At long last! It’s finally tomato harvesting time! We got tons of lettuce, are still getting kale, and have been getting green beans and cucumbers for a few weeks now, but there’s something momentous about that first big batch of tomatoes. Something that says, “your garden has arrived.” Everything leads up to tomatoes; they’re the climax. The winter squash and fall kale are the denouement, with canning, perhaps, as an additional baby climax.

My friend Simon (fellow vegan, drummer for Ineffable Robot [new tracks up soon!]) was in over the weekend and we ate largely from the garden. The first night, we had Shells al Pomodoro and Cucumber Salad.

Shells al Pomodoro

• 4ish medium-sized tomatoes, gutted and diced
• 6 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 small green bell pepper
• 1 fresno chili, seeded and diced (optional)
• 1 large handful of fresh basil, chopped
• cooked shells (or noodle of choice)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• olive oil

In a medium-large pan, saute the garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, until it just starts to brown. Toss in the tomatoes and peppers, cooking until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. A minute or two before serving, stir in the basil. Serve over pasta. Easy! Delicious!

Cucumber Salad

• 2 – 3 cucumbers, cubed
• 1 tomato, gutted and cut into medium-sized pieces
• rooster (Sriracha) sauce (to taste)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
• toasted pita or tortilla, chopped (optional)
• salt & pepper, to taste

Toss everything together. That’s it.

Be forewarned: this was not one of my best efforts. We had something similar a few weeks ago at an Indian restaurant and I really liked it, so I thought I’d attempt my own version, what with all of those cucumbers to use up. It was a little spicy, because I went overboard with the rooster sauce. I think I also over-soy-sauced it, so add everything little by little. I’ll have to return to this at some point to perfect it. We have a LOT of cucumbers.

The next day, we biked 20 miles (and 20 miles back) to a neighboring town to try out the Red Pepper, a raw vegan restaurant. After the ride there, we were mighty hungry. We got the Italian Pizza and the Raw Tacos, both of which were quite good. The pizza’s crust was probably its standout feature. The tacos were made with a seasoned walnut “meat”. It was pretty amazing. The “shells” were just lettuce, though, so this was a bit more like a salad than tacos. We got some energy shakes for the ride home, which were also good, though I was a little over-full, and thus kinda sluggish for the ride. 40 miles of super hilly terrain is a lot harder than I thought it would be (we biked 25 flat miles two days later, and it was a cinch, comparatively). We were so pooped when we got home that we couldn’t be bothered to cook, so it was vegan pizza time.

We made homemade brats (the best batch ever!) the next night, but that post, friends, is forthcoming.

The next night we rocked this Tempeh & Kale Stew (we’ve also got tons of kale right now):

This stew is very much like the Spicy Potato & Kale Soup, but with carrots, and minus the spicy and parsley. It was pouring out, so this was something of a summer rarity, but very appropriate.

Slimetime’s since hit the road, but I still have lots of maters to use up, so last night I rocked a chili.

There’s no chili better than one made from your heirloom tomatoes, especially if you’re growing multiple varieties. The freshness and variation in flavor really take the flavor in interesting, often inimitable, directions. This particular batch was made with Black Krim (our favorite–dense, not too sweet, not too acidic, very flavorful), Supersonic Orange (a new one this year–very tangy), and Oaxacan Pink (gigantic, fairly sweet). It made for a somewhat sharp, but slightly sweet chili–a perfect chili for crackers. Outstanding!

My sincere apologies to readers who visit IV for recipes. It’s been a bit scant lately, because of all the “arts & culture” posts. But think of it this way, if they ever release Trivial Pursuit: Vegan Edition, you’ll be golden. The pink/brown pie will be yours!

Whoa…that sounded kinda gross.

With Amy gone in Reykjavik, it’s time to nestle in for a few weeks of solo-cookin’! Unlike the usual “Mark finds weird-and-occasionally-delicious things to do with leftovers” posts you’ve come to know and love, for the next few weeks I’m going to try to focus more on menu/lifestyle. This is because (a) we ate all of the leftovers before we left, so nothing would go bad and (b) as a culinary dynamic duo, we frequently neglect the often-disparate experience of cooking for yourself. I generally find I’m more inventive and am willing to put more time into a meal I’m making for other people. While I certainly love to eat, I also like to help other people love to eat. The more people, the more time and energy I’ll typically spend. But by myself, it’s easy to get into a pattern of making a giant meal every several nights and just living mindlessly on leftovers.

So, since getting back, I’ve been trying to cook more frequently, but to make quicker, easier dishes. So here’s the rundown:

Night 1

I got home from work and started pressure cooking 2 cups of chick peas. I let them cook for 45 minutes while I took care of other biz, and then proceeded to cheat by going over to Amy’s brother Joe’s place and eating his culinary masterpiece, Spicy Ramen (I will post this soon! You shall wait with baited breath.). I did bring over some fresh local broccoli and tempeh to round out the ramen (it’s especially awesome with seitan chik’n). And, with very little effort, I cooked up a mess of chick peas (more on this shortly).

Night 2

I made hummus with 2/3 of the chick peas, and saved the rest on the chick pea water. I also whipped up a batch of smoky tempeh and made smoky tempeh hummus wraps, including lettuce from our garden.

Night 3

Using the remaining chick peas and some tomatoes that were on the verge of going bad, I made a chick pea, tomato, and quinoa dish. I just cooked 1.5 cups of quinoa in veggie stock, then added the chick peas and tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, then garnished with sunflower seeds and almond slivers for a little crunch and pizazz. I told you I learned something from that last Reykjavik supper. I served it (to myself, of course) with steamed sesame kale–from our garden! Huzzah!

Brunch 4 (and 5)

I made the world’s most standard tofu scramble for brunch (well, I did add in poblano pepper that was starting to resemble a gigantic raisin), knowing that this would provide me a good 3 meals. 1 and 2, down.

Night 4

As many of you know, it’s asparagus season, so I’ve been cooking the hell out of some asparagus recently. I feel like I missed a week, and now I have to make it up (I don’t know what this is going to mean for strawberries…). In keeping with my recent Keep It Simple approach, I just sauteed a head of garlic in olive oil, then tossed in some chopped asparagus and cooked briefly, then covered. I boiled up some noodles, then tossed the noodles, asparagus, and garlic in more olive oil and tossed in fresh chives, oregano, and thyme from the garden, along with a few dashes of crushed red pepper (and salt & pepper, to taste, of course).

Night 5

We made chick patties about a month back, and did a double batch and froze the rest. Sunday was the ideal kind of day to pop one on the grill along with more asparagus (brush both the grill and asparagus in a little oil–I used a blend of olive of sesame oil). This took almost zero effort to make–and was all made from fresh local ingredients. Thank you past self!

Night 6

Remember the hummus from earlier? Remember the smoky tempeh? The lettuce from our garden? Well, it’s been 4 days, so it was time to enjoy another wrap. I’ve also got a stash of local broccoli and tortilla chips, should the wrap prove insufficient and the hummus too tempting.

The moral of the story, my friends, is that all of this has been really easy to prepare, healthy, and satisfying. I don’t feel like I’ve been “bogged down” by cooking (though it’s pretty unlikely that I’d ever feel that way), but also feel that I’ve eaten relatively well without having to rely on any pre-made (except by me) or processed foods.

Stay tuned!

Disclaimer #1: As is oft the case, I point judicious readers to our ubiquitous confessional “Why I can’t be trusted“. But still, observe:

Gumbos are like unicorns, all alike, but no two exactly alike. There’s a sort of conventional gumbo wisdom that says you need a few common things, but that you are allowed–nay, expected–to play, to invent, to take ownership of your particular gumbo. These things are:

The Southern Soup Holy Trinity: Onion, celery, and green bell pepper. The standard trinity uses carrots instead of peppers.

Okra: Okra.

Roux: This is usually a 1:1 mix of flour and fat (butter, oil, shortening, bacon grease, etc). A gumbo is supposed to be somewhere between a soup and a stew. I find that the natural emulsifier in okra thickens the gumbo to the almost-stew stage on its own, so I ditched the roux in this version. A more authentic version would probably keep the roux and up the stock and/or water.

Meats: These are usually sausage, chicken, and shrimp. We used our tempeh soysage and Joanna/Jennifer’s Seitan Chik’n.

Seasoning: These include cajun spice and gumbo file (fee-lay) powder among others. You can buy a premade cajun spice or make your own. Gumbo file is made from ground sassafras root, sometimes with ground thyme as well. The gumbo file may be a little hard to track down. Our local coop had it (so any place with a good selection of Frontier brand spices). You can also look for ground sassafras.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes.

Disclaimer #2: I fully expect Jennifer from Scrumpdilly to correct me if any/all of this is wrong. She’s actually from Louisiana. She’s made gumbo before. I’ve eaten it. There’s no recipe. Real Southerners keep their gumbo recipes in lead-lined wooden boxes, buried beneath their homes, guarded by raccoons. Fact.

Gumbo

• 1 lb okra, cut into disks
• 1 lb tempeh soysage
• 3 seitan chik’n cutlets, cut into strips
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 small – medium stalks celery, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 cups veggie broth
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups tomatoes, with juice (1 large can)
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 4 tsp cajun spice
• 2 tsp gumbo file powder

As with most soups, you’ll want to start by sauteing the onion, pepper, and celery in a large pot over medium heat. When they start to soften, add in the soysage and chik’n strips, browning lightly. Add in the broth, water, tomatoes, spices, and okra, in that order. Bring to a light boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or (better) longer.

Serve on its own, over rice, and/or with Vegan Dad’s Cajun Chickpea Cakes.

This is going to seem weird: baked potatoes slathered in Earth Balance ™, topped with homemade chili, topped with homemade tempeh soysage. Behold, the Li’l Spudley!

But furrealz, is it any weirder than chili cheese fries? I think not. Amy’s had a taste for some kind of chili potato for the last few days, so I thought I’d surprise her by acquiescing (note 1: I was the initial hater). Sadly, I hadn’t though in advance to soak cashews to make sour cream and we were out of silken tofu. But chili and potato somehow wouldn’t be enough…so why not move in the entirely other direction?, thought I: tempeh soysage. Amy has highly skeptical of this twist (note 2: Now Amy’s the hater). Luckily, our friend Maddog was here and was game for my experiment, putting the pressure on Amy to indulge my strange flight of culinary fancy. As it turns out, this was pretty awesome (note 3: It’s awesome!). The buttery potato brings out the sweetness of the chili, while the soysage brings out the spice. It’s just right.

All you need is:

• baked potatoes
• Earth Balance ™, optional
• chili: Roasted Poblano Chili or Standard Chili (I recommend the Poblano for this)
• tempeh soysage (you could also use tempeh soyrizo, for a switch)
• green onions (optional)

We had this again a few nights later, with green onions. Unlike Amy, I’m a potato musher-downer. Deal with it.

Fantastic!

It’s funny–those brief moments of cooking genius never occur when you think they will; and they’re never associated with a complicated multi-course meal. It’s always when you’re hungry and improvising.

In southeast Michigan, you can get tempeh everywhere. So it’s no surprise that a few different restaurants have tempeh wraps–the TLT at Seva, the lemon tempeh hummus wrap at Aut Bar, tempeh burgers at just about every bar…. Having made a giant batch of hummus for VeganYumYum’s Avocado Wasabi Salad, I was itching to make something with hummus. About two weeks ago, I made a salad with smokey tempeh, so I got the notion to combine to the two.  This recipe is super simple–make a batch of hummus (or buy it, if you want to kick it really easy), saute a little tempeh, chop some lettuce and/or spinach, and you’re set.

Smokey Tempeh Hummus Wrap

• 1 pkg tempeh. cut into strips
• 1/4 purple onion
• 1/2 bag spinach (1/4 lb?)
• 3 large leaves or 6 small-medium leaves of lettuce, cut into strips
• 3 large whole wheat wraps
• 1/4 batch of hummus
  
• ~ 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 capful Liquid Smoke ™
• ~ 2 tbsp peanut oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

For brevity’s sake, I’ll assume you’ve made/bought the hummus already. This may be foolish. But.

Saute the tempeh strips in peanut oil, soy sauce, and Liquid Smoke ™ in a large-ish frying pan over medium heat. Don’t use all of the liquids right away; start with a little peanut oil, then douse the tempeh with about half the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke ™. Once the tempeh is nicely browned on one side, flip and pour in a little more peanut oil and the rest of the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke ™. Salt and pepper to taste.

When the tempeh is browned on several sides, remove from heat.

Slather hummus on one half of a wrap. Place a row of spinach down the center, then a row of lettuce on top of that. Run a row of tempeh down the the center, then garnish with onions and salt/pepper.

Roll the dry half tightly into the hummus-slathered half. Cut the wrap in half on a diagonal.

Wrap extra wraps in plastic wrap for lunches!

After making an Olive Garden-style minestrone, it seemed only natural to make the zuppa toscana as well. Since we had leftover breadsticks, it was another awesome replica. This soup is very much like the Spicy Potato & Kale Soup, but less spicy and much richer. I used a modified version of our tempeh soyrizo, and the leftover fakin crumblins from Tofu MarkMuffins. You’re always stuck with those crumblins, too thrifty to throw them out, but at a loss as to what to do with them. This soup is the answer!

Zuppa Toscana

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 package (1/2 lb) tempeh
• 4 tbsp fakin bits
• 3 medium-large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 large stalks (half a bunch) of curly kale
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (or gluten-free tamari)
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 4 cups water
• 1.5 cups soy creamer
• salt & pepper, to taste

Soysage

Tear the tempeh into pieces, leaving some larger chunks. In a small-medium-sized bowl, mix the soy sauce, oregano, cumin, 2 cloves of garlic, and crushed red pepper. Put the tempeh into a large bowl, then stir in the mixture, coating all of the tempeh evenly. Let this sit for for 15 minutes or more before using–it lets everything soak in.

In a large pot, saute fakin bits in oil, over medium heat. When they’ve browned and are starting to get crips, add in the onion, tempeh, and garlic. When the onions are soft, add in the potatoes, veggie stock, and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. When the potatoes are soft, add in the soy creamer and kale, salting and peppering to taste.

Serve with breadsticks!

Amy had a craving for a simple pasta last night, and we found this awesome recipe on vegweb. We subbed tempeh for the seitan/sausage (because that’s what we happened to have on hand) and uses spinach and kale for the greens. It feels really light, but with tempeh, spinach, and kale, it’s actually pretty substantial. It actually reminds me of–dare I say it–a healthier/tastier version of hamburger helper.

File under: Itch, Scratched

So you’ve probably noticed by now–recipes/menus often come in waves here at IV. This is largely because we rarely deign to countenance leftovers twice, except as lunch. Instead, we try to rethink stuff we’ve already made and pair it with something else we’ve already made and/or with something fresh.

We made taco salad a few nights ago and had leftover refried beans and taco tempeh. For leftovers numero uno, we made quesadillas with the taco tempeh, Follow Your Heart ™ cheddar, and diced jalapenos. We served it with the refried beans and sliced avocados.

Okay. So the taco leftovers were successfully eliminated. But wait. Now we had leftover cheese. This stuff goes bad within a month, so you have to use it up once you’ve opened it.

So leftovers numero dos was quesadillas again, this time made with just tortilla and cheese. We served it in typical conflated culture fashion with Spanish rice w/beans and guacamole.

Making a quesadilla is simple: lighlty oil a frying pan, and place it on a burner at medium heat. Toss in a flour tortilla. Sprinkle on a generous layer of your favorite faux-cheese; top with taco tempeh, soyrizo, mexican-style chik’n strips; sprinkle in some onions and/or bell/jalapeno peppers; sprinkle on another layer of faux cheese; top with another tortilla. When the cheese is mostly melted, flip quesadilla and cook until browned and crispy.

Alternatively, you can make this with just faux cheese and two tortillas.

Cut in half to serve. Delicious!

Last year for Amy’s birthday, we went out to a local bar that we’d been meaning to eat at–and they served the most amazing taco salad we’d ever eaten, made vegan just for us. They never seemed to have served it again, though, much to our dismay. So we’ve had this year-long hankerin’ for taco salad which, I’m happy to say, we laid to rest on Sunday.

The secret, friends, is making your own refried beans. We’d been using canned refried beans for years and no combination of spices, veggies, shortening, unicorn tears, etc. ever made them even half as delicious as the kind you get in a good Mexican restaurant. So, having just gotten a pressure cooker, what better time than now to try to make these suckers from scratch–and holy hell does it make a difference! I don’t know if we can ever go back to canned refried beans again. Maybe in a pinch, I’d use canned pinto beans to make refried beans.

We also experimented for the first time in making our own taco bowls. This was really easy; we just soaked two soft taco shells in a very shallow layer of oil, placed them in oven safe bowls (to shape them), and cooked them for 10 – 15 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. We did we never think of this before?

The rest of the taco salad is pretty easy–in the baked shell, layer the beans, taco tempeh (follow the recipe for the tempeh), chopped lettuce/onions/tomatoes, guacamole, and salsa.

Here’s how to make the beans:

Refried Beans

• 2 cups dried pinto beans pressure cooked in 10 cups of water for 30 – 35 minutes
• OR ~ 3 – 4 cups cooked pinto beans (using your preferred method)
• 3 cups veggie stock
• 1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup shortening (we used Earth Balance)
• 2 – 3 tbsps chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• salt, to taste
• 1 cup (2 small cans) mild green chilis (optional)

In a large (ideally big enough to hold the beans and stock) frying pan, sautee the onions and garlic in shortening over medium heat, until tender. Add in the beans and 2 cups of the stock and cook for about 20 minutes. Mash the beans to the consistency you like (some people like some whole beans left, some don’t). Add the final cup of veggie stock, stir well, and add in spices. Cook for about another 20 minutes, until the excess liquid has boiled off. Adjust spices to taste. This will put any canned refried beans to shame. I’m for serious.

Our neighbor sent us an omni version of this recipe (thanks Adrienne!) for a fall-time powerhouse of a soup. We veganized by subbing in soyrizo for chorizo and veggie stock for chicken stock. Just looking at the ingredients, I think Amy and I were expecting something more like a Zuppa Toscana–a brothy soup with potato chunks and a smidgen of kale. The resulting soup was…unexpected, but delicious–smooth and spicy, with a strange, subtle sweetness from the massive amount of kale. This soup would be a perfect balm for a winter cold or flu.

Spicy Potato & Kale Soup

• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic
• 8 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 lb (~ one bag) of kale
• 1/2 lb soyrizo, (it’s really easy to make your own)
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional–this will cool the spiciness a bit and add a little tang)
• 9 cups veggie stock
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, sautee the onions and garlic over medium heat until they begin to brown/become translucent. Add in the veggie stock, crushed red pepper, and 5 or 6 of the potatoes (you’re going to blend this later, so you want to save out as many potatoes as you’d like to chew with your teeth later), bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered. Let the taters cook down for about 30 minutes, then blend–either by pouring everything in the blender in batches (boring) or using your handy-dandy immersion blender (less boring). Add in the soyrizo, raise heat to medium, and cook for another 15 minutes. Lower the heat again, add in the kale and remaining potatoes, and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, until the kale and potatoes are soft, but not drained of all life. Add in the parsley, cilantro (if you’re using it), and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crusty bread. I’m serious–the original recipe mandated that this must be eaten with crusty bread. I take these types of orders very seriously.

Just to be thorough, we served ours with crusty bread and croutons made out of crusty bread.