Rustic White Beans, Bulgur, tofurky and larabars

Back to cooking this week - I haven't baked anything yet, but I might tonight - some kind of not too sweet muffin that we can enjoy for snacks or even breakfast is on deck. The almond-quinoa ones were such a hit last week. Applesauce Oatbran muffins seem likely.

From vegan challenge

Monday night I cooked up the mess of cannellini beans I had been soaking, making Rustic White Beans with Leeks and Mushrooms from Veganomicon. I found them delicious, pairing them, as suggested, with Couscous with Tomatoes and Capers. I didn't have any couscous (as I annoyingly discovered as I started cooking), but I was able to sub in bulgur wheat, another quick cooking grain, which was fairly successful, if a tad chewy. This meal got a thumbs down from J. though. He's funny about texture sometimes, and like a lot of omnis, his chief complaint about veggie food is that it's 'mush'. This was a pretty mushy meal, but I'm fine with that. The flavour of the beans was wonderful (they were cooked with a bouquet garni, which I've never done before), and the beans made a silky sauce in themselves. Yum.

I bought some more quick cooking food during grocery shopping this week, so that if I got derailed from cooking for any reason, or just didn't feel like it, I'd still have what to eat. I bought some Tofurky brand Italian Sausage links, and they were yummy, especially split down the middle and panfried. And I know I'm the last person in the universe to discover Larabars, but I finally did. I feel silly paying $1.25 for dates and nuts smooshed together, and maybe I'll get around to making some, but in the meantime, they are an awesome and delicious whole food alternative to 'power bars.'

Tomorrow night I have a friend coming over for dinner, and Hot Sauce Marinated Tempeh and mashed potatoes with Corn and Jalapeno Gravy are on deck. That sounds like a spicy menu, so I may have to get some Purely Decadent Coconut Milk 'Ice Cream' to cool us off. Poor us.

In the non cooking front, I haven't really been feeling that great doing this. I am enjoying it, trying different things, cooking, etc., but I feel increasingly confirmed that veganism is not an ideal diet for me, at least from a health stand point. I feel pretty low energy, and managing my blood sugar without animal protein is a constant, pretty unwinnable battle. I have added in a supplement, Floradix, and a chinese herbal formula, to try to offset some of the symptoms I am having, so hopefully that will help. I do think that eliminating dairy has been very beneficial, and I think that's a change that will stick around. With occasional exceptions for artisanal cheeses and gelato. All things in moderation, including moderation. Am definitely looking forward to eating some fish and hardboiled eggs down the road.

January is the right time for... going vegan!!

January is a great time to start new things. I don't believe in going bonkers with resolutions and what not, but it is time when our whole culture turns over the clocks to a new year, and the energy of newness is floating around. Hitching a ride on that energy can be effective. This year I am undertaking a fun personal challenge for the month of January: veganism!! I was a vegetarian for 10 years, but never eschewed all animal products before, even for a limited amount of time. I've been avoiding dairy for a few months since I was sick in the fall, and feeling well.

I have a few other reasons for trying this out though. Number one is for fun! I enjoy a challenge, especially a culinary one, and have been feeling bored with my regular foods lately. One of my 'resolutions' for 2010 is to cook more from recipes, challenging myself to eat more interesting and complex recipes. To that end I bought Veganomicon, the massive vegan cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I've been cooking recipes from it already (probably inspired a bit by watching Julie and Julia on the plane too. Kirsten and Isa Chandra and Terry Hope doesn't have the same ring though).

The other reason is frugality - the title of this blog is the Frugal Omnivore after all. I've been finding the omnivore part rather pricey though! Our first grocery shop of the new regime, even with a bare pantry after two weeks away, my partner and I spent only 66$. We'd like to take our weekly grocery budget from 100$ to 75$ for the two of us. After the experiment is over, I want to be stricter about buying animal products that fit my political and health values: grass fed meat and dairy, local, etc. and in small quanities. I expect it will be easier after having gone without completely for a month.

Anyway, on to the food! I am going to document my project here, and try to illustrate with pics as much as I can - that's what I like in food blogs! I won't put the whole recipe unless it's one I invented myself, as I really do want to encourage peeps to plunk down some money for Veganomicon and support the authors. Please be patient with my pics - I am trying to learn to take better ones, but especially at this time of year taking them in natural light is hard (and I am usually hungry when taking them!).

For NYE, I made Vegan Shepherdess Pie. I love shepherds pie, as it looks impressive, but is easy. This one had a tempeh and veggie filling, with a rich mushroom gravy. The topping is mashed

yukon gold taters. I dialed down the fat content a bit, but a nice thing about vegan food is the basics are so low fat that there's lots of room for yummy fatty additions, like the Earth Balance I put in the mash.

It was really yummy, my slightly

suspicious of the veganism project partner ate it up happily, and I have lots of leftovers. Just what I like. The flavours and textures in the filling were really rich and complex, and reminded me why I want to try more recipes. You add a gravy of veggie broth and flour to the filling, something I never would have whipped up on my own.

I soaked some black eyed peas NYE, and put them in my crockpot overnight. This is the best way to cook beans, and I have been cooking up bunches and freezing them, which beats the snot out of canned beans, which I'd like to reduce my reliance on, both for fiscal reasons, and apparently the cans are lined with estrogen disrupting plastics. yuk. New years day I made Hoppin John, a good luck dish from the american south that I make every year. The recipe is mine, so here it is:

Hoppin John:

1 lb black eyed peas, soaked overnight and cooked until tender (8 hours on low in crockpot).

1 large onion, diced

3-4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 28 oz tin of tomatoes, diced

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp liquid smoke

several large handfuls sliced mixed greens (chard, kale, turnip)

olive oil

Saute the onions in oil until tender, add garlic and thyme, cook 1 min or so until garlic is fragrant. Add beans, tomatoes, liquid smoke. Stir, add greens, letting them cook down for a few minutes, adding 1/4 cup or more of water if needed - it will make a saucier dish. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, very good with hotsauce! You can serve it over rice, I just had it with ezekiel bread with tartex (a delish vegan pate I imported from Canada - can't buy it here.)

Today I am going to attempt seitan, and make some hummus or bean spread for snacks during the week. If the seitan doesn't eat me alive, I'll post pics and report!

Daal: Don't leave home without it

This weekend was a symphony of overindulgence as my partner and I celebrated his birthday, first with a rib dinner for two at home on Friday night, and then a potluck party on Saturday night. Thank god for my friend Prajna, who brought chole as her contribution. I at least got a quasi normal dinner, but heartily laced with way more sugar than my system can really tolerate. It's such a cycle - one which I am so familiar with. Something trips up my cooking-eating system, and I eat something unusual: restaurant food, so much richer, saltier, fattier, then anything homecooked. The salt and fat makes me crave sugar. Then I am too wiped out from sugar crashing to cook properly, and the whole thing carries on.

Today I was determined that this week wouldn't be like last. Jeremy and I are going away on Thursday (my birthday) to celebrate our birthdays and a year since we moved in together. We're going to Idylwild, where his folks have a cabin - anyway, we will definitely be doing some eating for pleasure, as well as other things for pleasure, and I don't want to go away feeling exhausted, bloated, over-sugared and generally lousy. To that end, I hauled out my favourite book, Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, and made some of my trusty daal. Without Daal nothing is as good. It's the perfect fuel for me. I make it like she tells me too now, sllightly differently than how my mom taught me. Tonight I made moong daal. I flavoured it with mustard oil in which i fried black mustard seeds, fennel seeds and dried ginger, a fave combination of mine. So that's in the fridge, ready to nourish me through the week.

I stuck some sweet potatoes in the oven, and made another Madhur recipe, for sri lankan greens. You can make any greens this way, and they are really knock your socks off. As you can see in the pic, I bought some beautiful greens at the farmers market. I am trying to get closer to 100% my produce at the farmers market, and part of that is weaning my dependence on the prewashed bags of greens I buy at Trader Joe's.

Anyway, the greens are sauteed with spices: sliced onion, fresh chilies and curry leaves - those are the secret ingredient, giving a rich, buttery taste that is utterly unique. Add a little salt and turmeric, put the lid on until the greens are tender. I never used to cook my greens long enough. These ones, red and white chard and tuscan black kale, really benefited from the 15 minutes steaming in the spices. They became sweet and tender, taking on the flavours of the seasonings beautifully.

Anyway, I feel much more equipped to handle the week without having to stretch my belly or my budget at a restaurant: 4 or 5 meals of creamy dal, delicious sri lankan greens and comforting sweet potatoes. Bring it on!