Curried Tofu Scramble

Status: Vegan
Mood: Breakfast comfort
Labor: Easy
Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• Block of extra firm tofu
• 1/2 green, 1/2 yellow pepper
  
• Jalapeno
• White onion
  
• Spinach
• Cilantro
• Scallions
• Curry, turmeric, garlic, salt and pepper
  

Le Process:

1. Drain tofu and press as much water out as you can by squeezing between your palms.
2. Saute peppers, jalapeno, and white onion until soft.
3. Crumble tofu into the skillet using your hands.
4. Add salt and pepper, garlic, curry, and turmeric to taste.
5. Add spinach, allow to wilt.
6. Add cilantro and scallions and saute for two more minutes.
7. Voila.
   

African Pineapple Peanut Stew

Status: Vegan
Mood: Rich and sweet
Labor: Easy
Prep time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 bunch of kale or Swiss chard (4 cups)
• 2 cups undrained canned crushed pineapple (20 ounces)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco
• 1 cup vegetable broth
  
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• salt to taste

Le Process:

1. Sauté onions and garlic for 10 minutes.
2. Add pineapple and its juice to the onions, and bring to a simmer.
3. Stir in kale, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes or until wilted.
4. Mix in Tabasco, peanut butter, veggie broth, cilantro, and salt. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
5. Serve over couscous.
   

(Not a good picture, I know, but I had limited light and ate before I checked the photos.)

Tassajara Yeasted Bread

Status: Vegan
Mood: Homemade bready goodness
Labor: Intensive
Prep time: 4-5 hours

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1/4 cup sweetening (molasses, brown sugar)
• 1 cup dry soy milk (optional)
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cups oil or margarine
  
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour for kneading

Le Process:

1. Dissolve yeast in water, and add sweetening and dry milk to the water (the bread has a grainier taste and coarses texture without the milk. I did not use it here.)
2. Add the whole wheat flour a cup at a timem stirring up and down in small strokes and in circles at the surface of the mixture.
3. Beat about 100 times until batter is smooth, ducking the spoon under the batter and bringing it up above the surface in a circular motion.
4. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set in a warm place (85-100 degrees F). Let rise for 45 minutes.
5. Folding in is the method used to mix from this point on -- don't stir! Don't cut through the dough. Keep it in one piece as much as possible. This will improve elasticity and strength of the dough.
6. Spring in the salt and pour on the oil, folding toward the center.
7. Sprinkle dry ingredients on the surface about 1/2 cup at time, folding in until incorporated.
   
8. Turn the batter onto a floured surface, and oil the bowl you were just using.
9. Flour your hands and on top of the dough.
10. Pick up the far edge of the doug and fold in half toward you. Place your hands on the near side of the dough so the top of your palms are at the top front of the dough.
11. Push down and forward, while turning the dough. Add flour as necessary to keep from sticking to your surface and hands.
    
12. Place in an oiled bowl and flip it over (to coat it all in oil). Cover with a damp towel and set in a warm place. Let rise 50-60 minutes.
13. Punch down 15 or 20 times all over the dough. Let rise 40-50 minutes.
14. Shape dough into a ball. Cut into two even pieces and shape into balls. Allow to sit 5 minutes.
15. For each loaf, knead the dough with your right hand and fold it with your left. Do this 5 or 6 times.
16. Roll the dough into a log shape. With the seam on the bottom, flatten the top with your fingers and square off the sides and the ends. Pinch the seams together.
17. Oil bread pans and place the dough in them, seam-side up. Flatten it with your fingers and flip it over, seam-side down. Press it into the shape of the pan. Cover, let rise 20-25 minutes.
18. Cut the top with slits 1/2 inch deep. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes.
19. Remove from pans immediately and let cool one hour before cutting.

Basil Cream Cavatelli Pasta

Status: Vegan
Mood: Creaminess, nutritional yeastiness
Labor: Easy-peasy
Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 teaspoon miso paste
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
• Salt, pepper, garlic to taste

Le Process:

1. Begin to boil the pasta (use whatever kind you want, but I used cavatelli)
   
2. In another pot melt Earth Balance over low heat
3. Whisk in flour and a little milk until flour is dissolved
4. Add miso paste until dissolved
5. Add the rest of the milk
6. Add nutritional yeast
7. Continue stirring until well-blended; will be thick and creamy
8. Add basil and S&P&G to taste
9. Add more milk as needed to keep it creamy. It will get thicker as it sits on the heat.
10. Add the sauce to the pasta, plus whatever else you feel like embellishing with. Here I added frozen peas.

Note: this is obviously very nutritional yeasty. Nutritional yeast makes a good cheese-substitute flavor for vegans, but is also very nutty-tasting. It is not going to taste like cheese. Also, don't be afraid when your urine is bright yellow! It's just the excess water-soluble B vitamins your body didn't synthesize.

Tomato Soup

Status: Vegan! (I think)
Mood: You want chunky soup, but not Campbell's
Labor: Moderate
Prep time: 1/2 hour

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 small/medium-sized (or 3 or 4 larger-sized) ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 red pepper
  
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 4 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  
• 1/4 cup (handful) basil leaves
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
  
• Pinch salt, sugar, pepper
• Shell/other pasta (however much you want)

Le Process

1. "Score" a cross in the top of the tomatoes, and place them in boiling water for a minute or two. Once they start to look wrinkled, take them out and place them immediately into cold water. When you remove them from the cold water, peel off the skins and set the tomatoes aside momentarily.
2. Cut up the pepper, onion, and garlic, and sauté them in a pot with the oil for about 10 minutes. While they are sautéing, cut up the tomatoes into chunks. Add this to the mixture in the pot and let cook for about 10 more minutes.
   
3. Add the tomato paste, vegetable broth, salt, sugar, and pepper. Stir and let cook for 10 minutes or so.
4. (At this point, it would be a good idea to start heating a separate pot of water. When it starts to boil, add the pasta)
   
5. Add a fistful or so of basil leaves (modest to liberal, depending on your love of basil). In about two batches, add this mixture to a food processor. You'll want to process on low for about 10 seconds, then high for about 7. The key is to produce a soup that is lightly chunky--you should see tiny bits of pepper and tomato. It can be processed until smooth, of course, but in my opinion, it's not quite as good.
6. Put the whole solution back in the pot, and, when the pasta is cooked, strain it and add it to the soup mixture. At this point, it will be done.

I love this soup. It is reliably comforting and flavorful. It's nice to make a good amount, and eat it as leftovers for daaaays.

Easiest Salad EVAR

Status: Vegetarian
Mood: You's lazy. And lacking in nutrients.
Labor: Minimal
Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• Fresh spinach--a couple grocery-store tong-fuls
  
• 1 pear
• Fresh, finely age'd & sharp-tasting Parmesan cheese
• Olive oil--as much as seems right

Le Process:

1. Wash the spinach. Thoroughly, or my mother will admonish you.
   
2. Take the pear. Got the pear? Good. Now cut the pear into little pear pieces.
3. Put as much spinach as makes sense into a bowl and pour a few cap-fuls of oil into the greenery. Now stir a bit, 'til it's all slick and oily. Add the pear pieces.
4. Grate slices of Parmesan on the top.
   
5. Eat.

SEE HOW EASY?

Alright, so this was a teensy bit of a cop-out, as I'm terribly underprivileged currently and subsisting chiefly on white rice, pasta, and cranberry juice. And whatever they'll sell you at whatever coffee place is nearby (which too often for my liking has been Starbucks.)

My point is--I haven't had time nor mind nor heart nor soul nor money to concoct for you what you really deserve, which is not as starchy as my current diet.

Nevertheless, simplicity is nothing to scoff at. This is a tasty, tasty salad.

Vegan: Venn Pongal

Status: Vegan
Mood: Comfort Indian food
Labor: Minimal to moderate
Prep Time: an hour or two

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice
  
• 1/2 cup yellow split peas
• Frozen spinach
  
• Mustard seeds
  
• Garlic
  
• Curry powder
• Turmeric
  
• Black pepper
  
• Salt
  

Le Process:

1. Add the rice and daal in a pot with six cups of water, and boil until everything is super mushy. This will take about an hour, but for some reason it took me longer? Must be the high Michigan elevation...
   
2. Dry-roast the mustard seeds in a skillet until they start popping, and add them to the rice-daal mixture along with the other spices. (I would have added cumin seeds if I had any left, so I would recommend dry-roasting those with the mustard seeds as well, in addition to any spice your particularly enjoy.)
   
3. I realized I had added too much salt, so to tone it down I added some frozen spinach, which ended up being delicious. You can anything you want, though, or just leave it as-is.
   
4. Let everything cook for another 15 or so minutes to meld the flavors together.

Notes:

I don't give proportions of spices because I couldn't really tell you how much I put in. I just dump things in according to my own tastes, so just do whatcha want. This is how most future recipes posted here will be as well, so I will cease stating it.

This recipe isn't exactly traditional, because I omitted some ingredients I don't particularly care for, like ginger and cashews. I also don't think it's as thick as it's supposed to be, but I was too impatient to wait. So instead this bastardized version will suffice for me.