February 3, 2010

emily

February 3, 2010 - .  

oatmeal with almond extract, dried cranberries, diced bartlett pear, slivered almonds, and agave

whole wheat pita, the mediterranean chef‘s grandma’s humus (this is hands down the best hummus i’ve ever had! on their website they call it “the best humus ever” and it’s totally true. it’s something about the spice blend and i can’t figure out exactly what makes it so good–unfortunately, since it’s $5 for a 9-oz container at central market. i want to figure out what makes it sooo good so i can recreate it myself for cheaper!), pitted kalamata olives from central market’s olive bar, baby carrots

house coffee at bennu; mareblu naturals trail mix crunch; dried mango

a peanut-ginger-sesame cookie from mi madre, who got the recipe out of veganomicon. marcy, i think you would love these cookies. thanks mom!

leftover okra from the ethiopian meal, reheated on the stove with crumbled tempeh; kale and plantain, steamed and then lightly pan-fried in olive oil, sea salt, and browned garlic

a bunch more sesame cookies; republic of tea chocolate pecan red tea

marcy

February 3, 2010 - .  

breakfast: english muffin with earth balance and honey. oj.

lunch: last of the bean/green/tofu thing with brown rice

kim’s magic pop, chocolate

dinner: curry stew. the stew aspect of it was sort of an accident, but i still think it turned out pretty well. i’ll see if i can remember all of the ingredients…

Click for the recipe.

entree

  • grated ginger
  • mustard seeds
  • curry leaves
  • cumin seeds
  • ground cumin
  • coriander
  • turmeric
  • chili flakes
  • onion, diced
  • sweet potato, diced
  • eggplant, diced
  • tomatoes (i used fresh because i had extra but i’m sure canned would be fine as well)
  • coconut milk
  • lime juice
  • cilantro

salt the eggplant and set it aside in a colander. fry the ginger, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves in oil until mustard seeds start to pop. add the diced onion and chili flakes and cover. after a minute or two, add the sweet potatoes. when onions and sweet potatoes start to soften add the eggplant and spices; when eggplant softens add the tomatoes. let this stew until the tomatoes release their water; add more water if you want. add the coconut milk and simmer for several minutes until the vegetables are fully cooked; take off the heat and add lime juice, cilantro, and salt to taste.

i also sauteed some green beans with garlic and tamari.

dessert: chocolate, kim’s magic pop, the rest of that soy ice cream. ugh.

February 2, 2010

katherine

February 2, 2010 - .  

breakfast: Cheerios with rice milk, coffee

lunch: leftover pasta with expensive tomato sauce and vegan parmesan; orange

snacks: Stonewall’s vegan Jerquee Cajun Bacon; french fries from Johnny Rockets. While they don’t list beef tallow as an ingredient under American fries on their ingredient page,

American Fries
Potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil). Disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (to promote color retention), dextrose. Product contains 0 trans fat.
Allergens: Soy

at the beginning of the page they have a “note to vegetarians” that says they feel compelled to list beef tallow as a possible ingredient because, even though it is not added as a flavor or otherwise intentionally, the fries are cooked in close proximity to meat.  But then they don’t list it as an ingredient.  Am I missing something?  I wrote an email to them to confirm their current stance.  Either way, it sounds like it is not added as a flavor, and might just sometimes result from cross-contamination with other fried foods.  I will let you know what they say in their response.  Also, useful information follows in the note about their vegan burgers and buns.

A Note for our Vegetarian Guests
At Johnny Rockets we strive to meet the needs of all of our guests. The Boca Burger patty that we use in our Streamliner is their Original V35 and is manufactured as a vegan product. Our spec hamburger buns should not contain any dairy nor other animal-derived ingredients. Our American fries also should not contain ingredients which are of animal origin and are always cooked in 100% vegetable oil. Beef tallow, or flavorings derived from animal sources, are never intentionally added during the manufacturing or cooking process. However you should be aware that, due to the proximity of the manufacturing equipment to sources of animal protein or oil from animal sources there is the slight, though extremely unlikely, possibility that traces of these unwanted products may be accidentally transferred to our American fries during their production. For this reason, and this reason only, we feel compelled to list beef tallow as a possible (however extremely unlikely) ingredient.

Please be aware that we designate a special area of the grill on which to cook only the Boca Burger, and we do everything in our power to keep the area free from other materials. We also have special color-coded turners and tongs which help to keep cross-contamination to a minimum. However, due to the limited space and tight kitchen layout at Johnny Rockets, we cannot guarantee that there will not be unintentional contact with some small amount of material from an item which is animal in nature.

dinner: pita with guacamole, lettuce, roasted pine nuts, and a bit of tomato sauce; lettuce with pine nuts and Annie’s Goddess Dressing; Dogfish Head 60-Minute IPA and Stroh’s (both vegan according to the just-revamped Barnivore (it now color codes the different booze companies by veganosity!)

dessert: Dandies marshmallows melted between two pieces of dark chocolate (like a s’more, minus the graham. I cooked the marshmallows over the stove and then added to cool chocolate. resulted in too much chocolate:marshmallow)

stacey

February 2, 2010 - .  

I don’t really remember what I ate today (at least not in any order) because I ate so much.  Here is a (partial)  list

2 clementines (not including the clemetines in my salad)

peanut butter sandwich

gingerale (free)

leftover couscous salad and baked tofu (recipe posted previously)

leftover garlic sweet potato fries

lots and lots of popcorn with nutritional yeast and braggs

a half tin of cashews

the last pumpkin spice muffin!

emily

February 2, 2010 - .  

breakfast burrito with amy’s traditional refried beans, fried potatoes, roasted tomato salsa, spinach in a mission tortilla; grapefruit

mesir wat (see previous); beer bread (see previous); dried pineapple, some of it dipped in really good, really spicy chili powder i bought at patel brothers grocery in chicago

lundberg mochi-sweetened organic rice cake

365 organic no-salt creamy peanut butter and central market organics strawberry preserves on defrosted and warmed beer bread; little gala apple

split pea soup with salsa huichol; dried mango

marcy

February 2, 2010 - .  

breakfast: english muffin with earth balance and honey. oj.

republic of tea grapefruit rooibus (another birthday present from emily, i love it em thanks)

lunch: a few bites of a salad that i then found disgusting for some reason. leftover pumpkin cake!

early dinner: amy’s samosa wrap

late dinner: leftover beans/greens/tofu (see previous post)

kim’s magic pop, ginger wasabi chocolate

1 piece of fried plantain which i actually then spit into the trash because it tasted weird and gross. too ripe this time! i officially give up on plantains.

February 1, 2010

katherine

February 1, 2010 - .  

breakfast: Cheerios with rice milk

lunch: Nutz Over Chocolate Luna bar; coffee (I was going to eat more but forgot)

snack at 7pm when I realized I was really hungry: an entire container (Earth-Balance-tub-sized) of rice crackers, followed by my stomach making crazy noises all night (try it!)

late dinner: linguine with vegan parmesan and tomato sauce that for some reason cost over $7/jar; Dogfish Head Burton Baton (vegan)

stacey

February 1, 2010 - .  

breakfast: coffee from Marvelous Market (thanks Joanna!) and tea, bagel with jelly and grapes compliments of a law firm

lunch: leftover greens and sweet potato fries. Joanna commented on the stench of my garlic fries

my demise: peanut butter sandwich cookies (almost the entire container..about 20 cookies) AND a bag of Doritos sweet spicy chips.

my redemption (aka dinner):

  

Lemon baked tofu (this recipe was very good, I wouldn’t change a thing…except I did.  I didn’t realize that I was supposed to use 2 blocks of tofu instead of 1.  Basically, I doubled the marinade) with Israeli couscous salad Click for the recipe.

saladfor the couscous:

1 cup Israeli couscous cooked in 2 cups water.  I was impatient so I let the water boil and took the cover off until all of the water was absorbed/evaporated.  Normally I would simmer with the cover on until the water is absorbed.  Both ways seem to work

for the salad:

I had leftover mustard greens which I chopped up and used in place of lettuce

1 tomato diced (I only had 1 tomato)

1 red pepper diced

about 6 scallions chopped

a bunch of clementines
I didn’t have any red onion, but it could use one

It could also have used some parsley

dressing:

juice of a few clementines

a few cloves of garlic minced

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

whisk everything together. the dressing wasn’t great. I am not good at making dressings.  there was also too much dressing for the amount of food I have

I mixed the couscous, salad and dressing together and placed the baked tofu on top.

Here is a picture of my dinner. Although Zack gave me his old digital camera I didn’t have any charged batteries so I used my camera phone.  Sorry they’re a little blurry.

emily

February 1, 2010 - .  

grapefruit; spelt blueberry muffin from freezer; twining’s sunset rose rooibos tea

tiny gala apple and 365 organics creamy peanut butter

hide bread with horseradish hummus and spinach (see previous posts); warmed applesauce

leftover mesir wat (i’m going to be eating this for days) with a little avocado on top; beer bread from the freezer; steamed kale with sea salt; heirloom navel orange. the mesir wat developed a thicker texture and more complex flavor in the fridge overnight and turned out pretty delicious, so i’m going to include the recipe here

entreefirst, the berbere spice blend:

  • 1 tsp cumin seed
  • 1/2 tsp fenugreek
  • 4 cloves
  • 1/2 tsp peppercorns
  • 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ginger powder
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1.5 oz dried new mexico chiles, seeded/stemmed OR 1.5 tbsp paprika + 2.5 tsp red pepper flakes (i used the latter)

toast the whole spices until fragrant, let cool 5 mins, and grind in spice/coffee bean grinder (along with new mexico chiles if using). mix in remaining.

the whole spice blend will be used in this recipe for 8-12 people:

  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, minced
  • 2 tsp garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp ginger, minced
  • spice blend (about 4 tbsp)
  • 4 c red lentils, rinsed
  • 12 c water (less if serving immediately, because it won’t have time to get un-soupy)
  • 3 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste

saute onion in oil until translucent. add garlic, ginger, saute 1 min. add berbere, stir. onions should be beginning to caramelize. add remaining, bring to boil, then simmer, uncovered, until lentils are soft and desired consistency is reached (longer for thicker).

ibarra mexican hot chocolate (found in the mexican dessert aisle at fiesta) prepared with water instead of milk. it wasn’t very creamy but for some reason the idea of using soy milk did not appeal to me (especially our homemade soy milk which is pretty grainy and not very creamy). i might try using almond milk or rice milk in the future, but the water version is still delicious.

marcy – birthday edition!

February 1, 2010 - .  

breakfast: english muffin (i forget what brand, i’ll post that sometime when i’m home) with earth balance and honey. oj.

lunch: leftover bean/green/tofu (see previous post) with brown rice

apple with tj’s peanut butter (i think trader joes has my favorite peanut butter–it doesn’t have weird ingredients but if you stir it up before you put it in the fridge it stays pretty emulsified. i wish it came in larger containers though, i always feel guilty because i eat so much peanut butter)

then came an amazing birthday package from emily! i was able to try kim’s magic pop (so good! it has just a hint of the taste of burnt marshmallow in the best sense. i guess i wasn’t paying good attention to previous posts because i was still under the impression that this was a soda product) and also some wasabi-ginger 55% chocolate from vosages.

birthday potluck: i made pumpkin spice cake with chocolate ganache (i believe emily’s given the recipe for the ganache and i’ll update this post with the cake recipe at some point), and also roasted some brussel sprouts

Click for the recipe.

vegetable

  • brussel sprouts
  • minced garlic
  • an onion, cut into 12 pieces
  • almonds (i soaked them for an hour beforehand so they wouldn’t burn in the oven)
  • olive oil
  • s/p
  • fresh lemon juice

toss everything except the lemon juice in the olive oil and roast at 350, shaking things around once in a while. add the lemon juice after it comes out of the oven.

also present at the potluck: mushroom/cranberry/walnut/cous cous filled acorn squash, vegan mac n cheese (this was awesome, i’ll have to get the recipe), and a vegan mocha cheesecake (same)

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