Hungry Yogi

The sweet life

2011-10-23T15:18:00.002-05:00

Life has been busy--not too busy to cook, certainly not too busy to eat, but the kind of busy that involves so much writing work that blogging becomes a few keystrokes too many to bear. However, I took a little me time this weekend. Ben made me a soy cappuccino in the machine I got him for his birthday a few weeks ago, and I made this pear tart, from Vegetarian Times. It turned out gorgeous and perfect. See? Mmmm....a perfect Saturday afternoon repast.

Sunday Dinner

2011-10-09T21:29:00.003-05:00

I spent most of the day cooking--not only processing my motherlode of tomatillos into puree and freezing it (salsa verde all winter!), but preparing all the elements for dinner. Harvest season is a lot of work! Here's what I came up with for this evening:

Chickpea cutlets, Napa cabbage slaw with sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds, braised collard greens, potato galette, big juicy grapes. So satisfying!

What to do with a fresh fennel bulb

2011-10-08T13:41:00.001-05:00

The fall/winter season has begun for my CSA (community-supported agriculture) share. Every other week I get a big load of fresh vegetables, a little different every time, so I never know for sure what's coming. This week, the share included cutting celery, collard greens, kale, Chinese cabbage, a mix of Asian greens, radish greens, leeks, sage, parlsey, garlic chives, and a big white fennel bulb.

Now, I know what to do with most of that stuff, but I've never cooked fennel before, and this beautiful bulb looked like it deserved good treatment. So, I looked through all the cookbooks I thought might mention fennel--this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, too. Finally, I took everything I read and mixed it all together, discarded most of it, and came up with this very simple recipe which was so mouth-wateringly delicious that I'm sorry I only had one bulb. Here's what I did:

Trim the stalk and leaves off the fennel bulb, setting aside some of the freshest of the leaves for garnish. Cut off the bottom, cut out the hard core at the bottom, and peel off any tough outer leaves. Very thinly slice the fennel.

Heat 1 tablespoon Earth Balance over medium heat in a skillet (it sounds like a lot for one serving, but it's worth it). Add the fennel. Saute for about five minutes, then cover the skillet and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Uncover, season with salt, and continue to saute about five minutes more, or until some of the fennel pieces are golden-brown and crispy. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon over everything, stir to cover everything in lemon juice, and serve garnished with fennel leaves.

This made one really delicious serving, so if you want to make this for more people, I would allow about one bulb per person.

Brussels Sprouts-Potato Hash

2011-10-05T14:08:00.004-05:00

What do you do with a batch of beautiful Brussels Sprouts? While strolling (virtually) through the Vegan Mofo blogroll the other day, I saw some delectable photos of Brussels Sprout hash. I would post the link to them, but I can't remember where I saw it. Even so, I just had to try it. I didn't follow a recipe--really, hash is about leftovers. Instead, I just chopped and tossed according to inspiration, with mouthwatering results. I may add fried tofu cubes or a leftover Tofurkey beer brat to the rest of it for lunch tomorrow, but for now, no need. Even without extra protein, this dish tastes fantastic, for die-hard Brussels sprouts fans, and even those who give them a 'meh.'

I started fresh pack of Brussels sprouts I got at the co-op on Monday night, where I shop while my oldest son is taking his drum lesson across the street. Rinse, slice.

Next, I sliced a red onion (I only had red left from my last CSA haul), cubed a couple of baking potatoes (not the best for frying, but also what I had left from my last CSA pickup), and halved a lemon.

I heated a splash of olive oil in a skillet and grated a big fat clove of garlic into the oil. On top of that, I added about a quarter cup of raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), most of which I bought to make green mole (stay tuned).

After the garlic began to golden-up and pepitas started popping, I added the onions (saute 5 minutes), the potatoes (saute 5 minutes), and then the Brussels sprouts, then some sea salt, black pepper, and ground chipotle powder. I sauteed everything for about 15 more minutes, then squeezed half a lemon over the whole shebang and covered the pan to let the potatoes steam a bit, since they weren't getting soft--about 15 more minutes.

And this was dinner--light but filling, nutty and sweet, savory and crunchy--and exactly what I wanted.

National Taco Day

2011-10-04T16:32:00.000-05:00

Rumor has it it's National Taco Day, and I'm not going to confirm or deny (or even google it). I'm just going to go with it. Tacos are perfect when you've got leftovers, so I lined up grilled tofu, salsa verde, lettuce, tomato, and Teese onto my whole wheat tortilla. Rolled it up and that was lunch. It took all of 3 minutes. Because I'm intense in the kitchen that way.

Fall Harvest...and Salsa Verde!

2011-10-03T15:57:00.000-05:00

The first two weeks in October are the most beautiful in Iowa, in my opinion. The air cools, the light gets deeper, shadows lengthen and the leaves all start to turn, tree by tree, all around the neighborhood--red, gold, orange, rust. Gorgeous! This is also the time to get most of the rest of the vegetables out of the garden, and boy did we have some work to do! Even the teenagers helped. (Who says teenagers can't take a few minutes away from their video games to assist the oldsters with their silly old-fashioned non-digital chores?) Most of the work for Emmett and I involved plucking tomatillos from the vines, while Ben and Angus attacked the apple tree. Tomatillos really took over this year, although I was still able to harvest some tomatoes, peppers, and apples.

Emmett picked these beauties.

Angus trimming the apple tree.

Tomatillos like crazy!

With all of this bounty, obviously I had to make Salsa Verde. I based it on the recipe in Viva Vegan!, although I only had one white onion and no green onions, so a large yellow onion stood in. After our garden work, Ben fired up the grill and we roasted the onions, garlic, serranos, jalapenos, and tomatillos--and then some tomatoes and more peppers to add to the guacamole. Because if tortillas are on the table, then guac also must be on the table. It's the law. (You knew that, right?)

Food prep outside is fun!

Oh yeah...soooo good!

If tortillas are on the table, guac must also be on the table.

What the heck, why not throw some tofu on there, too? Dinner was whole wheat tortillas with beans, salad, salsa verde, and guac. Also grapes and apples, and the rest of that rockin' chocolate pudding pie from Saturday.

Meanwhile, I see big batches of salsa verde in my future, so nothing goes to waste.

And what do you do after a hard day's labor? You either climb a tree...

He's safe from any further manual labor up there.

Or you lie in the hammock.

Wake me up when...oh, never mind, don't wake me up!

Kale chips and veggie soup

2011-10-02T13:46:00.003-05:00

My quick no-nonsense kale chip recipe--tear up kale leaves, spread on cookie sheet, spray with cooking spray or olive oil, bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt--and crunch away! Soup is lots of random CSA veggies in veg broth, with a few spoonfuls of TVP.

Kicking it off with pudding pie

2011-10-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist this pudding cake when I saw it on the PPK blog, or more precisely, my 13 year old son couldn't resist requesting it, and I'm a sucker for his vegan dessert requests.

I only had half the necessary amount of almond milk (unsweetened vanilla) so used organic plain soy milk for the rest.

Date night at Takanami

2011-09-28T18:24:00.001-05:00

Cool Manhattan-chilling technology. Loaded miso soup. Seaweed salad. Takanami Vegan Maki. Lindsay Lohan waitress. Enough said.

Tortilla pizza with garden tomatoes, kale, oregano, and Teese

2011-09-27T12:03:00.003-05:00

Tasty lunch. Spray ww tortilla with cooking spray or brush with evo, top with tomato slices, kale, oregano, and salt. Bake at 425 until tortilla and kale are crisp. Top with Teese, bake 5 min more. Cut in wedges. Devour.

Panko-crusted tofu over artichoke salad with local tomatoes andpeppers, plus oven roasted potatoes with thyme, Stallion CellarsReserve Maverick Meritage

2011-09-23T19:45:00.003-05:00

Friday night dinner: Dipped extra firm pressed tofu slice in panko, cooked in skillet with cooking spray. Cut up fresh local potatoes, pepper, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs, and roasted in the oven with sea salt, chipotle powder, and Spike (and some cooking spray) at 400 for about 45 minutes. The salad: mixed baby greens with artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, local sweet peppers and tomatoes, and an olive oil vinaigrette. The wine is the bottle we won at a Key West raffle at the Green Parrot.

Dinner at the Red Avocado, and Buck

2011-09-22T20:21:00.003-05:00

Tonight, we went out for dinner again (decadent!), this time at The Red Avocado. The occasion: the last night that the documentary Buck is playing at the Bijou Theater. I just happened to see that it was here at all, and I'm so glad I didn't miss it.

But first, the food. We started with a beer (shouldn't most meals?). I had a Madhouse Brewery (Iowa) Honey Pilsner and Ben had a Bell's Two Hearted (which the menu called 'Double Hearted--what?), and an appetizer of hummus and white bean purée.

Next, Smoky Sunset--sweet potatoes and tempeh with garlic aioli, yum! I've been craving tempeh all day. It was absolutely delicious and the aioli tasted like smoke in the best possible way. Ben had the Salad Organica.

Finally, the movie--a beautiful and moving documentary about Buck Brannaman, the man who was a model and advisor for The Horse Whisperer movie. Four stars. A must-see if you like horses or animals in general. Or even people.

Last day of summer breakfast

2011-09-22T07:55:00.002-05:00

And it's chilly outside! Need...warm...food...can't...work...

This was exactly what I needed. Toasted sourdough bread topped with melted nacho Teese (from Chicago Soy Dairy) topped with pressed tofu fried in evo with sesame seeds, hot pepper flakes, and soy sauce, and finished with a slice of garden tomato. Steamy mug of Ginger Twist herbal tea. NOW I can get to work!

Date night at 2DOGS PUB

2011-09-21T18:15:00.001-05:00

Wednesday is date night and we almost always eat out. Tonight we are trying a new restaurant in the neighborhood: 2DOGS Pub. It's burgers and bar food, which certainly has its place. I had Peace Tree Ramblin' Red Ale (brewed right here in Iowa), flash fries green beans with teriyaki glaze, the chipotle black bean burger, firestarter style (siracha chile sauce, giardiniero, jalapeños, and grilled pineapple, hold the cheese), and onion rings. Mmmm...bar food.

Summer's Over, MoFo Begins!

2011-09-21T14:39:00.003-05:00

First of all, I can't believe it's time for Vegan MoFo again! If that doesn't kick me back into blogging on this site, nothing will. It's been a crazy-busy summer, what with two vacations and what-not, but now I'm back from my most recent foray to Key West and ready to dig back in, get back to work, and make it happen.

Second, I've got a new focus. As a co-author of many diet books, I feel compelled to perhaps at lesat consider practicing what I preach with a bit more rigor (i.e., Do I really need to make cookies again? Do I really need to eat that many Twizzlers while watching Project Runway? Do I really need the entire avocado AND the crumbled corn chips on top of my chili? I mean seriously...)

Third, about the yoga...I've had to take the whole summer off from asana because of a knee injury that is finally seeming almost better. I can almost do Uttanasa again, and for anybody who knows me, you know that's big because pre-knee-issue, I could practically rest my forearms on the darned floor. I have hypermobility syndrome which sounds really cool if you want to do lotus pose while in headstand, but is not really cool at all when you suffer one injury after another because you are too flexible and your muscles can't compensate and you have to stop doing asana altogether! Therefore, my new yoga focus is strength, strength, strength. Build it!

This third point dovetails nicely with the second point, since losing weight is of course easier on taxed tendons and lax ligaments. These both circle back nicely, like a lovely dhanurasana, to Vegan Mofo, where I will be blogging much more regularly about both these issues--with all the focus on the food, of course, as is required for MoFo. (Maybe November can be MoYo.)

In preparation for my renewed rigor on all counts, here are some pics of what I've been eating this summer, when I wasn't gallivanting around Key West or lazing about on Topsail Island or hailing the pool bar servers at the Don Cesar in Saint Pete. Oh what the heck, I'll share some of those pics, too.

Kiddos and me in the sea (Topsail Island, NC)

The gorgeous Don Cesar in St. Pete Beach

Uncle John and I on the St. Pete Pier

This is the car we rented to explore Florida. I think Ben took more pictures of the car than anything else.

Breakfast by the pool.

Hummus wrap on Duval Street at the Lazy Dog.

I swear he was posing.


One of the Hemingway House cats--he didn't feel like showing us whether he had six toes or not.

This guy owns the street.

We won a bottle of wine at the AIDS benefit raffle at the Green Parrot!


Roasted farmer's market vegetable platter with cranberry almond tabbouleh and ponzu-glazed tofu at Seasons 52 in Tampa, on our last night in Florida.

Good-bye Key West!

And with all that, I bid good-bye to summer and welcome fall with open arms. Let's do this thing!

Fast Food

2011-04-20T14:41:00.001-05:00

I love to cook, but if I am to be totally, brutally honest (and diligent about practicing the yoga principle of satya), I have to admit that I don't usually spend very much time or energy in the kitchen. Sure, I'll go on the occasional cooking binge on a weekend without much on the schedule, but when I'm struck with that kind of non-negotiable belly hunger that absolutely will not wait for fussy preparations, I eat whatever I can make the fastest.

It occurred to me today, when in the throes of exactly this situation, that some people might want the occasional inspirational idea for really quick meals that are actually nutritious and plant-based, and also look pretty. Because really, aren't aesthetics at least 30% of the satisfaction?

Of course, the first order of business is to have plenty of basic ingredients on hand. That means a pretty constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables, good bread, and in my case at least, brown mustard. Add some extra firm tofu and you can make lunch really fast. Here's what I had today--and I actually have some variation of this for lunch pretty often:

This involved frying two slices of extra firm tofu in a teaspoon of sesame oil, drizzling them as they cooked with a teaspoon of soy sauce, then sprinkling with hot pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and a little bit of Spike seasoning before flipping. This took about 5 minutes. Put the tofu on a toasted bun (toast bun while frying), top with mustard, lettuce, tomato slices, add some blueberries/strawberries and a handful of pretzels on the side, and take it back to your desk where you are still trying to finish up that chapter. Wait, am I projecting again? In any case, this took all of 8 minutes. And it's pretty.

Chili Dogs

2011-03-14T14:05:00.001-05:00

When I was young, chili dogs were my favorite food. I didn't even have to think about it when someone asked me the question. On my birthday, my parents used to take me to King's, a restaurant that served foot-long chili dogs. Heaven! (That restaurant is now a Perkins. They do not have chili dogs--let alone veg chili dogs.)

Buns out of the oven

So I had some leftover homemade veg chili I made the other day--really good, with black beans, zucchini chunks, sweet potato, lots of spice--and I had delicious apple sage sausages. All I needed was the buns, so I whipped up these lovely creatures using half King Arthur's Bread Flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. They were a bit too big so I had to trim them down for chili dog size, but they were fresh and so delicious. Even better than I remember!

Mmm...

Working lunch

2011-03-12T12:02:00.000-06:00

As I finish up my next book, I am eating lunch at my desk on Saturday. Bummer! But that's o.k. because I get to eat two pieces of wholegrain sourdough toast. I topped one with mashed sweet potatoes, black beans, and pink salt. The other got the almond butter, bananas, and raw cacao nibs treatment. Another cup of coffee, and I'll finish this thing in no time!

Lenten update: I am lame. Last night at Happy Hour, I had a shot of Patron with club soda and a lime. But just one, and nothing when I went out for dinner later! I'm not going to throw in the towel, I'm going to consider that a single slip and try not to do it again. Still no sugar. Interestingly, I noticed that I wasn't constantly hungry all day yesterday--likely a product of reduced sugar intake. Note the delicious natural sweetness of my lunch--who needs cane sugar when you can eat like this?

Curry soup, sushi rolls, and sesame coleslaw

2011-03-11T12:18:00.000-06:00

I've been eyeing a recipe in Vegetarian Times for Chickpea and Greens Curry Soup. Last night I finally made it, leaving off the suggested yogurt garnish. Basic method: Saute onions and a lot of spices (curry, cinnamon, turmeric, chili powder, nutmeg), then add chopped greens (I used lacinato kale, the recipe suggests spinach), then add can of chickpeas, 1 chopped tomato, 4 cups veg broth, 1 can coconut milk, and simmer for an hour. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro . It was good but not salty enough for me, so I added a bit of soy sauce towards the end, which made it perfect.

As that simmered, I made sushi rolls, one flavor with marinated tofu, avocado, and green onions, the other with sweet potatoes and sauteed mushrooms. Deliciousness. My teenager devoured most of the sweet potato rolls--he's not very good at sharing. Finally, chopped red cabbage tossed with chopped scallions, cilantro, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, a pinch of 5-spice powder, and sesame seeds.

Lenten update: So far, so good. No sugar, no alcohol. We'll see how it goes when I meet a friend for happy hour today and order a club soda with lemon. Will I be able to handle the inevitable peer pressure?

Deprivation, or Discipline? (On the occasion of Lent.)

2011-03-10T17:08:00.003-06:00

No more glasses of this for awhile...

Or any of these...

I'm not Catholic, and yet, I go through this every year: What to give up for Lent. I think I'm obsessed with Lent because I am not someone overwhelmed by a sense of personal discipline. In fact, I'm kind of lax--hedonistic, one might even say. I'm not good at deprivation. Lent seems like an opportunity to work on what is arguably a failing. (Not that arguable, really.)

As is my custom, I had no problem feasting on Original Field Roast Grain Meat Company Apple Sage Sausage, homemade pancakes (from VwaV) with maple syrup, and tofu scramble (freestyle, lots of curry powder) with fresh pico de gallo and avocado cubes and spinach, along with a couple of homemade Hurricanes (orange juice, pineapple juice, lime juice, white rum, spiced rum, amaretto, strawberry syrup, angostura bitters) on Fat Tuesday. (Sorry, I was festive without a camera.)

But then, I had to face the yearly dilemna: What to give up.

I'm never very good at this. I've tried unsuccessfully to give up sugar for 40 days oh...enough times to make me want to bake a batch of cupcakes to forget. In fact, I don't think I've ever once been able to give up anything for Lent and make it all the way to Easter. Not a very good track record, I guess, looking back on it.

Sheesh.

Every year, however, my health habits have gotten a little bit better. That's why, this year, I've decided to try giving cane sugar and alcohol the boot. For 40 days. Until Easter.

DEFINITELY no more of these...

I chose cane sugar specifically for two reasons. One, I eat too much of it. Two, if I just said "sugar" and could not take occasional refuge in Rice Dream Pies or maple syrup, I would surely fail. And I'm adding alcohol because I just can't take it like I used to, and I don't think it's doing me any favors. It won't kill me to give it a 40-day rest. As I told a friend the other day, I can have a chocolate martini on Easter, right? It's not like it's forever.

It's only going to feel like it.

Not even any of these...sigh...

So here is my pep talk to myself:

"I can do it! Go Hungry Yogi! You don't need no stinkin' sugar. And the next time you cook something good, take a darned picture!"

Merry Vegan Christmas!

2010-12-23T13:59:00.003-06:00


My boys on Christmas, plus girlfriend Hailey

Christmas snow!

It's been a crazy year. So crazy, we've had nobody over. We've had no holiday gatherings at our house in something like 3 years? We've always politely suggested that we "meet at *your* house." Because our house was what we euphemistically like to call "in flux." I was working like a maniac and Ben was doing about seventy-five projects at once, and, well...you know how it goes (or maybe you don't, but if that's the case, then let's meet at *your* house).

However, my poor mom, who hates to cook, and whom we abandoned on Thanksgiving to visit Ben's parents, really needs a break. Therefore, I finally agreed we would have Christmas Day dinner at our house.

So, never mind my sprained ankle, stress level, and work load I am ignoring this week for the sake of my own sanity. It's Christmas, which means it's a time for family, love, sparkly gifts, and especially cooking. Here is the menu I'm planning:

Tofurken from here (because doesn't that just look so cool?)
Garlic mashed potatoes (no recipe, winging it)
Roasted blue-and-sweet potatoes with onions and mushrooms (no recipe, winging it)
Isa's punk rock chickpea gravy (from VWAV)
Dinner rolls with Earth Balance (purchased)
Peas (just plain and roly-poly, the way the kids like them)
Big Christmas Salad (with red peppers, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, all that good stuff--free form)
Jamaican rice and peas (by which they mean beans--a recipe we got from a girl named Nana in Jamaica--she says it's the best)
Cranberry sauce (homemade because really, it's so easy, I don't get the canned thing--no recipe, winging it)
Gooseberry pie (with the berries from my dad's gooseberry bush, waiting patiently in the freezer--no recipe, winging it)
Red velvet cake with pink frosting (special-ordered from Fair Grounds coffeehouse, my fave vegan bakery)

Do you think that will be enough food? (Full disclosure: We also got a local organic ham so my dad doesn't swoon from a perceived lack of sustenance, and I'm working on him to take his first baby step from supermarket meat to locally-produced-on-small-family-farm meat, but the ham doesn't get to come to the table. I know.).

I will report back with photos once cooking has commenced. For now, I'm off to finish my shopping and then do some yoga so I can calm down enough to have a steady hand in the kitchen tomorrow and the next day. Peace on earth and happy merry to all!

UPDATE: Pictures! Also, I was lucky enough to win one of the handmade cookbooks from Vegan Eats and Treats, so added the Panforte from that to my Christmas menu.

Grace, the cockatiel, is helping me choose a recipe.

Panforte ready to bake

Finished Panforte from Vegan Eats & Treats homemade cookbook, "Inter-Galactic Vegan Delights"

Rolling out the dough for Tofurken

Adding the sausages

Adding the cashew cheese layer

Rolling it up

Getting ready to steam it

Steaming...

Finished Tofurken--yum!

Preparing the gooseberry pie

Ready to bake

Cranberry sauce

Blue white sweet potatoes, ready to roast

New Refrigerator!

2010-12-09T10:21:00.000-06:00

For about six months now, we've been limping along with a refrigerator that needs to be completely emptied about once every ten days, turned off for 24 hours, then restarted. This is due to some fancy-schmancy broken part that would cost nearly half the price of a new refrigerator to replace. Finally, after one too many trips down the stairs and out to the garage (aka beer) refrigerator with armfuls of food, I decided enough was enough. We were going to have to suck it up and buy a new one.

So, after much research and a series of fortunate mishaps for which Sears and LG were variously to "blame," we are getting this new refrigerator, at a drastically reduced price. It's a long story, but suffice it to say, I am a happy customer.

However, upon measuring last night, we realized that our cabinets above our old refrigerator are too low. At some point, we plan to rip them all out anyway, so Ben took the circular saw and just cut off the bottom of the cabinets. Why not? I never liked those cabinets.

Now, we've got a space all ready. They will come and haul away the old one and install the new one. Supposedly. I remain skeptical, as it all seems too good to be true.

I swear I'm going to keep this one shiny-sparkling-clean, oh mighty refrigerator gods! I swear it!

In the meantime, I let the camera battery die so wasn't able to take pictures of what I've been cooking all week, but this included:

-A vegan butternut squash cheesecake, based on this Vegetarian Times pumpkin cheesecake recipe, but subbing puree I made from butternut squash I had from my CSA and using some homemade cranberry sauce in place of the candied cranberries. Easy and so good, seriously, you should try it. My kids had no idea it contained tofu. Even my son's very picky girlfriend ate an entire piece, and she usually won't eat anything.
-Butternut squash soup with coconut milk, to use up my leftovers.
-Tofu breakfast burritos
-Follow Your Heart quesadillas (used their "monterey jack" cheese) with green salsa and Amy's chili (my "fast food")
-A failed attempt at Essene bread. A friend has enlightened me to my errors so I'll re-do that and post it later.
-Probably a lot of other food I can't remember, since I eat a lot.

Now, my camera is charging and I am waiting with baited breath for my new friend, Ms. Fridge. She's stainless steel. With four doors. French doors. And separate drawers for fresh fruits, crisp veggies, and various tofu-related products. And two freezers. And a wine drawer. And a really tall ice maker, so I can fit the whole pitcher in there. And...and...and.. Oh, I'm sure the reality of our relationship will soon bring my reverie to a screeching halt, but until she arrives, just let me have my fantasies.

Hells Yeah Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-12-02T17:53:00.000-06:00

Emmett...you will spoil your dinner!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is next, and I'm sitting here at my desk looking out the window at actual SNOW, I have a hankering for cookies. Peanut butter cookies. My 12 year old son Emmett gave me the idea the other day, when he said, "Mom, will you make peanut butter cookies?"

Hells yeah.

So I looked around and found these, on the Hell Yeah It's Vegan website. Thanks Claryn! I don't know you, but I like you already.

First, I prepared my mise en place. Because I'm fancy like that. The only thing I did differently from the recipe was to use some light coconut milk I happened to have leftover, instead of the soy milk.

I mixed it up in my KitchenAid stand mixer (LOVE), formed the dough into balls, and then on a whim, rolled each dough ball in Florida Crystals before putting on the cookie sheet and making the old-school fork marks. (Because it's the secret code for peanut butter cookies.) I admit to eating some of the dough--but if I hadn't, it would have made more than two dozen cookies, and I only have two cookie sheets. And two dozen peanut butter cookies should be enough for anyone.

Here they are, ready to put in the oven:

And here they are, all baked and delicious. Chewy, soft in the middle, as promised. I even baked them a little longer than stated, and they were still perfectly textured. As you can see, between oven and plate, I now have far fewer than two dozen remaining. Because we are all naughty cookie-snatching dinner spoilers. All of us!

Salad, Sally, Snow, and Soup

2010-11-30T14:06:00.000-06:00

Wow. I mean, wow. The Mofo postings overwhelm me. How the heck do people have time to cook and photograph and write every day like that? I'm impressed. I'm also now officially obsessed with this blog. But I digress.

We hit the road, literally going over the river and through the woods to "grandmother"s" house (BF's mom), where Thanksgiving was definitely not vegan but had many delicious elements, like this:

My main course

and this (Angus was just so exhausted waiting for his food!):

Wake up, Angus--dinner is almost ready and you should really be helping!

and of course, "Grandma" in the kitchen.

Ann at the stove

It was also Sally's birthday. She's 12. We made her a little turkey cake.

Happy Birthday Miss Dog!

So, while there was turkey on the table and I could only drool and dream about the amazing vegan creations I saw on Mofo this week (Tofurken, I have my eye on you for next year...or Christmas!), I had plenty of good salad and corn and sweet potatoes and I ravished the relish tray--and we had serious happy-family time, unplugged from computers and blackberries and televisions.

Now we are home, and it's snowing! In fact, I believe it's the first snow of the season. That means soup weather, so I'm cooking up delicata squash, kale, and green chilies in mushroom broth, for pureeing:

Soup-to-be

I plan to sip it from a big mug. With a side of toast. Topped with pumpkin butter. Because it may not be winter yet, but it feels like winter, so who am I to behave otherwise?

Squash Saturday...Sunday...Monday...

2010-11-22T14:59:00.000-06:00

I may occasionally be late on deadlines, but I would never fail to honor a commitment--especially to a squash. Therefore, I felt it my sacred duty to spend the day cooking my beautiful bunch of squashes and making them into squash truffles (and do it right this time), roasted stripetti squash (I owe it to my CSA--second half of this post explains why), pumpkin spice syrup (but with homemade pumpkin puree instead of canned, because I've got it) and pumpkin butter (I'll just make it up as I go).

They've been waiting so patiently. See? See how long-suffering they are? Just waiting, waiting to be made into something delicious? Because they just know they have it in them?

First, I roasted them for about 15 minutes so they would soften up enough to cut and scoop. Then, I returned them to the oven to get nice and soft.

After they were fork-tender, I scooped all the squash to make 4 cups, and scooped the pumpkin separately, to make the pumpkin recipes. I pureed everything in the VitaMix to make a beautiful, silky, creamy squash puree and pumpkin puree, respectively. I am here to tell you, the VitaMix truly makes a complete puree--no straining necessary. It's beautiful.

For the squash truffles, I heated the squash puree on low heat, as instructed in the recipe--but two hours later, it will wasn't "very dry." I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it just doesn't want to firm up into anything I could possibly roll. Maybe it's the weather. I added the almond butter, syrup, vanilla, and salt. I tried to drop a few onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. They weren't very round. Finally I gave up and stirred in a bunch of grated coconut. This made it shape-able, so I rolled it into balls, put a few chocolate chips in the middle of each one, and put them on parchment on a baking sheet. Put them in the refrigerator to see if they will firm up any further. More on that later.

For the pumpkin syrup, I measured out 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1-1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup Florida crystals, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice. Boiled the heck out of it, and yum! I've been scooping the stuff into my coffee cup ever since.

For the pumpkin butter, I combined the remaining pumpkin puree with 1 cup of orange juice, 1/2 cup apple syrup (I used up all my maple syrup and I happened to have apple syrup from a local farm), and another tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (I'm going to need more of this!). I boiled it until it was thick and yummy. I've been spooning the stuff onto toast ever since.

Finally, I "roasted the heck" out of the stripetti squash (as instructed). The shells, blackened, contained the most delicious carmelized squash! Wow. I take it back, I take it all back, what I said about stripetti squash before! I've been eating it all by itself all weekend, and also put some into my lentils.

I spent most of Sunday and most of today so far eyeing those unfinished squash truffles in the refrigerator--with suspicion. I'll finish them before I leave for Thanksgiving--which will not be vegan so I guess I'd better bring something--something more substantial than squash truffles, but they might make it into the car, too.

Anyway, the squash and I had fun. We laughed. We cried. It was better than cats. Now I'm ready to have a great holiday--you do, too! As soon as Thanksgiving is over, Christmas recipes are fair game--and I just saw a recipe in Better Homes & Gardens for coconut and grapefruit gumdrops...

Pizza, salad, pears

2010-11-17T08:40:00.001-06:00

I didn't have a lot of time to cook tonight. After working out with one teenager at the gym and then picking up the other teenager at the bowling alley (bowling is an actual high school sport now--who knew?), I had to pick up my local CSA share. Fortunately, my local food co-op makes excellent pizza. Therefore, dinner: Vegan pizza from NewPi, big salad with local CSA lettuces (three kinds) and breakfast radishes plus red peppers, hearts of palm, and peas. I was a sesame vinaigrette girl until I discovered Goddess Dressing. And then of course the pears--because everybody should eat more fruit. There are days when I am thankful for how far convenience food has come.

While picking up my produce, I was dutifully chided by one of the farmers, who was apparently angry to see my less-than-enthusiastic opinions of stripetti squash published for the world to see. Apparently, I am doing a disservice to CSAs and stripetti squashes everywhere! Oops. I'm sorry stripetti squash (and CSAs everywhere). I didn't mean to diss you. The farmer gave me specific instructions on how to cook them so they will be irresistible, and requested that I try it and publish that. Um...OK! I was also recently informed by the author of the squash article in Hobby Farm Home magazine that when I tried to make her recipe for squash truffles, I skipped a crucial step. Oops! Sorry, Adrianne!

Apparently, squash and I have some making up to do. And I have every opportunity, as this is what I now have on my table. I will do better, squashes. I promise, I will do better. This weekend.

Samosa potatoes, lentil curry, and basmati rice

2010-11-15T11:39:00.000-06:00

After those cookies I couldn't stop cooking, so for dinner I cracked open Veganomicon again and made the samosa baked potatoes. I also found a recipe for spicy Indian lentils on allrecipes.com, but used the brown lentils I had instead of the red lentils it demanded. Added brown basmati rice, a side of the remaining peas that didn't go in the potatoes, and some spinach salad with Annie's Goddess dressing. Finally...time to stop cooking and start eating.

White chocolate cranberry almond cookies

2010-11-14T13:15:00.000-06:00

All I want to do on Sundays is cook--or, in this case, bake. There's a chill in the air so it seems like the right thing to do. Why wait for the holidays? Certain kinds of weather simply demand certain kinds of cooking. I didn't make the rules.

As usual, I searched Veganomicon for inspiration, and found the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I substituted whole wheat flour for the cocoa. Instead of chocolate chips etc., I added 2 cups of the white chocolate/almond/cranberry trail mix nobody has been eating. Voila! This is some serious good--it's amazing I got two dozen cookies out of this experience because I ate so much cookie dough. Now maybe some hot cocoa...

Velvety Potato Soup

2010-11-12T12:35:00.003-06:00

We are messy soup eaters in my house

After gazing at my new VitaMix for a long time, I decided that perhaps the baked potato fries I had in the oven that were falling apart might make a nice soup. I took them out, scraped them off the pan and into the VitaMix, added some unsweetened soy milk, a splash of soy creamer, the rest of a carton of veg broth, and about half of the onions, peppers, and garlic I was sauteeing in evo/EB for the vegloaf.

A little tamari, a small handful of radish greens, and then I pureed according to the directions for soup. Wow--this thing doesn't just blend, it actually heats up the soup! I blended for 5 minutes and when I turned off the blender, the soup was steaming hot and as smooth as velvet. Sprinkled with some daiya and croutons, my teenage son (who likes to complain, "Why is every single thing to eat in this house made out of soy beans?" Which, by the way, is totally not true) ate it right up. See?

Angus is always hungry

Meanwhile, I added the rest of the peppers, onions, and garlic to a roll of GimmeLean ground "meat", added tamari, bread crumbs, chili powder, garlic powder, ketchup, mustard--mixed it all up, baked for 30 minutes at 375 in a mini loaf pan, then turned out and glazed with ketchup, mustard, brown-sugar mix and baked 15 minutes more. Served over fettucine, with salad.

Dinner--yum

VitaMix Worship

2010-11-11T15:55:00.000-06:00

Look what a certain special someone just sent me in the mail as a special thank-you for a special book we might just have coming out in special 2012! When she heard about my plight--my burned-out food processor, which I killed making raw brownies--this arrived soon after. Wow. I've been staring at it all day, with lust in my heart. This bad boy has power. Authority. Prestige. And potential. What should I make first???

Procrastination Stew & It-Can-Wait Kale Chips

2010-11-08T12:34:00.000-06:00

When I'm starting a new book, it can be hard to...well...hard to start. So I often procrastinate by cooking in the middle of the day. That's right. I can do that. I work at home.

So today, I stood in front of my refrigerator with the door open (I scold all others for doing this) and looked at all that CSA produce. This stuff must be eaten, and soon. I'm sorry, but work is just going to have to wait. Clearly, this is an emergency.

And the obvious remedy? Kale chips and veg stew.

First I tore up the kale, tossed with olive oil and a bit of sesame oil, and baked at 350 for 25 mins. Sprinkled with salt. It was almost too easy.

While kale chips crisped in the oven, I put the rest of cooked pinto beans I made last week in a saucepan, added some veg broth, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and a big handful of chopped greens (collards and radish leaves). Boiled for 20 mins. Topped with crumbled tortilla chips and avocado cubes. Because everything's better with avocado.

I'm afraid it didn't take very long. I'm already back at my desk with no more excuses not to get down to work. Although I do think I need to give my full attention to eating. For at least, say...an hour? Darn it, I think my co-author is calling...

Candy at Last (for a price)

2010-11-08T09:08:00.001-06:00

You would think I've never cooked before. Seriously. I've been cooking for years. *Successfully.* Until this week.

Yesterday, I put dates, walnuts, cacao nibs, and cinnamon in the food processor. Processed--my first clue should have been that the food processor seemed to be having a hard time, but I was determined to make my candy so I kept going. I added agave, then tried to process some more, and that's when I smelled the smoke. I seem to have blown out the motor on my food processor.

I guess maybe it's time to ask for that Vita Mix for Christmas...who has one? Worth the exorbitant price?

In any case, although the walnuts and cacao nibs didn't get a chance to be ground up as finely as I intended, and although the squares of candy are a bit irregular, I'm enjoying the crunchiness of the cacao, and the candy is pretty freakin delicious. Good breakfast.

R.I.P., Cuisinart!

Carnival Squash Candy Improv

2010-11-03T23:09:00.001-05:00

Finished! Finished! A certain celebrity someone's third book is finally finished! After I have a good stiff celebratory drink, and maybe sleep for 12 hours, it will be time to start the next book, for the next person who has hired me.

Said latest book's exact emphasis is not yet to be revealed, but in essence, it's about raising children naturally, organically, peacefully, gently...and vegan-ly.

That means it's time to turn my attention to all things kiddo--especially foods they would like, and foods that can help them be healthier, happier, calmer, etc. This applies to both those raised vegan and those whose parents decide to make the switch.

So, about that squash candy I mentioned in my last post...

Yeah, it didn't really work at all.

This is what I did: First, I roasted a panful of Carnival squashes--actually, two Carnival squashes and one Sweet Dumpling squash. (Will roast seeds later, with salt, to aid in coming down off candy high.) I scooped out the cooked flesh, and put it in the blender--about 4 cups-ful. Added 1/4 cup almond butter, 1/4 cup brown rice syrup, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, pinch cinnamon, pinch salt. Pureed.

At this point you are supposed to form balls and chill it, but it was more like a very fluffy pudding. There was no forming it into anything. I stirred in a cup of unsweetened coconut, 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, some maple syrup to sweeten it up a little more--still not roll-able.

So I spread it in a pan, sprinkled more chocolate chips on it, and put it in the freezer. We'll see how it looks tomorrow. If it's not good frozen, maybe it will end up getting spread on toast.

Post script: It's not good frozen. It's not even that good on toast. It's more light, like a mousse. I think I'll just defrost the rest of it, and eat it with a spoon!

Vegan Mofo

2010-11-01T09:07:00.001-05:00

I haven't blogged for a long...long...long time. Ever since I started working on book #3 with a certain celebrity someone, my life has been hijacked. I used to love throwing parties...cooking elaborate dinners...writing about things for no reason...all that seems a distant memory.

But we threw a party last night, of sorts--some good friends who also happen to be current and former neighbors, with kids of similar age who all shared a strong desire to trick-or-treat and/or wander around in the dark pretending to wreak havoc. So we cleaned. I cooked (vinaigrette coleslaw with black sesame seeds, crockpot pinto beans with onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, etc., pico de gallo). We even fired up the grill. We dressed like Joan Wilder and Jack T. Colton, complete with big green glass stone and homemade map of El Diablo. I even pre-made pitchers of homemade mix for making bloody margaritas and black martinis.

And if I'm going to do all that, despite the not-quite-finished status of somebody's book, then surely I can muster a daily blog post in the spirit of Vegan Mofo.

So, let's move on from Halloween, since it's now officially November. Let's embrace Vegan Month of Food (aka Vegan MoFo). Let's talk about squash.

Last year, I couldn't eat all the winter squash from my CSA. I got tired of it, frankly. It didn't charm the children. And although I love a good winter squash curry as much as the next girl, I couldn't get inspired by the Stripetti squash everybody always raves about. I thought it tasted watery and stringy. I had two-or-three-too-many butternut squashes--I was tapped out. And all those pretty little colorful squashes so perfect for stuffing with quinoa or chili or whatever ended up drying out and going bad (sin!). Many of those beautiful squashes, I'm sorry to say, ended up in the compost pile.

This year, I vowed to do a better job, and so far, so good. I've hidden the spaghetti squash in lasagna, I've dumped big forkfuls of the acorn squash puree into my oatmeal, etc. etc. But just the other day, I found a truly inspired idea in Hobby Farm Home. The article is "The Gourd Gourmet" by Adrianne L. Shtop, and although all the recipes look good and are almost effortlessly veganized, including Basic Baked Squash and Seeds, Squash-parsnip Bisque, Squash Poriyal, and Three Sisters Polenta, the recipe I'm most excited about is: Squash Truffles.

Squash...made into *candy*? Oh yeah. I've always loved squash most in its incarnation as a dessert, and this is an idea for squash I can really get behind. It brings back fond memories of the mashed potato candy I made years ago. I get a little weepy just thinking about it, the kind of weepy where I want to sit in a big armchair and stare out the window for a few hours while listening to Billie Holiday and smoking a cigarette. Except that I don't smoke.

So instead, today I'm going to make squash truffles. It requires an egg, but I'll try the flax route instead, or maybe the banana route, whichever seems in the moment like it will work the best. I'll post the results tomorrow.

Cooking binge

2009-09-20T12:40:00.012-05:00

Every other weekend, my kids go to their dad's house and Ben and I often travel. Sometimes, however, we stay at home all weekend with no social plans and I go on a cooking binge.

I *love* it when this happens.

This weekend, everything is ripe and the garden is burgeoning and the farmer's market is, too. So, this is how I spent my weekend.

First, I went out to survey our apple trees. Yes, the red delicious and yellow delicious look pretty ripe, if spotty (we don't spray them).
I picked a big bowl, used my apple peeler-corer-slicer from Pampered Chef, and layered the slices in the crockpot with fresh lemon juice, raw sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some water. Cooked on low for about 8 or 10 hours and voila--I have applesauce. Yum.

While the apples simmered, I pondered an eggplant parmesan recipe when I just happened to be looking at the blog What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat, Anyway? I had a globe eggplant from my CSA share and a big bag of Roma tomatoes plus lots of sweet peppers, so I imagined a delicious homemade marinara over a round of fried polenta about the same size as a disk of eggplant. And a tofu disc? Three delicious crispy circles over a bed of homemade marinara.

But first, a cocktail. Nectarines are getting soft so I put them in a blender with lime juice, orange juice, the rest of the nectarine jam I made last week, white tequila, and ice. That'll do.

Next, I set a big pot of water to boil. I blanched all the tomatoes (about 4 pounds), then dunked them in ice water, peeled them, squeezed the seed-jelly into the bucket for the compost pile, and chopped up the tomato meat.

I sauteed onions and garlic in olive oil, then added chopped sweet peppers, all the tomatoes, and the rest of a batch of homemade pico de gallo I made the other day, just so it wouldn't go to waste.

While the sauce simmered, I surveyed the eggplant parm recipe. Yikes, I need to deep fat fry these? I rarely if ever do that, but in the spirit of Cooking Binge Weekend, I clipped a thermometer to my skillet and poured in about 2 inches of canola oil, then set the heat to medium-high.

I made my three dishes: flour with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper; cornstarch slurry; and bread crumbs, which I made by toasting and grinding up the rest of a loaf of sourdough bread I had on the counter (which I purchased at The Bread Garden.) I dipped a slice of eggplant in the 1-2-3 dishes and then dropped it into the oil when it was heated to 375 degrees. What a fantastic sizzle! It turned golden brown almost instantaneously. I flipped it with tongs, then lifted it out and put it on paper towels. I repeated with the rest of the slices (I had salted them first, by the way), and then I took my two rounds of tofu (extra firm, drained, cut into circles with the edge of a small pyrex ramekin) and breaded and fried it, too. Gorgeous. Finally, I fried slices of herbed garlic polenta. I was pretty proud of myself, looking at all those beautiful golden-brown crispy disks.

I cleaned some butter lettuce and put that in a bowl with vinaigrette for a side, then put a ladle of sauce on each plate and arranged a disk of eggplant, a slightly smaller disk of tofu, and an even slightly smaller disk of polenta over the top. Sprinkled with flat-leaf parsley from the garden, it was pretty gorgeous. And the eggplant? All I can say is, Yum! Ben doesn't usually care much for eggplant, but he thought this was great. Deep fat frying really can work miracles. With the salad and a Red Stripe, it was a fantastic dinner.

Just before bed, I took the applesauce out of the crockpot and put it in a jar.

Surely, that's enough cooking for one weekend, you must be saying to yourself. But wait! What about Sunday?

I woke up thinking about the extra tofu I had--about a pound. I sat out on the deck with my coffee and browsed through my new favorite book, Vegan Brunch. Isa's recipes never let me down. The pesto scrambled tofu with grape tomatoes recipe caught my eye. I have a big basil plant in the garden, plus a lot of ripe orange cherry tomatoes. Close enough. The only problem: no pine nuts. However, I just happened to have the perfect amount of leftover raw hazelnuts from making Isa's Not-tella (vegan version of Nutella, from Isa's last book, Veganomicon) last week, so I used those. This was the absolute best pesto I have ever made, including the kinds I've made with cheese back in the day. It all came together quickly, resulting in a beautiful tender savory delicious breakfast. On the side: Russian bread from my CSA baker, toasted with EB and the applesauce I made yesterday.

Ahh...satisfaction. I think I can finally clean up and close the kitchen for the weekend.

Emmett Speaks

2009-09-08T17:00:00.003-05:00

I'm proud of my youngest son, Emmett, who got himself on the news at the Slow Food Time for Lunch Eat In this Labor Day in City Park in Iowa City. He's eating my raw blueberry brownies in one shot. Isn't he articulate? Not that I'm biased. Watch the clip and read the article here.

Raw Blueberry Brownies

2009-09-07T15:56:00.002-05:00

You know what I dislike? (I was going to say hate, but I hate to use that word.) I dislike making something really beautiful and delicious and then realizing, after someone has eaten the very last bite, that I never took a picture of it. Such was the case with my raw blueberry brownies, so you're just going to have to believe me that they were beautiful. Or, make them and see for yourself.

Today I attended Time for Lunch, one of hundreds of Slow Food potlucks around the country where people gathered to support the concept of real food in schools (what a concept). (By the way, during the month of September only, you can become a Slow Food member with any monetary donation, not the usual $60. Interested? Look here.)

Anyway, because this was a Slow Food potluck but I was time-pressed and had to make something fast (ironic), I fell back on an old potluck favorite (at least in my world). (Is it just me, or am I using a lot of parentheticals today?) This is something I make that people just love. They take a bite and look up, mystified. "What is it?" they ask, wide-eyed. "How can it be so good? Is it...bad for me?"

No. No, it's not. And yet, this isn't a brownie you find leftover on people's plates in the trash. This is the brownie that inspires even the most restrained to sneak extra pinches when they think nobody is looking. People want to lick out the pan. It's special, in a sort of earthy-spiritual way. Decadent but nourishing, sweet but wholesome, the best of both worlds. I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything. I didn't make up the concept of raw brownies. But I do consider myself a raw brownie evangelist.

I've made raw brownies from recipes before but today I thought I would try Bethenny Frankel's useful concept of using what you have instead of following a recipe. That's where I came up with the fancy-schmancy idea of adding the bleuberries. I didn't have time to go to the store, so I looked in my cupboards and refrigerator. I used what I had. Here's what I did.

Soak 2 cups walnuts and pecans for about 30 minutes (longer is good but I didn't have longer). Drain and put them in the bowl of a food processor. Add 1 cup mixed dried fruit (I had prunes and dried apricots), 1 cup grated coconut, 1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Ghiaradelli), about 1/4 cup agave nectar (I didn't actually measure, and technically I'm not sure if agave nectar is raw?), and about 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Process until smooth. Add more agave nectar or a few tablespoons of water if it's too hard, but you want it pretty hard.

Press into a 9-inch square baking pan rubbed with a little bit of coconut (or vegetable) oil. Press down hard.

In a measuring cup, combine about 1/4 cup agave nectar and a teaspoon or so of cocoa powder. Mix well with a spoon. Adjust cocoa powder or agave nectar amounts until it becomes like frosting. Spread over the brownies. Pour fresh blueberries over the top, covering the brownies in a single layer. Put about 1 tablespoon more agave nectar into measuring cup with just about a 1/2 teaspoon cocoa. Mix to make icing. Drizzle over the blueberries. Chill. I only had time to chill mine for about 15 minutes.

Thick, decadent, rich, nourishing, blueberry-beautiful, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, fruity, absolutely delicious...they didn't last long. And I had some silly idea that I could bring home the leftovers. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to make them again.

Learning from Weakness

2009-09-05T11:31:00.003-05:00

Have you ever noticed how, on some days, you feel very strong, and on other days, you feel very weak? Sometimes I can attribute these various states to something I've eaten, how much sleep I've had, or something else obvious. On other days, the reasons allude me. Like yesterday.

I felt weak in my Iyengar yoga class with Nancy Footner at Friendship Yoga. I don't know why. Poses that I've worked on for a long time so they feel more solid and muscular suddenly felt strenuous again. I am hyperflexible but really need to work on muscle strength, and I don't know where all that hard-won muscle strength went. I was like jelly. So of course, Nancy chose me to demonstrate Ardha Chandrasana.

We had just finished doing standing poses focusing on the hip and shoulder and my muscles were already feeling rubbery and uncertain, so as I went up into the pose, my legs and arms trembled with the effort. Still, I could feel how the adjustments were crucial: drawing the shoulder down and back, drawing the muscles of hip of the standing leg down and back, bringing the power and strength to the back of the body to open up the front. I could feel it. I just couldn't do it. Or, I could do it in a way, but let's just say it wasn't pretty. And I don't even want to talk about my ability to balance.

Today I'm pretty sore, but in a good way. I don't feel so weak today, either. Maybe yesterday's weakness was because of taking a break this summer, or the day's humidity, or my hormone levels (whatever they may have been), or just because the ragweed is pollinating and I'm a little bit allergic. Maybe there was some emotional or spiritual reason for it. Whatever it was, I kept going through the class and trying as hard as I could, not trying to figure out the reason, just working with the muscles. I feel better for it. My middle back had felt tweaked yesterday before class, and as always, the class put me all back into line. Today, I can still feel, in my body, what I need to do in that pose.

Nancy once said, "You have to go through the hamstrings to get to the soul," and I think about that a lot. Emotion, intellect, spirituality--it all begins in the body. The body is ground zero, and that is where the work begins. The body is your workshop, the framework for a garden that can grow beautiful flowers, but not without first laying down the soil.

I guess I know what I'll be practicing this week.

What Would Julia Say About Tempeh Bourguignon?

2009-09-02T09:01:00.004-05:00

Maybe it's trendy, so de riguer, and not necessarily in a good way. Maybe it's just so obvious. Nevertheless, I really do love Julia Child. When I think about it, who doesn't? Who couldn't? I've lovingly prepared many of her recipes, but after seeing the movie Julie and Julia, I really wanted to try her Bouef Bourguignon recipe. I wanted that yum moment.

The problem is, I'm really not into that whole "eating cows" thing.

Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea: Tempeh Bourguignon! I went on to discover, after a quick google search, that I wasn't really so brilliant, as many others have already thought of this. Even so, I thought I might try it, not looking at any other tempeh recipes, but instead, riffing off Julia. Here's what I did:

Chop a small yellow onion. Saute it in olive oil. Put the pieces in a bowl and set them aside.

Cut an 8 ounce block of tempeh into 12 rectangular chunks. Place these in the freshly oiled pan (without rinsing pan), with enough space between them (like Julia commands) so they will brown, rather than steam. Using tongs, brown the cubes on all sides until golden and crispy. (I had to cook it in two batches, adding the first batch to the onions.) Meanwhile, heat 1-1/2 cups of water until nearly boiling.

Return all the tempeh to the pan and sprinkle it with about a tablespoon of tamari and 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke. Cook, stirring constantly, to coat. Add about 1/4 cup flour and keep stirring, to coat. It will get clumpy.

Add the onions back to the pan along with the hot water and one vegetable bouillon cube (I used Knorr). Stir, scraping up the browned bits. Add 1-1/2 cups red wine (I used Augey Bourdeux). Throw in 3 sprigs flat leaf parsley and 1 bay leaf. Season with a little bit of salt and a lot of freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil 2 cups of water and pour them over 2 ounces of dried porcini mushrooms (I bought mine from Pacific Crest Foraging during a recent trip to Seattle, when I visited the Port Townsend farmer's market). Soak for about 20 minutes, then drain the mushrooms through coffee filters lining a strainer. Add the mushrooms to the mixture and cook 30 minutes more on low heat. Keep the strained porcini water handy to add to the mixture if it gets too dry. (Mine did.) The sauce should be thick but it shouldn't disappear. After 1 hour, taste and add salt as needed. (I added smoked salt that I also just bought during said Seattle trip, at the Pike Place Market).

Serve hot over cooked noodles or rice, with baguette chunks to mop it all up. Don't forget the salad.

Bon appetit! If you try it, let me know how it turned out.

Post-Yoga Hunger Management

2009-09-01T12:32:00.004-05:00

I had a great Anusara yoga class with Rachel Klapper this morning at Heartland Yoga. Fully fortified by my nectarine tart, I was ready for the message: the exploration of the limited and the unlimited within and beyond the self. As so often happens before a yoga class, I had just seen something relevant: Byron Katie's book in a store window, entitled "Who Would You Be Without Your Story?" Moments later, Rachel asked, "Who would you be without your limits?" Within that hour, I confronted the limits of my shoulder injury when I tried Vasisthasana on the left side and realized my shoulder muscles could barely hold me. That pose is hereby on my list for "Poses for the Week." I need to build up that strength. My freedom from limits blossomed in Vrksasana, though--I looked not just up but actually back behind me without tipping over. The pose became a backbend, when it was never a backbend before (at least not for me).

After coffee with three of my most interesting girlfriends, I took the bus home (I'm eco-friendly like that) and was more than ready for another kind of sustenance, of the gastronomic variety. I know this because I spent the whole bus ride home fantasizing about what I would eat. (This is not an unusual past time for me.)

My answer to myself: Two slices of sourdough toast, one with homemade pico de gallo over guacamole, the other with the hummus I made last night, topped with chopped Greek olives, flat leaf parsley, and three perfect basil leaves (thanks Dina!). Now that I'm fulfilled physically and spiritually, I can finish that article that's due today.

Nectarine Tart

2009-08-31T20:28:00.004-05:00

Is every food blog in August about nectarine tarts? Like this one. And this one. And this one. Then there's this article. Obviously, it's nectarine season, and with everybody watching Julie and Julia, I suppose everyone is thinking in French.

I admit, I am, too. This just came out of my oven, very loosely based on the article from the SF Chronicle linked above: A simple sweet pastry crust with butter, flour, and raw sugar, baked in a tart pan sprinkled with chopped sliced almonds and more sugar. Fresh nectarine slices overlay the almonds, then a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice, more sugar, and little dabs of butter. Baked for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Simple. Yum.

Crispy Fried Hoisin Tofu on Toast

2009-05-07T09:54:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted for so so long because I keep forgetting to take pictures of what I eat before I devour it, and I still haven't gotten pictures off my camera from the last three Chicago trips. Lame! In any case, I've decided to post even when I don't have pictures, just because people keep asking me what I'm eating.

Today I posted on Facebook that I was eating hoisin tofu and got several recipe requests, so I posted the recipe there. I might as well post it here, too. This was so delectable, I might just have to have this for breakfast every day.

Here it is:

Crispy Fried Hoisin Tofu on Toast

Press one slice of extra firm tofu (about 3-4 ounces) in paper towels to remove excess moisture. I put mine under a cast iron pot to flatten it a bit while I was preparing the pan.

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Nonstick or cast iron are best. Add approx. 1-2 teaspoons sesame oil to the pan. Light is o.k. but dark toasted is best. Put tofu on the hot pan over the oil and sprinkle it with approximately 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, and fresh ground black pepper. Let it cook until one side is deep golden brown. Flip and sprinkle second side with 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce and more pepper. Cook until second side is deep golden brown and very crispy. Turn with tongs to briefly sear all the edges, then brush both sides with approx. 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce.

Serve on hot crispy sprouted grain toast, garnished with toasted sesame seeds if you have them, with or without a Romaine lettuce leaf and a slice of good tomato.

Enjoy! (I did.)

Breakfast, lunch, dinner = rockin' the pose

2009-03-13T11:55:00.007-05:00

People encouraging you to lose weight often express the notion that food is fuel. Food is many things--love, comfort, fulfillment, and pleasure, but those people are right. It is also fuel. You know how it feels to eat the wrong breakfast and drag through the morning (doughnut, anyone?), or eat a great, nutritious lunch and power through the afternoon. Food affects your mood, your energy, and your performance. But you know all this, so I won't go on. Instead, I'll give you an example of a recent day of happy healthy eating which resulted, to my surprise, in the achievement of a yoga pose I'd been trying to land for a long time.

Yesterday morning, I craved something hearty, so I made this veg-sausage sandwich (Gimme Lean brand) on Ezekiel bread with tomato and a small bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with soy milk and berries. Side of kiwi.

Because of that hearty and filling breakfast, for lunch, all I needed was a little chocolate in the early afternoon. Recently, I received samples of Newman's Own's new organic line of chocolate, and wow, it is amazing (a food-writer perk). I'm a special fan of the Extra Dark, the Espresso Dark, and the Orange Dark. This chocolate is particularly good--not just organic but with a firm bite and deep complex flavor--one of the best chocolate bars I've tried. (Don't let the photo mislead you--I didn't eat it all at once. Just half a bar of the Extra Dark and a glass of soy milk.)

I had been looking for something to do with a head of cauliflower. For dinner, I chopped up the whole head and spread it in a roasting pan. I added sliced onion, turmeric, curry powder, crushed cumin seeds, and hot pepper flakes. Drizzled it all with olive oil, seasoned further with salt and pepper, and tossed to coat everything. this is a picture of the mixture before I put it in the oven. During the last 5 minutes of baking, I added a drained can of chick peas, then served it over brown rice. Utterly delicious--the kind of meal that makes me feel happy.

After digesting my dinner, I headed downstairs to do the laundry and practice yoga. After some vigorous warm-ups, I tried and finally succeeded at a strong, confident Eka Padha Urdhva Danurasana--wheel pose with one leg raised straight up. No shaking, no weakness, just strength and ease.

I credit the food.

I ended the evening with a bowl of Cheerios and soy milk--the perfect end to a perfect day, and the ideal send-off to a deep, refreshing sleep.

Love Rules

2009-02-14T13:57:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from Hungry Yogi! This is a picture of me and my beloved, Ben, taken exactly one year ago, last Valentine's Day, in New York City.

But this year, we aren't in New York. I spent the morning assisting my friend Rachel Klapper as she taught a Valentine's Day Partner Yoga class at Fusion Studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her husband is in Italy so I stood in as her partner, and Ben, frankly, doesn't do yoga. However, all the couples in the class--husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, friends--had a great time doing partner poses together. It was inspiring and heart-opening, as Anusara classes always are.

At the end of the class, for Savasana, Rachel played my favorite Shantala song, and in the spirit of the day, I will leave you with this short quote from that song:

Because the one I love lives inside of you, I lean as close to you as I can.

Lean close to your loved ones today. And eat some chocolate. It's an aphrodisiac, you know. ;-)

Love, blessings, and Namaste!

Salad Day

2009-02-07T13:36:00.004-06:00

This morning, I went to a Barkan Yoga class at the gym, and it was quite a challenge after my Iyengar class yesterday--my poor muscles! After I ran errands, went grocery shopping, and finally got back home, I knew I had to fortify myself immediately, so I made this beautiful salad.

First, I drained 3 ounces of extra firm tofu, then sauteed it with a little Bragg's. I added a red bell pepper, cut into strips, and a handful of sliced mushrooms. While those were cooking, I filled a bowl with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, 1/4 of a good avocado cut into cubes, and a little bit of olive oil vinaigrette. Tossed that, then topped with the warm tofu/veg mixture and a handful of crumbled chips. Yum. Now I'm full, fortified, and ready to clean the house.

Losers...but also Winners

2009-02-04T08:37:00.003-06:00

The bet is over. Big shock--we lost. Again. But that's o.k. because we feel like we learned a lot, and we still spent way less money than we would have spent if we hadn't done this second annual experiment. We took the Martins out for dinner at La Reyna, a great little family owned Mexican restaurant. Everyone was happy. Then we went home and sort of watched the Super Bowl--mostly to see whether the commercials were worth the money they paid to be played in that time slot (some were relatively funny). That's about as sports-oriented as we get in this house.

I also went to the store on February 1st, but shopped so smartly that my $160 bought groceries worth well over $200. Coupons, sales, specials... I didn't buy things we didn't really need for the meals I planned for the week, and although I did indulge in a few splurges, they were still fairly sensible. Apparently, Nick spent some significant cash that day--way more than I did. Did we learn more than they did? Does that make us winners, in a way? Ben says we didn't lose. We came in second. That sounds good to me.

Yesterday I was craving BBQ tofu lollipops and fried potatoes, so I made them for my dinner, along with snow peas and bok choy sauteed in sesame oil and tamari. If I can eat like this and still be thrifty, I will be happy.

Low-Cost Mexican

2009-01-29T10:02:00.003-06:00

February 1 nears as we contemplate what lessons from the month to take forward with us into the rest of the year. We want to continue to be frugal but not deprived. Some ideas:
-No shopping from any national chain stores.
-No buying any packaged food with artificial ingredients
-Limiting how often we go out to eat
-Absolutely no disposable shopping bags or purchased products with excessive/non-recyclable packaging

We are still discussing, but this is some of what we are considering. In the meantime, we knew we would contemplate better over some good food, so I rolled black beans and cheese into big soft whole wheat organic tortillas, then baked them covered in salsa, more cheese, and green onions (use FYH "cheese" or regular cheese, as your heart desires). Finished with a garnish of chopped cilantro. I also took leftover rice and fried it with real chile powder I got in New Mexico, fresh chopped tomatoes, more green onions, and more cilantro. While it isn't really Mexican, I added sesame oil, cider vinegar, and skillet-toasted sesame seeds to the leftover chopped cabbage. A bowl of grapes rounded out the meal. Delicioso!

Yoga Retreat with Marsha Nieland

2009-01-18T10:51:00.004-06:00

This weekend, Marsha Nieland, who teaches Anusara Yoga at Fusion Studio in Cedar Rapids, came to Iowa City to do a workshop at Heartland Yoga, where my BFF Rachel Klapper teaches, and which is owned by my friend Betsy Rippentrop, Ph.D. Betsy and I just co-authored a book on the chakras together, which will be out soon (stay tuned). It was an amazing day of yoga classes--an intermediate class in the morning and a restorative class in the afternoon. Marsha is really an incredible teacher, and with Rachel and Betsy assisting, it was a soul-enriching day of yoga.

Above, this is Betsy Rippentrop, Marsha Nieland, Rachel Klapper, and me.

Meanwhile, our contest with the Martin family continues. We are still ahead, but I fear it won't be for long. I caved and bought expensive soy milk and tofu a few days ago...isn't that weird that I miss tofu? Anyway, Amy and I were talking about how unhealthy we tend to eat in order to eat cheap, and I've been gaining weight and feeling disgusting, so I decided that I would plan a week of truly healthy meals and actually buy the groceries required to eat them! I will do my best to shop smartly and not overspend, not buy more than we need, not buy the most expensive brands, etc. But I am not going to compromise on health anymore. No more junky food. Fresh, good, clean, nutritious food. If it means we lose the bet, so be it. It's not worth losing health and vitality!

Sunday dinner

2009-01-11T14:03:00.006-06:00

I spent most of the day puttering around the kitchen, making the bread, roasting the vegetables for my vegetable stew, and generally getting ready for dinner. We still haven't gone back to the store. For dinner, I made a pot roast for the boys, the aforementioned homemade bread and roasted vegetable stew, peas, and mashed potatoes. This is how the bread and stew turned out:

It was a good, hearty Sunday dinner, with nary a suggestion that we are in frugality mode. However, Ben got so desperate re: lack of beer today that he is trying to strike a bargain with Nick, who brews his own: packages of ground venison and Newman's Own cookies in exchange for a case of home brew? They are currently in negotiations.

O.K., I really do think I will be forced to head to the store this evening--we need a few staples to get us through the next week. Cabbage, mushrooms, apples, milk for the kids, tomato sauce, and we are now completely out of dish soap, paper towels, and dog food. I wonder if dog food counts...

The Charm of Leftovers...and Poolish

2009-01-10T12:55:00.005-06:00

Is my poolish rising?

It's amazing how often I buy food when I don't need to buy food. I realize that now. There are so many things hidden in the cracks and crannies of our cupboards and freezer that have been there for so long. I always buy the same things every week and never think to use up all this stuff. Now I'm forced to get creative. It's kind of fun. I'm enjoying anti-consumerism.

Of course, it's also a challenge, especially when you have to eat up all your leftovers instead of making something new every day. I'm also realizing how spoiled I am, when it comes to food. And how much money and food I waste! But not this month. Last night, we ate the same chili AGAIN, but this time, I toasted corn tortillas to make tostadas. I topped Ben's with cheese and mine with veg cheese (Follow Your Heart, I had an unopened block leftover from before our trip that I bought at the local grocery store, which just started carrying it because I asked them to). We topped that with leftover veg chili, leftover chopped lettuce, and some frozen Schwann's guacamole I had in the freezer. It's not like fresh guacamole, but it *suggests* fresh guacamole, which is good enough. It was pretty good, actually, so I shouldn't complain.

I don't know what we'll eat tonight, but I'm sure we can scrape something together. I have a box of broccoli soup mix which I won at a Christmas party in 2007, as part of a "gourmet food" basket. Maybe I'll whip that up and pour it over the rest of the leftover pasta. I still have veggie burgers in the freezer, too. Maybe I'll make veggie burger sub sandwiches...although I'm out of pickles. (That alone may get me to the grocery store.)

I also decided to make bread today, like Nick always does (our competitors). I'll serve it with the roast I plan to cook for the boys for Sunday dinner. (I'll have the mashed potatoes with chick pea gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance, and I'll make peas. And maybe cupcakes.) Anyway, I pulled out my bread baking book (Bread Alone, by Daniel Leader and Judith Blahnick). I am making their "learning recipe" for country hearth bread. I just started the poolish, which is fermenting. It's hard to find a warm place in this house, though--with all the snow blowing around outside, I realize how drafty it is in here. I'm wearing three sweaters.

I also went back to yoga this past week, and my body is sore, but in a good way. Exercise expenses don't count in our anti-poverty bet, so I can do yoga guilt-free.

Chili is Cheap

2009-01-09T12:21:00.003-06:00

We still haven't gone back to the store and are holding at $30.29, which includes $3.00 parking ramp and $3.15 at Mr. Movies. Last night, we had chili made with onions, garlic, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, and a big can of chili beans, with chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. I made a "side" of ground beef for those who wanted to add it, and we cut up the rest of the lettuce. I had some corn tortillas in the refrigerator so I cut those into triangles and baked them in canola oil for homemade chips, and I made the last box of pasta. So, people could make what they wanted--chili-mac, or taco salad.

My sweet tooth yesterday led me to open one of the cans of Boy Scout popcorn we bought last month. I had forgotten all about it, but had intended to give it all away for gifts. Oh well. It was the kind doused in chocolate, so I should have known I wouldn't give it away. Maybe I'll forget to mention it to the kids.

I can't tell you how many times I've needed paper towels or napkins, which we don't have, and we are almost out of milk again, so I foresee a trip to the store tonight or tomorrow.

2008-12-09T12:14:00.003-06:00

Today is a snow day so the kids are home. That means I'm having trouble getting a lot of work done--but not so much trouble blogging. I made a Scottish Bannock for breakfast with chocolate chips, modified from the current issue of Mother Earth News. You can find the recipe on my Vegan Serendipity blog. For lunch, I toasted a whole wheat pita and stuffed it with scrambled tofu (with mushrooms, onions, and peppers), yellow tomatoes, and baby greens. Let it snow.

The End of Insanity...and the Beginning of Chickpeas

2008-12-06T11:17:00.010-06:00

Finally, my year of insanity is drawing to a close. I wrote four books between the beginning of the summer and now. Yes, four. It's all I've had time to do, between that and travel and yoga classes and finding something good to eat. All the work has kept me from thinking about other things, posting food pictures, writing about my Yoga Journal retreat, even going to yoga the last few weeks when it seemed everything was due at once.

Now, finally, I am done. To celebrate, I soaked (overnight) and then cooked for many hours (in the crockpot) a big bunch of chickpeas. I know, I'm totally out of control.

Maybe that's because I'm not exactly done and I was procrastinating? I still have to edit the page proofs on the Beagle book and add over 5,000 words because the manuscript came up short. I still have to do an extensive author review on the Chakra book, and also on the book about living with animal companions in the most eco-friendly way possible. I am finished with the book I wrote with Bethenny Frankel--all the way finished, and it should be out in a few months. As each book comes out, I'll make an announcement.

In the meantime, I am getting ready to go to Oaxaca, Mexico. Ben, the kids, me, and the Martin family, of the famous Anti-Consumerism wager last year--we got stomped, but we're going to give it another go this January, so stay tuned. Stay tuned also for more about what's to eat in Oaxaca.

Meanwhile, what's to eat in Iowa, with all those chickpeas waiting in the refrigerator so patiently? First,let me just say that it's true that if you cook dried, soaked chickpeas for a long time, they really are smoother and creamier than the canned kind, and since most of the "work" involves you doing something nice, like reading a travel book about Oaxaca, while the beans soak or simmer, it's hard to argue that canned is more convenient. When you soak and cook them yourselves, you don't have to fight with a can opener.

Out of my chickpea bounty, I made a big batch of homemade hummus, which was my dinner last night. I also made chickpea cutlets from the Veganomicon cookbook, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. They are so good, I can't even describe it. And easy, too. I had one for lunch (pictured above): Chickpea cutlet on a sprouted grain bun with soy mayo, mustard, tomatoes, and a lot of pickles. Food is good.

Now, about that yoga practice...

Vegan cooking fun

2008-11-04T16:32:00.002-06:00

Today I had a great Anusara yoga class, taught by my friend, Rachel Klapper. The theme was "holding to your convictions," which was perfect, and of course, she slipped lots of election talk into the class. We're all excited to camp out in front of the t.v. with pizza tonight and watch the results roll in. I printed out a map for the kids so they can add up the electoral college votes and color the states red or blue.

I've had a lot of fun making food this week, even though I haven't taken any photographs. Last night, I made nachos with corn chips, pinto bean dip, and Follow Your Heart vegan Monterey Jack "cheese," heated up then covered with a thick layer of fresh baby greens. The day before, I made brown rice with beans and all the vegetables I could find--onions, garlic, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, crimini mushrooms, green beans, green peas, black beans, white beans. Before that, I made a delicious vegetable curry with potatoes and eggplant. Now I'm going to have to spend the rest of the week eating up the leftovers.

My son, Emmett, has agreed to go veg for seven days, for seven dollars. I said that was a deal. We'll see if he's successful.

Next post, I hope to include food photos. Until then, please get out there and vote your conscience, whatever it tells you!

Now to go craft a delicious vegan pizza...

Namaste and bon appetit!

That's Enough.

2008-10-29T11:29:00.006-05:00

I've been doing a lot of soul-searching and research. I've waffled about vegetarianism for awhile now, as the fight for gastronomic pleasure bucked up against the quest for peace. I knew factory farms were bad, but I also knew meat tasted good and I kept trying to separate them in my mind, even as I preached at others to acknolwedge the source of their food. Then, in a frustrated moment of indecision, I finally made myself read up on what really goes on, both on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. I've thought long and hard about it, and as a good yogi, I've decided I simply cannot justify eating another animal just because I think it tastes good. If I needed to do it to survive, sure. But I don't. I'm perfectly capable of living well and thriving without it. Plus, my skin looks better and I eat more nutritiously when I avoid it. I believe that in order to evolve to the next level and truly embrace the concept of ahimsa, I can no longer participate in the consumption of animals.

This blog is hereby vegan.

Getting Ready for Estes Park

2008-09-19T12:39:00.004-05:00

I'm procrastinating. I have to finish a Newfoundland article today, and although I finally have all my interviews completed and notes compiled, I'm having trouble getting started because I'm not living in the moment. I am living in the future. To be more precise, I am preoccupied by my upcoming trip to the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park. I've never been to this huge yoga gathering before, and I can't wait!

I'm slightly worried about the effects of the high elevation, but other than that, I couldn't be more excited about spending a week in a cabin with 10 other great women, in the mountains, doing yoga. I'll be studying with Elise Miller, Kofi Busia, Alanna Kaivalya (for a chakra class), John Douillard (for an ayurveda class) and of course, since this is the first ever Anusara Grand Gathering, the Anusara clan: John Friend, Amy Ippoliti, Desiree Rumbaugh, etc. I envision a lot of interesting and challenging yoga cross-training, and some solid preparation for the chakra book I will write when I get home. I will be travelling and staying with my BFF, Rachel Klapper, who is also studying to be an Anusara yoga teacher.

In the meantime, I do have to finish this Newfoundland article, so I'd best get to it. But stay tuned for more on the Yoga Journal conference!

Baba ghanoush

2008-09-10T12:16:00.004-05:00

Our CSA share has been full of eggplant lately, as well as corn, onions, tomatoes, and peppers...all the ingredients to make all my favorite foods! I've been making eggplant Parmesan, fresh corn salad with peppers and tomatoes, green salsa with the tomatillos and hot peppers from my own garden (which was sadly neglected this summer, but the tomatillos took over anyway), and of course, baba ghanoush.

This past weekend, I made the delicious baba ghanoush. I roasted three different kinds of eggplants in the oven: a classic purple, a lavender globe-shaped, and a long skinny Japanese. After roasting, the eggplants were very soft and shriveled. I let them cool then I peeled them and put all the flesh in the food processor along with 1/4 cup tahini, the juice of half a large lemon, 2 minced garlic cloves, a teaspoon of dried cumin, and about a half teaspoon of sea salt. Pulse, puree, and the result was amazing--creamy and tangy.

Today for lunch, I toasted a whole wheat pita, spread it with the baba ghanoush, topped that with slices of smoked Szechuan tofu, then topped that with fresh chopped tomatoes and baby spinach. Yum.

End of Summer, New Beginnings

2008-08-23T13:11:00.006-05:00

At last, school has begun. The house is quiet during the day. I can actually work...and just finished the Beagle book I've been working on (it will be published early next year). I don't know how I got anything done at all during the summer, although I certainly did, finishing the Naturally Thin book I co-authored with celebrity natural foods chef Bethenny Frankel, star of The Real Housewives of New York City. Now I immediately have to start a book about living green with companion animals, and after that, I'll be co-authoring a book about the chakras with my BFF Rachel Klapper, a yoga teacher I've written about here before.

Obviously, whenever summer winds down and fall begins, my mind turns vigorously to the work at hand. Other things happen too, though. My quest for greater fitness in preparation for attending the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park, Colorado, in September, continues successfully. I've already dropped about 8 more pounds (on top of the 15-something that disappeared while writing Naturally Thin), and I've been working out regularly and sinking deeper and deeper into my yoga practice. I feel great, and extra bendy. The best part about it is that I haven't sacrificed a bit when it comes to enjoying delicious food. I've learned how to eat whatever I really want, add what I need for good workout fuel, then stop after I've had enough to make me happy. It's working.

Last night, we went out to dinner with our friends Nick and Amy Martin to the Motley Cow, a restaurant known for its liberal use of fresh local ingredients. I spotted the owner, chef David Weiseneck, in the kitchen so I knew the food would be delicious. Amy and I ordered the fettucine with lobster (obviously, lobster isn't local but couldn't resist the pasta). Ben had the Iowa pork with French beans, goat cheese, grilled pears, and a delicious ruby-red beet sauce. Nick had the lamb. Mine was great but I couldn't eat very much of it because it was so filling. Two bites of Ben's pork confirmed it was fantastic. Next time, we plan to try their less opulent menu items, such as the pizza or sandwiches.

Today, we have a blissful quiet weekend without the kids and I'm just wrapping up the proofreading and printing out of the Beagle book, watching the European Grand Prix (it's our thing we do), and enjoying a delicious savory lunch of homemade chili, flavored with just a bit of shredded pork loin and loaded with chili beans and fresh local zucchini, chard, corn, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and summer squash, topped with some fresh locally made tortilla chips, a little sprinkle of cheese, and big scoops of salsa verde and pico de gallo, handcrafted by Carmen at La Reyna, my favorite local Mexican restaurant. Who knew I could be eating like this and still losing so much weight?

I'm up to a full five minutes in sirsana now. Life is good. Namaste and bon appetit!

Locavore Status and Losing Weight

2008-08-04T11:19:00.004-05:00

Our quest to eat local has been going well this summer. Pictured above: Locally baked sourdough bread from the farmer's market topped with local free-range eggs from a nearby farm, garlic chives from my CSA share, and green salsa, handmade by a small local Mexican restaurant. Not all ingredients came from Iowa, but it was all made by Iowans. One thing about Iowa: we produce a lot of food!

However, we did cheat a little bit. A few of our favorite things are produced in states that touch Iowa--like the goat milk I like from Heartland creamery, various delicious cheeses from Wisconsin, and the occasional neighboring-state fruit, condiment, etc., so we expanded our rules to include these. It's been easy to find meat, milk, and just about every vegetable we could want (except avocados). We've also harvested greens from the garden, and although it needs serious weeding, the tomatillos I tried this year have sailed above the weeds and are producing well. They look about ready. The weeds haven't been so kind to my peppers, so I need to get out there, but my work schedule has been intense and of course it's summer so when I'm not working, I tend to want to be lazy.

Meanwhile, my CSA pickup has been full of great veggies so I haven't been wanting. Fruit-wise, we've gotten peaches from Missouri, and we've cheated a little when the kids really wanted something like plums or apples that came from states not bordering Iowa. Because if the kids want fruit, want am I going to say? "No! Eat some Iowa bacon instead!"

On the yoga front, I will be heading to the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park towards the end of September and although I've been doing a lot of yoga, I'm still carrying some extra weight. I lost about 18 pounds while writing the Naturally Thin book with Bethenny Frankel, but I need to finish the job, so I've decided to drop 16 pounds by September 21. I think I can do it if I just cut back a little on the indulgences and step up the exercise. So that's my goal, starting today. My son, Emmett, who is 10 years old, is going to do this with me because he wants to drop some weight too. He's been having an overindulgent summer, as we all have, but he's not as active as his brother so it sticks to him the way it sticks to me. So together we are on a healthy eating and exercise quest, so we both feel better and have more energy. We can do it, Emmett!

This is Emmett, getting a good workout, mowing the lawn (with proper hydration, of course).

Of Floods, Flu, Fishponds, and Fireworks

2008-07-25T18:56:00.002-05:00

Iowa City is finally drying out from the 500-year flood, we are all finally recovering from an unpleasant bout with the flu, we finally moved our fish inside because our fishpond was getting too hot...and today is already the end of a month that began with a lot of beautiful fireworks in the company of family and friends.

But enough with the F-words. As July winds down and we prepare for the hottest month of the year, and I put one book behind me and face three more books due in the next four months, I also realize I need to be posting more regularly here, to keep closer track of my yoga and food journeys. I'm busy, of course. Aren't we all? But that doesn't mean yoga and food aren't still important parts of my life. Today for lunch, I had sourdough toast with eggs, cippolini onions, portabella mushrooms, and spinach, all fresh from the farmer's market...and I didn't even take a picture! What was I thinking?

So my thought for today is: slow down.

When life gets busy, I know I not only neglect basic household chores, but I get used to racing thoughts. I'm always thinking about what's happening now, what's happening next, and what I can do about what just happened. I get so used to multi-tasking that while everything important gets done (mostly), nothing gets done all that well.

In the dog days of summer, why am I rushing? I have a lot of work to do today, sure, and for the next few months. (And probably for the next few years.) But that doesn't mean I can't slow down at least a little every day, look around, and appreciate what's going on around me.

Right now, I've got a lovely hot cup of coffee in front of me, two dogs under my desk watching me with love, and two kids downstairs behaving themselves. I can hear the summery sound of a lawnmower and cicadas singing outside. The kitchen smells fragrant from the eggs I made for lunch. I feel strong and sweaty after finally making it back to the gym today after being sick. Now, I'm settling down to work on my Beagle book. Later, I'll make dinner, then get in a good evening yoga practice.

Life is good. Today I'm going to enjoy it.

Yoga Cross-Training

2008-07-10T09:52:00.005-05:00

The last two months have been incredibly busy, finishing a book with celebrity natural foods chef Bethenny Frankel, dealing with end of school and summer vacation with the kids (who make working at home very difficult because they are so bored), and generally transitioning from spring to summer. But as I've been dealing with all this, I've also confronted a new situation.

I've been studying Iyengar yoga with Nancy Footner at Friendship Yoga for a couple of years now, and I really love it. It has done amazing things for me, physically and mentally. It is a precise and disciplined form of yoga, something that is very balancing for me and my freestyle way of living.

But recently, my friend Rachel Klapper became certified as a yoga teacher and is now studying Anusara yoga. She is teaching a class at Heartland Yoga in Iowa City, and since she is my BFF, of course I am taking her class. I enjoy the emotional openness of Anusara and the different way this form describes alignment principles, in spirals and loops. Add to that the fact that my friend Amy Martin, a spinning teacher at The Core (a local gym), likes me to go with her to her friend Martha Gordon's class. Martha is very advanced in the Barkan Method of yoga, and does a modified (not very hot) version at the gym on Saturday mornings. This form is a real muscle work-out, something I need to work on because I tend to be hyper-flexible (Anusara would call it "organic") more than strong, and the Barkan routine is very strengthening in just the ways I require.

So here I am, studying two-and-a-half forms of yoga at the same time--similar but also very different forms. I wouldn't say I'm struggling with this, but just that I find it interesting because all these forms and teachers are so different, yet in many ways, so alike (it is all yoga, after all). I have to remember where I am when doing, say, adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog), because the cues from my three teachers are not the same. I'm thinking about what this means for my practice. I've always resisted labels and tried to stay out of the mainstream so in this way, I like this situation. I feel like I have a birds-eye view and can see more clearly, rather than becoming narrow and evangelical about any one form. On the other hand, will I really ever become well versed in yoga, if I never commit to a style? Or, will one style eventually come out on top and the others will fade off my radar? It's a question. I'm thinking of writing an article about it.

Meanwhile, I'll be taking both Iyengar and Anusara classes when I attend the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park this September (no Barkan available). Maybe that experience will help crystallize what this yoga cross-training really means for me and my practice.

Our Summer Locavore Challenge

2008-06-01T17:00:00.001-05:00

The New Pioneer Co-op, our local natural foods grocery, has issued a challenge to its members, to eat mostly local during one week in August. Always one for taking these things too far, I thought it might be fun to do this in a bigger way. Ben and I discussed our options--eating within a certain mile-radius, eating food produced in Iowa, etc., and decided on the following terms:

1. The challenge will go from the first day of summer to the last day of summer.

2. We will only buy groceries made in Iowa during the challenge period. Food left over from before the challenge is fine to use, however. Waste not, want not.

3. When eating out (which we do a lot), we will only eat at local, independently owned restaurants. No chains. However, although we will lean towards those that use local food, we won't worry about asking the source of everything they make.

4. Food prepared by local businesses at the farmer's market or the co-op, that may or may not use local ingredients, is fine. For example, I can buy a loaf of bread made by a farmer's market vendor, without grilling them about the source of their flour.

5. We will not give up coffee (we're not THAT radical), but we will only buy coffee that is roasted locally.

This challenge will help us not only to eat less processed food, fresher food, and more seasonal food, but also will reduce our "carbon footprint" and keep our dollars in the state of Iowa during these economically challenging times.

Yesterday, I did a little reconnaissance at the Co-op, and discovered that even there, a lot of food isn't local. Helpfully, they label all food that is local. But I couldn't find a source of Iowa goat milk, tofu, or flour. I know these must exist, so I may need to get them directly from the producers. I did find Iowa chevre, milk, eggs, and lots of produce. It's going to be a real challenge, especially for the kids.

At the Farmer's Market yesterday, however, I found some gems--a local mushroom farmer, a local source for lamb (the lamb roast we had last night from her was fantastic), and a local coffee roaster.

Today, we headed up to Cedar Rapids to check out prices on drum sets because Angus, our 12 year old, is "graduating" from grade school in four days and we are helping him buy a new drum set. His is old and cheap and he's ready for something better. While there, we stopped by Cedar Ridge winery because the word is, they make not only wine but vodka and rum. Locally! (Because Ben is not going the whole summer without a vodka martini.) We tasted everything and the Clearheart liquors were amazing. The gin was spectacular, the vodka is sourced from 100% Iowa ingredients, the rum was rich and delicious. The limoncella and lamponcella were absolutely out of this world. Needless to say, we stocked up!

B.L.T. (sort of)

2008-05-07T08:57:00.006-05:00

Last night, I balanced in Dancer's Pose longer than I ever had before. I went into a headstand (no wall) by lifting both feet up at the same time. I also ate a little bit of pork (along with chipotle red beans and brown rice, a big spinach salad, and a Stella Artois). I don't think there is a connection, necessarily, between my increasing yogic balance and strength, and the occasional consumption of animals. Maybe it even works against me, but I'm not so sure about that. In any case, the pork was from a local farm. I looked right at it and reminded myself that an animal died to provide me with the meal. It tasted very good. I was grateful.

But this morning, although I did have a little goat's milk (from neighboring Missouri's Heartland Creamery) in my coffee--I like my coffee gamey--the rest of my breakfast contained no animal products. I toasted a whole wheat English muffin and topped it with leftover tempeh bacon (I used the Vegan with a Vengeance recipe), fresh spinach, and a slice of tomato, with just a little soy mayo to hold it all together.

Mighty tasty.

Try this in coffee. Or make cajeta (goat milk caramel) with it, using Rick Bayless's recipe. That's great in coffee, too.

Ahimsa vs. Gastronomy

2008-04-07T16:36:00.006-05:00

Today I took a yoga class from my friend Rachel, a certified yoga teacher now doing her advanced training in Anusara yoga, a heart-centered form of yoga founded by former senior Iyengar instructor John Friend. During savasana at the end of the class, Rachel read an excerpt about ahimsa from one of Pema Chodron's books.

If you practice yoga and follow the mindset, you probably already know that ahimsa is the practice of non-violence. Yogis often philosophize about the many ways in which ahimsa can be incorporated into modern life, not only in obvious ways like not physically or verbally harming others and actively supporting peace, but in less obvious ways like not harming oneself through negative self-talk.

And then, there is the matter of whether or not to eat meat.

This is the one I struggle with, as an avid cook, amateur food historian, and ethnic food fancier. In fact, Rachel and I love to cook together and often bemoan the fact that our favorite cuisines and cooking methods include animal products. I love vegetarian food and cook it often. I'm well versed in substitutions and the many ingenious ways vegetarian and vegan cooks have managed to replicate, sometimes with amazing accuracy, traditional animal-product dishes. I admire and often practice these techniques.

But they aren't authentic techniques. This isn't the way humans have designed food in their cultures over the centuries. And when the gastronome in me rears up against the part of me trying to practice ahimsa, I often feel conflicted.

I've already banned all factory-farmed meat from my house, where I live with three meat-eating males. That was easy. I buy local or sustainably harvested flesh. But it's still flesh. And sometimes I eat it.

I suppose I could decide that I can practice ahimsa in ways that work in my life, but isn't that hypocritical? Too convenient? It's not like I have to eat meat. But then, what about truly understanding the food culture of Mexico, for example? What about mastering the art of Cajun cooking? What about French food, for goddess' sake? And how do I separate my two great loves, yoga and food, from this philosophical scuffle?

So far, I haven't. I've just been able to stand back and watch the dust fly.

I don't have any answers yet, meaning I continue on uneasily eating, balancing on the wire between compassion and consumption. I suspect one day, I'll probably tip over and fall to one side, and maybe stay there. But for now, I'll keep teetering and trying to figure out which way my life will unwind as my years and my hungers ebb and flow.

Until then, I'll continue to work and cook through it. So stay tuned. Namaste. And bon appetit.

Back from the Beach

2008-03-26T09:45:00.002-05:00

Spring break is over, alas. We had a lovely week in Orange Beach, Alabama. The kids played in the surf, I sat on the beach in a chair with a fruity drink reading Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck, the perfect book to read while on the road in America (although it made me miss my dogs). Then we drove home via New Orleans, and the kids got to experience Bourbon Street on a Friday afternoon. We had everyone inside by dark because there was plenty to do in our nice hotel, Le Pavilion on Canal Street.

We had lots of great food including several helpings of delicious oysters--not veg, but I hope the slimy little creatures will forgive my sincere enjoyment of their oystery essence. We also tried Royal Red shrimp, a large deep-water shrimp from the Gulf that is absolutely delicious--sweet and soft and melt-in-your-mouth.

As I walked the dogs through the woods yesterday morning, I was crunching snow beneath my feet again, but I couldn't help thinking how similar it was to walking over the white sandy beach. Subtract the spectacular spring surf and add a sweater, scarf, and gloves.

It's back to the kitchen as well. Today I'm picking up an order of wild-caught seafood from Nick Wallace of Wallace Farms, who finds the best, sustainable sources of wild-caught fish as well as locally raised organic meat and sells them out of his truck. This will help determine what I cook for the family in the coming week. In the meantime, I'm looking longingly at the strawberry leaves poking out of the soil already, and the seeds I started before we left for vacation are all sprouting vigorously. I hope for a strong and hearty growing season with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about what to eat today. I'll keep you posted.

Winter Raw

2008-03-11T21:01:00.007-05:00

I tend to want warm food in the winter--probably a common impulse in the frigid midwest. When I look outside and see drifts of snow taller than my head, it makes me want to shiver back inside for a warm beverage or some comfort food. So where does raw food fit into all this?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since the thermometer almost hit 50 degrees today, and I'm getting ready to head south for spring break. I've drifted away from raw. What does that mean to leave a dietary practice, then come back to it again? It's not that I've stopped eating raw food. I always have something raw on the table. But also cooked food, and is that a sign of a failure and redemption, or of a cycle? I'm thinking about that today. And craving.

I have a strange--or maybe all-too-common--relationship with the foods I eat and the seemingly random (to anyone who isn't in my head) "rules" I impose on my diet. One week I'll decide that every Monday, or Friday, or Sunday, will be "raw day." Another week, I'll alternate vegetarian and vegan. Sometimes I'll give it all up and have some fish--wild caught, but still, I know, I know. I think, at less confident periods in my life, that this is a bad thing. At other times, instead of telling myself that's all wrong, I choose to see it as a way to respond to my in-flux body and spirit needing and wanting different things at different times, in different seasons and in different stages. So what's wrong with heading back towards the raw end of the spectrum? Nothing at all, of course.

And that means, in my food-centric world, that I'm thinking about what to make tomorrow. I think tomorrow should be a day of fresh, of alive, of raw. Just wait and see. I know I'm looking forward to it with delicious anticipation. (Check back tomorrow to see what happens because in my kitchen; something is always bound to happen in my kitchen.)

Planting the Seed

2008-03-08T15:26:00.004-06:00

By my calculations, March 8 (today) is just about exactly 8 weeks before the week when southeastern Iowans should be thinking about planting their gardens. Danger of frost should be over and the soil should be warming nicely. Hard to imagine right now, with mounds and piles and mountains of snow all over the city taller than most adults (and some taller than a building), but that didn't stop me from placing my seed order from the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa,, a non-profit organization of gardeners that save and share heirloom seeds. I also bought a few packets of seeds that SSE didn't have. And today, a sunny but chilly Saturday, I hauled the kids to the garden store and bought trays and dirt.

When I opened the bag of dirt with my kitchen shears, I was overwhelmed by the spring-fever-invoking fresh smell of sun-warmed dirt. The kids agreed--it was almost too much to bear on this snowy winter day! But I got out my spoon, my seed packets, my cling wrap, and planted:

-Ancho gigantea peppers
-Anaheim chili peppers
-Jalapeno peppers
-Mixed-color bell peppers (red, orange, yellow, green, and purple)
-Bull nose large bell peppers (heirloom)
-Green tomatillos (haven't tried these before but I heard of someone else in Iowa who grows them so I'm going to give it a try)
-Florida high bush eggplant

I also have, but will wait to direct-sow:

-Chives
-Russian tarragon
-Lots and lots of cilantro

I wrapped the trays in plastic and we set up a card table in front of our sunniest window. When our pet sitter comes for spring break, I'll have to add seed-watering to her list of chores, but I don't think she'll mind.

Now all we have to do is hurry up and wait for spring...which technically starts in less than two weeks, despite how it looks and feels outside.

Sirsasana, No Wall Necessary Thanks!

2008-03-07T16:03:00.011-06:00

Last week in yoga class, when I set up to do headstand against the wall in my usual way, my teacher said, "Eve, I think you are ready to move away from the wall next week."

Yikes! Really? I was feeling all tippy that day, but felt encouraged that she wanted me to move into the center of the room, where the really experienced people invert themselves. I vowed to practice all week, just to be ready.

The next day, I tried to practice at home, and found I couldn't balance for more than a second, when I've been able to do headstand in the middle of the room without a problem before. Somehow, the teacher's assertion that I was ready to do this in public made me completely unable to do it at all. I fell (feet thudding ungracefully on the couch cushions) over and over. Frustrated, I stopped practicing. Clearly I didn't have the necessary inner rod of quiet. I wasn't rooted to the earth by the crown of my head, or by anything else. I was flighty. Unbalanced, in every way.

And then, quite suddenly, a week had rolled by and it was Friday morning again. This morning. Just ten minutes into class, my teacher said, "Everybody set up for sirsasana."

I felt the butterflies rustle up into my throat, but also a surge of courage.

"In...the middle of the room. Right?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said, with no knowledge of my abysmal failure in my home practice. "Do you know how to fall?"

Do I.

Actually, I have read all about how to fall, in Mr. Iyengar's book, Light on Yoga. He explains how, if one is to fall forward, one must unlace the fingers quickly, or risk crunching them (he doesn't put it quite like that, but you get the idea). A few months ago, when I was focusing a lot on inversions at home, I practiced this over and over again, so I would know how to fall. Once, I panicked, forgetting, and did indeed crunch my fingers. Ouch.

But today, I was determined to do it. I'll err on the side of tipping back in the safe direction, I thought. I came up slowly, carefully, and calmly. Most notably, I did feel calm and quiet inside. I even felt rooted--if not too deeply--by the crown of my head. Up I came, and stayed...and stayed...and stayed! I wasn't wobbling or wavering or feeling unbalanced at all. Not one bit.

Well...not until my teacher noticed me and started encouraging me to rotate my thighs inward. This slight adjustment did throw me off just a little. I lost my inner calm and I did get tippy, but then I came down gracefully the right way, not the finger-crunching forward-falling way.

At the risk of sounding like a surfer dude, I have to say: It was awesome.

Later, we did some more advanced poses we hadn't done in class before, including padmasana. Only two of us that I could see (not that I should have been looking) attempted full padmasana. The others did ardha padmasana (half lotus) with a belt. I'm very flexible, if not very strong or balanced, so this isn't a difficult pose for me. But then she had us roll forward onto our knees, resting our pelvic plates on a bolster. We arched our backs, looked up, opened our mouths, and stuck out our tongues. I felt strong and powerful, like I was sticking out my tongue at everything in my life that isn't going the right way. Blah to you, wrong ideas! Blah to you, doubt and fear! Blah, blah, blah!

It was awesome.

Of course, I'm obviously involving my ego again when I compare myself to others in a yoga pose, but in a class where I am so frequently humbled, it was nice to see myself making progress. And whenever a fellow student comments about my flexibility, the teacher is always quick to assure everyone that flexibility isn't any good without strength, and that my strength is lacking. Which is true. My teacher is good at keeping egos in check.

But the experience got me thinking about what it means to be balanced on some days, and unbalanced on other days. Strong and rooted sometimes, and sometimes, weak and wavering. While progress happens, it is more often a circuitous progress, curving in and over and back on itself so that it can seem more like a scenic route than a road that actually goes anywhere.

Maybe that's just fine.

I enjoyed today's rigorous class, and that early-in-the-session sirsasana success helped fuel the rest of my poses to be stronger, stretchier, and straighter in all the right ways (mostly). Sometimes a little stroke to the ego can push the path in a more forward direction for a little while. It's certain to wind back around again to a place you thought you'd already passed forever, but that's all part of the process, I guess. Every victory is only a victory of a moment, but the same holds true with every failure. To fail, to fall over, to crunch the fingers or have a tippy day, is only a sidewind. Sooner or later, the path meanders forward again, despite all the chicanes and backtracks and at some point, every yoga student is bound to look back and think, "Wow. Look how far I've come. And I didn't think I was getting anywhere."

Tonight, maybe I'll work on getting into handstand by kicking up with the left leg. I still haven't been able to do that even once, but maybe tonight it will happen. I'm feeling pretty strong.

Cookie Madness

2008-03-06T14:53:00.005-06:00

What do you do when you don't just want but need oatmeal cookies but you only have one egg and all your recipes call for at least 2? You improvise. This recipe, loosely based on the recipe for Ranger Cookies in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (you know, the red-and-white checked cookbook with the ring binding), will serve as our dessert tonight...if there are any left when after-school snacking has taken its toll.

Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1-1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (not regular whole wheat, be sure to use pastry flour)
1 cup organic brown sugar (or raw sugar)
1 egg (free range)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup organic rolled oats
1-1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup dark or bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375. In a stand mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds or until soft. Add 1/2 cup flour, sugar, egg, vanilla, baking powder, and soda. Beat until thoroughly combined.

2. Beat in the remaining flour until combined, then stir in oats, coconut, and chocolate chips. The mixture will be very stiff.

3. Roll pieces of dough into one-inch balls with your hands. Flatten slightly and put on ungreased cookie sheets (preferably air-bake or stone for even browning). Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies just begin to color.

4. Cool on the cookie sheet for one minute, then remove to a wire rack with a metal spatula. Eat, or let them cool and eat them later.

My recipe made about 36 cookies, but it would have made more if I hadn't eaten some of the dough.

In my defense, the dough was irresistible.

Beans and Bayless

2008-03-05T10:06:00.007-06:00

Last night, I ventured into the Rick Bayless cookbook. Family Dinner Night always seems an appropriate venue for experimentation. I began the day by preparing a pot of pinto beans with onion, jalapeno (frozen from our garden last year), and shredded beef jerky. This cooked all day. Around 5, I began assembling the rest of the meal. I made the first recipe in the Bayless book: the Essential Simmered Tomato Jalapeno sauce, but because tomatoes aren't in season, I used canned (the recipe allows for this). I also used a frozen jalapeno pepper. I think, in retrospect, this sauce will be much tastier and zippier when I use fresh tomatoes and actually roast them first. I also used some frozen homemade vegetable stock I had, instead of chicken broth.

Meanwhile, I cooked a big pot of white rice (medium grain) with white onion and homemade chicken stock, and I poached three organic free range chicken breasts.
After simmering the sauce, I used it to make a casserole of layered steamed corn tortillas, ricotta cheese, sauteed mushrooms and asparagus, topped with melting cheese and green onions.

The picture, below, isn't the best because we forgot to take one before we started eating. However, you can see the basics. On the table, the pot of pinto beans, tortilla-ricotta casserole, white rice, shredded lettuce, avocadoes mashed with sea salt and lime juice, and a big bowl of fresh strawberries sprinkled with sugar, which I was so pleased to see in the grocery store this morning. Yes, they came all the way from California, but I couldn't resist them.

Before dinner, we enjoyed a lovely cocktail--one of the margaritas from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. Here is my adapted recipe:

Upscale 'Rita

Rub a lime around the edge of two martini glasses, and roll the edges in coarse salt.

In a cocktail shaker, combine:

Juice from 1 large lime (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup Milagro 100% agave tequila
1/4 cup Grand Marnier

Add 1 cup ice and shake for 15 seconds. Pour into prepared glasses.

Tomato-Jalapeno Sauce (adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen)

2/3 of a 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I put the remaining tomatoes into the pinto beans, see below. I would use the fire-roasted canned tomatoes next time, to rev up the flavor a little more)
1 fresh (frozen) jalapeno, cored and mostly seeded (I would roast this next time), minced
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 medium white onion, thinly sliced
3 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Combine the tomatoes and jalapeno in a blender jar. Blend until the tomatoes are pureed.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a cast iron skillet. Saute the onion until very soft and starting to turn golden, about eight minutes.
3. Add the tomato/jalapeno mixture. Stir until the mixture bubbles and thickens, about ten minutes.
4. Add the vegetable stock and salt (only use the salt if you are using homemade vegetable stock). Heat until the mixture bubbles again, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Punchy Pintos (based on the recipe from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen)

Note: You definitely don't have to include the beef jerky in here. I had a package leftover I wanted to use up (waste not, want not) but you could use leftover tempeh bacon or smoked tofu or 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke, or just skip it entirely. It will still be good. I didn't think the beef jerky really added anything, but the men in the family liked it

2 cups dried pinto beans
1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
1 fresh (frozen) jalapeno
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/3 of a 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon gold tequila (I used Jose Cuervo Gold)
Beef jerky (to taste--and totally optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Sort through the beans to remove any stones. Put the beans and onion in a soup pot or Dutch oven with 8 cups water. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat.

2. Turn off the heat and cover. Put the jalapeno, garlic, tomatoes, tequila, beef jerky (if using), and olive oil in a crockpot. Carefully add the hot beans with the water to the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste towards the end of cooking time and season as necessary with salt and pepper.

Serve with medium-grain white rice cooked with a diced sauteed white onion and vegetable or chicken stock.

Tortilla-Ricotta Casserole (based on the recipe in Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen)

12 corn tortillas
Tomato-Jalapeno Sauce (see above)
1 12-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 cup mushrooms, sliced, sauteed in 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1/2 cup leftover steamed vegetables (I used asparagus)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup shredded melting cheese
1 bunch green onions, whites and most of greens thinly sliced

1. Wrap the tortillas in a clean tea towel and steam in a vegetable steamer over boiling water for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let them sit for at least ten minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread a few ladles of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole (I used stoneware). Put four tortillas in the bottom of the casserole, covering as much of the bottom as possible (the tortillas will overlap). Spread half the ricotta over the tortillas. Sprinkle with half the mushrooms, half the vegetables, and half the cilantro. Ladle some sauce over this layer.

3. Repeat with another layer of tortillas, ricotta, mushrooms, vegetables, cilantro, and sauce. Top with the last four tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the whole thing. Sprinkle with the shredded cheese and the green onions.

4. Bake the casserole until it is hot and bubbling, about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for about ten minutes, to firm up. Cut into squares to serve.

Serve it all up with avocado mashed with salt and lime juice, and shredded lettuce, along with fresh strawberries tossed with sugar for dessert.

Feast!

Cinnamon rolls and Cara Cara oranges

2008-03-01T11:05:00.005-06:00

I shouldn't even mention the cinnamon rolls in this post because I didn't make them from scratch--these are the frozen ones from Rhodes, but they were still good. This morning, I slept luxuriously until 9, then got up and made coffee to enjoy with a cinnamon roll and a deep pink Cara Cara orange. As I peeled the orange, little clouds of citrusy mist bloomed around my fingers. I hadn't tried Cara Cara oranges before--surprisingly mild without a typical citrus twang, they had a gently sweet flavor. The first few bites after a bite of cinnamon roll tasted too bland because of the more intense sugar from the icing, but once my palate cleared, I could better enjoy the delicate flavor.

This breakfast puts me in mind of one of my favorite Wallace Stevens poems--one I hadn't thought about in a few years--called Sunday Morning. True, it's Saturday morning, and the bird on my shoulder while I ate my breakfast was a real white-faced cockatiel, not a green cockatoo printed on a rug (by the way, I guess Wallace Stevens didn't know that cockatoos aren't green--he was probably thinking of a macaw). But still, this is the feeling I had. I was sitting in a chair by the window, although the day is gray and cloudy.

I won't print it all because it's long--just the relevant excerpt:

1.
Complacencies of the peignoir, and late
Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair,
And the green freedom of a cockatoo
Upon a rug mingle to dissipate
The holy hush of ancient sacrifice.
She dreams a little, and she feels the dark
Encroachment of that old catastrophe,
As a calm darkens among water-lights.
The pungent oranges and bright, green wings
Seem things in some procession of the dead,
Winding across wide water, without sound.
The day is like wide water, without sound.
Stilled for the passing of her dreaming feet...

As for what I'm dreaming about: I'm dreaming that the snow-burdened world outside the window will wake up! Wake up! Warm up!

My next ambition is to work through Rick Bayless's cookbooks, recipe by recipe, so I can teach myself (or he can teach me) authentic Mexican cooking. A nearby Mexican grocery I recently discovered should be able to supply me with all the necessary ingredients. When we visit Oaxaca for Christmas this year, I want to know what I'm tasting, and have a basis on which to base any additional cooking wisdom I might learn there. So, stay tuned for some Mexican cooking!

"I am content when wakened birds,
Before they fly, test the reality
Of misty fields, by their sweet questionings..."

Spaghetti Dinner

2008-02-29T11:43:00.005-06:00

We haven't had a sit-down family dinner since before we went to New York, so despite protests from the kids that they would rather eat downstairs in their rooms, this was the order of the evening: Spaghetti, salad, broccoli, and crusty multi-grain rolls, with grape juice for the kids and a locally produced Malbec for me, from Wallace Winery in West Branch, Iowa. It was a nice dinner, full of laughter, especially when Ben absent-mindedly started to pour vinaigrette into his wine glass, then panicked when he realized what he was doing. That laughter continued until the end of the meal. And that's what family dinners are all about.

Spaghetti Bolognese

spaghetti (lots of it)
1 pound vegetarian crumbles or local organic ground beef from a small farm
1 yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon each: oregano, basil, and thyme (all dried)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, but gives it a Greek taste)
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 28-ounce can tomatoes (diced or do it yourself)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 4-ounce can tomato paste

1. Cook a large amount of spaghetti, according to package directions (in my house, we like to have leftovers noodles for late-night hunger attacks). Rinse, drain, drizzle with a little olive oil, cover, and keep it in a big shallow bowl in a warm oven until ready to serve.

2. In a large saute pan over medium heat, cook the crumbles or beef with the onion until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and carrot, and saute for two minutes. Add the spices, salt, and pepper, and saute for another two minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, sauce, and paste. Stir until combined, then keep stirring until the sauce bubbles. Cover, lower the heat, and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.

4. When the sauce is finished, taste and add more salt and pepper if you think it's required. Serve in a big bowl separately from the spaghetti so people can create their own preferred pasta-to-sauce ration. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if that's what you like. (My kids do.)

I also served this, as you can see, with crusty bread (I broke mine open and drizzled with olive oil, then sprinkled with a little bit of Himalayan pink salt), salad with your favorite vinaigrette, broccoli with a little butter, and a robust red wine.

Back from New York

2008-02-28T10:09:00.010-06:00

I'm back from the Big Apple, where I did a lot of eating...and no yoga at all. Covering the Westminster Kennel Club dog show for Dog Fancy magazine is a big job, but always one I embrace whole-heartedly. I had an amazing trip, as usual. To read about it, see my travel blog: Eccentric Planet.

But here are a few highlights of really great meals I had there.

Vegetable Pad See Eil (Thai) at Pam Real Thai Food:

Pink Cake at Amy's Bakery:

Roasted Vegetable Panini at the Tick Tock Diner:

Vegetable sushi at Kang Suh (Korean/Japanese):

Butternut squash soup with wild mushrooms and macaroni and cheese at the Hudson Cafeteria:

Mmm...I get hungry just remembering.

Meanwhile, I'm back home, back to yoga, and back to cooking. I've been eating up leftovers and making things I've made before, but had a really rigorous yoga class this morning. It's good to be back, and I'm getting geared up to cook again, so stay tuned for more innovative meals ASAP.

Maybe if I WAS Catholic...

2008-02-17T20:57:00.007-06:00

I would have been more successful with this Lent business. Three days into my Lenten fast, I was having coffee with my friend Rachel and she asked if I wanted to split a pecan coffee cake. "Sure!" I said blithely, and was all the way through it before I realized it (obviously) contained sugar. Just as well, I decided, because I was headed to New York City and I knew I would be faced with some spectacular pastries (and indeed I was). I guess it wasn't the right time for a sugar sacrifice.

I've just returned from New York and will probably spend the week catching up on my travel blog (eccentricplanet.blogspot.com). In the meantime, tonight I made a delicious Sunday dinner. Roasted chicken (free range organic), gravy, salad, grapes, biscuits with butter, and a gorgeous--and easy--potato galette. Here's how I made the galette:

2 pounds russet potatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups mixed shredded cheese (I used muenster, Swiss, and cheddar-jack)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Peel the potatoes, then grate them. I used my Cuisineart with the grater blade. Put the grated potatoes in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out the moisture.

2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, then half the grate potatoes, pressing them down with a spatula. Cover with the cheese, then cover the cheese with the remaining potatoes. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Press and shape with the spatula, to keep it flat and round. Peek under occasionally.

3. When the bottom is golden-brown and crispy and holds together, put a baking sheet over the skillet and carefully flip the skillet over so the galette lands on the baking sheet. Return the skillet to the stove and add the remaining oil.

4. Carefully slide the galette back into the skillet and cook until the other side is golden brown and crispy. Keep pressing and shaping with the spatula so it's nice and round.

5. To serve, slide the galette onto a large round plate and cut into wedges with a pizza cutter. Top with green onions or mushroom gravy.

Note: You can also toss sauteed onions and/or mushrooms into the shredded potato before adding it to the pan.

At least I didn't have any dessert.

Dinner is served:

Lent Begins

2008-02-06T16:06:00.000-06:00

Let me start by explaining that I am not Catholic. However, I do enjoy the spiritual exercise and personal discipline of giving something up for Lent. This year, I've decided to face a demon I've conquered in the past, but which has recently crept back into my life: processed sugar.

Emmett (my nine-year-old son) is joining me in our Lenten vow to exercise all processed sugar from our lives. No white sugar, no brown sugar, no cane sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, no dextrose or maltodextrin or any of that processed stuff. Pure molasses, agave syrup, real maple syrup, and brown rice syrup are o.k.

We've already had quite a time finding Emmett something for lunch. Even the wholegrain bread I bought last week contains high fructose corn syrup. But he finally settled on some organic corn chips with melted cheese and apple slices with natural peanut butter. I rolled up leftover tempeh bacon in a whole wheat tortilla with hot sauce and spinach leaves, and helped finish the apple slices and pb. It won't be easy and we may occasionally eat something by accident that has a little sugar in it, but we are not going to eat any desserts or sweets and we will be reading labels. I hope this sets a good example for Emmett and makes him even more conscious of what he puts into his body--since he tends to be so fond of junk food.

For a snack, I enjoyed the luscious and delectable, 100% raw Organic White Chocolate Yoga Bar, by Everythingraw (http://www.everythingraw.com/yogabar.htm). Can I describe how delicious this is? Creamy, chocolaty, nutty, everything I could ever want in a candy bar--but with no sugar, so I am entirely virtuous so far, half way through Day One of Lent.

By the way, today was a snow day, school cancelled. I think we must have gotten at least 12 inches of beautiful snow. See Ben plow.

Happy Super-Fat Tuesday!

2008-02-05T15:06:00.000-06:00

As yet another winter storm descends upon us, we are preparing to celebrate Super-Fat Tuesday, a.k.a. Super Tuesday plus Mardi Gras, a.k.a. Pancake Day, a.k.a. Shrove Tuesday. Dinner will consist of chocolate chip pancakes, tempeh bacon (free-range uncured bacon for the boys), and scrambled tofu (eggs for the boys, who still haven't opened their minds and palate's to tofu's considerable charm).

For cocktails, traditional hurricanes, of course. We plan to feast while watching the election returns, and possibly playing a rousing family game of Pictionary.

Hurricanes

2 ounces light rum
2 ounces dark rum
2 ounces passion fruit juice
2 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
1 ounce sweetened lime juice
1 tablespoon grenadine

Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and serve in a tall glass over ice, garnished with orange slices and cherries.

Chocolate Chip/Mixed Berry Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I like Bob's Red Mill)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (I used organic)
1/4 cup baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups rice milk
1/4 cup canola oil
chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and frozen berries, as needed, for sprinkling over the pancakes

1. Preheat a griddle over medium heat. Spray it with cooking spray.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a glass measuring cup, combine rice milk (soy milk also works) and canola oil. Pour into the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Don't over-mix or the pancakes will be too tough.

4. Pour the batter onto the griddle in 1/4-cup dollops. Sprinkle chocolate chips, nuts, and/or berries on top, as desired. When the edges start to bubble, flip them over and cook for another minute.

5. Keep the pancakes on a plate in a low oven so they stay warm and you can serve them all at once. Serve with real maple syrup or orange marmelade, with or without whipped topping. These pancakes go very well with tempeh bacon. (Or maybe it's the maple syrup that makes the tempeh bacon so irrisistible...?)

Tempeh Bacon

This recipe is a slight variation on Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Tempeh Bacon in Vegan With a Vengeance. This should serve 4, or in my case, one, with leftovers to make frozen burritos with the scrambled tofu, below.

1 8-ounce block of soy tempeh
1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or you could use soy sauce)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press
1 tablespoon peanut oil

1. Slice the tempeh in half to get two approximate squares, then slice each square into strips. You should get about 24 strips.

2. Heat about three cups of water in a heavy pot over high heat. When the water starts to steam, add the tempeh strips carefully, so you don't break them. Cover and let steam for ten minutes. Remove from heat, carefully drain into a strainer or colander, and let cool for about ten minutes.

3. In a large ziploc bag, combine all the remaining ingredients, except the peanut oil. Add the tempeh strips, seal the bag, and move the bag around to cover all the strips in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.

4. Heat a griddle over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil. Fry the tempeh bacon until golden-brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Scrambled Tofu

This serves two, or in my case, one, with leftovers for tomorrow. I normally put veggies in this, but I was hungry so streamlined it this time.

about 8 ounces firm or extra firm tofu (whatever you have around)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablesoon Bragg liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
hot pepper flakes, to taste

1. Wrap the tofu in paper towels and drain for at least 15 minutes (if longer, keep it in the refrigerator).

2. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add the garlic and saute for one minute. Crumble the tofu into the pan. Sprinkle with the turmeric and stir to combine everything.

3. Cook and stir until the tofu starts to get brown and crispy. Season with salt, pepper, and hot pepper flakes.

To use leftovers, wrap scrambled tofu and tempeh bacon in warmed whole wheat tortillas, wrap in plastic, then freeze. To defrost, unwrap them, roll them in a paper towel, and cook for two minutes.

You can also freeze the pancakes, stacked with wax paper between them or in individual plastic bags. Defrost these in the microwave on a plate, covered with a paper towel, for one minute, or a little less, depending on how big they are.

Anusara Yoga Retreat

2008-02-04T09:43:00.000-06:00

This weekend, I attended an Anusara Yoga Retreat at Prairiewood Retreat Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. Marsha Nieland, who owns Fusion Studio in Cedar Rapids, had the idea to do a retreat centered around the book "Eat Pray Love." On the first day, we had a two-hour yoga class, then lunch--Stacey Berg catered. She made delicious roasted vegetable panini, an incredible minestrone soup (see picture), and turtle bars.

After a break, we spent the evening hanging out, playing games, finger painting, talking about the book and the parts we loved, laughing a lot, and eating Indian and Italian food from local restaurants. The Aloo Gobhi (cauliflower and potatoes) was especially good, also the Dal, Nam, Raita, and rice pudding, which the restaurant (Taste of India in Cedar Rapids) threw in just to be nice. After dinner we broke out an incredible array of chocolates from Vosges out of Chicago, and drank lots of a wine called (appropriately) Bitch. It's a red-fruity wine, very easy to drink and juicy but not sweet. The next morning, we did more yoga, pranayama, meditation. Everyone had an amazing time.

My friend Rachel, pictured above doing a lovely split across the beds in the room we shared at Prairiewoods, has just returned from Denver as a certified yoga teacher and is now specializing in Anusara, studying to teach that style. She's my BFF so she wanted me to try it. It's an open-hearted style of yoga, fun and compassionate, not so serious in tone as Iyengar but yet rigorous, based in many of the same principles as Iyengar. I feel great after the weekend--I almost wish we had done more yoga classes (but it's not every day you get that much premium-quality chocolate piled up in front of you so seductively, so I'm certainly not complaining).

Today, to balance out the weekend's diet extremes, I'm doing another raw day. Raw Monday, Raw Friday works for me so far. I'm making one exception: A cup of good hot black coffee. For breakfast, a carob orange smoothie, which I invented based on ingredients I happened to have around--raw pistachios, very ripe bananas, lots of oranges, and a big jar of carob powder:

Carob-Orange Smoothie

1/4 cup raw pistachios
1/4 cup carob powder
1/4 cup filtered water
2 very ripe bananas
juice from one freshly squeezed orange
orange wedges for garnish

1. Grind the pistachios in the blender. Add the carob powder and water. Blend to a paste.
2. Add the bananas and orange juice. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve with orange wedges--squeeze them over the top. This will be room temperature unless you use frozen bananas, which also works.

THE BET IS OVER!

2008-02-01T17:18:00.000-06:00

It's February 1, and our anti-consumerism bet is officially over.

We got SO CREAMED.

I don't know what were thinking, getting into a competition with the likes of Amy and Nick, those two are hard core. But still, I learned a lot and it was a great experience. We didn't stay under the required limit, but we did spend much less than we would have, in a month when we had a lot of expenses like quarterly taxes and credit card bills. I have so much travel planned in 2008, and Nick and Amy have so many home-improvement plans, that we will continue to watch our pennies and save for more important things than junk made in China, bad food, etc. Not spending is really hard for me, but a personal discipline I desperately need to practice longer and harder.

In the meantime, I haven't posted food here because I've mostly been eating versions of the same things I've already posted. But tonight, I am making raw tacos. I am trying to eat raw all day today, in preparation for a yoga retreat tomorrow, and just to lighten up a little. I had yoga this morning and it felt really good, on just some tea and a banana (I know, tea isn't technically raw, but I decided it's o.k. for my purposes).

I had some walnuts and an apple for lunch. Now I'm ready for something savory.

Raw Tacos

1-1/2 cups raw pecans
1 tablespoon Bragg liquid aminos
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
dash of hot pepper flakes
lime wedges for garnish
Romaine lettuce leaves
fresh tomatoes, sliced, salt and pepper to taste
avocado, peeled, mashed, and salted

1. Combine pecans, Bragg, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt, black pepper, and hot pepper flakes, in a blender or food processor. Process until chunky. Scoop into a bowl.

2. Mound pecan mixture onto large cleaned Romaine lettuce leaves. Squeeze lime wedges over the filling. Top with tomato slices and avocado. Roll it up and enjoy.

I can barely believe raw food can be this amazingly good. We had some grapes for dessert but they weren't nearly as good as the tacos.

Happy Birthday To Me

2008-01-27T10:19:00.000-06:00

Today is my birthday. How old am I? I don't want to talk about it.

Last night, Nick and Amy threw me an Anti-Consumerism birthday party. Everyone brought food they made from things they already had at home, and gave gifts of things they had but didn't want. No spending money was allowed! It was so much fun and I ate delicious food and received some lovely things--a velvet shawl with ruffled trim that once belonged to a friend's mother, a pretty picture frame with a jeweled dragonfly on it, warm gloves, yarn for knitting, a mug that says boys are stinky (well they are!), a beautiful sequined top, three Kasey Chambers CDs, a glass hurricane lamp, a watch, and more...it was awesome.

I made and brought vegan nori rolls from the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook, but added extra chili oil and some red pepper flakes to spice it up. They were fantastic and everyone devoured them, even the meat eaters. Amy made me this amazing amaretto cake she had made and I had admired on Christmas Eve (she remembered). That was devoured, too. All those who stayed after midnight got copies of a few of my latest books, as a thank-you for making it to my actual birthday. These included the Shakespeare Poetry of Love boxed set and the Beer book. We finally left about 1:00 a.m. It was great--thanks Amy and Nick, I love you!!

I realized after people had basically fallen on the food and left nothing in their wake that I didn't take any food pictures! I'm posting some people pictures instead.

My parents took us out to Atlas for a birthday lunch. I had the Veg Heaven burrito, which was beautiful, but again, I forgot to take a picture of it. We had a great time--thanks Mom and Dad!

Everyone was so full from lunch that we all warmed up individual leftovers later, as we got hungry, rather than having a formal dinner. The bet ends in three days! But we also decided to continue it for the rest of the year, in a modified form, so we can save money to spend Christmas in Oaxaca together. We are still working on the exact terms. A grand total seems not to reflect the efforts we want to make, to buy local, avoid products made in China, buy quality things that will last, not waste money on junk, etc.

In the meantime, our few trips out this weekend, using the excuse of my birthday, have catapulted us way over budget. Nick and Amy better be thinking about where they want us to take them out for dinner on February 1...

Pasta Dinner

2008-01-24T18:01:00.000-06:00

Ah, pasta. Inexpensive and so delicious. Tonight I made up this comfort-food casserole:

1 pound pasta (I used rotini--you can also use brown rice pasta, to make this gluten-free)
1 tablespoon canola oil (or use evo, but I'm out right now)
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper (I used frozen from my garden this summer)
1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 can (about 15 ounces) white beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup peas (I used leftover, or use frozen or canned)
1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil, and thyme
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 slices vegetarian "ham" cut into strips (or substitute strips of marinated tofu, or a handful of shredded cheese, or leave it all out--if you leave it out, you can add another can of white beans)
1/2 cup crumbled corn chips

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse.

2. Heat the oil in a medium saute pan and cook the onion until soft. Add the jalapeno pepper and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes more. Stir in the pasta, the white beans, the peas, the veggie ham or tofu (or not). Turn into a casserole sprayed with cooking spray. Top with the crumbled chips.

3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

This probably serves about eight.

Emmett decided he needed to take dessert matters into his own hands. He defrosted three chocolate chip cookies in the microwave, then decorated them with chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

He didn't share.

Another day, another dollar

2008-01-23T11:13:00.000-06:00

I spent much of yesterday catching up from being out of town but I need to get some serious work done today. To energize myself, I went to the gym, then headed home through the frigid cold. I warmed up half of a pumpkin waffle (the ones I made a few weeks ago and stored in the freezer), made from the recipe out of Vegan With a Vengeance, except I added chocolate chips. I spread tahini on the warmed waffles, then topped them with banana rings and drizzled the whole mess with blackstrap molasses. Paired with a hot cup of coffee with soy milk, this breakfast has got me feeling almost energized enough to go to Amy's spin class this afternoon. (Almost.) At least I feel energized enough to get some work done today.

Home again

2008-01-22T12:11:00.000-06:00

I'm back from Pennsylvania, and thought I would have gained five pounds from all the delicious-but-fatty food. But I didn't. Maybe because I love to travel and travelling stokes my inner digestive fire so I burn up everything I eat. This leads me to believe I should travel more, if for no other reason than my health.

This morning I had organic oats that I bought in Pennsylvania, in bulk, cheap, at the grocery store. Topped with a teaspoon of raw sugar, a handful of raisins, a sprinkle of walnuts, and a dash of soy milk, they tasted delicious, and perfect for this morning's 0-degree temps. Then I went to the gym for yoga class. I am less and less able to do these kind of yoga classes that throw people into these difficult poses without the kind of instruction I get from Iyengar yoga. Fortunately, I was able to cue myself to make the poses work, but what about all those other poor people who looked like they were in pain and hating life? That's not how yoga is supposed to work. It was a tough strength-training workout, though, so I'm glad I had the oatmeal.

On the way home, I went to the grocery store and spent $66 on food for the week, including a huge motherload of citrus, which is in-season and super-cheap right now. We'll be eating lots of grapefruits, tangelos, oranges, and clementines this week. I had a tangelo--a tangerine/orange hybrid--for my mid-morning snack.

I think I've over-spent on this bet...I suspect we will lose to Nick and Amy. But that's o.k., it just means we take them out for dinner and let them make fun of us for awhile. I know, the month isn't over, but I can feel my resolve wavering. I want to go out for dinner! I want to buy a huge bottle of olive oil, and agave syrup, and pure maple syrup, and veggie burgers!!! O.K., O.K., I'll try to be patient. I've got lots of travel coming up, and I have to be financially prudent.

For dinner, I cooked a roasted chicken for all the boys and grilled myself some marinated tofu, which I put on a sub roll (the last one) topped with soy mayo, pickle relish, and leafy greens. I also finished off the polenta with the rest of the black beans, and made some peas. The boys also had biscuits. I had a glass of soy milk and three small vegan cookies I baked last week, out of the freezer, for dessert. Emmett ate after everyone else because he had Cub Scouts, and the meal just happened to be ready right after he had to be there (bad timing).

Tomorrow, the kids go to their dad's for dinner so Ben and I will have to be creative about what to eat at home. Our budget for this week won't allow for any restaurants.

See my travel blog...

2008-01-19T20:07:00.000-06:00

I'm headed to Pennsylvania, to write about the Golden Gateway Golden Retriever rescue facility in Reinholds, Pennsylvania. When I travel, I record my experiences in my travel blog, so to learn about my food adventures in Dutch Amish Country, see Eccentric Planet: eccentricplanet.blogspot.com.

Spaghetti Lust

2008-01-18T19:51:00.000-06:00

I felt a deep-inside hungry need for pasta today, so I made this mushroom-onion spaghetti, served with greens left from the University luncheon. I sauteed 8 ounces button mushrooms, chopped (I would have used baby bellas but they didn't fit into the budget this month); one medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped; and two cloves garlic, peeled and minced; in a little peanut oil (the olive oil is all gone...). I added some tomato sauce, Italian herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, all dried), and lots of salt and pepper. Served over thin spaghetti. Oh yes.

Cleaning Out the Fridge Day (plus Mediterranean musings)

2008-01-17T12:38:00.000-06:00

Before I leave for Pennsylvania tomorrow, we need to eat up leftovers...and I think I'll be able to save significantly on the grocery budget because Ben doesn't eat much and the kids will be gone this weekend at their dad's house. My meals are paid for since it's a business trip. In the meantime, I'm looking at what I don't want to leave all weekend in the fridge. For lunch today, I toasted another wholegrain sub roll and topped it with the remaining veggie-burger-that-didn't-hold-together mix (TVP, mushrooms, carrots, lots of spices, etc.) for a vegetarian Sloppy Joe. Topped with a little Dijon mustard and the last remaining pickle spear, I sided it with some spring mix and kiwi fruit.

Yesterday, I gave a talk to a group of College of Education staff for their lunchtime enrichment series about the Mediterranean diet, and I began the talk by talking about the anti-consumerism wager, and how it has, inadvertently, nudged me into a much more authentic Mediterranean way of eating. I make food from scratch, I don't buy anything packaged. I cook. I use my leftovers. And I have very little to spend. I talked about how the traditional Mediterranean diet was one of the healthiest on the planet, and yet, the people eating it wished they had more meat. They felt deprived. How do we, in America, with so much food, benefit from a diet of deprivation? By making the conscious choice (we have the luxury to do this) to choose real food. The fact that real food is getting to be more expensive than packaged food (what Michael Pollan calls "food-like substances") makes us, as the wealthiest nation in the world, ironically able to follow this diet, by choice, not necessity. I also talked about how the Mediterranean diet is more than food--it's about spending time outside in the fresh air, physical labor, close ties with family, sitting down together to eat a meal, and having an extended network of friends and community. Look up from the computer screen and go outside. Look people in the eye when you talk to them. Slow down and breathe.

They sent me home with the big box of salad greens. Lunch there (included, I didn't have to pay--one more meal for free) was salad greens with toppings everybody brings. I topped mine with an artichoke pasta salad mixed with a homemade vinagrette, some quinoa salad, and some cubed baked tofu. On the side: some wheat crackers and half a whole-wheat pita. It was an admirably Mediterranean sort of lunch.

I'll be interested to see what I will find to eat in Pennsylvania. Stay tuned!

Iyengar yoga

2008-01-16T10:58:00.001-06:00

This morning, I went to a make-up yoga class because I will be out of town during my normal slot on Friday (I have to travel to Pennysylvania to write an article about a Golden Retriever rescue farm, but more on that later). It was a Level 1 class, so it was good to review some basics. It got me thinking about ego.

When you do yoga, ego comes to the forefront a lot, both when you indulge in it, and when you recognize it, step back, and say, "Hmm. Interesting that I should be so full of ego about not panting and gasping in shoulderstand, like that person next to me." Of course, recognizing ego is part of the realization that happens when you do yoga on a regular basis. But where does it come from? Is it bad? Is it good? I suspect it just is.

These are some of the things I discovered myself thinking this morning:

This must be Level 1, I am so beyond this.
Wait a minute, this is just Level 1, why am I falling over in tree pose?
An exercise to prepare for headstand? Oh come on, I can already do headstand, I don't need to do this.
That person next to me needs a lot more props than I need. Ha!
Hey, this forward bend is really hard today, what's wrong with me?

See what I mean? Ego, ego, ego. But instead of fighting my ego, which tends to make it rear up, get bigger, and get an attitude, I decided to step back and look at it. Ah, ego. I know you. What are you doing here today? At this point, this kind of thinking hasn 't necessarily changed anything in a dramatic way, but I believe it to be just one more baby step towards ascension into a broader sense of self and other. When ego looks like one little dot on a giant map, I'll know I'm getting somewhere. (And then, I'm likely to think, Wow, I am so cool, I have totally transcended ego. I bet that person next to me hasn't...)

Now that I'm home, I am a hungry yogi, but I have to wait because I am speaking to a group of University employees about the Mediterranean diet, for an employee enrichment lunch sort of thing, and they will be feeding me.

Well...maybe just a snack...

Tofu Subs

2008-01-15T20:01:00.001-06:00

The Schwan's man came to my door today. He came three times. He rang the doorbell. He knocked. He yelled, "Hello?" You see, I usually buy quite a lot from the Schwan's man, and whenever I don't, he looks so crestfallen that I feel guilty.

I wasn't sure how to explain about the January anti-consumerism bet, and how Schwan's food just, well...doesn't really fit in. But he finally caught me on his third visit, because my friend Mariah was walking out the door as he was walking up the driveway. I turned him away two weeks ago and just didn't have the heart to do it again. So, I compromised. I bought frozen corn, frozen peas, three-for-two-dollars-off cheap frozen pizzas the kids like, and a package of their delicious multi-grain rolls. Ben wanted the strawberry sorbet, but apparently that's a seasonal item. Sorry, Ben.

But the multi-grain rolls gave me the idea for dinner. I toasted the rolls in the oven, then I made salmon salad sub rolls for Angus and Ben, using a can of salmon I've had in the cupboard for months, mayonnaise, mustard, and pickle relish. Emmett got a leftover turkey hotdog on his--Emmett's journey towards healthy eating has consisted of baby steps (usually he has to eat what we eat, but this was easy).

Mine was the best of all. I marinated two slices of tofu in soy sauce and sesame oil, then grilled them in my panini maker. I put Asian hot sauce (I know, again, I love the stuff) on the sub roll, then some lettuce and two big kosher dill pickle spears, topped off with the tofu. Add some baby carrots, and it was dinner.

Leftovers Lunch

2008-01-15T12:29:00.001-06:00

It's getting past noon and I'm getting hungry. The small bowl of cereal from this morning seems to be digested and gone. But I won't be going out for lunch, nope. I warmed up the last of the Black Bean and Butternut Squash Stew from Friday, then fried a hunk of the polenta from last night in a little peanut oil and put it on top of the stew. It's really good. I'll have a clementine or two for dessert, since they are in season and we have a big bowl of them on the counter. Garnishes: Leftover chopped lettuce from last night, and a drizzle of Asian chili sauce, for a kick.

Burrito Dinner

2008-01-14T20:05:00.000-06:00

Tonight, I thought we had no food left, and no money left over in the week's budget. But then I was inspired. I warmed whole wheat tortillas. I found homemade veggie burger mix that I made two days ago from Vegan with a Vengeance. It never got solid enough to make a burger that would hold together, and was sitting in a bowl in the fridge. I cooked it in a little peanut oil, as if it were ground meat. For the boys, I cooked some ground venison Ben's friend gave us last month, that was still in the freezer. I topped their burritos with cheese (not mine) and baked them all in a stoneware baking pan.

I garnished the cooked burritos with letttuce, chopped tomato, and avocado slices dressed with fresh lime juice and sea salt (avocadoes four for $3.29 at Fareway, purchased a few days ago and just now ripe). I also made polenta with soy milk and non-hydrogenated margarine (I didn't tell anybody it was vegan and they all loved it), topped with warmed canned black beans. Ben and I finished an almost-too-old bottle of red wine from last week, and the boys drank apple juice. It was delicious, fulfilling, and soul-satisfying. When I've digested this great meal, I will meditate on making much out of little. Om...

A New Year, a New Food Attitude

2008-01-14T11:17:00.001-06:00

We began 2008 with a bet. Our family of four challenged our friends, the Martins, also a family of four, to live on $75/week food budget and $50/week "everything else" budget. This does not include regular bills we already have in place, including things like music lessons, drama lessons, etc. But it does include eating out, drinking, sundry items, and entertainment. We determined that we would live the anti-consumerism mentality in January, and see how well we could manage it. Both families must stay under budget, but at the end of the month, the family that spends the most has to treat the other family to a "nice but reasonable" dinner out.

It's been difficult, sort of, especially the part about not eating out. But also interesting, to really make a commitment to use up (and re-design) leftovers and not let food go to waste, and to shop more carefully. But we all love to eat well, and Nick Martin and I love to cook well, and sacrificing higher quality ingredients has been a challenge. Nick has been blogging about his experience at www.idax.org, check that out if you are interested. And I decided, half way through the month, that I need to be blogging about ours, especially the vegetarian aspects of it that I've engineered at our house (to the chagrin of the rest of my family--my partner, Ben, and my sons, Angus and Emmett).

Yesterday, the four of us (the adults--Amy, Nick, Ben, and I) went to see Michael Pollan speak about his new book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. Afterwards, we all slipped up a bit and went out for a few drinks, figuring that if we were all spending the same amount of money, we would be even. But...there goes half the week's grocery bill! Oops. Well, it was a lot of fun, and worth it, and we vowed to spend next Christmas in Oaxaca, out of the American consumerist holiday madness. The kids will thank us later. Meanwhile, we'll have to get *really* creative with our food stores this week!

In the meantime, I'm posting a picture of the scrambled tofu I enjoyed this past Saturday morning, along with toast made from homemade bread that Nick left at our house after the Martins joined us for dinner on Friday, for black bean butternut squash stew.

This recipe is quick, easy, and doesn't contain very many ingredients, so it's good to make in the morning when you are a really hungry yogi. I often throw leftovers into this mix--black bean stew, white beans, different veggies, homemade salsa, or in this case below, roasted potatoes.

Scrambled Tofu

Serves 2 or 3

1 tablespoon evo (extra virgin olive oil)
12 ounces firm tofu, drained and squeezed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup leftover roasted potatoes, cubed (optional if you don't have them, or add any other leftovers you happen to have)
1 small carrot, grated
1 scallion, chopped, whites and greens

In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Crumble the tofu into the pan. Add the turmeric, salt, cumin, and pepper. Saute until tofu is coated with the spices. Add the potatoes (or not) and continue to saute' until the tofu starts to get nice and brown and a little bit crispy, about five minutes or a little longer. Add the carrots and stir to combine. Divide the tofu between two or three plates and garnish with the scallions. Serve with toast topped with a little evo and sea salt.

Note: Since I was the only one eating this, I warmed three whole-wheat tortillas and divided the remaining tofu between them, rolled them up, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and put them in the freezer. These can be unwrapped and microwaved on high for 2 minutes (cover with a paper towel) for a quick lunch. Good dipped in salsa!

The kids ate the same homemade fast food from the freezer, but I made theirs with eggs and cheese instead of tofu. I'm still trying to win them over to the tofu side but I'm not going to force the issue. Ahimsa comes in many forms.

Hungry Yogi

2007-04-04T09:32:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Hungry Yogi, my blog about yoga and food. As a student of Iyengar yoga and an enthusiastic foodie who believes everything we eat becomes part of who we are, I've created this blog to explore the connection between how we move, breathe, think, do, and of course...eat.

Namaste and bon appetit!

eve