New recipes and headaches

On Sunday evening Bob and I decided to try a new bread recipe--Dori's favorite, in fact. I had never worked with a poolish before, and I must say I was a bit turned off by it when I went to use it--it looked kinda gross. But this recipe was so fun to make, and all kinds of good stuff went into the dough! And it made two beautiful loaves--I have posted my favorite here. The taste is wonderful and hearty, and I love the hardness of the crust with the tender inside. If you like homemade bread, give this one a try!

Tonight we had a guest over for dinner, and I decided to try out a recipe on him that I'd never tested before. It came from The Grit cookbook, and it's Sweet and Sour Tofu with Vegetables. The sweet and sour sauce was fun to make and quite easy, although it called for a lot of ingredients. It ended up being very tangy and not extremely sweet--which is a good thing for me. I don't like sickly-sweet sauces. It had just enough sweetness to it, in fact. The tofu and veggies were just stir-fried in a small bit of oil and tossed with soy sauce. I used green bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, and some frozen green peas. We mixed it all together and served it over brown rice. Delicious! Our guest enjoyed it too, and even got seconds. Hoorah!


Here's my last comment for tonight--I've been having absolutely monstrous headaches lately, and I've no idea why. I had one last night and I could barely walk or even move. They're definitely not migraines or anything like that, but just splitting headaches. Usually it hurts on the sides of my head near my temples, and sometimes I will feel my temples or other localized areas of my head just throb. It hurts to be in a lit room or out in the sun when they come on. I also feel some pressure in my face sometimes too. This is my only symptom--otherwise I'm perfectly healthy. Any ideas out there about what may be going on? I hate relying on pain medicine, but it does help for a while when they come on. I'm reluctant to go to the doctor until I give it a little while and try to find out if I can make them stop naturally. Thanks, friends! Take care and be safe!

The real world looms...

I went grocery shopping around noon yesterday--a very bold move since I had been up since before 7 that morning and had not yet had lunch. So when I went to the freezer case and spotted these Amy's burritos on special this week, I made an impulse decision that a black bean burrito would make the perfect lunch.



I've never tried any of the Amy's brand frozen products before, and I was quite impressed at how tasty a frozen burrito could be, topped with some salsa and enjoyed with a salad. Bob and I are both of the mindset that the "convenience food" craze is a very sad trend that not only impacts health but also people's connection to their food. However, when I was shopping yesterday I thought about both of us working full-time jobs, coming home tired and needing some relaxation time. I hope that I will find cooking dinner after work a way to relax sometimes, but... am I above eating a frozen burrito every now and then? Certainly not--I am glad that there is convenience food out there for me, even if I only want it to be an occasional thing.


I made these Sunny Blueberry-Corn Muffins from VWaV, and only as I was already mixing up the ingredients did it dawn on me that the 1/2 cup oil called for is A LOT of oil. Next time I'd really like to try and lower the fat content of these... but I have to admit, these are probably the best blueberry muffins I've ever tasted, with the lemon zest and the nice cornmeal texture. I'm staying out of them, though--I shared one with Bob and he's taking the rest to work to snack on and share.



I've been eating lots of salads lately, and I thought I'd take some pictures to prove it. One of my favorite varieties includes using mango chunks and Dreena's Simple Cider Vinaigrette (Vive).

I was not scheduled to start my new job until the 27th, but the company called me yesterday and asked if I'd be willing to start Monday--as in three days from now! Yikes--the real world looms larger than ever now, and Bob and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate my last weekend before jumping headfirst into full-fledged adult life.

I had read some reviews for this restaurant downtown called Thai Me Up--yes, Thai cuisine, as you may have guessed. It is very highly acclaimed, and I called to ask if it was vegan-friendly; I was assured that almost any order could be prepared to be vegan. So we got there at 6:00 and were able to take advantage of the early bird special--$10 per person for an appetizer, main course, and dessert.


Bob and I both chose the spring rolls to start, filled with shredded vegetables and black mushrooms and served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. Delicious--though only after they came out did I realize that I had meant to order the summer rolls, which are the same as the spring rolls but not fried. My mistake--oops.


Bob ordered the Red Thai Curry, which was rich and only mildly spicy.


I ordered the vegan Pad Thai, sweet and nutty and lightly crunchy from the mung bean sprouts. I ate less than half before I was finished, and the rest came home. What you see surrounding the noodle dish are chunks of fried tofu. I don't know why, but I expected the tofu to be sautéed, not deep-fried... I ended up peeling off the breading and just eating the tofu out of the middle, and next time I'll see if I can get it sautéed or steamed or something instead.


We both chose raspberry sorbet for dessert. You can't really tell from this picture, but it was one scoop of sorbet served in a tiny glass with a tiny spoon. It was just enough dessert to be refreshing without being too heavy.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was light and easy, with simple decor centered around white, pink, and lavender. I wish I had taken a picture of the pretty paper lanterns that hung by the tables--everything about the place was just lovely. We'll be back.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me about local versus organic produce. It's been a difficult subject for me for quite awhile, because I see the merits in both choices... though I've generally chosen local when I've been faced with the decision. As I get used to my new surroundings and do some more research about what's around, I feel certain that I'll find farmers markets and CSAs where I can support both--and then I can have my local, organic cucumber, and eat it too!

That's all I have for now, friends. Enjoy your weekend, and think of me as I start my new job Monday! Cheers!

PS--Sorry I have not been responding to your comments lately, but until we get internet at our new place I won't have time. As soon as we do, though, I'm going to start responding to each of you again--I still appreciate and adore everything you have to say!

Eat, Drink, And Be Vegan!

I have not blogged very much about this cookbook since I got it for Christmas, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been wearing it out. I have quite a backlog of ED&BV adventures to share. Dreena Burton's Vive Le Vegan! has been my favorite cookbook for some time, but her latest is on the verge of surpassing it!


This Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes I made a while back, but I certainly have not forgotten how delicious it was. Sweet and tangy, it went excellently over steamed quinoa sprinkled with cashews. An added perk: My entire apartment smelled divine as it baked! I ate this for lunch every day for a week, and I think it only tasted better and better each time.


Roasted Garlic Artichoke Spread with Fresh Oregano: I made this for a little dinner party I had one evening. Bold, rich flavors of artichoke hearts and roasted garlic with the gentle seasoning imparted by the fresh oregano created an exciting, complex spread that was excellent served on simple rye crackers. This disappeared quickly, receiving many positive comments along the way!


I had some friends over for dinner one night and made this Blackened Tofu, after poring over many tofu recipes to decide how best to introduce one of my tofu-wary friends. I was hoping for something that would impart a lot of flavor, not have an extraordinarily spongy texture, and be simple enough that she would feel comfortable trying it herself after watching me cook it. This recipe, happily, did all of those things--and the spicy coating was delicious to boot. We made a simple vegetable sautée to serve with it. The leftovers I mashed up with a dab of Nayonaise and some chopped celery for a tasty sandwich spread. I've definitely dog-eared this recipe to use over and over again.


Veggie Sizzle Burritos. Another simple, delicious meal. I opted to forgo the vegan cheese on this one because I wanted to taste clearly the zucchini and portobello filling, which was spiced nicely with chili powder, paprika, and tamari. Baking them made the whole spelt tortillas nice and crispy. This is another keeper for sure.


The Lemony Cashew-Basil Pesto was a refreshing new take on the idea of pesto. Raw cashews add a rich, creamy taste that other nuts just couldn't achieve... The pesto came out quite thick, almost like a paste, so tossing it in the pasta with a couple of spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water helped to create a saucier texture. Because the nuts were raw, this pesto came together a lot faster than other recipes do. This may be my new favorite pesto recipe--and with summer in full swing, I foresee making it quite frequently!


I took these Lemon Poppy Seed Crackle Cookies to work one day and left them anonymously in the break room. It didn't take long, however, for word to circulate that I had brought them--people have learned to recognize the "different" types of baked goods that I bring in, I suppose! Our office manager came up to me and told me that the cookies were "pretty much perfect." Of course, I really can't take all the credit for that. This recipe really is an exceptional take on the classic combination of poppy seed and lemon. The cookies came out moist and chewy, and the poppy seeds impart an earthy layer of flavor that balances so nicely with the fresh, light, tangy lemon flavor. Many, many compliments to Dreena on this recipe!!


Finally, these Cocoa Banana Muffins that I made in an attempt to make use of some overripe bananas that I had lying around. I have to admit that, for some reason, they came out a little dry... though I greatly enjoyed them for breakfast with a glass of almond milk. Chocolate and banana is truly a great combination!

There are still many, many recipes in ED&BV that have caught my eye that I have yet to make, but I would say that I have gotten off to a pretty good start at breaking in this fabulous cookbook!

Cake and chili

These two foods have nothing to do with each other, actually... unless you consider that fall weather has inspired me to make both of them.


I could never get tired of showing you The Grit's Black Bean Chili, because it is the one food I think I could never, ever get tired of eating. Whether you stick it in a burrito, on top of a tofu scramble, or serve it with baked blue corn tortilla chips (and maybe a dollop of vegan sour cream), it is a healthy, filling bowl of tastiness every time. The only modification to the recipe that I suggest is using quinoa in place of bulgur... but really, either way it's fantastic.

Now, we keep a lot of bananas on hand during the summer, because each of us probably consumes about five smoothies per week. But when the weather cools off and the icy cold smoothie is not on the top of our list of culinary desires, those bananas sit around longer and longer, getting riper and riper, until you have to use them or lose them. That's what this cake sprung out of--shopping in summer mode but eating in fall mode. I froze about ten bananas yesterday and still had six left--so flipping through Kris's book I spied a recipe for banana cake, and got to work.


Per Kris's suggestion, I made a batch of her Peanut Butter Frosting to finish. Frosting and sliced bananas make up the middle layer. Also per Kris's suggestion, I made a batch of chocolate sauce to serve alongside this already rich confection.


Bob's slice. He was so impatient for this because he could smell it baking, and could hardly stand to wait for it to cool before diving in. Several delightful grunts and one clean plate later, he thanked me profusely for getting it in my head to bake this cake. The cake is sweet and moist, and the peanut butter with the (better than) cream cheese make for a rich, heavy frosting. I cut back significantly on the sugar in the frosting because the cake was sweet enough. And the cake with the icing is certainly rich enough without adding the chocolate sauce... but if you can handle a rich dessert, then go ahead and add the chocolate--it complements the cake so well!

With that, I wish you a fabulous end of the week! And I appreciate all of your comments, as always. Peace!

100 posts! (Read 'til the end...)

UPDATE: Congratulations to Courtney, who correctly answered the music trivia question. Those lyrics are taken from the song "Sally MacLennane" by the Irish rock/folk band, The Pogues. They're one of my favorites... Courtney, just e-mail me at laurajesser@gmail.com in the next few days, so that I can get your mailing address and send you the cookbook!


This is my 100th post here at Eden in the Kitchen, and I want to thank all of you for making this blog so much fun for me. I really treasure the support and friendship that I have with all of you, which have been so valuable to my journey as a vegan thus far. In fact, I became vegan on the same day that I started this blog--July 29, 2006--so some of you have been with me since the beginning of my journey. And that's pretty cool.

I have certainly come a long way since my first food post--my cooking skills, my knowledge of myriad cuisines and spices and flavors that I never explored, and even my photography skills have expanded so much since I started this journey. If you like, look back with me to my top five favorite posts of my first 100!

1. Pumpkin Brunch
2. Hummus Party
3. My First Vegan Thanksgiving
4. My Deviant tART
5. Random Huge Food Post (because I'm usually happiest when I'm cooking up something new...)

::Sigh:: Oh, the memories...

Now, I have a special GIVEAWAY for you! But first, an explanation.


You have heard me talk about this book plenty of times before. The Grit is a classic Athens vegetarian restaurant, widely celebrated by Athens natives and by followers of the indie music scene (of which Athens is a Mecca of sorts). This cookbook, despite being vegetarian rather than vegan, is one of my favorites because of my many lovely experiences at the restaurant. Besides, many (though not all) of the recipes are easily veganized, and some of my very favorites are vegan in the first place. Like the black bean chili. Or the nutritional yeast gravy. Or the sweet and sour tofu stir-fry.

Three years ago I received a copy of this cookbook for my birthday, when I turned 20. Just this past November, a new edition of the book came out in celebration of the restaurant's 20th anniversary--and the new edition contains 20 new recipes. So this year for my birthday, I received a copy of the new edition. So I would like to give my old, well-broken-in (though still in fine condition) copy to one of you--and I will give you copies of the new recipes, so that you are not missing out on anything!

In celebration of The Grit's long-standing history in the Athens music culture, this is a music trivia question. The first person to leave me a comment correctly identifying the artist and song title of the following lyrics wins! And if no one gets it right, then I will draw a random winner on Monday night out of everyone who ventured a guess. Honor system--no Google searching, please! Here goes:

I heard them say that Jimmy's making money far away
And some people left for heaven without warning

That's it! Good luck! I'll be back with a new food post soon, but for now, I just wanted to thank you for celebrating 100 posts with me, as this is a vey special milestone in my vegan journey. Peace out!

Laboring in the kitchen

Labor Day meant that I didn't have to go to class or to my office today, but it didn't mean I took a break in the kitchen. In fact, I've been very busy...

Bob and I used to love to go to IHOP and split an order of the harvest grain and nut pancakes. Yummy! I have always figured I could make something similar myself at home but never tried. This morning I felt daring, so I veganized and otherwise modified an old favorite pancake recipe to come up with this hearty, wonderful breakfast.

Nut and Grain Pancakes (Stand back, IHOP!)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup coarsely ground oat flour
1/4 cup white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup plain soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon flax seeds + 3 tablespoons water (for 1 egg)
2 tablespoons (scant) oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Water, as needed
Handful of chopped almonds, sunflower seeds, etc.

Combine the soy milk and vinegar and set aside to sour (in place of buttermilk). Combine the first 9 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Grind the flax seeds finely and place in the bottom of a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of water and whisk together until thick and egg-like. Add the milk, oil, and vanilla and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together, being careful not to overmix (lumps are okay). Gently fold in the almonds. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes before you cook the pancakes, on a lightly greased medium-hot griddle. This recipe makes enough for Bob and I to each have two nice-sized pancakes. It was a delicious breakfast!

For lunch: The sushi that I never made yesterday. While I worked on the sushi, Bob made a simple edamame salad.Simple, Spicy Edamame Salad

1 cup steamed edamame
1 sliced red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Pinch coarse sea salt

Dressing:
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut oil

It was wonderful--I loved it because it didn't hide the wonderful flavor of the edamame. The peanut oil really made it special.

As for the sushi, it was not the most cosmetically pleasing sushi I've made, but Bob said he thinks it may have been the tastiest. I made three rolls: One was a simple cucumber and avocado roll. One was cucumber and sliced cremini mushrooms, which I had marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, lime juice, and agave nectar. The last was scallion and sweet potato, boiled and mashed with lime juice, ginger, chili powder, and ground white pepper. The rice this time came out dry and it was harder to work with. Also, I sliced each roll into eight pieces this time instead of six, and realized that all that sushi would not fit comfortably on my serving tray! That's why the plate of sushi looks a little out of whack. But it was good...

Tonight is probably a tossed salad night. I'm not very hungry. But I'll probably make some TVP mock chicken salad so I can have it for lunch tomorrow. And tomorrow night I promised Bob sloppy lentils for dinner. So I'll see you soon with more kitchen concoctions...

I hope everyone had a safe weekend! Cheers!