until puffy and golden brown. Cut into squares, (for us, four triangle portions) including some "toads" in each portion. Serve immediately with warmed maple syrup, or for Mari, hot sauce.

This couldn't be easier, takes almost no prep time, and uses pantry ingredients and not a lot of added fat. Nothing better in front of a fire with some coffee, syrup and hot sauce. Very satisfying: it's a cold weather staple around here.

**The original recipe uses meat breakfast sausages or British bangers that are basically parboiled before using.

Two frequent variations-- and their variations!

Chocolate Mandarin or Cherry-Chocolate

Follow above recipe, subbing 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder for an equal amount of flour, and adding 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar or regular sugar and few drops vanilla.
Drain a small can of mandarin oranges OR tart cherries in syrup, reserving syrup/juices from fruit, and use 1 C fruit, or a lttle more, in place of sausages. Right before pouring batter over fruit, fold in 1/3 C chocolate chips, if desired. Bake as usual.
While custard is baking, add 1 C water and 2 tsp cornstarch (dissolved in the water) to reserved juices in small saucepan, stir and simmer until thickened to a nice syrupy consistency. Serve this sauce instead of maple syrup.

Apple Cinnamon

Peel and chunk 1-2 small apples and saute in butter with cinnamon and a sprinkle of sugar till soft. Place in bottom of pan instead of sausages in key recipe. Add a dash each of cinnamon and ginger, and 1 tbsp sugar, to batter as well. Bake as usual. If desired, you can add a handful of butterscotch chips or cinnamon chips with this one-- but thoroughly grease your baking pan first, use the oil but don't preheat pan, as batter sticks a little with this one. It still comes out well!


Eat something goood today! Peace, Mari

Sick, Tired, Hungry.

Being sick makes eating a chore, when you are the chief cook (or only cook, as in my home) and bottle-washer. There’s nothing good, nothing that sounds good, except what you don’t have or can’t get. And the work to get it can seem overwhelming.

I’ve been sick for over a week now, and my appetite is low most of the day, right up until the point when I become ravenously hungry-- usually not until I’m too starved to think straight. The pleasures of takeout appear greater than they really are, and my bank account more expansive, too. But I don’t want to give in. I want a healthier meal, a supper that will nourish me and maybe even help me feel better. I know it’s possible; I just don’t know if it’s going to happen.

Part of being a good cook is learning how to deal with times like this, times when it is sooo much simpler to pick up a phone than a Wusthof Trident. Some people fill their freezers or cupboards with semi-convenient options, some people plan menus and do extra cooking in advance, some people are content with a quick, cold sandwich.

I generally just soldier on. Especially if other people are involved, waiting to be fed; I somehow find the energy, and put together a decent meal in an hour or less, from whatever I have on hand. Talk myself out of the hunger stupor I’m in and walk into the kitchen. I’ll make a pizza, a casserole, a savory bread pudding, a skillet sauté, a quick pasta sauce of shredded veg and olive oil. It’s always a good meal that makes me feel virtuous for having avoided the expense and extra cheesy calories of takeout.

If it’s just myself, I might skimp on the healthy food. That’s not fair, is it?

A good meal is more necessary, when you’re ill. More important than ever. You know that you deserve it-- making and giving out the benefit just don’t seem to go together.

At least we are lucky to live in a city here where delicious food can be delivered to your door in an hour on a Friday night, even when you don’t eat chicken wings. I’m having pizza, from Mamma Mia’s on Highland near Colvin. Green olives on half.

And maybe I have the energy to chop a broccoli salad, too, since the main dish is on it’s way. One of my favorites, from Cooking Light magazine a few years back-- it’s all raw, and it has apples in it, which my Mom told me today are “good for your lungs.” So, I’m easing up on the healthy meal tonight, mostly. But I’d love to know what you do, in similar circumstances, or how you prepare in advance.

It’s very very cold here in Buffland, and I want to drink some tea and steam my lungs before the delivery guy arrives, and I just got my new, plum purple ukulele from Amazon. It’s like a little piece of Hawaii in my hands, just when I needed it. I’m glad I ordered pineapple on the other half of the pizza. Mahalo! I hope you’ll eat something good tonight.


Sweet, crunchy apple and broccoli create a refreshing, light side dish. Prepare this salad up to eight hours in advance for best flavor and texture.

**Mari's notes-- I use olive oil, myself, and any onions or apples I have on hand-- but NY macs taste best, to me. You can make this a more appley or more veggie salad as you like. It is far more than the sum of it's parts.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)


Ingredients
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (1 1/4-pound) head of broccoli
1 1/4 cups chopped Braeburn or Fuji apple (about 1/2 pound)
1/4 cup minced Walla Walla or other sweet onion

Preparation
Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

Coarsely chop broccoli into 1 1/2-inch pieces, and place in bowl with vinegar mixture. Add chopped apple and minced onion, tossing to coat.

Nutritional Information
Calories:72 (30% from fat)
Fat:2.4g (sat 0.2g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.6g)
Protein:2.8g
Carbohydrate:11.6g
Fiber:3g
Cholesterol:0.0mg
Iron:0.7mg
Sodium:196mg
Calcium:38mg

by Joy Zacharia, Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2006

Rawmesan and other things I didn't do last year...

There's nothing that gets the calendar year off to a new start like facing your failures. My very first post in this blog, I was planning on making Rawmesan, Ani Phyo's cashew version of the ubiquitous cheese-- she calls it a cheeze, which is fine; except that being a former English major, I cannot abide that type of lingual slurring, or the sticky sweet cuteness of phrases like Krispy Kreme. So I won't call it that. And I didn't make it, because one of the necessary ingredients was lacking, the lemon.
Going out to a grocery store on New Year's Eve is crazy, but we tried-- only when we saw the craziness in the parking lot at Dash market on Colvin, I admit it, I couldn't stand the thought of being in there for a single second. It was a total clusterfuck, not worth the irritation. The point of having a well-stocked pantry was borne in on me (yet again) and I wished for the days when I lived closer to a store that sold lemons by the bag instead of by item. Wonderful Wegman's does, but they are not close enough to make it into my weekly shopping habit, and their produce, while lovely, is generally too expensive.
Where you shop, defines how you eat. When I lived here in WNY before my long sojourn in the Midwest, I shopped at the University Plaza Tops; living on Minnesota Avenue, it was an easy straight shot up Bailey, and not a hassle to be in during most of my shopping hours-- I liked to go late night, when I could, and my downstairs neighbors were barfly guys, so they weren't inconvenienced by me traipsing up and down the side stairs at 11:30 pm or worse. That changed, but so did my eating habits.
In Indianapolis, I shopped at a bunch of stores-- Trader Joes (we could use one here), Marsh (a poor version of Wegman's), the Georgetown Market (sort of a cross between health food store and co-op), very rarely at Wild Oats, the new Sunflower Market that had opened in Broad Ripple, (now closed) but mainly, my one-stop-including-booze-store, (a straight run down Moller Road) Meijer's. This was a huge huge store: even stopping in for just a few things would take 20 minutes because of the walking, but it had everything. Bulk items, housewares, choices, good produce at reasonable prices, with plenty of pre-cuts (not that I use those), plenty of organic, and very well-stocked with all kinds of specialty veg and fruit for a wide array of ethnic/geographical groups. Any kind of fresh pepper you wanted, you could get there. About the one thing I could never find was good ladyfingers for tiramisu, so I learned to make them myself. The bakery was also not wonderful, but that was widespread in Indy, a lack of good bakeries, and I'm a baker anyway. My cooking style solidifed, there-- fresh being the first ingredient, whim of the moment second, making use of what I had third: I could stop in on the way home from any of my three/four jobs without much trouble for a last minute idea or a bottle of vino or salad greens. Often, my weekly shopping was done on the way home from a job. Not a good time crowd-wise, but it meant I'd have a plan for dinner, and it was on the way.
At Meijer's, I could always get a bag of lemons for $2.99 at the most, so I had fresh lemons on hand all the time. I used them lavishly, without thinking about it, without worrying about the expense involved in shipping a fruit in from Florida, without remembering how hard it was to find them at a decent price in Buffalo. Lemon in salad dressing, in sauces, as a last minute tweak to a soup or stew, lemons sliced and roasted with potatoes, lemons in countless breads and muffins and pies. It was a staple for me, the bag of lemons on the bottom shelf of the fridge, and I rarely let it run down to less than two before getting a new bag. After moving back to WNY, and being super poor our first few years, I had to rethink my whole food strategy, rethink every lemon-influenced dish I made, re-imagine my entire cooking style and repertoire.
Now I have a greater distance to travel to get to affordable lemons, I'm thinking about the overall cost more. It's not just that they are more per bag now at Wegman's. I can see that they don't fit as part of our natural diet here, whether we're surrounded by opportunities to purchase them or not. And what about other super-nutrient items that vegetarians are supposed to eat, like flax seeds and such? Where do they come from? Should we bother?
It's a toss-up: eat something citrusy and try to shrink your carbon footprint other ways, or give up the lemon and the orange, the grapefruit that zings and sings on your tongue, limes that you need for a good Margarita, zest that virtually every cookbook calls for somewhere. If we stuck to regional recipes here, we'd still have to buy a lemon or two, they've been available so long. You can't make a basic Ice Pick without a lemon wedge, and the next most popular version is, of course, the Stoli O and orange version. How could we get through summer without them? (Let's not even get into it over the tea...)
I'm considering trying to grow a little lemon tree, for one. When I wanted to 20 years ago they were literally impossible to find-- a spreading disease had blocked off all transfer of the plants. Now things have changed. We don't have the best climate for it, but it's worth a shot, and the still swelling popularity of Meyer lemons has made growing citrus here a hot possibility. Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on buying most of my other produce locally and seasonally, as I have been since moving back to Buffland, thanks in large part to Dash and to the Kenmore Village Farmer's Market.
Yesterday, we had our nutball heroes with Adirondack Cheddar instead of Rawmesan. They were delicious, and they're very delicious when completely vegan as well. After I get used to making Rawmesan, and maybe some raw breads when that dehydrator gets here, an utterly raw version may be in the cards and in this blog. Who can tell?
For us pagans, it's been the new year for a while and we've worked with that energy; but for all of us here in Buffland, it's a new calendar year and a new decade. I hope we can all think more about about the real costs of our daily habits. I hope we all have a great season of thinking, period, coming at us. But if you know me, you know I'll be thinking about food in all its aspects 1/3 of the time or more. I can't help it, and I don't want to. There are worse ways to look at the world. Right this moment, I'm thinking about what to do with those last couple of nutballs in the fridge, and thinking about making guacamole with my two ripe avocados (a California crop!); only, I have no lime to season it with, just a few Clementines. And now I'm thinking about Ani Phyo's taco nut meat, and how these things might fit together. And I'm getting hungry.
Oh, just remembered one of the few restaurant meals in Indy that I miss; ironically, as there are no real pizzeria style pizzas there, and it was a torture to me for 14 years of living there-- Bazbeaux's Garden pizza, with artichoke hearts, avocado, spinach, green pepper, red onion, black olive, ricotta, that my friend Mike N. and I always ordered on a thin, crispy whole wheat crust. Mike was a more-is-more kind of guy about pizza toppings, so we usually got green olives on this as well. It was beyond awesome. And I have fat-free ricotta in the fridge, for some reason, and some olives, and I can always make pizza dough, so-- guess what we're having? Don't you wish you could have the same?
Then we'll be at the Regal on Elmwood, I hope, watching one of my favorite Narnia stories being destroyed on film. So what we have is, one goal for the new new shot to hell, one (stated elsewhere) brilliantly upheld-- to spend less money on a willy-nilly grocery budget and on takeout; and how better to do that than by using up leftovers along with what we have in the house to make a fantastic and satisfying meal?
I've already thrown together a sauce of chopped tomatoes and olive oil, seasoned with dried basil, clementine peel, garlic, onions, and thickened with a little ground coriander and the remains of the sauce from around the nutballs in their pan. Pizza dough you can find recipes for anywhere, and I don't use a recipe for something that basic and variable... I'm sauteing zucchini slices in EVOO with fennel seed, onion and some green peas to stand in for the spinach and artichoke. And I have leftover feta and more cheddar. There are salad greens ready, radicchio, organic purple kale & some romaine, to toss with a basic vinaigrette. And there's one bottle of Champagne left... hmm. Maybe we'll see the movie tomorrow.

Eat something good tonight. Peace, Mari

Oh, and Jim? I am practicing my guitar!








*Hysteria update!* The Rawmesan recipe DOESN'T use lemon. The basic cheeze does. That's what I get for wanting to try new recipes on a holiday. Sorry, Ani, I didn't mean to mess it up. Here's the recipe for it, anyhow.






Ani Phyo's Rawmesan Cheeze: from Ani's Raw Food Essentials

SHE SAYS: "Sprinkle an extra layer of savory goodness on soups, salads, wraps, and pizzas."

Makes 1/2 C.

1/2 C raw cashews**, ground into a powder
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp sea salt

Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl. Will keep for 5 days in the fridge.


**in a separate section of the book, Ani notes that all seeds and nuts should be soaked or even sprouted before use in recipes. The given soaking time for a cup of cashews is 4-6 hours. Drain and probably pat dry before use in cheeses. The remainder should be kept covered in the fridge, I believe, and will doubtless keep better dry.

Food and her-story and a Happy New Decade

When I was little, I'd beg my mom to let me mix the cake for dessert. I loved cooking, as far as I understood it, but as a busy college student with six kids (mostly teenagers), Mom didn't have a whole lot of time to help me learn. By the time I was old enough to do it on my own, I was too lazy. Easier to watch my grandmother make her incredible soft jelly-hearted molasses cookies than to help her bake them. Now, I wish that I had. I'd give a hell of a lot to hear her tips and hints, though I know (cliche as it is) that the care she put in was the ultimate flavoring. Still, I cut out recipes that looked cool to me, at 15, 16. Obsessed over how to make my favorite omelet. Bought utensils for my someday grownup life. Tried to make a cold Champagne Peach soup for Valentine's when I was crazy in love. And finally started helping Mom out a bit in the kitchen.
At 22, keeping my own house and cooking for myself and my man, (and a little for the families I worked for as a full-time, salaried nanny), I lucked onto a wonderful resource-- Food and Wine magazine. My boss was a subscriber, and I fell in love with the glamorous gourmet dishes and exotic (to Buffalo) ingredients. I got my own subscription, needing to own those gorgeous soft-lit color photos of chocolate fondant and bitter salad with duck cracklings. It was a pretty steep learning curve for a girl that didn't know there was a difference between a dry and a wet measuring cup! But I tried out what I could afford to, dreamed about making the rest-- and learned in the process that I was a Foodie (as no doubt a good portion of readers here are; when I get some). Good food is the lens I view the world through; learning the nuances of what a given population eats is how I best absorb and understand their culture. It's all about the unimaginably wide world of taste. But there weren't many other foodies in my life; I had the wrong job, the wrong income, the wrong education.
I was the wrong age, as well, and being raised pretty poor hadn't prepared me for using expensive ingredients generously. Through the 20-something years since then, I've evened it up as far as education, neighborhood, understanding. The income has gone up and down, but now I know better too-- I don't have to serve a fifteen course meal for twelve to be a gourmet or love good food. I don't even have to serve meat, or heated food. The quality of the meal, the enjoyment of planning it, preparing and serving it, are there no matter if I make a salad and homemade bread, or a multi-course feast. I can make a simple pear crisp or a four layer tiramisu trifle, and it's always an extension of my personal aesthetic. My friend Abby would just say, "MMM. Mari food." Yes, it will be that. I have my certain standards, my ideas of how each bite should balance comfort and freshness, and they come through in whatever I prepare. Transitioning from a fairly plant-filled diet to a plant-based diet helped me solidify that habit. Cooking in restaurants and as a personal chef took it up a few notches further. And I've always read cookbooks the way some girls read love novels-- slurping up every hungry word, even the index.
So I've been cooking for 25+ years, a veghead for 15+ years. By feeding people without lecturing them, I appear to have influenced a few folks into joining me in the plant life. (Yay)
Let me say up front: I don't care what YOU eat. That's your business. At my house, you'll eat well, and heartily, and it will be made of plants. If you call yourself veg but eat certain kinds of animals, I don't care about that either; it's not my decision. I do care that you don't make a point of saying Vegetarian at restaurants, and then eating chicken-based soup or a fish fillet, because it makes getting a good meal at restaurants harder for me. Selfish, I know, but it's not like they hand out gold stars or weekends on the beach for being vegetarian. They mostly hand out ill-phrased questions and misunderstanding, with a side of suspicion. And until we all* eat nothing but fruit that's fallen from a tree and stop breathing in those poor airborne germs, there's no point in playing More Vegetarian Than Thou. I just want to be able to get some good soup once in a while, that I don't have to make for myself. Hey, I DO love to cook, but not every single bite I eat forever and ever amen.
That's my food history in short, and you don't want the long. Feel free to ask me anything, and I'll answer as I can. Please comment, discuss, chat, argue, and be nice.
Have a Happy New Decade!

And eat something good tonight. We're having nutball heroes (recipe follows) and a green salad. Peace, Mari


*Check out the Buffalo Vegetarian Society @ Meetup.com for food and veghead fellowship. I myself will be joining any month now-- soon as I am more mobile.



Nutballs in Tomato sauce (adapted from Rose Elliot's THE COMPLETE VEGETARIAN CUISINE, by me and also Amvyn from the CLBB)


Prepared or homemade tomato sauce
Generous 1 C raw brown nuts** ground fine in FP or blender
1 Tbsp EVOO
1 med to large onion, chopped fine
1-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fennel seed
scant 2 Tbsp fresh herbs, such as rosemary, sage, basil, or marjoram (optional)
1 tsp dried oregano, or 1 tsp fresh oregano or parsley
1 large tsp tomato paste
1/3-1/2 C grated Parmesan, Romano or Cheddar cheese
2/3 C fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or oil a small baking dish.

Saute onions, garlic, fennel and dried oregano in EVOO over medium heat until soft. Let cool a bit, then combine all ingredients EXCEPT tomato sauce in a large bowl with your hands, being careful not to compact mixture too much.

Form into eight small balls, place into pan so as not to be touching each other, pour over enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom of the dish, and bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

Mari's notes: Serve hot over pasta or rice, crumble into sauce, or best of all, serve warm topped with more sauce and more cheese if desired for a Nutball Hoagy. Add your favorite spices in place of mine-- more fennel and some sage makes it more sausage-y-- rosemary is more Italian, etc.

For a vegan version, omit cheese and egg, and add 1 Tbsp peanut or cashew or almond butter. You may not need/want the tomato paste here, either. Adjust salt as needed. This version is delish; I make it just as often as the other; it depends on mood, menu, and what I've eaten that week. Originally it was from Rose Elliot, British Veg Queen, but Brits don't use enough seasoning for me.... And just as often I double the nuts and seasonings and leave the rest as is.

I've been making this so long, there's no measuring anymore, just blending with my hands till it holds together. Use more or less crumb, onion, whatever.

Cold and Raw in Kenmore

I've been thinking about going up to at least 50% raw food for a few years, now. It's not so easy when you live in Buffalo, NY, or anywhere East Coast-ish. We don't have these year-round farmer's markets with abundant produce that easily translates into wonderful raw dishes like people in LA or San Fran. And I'm a foodie first and foremost, so it HAS to be wonderful, or at least very very good. And a veghead for 15+ years, yeah, and it hasn't been hard and it may have even saved my life. Going raw is a whole other basket of apples, especially if you're an aspiring pastry chef!
But as Ani Phyo says, no need to be extreme. We're sinking into a raw habit, slowly and with lots of mistakes being made. Last year, I instituted the Raw-Day-a-Week plan. It has become the Mostly-Raw-Day-a-Week, but it's happening now, that way. That's the critical issue-- what you need to do to make it real, do. And skip the craziness that comes from throwing your life out of whack over what's on your plate. There are, in the end, more important things.

So I got a book, Ani Phyo's RAW FOOD ESSENTIALS and I'm borrowing a dehydrator (to make it simpler for family to deal with, and for the hubby-man more than myself-- I can live without cookies, but not everyone can) and tomorrow I'm making Rawmesan with cashews to put into a raw style Caesar. Caesar salad, sans anchovies*, is literally my favorite thing in the world to eat-- preferably with a side of crusty real baguette and a glass of Penfolds Chardonnay. My dream dinner, my Last Meal on Earth meal, my passionate hungry need. I used to go on binges, when my garden in Indianapolis was producing romaine off the charts, and make it three or four times a week. There aren't alot of restauants in this area that make a real, good Caesar anymore, though I used to be able to find one easy enough. Everything slides, and nowadays people make them with crappy mayo cut with cheap pre-grated parm and think it's worth two bucks more than a side salad, but it's not. Now, Alicia Silverstone has a Caesar that's vegan and almost raw, but frankly I hate tahini, and can't abide the use of garlic powder, even to make croutons. Besides, croutons are not essential to me. I've been messing around with a delicious Walnut & Almond Caesar that uses cold-pressed walnut oil with the olive oil in place of mayo, and quick-candied spiced almonds, but it has cheese. If I combine the ideas of nuts and nut-based cheeses, and steal the shoyu idea from Alicia but use miso instead, I might have an awesome vegan Caesar, and nearly raw, too.

I'm thinking here of the excellent miso dressing The Juicery Cafe (sadly defunct, was in the Northtown Plaza in Amherst with an outpost in Delaware Park) used to serve on salads and Lite Bites. I loved the Hummus Lite Bite, and that, with Hungarian Mushroom soup and a Starburst smoothie***, was pretty much my usual meal at the Juicery. Luckily for me, I knew some folks that worked there before it closed, and I was able to get a copy of the miso dressing recipe, which I use and tweak. The light miso makes a thick, creamy dressing that really needs no cheese to satisfy in a caesary-style.
When I perfect it, I'll let you know.
Anyway, it's almost the last day of this year. It's cold, but not brutal here in Buffland, and the sun has winked at us often today. We are lucky to get so much sunshine all through our winter-- believe me, there's much less in Indianapolis this time of year! And we have better food.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was at Cafe Allegro on Hertel Avenue for my writing group, and hungry since it was 6pm and I hadn't eaten since 11am. There wasn't anything on the day's menu that was veg, but when asked if they could make me a grilled cheese-- they said sure. So I asked for sliced tomato, mustard and fresh spinach on it too, and some chips, and in a few minutes there it was-- stuffed and dripping, gooey melted deliciousness on a plate. Allegro is good that way-- they often have veghead grub on the daily board, but not a whole lot in the way of vegan. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask, and they have a huge variety of Republic of Tea teas. Also in the summer, wonderful fruit smoothies made with more real fruit than anywhere I've tasted, rotating in a big slushie machine, but better than a slushie by far.

 
You see, I went for hot food that night... and ever since, have been jonesing for soup: hot, homey and full of good things. The kind of soup that makes you feel comepletely nourished in a single bowlful. The kind you eat crouching over the bowl, dipping toast into every other bite. That same week, I made some Minimal Minestrone, and Christmas week, a potato and broccoli soup with dill.
Last night, I got a bowl of Panera's (veghead) Creamy Tomato. It's good, but not perfect; could be tangier, but a splash of hot sauce works. Tonight, my soup craving still unsatisfied, I've got some Butternut Squash roasting for this:

Roasted Squash Soup with Maple-Glazed Bananas**
Ingredients:

One 2-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
Kosher salt
1/2 cup pecans
1 banana, scooped into balls with a melon baller or sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 cup water
1/2 cup crème fraîche (you can use sour cream or vegan sour cream)
Pinch of ground cinnamon ( I like a dash of ginger and coriander, too)
8 small watercress sprigs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter a medium baking dish. Season the squash with salt and set it cut side down in the baking dish. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the squash is very tender. Let cool slightly.
Meanwhile, spread the pecans in a pie plate and toast for about 7 minutes, or until fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop and transfer to a medium bowl. Add the banana and maple syrup and stir to coat.

Peel the squash. In a blender, puree the squash, water, crème fraîche and cinnamon until very smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan and warm over low heat. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with the banana-nut topping and watercress and serve hot or at room temperature.

From Competing at the Bocuse d’Or: Team USA’s Unbeatable Recipes, Pairing of the Day: February 2009
Published February 2009, Food and Wine Magazine
**Recipe by Adina Guest and Timothy Hollingsworth

Eat something good tonight. Peace, Mari





*The original Caesar had no anchovies, and used romano cheese, not parm. The lettuce leaves were left whole, as well.


***(The Juicery's Hummus Lite Bite was a mound of cumin-y hummus on a bed of mixed greens with yellow miso dressing. MMM. A starburst was a blend of fresh strawberries & fresh-squeezed orange juice.)