Culinary Successes and other Standouts

Neatloaf
Who knew? This was a cousin Janna recommendation. This is the hit (and formerly top secret) recipe from the veggie restaurant Ananda Fuara in San Francisco. It was a perfect hearty main course during the holidays. It is a strange medley of ingredients, some a bit more processed than I typically use, but it actually combines into deliciousness.

Banana Bread
I doubled this simple recipe, gave some away, and brought it to a New Years Eve fest. i wouldn't normally write about something so basic, but it was very popular. I gave it to a Taiwanese friend who had never had anything like banana bread, and she had me teach her how to make it (she calls me Super Girl and Super American for my domestic skills). I threw in a handful of dark chocolate chips which made it more of a gooey treat than muffiny wholesomeness. Make sure you use overly ripe bananas!


Barbecued Beans
Buying beans from the bulk bins has several benefits--it's more economical, tastes waaaaay better, and allows you to avoid cans. We've been avoiding canned foods since they are lined with the hormone altering plastic BPA. BPA is linked to reproductive cancers; I plan to keep my breasts (1 in 8 women, people!) and Andrew needs his remaining testicle so we are being as careful as we can be for now. So now what do you do when you need a few quick servings of ready-made beans? Turn to the freezer!

Right now I have a huge vat of bbq beans. I sauteed a few yellow onions and some garlic in olive oil and then threw in some pinto beans that had soaked overnight in purified water. I covered the beans with water, added a jar of Ghetto Gourmet BBQ sauce, and brought it all to a boil. I then covered it, reduced the heat and let it simmer on very low for a few hours.

Delicious! One of our favorite meals? Bean sandwiches. Sounds a little weird but it is quite good. I took some dark rye bread, a thin layer of Mayo and some cold clumpy bbq beans, topped with avo and lettuce. Pack a sandwich like this for your man and it's enough to make the other boys at school jealous.

I now have freezer bag portions of black beans, pintos, and garbonzos which are great for quick meals. As needed, I cut them out of the bag and then heat in a ceramic bowl in the microwave.

Middle Eastern Pizza
This pizza was inspired by my friend Linda and her adventures on recipezaar. I was out of tomato sauce so we made this very unpizzalike pizza for dinner. I cooked the pizza dough first, then spread it with a layer of homemade hummus. I then topped with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms, sprinkled with the red chili flakes. I de-veganized this recipe with a tiny sprinkling of goat cheese. Muy bien!

Tempeh Pizza

When I first got back to town I was craving pizza. We had just been to Portland where wonderful pizza abounds (our friends even have a few pizza restaurants). I realized I've never had good pizza in California. None of the pizza shops around here are gourmet or fresh enough for my taste. I've tried several and all the reviews I've read mention doughy, cheesey and otherwise bland pizza.

We even went out to dinner last week to try the pizza at a local brewhouse, because Andrew remembered the pizza being good. It was alright, but not great.

I asked my neighbors (who moved here from Boston) if they knew of any good pizza places. Nope. Homemade is the way to go.

Since I've been back from traveling this summer, I've been relishing my kitchen time. I love cooking. And I had forgotten: I know how to make pizza!

While home on Maui, I picked up some tempeh at the local health food store (I heart Mana Foods!). It really broke up my tofu rut. I found out that Andrew had never even tried it.

We're a mostly veggie household (pescatarian to be exact) so yummy forms of meatless protein are to be celebrated.

I was thrilled when my cousin sent me a link to a lovely blog called 101 Cookbooks. They were featuring a tempeh sandwich.

I made the TLT as featured... When I tried it I realized the way the tomatoes and the marinaded tempeh were prepared was worth remembering. Both were soooo delicious, I made a bunch extra.

And tonight we threw together a pizza with:

(Almost) whole wheat dough (TJs)
Bell peppers from the garden.
Oven roasted cherry tomatoes (yellow and red--from garden and farmer's market)
Goat Cheese (Mmmmmmmmmmm)
A sprinkling of mozarella
Tempeh that had been marinated in adobo sauce, balsamic vinegar, shoyu, maple syrup and olive oil from the Tempeh Lettuce and Tomato recipe.
parsley, basil, and oregano fresh from the garden

It was a great combo. Worth writing about even. And Andrew observed, "WOW, this is awesome sausage."

I think tempeh has become our latest household staple.

Pizza Amazing!

When I met Andrew I hardly ever ate pizza. I had overdone it with mozzarella while studying in Italy (my host family considered it a vegetarian food group). Therefore I was taking a break from cheese. But since back then my guy measured the value of his food with a ratio of calories to cost, pizza was high up there on the list (calories being considered a Very Good Thing to somebody with his metabolism). Since it was his favorite food (and relatively cheap) we ate a lot of pizza--and sigh, I grew a bit more plump.

Once we become old people who tend to eat at home, we became thrilled with the frozen pizza selection (made in Italy, mind you) at our local TJ's. Though they are only about $4 each, after a few years the flavors are now tired and too familiar. So now my new favorite trick is to buy the bagged "almost whole wheat" pizza dough and make my own pizza creations.

Every pizza we have is different and pretty much just depends on what's in the fridge. Most are pretty good but a few have been incredible:

THAI CHIK'N PIZZA
(Note: this picture does not do it justice.)

It is based on a recipe with the same name I read about in Vegetarian Times Magazine. I generally have trouble sticking to any recipe and tend to stray and substitute a lot.

I have Andrew stretch the crust onto a baking sheet and then we pre-bake it a bit.

I made the pizza sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, chili paste, curry powder, some sugar, sesame oil, and a bit of fresh garlic and ginger. So spicy and good!

Then the toppings were: crimini mushrooms, Maui onion, red bell pepper, a yellow summer squash, and chopped Veggie Chik'n Strips from Trader Joe's.

I then sprinkled it with mozzarella and baked it. Once out of the oven, I put a slice of avocado on each piece and topped it with a faint drizzle of sweet chili sauce.

Onolicious! I will certainly be repeating this Asian Fusion creation (in some variation). Who would have thought peanut butter and pizza were a good combo? My favorite Italian word works here: Incredibile! In-cred-DEE-bee--lay!