Vegan Mofo: Breakfast Taters

First off, I'd like to apologize for all of the super awful pictures I've been sharing with you lately. There seems to be something wrong with my Canon Rebel XS. Every time I attach my flash to it, the flash doesn't go off. Has this happened to anyone else?

Terrible and unappealing images aside, these potatoes were  fantastic! I did standard potato spices: garlic, paprika, crushed red pepper and some nooch. The city I live in is partaking in the Occupy movement that began on Wall Street. Saturday was my morning to make breakfast for everyone! I served this and someone brought instant grits to serve with it. This made for some full and happy protesters.

Also: A friend and I made cat signs. Here are some of our catchy slogans.

1. Anar-kitty: Smash Catipalism!
2. We ain't kitten around!
3. Wall Street Fat Cats
4. We are the 99 purr-cent!

Afghan Potato Salad

Forget that mayonnaise covered crap this 4th of July! My new favorite potato salad recipe is Afghan potato salad! It has chickpeas for added protein and a tangy green sauce comprised of scallions and cilantro. Try experimenting with other beans, though! I've used butter beans in the past. Also, swapping out the cilantro for flat leaf parsley would work, too.

My obsession with Afghan food started last year when a friend of mine took me to an Afghan restaurant in Fairfield, Ca. I don't remember the specific dishes I got, though I remember parts of them. Potatoes, lentils, cauliflower, and an acidic green condiment that I couldn't get enough of.  I began scouring the interwebz for Afghan restaurants and sadly, they were few and far between. Luckily I found this recipe which contained an identical sauce to the one at the restaurant! Try it out folks!

Another Potato Soup

One of the greens I'm growing in my garden this year is turnip greens. I had never had turnip greens before and quite frankly, I was a little put off by them because of how bitter everyone said they were. I feared my culinary capabilities wouldn't be enough to mask the unpleasant bitterness often associated with this prickly little green. I was tarded.

I'm a big fan of creamed spinach so I figured a creamy vehicle would be the best way to try this new green. Sure, potato soup sounds a little too heavy for mid June, but I was excited to already be harvesting vegetables from my garden. So take that.

Potato Soup with Turnip Greens
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 tsp ground rosemary
2 cups tightly packed turnip greens, stemmed and chopped
1 tbs margarine
1 tbs flour
3 cups vegetable broth
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped

In a large soup pot, saute onions and garlic in oil until onions become translucent. Add celery, carrot and rosemary and saute for about 5 minutes, or until carrots become soft. Add greens with 1 tbs of water and cover veggie mixture to steam the greens for about 3 minutes. Add margarine and flour and stir constantly for about 1 minute to coat vegetables. Slowly add in the broth while stirring the vegetables. Bring broth and veggie mixture to a boil and and the potatoes. Cook until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.

At this point you have some options with what you do next. You can a) eat the soup as is, b) add 1/2 cup nondairy milk or cream to make it richer, or c) use an immersion blender to make it thicker and creamier. I opted for b and c. I certainly recommend substituting whatever greens you have on hand as well!

Gardener's Pie topped with Mushroom Miso Gravy

Yes, I am aware of the season and that the combination of sultry heat and overbearing humidity do not exactly make lengthy cooking endeavors involving a stove very desirable. However, who doesn't love a good gardener's pie? Seriously, who doesn't love a mashed potato topped casserole containing green, beans, and protein-s?

I was lazy in making this dish that I opted to spend the extra cash and use Gimme Leans soy crumbles instead of hydrating TVP or lentils. I usually don't make gravy for my gardener's pie, but I developed quite an obsession with miso gravies. It's been my go-to gravy for seitan cutlets, biscuits, you name it. I recently tried a variation with scallions. In this recipe, I threw in the remaining two tablespoons of dehydrated ramps I had gotten from Tyb's parents. Ramps, glorious ramps.

Gardener's Pie topped with Mushroom Miso gravy

5 medium red potatoes, washed and quartered
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 package Gimme Lean soy crumbles
1 stalk broccoli
1 1/2 cups kale
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Boil potatoes in salted water on a large stock pot until they are easily pierced with a fork. Drain potatoes and reserve 1 cup of the cooking water. Prepare mashed potatoes according to your own personal recipe. (I like mine creamy for gardener's pie, so I add 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water. Plus, that's where all the nutrients are, silly!)

Now begin the filling! Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil on medium heat until onion becomes translucent. Add carrots and celery and sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients along with the remaining 1/2 cup potato cooking water and cover. Cook for about 20-25 minutes. Prepare a baking dish with olive oil and spoon filling on to baking dish, covering the bottom. Next, spoon on mashed potatoes and smooth out as to completely cover the filling. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until your potatoes turn golden and roasty.

Mushroom Miso Gravy

1 tbs olive oil

6-8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp dried dill

1 tsp onion powder

1-2 tbs red miso paste

1 tbs soy sauce

1 cup water

Sauté mushrooms in oil until they become soft. Add dried herbs and sauté for another minute. Add miso, soy sauce, and water and whisk until miso is completely dissolved. Reduce heat to simmer and stir continuously until gravy is thick.

Rainy day potato and leek soup

Fun fact about me: I've never cooked with leeks before. Weird, huh? They struck me as a tad intimidating and forced me to pose a series of questions: Do you use the whole thing? Is it like some big green onion? Why can't you use the green part? Would it greatly affect the taste of my meal if I did use the green part? It seems so wasteful not to use the green part. How potent are they? etc. Anyway, this soup was good and perfect for this rainy weather we've been having. I topped my soup with some dried ramps that Tybrus' mom gave to us last summer and some Daiya cheddar.

Potato and Leek Soup

2 leeks, sliced (pale green and white parts only)
1 tbs olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic
3 potatoes, diced
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 large sprig fresh dill
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1/3 cup soy milk/cream
salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot on medium heat saute the leeks and garlic in oil for about 3 minutes. Add potatoes and saute for another three minutes. Add remaining ingredients except for soy milk and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer an cook until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. (About 20 minutes.) Blend have the soup with the soy milk. Add blended mixture back to the pot and reheat. Recommended toppings: ramps, soy cheese, croutons, etc.

Flipping the 'bird' to this cold weather

I live in West Virginia and it's February. It's horrid. I'm assuming we received around five inches of snow today and I also believe I am developing a cold. As a big 'fuck you' to the weather, a well deserved one I might add, I decided to make a hearty soup. This soup was also an attempt to alleviate my sore throat, and it was rather successful.

I got the recipe from How it All Vegan! (my first vegan cookbook ever.) I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Miss Kramer (and in this case Miss Barnard, as well), because quite frequently her recipes fall apart on me (despite how delicious, simple, and intriguing they always sound.) How ever, the use of smokey cumin and sweet coriander MADE this dish! I highly recommend it to anyone living in the unfortunate Northeast, where there is currently an accumulation 928985938 feet of snow. (Please note that the aforementioned over-exaggeration is based purely on intoxication.)

How it All Vegan! Hearty Winter Potato Soup

1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
4-5 medium potatoes, cubed
3 cups veg stock
1 red bell pepper, diced
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp pepper (seriously, though, to taste)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 cup soy milk
2 green onions, sliced (garnish)
croutons (garnish)

In a large soup pot saute onions, garlic, and mushrooms until onions become translucent. Add all ingredients that aren't garnishes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 10- 20 minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced by fork. Put 2 ladles worth of soup mixture plus 1 cup soy milk in blender and blend until smooth. Cook for 5 more minutes, not boiling as this will burn the soup. Serve and garnish. Nomz.

Black Bean Soup

I got this recipe from Show Me Vegan. This soup made me realize that I desperately need to organize my spice cabinet. While searching hurriedly for the cumin, I accidentally grabbed curry powder and added a heaping teaspoon of it. FML. This ended up not hurting the recipe, surprisingly. I also didn't have chipotle, so I couldn't call it smoky. Still so awesome.

bleh.

I haven't been in the mood to cook AT ALL lately. I've been living on a steady diet of Amy's burritos and ramen noodles; I'm not particularly proud of this. But, good news. I did make a trip to the grocery store today to load up on a lot of produce. More good news, my mom finished planting her garden today which means I shall have fresh basil, red peppers, cucumbers, and squash viddy viddy soon!

Since my last post, I've made another General Tao tofu plate, served over rice this time, and some VWAV mashed potatoes with punk rock chickpea gravy. Comfort food, glorious comfort food! I chopped up some kale and mashed it in with the potatoes, too. I also had to spell out k-a-l-e for the cashier at the grocery store so he could ring me up. Oh, Huntington and its inhabitants.

Savory Potato Bake

This recipe was kind of a fluke. It was originally intended to be a cheezy potato casserole. I tinkered with the recipe a bit and this is what happened. And, it was so, so good.

Savory Potato Bake

Ingredients:
5-6 medium russet potatoes
1/2 medium red onion, sliced
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
a few dollops of Earth Balance
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 cup soy sauce

Preheat oven to 450. Wash and slice potatoes width-wise into coins. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish and put the first layer of potato slices. Put 2-3 dollops of EB on the first layer and ad 1/4 cup of the sauce and some of the onion slices. Repeat for the second layer. For the third layer, repeat and sprinkle peas. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 45 minutes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes!

A few days ago I was pumped to begin some healthy eating and cooking. I even made a rockin' tofu scramble chalk full of chickpeas and other good sources of protein. But, then.. my "monthly visitor" came. My womanhood puts me under a great deal of stress and the only way I can deal with such stress is to devour great amounts of peanut butter. All things considered, I've been eating fairly healthy and in my defense, I even walked a couple of miles today. In the frigid winter weather! Now that I've attempted redemption, here are some of my guilty pleasures.

simple Mac 'n Cheese

Attention, menstrual Katie: Throwing steamed broccoli atop your macaroni and cheese doesn't make it any healthier or less fattening. Please act accordingly.

potato salad

I guess ever since Dave and I had the opportunity to eat at Cafe Blossom, I've been craving potato salad. This certainly doesn't hold a candle to theirs, mainly because I didn't have any fresh herbs. It still did the trick. I used veganase to make the potato salad. I don't know what it is about vegan mayo, but it tastes too much like dressing, which I hated as a kid. It tastes too sweet for me, but again, this really hit the spot. Topped with fragrant green onions.

she wore red velvet..

Somehow I managed to survive the first 18 years of my life without making a single cupcake on my own. Seriously. These are the first cupcakes I have ever made. I used Taylor's recipe from MAC & CHEESE. While her blog is not vegan, this particular recipe she posted is. It's an adaptation of Isa's red velvet cupcakes and her grandmother's. That's a tofutti better than cream cheese frosting by the way.