SAVORING the MOMENT

Peculiar Produce

2007-03-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a reprint from last year, by special request. It utilizes a fruit and a vegetable most abundant this time of year. Use an extra special olive oil for best results. There are many small-production organic brands to choose from. They cost more than the olive oil you're used to cooking with, but the flavor and high-quality monounsaturated fatty acids make them well worth the splurge. Keep a bottle on hand for raw uses, such as the one described here.

Over the years, I have learned to cook many strange fruits and vegetables. Strange to me, that is. In some parts of the world, such things as starfruit and lotus root are perfectly ordinary.

Anyhow, being a rather fanatical foodie, I'm interested in all members of the vegetable kingdom and forage for the unusual at my favorite produce market. It has expanded my culinary horizons to invite peculiar produce into my kitchen and see what I can make of it.

My inspiration might come from cookbooks, TV chefs, the Internet, or restaurant meals I have relished. My experiments aren't always successful, but sometimes they're stellar. Case in point: blood orange and fresh fennel salad. I've been enjoying it for years, since I ate a mind-blowing version one Spring afternoon at the birthplace of "California cuisine," Berkeley's Chez Panisse, which is now an all-organic (though not all-vegetarian) restaurant. [Speaking of splurges, this one is a must for serious foodies.]

The dish is based on very simple Mediterranean flavors and is light and refreshing, yet somehow deeply satisfying. I use an Asian mandoline to slice the fennel very thinly. It is made out of hard plastic and comes with various metal blades for cutting different shapes. If you don't have such a tool, simply use a sharp knife and slice the fennel as thinly as you can.

If you can't find blood oranges, you can use tangerines or naval oranges instead. The salad will still be very, very good to eat. The one shown here includes no onion-y flavor note, but you can snip on some chives or sprinkle on some minced shallots, if you so desire. Sometimes I arrange a handful of Nicoise olives on the plate, as Chez Panisse did, which provides another delicious layer of flavor. Some shavings of Parmesan or a bit of crumbled blue or feta cheese are other great additions. Play around and see what you like.

Here is the process:

1. Trim off the base of a fennel bulb and discard the outer layer, which is usually discolored and rather tough. At the other end, trim off the leafy stalks. Using a mandoline or a very sharp knife, slice the remaining bulb crosswise into very thin shreds. Make a bed of the fennel on a large serving plate or platter.

2. Slice off both ends of 2 or 3 (depending on their size) blood oranges . Using a very sharp paring knife, cut off the peel of the oranges, along with the white layer and the membrane that covers the orange segments. Slice the blood oranges into about 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange them in concentric circles atop the bed of fennel.

3. Sprinkle on a bit of salt and grind on some black pepper. Drizzle a really good olive oil evenly over the oranges and fennel. You don't want a big puddle of it on the plate, but don't skimp.

4. Scatter some whole leaves of flat-leaf parsley over the salad and serve at room temperature.

Ramen Revisited

2007-03-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

I go way back with ramen, those dried noodles sold in little celophane packages in every supermarket in the world (it seems). When I was about 11, my mom started taking occasional nights off from the bother of cooking for her less than appreciative husband and three kids, and told us to make ramen for dinner.

So I'd boil some water, drop in the noodles and the contents of the "flavor packet," and wait for everything to be done, about 4 minutes. It was easy, it was quick, and it was pretty darn tasty to my as yet undiscriminating taste buds.

We'd serve Mom a steaming bowl and then sit down to slurp our own, and all was well

Today I don't want to go anywhere near that little foil packet of chemicals. I avoid MSG whenever possible and am suspicious of any flavors that don't come from recognizable foods. But the noodle part I still love.

Give me pasta for lunch or dinner any day of the week -- actually I limit myself to only a few pasta-based meals per week from sheer force of will. I love Italian pasta (pesto or pomodoro or con funghi or a dozen other sauces), Thai pasta (pad thai), and Chinese pasta (chow mein). Then there's Vietnamese pasta (pho), steaming bowls of rice noodles served in fragrant broth with any combination of yummy morsels on top.

Beef pho is traditional, but I am lucky enough to live in the vicinity of a restaurant run by Vietnamese Buddhists who serve up incredible rice noodle bowls and dozens of other traditional foods, sans the meat.

I still eat ramen, too, dried Chinese egg noodles I cook in vegetable broth with my favorite Asian ingredients. Today it was tofu, broccoli, thinly sliced onions, fresh shiitake mushrooms, and lots of grated ginger. Spiked with soy sauce and sprinkled with togarashi -- a Japanese table condiment made of ground peppers, sesame seeds, and sea vegetables -- it's a delicious and nutritious meal in a bowl.

I keep organic Asian noodles in the pantry these days, buckwheat and rice varieties as well as wheat, and enjoy my ramen nights even more now that I did as a kid. Wish mom was still around to share them.

Blessings and bon appetit!

vegetarian food cooking ramen shiitake mushrooms togarashi

More Vegan Apps

2007-03-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Do you feel stuck when it comes to vegan appetizers, perhaps because your parents' coffee table was always laden with cheese and crackers and clam dip and chips whenever guests arrived?

Well, there are a LOT of yummy spreads to serve with raw veggies and bread/chips/crackers to start a vegan dinner party with panache. For instance:

#1. Most everybody loves hummus. I like to lighten and liven up the classic version by adding well steamed carrots to the food processor along with the garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, parsley, and salt. A little cumin and cayenne are always welcome, too.

#2. Dried tomatoes in a jar are delicious mushed up with garlic and green herbs. Parsley works fine, but I love using mint, rosemary and a small amount of chile flakes. The result is a little bit tangy, a little bit sweet, and a little bit spicy.

Serve the two together for a nice color and flavor contrast.

You may come to love these two spreads so much that now and then graduate from appetizer status to become lunch or dinner unto themselves.

Blessings and bon appetit!

vegetarian food cooking hummus
dried tomatoes vegan appetizers

Pear Pinwheel Salad

2007-01-13T23:35:00.000-08:00

Here is my idea of the perfect winter salad. It is somehow light and substantial all at the same time, and provides a mostly raw experience without being too cooling to the system.

Although the blue cheese isn't essential (vegans, take note), it adds a creamy and tangy note that I find delicious. The dressing I recommend is made of apple juice, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Here are basic proportions for a few servings:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple juice
2 teaspoons dijon mustards
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
scant salt and pepper

The salad ingredients could vary somewhat, but I highly recommend this exact combination.

Start with a bed of spinach, add some shredded red cabbage and cooked brown rice. Slice a perfectly ripe pear and toss with a little lemon juice, then arrange some slices in a pinwheel design on each salad. Add a few raw or roasted walnuts and a sprinkling of a creamy blue cheese. Drizzle on the dressing and enjoy.

It's a simple and scrumptious lunch for you and a friend.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking salad tacos

spinach blue cheese

A smoothie boost

2007-01-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

It might seem counter-intuitive to have a cold and creamy beverage on a cold winter day, but in fact it makes some sense. A smoothie, as it happens, is a great medium for lots of "boosters," ingredients that have special nutritive powers.

Pictured here is a four-fruit smoothie. The base is equal parts grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed is best) and plain yogurt. This went in the blender, to which I added a cut-up apple (unpeeled if organically grown; the skin carries fiber and vitamins), a banana (peeled, of course), and a cup of frozen raspberries.

Now come the boosters. I sprinkled in a teaspoon of vitamin C crystals (powdered ascorbic acid) and a couple of tablespoons of ground flax seed (for its fiber and omega-3s). Then I added 2 ounces of aloe vera juice (soothing for the digestive tract) and squirted in some echinacea tincture (legendary immune booster). The latter tastes very bitter on its own, but is perfectly palatable in the smoothie context.

Those are apple wedges on the rim of the glass, BTW, but lemon or orange also make nice garnishes, and/or a sprig of fresh mint.

Drink nice and cold, if that appeals, or pour it into tall glasses and let it sit around for a while. Let it come to room temperature and it won't chill you to the bones. Mother Nature will take care of that!

There you have it, a very simple and immune-boosting breakfast or lunch.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking smoothie tacos

aloe vera flax

5-Minute Tacos

2007-01-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of the slow food movement? Some folks in Italy started it several years ago to promote the idea that eating and cooking should be honored as meaningful traditions to be savored and celebrated. It's the polar opposite of the fast food mentality.

I'm a slow foodie, for sure. Yet sometimes the clock gets in the way. Some days, that slippery eel called time wiggles out of my control and suddenly I've got maybe half an hour to eat, brush my teeth, and get out of the house for a meeting or movie or poetry reading at the local bookstore.

These tacos are for just such occasions. They're also great for when we're just plain famished and want some wholesome food in our stomachs as soon as possible.

Here's how:

1) Heat a dab of oil in a small pan. Add a few shreds of finely chopped onion and mushroom and cook for 2 minutes over medium-high heat.
2) Now add half a can of your favorite veggie chili (or 3/4 cup of cooked beans and a teaspoon of taco seasoning), a handful of baby spinach leaves, and a drizzle of water.
3) Keep the heat medium-high and let it bubble for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring every so often, while you heat up a couple of corn tortillas, which I generally do by laying them one at a time on the grill of a gas burner on my stovetop, turning 3 or 4 times as they warm and puff up slightly.
4) Fill the tortillas with the bean mixture and add some salsa and cheese, if desired.

You've cooked a meal in no time flat, now slow down and enjoy it. Yes, breathe between bites and really taste what you're eating.

Buddhist philosophers like Thich Nhat Hahn would call this mindful eating. If we're present for each moment, our minds focused on the sensory information contained in the here and now, we can experience true peace and pleasure.

And that's the best thing about being a slow foodie.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking slow food tacos

Thich Nhat Hahn

Satisfying sukiyaki

2007-01-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

I adore Japanese food. The flavors are light and simple, the ingredients wholesome and fresh, and the presentation at restaurants quite lovely.

The Japanese have made cooking an artistic and even spiritual pursuit, and I feel deeply nourished by the aesthetics of a Japanese meal as well as by the food itself.

Sadly, I know many vegetarians who steer clear of this particular ethnic cuisine, thinking it is all about fish or meat. In fact, there are lots of vegetarian options on Japanese menus, and I've found restaurants that will happily make substitutions or honor special requests.

In the home kitchen, many traditional Japanese dishes can be adapted to the meatless diet. Sukiyaki is one example. The vegetarian version might not pass muster with a Samurai chef, but it's delicious just the same.

Sukiyaki is traditionally made with thin slices of beef, but tofu makes a great substitute. The only other ingredients are veggies, broth, and a few Asian seasonings. Oh, and brown rice as accompaniment, so be sure to cook up a batch.

I'm lucky to have a huge Asian grocery store in my neighborhood, where I frequently shop for shiitake mushrooms, tofu in an amazing array of forms, Asian vegetables like choy sum and diakon radish, and all manner of condiments. For this recipe, the specialty ingredients you'll need are mirin, a sweetish rice wine, soy sauce, and dark (roasted) sesame oil. Fresh ginger is a nice addition, but not essential.

The preparation couldn't be simpler.

1. Begin by heating a little dark sesame oil in a saute pan, than add thinly sliced vegetables of your choice. For this version I used onion, carrot, and yellow bell pepper. Add a pinch of salt and saute for a few moments, just to start sweating the vegetables.
2. Add a couple of cups of vegetable stock and freshly grated ginger to taste, plus a slosh of soy sauce and mirin. (The traditional recipe calls rice wine and sugar, so if you can find sake but not mirin, you're in business. Go very light on the sugar though, for best results.)
3. Add slabs of tofu, which should be submerged in the broth, and add a layer of coarsely chopped or sliced shiitake or oyster mushrooms, cover, and simmer for 5 or 6 minutes.
4. Pile on your favorite leafy greens. I like spinach or the aforementioned choy sum. Bok choy and mustard greens are other good choices. Cover and simmer another few minutes.
5. Ladel over brown rice in a bowl, garnishing with chopped cilantro and/or togarashi, if you wish. (Togarashi is a combination of sesame seeds, chile flakes, sometimes seaweed, and other seasonings served as a table condiment with soups and other dishes. Highly recommended if you can find it.)

That's it, a quick and simple and light and lovely ode to Japan.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking sukiyaki tofu

togarashi

Broccoli rabe

2007-01-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

I'm welcoming 2007 with lots of healthy cooking, including soups, sautes, grains, and greens. In my part of the world, the weekly farmers market operates year-round (except in pouring rain) and these days large leafy bundles of winter greens are regular offerings.

I especially love bitter and spicy greens, and rapini, aka broccoli rabe, probably tops the list. Its mildly bitter flavor pairs well with all things Sicilian, such as olive oil, tomatoes, pasta, and black olives. In fact, this very combination of ingredients is one of my old standbys.

Rapini also makes a wonderful side dish. Simply saute some minced garlic in olive oil with a pinch of chile flakes, pile the chopped broccoli rabe on top and add a couple of tablespoons of water. Sprinkle with salt and cover the pan tightly. About 6 minutes later, the greens will have wilted into a delicious mound. A little lemon juice or vinegar creates a nice balance of bitter/spicy/sour flavors and aids in the digestion of the calcium contained in those dark green leaves.

I wish you good health and pleasure at the table all year long...

vegetarian food cooking broccoli rabe rapini

Let Them Eat Soup

2006-12-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

We're having a cold snap here in the SF Bay Area. I know it's nothing compared to what folks in other parts of the country and world are going through, but cold is cold. So the super-spouse and I decided to huddle together, watching a good movie (Who Killed The Electric Car?) and slurping a steaming, spicy soup.

Some of my blog visitors have said I eat an awful lot of soup. Yes, as a matter of fact I do. It's good for you, plus I love making it, plus it's one of my favorite things to eat. So yes, soup again, and soup almost all the time in the colder months.

And also brown rice again, because it's on my top 5 list of nutritious and versatile ingredients that are so convenient to keep on hand. I cook a pot of brown rice once a week (sometimes twice) and eat it as breakfast gruel, wrap it in chapatis with veggies and sauteed tofu for lunch, and serve it under roasted veggies with miso tahini sauce for dinner.

But today it was soup, with cooked brown rice and cabbage and cauliflower and chickpeas and tomato and coconut milk and curry powder and lots of garlic and ginger. It was so delicious and warming and nourishing and easy to digest.

And BTW, the movie IS great, and important, and infuriating. Let's all go out and buy electric or at least partially electric cars tomorrow, okay? Because if we do, the global warming problem will be taken care of and the urban air quality problem will be taken care of and the foreign war problem will be largely taken care of. And then let's all put solar panels on our roofs so we can charge our cars without burning coal or building more nuclear power plants!

Or at least let's make delicious vegetarian soups for ourselves and our loved ones, so we can all stay warm and healthy.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking vegetarian soup brown rice chickpeas

Vegan appetizers

2006-12-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

When it's party season, it's helpful to have a few festive appetizers in one's repertoire that are simple to make and never fail to please. Here are three of mine.

Carrot/Garbanzo hummus: I often make a lightened up version of hummus by steaming carrots and combining them with cooked and drained garbanzos in equal parts by volume. The other ingredients are tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, cumin, and cayenne to taste.

Dried tomato/artichoke spread: My favorite festive red spread is made by combining oil-packed dried tomatoes (well-drained) with drained artichoke bottoms (sometimes called crowns), garlic, Herbes de Provence, pepper, and salt if needed.

I generally serve these spreads together, with slices of baquette alongside, and include raw cucumber slices as a fresh and crunchy counterpoint.

Now for something more "composed" and quite suitable for an elegant meal. It serves well as an appetizer, but has a gentle sweetness so could also make a light and lovely dessert.

Start by blending tofutti (or light cream cheese for non-vegans) with enough honey or maple syrup to achieve a slightly sweet flavor. Add a good pinch of allspice and mix well. Mound small portions of this "cheese" on whole dried apricots and top each one with a walnut half. Sweet, creamy, chewy, crunchy -- these are complex in texture and really yummy. My party guests always ask for the recipe.

Holiday blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking hummus dried apricots vegan appetizers

Come to umami (shiitakes again)

2006-11-30T16:01:00.000-08:00

I probably wouldn’t be such a wild mushroom fanatic if it wasn’t for my good friend called Anna Morel. A biologist by training, she became interested in mushrooms a couple of decades ago and has been an avid forager ever since. At (somewhat) regular intervals, my fridge is replenished with freshly-plucked chanterelles, boletes, maitake, morels, and other delicious and health-enhancing forest fungi.

Many wild mushrooms have healing powers, but lots of people I know never eat them. Perhaps the fact that some species can kill you scares them off. They prefer to stick with those pale but exceedingly safe supermarket buttons, which are not without merit but can’t hold a candle to their intensely flavored country cousins.

Even if you don’t have a mushroom expert in your life, you can enjoy the exotic flavor and immune-boosting qualities of fungi by eating shiitake mushrooms often. The shiitakes we find in urban markets these days are domesticated specimens, not picked in the wild, but they’re potent nonetheless. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, by all means buy a shiitake-inoculated log sometime and grow your own. It’s a very cool science project if you have kids in the house.

The photo is of one of many Asian style sautes I've made recently. Simple, delicious, and beautiful to look at. Shiitakes, tofu, green beans, ginger, garlic -- and those are strips of roasted red pepper on top.

BTW,there's actually a good scientific basis for the wonderfully satisfying taste of shiitakes. They naturally contain two nutritive compounds, called glutamate and guanylate, that provide an intense umami flavor.

That is not a typo. Umami is the fifth taste, dontcha know. Our tongues are not restricted to tasting sweet, sour, salty, and bitter – as was believed for hundreds of years. We can also distinctly detect when a food is deeply savory, and that taste was named “umami” by one of the Japanese scientists who made this discovery.

Other umami foods include Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, certain shellfish, green tea, sweet potatoes, and soy. Monosodium glutamate is an umami-enhancing condiment, but because of its high concentration of the glutamate, many health experts consider it harmful.

Live long and prosper. Eat your (wild) mushrooms!
vegetarian food cooking umami shiitake mushrooms

Un-Turkey Stock

2006-11-24T23:36:00.000-08:00

This morning, I knew that all over the country, people were tossing turkey carcasses into stockpots, along with some aromatic veggies, to make a batch of stock for leftover-turkey soup. I watched my mother do it every day-after-Thanksgiving during my childhood, and used to do it myself.

Today I had no turkey carcass, of course, but I wanted soup. So the super-spouse and I cut up some potatoes and carrots and celery and onions and put them all together in a big pot. We added some shiitake and chantarelle mushrooms, chard leaves and stems, garlic cloves. Seasonings included allspice berries, fresh rosemary sprigs, peppercorns, and half a lemon.

All this was submerged in lots of filtered water, then brought to a boil. I turned down the heat and simmered the lot for about 45 minutes, then strained out the veggies, pressing out as much liquid as I could. The yield of our minimal labors: a few quarts of this deliciously rich and beautifully brown stock, some of which is stowed away in the freezer for future use.

For tonight's healthy and warming repast, I put some of the stock in a saucepan, added cooked brown rice and cubes of tofu, and simmered for a few minutes. Just before serving, I added 2 sheets of nori seaweed snipped into little squares and a tablespoon of miso diluted with a bit of water. That's coarsely ground cayenne pepper sprinkled on top.

Said super-spouse and I found this humble Japanese country soup as satisfying as any meat- and noodle-laden concoction our mamas might have made.

Now it's official, you know. The holiday season has begun. I vow to not go crazy with it all, to keep my life and my cooking simple and wholesome. Unless I consciously decide to go crazy and cook something truly extravagant now and then. Which is likely.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking seaweed soup vegetable stock

"Big Night" Thanksgiving

2006-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

We've all been thinking about Thanksgiving, haven't we? -- pondering how to make a very special meal without succumbing to the national passion for roasting birds. Among the vegetarian cooks I know, hosting Thanksgiving dinner is an enjoyable challenge. It's a great time to pull out those complex recipes we've always wanted to try and pull off a fabulous non-traditional feast that will impress even die-hard carnivore uncle Hank (or aunt Louise or brother Bill -- doesn't every family have at least one member for whom meat is a must?).

I've been known to make autumn vegetable "lasagna" on Thanksgiving, using thin layers of polenta in place of noodles. One year I made a lovely veggie-filled roulade from Anna Thomas's classic, The Vegetarian Epicure. Anything labor-intensive, even downright difficult, will do.

This year I'm contemplating making my first giant timbale. I've made small ones in the past (a corn timbale with blackberry sauce comes to mind) but never the big Sicilian pasta-filled pastry traditionally stuffed with meatballs and diced salami and veggies, all bound together in a rich bechamel sauce before being wrapped in a piece of pastry dough and shoved in the oven. I'm thinking a vegetarian version could be very nice, with artichoke hearts, cubes of roasted eggplant, green beans, cauliflower, dried tomatoes, baby mozzarella balls, etc. Just thinking about it puts me in the cooking mood.

If you're having a hard time picturing such a thing, you must rent the movie Big Night, which is one of the best food movies ever made. The little photo (which I borrowed from lex culinaria) will give you the idea -- keep in mind that that beehive-shaped thing is the size of a large inverted salad bowl.

On the side, a spinach salad with dried cranberries, maybe, and toasted walnuts, and pears or persimmons -- like the one I made last night. It's wearing honey mustard vinaigrette. And I'll serve pumpkin pie for dessert. That's one part of the all-American menu I always include, because I love it so, but maybe for a little twist I'll make cinnamon and orange zest-laced whipped cream to go on top.

In my mind's eye, it's a beautiful spread and delicious repast. HOWEVER, let's not lose perspective during this time of feasting. Eating very simply when the rest of the country is gorging would be a fine Thanksgiving tradition. We could even try not eating at all -- taking a healthy break from our patterns of over-consumption.

Whatever we eat or don't eat this Thanksgiving, let's take a long moment to really be quiet and consider how interdependent we are with all the plants and animals (including, of course, people) that share this planet. Are we not blessed to have plenty of nourishment in our lives -- especially that heart food called love?

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking vegetarian Thanksgiving timbale spinach salad

Frozen curd

2006-11-11T10:40:00.000-08:00

Almost always, I have a package of tofu in my freezer -- never opened, just as it came from the store. That's because I love what happens to it when it's been frozen and then thawed. What was once a lump of smooth and succulent soybean curd becomes chewy and spongelike. Can you see the difference in the photo? And even more so than with fresh tofu, it soaks up flavorings and adds a very satisfying texture to a saute or soup.

There's nothing to it, really! Take the package out of the freezer and let it stand at room temperature for a few hours before you plan to use it. Then remove it from its packaging and very gently squeeze it over the sink to remove most of the water. Then dice or cut into thin strips and use anywhere you'd use regular tofu.

This time out, I sauteed some onion and oyster mushrooms in roasted sesame oil with strips of thawed bean curd, splashed in some soy sauce, then added garlic and ginger. Sauteed for a time, adding water as needed to keep the mixture barely moist. When the mushrooms were almost done, I added some cooked brown rice and cilantro (at which point I took the accompanying pic), then piled on some chopped choy sum, which is a close relative to bok choy, the more common Chinese green. Put on a lid and let cook for another 5 minutes or so. Delicious!

If you're a vegetarian and eat a lot of tofu, as I do, variations on the bean curd theme are always welcome. I encourage you to try the frozen/thawed version, if you haven't already. It may open up a new window of inspiration.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking frozen tofu bean curd oyster mushrooms

Working late

2006-11-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

In the writing and editing business, deadlines rule the day (and week and month...). Though I most enjoy lingering with loved ones over a long, luxurious supper, many times I make due with a quick and simple one-dish wonder and then go back to work.

And then there are times when I don't even stop working to eat.

Last night was such a night. I knew I needed to work another couple of hours on the editing job at hand, but my energy was slipping and I knew I couldn't put off eating that long. Frozen gyoza to the rescue! I have made gyoza -- the Japanese version of potstickers -- from scratch, and they're the most delicious little morsels. But of course that is a labor of love, not to be undertaken when other love-labors are pressing.

Luckily, I live just a few blocks from a massive Asian grocery store that stocks many different varieties of gyoza in the freezer case. Pork and chicken and shrimp are most popular, apparently, but they also sell varieties filled with mushroom and spinach and chives and tofu. Trader Joe's sells a perfectly good vegetable gyoza, in case you don't have an Asian market nearby.

For an added flavor kick, make up a little dipping sauce to go alongside. Mine starts with equal parts tamari soy sauce, rice vinegar, and the Japanese rice wine called mirin. Then I add about a teaspoon of roasted sesame oil and a short squirt of that bright red Asian chili sauce. It's a quick and really delicious condiment.

I love those same Asian flavors in salad, too, so I tossed together some shredded red cabbage, thin coins of carrot, red onion bits, and fresh arugula. For dressing: a splash of tamari, another of rice vinegar, and a few grinds of black pepper. Scattered some toasted sesame seeds over the top, and done!

It came together in about 10 minutes and I ate it ravenously, accompanied by a tiny cup of warm rice wine. Did the trick, and good thing... I ended up working until almost midnight!

I don't recommend the latter, but I do suggest you try whatever frozen veggie gyoza you can find. It sure comes in handy when time is short. Then someday, when it isn't, maybe you'll be inspired to make your own.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking gyoza potstickers dipping sauce

Gourmet gruel?

2006-11-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

The word gruel doesn’t conjure up images of fine food for most people, and for good reason. Historically, it’s what poor people ate because they had nothing more appetizing in their cupboards. But this peasant food can be a very pleasant food if you use your culinary imagination, and it’s a great way to ground and balance ourselves during the change of seasons.

Porridge is another word for grains cooked in liquid to a thick soup consistency. Oats and wheat and corn porridges are enjoyed around the world for their hearty substance, if not their outstanding flavor. Probably buckwheat makes that list somewhere in Eastern Europe, but it’s generally an under-used grain in the U.S.

Now I love to experiment with under-used foodstuffs. So in honor of the change of weather in my corner of California (last night we had our first rain), here’s a buckwheat soup that just might change your ideas about porridge.

It’s a recipe from my latest cookbook-in-progress, Longevity Cuisine. For the actual recipe, and for regular postings from that project, please bookmark http://longevitycuisine.blogspot.com. For the foreseeable future, I'll be food blogging there more regularly than here.

And speaking of my other blogs, I’ve just launched a new one, where I’ll be posting regular (daily?) excerpts from a young adult fantasy novel I helped my friend Barbara Leal finish before she died a few years ago. Now it is fully edited and ready to be shared with the online world. My hope is that soon some wonderful print publisher will discover its magic and give it a home… http://tandariltree.blogspot.com.

So, see? Even though I’ve been AWOL from this site for a while, I’ve been keeping busy. Hope you enjoy my latest offerings.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Sweet and sour(kraut)

2006-10-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, I put together two seemingly disparate foods -- sweet potatoes and saurkraut -- and it worked! If you wonder why anyone would even think to try such a thing, read on.

My Dad was an Army officer and I spent my toddler-hood in Frankfurt, Germany. My brother and I ate a lot of bratwurst while we were there, often paired with pickled cabbage by our housekeeper and cook, Johanna. Later in life, I encountered the Reuben sandwich -- chock-full of corned beef and saurkraut -- at a Jewish deli and it became a favorite of mine for a few years.

Now, of course, I eat neither bratwurst nor corned beef, so how do I get my saurkraut fix? I eat it straight out of the jar, or combine it with non-meat foods. Here, I braised some slices of sweet potato in olive oil and added some saurkraut just before I hit the pan with a splash of white wine and put on the lid. Added a good bit of freshly ground pepper (using the pepper grinder my mother bought in Frankfurt and bequeathed to me), and it was good. The sweet of the tuber and the sour of the kraut made a very satisfying combination.

If I'd had a package of tempeh on hand, I'd have topped this dish with toasted tempeh cubes. A bit of a crunch would have made a nice texture contrast.

Saurkraut is a health food, you know. It delivers friendly bacteria to the digestive tract to keep things processing smoothly. It's a live food, like miso and yogurt, and a few bites can help settle a queasy stomach. Some brands are really salty, but this is easily remedies. Just rinse the kraut briefly and drain well before adding it to the dish.

Blessings and bon appetit!

vegetarian food cooking saurkraut sweet potato

Okay, okra

2006-09-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is it, the season of okra, the time when those strange-looking plants produce their strange-looking pods and we can partake of their succulence. If you are not fond of this vegetable, you really must give it another chance. There's a lot about it to love.

For instance, that slime it produces. Oh, you say that's exactly what you HATE about okra? I suggest you get hip to that stringy secretion and let it work for you. In a soup preparation, like gumbo, the okra slime is a very efficient little thickening agent. In a saute combining sliced okra with fresh corn kernels and chopped fresh tomatoes -- other harvest season specialties -- it creates a great consistency if you also throw in a handful of cornmeal to soak up the slime.

Yesterday I found beautiful okra at the market for a reasonable price. Tonight there was a decided chill in the air, so I decided on gumbo. I have heard that "gumbo" actually means "okra" in some African dialect, so naturally my culinary imagination traveled in that direction.

And yes, I mean vegetarian gumbo. If you are a true Cajun, you will think this idea very unappealing, but bear with me. Also, it's a lowfat gumbo, another strange thought if you hail from Louisiana. Of course, the key to controlling the fat is not to include meat (duh!) and to use a dry, rather than wet, roux.

Roux is the browned flour that helps thicken and flavor a pot of gumbo. Southern cooks brown the flour in lots and lots of vegetable oil until they have a dark and nasty-looking (but apparently quite tasty) sludge. I simply put a few tablespoons of regular all-purpose flour in a dry pan over medium heat and stir it around while it browns for a few minutes, turning a medium shade of tan. Simple and it really works. It adds a special depth of flavor to the broth as it -- along with the gumbo -- thickens things up.

I used tofu and garbanzos as the "meaty" elements in my gumbo tonight, and of course used the traditional file powder and Tabsaco sauce to season things up. See the photo for the aromatics (onion, celery, bell pepper, carrot) I sauteed in olive oil before adding the browned flour, file powder, and a good quantity of veggie broth. Then I put in some garlic and bay leaves and a small can of diced tomatoes, slightly drained, plus salt and pepper. Brought it to a simmer, then added the tofu cubes , garbanzos, and okra. Simmered for about 30 minutes, until everything was nice and thick and smelling really good, then added several dashes of Tabasco (you can always add more to the bowl, so if you're not big on spicy foods, be conservative).

Meanwhile, cook up a pot of brown or white rice. Put small amounts of rice in bowls and ladle on the steaming gumbo. Top with some chopped parsley or cilantro, if you like.

Apologies to those of you who have been cooking up a traditional gumbo for decades. I'm not saying this version is better than your spicy, oily, sausage- and chicken- and seafood-laden recipe. It's just different, and quite tasty in its own right. And just maybe a little better on the arteries. And I get to call it gumbo because it's all about okra.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking okra gumbo tofu gumbo

Keen on quinoa

2006-09-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

I've been eating more of the ancient Aztec grain called quinoa (keen-wah) lately, tossing it in soups, steaming it to go with stir-fries, and letting it star in salads. It makes a great alternative to brown rice, which is my long-standing whole grain of choice for various and sundry dishes.

Because the quinoa grains are so small, I finely chop up the veggies I'm combining with it -- going for a confetti effect with the shapes and colors. Then I toss it all together with a simple vinaigrette and serve it on a bed of greens. Today I added wedges of sweet and succulent just-picked garden tomatoes.

It does make for a beautiful meal, doesn't it?
vegetarian food cooking quinoa salad

Soup heals

2006-09-07T23:54:00.000-07:00

I've blogged before about my soup lust. I crave it often, for its soothing and warming and comforting goodness. And especially when cold and flu season rolls around, because soup heals.

There is something absolutely curative about a steaming bowl of homemade soup. Many mothers know this, and when the little ones get a tickle in their throats, out comes the soup pot. Chicken soup is a mainstream favorite, but vegetarians can make just as potent a concoction with nothing but vegetables, water, and a few seasonings. It really helps if you include a good quantity of love and other immune-boosting ingredients.

My neighbor LJM, of peach pie fame, has come down with a nasty chest thing and feels rotten. So I decided to cook up a pot of soup, to cure what ails her and to prevent the super-spouse and me from coming down with it.

Fortunately, I had a fridge full of GREAT veggies, so I didn't have to make a run to the store. I just chopped up some onion, celery, yellow squash, green beans, broccoli, and garlic and put them in a stockpot with a pretty good quantity of veggie broth. Added coconut milk, some homemade curry powder, and some tamari and brought her to a simmer.

That's when I added the soba noodles. I usually use rice noodles in a soup like this, for a Southeast Asian touch, or some cooked brown or basmati rice. This time I wanted the earthy goodness of buckwheat, though, and found a half package of soba in my pasta basket. Perfect!

Bear with me now. When the soup had come back to a boil, I added some white fish fillets. LJM said she needed protein and she had some fresh fish on hand that needed to be used, and so I used it. (NOTE: This soup would have been just as good, and better by some standards, without it.) Just laid the whole fillets right on top of the steaming soup, and then mounded a bunch of chopped chard on top of the fish. Put on the lid and simmered for about five minutes.

When I lifted the lid, the chard had barely wilted. I stirred it gently into the soup, and in the process the fish broke up into perfect bite-size pieces.

The final touch: lots of fresh ginger. I used my trusty microplane zester and in a flash I had added a good tablespoon or so of ginger "paste" to the soup. Another gentle stir and it was done.

It was delicious. I know the three of us are much better for having eaten it, fish and all. And I'm already looking forward to my next soup, maybe spicy lentils with cauliflower and spinach. I still have some beautiful veggies on hand.
vegetarian food cooking soba soup

Peach pie perfection

2006-09-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

Back from my summer vacation, it's time to put nose to grindstone and get back to the old routines. Well, that's not really how it feels in the cooking department. Being back in my home kitchen, with all my favorite cookware and serving ware and implements around me, feels like playtime!

And the produce in the market is so lovely right now. The best tomatoes and corn and beans and squash. Big fluffy bunches of basil so I can make up enough pesto to fill up the freezer so I can enjoy a taste of summer during the cold months.

And the fruit! OMG, the figs and berries and grapes and peaches! I could never decide which summer fruit is my favorite, but the peach is pretty near perfect. It's juicy and sweet and such a stunning color. And ephemeral. A peach can go from lovely to rotten in the matter of a few hours on a hot day. When you find a perfect peach, you must eat it immediately. I recommend standing in the yard taking big bites, with juice running down your chin, or baking succulent slices in a crust to make a pie.

My neighbor LJM did the latter recently and kindly shared it with the super-spouse and me. She used very little sugar, letting the peaches speak for themselves, and thickened the juice with a sprinkling of tapioca pearls. The pie tasted of sun and satisfied a deep hunger in us all.

It made me feel a bit wistful, though, because now I know summer is on the wane. Peach pie brings a message: Summer is passing and winter is not far off. Wake up! Savor the moment!

Not one to dwell on thoughts of the cold and the dark, though, I'm going to squeeze every dazzling drop out of summer. I'm dancing into the kitchen right now to play with my food!
vegetarian food cooking peaches pie

Retreat report

2006-08-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Marin County sits just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It is a hiker's paradise, encompassing both Mt. Tamalpais and Point Reyes National Seashore, with their hundreds of miles of trails and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

My women's group of 20 years has an annual get-together at a healing retreat center in a remote corner of Marin County. We convened there this past weekend, ten friends who know how to be present for each other without judgment or agendas. These few days a year when we gather together from our now widespread hometowns is such a delight!

We walk, frolic on the beach, meditate, swap stories, dance, sauna, sing, and do crafts together. We shed a few tears and laugh a lot. And of course we feast. My cooking contribution this year was Saturday night's meal.

My partner in the kitchen, who shall be called Lulu Coyote, shopped at her local farmers market and came bearing a cornucopia of beautiful fresh veggetables -- eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, and squash -- in many sizes, shapes, and colors.

I made a filling of saffron rice, fresh herbs, garlic, and the suateed innards of said veggies, with which we filled the scopped out vegetables before baking them. Also on the menu: roasted green beans with peppers and sweet red onions and an arugula salad with heirloom tomatoes, basil pesto vinaigrette, and toasted pine nuts. Appetizer: Carrot garbanzo hummus I'd whipped up at home, with pita chips. Dessert: A birthday cake for Felicidad -- banana yogurt "pudding" spread between layers of yellow cake, the whole thing topped with berries and fresh peach slices -- made by C & D.

The meal was a succulent celebration of summer produce -- light and luscious and lovely to behold. However, I took only one photo -- of the wild and wonderful cake --being so caught up in the present moment that I couldn't be bothered with camera duties.

I'm home now, back in the big city, missing the silence of the woods and the crash of the sea, the closeness of my sisters. No doubt about it: such getaways help me stay grounded and happy with my lot.

May you nurture such friendships and celebrate them for years to come!

Tempeh, ole!

2006-08-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

There's a lot in the press these days about the downside of soy. After years of being told by nutritionists that it's good for us, we've been hearing lately that there are adverse health effects from eating soy products regularly.

Some of the "dangers" being reported have to do with thyroid problems and estrogen-driven cancers. If you have such health challenges, you should study up and make a truly informed decision about whether or not soy is good for you.

As for me, I plan to continue eating soy foods on a regular basis until the day I die at a ripe old age. Since I've been eating tofu, tempeh, edamame, soy sauce, and miso for decades with no ill effects, I feel perfectly comfortable keeping them in my diet.

Are there any tempeh virgins out there? This firm and chewy nutty-tasting soybean "patty" has Indonesian roots and pairs deliciously with all Asian seasonings. Sometimes, though, it's fun to bend the boundaries and take it in a different ethnic direction, like I did with the taco filling pictured here. It contains lots of different vegetables and seasonings from the Mexican flavor family: oregano, chili powder, and cumin. Also has a serrano chili chopped up in it and some cooked brown rice stirred in. The dish in the background is a chunky guacamole and some hot corn tortillas are wrapped in that towel. It was a delicious and, yes, health-enhancing repast.

Tempeh is a fermented product, meaning it contains live enzymes in abundance. That's always a good thing for our digestive systems, but other soy foods have their own claims to good-health fame.

Of course, folks who don't eat meat need good lowfat sources of protein, and soy fits the bill. That's one major reason to enjoy it in abundance.

My common sense tells me that the benefits of soy way outweigh the risks. I'm no doctor, but Andrew Weil is. So if you don't want to take my advice, here's some of his:

All told, based on the evidence to date, I see no reason to worry about eating soy foods, whether fermented or not. I still recommend consuming one to two servings of soy per day, an amount equivalent to one cup of soy milk, or one half cup of tofu, soy protein (tempeh) or soy nuts. -- Andrew Weil, M.D.

You can read lots more about the joy of soy at his website.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking tempeh vegetarian tacos soy

Hooray for frisee

2006-08-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with a frilly little lettuce called frisee (pro-nounced free-zay). As a member of the chicory family, it has a decidedly bitter flavor note. And we all know bitter greens are good for us, right? They stimulate digestion and help the secretion of bile, which keeps the liver working smoothly. (Over-simplified explanation, but that's the basic story as I understand it.) Chicory also provides good doses of fiber, calcium, and iron.

I like working with the bitter greens, learning to balance their palate-bracing flavor with sweet, salty, sour, and piquant notes. The goal of such experiments is to achieve a pleasing symmetry of taste, where no one flavor predominates.

Tonight's salad was a deliciously successful combination: frisee, red cabbage, and juicy golden heirloom tomatoes. Delicious with a quick and simple fresh basil and honey vinaigrette.

Here are basic instructions for making the latter (quantities approximate):

1) Put a small handful of fresh basil leaves in your blender.
2) Add about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar, and a teaspoon of honey, along with a pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper.
3) Puree, then taste and correct the seasonings, if necessary.
4) Toss with your favorite bitter green salad mix.

I hope you'll start to play with frisee in your own kitchen.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking salad frisee chicory

Summer's essence

2006-08-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, as a matter of fact, it has been a month since my last blog. I can't believe it myself. I have a hunch, though, that there are many other bloggers like me, who somehow get extra busy in the summer and just don't find time to blog. I'm going to do better now, cross my heart.

So it's mid-August already. Cool, crisp, tart, refreshing. These are the hallmarks of my favorite summer foods -- salads, lots and lots of salads.

I eat other things, too, when the weather is warm. Corn on the cob, for instance -- briefly steamed and served plain, or with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkling of salt and ground chile, as the Mexicans enjoy it.

Also sandwiches, especially open-faced avocado sandwiches with fresh tomatoes, or with a bean spread or baba ghanoush. Or I'll saute some finely chopped fresh greens with lots of garlic, which are delicious piled on toasted baguette slices. Throw some pinnuts in with the greens and they're even better.

One particular salad combination that shows up regularly on my table is cucumbers and tomatoes, with olives and/or basil, and plenty of garlic. I keep the dressing very simply, with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice,salt, and pepper.

It tastes like the essence of summer to me. I know for sure these super-fresh foods nourish me with their vitality. Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking salad tomatoes

Sky breakfast

2006-07-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

Again, so busy doing my job as editor of a dog newspaper that I haven't had time to cook or blog. I've written before about what I cook for dinner when things get hectic (generally salads, quick soups, or "slumgullion"), but have I mentioned my quick and healthy breakfasts?

Here's one. Equal parts plain yogurt and applesauce (organic on both counts). Add a tablespoon or two of ground flaxseed and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Voila! A pretty good dose of protein and fiber, and it's yummy.

Some of my other favorite instant breakfasts:

1) Sprouted grain toast with smear of almond butter and mashed banana or thin-sliced apples or pears
2) Scrambled egg on s.g. toast with a slab of roasted red bell pepper
3) Smoothie made of lots of fruits, flax seed, vitamin C crystals, spirulina, in a base of soymilk or yogurt, or soy yogurt.
4) If I don't have time to sit down, it's often a few pieces of dried fruit (prunes, apricots) and a small handful of nuts on the run.

Doesn't it look like my breakfast this morning was floating somehow in the sky? T'wasn't. I had placed the bowl on a blue-topped table strewn with pine needles. Now I plan to eat a sky breakfast every sunny morning all summer...

Blessings and bon appetit!

When the party's over...

2006-07-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

For me, soup is such a soothing thing. So the day after too much food, wine, and activity -- after the stay-over company went home -- I made up a pot of thick, aromatic comfort food to put myself and the super-spouse back into balance. Using the "whatever's in the fridge" method of ingredient selection, I cooked a vegetarian soup. And it did the trick.

What makes soup so comforting a comfort food? It's easy to eat and digest, for one thing, because its vegetables, lentils, grains etc. are well-saturated with flavorful liquid. That's also why it always tastes so good. And it SMELLS good, too. That fragrant steam raises our enjoyment quotient.

But there's more to it than that, something mysterious that the rational mind can't compute. Maybe soup triggers a primitive genetic memory. As long as as we have the light of the cooking fire and something simmering in the pot, we're safe once again from the sabre-toothed tiger. That sort of thing. Maybe.

I only know that this soup brought us around. And then we both slept long and late and awoke refreshed. Soup and sleep: two ready and reliable restoratives.

Learn to cook a good soup and you will always be able to take care of yourself and those you love. That's it. The secret of life. What could be simpler or more natural than that?
vegetarian food cooking soup

Cooking compadres

2006-07-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

Are there certain people you love to cook with? Friends who see and smell and taste food the same way you do? Who share your passion for fresh and fabulous cuisine and can go the distance with you at the produce market and in the kitchen?

I do, and it's such a lucky thing. There is something very special for me about creating a feast with like-minded cooks and then sitting down to savor it together.

Here's what happened when Ricky and Cathy T. came to see us over the weekend. On the second day of the visit, we meandered through the Berkeley Botanical Garden, marveling at the great beauty and variety of the plant world. Then we stopped at Monterey Market so R & C could stock up on exotic veggies before heading back up to their mountaintop. They planned to get on the road immediately and make it home before dark.

But then I started wheedling. We NEVER get to cook together, I said. And you almost NEVER come to see us. And we have all this WONDERFUL food we just bought. So PLEASE stay for dinner.

And it worked. Ricky and I got busy devising a meal from the various ingredients we had just purchased, and then we cooked it, and then we feasted together and shared all our recent joys and challenges and bright ideas around the table.

Here's the menu:
1) Cappellini with arugula/parsley/almond pesto
2) Romano beans stewed with fresh corn and tomatoes
3) Ling cod with sauteed morels and shallots (for the non vegetarians on hand)
4) Zabaglione (Italian marsala-laced custard) folded into whipped cream with macerated fresh blackberries

Need I say how delicious this was? And I don't mean the food. Well, yes, I do mean the food, but even more the incredibly rare and wonderful experience of this culinary collaboration and all that flowed from it.

Find some cooking companions, or if you already have some, get together often to cultivate your friendship and your passion for beautiful, nourishing food. And remember to give thanks for the fact that you are so well fed, on so many levels.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Risotto Rules

2006-06-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's been WAY long since my last post, due to my usual excuse: "So little time, so much to do," as the Mad Hatter says.

Cooking is a refuge, and whenever I make time for it I come back into balance, right here in the present moment. And yet... some days (and weeks) I am convinced I don't have time to prepare anything more than a salad or sandwich here and there, or I survive on burritos from the local taqueria.

"Too much," sings Dave Matthews, and I know that refrain. Still, part of me believes, it's all good. Life catches me up sometimes in a cycle of activity that challenges me to be more, do more. And without those challenges, I might just stagnate.

Then there's the voice in my other ear, constantly crooning, "Peace, peace. Slow down and breathe. All else is illusion."

Does this see-saw of feelings sound familiar?

Anyway, tonight, at long last, I TOOK the time to COOK. And I had risotto on my mind -- pure comfort food for anyone who loves rice. Although I haven't made risotto for at least a year, the process was absolutely clear in my mind. If you're new to this dish, just cook it a few times and you, too, will forever have the technique.

Risotto has four essential elements: 1) Riso: A special type of medium-grain, high-starch rise. Arborio is a traditional Italian choice, available at specialty stores and regular supermarkets in my neck of the woods. 2) Brodo: The broth that you use to cook the risotto; it's added in stages as you stir the grains around to get them to release their starch, which makes the finished dish nice and creamy. I like to use homemade stock, but sometimes settle for broth powders or "boxes." 3) Soffrito: The ingredients that you saute at the beginning to add depth of flavor to the rice. 4) Condimento: The ingredients you add at the last moment to heighten the flavors and bring it all together. (More information on risotto here.)

Tonight's version included red onion and garlic, dried basil, veggie stock. I added slightly defrosted peas, baby spinach leaves, and lemon zest toward the end. (Traditionalists would also add Parmesan cheese at this stage, along with a pat of butter. Vegans wouldn't, of course.)

I roasted some asparagus spears to go along side. The roasted red bell pepper garnish was a last-minute thought, because I wanted something red to liven things up. And there you go.

Risotto is incredibly versatile, just like pasta, so feel free to combine herbs and veggies in whatever combinations appeal to you.

I appreciate more than ever that with certain classic dishes, cooking is a ritual experience, one that anchors us in real life and generates meaning. Risotto is such a dish. Try it and see if you don't agree.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking risotto asparagus

Pass the pasta

2006-06-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

All the salads I've been eating lately left me feeling hungry today for something more substantial. I was craving pasta and had some broccoli and lovely cherry tomatoes on hand. Here's what I made of them. The tomatoes plumped and burst in the pan and added a slightly sweet note, not to mention a gorgeous color contrast.

I must have been Italian in a previous lifetime, because I've also been craving polenta lately. And I've been thinking about making a bread salad (panzanella) from the rest of the Suburban Bread I told you about. All Italian dishes, of course, are just convenient ways to get plenty of garlic and olive oil onto my taste buds. And that brings me to my favorite olive oil.

I've been buying Bariani for years. The olives are grown and crushed outside of Sacramento, which makes it very much a local product, and the Bariani family actually show up at farmers markets rather than sending employees. I've had delighteful conversations with the sons and mom of the clan, who love to talk food and cooking almost as much as I do.

Once again I'm feeling very blessed to be living in the foodie paradise that is northern California.

vegetarian food cooking Bariani olive oil pasta cherry tomatoes

Salad days

2006-06-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

Last week was so busy that I didn't have time for cooking, much less blogging about cooking. So I made salads, lots and lots of salads.

Here's one: spinach, radicchio, cucumber, green onions. That jar is in the photo because I made the dressing by adding some apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper to an almost empty jar of pomegranate jelly. It's a great way to "rinse" the last bit of flavor out of the jar and adds sweet and fruity notes to the salad. Apricot and blackberry jams and orange marmalade are other preserves I've used to flavor salad dressing.

On the side: a slab of Suburban Bread generously smeared with herbed local goat cheese -- both items from The Cheeseboard, a genuine worker-owned collected in Berkeley. This is one of the very best foodie destinations in an exceedingly foodie city. Alice Waters' famous Chez Panisse, a world-class all-organic restaurant, is right across the street.

I'm hoping the coming week won't be so hectic, because I have a real cooking itch I'd like to scratch. Meanwhile...

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking Cheeseboard Collective radicchio Chez Panisse

Ice cream Sunday

2006-06-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

This was one of those spur-of-the-moment inspirations that turned out really, really well and took about 5 minutes to prepare. I discovered green tea soy ice cream at my local natural food store and brought it home. I really, really love green tea ice cream but just don't let myself indulge in frozen dairy desserts (or much dairy at all). Not just the fat, not just the cholesterol, not just the calories -- but the whole dairy/cattle industry and the havoc it wreaks on the environment and animal welfare, etc.

So I was excited to find this frozen soy dessert in my favorite flavor and thought the super-spouse and I would just sit on the patio in the evening and have a few spoonfuls.

Then out of the blue I had an idea: Why not add some other traditional Asian flavors? So I scooped the green tea soy stuff into glasses, drizzled some light coconut milk over each serving. I would have added some chopped candied ginger, but didn't have any on hand. No matter. It was delicious.

Had another brainstorm while eating the first one: adding green tea soy dream to ginger ale would make one of the best floats ever. So that's next. I like Reed's Premium Ginger Brew, by the way, which is made with real ginger and sweetened with honey and pineapple juice, not high-fructose corn syrup, which is another scourge on the planet. Also, it contains no "natural flavors," which are not natural at all. But you knew that.

So now I have some great new desserty things to serve my friends all summer.

Come to think of it, a ginger or coconut cookie (or two) would be a great companion to either the float or the sundae.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking green tea ice cream sundaes

A personal fava-rite

2006-06-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

One of the special treats of spring is fava (fah-vah) beans, yet I don't know too many people who eat them. In fact, when I stopped to fill a bag with the large, furry pods at Monterey Market, a friend of mine who is pretty food savvy blurted out in horror, "What's that?"

Well, it's part of the pea family and a very ancient vegetable. Evidence of favas has actually been found in Egyptian tombs. The plants make a great cover crop, infusing nutrients into the soil, but many farmers don't even bother harvesting them for the table.

My friends, Cathy and Rick, grow them as a cover crop but DO eat them and that's how I came to know and love them. I have fond memories of shelling huge piles of favas so we could enjoy them with soy sauce and shiso leaves as part of a Japanese feast at their lovely home in Sonoma County.

Cooks in the Mediterranean region use both fresh and dried favas, and have done so for a very long time. So long that some people of Med. descent have a genetic allergy to the vegetable and can be poisoned by the beans.

So let's recap. The fava is a funny-looking veggie that most people don't bother eating, and it can be poisonous. Oh, and did I mention it's kind of labor-intensive (more on method later)?

But here are the fava's good points: it has a buttery texture and subtle earthy flavor that is absolutely unique and delicious. It is plenty nutritious, too. (A compound in favas is the same one used in certain medications developed for Parkinson's patients. So they must be especially good for the nervous system.)

In the interests of expanding your culinary horizons, I suggest you bring home a big bag of favas the next time you're at a well-stocked produce market. Then here's what to do:

1) Remove the beans from the pithy pods, discarding the latter.
2) Drop the beans in boiling water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, depending on their size; rinse with cold water, drain, and cool.
3) When cool enough to handle, peel the beans. Yes, one at a time (this is the labor-intensive part). You'll find each pale green bean is wrapped in a touch, milky skin. Just pinch a loose area and tear to open the skin and pop out the bean.
4) Dress the beans with hot or cold sauce, or use them in pasta or risotto. They are already fully cooked and are delicate in texture, so don't add them to a dish until the last few moments of cooking time.

The favas pictured above are dressed in a lemon and fresh parsley pesto, laced with ground fennel seed. Fresh basil would also work beautifully in this kind of preparation. I added bits of roasted red bell pepper for their smoky flavor and a nice color contrast.

Hope you'll make friends soon with this somewhat odd but completely endearing veggie.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking fava beans spring vegetables

Smile and error

2006-06-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

When we're beginning cooks, we almost always work from recipes, carefully following instructions, measuring every ingredient. But as our skills and confidence grow, we want to break out of that box, to take some culinary risks, to wing it now and then. And so we become creative cooks, true artists in the kitchen.

The art of cooking is a fantastic practice, and we get to eat the results. But of course we're not always at our most brilliant. Occasionally our creative efforts fall a little bit short. This is the story of one such occasion.

Last night had to be a "whatever's in the fridge" night. There were bits and pieces of various things in there that I wanted to use up. And I thought I was up to the task. Why not make a saute using half an onion, oyster and shiitake mushrooms, kale, a bit of leftover veggie stock, and a half-can of garbanzo beans? Throw in some curry powder and freshly grated ginger, salt and pepper of course, and let it simmer a while.

So far, so good. But then I had a bad idea. The veggies were all cooked, but there was quite a bit of liquid left in the pan. I hadn't cooked any kind of starch, because I was going to serve sweet potatoes on the side. But seeing that liquid made me think of couscous, those little pearls of pasta that are sponges for any kind of liquid and cook in about 5 minutes. Sounded like a good idea at the time.

In the pantry, I found some very fine couscous. I bought it at an Indian market a while back, wanting to experiment with the tiny variety. So I sprinkled a few tablespoons into the liquid in the pan, without removing the veggies first, put the lid on, and turned off the heat. This is the usual couscous method. The couscous soaks up the liquid while the steam in the covered pan plumps up the little pearls and keeps things nice and hot.

And it worked, from a technical point of view. The couscous did it's job of soaking up the hot liquid and the hot liquid did its job of cooking the couscous. But when I took off the lid, it was "uh-oh." The couscous was so fine that when cooked it looked exactly like cream of wheat or some other "mush" coating the vegetables in clumps. Not a very pretty sight (it looks better to me in the photo than it did "live"). The flavor wasn't great, either. Somehow, the wonderful curry-infused vegetable and couscous melange I'd imagined hadn't materialized.

We ate it anyway, of course, and it was FINE. It was PASSABLE. I'm sure we got lots of good nutrients into our bodies in the process. But it wasn't a pinnacle moment in my life as a cook. The super-spouse, who almost always makes lots of yummy noises when eating the food I put before him, was silent. Today he said that, well, it wasn't quite up to my usual standards.

Another reminder that cooking is a life-long learning process, and perfection isn't possible -- or even desirable. Who needs that kind of pressure?

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tostada, o nada

2006-06-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Almost a week since my last post. Shame! But I have a good excuse. I've had a million and one non-cooking things to do. You know how life goes sometimes -- no matter how many things you get done, the to-do list keeps getting longer.

To top off the madness, I bought a new computer system while the Memorial Day sales were on and it took me a almost a week to find time to set it all up, get connected to the wireless network, etc. Now that the busyness has slowed down just a bit, I'm back in business and loving the new set-up!

In the midst of all this, my eating plan got very simple. Didn't want to further complicate my life with elaborate cooking -- too many ingredients or too many steps in a recipe would have made me feel just that much busier.

So here's an example of the kinds of meals I create when I'm super-busy, and the kind of cooking that led to my latest book, 15-Minute Vegetarian. Grab a few things out of the fridge, spend a few minutes putting them together, and get out of the kitchen -- fast.

Did you know that plain corn tortillas become deliciously crispy tostada shells when baked at about 375 degrees for 10 to 20 minutes? (Exact time will depend on your particular oven.) Lay them out in a single layer and, not touching each other, on a baking sheet(s). You can spritz them with oil if you like, they it isn't necessary. Of course, you could also deep fry the tortillas, which is the traditional way to make them crisp. Delicious but not ideal, for obvious reasons. (Okay, in case it's not obvious: not to mention more calories, frying is a trans-fatty thing to do, and trans fats are a no-no for heart health.) You can bake up a dozen tortillas and store them in a tightly closed plastic bag at room temperature for a few days.

Once the tortillas are ready, it's just a matter of spreading on some refried beans (any color, canned or homemade), then putting on any other ingredients you like. I love the sweetness of cabbage with Mexican flavors, but shredded lettuce is fine. My version, pictured, also has some feta cheese, chile sauce, and toasted pumpkin seeds. If I'd had an avocado in the house, I would have used it. Ditto tomato. Ditto radishes. Anything you like in a salad can go on a tostada.

I bet many people consider a squeeze of lime optional, but I don't. That fresh, tart flavor note brings it all together somehow.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking tostada tortilla 15-Minute Vegetarian

Curry calamity, averted

2006-06-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight I looked at everything in the fridge I wanted to use up -- partial can of diced tomatoes, same of chickpeas, half a head of cauliflower -- and came up with a curry dish. Included coconut milk (yum!) and actual flaked coconut (unsweetened), along with the usual curry spice blend (homemade) and a lot of grated fresh ginger. Salt and cayenne added. Peas rinsed and ready, cilantro chopped.

Then, uh-oh. No basmati rice in the house. Amazing oversight on my part, because I almost never run out of such staples. Plenty of brown rice and arborio, but nothing that cooks up as fast as basmati. What to do?

In the pantry, I found a package of green tea soba from Trader Joe's. Never tried it before and my review is -- pretty good. I'm more used to the taste and texture of buckwhat soba. This version includes wheat and buckwheat flours, but the predominant flavor is actually green tea when you taste the noodles on their own. And the flavor of green tea is so subtle it got lot under the spicy curried veggies. (They were sturdy and made a great holder for the sauce, so no complaints on that score.)

So next time I'll try the green tea soba with the subtle flavors of Japan, in miso soup for instance, or with a light soy/peanut sauce. Hmmm... that sounds pretty good. I think I have my inspiration for one of my weekend meals. Maybe with Pressed Tofu with Savory Seasonings from my latest cookbook.

I also have a bag of fresh fava beans in the fridge, and can't wait to do some Provencal dish with those. I think I feel a cooking binge coming on. All will be revealed in due time...

Meanwhile, blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking cauliflower curry soba

Pears... yes, again!

2006-05-31T22:08:00.002-07:00

I love pears, and I especially love pears in salad. I believe I blogged about a spinach salad with pears once already, but this one was so pretty and delicious that I just can't help myself from doing it again.

This time I made a classic vinaigrette, spiked with Dijon mustard and lemon juice. I dotted the salad with Point Reyes Original blue cheese, which is another thing I've already blogged about, but it bears repeating because it's such a wonderful cheese and such a great local company.

Our weather has been balmy and beautiful the last few days, with just enough breeze to blow out any hint of smog. It's a lovely time of year in my part of the world, and I plan to celebrate it with many, many salads. I'll be chronicling my salad days here. And I hope to be less busy soon so I can get back to regular postings...
vegetarian food cooking pears spinach salad Point Reyes Original Blue

South-of-the-border salad

2006-05-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

The taco thing got me craving my favorite Mexican-inspired salad. Just had to have it. It is so much more than ordinary: tart with lime juice, rich with avocado, crunchy with toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), and spiked with a bit of chile powder and oregano.

Toasting pumpkin seeds (the green hulled kind, not the white ones that still have the shell on) turns them into an addictive crunchy snack. A cast iron skillet is the perfect pan to use, if you have one, or any heavy-bottomed skillet. It needs to like getting very, very hot.

Put some raw green pumpkin seeds in a dry pan and crank up the heat to medium-high. As the pan heats up, you'll hear a little bit of sizzle from the seeds. Stir them or shake the pan every so often to make sure they don't get too browned. Within a couple of minutes they'll begin to pop as the air inside each seed heats up. Keep shaking the pan and toasting the seeds until they are almost all puffed up and have some nice toasty color on them. Then use them as a condiment on a salad, as shown here, or season them up with a touch of salt, some chile powder, and garlic powder and nibble away. Delicious!

Essentials for the salad include cabbage, red or green, shredded; red bell pepper bits, roasted or not; minced red onion or sliced green onions; cubes of perfect avocado. Add tomatoes if it's summer and they're irresistably ripe on the vine. Baby spinach or your favorite lettuce mix can also be added.

For the dressing: Whisk together some fresh-squeezed lime juice (or apple cider vinegar), a dash of tomato paste, pinch of chile powder, teaspoon of dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Now whisk in some olive (or flax) oil until emulsified. Drizzle dressing over salad, toss, and garnish with pumpkin seeds. For a main course, just add cooked black beans.

I know versions of this are going to be showing up a lot on my table this Spring-Summer, cuz I'm in a south-of-the-border state of mind. Alas, my Mexico travel plans have been shelved, due to a recently increased workload, but I can always dream, and eat, my way there.

Blessings and bon appetit!

vegetarian food cooking salad pepitas toasting pumpkin seeds

Taco talk

2006-05-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Warm weather makes mealtimes at my house even more casual. I don't want to be inside much when the garden is beckoning, plus my appetite decreases as the days get warmer, so my cooking gets simpler. One of my favorite simple entrees when it's beautiful outside is vegetarian tacos.

There are so many great veg fillings; really they're limited only by our imaginations. I've made winter squash and caramelized onion tacos, blue cheese and roasted red bell pepper and black bean tacos, and tofu chorrizo tacos with potato -- to name a few. I often include mushrooms in the filling because they have such depth of flavor and a satisfying texture. I usually offer shredded lettuce or cabbage as condiments, along with chopped tomatoes (only if great organic ones are available out of the garden or from the farmer's market), diced raw onion of one type or another, and whatever salsa I happen to have on hand. I almost always include avocados, cut into chunks and tossed with lime juice, as an optional addition. You could offer cheese and sour cream, too, of course. A plate of raw peeled jicama sticks, dusted with chile powder and sprinkled with lime juice, makes a wonderful crunchy "side."

Here's a really fun party idea: 1) make up several taco fillings ahead of time; 2) just before serving, warm them up and place in serving bowls on your table; 3) prep and present your condiments in festive serving dishes; 4) steam or griddle a large quantity of fresh corn tortillas (a local Hispanic grocery store is where you'll find the best tortillas); 5) pour some beer or sparkling water, or even blend up a batch of margaritas, and invite your best friends over to feast and frolic. Salsa on the CD player, por favor.

I co-authored a vegetarian Mexican cookbook several years ago, which is out of print at the moment. I keep thinking it should be revived in a new edition, because don't we all love those Latin flavors? And really innovative veg latino recipes aren't easy to find. Let me know what you think of that idea and I'll use your comments to help sell it to a publisher!

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking taco tortillas

Oil the rage...

2006-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, boutique olive oil is all the rage. In California, where the weather in many regions mimics the growing conditions of the Mediterranean, the golden elixer has become big business. I couldn't be happier, because I prefer to use foods grown near where I live. They're bound to be fresher, and it makes me happy that untold amounts of fossil fuel haven't been burned in getting them to my market.

I just returned from a long weekend in Santa Barbara, feasting and feting my wonderful ma-in-law, along with my super-spouse and his (our) sister. There were many highlights: great sights (like the living "Toad House" at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden), sounds (authentic salsa at the Saturday farmer's market), and great tastes (including a fine olive oil, also discovered at the Saturday market).

The health benefits of olive oil are due to its mono-unsaturated fatty acids, which help reduce levels of "bad" cholesterol and deliver a good dose of vitamin E, a potent antioxidant. Many nutrition experts believe that the healthy longevity enjoyed by people who eat a traditional Mediterranean diet is due, in large part, to a high consumption of extra-virgin olive oil.

I buy olive oil from small producers to give the "underdog" a bit of a boost. It's hard to compete with well-known brands, and the little guy deserves a break. Especially if his product is as yummy as the Joelle extra-virgin late harvest manzanillo oil I brought home.

If there are local olive pressers in your area, check out their products and give them your support. Your health and your conscience will be better for it...

And finally, here is the fresh chard and mascarpone omelet I was served at Stella Mare's, where the mom's day brunch crowd oohed and aahed over the beautiful fare.

Blessed again.
vegetarian food cooking olive oil Santa Barbara Joelle oil

Lavender Lemonade

2006-05-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with roses, but since my lavender's not yet in flower, I thought I'd take a shot of my favorite blooming beauties. Is there any doubt that we live in an earthly paradise?

Needless to say, the Spring weather and beautiful flowers are luring me outside, even when I should be inside, focused on my monitor and keyboard or whipping up good things to eat. I can't help myself; the garden is so lovely and I'm dreaming of al fresco meals with friends and long, lingering evenings outdoors.

The Meyer lemons are thick on the trees in my part of the world, so it's a great time to pick and squeeze them. The fresh juice can be frozen so it's available for lemonade all summer long. To me, lemonade is a nearly perfect refreshment in hot weather. I am careful to not sweeten it too much, because I like to taste those sour notes -- it adds to the cooling effect, somehow.

A couple of years ago, I decided to try making lavender lemonade. I thought the combination of flavors would be interesting. What I found out, however, is that the addition of lavender doesn't change the taste that much. Where it really makes a different is in the color of the beverage. You make the lavender tea first, which is light bronze in color, then add fresh lemon juice and sugar. And voila! It turns a really lovely shade of pink.

Here's the recipe, from my most recent book, 15-Minute Vegetarian. As you can see, it's really simple. Try to make it ahead so it can chill in the refrigerator. If you pour it over ice while it's still warm, the flavor will be pretty watered down.

LAVENDER LEMONADE

3 tablespoons (15 g) dried lavender flowers
1/4 cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons (25 g) organic granulated sugar

Put the lavender flowers in a teapot or glass or ceramic bowl and cover with 4 cups (.95 L) of boiling water. Set aside to steep for 20 minutes, then strain into a pitcher and add the lemon juice and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves, and then refrigerate. When cool, serve over ice in 4 tall glasses. You can garnish each glass with a fresh sprig of lavender if you have some growing in the garden.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking lavender lemonade lemons

Sesame Beans

2006-05-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

I use Asian foods and seasonings so often that some of my friends call my cooking style "mindyonese cuisine."

Because I loved Japanese food, I made a point of learning early on to incorporate sesame oil, rice vinegar, tamari (soy sauce), sake (rice wine), mirin (sweet rice wine), sea vegetables, wasabi (incendiary horseradish), shiitake mushrooms, and ginger into my cooking. These are just a few of the ingredients that make Japanese cuisine so special, but they gave me a good foundation to build on.

To this day, one of my favorite ways to season vegetables is Japanese-inspired and extremely simple. Broccoli, asparagus, green beans, snow peas, and all kinds of leafy greens are wonderful prepared this way.
1) Place hot veggies in a bowl.
2) Add a little sesame oil, rice vinegar or lemon juice, soy sauce, and freshly ground black pepper (include some freshly grated ginger, if you like).
3) Toss and transfer to a serving dish.
4) Garnish in some pretty fashion, like with black sesame seeds as shown above. Do as the Japanese chefs do and put some thought into the presentation.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking beans sesame Japanese cuisine

Shiitake 4ever

2006-05-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

In my research over the last several years about longevity-enhancing foods, certain kinds of mushrooms are frequently mentioned. This is because people who live in Japan, and specificallly on the Japanese island of Okanawa, have a great life expectancy and eat those mushrooms on a regular basis. Maitake, reishi, and shiitake top the list.

I don't know much about the first two, because they don't show up often in produce markets. But I keep both fresh and dried shiitake on hand most of the time. In addition to their youth-promoting reputation, their intense depth of flavor, "meaty" texture, and affinity for strong seasonings makes them terrific ingredients for the health-conscious creative cook.

Here are two short articles that explain some of the shiitake's benefits, one from the University of Wisconsin and one from Whole Foods . Add shiitake mushrooms to your diet and be well for a long time to come. Organically grown shiitakes are readily available (at least in California) and you can even grow them in your back yard or kitchen, on a specially inoculated log.

Tonight I used shiitakes in the simplest of dishes. Over medium heat, I lightly sauteed some finely diced tofu with sliced fresh shiitake in a touch of roasted sesame oil for a couple of minutes, then added a thinly sliced clove of garlic, a sprinkle of tamari, and some curry powder and sauteed for a couple of minutes longer. I then added about 1/4 cup of water and covered the pan. When it started to sizzle, I knew the water was almost gone and removed the lid, added some pre-steamed baby string beans, and gently stirred until the pan was pretty much dry. After transferring the mixture to a serving dish, I squeezed on a little fresh lime juice and added some strips of roasted red bell pepper. And it was good.

vegetarian food cooking lentils tofu shiitake longevity

Martha popcorn

2006-05-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

I found my camera (it was hiding in plain sight on the backseat of my car) and now that I'm back in full photograph mode my new post is about... ta-da... popcorn??! Okay, so popcorn is not exactly a beautiful food, inspiring to food stylists and photographers around the globe. It is kind of cute, though, and it is one of the things the super-spouse is great at making. And we got home late from a day in Sacramento. So popcorn it is.

The super-spouse is named Tad, not Martha. His recipe is called Martha's popcorn because he learned from the queen of all TV homemakers that you can make almost-instant popcorn using nothing more than popcorn kernels, a brown paper bag, and a microwave oven. Then you season it up however you like. So who needs that microwave popcorn from the video store or supermarket -- adulterated with artificial flavors, trans-fats, and other bad stuff?

Does the mention of a microwave oven give you the willies? I own one but never cook anything in it, because it's no fun to stick some food in a closed box and wait for it to get hot. That's not what I call cooking. I like to see and smell what's in the pot, and stir and taste and generally get all involved with it. Plus I have some concerns about nutrient loss caused by microwaves.

I've read up on the subject and the radiation doesn't scare me, any more than the electromagnetic field emitted by any other of my household appliances. I know a lot of health-conscious people don't like 'em, but they're not on my personal list of major bugaboos. There is one important thing to keep in mind: There may be health consequences associated with using plastics in the microwave, including styrofoam and plastic wrap. For more on that subject, read this. Despite the title, the guy does say some chemical transfer from plastic to food can occur in the microwave.

In any case, my microwave oven gets used pretty much only for instant reheating in a pinch, like when the aforementioned spouse is running late for work and wants hot coffee to go. And he uses it to make Martha's popcorn about once a week.

What make's Martha's popcorn really yummy doesn't have anything to do with the woman it's named after. The seasoning inspiration is all Tad's. Here's what he does:

1) Pour 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels into a medium-sized paper bag; 2) Fold the bag closed and microwave for 2.5 minutes; 3) Transfer popped corn to a LARGE bowl so there's plenty of room for mixing; 4) Squirt or drizzle the corn with flax oil (take it easy, it's pretty strong-tasting stuff; olive oil is also a good choice); 5) Sprinkle on a liberal amount of granulated garlic and nutritional yeast flakes, and a small amount of salt; 6) In his wilder moments, he also adds some crushed dried oregano; 7) Toss well and eat with gusto using your preferred method -- one kernel at a time, a dainty few, or by the massive handful.

Does this sound delicious to you, or just plain weird? Well, it may be the latter, but it is DEFINITELY the former. And if you put it in a pretty bowl, it's even kind of photogenic.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian food cooking microwave popcorn flax oil nutritional yeast

World's healthiest foods?

2006-05-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Health Magazine announced its list of the 5 healthiest foods in the world. I'm here to tell you that avocados, blueberries, walnuts, oatmeal, and garlic (some of my personal faves) aren't on it, nor are broccoli, green tea, or brown rice. Each of these foods has its advocates, and most nutritionists would agree that they're all good things to include in our diets on a regular basis. They're just not the healthy foods Health Magazine picked.

Curious about what did make the cut? Here you go: 1) olive oil; 2) soy; 3) lentils; 4) yogurt; and 5) kimchee (Korea's pickled spicy cabbage). You can read the article here to find out why.

I approved of the list because is validated my existence -- or at least my food choices. I happened to have every one of the listed foods on hand. Yes, even the kimchee.

A huge Asian market four blocks from my house carries an organic brand that's less expensive than anything I've found at the natural grocery stores. I like to keep kimchee on hand as a condiment for Indian and Southeast Asian meals, or just to snack on. No kidding, right out of the jar--sometimes it hits the spot like you wouldn't believe.

If you don't have access to or a taste for kimchee, you could eat naturally fermented saurkraut or dill pickles for the same benefit, which is plenty of live bacteria in your digestive tract -- the good kind, of course.

As I said, I liked Health Magazine's picks, but we all have our own opinions on the subject. I've been wondering what ordinary health-conscious people like you and me would put on our own personal top-5 lists.

If you'd like to share your picks, with or without explanation, leave me a comment or email me at cookwell2@aol.com. I'll post what you send me in the next week or so...
vegetarian food cooking lentils kimchee olive oil soy yogurt

No more Cool Whip

2006-05-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

Plastic food, that which comes from a laboratory instead of a garden (or kitchen), is a sad and stupid fact of life. Supermarkets are full of the stuff. It's all technically edible but it certainly isn't what Mother Nature intended, and it doesn't nurture our health and well-being.

When the convenience craze made real whipped cream seem labor-intensive, some clever person who had no taste whatsoever decided that a new white dessert topping made of cheap chemicals could really capitalize on the trend. And, oh, did it ever! I have no idea how much Cool Whip gets sold every year, but I know kids who have never tasted actual whipped cream. They think Cool Whip is cool, which makes me want to weep.

My one caveat for real whipped cream is that you buy organic whipping cream. Logic tells me that an ordinary dairy cow that's been shot up with hormones and antibiotics and fed who-knows-what will produce milk that's tainted with chemical residues that I sure don't want on my strawberry shortcake. (Not to mention that whipped cream is high in saturated fat, so we shouldn't make a steady diet of it if we value our cardiovascular systems.)

If you want an alternative to whipped cream because you choose not to eat dairy products at all, that's different. Here's a yummy vegan dessert topping that has many uses.

SWEET SOY CASHEW TOPPING

Yield: 1 cup

5 ounces firm tofu
1/2 cup raw unsalted cashew pieces
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice, strained
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt

1. Dice the tofu into 1/2-inch pieces and wrap in a clean tea towel to absorb any excess moisture. Set aside until needed.
2. Finely chop the cashews in a blender or food processor, then add the orange juice in a thin stream while the motor is still running. Process for 30 seconds, then turn off the machine and scrape the sides and bottom of the blender to release the cashew "mud" back into the mixture.
3. Add the tofu, maple syrup, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and salt. Blend at high speed until the mixture is very smooth and as thick as lightly whipped cream, about 1 full minute.
4. Chill for an hour or so before serving, if desired.
vegetarian food cooking whipped cream dessert

Berry, berry good

2006-05-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

Because I usually post about savory dishes that look like lunch or dinner, people have asked me if I ever cook breakfasts or dessert. Yes and yes. To prove it, I thought I'd offer my recipe for blueberry sauce, which will serve you well on both accounts. It's extremely simple, delicious, and oh so good for us. It originally appeared in The Complete Vegan Cookbook, which was published in 2001 and is still going strong.

Here's the scoop on blueberries. They provide lots of vitamin C, as well as potassium, iron, vitamin A, and fiber. Just like cranberries, they have an antibiotic effect so are great for keeping the kidneys healthy. They're also good for the eyes because they contain an anti-oxidant called anthocyanoside. Fresh blueberries will stay fresh for several days under wraps in the fridge. I keep some in the freezer year-round so I always have them on hand.

As you can see, I love this sauce on pancakes, but it's also good stirred into plain yogurt for breakfast or tapioca pudding for dessert (you can buy or make vegan versions of both if you don't eat dairy products). Here's another idea: Drizzle it over pound cake and top with whipped cream for a beautiful variation on strawberry shortcake. Yum. (Tomorrow I'll post my recipe for a vegan whipped cream alternative; no more time for blogging today.)

Blessings and bon appetit!

SUPER SIMPLE BLUEBERRY SAUCE

1 pound fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the blueberries, maple syrup, orange juice concentrate, and allspice. Cover the pan and cook until reduced to a thin sauce consistency, about 10 minutes. If you want the sauce to be thicker, just cook it longer!
vegetarian food cooking blueberries pancakes

Life in the garden

2006-05-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

No food photo today -- I've misplaced my camera (hope it's at my brother-in-law's house). So instead of writing about cooking, thought I'd do a different kind of post about what goes into keeping ourselves and our loved ones fed. The SF Chronicle ran a feature story in the magazine section yesterday about mushrooming and it got me thinking about Nature's bounty and how we all depend on it and how little most of us think about that.

So, in belated commemoration of Earth Day (April 22) and to usher in the lovely month of May, I'm reminding myself and anybody who happens to be reading this to pause and reflect on our interdependence with air and water and soil and sun and all the things that live in and grow from the Earth. Let's walk lightly on this precious planet -- using little, replenishing much (that means composting and keeping toxic chemicals out of our gardens). Let's be mindful of our thoughts, words, and actions so we sow seeds of joy in all we do.

Let's include all beings in our circle of compassion, sending out love in all directions. And, of course, let's celebrate life and deeply relish every meal and every moment, because it's a great privilege to be well fed and we better darn well be happy about it.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox in a minute. But first, here's one final thought on the subject...

COMPOST
by Mindy Toomay

Using my hands to dig dark compost
into the sprawling strawberry beds,
I contemplate the multitude of forms
sifting through my fingers -
countless beings being born
and dying in this instant -
each reliant on the rest,
every one related,
my life no less dependent
than the worm's.

(P.S. The exuberant painting above is by Richard Earl Thompson.)
vegetarian cooking compost mindfulness

Al fresco at last

2006-04-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Last evening we launched the season of outdoor dining with two new friends (Chris and Sylvia), some lovely wine, and a kind of Moroccan lasagna I made using fresh sheets of spinach pasta from The Pasta Shop. In the last week, roses and wisteria have burst into bloom in the garden, nourished by a long season of rain and finally coaxed into blossoming by several consecutive days of sun. Glorious!

In case you're wondering what Moroccan lasagna might be, it's something I concocted on a whim. For some reason, I didn't want to go the traditional Italian route with my seasoning, so I used both sweet and smoked paprikas, cumin, turmeric, and cinnamon in the mix. Instead of using the usual mozzarella and ricotta, I blended part-skim ricotta with some crumbled feta cheese. The sauteed vegetable filling (eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper -- in celebration of the sun) was a beautiful golden color.

The finished dish had a rich and pungent quality, with an unexpected, exotic layer of flavor. I went easy on the cayenne, even though Moroccan food can be quite fiery, because I wasn't sure of our guests' preferences. Turns out they have traveled extensively in Mexico and adore hot food. No matter; the milder version was perfectly delicious.

On the side: 1) steamed artichokes with a yogurt/pesto/paprika dipping sauce and 2) a romaine and red cabbage salad with balsamic cumin vinaigrette.

There were oohs and aahs all around, then silence for a while as we all dug in. Soon and conversation resumed and we had a perfectly lovely evening swapping travel stories and getting better acquainted. After dinner, the super-spouse pulled out his guitar and was joined in strumming and singing by Chris. We women chimed in occasionally to sing backup. Big fun.

Here's a simple recipe for the sauce I invented, which would be great on pasta, pizza, eggs, or as the base of a scrumptious tomato soup.
1) Empty 1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes (with juice) into a blender
2) Add 1/2 cup oil-packed dried tomatoes
3) Add 3 minced cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon sweet paprika, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon dried red chile flakes.
4) Puree and taste. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
5) Heat in a saute pan and use as desired.
vegetarian cooking The Pasta Shop lasagna

Peculiar produce

2006-04-26T21:32:00.001-07:00

Over the years, I have learned to cook many strange fruits and vegetables. Strange to me, that is. In some parts of the world, such things as starfruit and lotus root are perfectly ordinary. Anyhow, being a rather fanatical foodie, I'm interested in all members of the vegetable kingdom and forage for the unusual at my favorite produce market.

It has expanded my culinary horizons to invite peculiar produce into my kitchen and see what I can make of it. My inspiration might come from cookbooks, TV chefs, the Internet, or restaurant meals I have relished. My experiments aren't always successful, but sometimes they're stellar.

Case in point: blood orange and fresh fennel salad. I've been making it for years, since I ate a mind-blowing version at Chez Panisse one Spring afternoon. It is based on very simple Mediterranean flavors and is light and refreshing, yet somehow deeply satisfying.

I use a mandoline to slice the fennel very thinly. You don't need the complicated and expensive stainless steel kind; I bought one made out of plastic (with a metal blade, of course) at an Asian grocery store for about $15. If you don't have such a tool, simply use a sharp knife and slice the fennel as thinly as you can.

If you can't find blood oranges, you can use tangerines or naval oranges instead. The salad will still be very, very good to eat. The one shown here includes no oniony flavor note, but you can snip on some chives or sprinkle on some minced shallots, if you so desire. Sometimes I arrange a handful of Nicoise olives on the plate, as Chez Panisse did, which provides another delicious layer of flavor. Some shavings of Parmesan or a bit of crumbled blue or feta cheese are other great additions. Play around and see what you like.

Here is the process:
1. Trim off the base of a fennel bulb and discard the outer layer, which is usually discolored and rather tough. At the othe rend, trim off the leafy stalks. Using a mandoline or a very sharp knife, slice the remaining bulb crosswise into very thin shreds. Make a bed of the fennel on a large serving plate or platter.
2. Slice off both ends of 2 or 3 (depending on their size) blood oranges . Using a very sharp paring knife, cut off the peel of the oranges, along with the white layer and the membrane that covers the orange segments. Slice the blood oranges into about 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange them in concentric circles atop the bed of fennel.
3. Sprinkle on a bit of salt and grind on some black pepper. Drizzle a really good olive oil evenly over the oranges and fennel. You don't want a big puddle of it on the plate, but don't skimp.
4. Scatter some whole leaves of flat-leaf parsley over the salad and serve at room temperature.

Blessings and bon appetit!
vegetarian cooking fennel blood oranges Chez Panisse

Loving Lake County

2006-04-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Clear Lake, in northern California, is big, beautiful, and ancient. It's the largest lake in California (not counting Tahoe, which straddles the state line between CA and Nevada) and some experts believe it's the oldest lake in North America. Needless to say, it's a very important watershed ecosystem and a magnet for millions upon millions of birds.

The soil around the lake is volcanic and rocky, with lots of red dirt, and the big valleys are extraordinarily fertile. Pears have been Lake County's claim to fame in recent decades, but it once was, and is becoming again, a booming vineyard region. Since it's situated just north of Napa County and just east of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, this isn't surprising.

One of the new pioneers of Lake County wine is Jim Fetzer. The Fetzer wine you buy these days isn't made by the Fetzer family -- they sold off the brand several years ago. Reportedly, each of the children of the clan walked away with tens of millions of dollars. Jim, the youngest and most visionary, ventured east from the family's homestead in Hopland, bought a few hundred acres of land on the northeast shoreline between the villages of Nice and Lucerne, and began to manifest his dream. To his great credit, he used "green" building methods and mostly recycled materials to create a stunning hacienda-style facility that puts a fabulous new face on Lake County wine.

Today you can visit the Ceago Vinegarden bio-dynamic demonstration farm and organic vineyards and take home some really great California wines. (Bio-dynamic farming goes several steps beyond organic, taking into account the phases of the moon and some pretty interesting spiritual aspects. To learn more about it, visit the ceago website.) If you arrive by boat, you can moor at the pier that juts far out into the lake. Soon you'll be able to stay overnight, get a spa treatment, and eat at a restaurant that is sure to have a local, seasonal, and organic emphasis.

On a recent visit, we bought organic cheese and crackers at the on-site deli (still in its infancy) and carried it out to the beautiful veranda, along with a bottle of the 2005 Sauvignon Blance. Lake County is famous for its SB grapes and this wine has beautiful floral and fruity notes, but a crisp and dry finish. Perfect for a sunny afternoon as we sat listening to the piped-in Afro-Latin music and gazing at the spring-green mountains and the gentle waves on the lake.

The super-spouse and I came away inspired, as we always do after being in the presence of such incredible natural and human-made beauty. We were knocked out by Jim Fetzer's vision and dedication to promoting sustainable living.

Planning a trip to Napa or Sonoma or Mendocino sometime soon? Be sure to include a visit to Lake County in your plans. Ceago is 2.5 hours north of San Francisco (about 30 minutes east of Ukiah on Hwy 20). If you make a weekend of it, you can include a few other Lake County wineries in your travels. Tulip Hill is just across the road from Ceago, and on the other side of the lake, in downtown Kelseyville, the Wildhurst tasting room is well worth a visit. They consistently produce award-winning wines. Steele Wines is also situated in Kelseyville, and if you're traveling up from Napa on Hwy 29, you can take a side road and visit Guenoc, on land once owned by famed frontier actress and singer, Miss Lilly Langtree.

It makes a great getaway for Bay Area folks and may just inspire you to sink some roots in Lake County, as we did. Our little lakeview house is a haven from the hustle and bustle of the big city. My inner country girl comes out to play when I'm there and I get really happy digging in the dirt and sailing on the big water in our little hand-made boat (thanks, Ted).

This kind of joy isn't optional if you really want to live the good life. Get out of town!

vegetarian cooking Fetzer biodynamics California wine country Lake County Wildhurst Tulip Hill Steele Wines Guenoc

Tofu travels south

2006-04-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

When people tell me vegetarian cooking sounds too limited, I tell them it's actually a liberation, an expansion into a wider world of foods and flavors. Vegetarian cooking isn't at all bland and boring, I say, and it goes way beyond brown rice and tofu.

All true, but that doesn't mean tofu is banished from my kitchen. It's a high-quality protein source and has lots of other nutritional benefits, including a lot of isoflavones, which have antioxidant and hormone-balancing powers.

What's more, tofu is infinitely versatile, happily wearing whatever seasoning disguise you dress it up in. The tofu possibilities are practically infinite. You can grill it, bake it, stir-fry it, or blend it up to make a creamy dip. And it can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. Now what meat product can make that claim?

I usually go in an Asian direction when I cook with tofu, in keeping with its roots in the Far East -- and my love for Japanese and Chinese cuisines. But sometimes I mix up the "other white meat" with nontraditional seasonings. This dish, for instance, is a south-of-the-border concoction.

I simply diced some onion, zucchini and potatoes (tiny dice on the latter) and sauteed them in olive oil for a few minutes with chile powder, oregano, and salt. Then I added some canned diced tomatoes (with juice), a minced clove of garlic, some finely chopped pickled jalapeno pepper, and a splash of water. Then I put on a lid and let it cook for about 5 minutes to form a nice saucy texture. Then I added the diced tofu, covered the pan again, and cooked for 5 minutes longer. Voila! A kind of Tofu Rancheros.

It was delicious and satisfying. Hope you enjoy it, too.

Blessings and bon appetit!vegetarian cooking tofu isoflavones

Chai bella

2006-04-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

We are in the grips of another heavy storm, the last of the season -- or so the weather wonks tell us. It's another weekend for cozying up on the couch with cat, cookbooks, and the super-spouse close at hand. I love this kind of quiet, sequestered time, but I've had enough rain to last me a long while. We are ready for many consecutive days of sun now, oh great divine provider. Enough with the deluge already!

When it's warm-and-cozy I'm after, I think of chai, the spicy East Indian tea that is now a staple in American cafes. That storebought kind is horribly sweet to my taste, though, and not quite spicy enough. I have a friend who always grates and squeezes a knob of ginger before heading off to S*a*b*c*s so he can add an ounce of the juice to his chai. I'd rather just make up a batch at home.

Here's a chai recipe from my latest cookbook, 15-Minute Vegetarian. You can find all the spices at an ethnic market, herb specialty store, or the bulk section of your natural food market). You can even order them over the Internet. I use rice milk for this vegan version, which doesn't separate when boiled, as soymilk tends to do.

Make up a double batch and enjoy it over the course of a few stormy days. Blessings and bon appetit!

Peppermint Chai
Yield: 4 servings

1 stick (about 4 inches, or 10 cm) cinnamon
8 large black or green cardamom pods
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 piece (about 4 inches, or 10 cm) fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
2 cups rice milk
2 green or black tea bags (decaffeinated if preferred)
2 peppermint tea bags
1 tablespoon (15 g) granulated sugar (or more, to taste)

Wrap the cinnamon stick in a cloth napkin and use a heavy object, such as a rolling pin, to break it into a few pieces. Place the cinnamon, cardamom pods, fennel seeds, allspice berries, and peppercorns in a saucepan with the ginger, milk, and 3 cups (710 ml) water. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove the lid, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat, add the tea bags, and steep for 5 minutes. Strain the chai into a teapot or coffee thermos. Add the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Serve hot on a stormy afternoon.

vegetarian cooking chai tea

So-ba it!

2006-04-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Sticking with the pasta theme, I want to write about the Japanese noodles called soba. My dear, old friends Ricky and Cathy Tokubo first introduced me to them. They served the buckwheat noodles cold in small bowls with assorted Japanese condiments on the side, including grated ginger and a light sesame oil dressing. I found them supple, succulent, absolutely seductive. And I immediately went shopping at my local Asian grocery store to try out all the various sizes and types of soba available. Ever since, I have adored soba noodles in the Japanese style. This can mean cold noodles with dipping sauce, as I first had them, or in soup or tossed with sauteed veggies and tofu, as shown here -- in this case seasoned with grated ginger and fermented black beans.

This is also a post about asparagus, that brief and beautiful vegetable. Plump, vibrant, locally-grown spears have finally showed up at my market, and I know they won't be there for long, not in this perfect state. So I intend to glory in asparagus and in April, even though the sun continues to elude us. I've decided that Spring is not just a time of year, but also a state of mind.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tags: vegetarian cooking soba asparagus

Where tomato is king

2006-04-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Could I live and cook and be happy without tomatoes? Probably. But I'm glad I don't have to try.

My very first job for money was picking tomatoes in the fields west of Sacramento, dubbed Sack-o-tomatoes by the locals because of its perfect climate for growing the ruby fruits. For a couple of years, my older brother and I walked from our apartment complex out to the main road and caught a bracero bus at the crack of dawn on late summer mornings. We rode silently and comfortably in the company of immigrant adults to the fields, then worked together to fill crates with ripe tomatoes and send them off to be weighed so we could get paid for our efforts. We were hard workers and made enough money to pay for our own back-to-school clothes when our parents sometimes couldn't.

So I was introduced to vine-ripened, just-picked tomatoes early on in life and fell in love forever. When I got thirsty or hungry in the fields, I would eat a ripe tomato out of my hand, as you would an apple, and be refreshed by its juicy sweetness. To this day I can pick up the aroma of a tomato field from a long way off , and a plate of sliced tomatoes dressed up with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh basil is one of my favorite feasts on a hot August day.

Except in the summer, though, I don't eat fresh tomatoes. I just can't stand the insipid winter specimens. When I want tomatoes in the cold months, I almost always use the canned or dried variety.

Tonight I made a pesto-like sauce for pasta using both canned and dried. Here's the procedural. 1) Saute a diced onion and a few cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil with chili flakes until beginning to brown. 2) Add a good slosh of red or white wine and can of tomatoes, with juice. 3) Bring to a simmer and cook for several minutes, than add a good quantity of minced parsley. 4) Simmer for another 5 minutes, then transfer to a blender. 5) Add a few oil-packed dried tomatoes and puree. 6) Thin out with a small amount of pasta cooking water and toss with cooked pasta, including some Parmesan cheese if you like.

As you can see, the super-spouse liked it a lot. And in case you think it looks like a dainty portion for a big, strapping guy -- never fear, it's his second helping.

Blessings and bon appetit!vegetarian cooking tomatoes Sacramento

Kicharee time

2006-04-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Wintry day today, even though we're two weeks into spring. Heavy rain this morning, then overcast -- and COLD. It's a soup day, for sure, and probably a "kicharee" day. In the ancient "science of life" called Ayurveda, practiced in India for ages, kicharee is highly therapeutic, just what we need when we're fighting off or recovering from an illness.

I'm feeling a bit under said weather, I must admit. Our local news station announced last night that Seattle, which is in the Northwestern American rainforest, had 2.5 inches of rain in March. The San Francisco Bay Area, my beloved home in the temperate zone, had 9 inches! It's upside down. Today I heard from a friend that the state of Virginia had one of its driest months on record in March. Maybe it's not a new global weather pattern, just an extreme year, to be expected every once in a while. But after the record-breaking hurricane season, you can't help but wonder...

Anyway, kicheree. It can include any number of vegetables and spices, and always includes some kind of "dal" (split legume), basmati rice, and "ghee" (clarified butter). The spices are heated in the ghee, then the vegetables are added and sauteed for a few minutes. Then you add vegetable stock or water and when it comes to a boil, in goes the dal (split mung beans, available at natural food stores, is a traditional choice, but you can use red lentils instead). After about 10 minutes of boiling, the rice goes in, then all is gently simmered (stirring the pot occasionally) until it turns into a lovely, aromatic stew.

Ayurveda teaches that ghee is one of the great healing foods. It warms and lubricates our bodies and is considered deeply nourishing for all. According to my Ayurveda-wise friend, Ronda, all the cholesterol is removed from the butter during the clarifying process. So though ghee is all fat, it isn't the kind that's going to clog our arteries. I make my own ghee from organic sweet butter and use it occasionally. Strict vegan cooks can substitute canola or olive oil.

So when fighting off flu bugs -- or just culinary blahs -- cook up a pot of kicheree. Use plenty of grated fresh ginger and garlic, as I do, and plenty of cayenne pepper. It will certainly cure what ails you.

If only it could chase away this rain.

Tags: vegetarian cooking kicharee Ayurveda ghee

Coconut loves curry

2006-04-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

I am quite fond of curry (previous visitors will have figured this out already). The spices of India show up frequently in my soups and sautes, and occasionally in my salad dressing and tea cup. One perfect partner for curry flavors in almost any dish is coconut milk, as Indian and Southeast Asian cooks have known forever.

Coconut milk has a bad rep with some people, I guess because it's high in fat. But the fat it delivers to our bloodstreams is not the evil kind and there are "light" versions out there. Plus, it doesn't take a lot of the wonderful stuff to add a slightly sweet flavor note and velvety texture to a sauce or soup.

Did you know you can freeze coconut milk? I generally cook for just the super-spouse and myself, and often don't use a whole can of coconut milk at one go. I discovered that it freezes just fine and can be added to a dish either frozen solid or thawed out so it returns to its liquid state.

The saute I made last night was another yum-gullion (for a definition of this silly term, see my post of 3/31, Brown Rice Redux #1). I had some tofu, a partial bunch of kale, half a red onion, half a bell pepper, and one last carrot in the fridge. Also some coconut milk in the freezer. So I just put all these things together (after dicing the tofu and veggies, of course) in a saute pan with a couple minced cloves of garlic and a hefty tablespoon of my homemade curry blend (you can use any commercial curry powder that suits your taste re: heat level). I added a little veggie broth to extend the coconut milk and a quarter teaspoon of salt. Would have added shiitake mushrooms if I'd had any on hand, but in the yum-gullion world we make do with what's there.

After about 10 minutes of simmering with lid on, the mixture had thickened and melded into a lovely, creamy, stew-like thing that went wonderfully well with the saffron rice I had cooked up. We liked it, a lot. Maybe you would, too.

Tags: vegetarian cooking coconut milk curry

Pasta + Broccoli = Italy

2006-04-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of the classic combinations in the world of pasta -- originating in Sicily, I would guess. I've made it a lot over the years, and every time, when I take my first bite, I think, "This is Italy on a plate." It tastes earthy and a little bit spicy, and the texture is somewhat creamy but also substantial. I love it. And it's one more delicious way to use the good old crucifers (cauliflower could stand in for the broccoli). Keep in mind that you don't want the broccoli to be at all crunchy in this dish. You want it thoroughly cooked and softened for the authentic experience.

I've never written down a precise recipe, so I'll just spell out the process here:

1) Put several quarts of water on to boil for the pasta, salted.
2) To serve about 4 (depending on appetites), use 3/4 pound of pasta and 4 cups of broccoli, florets and peeled and diced stems. Get your broccoli cut up and set it aside so it's ready when you need it.
3) In a large saute pan, heat some olive olive and saute an onion and a few minced garlic cloves for a couple of minutes with a quarter teaspoon of dried chile flakes and some fresh or dried rosemary (a heaping teaspoon if dried, a tablespoon if fresh; you want the rosemary flavor to be pronounced in the finished dish).
4) Add a can of diced tomatoes, with juice, to the pan, along with a slosh of red or white wine, and a small amount of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for at least 10 minutes so the flavors can meld. Don't put the pasta in the pot until the sauce is simmering and your timing will work out fine.
5) Add the pasta (linguine is a good choice) to the boiling water and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the broccoli and let it cook along with the pasta for another 3 or 4 or 5 minutes. When the pasta is al dente (you know that one, right, where the pasta is still a bit chewy but not hard in the center?), reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta and broccoli.
6) Add the pasta and broccoli to the sauce and cook all together for a minute or two, turning and stirring to get everything well-combined. You can add some of the reserved pasta-cooking water, if need be, to keep the mixture smooth and not gummy.
7) If you eat dairy products, add some crumbled feta and/or grated Parmesan just before serving, and pass more Parm at the table.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tags: vegetarian cooking broccoli pasta

Brown rice redux #1

2006-03-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

I was going to write about "slum- gullion" today, which is what my dear departed mother always called her catch-as-catch-can, clean-out-the-fridge, one-pot meals. It's my birthday (no gifts, please) so I'm thinking about what she and I experienced together exactly xxx years ago to the day -- and for 24 years thereafter. I got my artistic spirit and my love of cooking from her and appreciate those legacies a lot. Happy Birthday, Mom, wherever you are...

So anyway, I decided to look up the word in the dictionary and found out a slumgullion is a watery meat stew. Mom's slumgullion was never watery but probably always included ground beef or some other meat. That's not what I do, of course, and now slumgullion seems like the wrong moniker. Then again, "bits-and-pieces-of- whatever's-on-hand" doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

So never mind about the name. Whatever you call it, it's a process of combining various ingredients in a saute pan with seasonings of choice to create something yummy. Of course, that's what cooking is always about, but for yum-gullion you're deliberately using up odds and ends of still-fresh food that you only have a little bit of.

Yesterday I had some cooked brown rice that was a few days old and needed to be used up. I also had some steamed green beans left over from the previous day's salad. I had half an onion and a small hunk of feta cheese that wasn't going to last much longer. So I sauteed the onion with a few cloves of garlic and some chile flakes, added the rice and green beans and a good amount of dried oregano, poured in a little veggie stock, covered the pot, and cooked the concoction until it was nice and hot. Stirred in the crumbled feta and the last of the baby spinach and voila! Something akin to what mom used to make, and plenty delicious.

Who needs watery meat stew?

Tags: vegetarian cooking brown rice

A good bowl of beans

2006-03-30T10:10:00.000-08:00

I love beans for so many reasons. For instance:
1) They are hearty and satisfying
2) They are high in protein and fiber
3) They are low in fat
4) They provide a blank slate for my culinary imagination

The soybean is a super food, but we don't typically eat it in its whole food form. I sing the praises of tofu, tempeh, miso, etc. but here I am referring to dried beans, or legumes, which are available in a vast array of colors and sizes in the bulk bins at my natural food store (and at any supermarket).

Yesterday another storm blew in, bringing cold and rain, and I wanted something warming and hearty for dinner. Beans came immediately to mind, so I rummaged in my pantry and came up with a bag of aduki beans, small red-black beans that are particularly high in protein and low in gas-producing compounds (you'll notice they produce very little foam while cooking).

I started with an old nutrition-school trick of adding a big strip of kombu, a sea vegetable purchased at said natural food store, to the boiling water along with the beans. Kombu is dense with health-promoting minerals and is said to promote good digestion, minimizing the musical effect of legumes. Didn't add any salt at this point; many "old wives" believe it toughens the beans to salt them too early.

When the beans were almost tender (this took about an hour), I added other ingredients. For this stew, I called on the basics of Tex-mex cooking, chile and cumin powders. I also added plenty of garlic and some freshly grated ginger (for their warming and immune-boosting properties), some finely diced carrots and kale, canned tomatoes, red wine, salt and quite a bit of black pepper. Another 30 minutes or so of boiling and the beans were ready.

I served it forth, garnished with a dollop of sour cream (here blended 50/50 with plain nonfat yogurt), a scattering of fresh cilantro leaves, and a dusting of smoked paprika.

The stew was delicious and filling and chased away the chill. I'm already planning my next batch of beans...

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tags: beans legumes vegetarian cooking kombu

Quinoa and curry

2006-03-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

My initation to the pleasures of curry cuisine happened via the great Indian buffet joints in downtown Berkeley, where students swarm the streets near campus for cheap and hearty meals day in and day out. Also, for six years the super-spouse and I lived just two blocks from Ajanta, the award-winning Indian restaurant on Solano Avenue, where we came to know some traditional dishes we hadn't encountered before, such as biryani, a baked rice dish with spices, fruits, and nuts.

When it's cold outside, curry always comes to mind. It warms us up from the inside out and fills the house with great aromas. And since it's been raining practically every day for weeks in "sunny" California, I'm house-bound a lot and want it to be aromatic and cozy and tasty in here!

Here's a recipe from my latest book, 15-Minute Vegetarian. It makes delicious use of quinoa, that ancient protein-rich grain originally cultivated by the Aztecs. It's available at natural food stores and probably some regular supermarkets, too. If you haven't tried it, I hope this inspires you to buy some and experiment.

Keep in mind that spices lose their potency over time. If your curry powder has been in your cupboard for months, toss it out and get some fresh. Or better yet, make up a batch by mixing together some ground turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, and cayenne, in proportions that suit your own taste. (The above mentioned book gives an actual recipe, or you can find one somewhere in the blogosphere, I imagine.)

Blessings and bon appetit!

CURRIED VEGGIE SAUTE WITH QUINOA

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1/8 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup finely diced red onion
1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced
2 cups finely diced green cabbage
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cup frozen shelled peas
1/2 cup vegetable broth or water

Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly. Combine it in a saucepan with 1 cup of water and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat and add the onion, bell pepper, cabbage, curry powder, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir and saute for 3 minutes, then add the peas and broth, cover the pan tightly, and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the cooked quinoa to the vegetables, including any cooking liquid that remains in the saucepan. Stir to combine well and cover the pan. Turn off the heat and allow to stand for 1 or 2 minutes before serving, to infuse the quinoa with flavor.

Tags: quinoa vegetarian cooking curry

Santa Cruz-ing

2006-03-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

Went to Santa Cruz for a Saturday wedding. A lovely affair, and thankfully the clouds parted and the rain stopped just long enough for the brief outdoor ceremony, dinner by a fire indoors, and dancing under the stars to a VERY hot local band (never caught the name).

The food was beautiful, delicious, and healthy. The bride studied environmental science at UC Santa Cruz and now lives with her spouse on Maui, where the couple plans to create a healing center on land she inherited from her father. They are dedicated to the vision and inspired about life, and the energy of the day -- as well as the food -- was light and lovely. Shown here: the appetizer buffet, including lots of raw veggies and goat cheese crostini with dried tomato and walnuts or parsley and capers. Orchids graced the plates and the tables in the dining room, a beautiful symbol of the spirit of Aloha.

Sunday the super-spouse and I strolled around Capitola, just south of Santa Cruz, one of the great beach hangouts in all of California. Had lunch at Paradise Sushi, where lime and pine nuts and various kinds of veggies are as likely to show up in your nori rolls as fish. Then discovered, to our delight, that one of our favorite Sonoma County wineries, Armida, has a tasting room in the village. Sampled some wonderful wines and brought home a stellar Russian River zinfandel, a special treat to be enjoyed on my birthday, coming up next weekend.

After a stop at Light House Point in Santa Cruz to watch the tail end of the sea kayak competition taking place there, we headed north. Drove home along the coast, revisiting some favorite old haunts -- San Gregorio State Beach, the quaint seaside village of Half Moon Bay.

It was another beautiful and fun northern California road trip. Are we not blessed?

Tags: Santa Cruz Capitola vegetarian cooking zinfandel

Roasted reds

2006-03-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

Of course I know bell peppers are not in season, at last not in my hemisphere, but I just can't wait until late summer for my roasted reds. Those meaty slabs of sweet and smoky flavor are essential in my house for spiking up sandwiches and salads, and I frequently blend them into tomato sauce or puree them into pesto.

I have found that all peppers benefit from roasting. If you like to make salsa from scratch, try charring jalapenos in a cast iron skillet before peeling and mincing and adding them to the mix. Fantastico!

Every supermarket carries roasted red bell peppers packed in a jar with water, but I find them mushy in texture and, well, watery in flavor. Much better to buy fresh bells and roast them at home. It's simple and really fun, especially if you have a pyromaniacal streak in you.

Here's what I do. Instructions are for using an actual flame, but If you don't have a gas stove or grill, you can char the peppers under your broiler, turning until all sides are blackened.

1) Place whole red bell pepper directly over a flame, using a gas burner on your stovetop or a grill. Just set it down on the burner grate or the grill rack. It will start to sizzle and blister almost immediately. If you're working in the house, turn on your vent fan.
2) Using long-handled tongs, turn the pepper every so often until the entire skin is charred black. This will take only a few minutes. Needless to say, you don't want to walk away and forget about it. Stay close and pay attention until the job is done.
3) Transfer the blackened pepper to a paper or plastic bag and fold closed. The steam that builds up in the bag from the heat of the pepper will finish cooking it.
4) When cool, rub off the charred skin using a damp paper towel. It's fine for a few bits of black skin to stay on the peppers.
5) Cut into strips and use as desired.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tags: roasted peppers vegetarian cooking roasting peppers

What? Pear pizza?

2006-03-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

Pears, with their subtle sweetness and succulent texture, are suitable for use in savory as well as sweet dishes. So in addition to using pears in muffins, crisp, pudding, and Megan's amazing vegan chocolate pear cake (recipe another time) -- I sometimes make salads, soups, and -- yes -- pizza with them. It's not all that unusual in the annals of California cuisine, where innovative ingredient pairings (or, in this case, pearings) are de riguer on restaurant menus.

As for the crust, I'm very picky in this area, as readers of my Bread Lament (2/2/06) will remember. But there are actually some pretty good pre-cooked crusts out there. For the pizza in the picture, I used one made by Alvarado Street Bakery in Sonoma County. You can buy pizza dough at some grocery stores, fresh or frozen, to be shaped by your very own hands before baking. Best of all, of course, is to make the dough from scratch. It is not difficult and you don't need any fancy ingredients. There are thousands of dough recipes in the blogosphere, so I won't include one here. But try it. Practice by making pizza dough several times over the course of a few weeks and it will become second nature.

Whatever crust you decide to use, you must try this pear pizza with caramelized leeks and blue cheese. It's delicious and intriguing enough for company.

Blessings and bon appetit!

PIZZA WITH CARAMELIZED LEEKS,
PEAR, AND BLUE CHEESE
Yield: 4 main-dish servings

This pizza bring together a delicious -- and surprising -- mélange of flavors. A vinaigrette-dressed arugula salad makes a fresh and peppery side dish.

2 large leeks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
one-fourth teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 pre-cooked 12-inch pizza crust
1 medium Bosc pear
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1. Trim off and discard the root ends and the dark green portion of the leeks. Cut them in half lengthwise and discard the toughest outer layers. Rinse thoroughly between the layers to remove any grit. Pat the leeks dry and slice them crosswise into thin shreds.
2. Preheat the broiler.
3. Melt the butter in a heavy sauté pan and add the leeks, rosemary, and salt. Saute, stirring occasionally, until tender and nicely browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the sherry and stir until there is no more runny liquid in the pan.
4. Meanwhile, slice the pear in half lengthwise and cut out the core section. Slice each half thinly and gently toss the slices with the lemon juice
5. Transfer the leeks to the pizza crust and spread them out eventy, leaving about a 1-inch border all around the outside free of topping.
5. Arrange the sliced pears in a single layer on top of the leeks. Evenly distribute the blue cheese over the pears. Sprinkle on the paprika.
6. Bake the pizza 4 inches from the heat source until the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Tags: pizza vegetarian pears pizza crust Alvarado Street

Suisun Valley wine run

2006-03-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

Wooden Valley Winery, just a few miles north of Interestate 80 on Suisun Valley Road, is worth a visit, even on a rainy day in March. In fact, maybe especially on a rainy day in March. Its outdoor facilities aren't much to speak of -- no match, at least, for the fabulous-view picnic spots many wineries in Napa and Sonoma and Lake and Mendocino counties have to offer. But the large tasting room, with its rich dark woods and friendly staff, is warm and welcoming. And there are some good wines here, at VERY good prices.

On our recent visit, we bought Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet, and Viognier -- plus a few bottles of the winery's proprietary blend, Suisun Valley Red. It's quite a decent quaffing wine, fruity up front with well-rounded flavors on the way down. At $6/bottle it's a fine choice for your daily glass of red. Strictly for medicinal purposes? No way. It's got to taste good on it's own and do a good job of complementing food to earn a place in my cellar.

Suisun Valley is a fun destination in the summer, too, when farm stands are bursting with produce. There is one other tasting room I know of in the vicinity, at Ledgewood Creek Winery, which is the new kid on the block. It opened about 3 years ago, while Wooden Valley has been there for decades.

There are restaurants in the valley, too, that the super-spouse and I have yet to try. We always pack a gourmet picnic for our wine touring days. I recently read the menu for an Italian restaurant called The Vintage Caffe that is very tempting, though. Several types of ravioli are offered, featuring traditional fillings such as ricotta and spinach and more innovative combinations. There's plenty for vegetarians to choose from.

It's a pleasant and easy drive for Bay Area folks (travel about 20 miles east of Berkeley on I-80 to Suisun Valley Road, then go north). Be forwarned, however, that it will be neither pleasant nor easy if you try to cross the Carquinez Bridge on Friday afternoon after about 2:00. (Then you would be crazy to make the trip, as we were last week, and will never be again.) My other caveat applies only in the summer months. The area can be scorching, so dress accordingly -- wide-brimmed straw hats and sandals were invented for just such times and places.)

Tags: food and wine Suisun Valley wine country

Saffron rice

2006-03-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

Every vegetarian I know eats rice frequently. Usually brown rice, which provides complex carbohydrates, fiber, and important trace minerals. But now and then I want to cook a rice dish fast (brown rice takes a good 50 minutes or so to cook from scratch), or I'm just in the mood for a change.

At those times, basmati rice with saffron and cumin is my usual pick. It's super easy, beautiful on the plate, and very versatile. I make a lot of "mindy-anese" cuisine, as my friend Elizabeth calls it -- soups and sautes that draw on the foods and flavors of the Far East, or Near East, or a fusion of the two. And Saffron Rice is the perfect accompaniment to these dishes.

Leftovers can be stirred into soup, tossed in a salad, or added to a stir-fry, as shown here in another Mindy-anese concoction, with sea veggies, shiitakes, tofu, fermented black beans, etc. It's Saffron Rice, The Sequel.

Here's the simple recipe for great saffron rice. 1) Put 2 cups of water on to boil, with 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, and a small pinch of saffron threads. 2) Put 1 cup white basmati rice in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under running water for a about 30 seconds, to wash off some of the surface starch. This will help the finished rice have a nice loose, not sticky, texture. Drain off any excess water. 3) When the saffrom water just comes to a boil, add the rice and stir. Put on a lid, reduce the heat to very low, and cook for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the rice stand without disturbing the lid for 5 minutes, then transfer to a serving bowl. Serve with your favorite curry or Asian-inspired saute.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tags: vegetarian recipes cooking saffron rice

Bay Area Bests #2

2006-03-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Monterey Market, on the corner of Hopkins and Monterey in north Berkeley.

Okay, maybe it would be more fair to give the nod to Bay Area produce, in general, because we are constantly swimming in fantastic fresh and seasonal produce (and bread -- as I've mentioned before -- and cheese and seafood and other animal products for those who eat those things).

But the folks at Monterey Market (MM) are my favorite produce purveyors for a lot of reasons. They display their wares half inside, half outside, creating the atmosphere of an exotic third-world mercado. They have an incredibly wide range of veggies and fruits to choose from (remember my #1 Bay Area Best, diversity?). And their prices are the lowest around.

This place is a wonderland for adventuresome cooks. True, you have to be comfortable with the occasional untidy bin, where perhaps the key limes or sweet Mauai onions have gone a bit soft. But this is no problem for a veteran forager like me. I love searching for treasures amidst the ordinary, and MM gives me this experience time and time again. They have all the usual stuff, but so much more besides. I might never have bought chickpeas still in their pods on the drying vine, if not for Monterey Market. I would surely have missed fresh turmeric root.

So here's one little story in my MM chronicles. They have a bargain bin, where they put bags of over-ripe stuff they've pulled from the bins that needs to sell fast. On my last visit, I noticed a large bag of avocados sitting there, with .99 price grease-penciled on. They were smallish, and I could tell some of them were hopelessly soft. But there were a LOT of them in there, and I figured at least some would be usable.

The super-spouse was with me and agreed that when life gives one an abundance of cheap avocados, it's guacamole time. So even though they were certainly not seasonal, local, or organic, I took my dollar's worth of avocados home -- turned out to be 14 avocados, only two of which were useless -- and made a BIG batch of great guac. (Did you know guacamole freezes well, as long as you don't include any dairy products in the mix?)

Here's an overview of my guacamole process: 1) Squeeze a couple of juicy limes into a large bowl. 2) Cut several medium avocados (somewhat over-ripe is fine) in half, discard the seeds, and scoop the avo into the same bowl. 3) Toss the avo around with the lime juice to prevent oxidation. 4) Add a splash of tamari soy sauce,some chile powder, and a couple of cloves of garlic, mash to a paste with some salt. Mix well to make it chunky and well blended, but not totally runny. 5) Stir in anything else you like, such as minced serrano chiles, chopped fresh or canned tomatoes, and cilanto leaves. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. 6) Use as a topping for tacos or tostados, wrap up with beans and rice to make burritos, spread on good chewy bread, or use as a dip with your favorite chips. This time out, we chose some fantastic Native brand fresh-cut blue tortilla chips, thick, from Kjalii Foods of San Francisco.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Tags: vegetarian recipes cooking avocado guacamole

Craving polenta

2006-03-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get a strong craving for polenta. It's one of my comfort foods and there are days when I simply have to have it. Maybe it evokes the sun-drenched hills of Sicily and helps keep the winter chill from taking hold of my mind and heart.

Yesterday another big storm blew through (we've had an awful lot of them this winter) and I knew it was a polenta day. Had a bit of Point Reyes original blue cheese in the fridge and cornmeal in the pantry, so the basics were on hand.

I almost always make a tomato-based veggie stew to go with polenta. This one used onion, zucchini, carrot, garbanzo beans, Nicoise olives, canned tomatoes and plenty of garlic. Spices: oregano, cayenne, and -- surprise! -- cinnamon. Used in extreme moderation, cinnamon adds a subtle sweetness that enhances the tomatoes and balances the heat of the cayenne. This isn't some strange new innovation on my part. The cooks of Rome have been utilizing cinnamon in tomato dishes for a very long time.

The super-spouse and I ate our dinner feeling safe from the storm and content with our lot. That's the gift every good cook gives herself, her friends, her family through her efforts in the kitchen.

Blessings and bon appetit!

POLENTA BASICS
Polenta is really a process, more than a specific recipe. Make it a few times in the next month and you'll get the hang of it.
1) Put 4 cups of water on to boil.
2) Add to the water: 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic, 1 teaspoon of dried Italian herbs (crushed in the palm of your hand), 1/2 teaspoon salt, and several grinds of black pepper.
3) When the water is boiling, pour in 1 cup of medium-grind cornmeal in a gentle stream, whisking so it doesn't form lumps.
4) Turn the heat down to medium and cook until the grains are perfectly soft, about 15 minutes, whisking vigorously and frequently to prevent sticking. Add more water a tablespoon or two at a time if the polenta gets too thick to whisk before the grains are cooked.
5) When the polenta is done, the mixture should be smooth and creamy, NOT thick and mounded like mashed potatoes.
6) Add a bit of butter and some cheese, if you wish. Serve with a thick veggie stew or marinara sauce.
7) Pour leftovers into a flat baking dish (traditionally it was poured out onto a large board). It will firm up as it cools and can be cut into wedges or squares and grilled, or cubed to add to a salad.

Tags: vegetarian recipes cooking polenta

Bean Curd Lessons

2006-03-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a little poem I wrote while pondering all the metaphors for life we cooks encounter in the kitchen.

BEAN CURD LESSONS

This block of bean curd
doesn't envy anyone.
It does its job of nourishing
without complaint.
Pliant and plain, it trusts the cook
to add some zesty seasoning
and mind the flame.

The lump of tofu doesn't fret
about its fate. It waits,
surrendered to the cooking process,
lets the scorch and sizzle
do their work of transformation,
eagerly anticipates
becoming something new.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *

And here's what I made of the humble bean curd for dinner last night. 1) Saute diced onion and curry powder in a slick of olive oil. 2) Stir in tofu cubes, zucchini dice, oyster mushrooms, whole green soybeans (edamame), and cooked wild rice (available vacuum-packed at some supermarkets). 3) Add veggie broth (or water, or coconut milk) and a splash of soy sauce. 4) Put on lid and cook about 7 minutes. 5) Add cilantro if desired. Enjoy!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian tofu

Rumi in the kitchen

2006-03-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

I usually start my day by reading something penned by a spiritual master, to nourish my heart and establish a generous and joyful attitude for the day. Often it's the 13th-century Sufi mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi, especially as translated by Coleman Barks. Rumi has for sometime now been the best-selling poet in the world, and I give Coleman Barks much of the credit for that. He has used his great wisdom and skill to help make the ancient poems accessible to modern Americans.

I'm not fixed on any exclusive religious tradition in my readings, though after decades of "seeking," it is Buddhism and the mystical strains in all the world's religions that have the greatest draw for me. They all share the belief that the Divine is everywhere, within and outside us; that our lives are steeped in Spirit; that all stories about who or what god may be are just fairy tales we tell ourselves. God is Mystery itself, beyond our powers to know and describe, and we are alive within it. That very idea makes me feel excited about life and grateful for another day.

This morning I read (for the hundredth time) one of Rumi's great cooking metaphors -- a poem about life as a boiling soup, god/mystery as the cook, and human beings as chickpeas. I trust that Coleman Barks and his publishers would forgive my excerpting it without their written permission (I know Rumi would approve).

Here's the question this poem planted in my mind this morning: How would things be different if we believed that the difficult things we experience actually had a great purpose, to transform us into ever more lovely and vital human beings?

CHICKPEA TO COOK

A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it's being boiled.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

The cook knocks him down with the ladle.

"Don't you try to jump out.
You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.

Remember when you drank rain in the garden?
That was for this."

... Eventually the chickpea
will say to the cook,
"Boil me some more.
Hit me with the skimming spoon.
I can't do this by myself..."

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian Rumi

Beautiful soup

2006-03-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

For weeks I've been developing recipes with pears as my main inspiration. One winner was this curried butternut squash and pear soup. Scrumptious (if I do say so myself). The pear adds a subtle flavor note and velvety texture. Thought I'd post a picture to capture how lovely it was in the bowl, all dressed up with yogurt and mint. If you decide to cook it, be sure to use a mild curry powder, or the heat of cayenne will overpower the soup.

I posted a pear and spinach salad recipe a few days ago. I hope you'll check out the Fall issue of Veggie Life magazine and try the rest of my recent pear creations. Blessings and bon appetit!

CURRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND PEAR SOUP
Yield: 4 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
4 cups peeled and diced butternut squash (1.75 lbs. whole squash)
2 large pears, peeled, cored, and chopped (2 cups; 1 lb. whole pears)
1.5 tablespoons mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup unsweetened pear juice or pear "nectar"
1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1/4 cup mint chiffonade

1. Heat the oil in a heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and saute, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the squash, pears, curry powder, and remaining salt and stir and saute for 10 minutes.
3. Add the stock and pear juice, cover, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the squash is very soft, about 10 minutes.
4. Puree the soup with an immersion blender, or transfer it in small batches to a standard blender and puree. Return the puree to the pot and heat over low until barely simmering.
5. Serve hot, garnishing each serving with a dollop of yogurt and a portion of the mint chiffonade.

Local or organic?

2006-03-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

The latest issue of Yes! magazine discusses an issue I've often considered. If I'm concerned about planetary as well as personal health, and I can't find food that is both local AND organic, which one should I choose?

Eating organic is important, of course. Organic food doesn't contain pesticide residues, artificial hormones, or genetically modified organisms. But the Yes! research says that local is always best, even if it isn't organic. Buying organic produce that is not from your own locale takes food out of the mouths (so to speak) of local farmers and burns huge amounts of fossil fuels in transport to your hometown market. Local food is, by definition, seasonal food -- and living in harmony with the seasons is a healthy practice for body, mind, and spirit. And local food is almost always fresher, especially if you buy at the farmers market, which means better nutrition and better taste.

Also, keep in mind that lots of growers who don't use synthetic chemicals and are committed to sustainable agriculture aren't necessarily certified as organic. Certification is an expensive and time-consuming process that smaller producers don't always have the resources to pursue. When I'm shopping for food, I talk with growers and producers if possible (another plus of the farmers market). Ask them about their growing practices and what kinds of chemicals that spray on their crops. Or at least read labels to see where a food was grown and choose the locally grown version of a particular food whenever possible.

Because I live in super-abundant California, I can usually buy food that is both locally grown AND organic. It increases my sense of well-being to know I'm supporting conscientious local growers and getting the highest quality food available.

Visit the Local Harvest website to learn about farmers markets near you, and to explore other ways to eat consciously, sustainably, and well.

Blessings and bon appetit!

Pear-adise

2006-03-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

I'm writing an article about pears for a great vegetarian cooking magazine called Veggie Life, so I have pears on the brain today. Not just on the brain, but all over my house. I have dozens of pears in bowls and baskets and arranged on plates. They are scattered here and there, in various stages of ripeness, so I'll always have some perfect pears to use in my recipe testing.

They come in so many colors and sizes, and their textures range from buttery soft to slightly crunchy. They are really gorgeous fruits, so I don't mind decorating my kitchen and dining room with them on a regular basis.

My super-spouse loves pears, so even when I'm not writing about them, they're often hanging around. They sit within easy reach ripening to perfection and eventually get grabbed and gobbled up without any adornment. But I like to cook with them, too. They're extremely versatile, lending their loveliness to savory dishes, not just desserts.

Here's one example, a pear and spinach salad (have I mentioned that I really like spinach salad) with the crunch of toasted walnuts and the spicy zip of cumin vinaigrette. It's a great way to use those tender baby spinach leaves you can buy pre-washed in a bag.

Blessings and bon appetit!

SPINACH SALAD WITH PEAR, TOASTED WALNUTS,
AND CUMIN VINAIGRETTE
Yield: 4 servings

2 tablespoons pear cider
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
Several grinds black pepper
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1 medium pear, unpeeled
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
6 cups washed and dried baby spinach leaves, lightly packed
1/4 cup toasted walnuts pieces

Whisk together the cider, vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup, cumin, salt, and pepper until emulsified, about 1 minute. Stir in the minced shallot and set aside.

Wash and dry the pear and cut in in half from base to tip. Cut each half in half again lengthwise anbd slice out the core sections. Cut the pear wedges lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices and toss the slices with the lemon juice,

Toss the spinach with the dressing, reserving 2 tablespoons. Arrange the dressed greens on 4 individual serving dishes. Fan out one-quarter of the pear slices on each bed of greens. Drizzle evenly with the remaining dressing, scatter some tasted walnuts on each serving, and garnish with calendula or nasturtium petals if available.

Serve immediately.

Pesto passion

2006-03-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

Asked to name my top ten favorite things to eat, pasta al pesto would make the cut. It might even be among the top three. Blame it on my friend Kathryn's mother, a true Italian cook from the old country who introduced me to the olive oil and basil and pine nut and garlic concoction. Add pasta and Parmesan and you have a potent feast of flavor, a garlic fantasy, an addictive carbo load from the gods. I could eat it every day, but don't, for the sake of my girlish figure. Once a month is a must, however, and it will become a regular craving of yours, as well.

Pesto -- from the same root word as paste -- is actually a method, not a specific mixture of ingredients. I've come up with loads of exotic variations in my time, including one made with shiitake mushrooms, spinach, walnuts, and ginger. Roasted red bell pepper makes a great pesto, mixed with mint and almonds. You get the idea. Anything you can turn into a thick puree could be called "pesto" and just might be delicious mixed with pasta, stirred into soup, or used as a sandwich spread.

At the height of summer, when basil is abundant and cheap, you can make several big batches of pesto, leaving out the cheese, and freeze it in small jars. Then it's available to cheer you up in the dead of winter. Where I live in northern California, though, fresh basil is always available, so I just make up a batch whenever I get in a pesto frame of mind.

(BTW, if you ever make more pasta al pesto than you can eat in one meal, throw the leftovers in a cast iron frying pan with some olive oil the next morning, add some beaten eggs and some more Parmesan cheese, and cook until firm on the bottom, then place under the broiler until the eggs are set. A delicious pasta frittata!)

Here's a basic recipe for the classic basil "pesto alla genovese." The lemon isn't exactly traditional, but it sets the color nicely and I like the way a bit of acid cuts the heaviness of the olive oil. This makes enough for one pound of pasta, which will feed 4 to 6 people.

Blessings and bon appetit!

PESTO ALLA GENOVESE
2 cups fresh basil leaves, firmly packed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons raw pine nuts or chopped walnuts
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juuce
1/4 teaspoon salt

Using a blender or food processor, chop the basil leaves, then add the olive oil, cheese, pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. Puree until fairly smooth.

Bay Area Bests #1

2006-03-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

Diversity. The whole wide world right outside my door.

Drinking chai at the new Peet's in Emeryville, a nearby table occupied by happy Chinese speakers, eventually replaced by happy Italian speakers. Later that same day, eating lunch at Veggie Food, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in north Berkeley, people on one side speaking Spanish, and on the other side a trio of robed Buddhist monks not speaking at all.

So many different skin tones and languages and modes of dress and lifestyle variatioins -- almost everyone co-existing in peace and mutual respect. It's so enlivening to be a part of this rich and diverse and thoroughly progressive mix.

Jalisco Hummus

2006-03-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

An excellent bean dip is a practically perfect food. High in fiber and protein, low in fat, and full of whatever spice you like -- it's great as a dip/spread for chips, crackers, and raw veggies, or stuffed in pita bread with a handful of salad greens. I've come up with dozens of variations on hummus, the traditional Middle Eastern garbanzo bean puree, over the years. Here's a lunch I ate recently, with such a hummus spread on crisp rye crackers -- and accompanying a spinach salad with roasted red bell peppers.

This was a delicious but ordinary hummus, made by pureeing garbanzos, lemon juice, sesame tahini, garlic, salt, and a good pinch of cayenne pepper. The recipe I'm posting here today, though, is one of my most successful off-the-beaten path hummus experiments. I call it Jalisco hummus, because it uses a number of traditional south-of-the-border foods. It's not overly spicy, but you could always use less of the pickled jalapenos for a milder version. (Pickled jalapenos, BTW, are available in cans and jars at your regular supermarket.)

Give this lovely green bean dip a try. Maybe it will inspire you to do some hummus experiments of your own...

Blessings and bon appetit!

Jalisco Hummus

1 can (15 ounces, or 420 g) garbanzo beans
1/4 cup (55 g) raw, unsalted, shelled pumpkin seeds
1 cup (60 g) chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons (28 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons (18 g) minced pickled jalapenos
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the garbanzo beans in a colander, rinse, and drain thoroughly. Meanwhile, in a dry skillet, toast the pumpkin seeds over medium-high heat, stirring or shaking the pan frequently, until most of them have popped. Transfer them to a blender and add the garbanzos, cilantro, lime juice, pickled jalapenos, garlic, and salt. Puree and enjoy with tortilla chips!

Dreaming of spring

2006-03-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

In the aftermath of what felt like the last big storm of winter (fingers crossed), spring is in the air today. Everything is washed clean. The sky is piercingly blue and dotted with a few creamy clouds. Breathtaking, enlivening, inspiring to any cook who loves local and seasonal vegetables. After many months of depending on crucifers (see yesterday's post) and root veggies, the baby spring vegetables are soon to appear at the farmer's market and produce stands.

Here are a few ways I plan to enjoy young and tender spring vegetables:

1) Add shelled peas to a minced shallot that's been sauteed in butter. Splash in a bit of white wine and add just a little salt and pepper. Cover and cook for a minute or two, until the peas are just tender.
2) Toss baby spinach leaves with thin apple slices, toasted walnuts, and an apple juice vinaigrette (simply replace a couple of tablespoons of the oil with apple juice)
3) Saute asparagus in olive oil with ground fennel seed until barely tender. Add pinch of salt, top with lemon zest, serve warm.
4) Saute shelled, parboiled, and peeled fava beans with briefly in olive oil with garlic, chile flakes, scant salt. Toss with fresh pasta and top with shaved Parmesan.

That sounds like a good start to the season of delicate and exquisitely fresh cuisine. Of course, it's not officially spring until March 20, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Blessings and bon appetit!

Cabbage chronicles

2006-02-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

In the northern climes, every cook knows that the best local produce during the winter months is likely to be a relative of the cabbage. What would we do without the so-called crucifers -- broccoli, chard, cauliflower, turnips, mustard greens, etc. -- when we're putting together a satisfying winter stew?

I've probably invented hundreds of recipes over the years that make delicious use of cruciferous vegatables. Even if they didn't contain indoles, super-nutritious sulphuric compounds that have a wide range of health-protective benefits, I would still enjoy their taste and texture. Besides, they're just plain beautiful. Here are broccoli and red cabbage, snuggling up with just a few of their compatible food friends.

Think what a soup these would make, all mixed up together with veggie stock, curry spices, and canned tomatoes. Something like this cauliflower version I made a few nights ago.
Now, just in case you're inspired to do a little cabbage cooking in your own kitchen, here's a recipe from my book-in-progress, Longevity Cuisine: Vegetarian Cooking for Vibrant Health at any Age.

Blessings and bon appetit!

BEET AND CABBAGE SOUP WITH KIDNEY BEANS
Yield: 6 main-dish servings

This soup is borscht-like, but not at all traditional. I added the beans to boost the fiber and portein content. Handling raw beets will dye your skin a lovely shade of pink for a few hours. To avoid this, wear surgical gloves, which I consider to be essential kitchen tools, especially for handling fresh hot chiles. They're available in hardware stores and well-stocked cookware shops. For a vegan version of this soup, just omit the creamy topping. Rye toast or crackers make the perfect accompaniment.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
4 cups diced green or red cabbage
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
2 large red beets, peeled and diced
1.5 cups diced fresh or canned diced tomatoes, with juice
1 tablespoon dried dill or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons mild paprika
1 teaspoon salt
Several grinds of black pepper
1.5 cups cooked kidney beans, drained
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
6 tablespoons lowfat sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature (optional)

Heat the oil in a stockpot over medium heat and saute the onion, carrot, and caraway seeds for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 6 cups of water and the cabbage, potato, beets, tomatoes, dried dill (if using), paprika, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Bring to a strong simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.

Add the beans and cook until the beets are quite tender, about 5 to 10 minutes longer. Stir in the vinegar and honey, along with the fresh dill (if using). Ladle into bowls and top each serving with a tablespoon of sour cream or yogurt. Serve hot and enjoy.

Cooking as a refuge

2006-02-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

Buddhist practitioners are taught to take refuge in the Buddha (the enlightened one, and the possibility that we ourselves can become enlightened); the dharma (the teachings of the Buddha, which provide all the guidance we need to become enlightened); and the sangha (the community of fellow practitioners who support and inspire us on the path). The idea is that since this human life includes a lot of suffering, we need these "three jewels" to keep us steady and strong and safe, no matter what outer circumstances come our way.

I experience cooking as a refuge in just this sense. Whatever challenges I may face on a given day, I set them aside when I cook, bringing my attention to the tasks at hand. And they are lovely, calming, life-affirming tasks -- chopping vegetables, stirring soup, tossing salad greens around with tongs until a slick of tasty dressing reaches every leaf.

Last night a big storm blew through -- a fitting metaphor for the turbulent mind. I'm facing some big decisions, needing to get clear about where and when to make certain changes, and this feels like an inner storm at times, when the flurry of possibilities and questions and concerns preoccupies my mind.

And so I cook, getting back to the basics, taking refuge in my kitchen, where I feel warm and creatively engaged and sensually alive. I think I'll make hot-and-sour soup, to soothe my insecurities and boost my immune system. It's a quick and easy recipe. Enjoy it as is, or ladle it over brown rice for a more substantial meal in a bowl.

Blessings and bon appetit!

CHINESE HOT-AND-SOUR SOUP

2 tablespoons cornstarch (the kind from the natural food store isn't processed using aluminum)
5 tablespoons (75 ml) unseasoned rice vinegar (not the sweetened kind used to make sushi rice)
2 tablespoons (28 ml) soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less, to taste)6 fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon (15 ml) dark sesame oil
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups (1.7 L) vegetable broth
1 small carrot, finely diced
1 tablespoon (8 g) grated fresh ginger
4 ounces (115 g) firm tofu, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup frozen peas, rinsed to melt away any ice crystals

Whisk together the cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce, and cayenne until the cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside.

Remove the stems from the shiitakes and thinly slice them. In a stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, and garlic, and saute for 3 minutes. Add the broth, carrot, zucchini, and ginger and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the tofu. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add the peas and return to a simmer, then cook for 1 minute.

Remix the cornstarch mixture and stir it into the soup. Cook and stir until the broth is somewhat thickened, about 1 minute. Serve immediately.

The other white "meat"

2006-02-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday a friend of mine called tofu the "other white meat" and I laughed out loud. It's true. Lots of people who like meat tend to like tofu if it's fried and slathered with some yummy sauce, like the kung pao tofu my friend and I happened to be eating when he made the comment. Kung pao preparations generally include red bell peppers, hot chilies, and peanuts, plus the usual soy and garlic flavors -- so this was pretty yummy tofu.

I've noticed that there are plenty of soy debunkers in the world these days. A friend (a different one) recently showed me an article in an apparently legitimate if fringe-hugging publication that said that tofu causes breast cancer. I don't know how much research the author did, but apparently he/she missed the fact that the estrogen-like substance found in soybeans is actually a mild-mannered little biochemical that blocks estrogen receptors in the breast (and elsewhere in the body) that would otherwise bond with actual, not-so-mild-mannered estrogen. So in fact, the kind of estrogen we get from soy protects us from the kind our bodies make -- which, by the way, shouldn't be demonized; it does all kind of good things for our bodies and brains.

If you want to hear this from a reputable doctor, check out what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say on the subject. (His website is chockfull of useful information on all kinds of health and nutrition topics, in case you didn't know.)

The article went on to say that we shouldn't think that Asian women have less estrogen-triggered cancer because they eat soy, since they have more cancer in some parts of the body, like the kidneys. Huh? That's pretzel logic if ever I heard it. Couldn't we just as easily believe that they'd get more of every type of cancer if they didn't eat soyi to protect them from the estrogen-triggered variety? To my mind, it's pretty convincing evidence that the soy-eating women of the world get less breast cancer, since American researchers have determined that soy does the things I mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Anyway, I believe soy protects my breast health and eat soy foods frequently, in whole food form like fresh green soybeans, tofu, and tempeh. Make sure they're made from organic soybeans and eat your daily dose. Oh, but if you have a thyroid problem, maybe you should go easy on the soy. Apparently it can be goiterogenic. (Textured vegetable proteins, a soy derivative, is a highly process food that may cause unwanted health consequences, but that's another story.)

There's a lesson here. Don't believe everything you read. Develop an inquring mind and search out the dietary facts from truly authoratative sources. Blessings and be well!

Artichoke, anyone?

2006-02-24T10:08:00.000-08:00

I adore artichokes, have adored them since I was a child and my mother first introduced us to the most hands-on of vegetables. I loved that they were like flowers you could take apart petal by petal, and loved the mayonnaise or melted butter my mother put out on the table for dipping purposes.

Once I came to my senses, nutrition-wise, I stopped with these full-fat condiments and devised another dip that is even more delicious. It's creamy like mayo, but not artery-clogging, and is redolent of garlic. What could be better?

Here's what to do.

1) Put about 2 inches of water on to boil in a large pot that has a tight-fitting lid. Into the water, plop about 4 cloves of garlic (unpeeled), 2 bay leaves, and half a fresh lemon, with the juice squeezed out into the water. Place a steaming tray into the pot.

2) Use a very sharp knife (I use my serrated bread knife) to cut straight across the leaves about 2 inches from the pointy tip of the artichoke. Discard the leave tips. Trim off about one inch of the stem (more if the stem is shriveled or discolored). Peel off and discard the tiny leaves that cling to the stem at the base of the bud. If the artichoke is a large one, you may want to peel the stem with a sharp paring knife.

3) Set the trimmed artichokes upsidedown in the steaming tray, with stems sticking up. Put on a lid and steam over medium-high heat for 15-30 minutes, depending on their size. They are done when the tip of a sharp paring knife can be inserted into the base of the artichoke (its hidden heart) without meeting any serious resistance. Tender but not mushy is the consistency you're shooting for. When they're done, remove the artichokes to a plate to cool off a bit.

4) Remove the garlic cloves from the cooking water and squeeze the garlic out of the skins into a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise (organic please) and 3 tablespoons nonfat yogurt, plus a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Whip together with a fork until well combined.

5) Serve the artichokes with the dipping sauce and enjoy!

Mendocino musings

2006-02-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

When you encounter a couple of sunny, wind-free, February days on the north coast of California, you are in for a treat. My super-spouse and I went visiting friends in Cloverdale and Mendocino and wound up playing frisbee on a huge deserted beach in t-shirts and jeans; tasting wonderful wines in and around Boonville (which invented its own language, Boontling, a few decades ago and still retains its unconventional edge); meandering the quaint Victorian village of Mendocino, with calla lilies in full bloom everywhere; and feasting at home (see notes below) and at various public eateries, notably Cafe 1 in Fort Bragg, an all-organic breakfast and lunch diner that serves up wonderful, fresh food to tired but happy hikers fresh from the haul road trail. It was all wonderful and seductive, enough to make one want to move there, having forgotten that fog and rain are regular visitors to these environs.

I made delicious salads everywhere we went, using organic ingredients and embellishing the feast with olive or flax oil, lemon juice or cider vinegar, garlic, nuts and seeds, fresh herbs, etc. Here's one in the nude (that is, prior to getting dressed). Yes, the photo's huge (I'm still learning the ins and outs of uploading digital photos) -- almost life-size, isn't it? And doesn't it make you want to go make and eat a huge salad right now?

My friend, Megan, and I prepared a marvelous dinner in Cloverdale. Too much of a muchness, as the super-spouse often says when realizing yet again how blessed we are to be alive and in love in northern California, lucky beneficiaries of its incredible abundance of everything wonderful.

Here's what was cooked and eaten that night among special friends, a belated Valentine's Day vegetarian feast. Read it and weep (or get busy and duplicate it for people you love).

APPETIZER COURSE
Home-marinated olives with lemon zest, crushed chiles, and fresh rosemary.
Home-baked whole grain bread with aged gouda

SALAD
Fresh baby spinach with raspberry vinaigrette and baby beets

MAIN COURSE
Parmesan polenta with Moroccan-spiced vegetables and chickpeas

DESSERT
Warm berry soup with whipped cream and dark chocolate heart-shaped brownies

BEVERAGES
Champagne for starters
Russian River zinfandel with main course
Pelegrino water
Barely sweetened mint tea with desert

Your daily dose of flax...

2006-02-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

Even in winter, I occasionally crave a big salad. Today's lunch consisted of a nice bed of mixed seasonal greens (including some snips of fresh herbs), topped with a good number of steamed baby green beans. Next came some thin slices of carrot, then some sauteed tofu: chunks in a pan with a bit of olive oil, a half cup of water, a drizzle of soy sauce, garlic powder, and paprika; cooked until the liquid evaporated.

And finally, my favorite salad dressing, and one of the easiest and most nutritious you will ever find. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine 1/3 cup flax oil, 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup Bragg's liquid aminos (or about 3 tablespoons of tamari soy sauce). Grind in some black pepper and add some minced garlic or garlic powder. Shake vigorously until well-combined and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

I will say more about flax in a future post. Suffice it to say for now that it's a great source of omega-3s and other essential fatty acids and will help keep your digestion, your hormones, etc. in good shape.

Now i'm off to Mendocino on the far north coast of California for a few days. There will be wine and food notes to share when I return. Meanwhile, blessings and bon appetit!

Singing pasta's praises

2006-02-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, pasta started getting a bad rep, as part of the Big Low-Carb Con. I was annoyed that a lot of low-carb preachers like Atkins weren't adequately explaining the difference between refined carbs and complex carbs, and the idea that you can eat all the meat and eggs and cheese and butter you want with no ill effects is just ridiculous.

Of course, this was a very popular notion with loads of people who love animal products above all and felt like they'd just won the lottery. Other more moderate diet plans came along, such as South Beach, which remedied some of those problems. But still the dangers of a high-fat, high-protein diet were under-reported. And a low-carb diet is by definition a high-protein and high-fat diet. If you lower the proportion of carbs, you increase the proportions of the other two major nutrients -- protein and fats. No way around it.

The fact that lots of people lose weight on these low-carb plans, in my opinion, is that they suddenly start thinking -- maybe for the first time in their lives -- about what they were putting in their mouths and how often. They no longer consume donuts and lattes and pizza and cookies all day every day. Hence, they consume fewer calories, which is a good way to drop some poundage.

There is so much more to say on this topic -- it could become a WAY long rant. But I'll stop right now and talk about the real reason for this post. I believe that PASTA IS A HEALTH FOOD.

It never made sense to me to categorize pasta as a bad-for-you food when the Italians, who eat it frequently (sometimes daily), are generally pretty long-lived. They're not as obese, on average, as Americans and they don't get chronic ailments like diabetes and cardiovascular disease at any where near our rates. Researchers have theorized that it's the olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, and/or red wine that explains why the Mediterranean Diet is so good for the Italians -- and us. Fine, let's make all these foods a part of our diets and reap their benefits. What a lucky thing that pasta often makes use of some or all of them!

Of course, it may not be a great idea to slather your pasta with cream and cheese. These are likely to slather your arteries with plaque over time. But if you emphasize tomatoes and beans and veggies in your sauce, and use cheese as a condiment -- if at all -- a bowl of pasta makes a perfectly wonderful and balanced dinner entree.

Okay, enough yakking. Here's a quick and simple pasta recipe that is definitely good for you. It contains all the Mediterranean health elixers mentioned above, plus shiitake mushrooms, of the healing foods of the Far East.

CAPELLINI WITH TOMATOES, GARBANZOS, AND FRESH SHIITAKES
Yield: 4 servings

8 ounces (225 g) dried capellini
4 ounces (115 g) fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons (28 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (480 g) canned diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
1/4 cup (60 ml) dry red wine
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Several grinds black pepper

Put several quarts of water in a stockpot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the capellini and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the discard the stems of the shiitake mushrooms (if you make vegetable stock at home, these are a great addition to the pot). Dice the mushroom caps. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms to the HOT oil and cook without stirring for 1 minute, then turn them and cook 1 minute longer. You want them to brown a bit before adding any other ingredients.

Add the onion, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt; stir and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, garbanzos, wine, oregano, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook 5 minutes.

Drain the cooked pasta, reserving about a cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the sauce in the saute pan and toss to combine. If the mixture seems to dry, add some of the reserved cooking water to achieve the right consistency. Be careful not to thin it out too much.

If you have some fresh basil or parsley on had, scatter some chopped herbs over the pasta and serve.

Dance while you cook...

2006-02-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

I seem to be in the mood for soup these days. Not too surprising when it's cold and windy outside. This one is tasty served with corn tortillas and a lime-seasoned salad. (Those of you who read my last post know I'm really into limes.)

Once again, this recipe is from my latest, 15-Minute Vegetarian. Yes, it's really that easy. If you're not in a hurry, of course, you can make your own veggie stock and cook the beans from scratch. You can even make your own pumpkin puree, though I must confess I don't make time for that anymore. I've become a bit of a sucker for convenience -- but not at the expense of quality.

Not all canned beans are created equal, for instance. Shop around and try different brands. You'll find they vary a lot in taste and texture. I always buy organic and look for low-sodium (or "no salt added") versions of any canned or packaged foods. I like to control the sodium content, thank you very much.

Stock your cupboard with some quality convenience foods and you can make a healthy vegetarian meal in a snap of the fingers (or two). Come to think of it, put on some energetic Latin-inspired music while you're cooking (Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge? Los Lonely Boys?) to spice up your attitude as you spice up the soup.

After all, dancing's another way to keep warm...

TEX-MEX BLACK BEAN AND PUMPKIN SOUP
Yield: 6 servings

2 cans (15 ounces, or 420 g. each) black beans
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon pure chili powder (the kind that's just ground chiles, without salt or anything else added)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups (.95 L) vegetable broth
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (15 ounces, or 420 g) pumpkin puree
1/4 cup (15 g) minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon (15 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice

Place the beans in a colander, rinse briefly, and set aside to drain well.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a stockpot and saute the onion, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the broth, black beans, and garlic and bring to a boil over high heat.

Stir in the pumpkin puree until well blended and simmer gently until heated through, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice and serve. (With heated corn tortillas and a lime-infused salad, if so inspired.)

Orange, lemon, lime -- aren't they sublime?

2006-02-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

I'm convinced the gods and goddesses put citrus trees on this earth to help us feel better about winter. When it's cold and gray and wet in the world, we need bright flavors and colors to cheer us up -- and so there is citrus. I love oranges, tangerines, tangelos, key limes and Persian limes, grapefruit, and even kumquats. I have used them all in my cooking, in addition to enjoying them raw. Persian limes, especially, work hard for me, lending the perfect perky flavor note to any Mexican, Southwest, Southeast Asian, or Indian dish.

Yes, I love all citrus fruits, but the one I couldn't live without is the lemons. Every backyard should sport a Meyer lemon tree. This is the thinner-skinned variety that has a more subtle sourness than the hard-skinned Eureka. A Meyer lemon produces a lot of light and lovely juice that's great for lemony desserts and certain savory dishes. Here's a Greek-inspired soup that highlights its refreshing but not-too-sour flavor. It's pure comfort food from my latest cookbook, 15-Minute Vegetarian (you can learn more about it by clicking on the title in the sidebar to the right, if so inspired).

BTW, lemons are loaded with vitamin C, bioflavanoids, and other super-nutrients, a great health boon during cold and flue season.

Blessings and bon appetit!

EGG-LEMON SOUP WITH SPINACH AND RICE
Yield: 4 Servings
This recipe calls for pre-cooked rice. You can find frozen cooked rice these days, both white and brown varieties, in some supermarkets and specialty food shops. (Try Trader Joe's if there's one in your area.) Of course, if you cook rice on a regular basis, as I do, you always have some hanging around the fridge. This is a great way to use it up.

2 tablespoons (28 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup (160 g) diced yellow onion
4 cups (.95 L) vegetable broth
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups (295 g) cooked brown or white rice
2 large eggs (organic and free-range, please -- or from your own healthy and happy chickens!)
1/3 cup (80 ml) freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Several grinds black pepper
8 ounces (225 g) baby spinach leaves

Heat the oil over medium heat in a stockpot and saute the onion until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a microwave oven until steaming hot, about 2 minutes. Add the hot broth, garlic, and rice to the stockpot; cover, and bring to a simmer over high heat.

Meanwhile, place the eggs and lemon juice in a medium bowl and lightly beat with a fork. Slowly add about 1/2 cup (120 ml) of hot broth to the egg mixture and beat lightly to warm the eggs so they don't curdle when added to the soup. Repeat this process with two more half-cups of hot broth.

Turn off the heat and add the egg mixture to the soup, stirring gently to incorporate it. Gently stir in the salt, pepper, and spinach. Cover and allow the soup to stand in the pan for about 5 minutes before serving. Stir to combine and ladle into individual soup bowls.

Wine country notes

2006-02-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

My super-spouse, Tad, and I met our good old friends Yvonne and Dennis in Healdsburg, for a Valentine's weekend celebration of life, love, food, and wine.

Healdsburg is a sweet small town about 1.5 hours north of San Francisco that's the epicenter of the Sonoma County wine country. Dozens of excellent tasting rooms within a 10-mile radius of the town square; wonderful restaurants on almost every corner; vintage rummage shops and chi-chi boutiques galore (to satisfy shoppers on both ends of the spectrum); great bakery, great cafe, great burrito joint. Use the public restrooms at the police station down the street if the line's too long at the wonderful but pricey Oakville Grocery. It's spacious, clean, and safe from terroir-ists (an in-joke for those wine snobs among us).

Lambert Bridge and Everett Ridge wineries publicized a joint Sweet and Savory tasting extravaganza for the Valentine revelers in the valley over the weekend. Everett Ridge won my heart by putting out a huge, whole round of Humboldt Fog -- the most mouth-watering goat-cheese ever made (just a hundred miles of so north of the winery, I might add). Lambert Bridge, on the other hand, won kudos for their sweets -- namely a house-made dark chocolate brownie with a baked-in sort of frosting/glaze. Amazing with the estate port.

Also included in our wine tasting (and purchasing) was Preston Vineyards at the northern end of the beautiful Dry Creek Valley. Lou Preston and his wife have lived on this land for 40 years and offer fantastic wine, bread, olive oil, and olives. It's a bucolic place to kick off your shoes and picnic under a redwood tree, or try your hand at bocci ball (weekdays only).

We've spent countless hours in Healdsburg, but didn't discover The Cheese Shop until this trip. It's owned and operated by Doralice Handal. Lovely person, lovely selection of artisan cheeses, bread, olives, and other gourmet goodies. Y & D insisted on a return visit on day 2 to replenish their supply of lucques (crunchy green olives in a mild brine) decimated by our gourmandizing on day 1. I purchased a Spanish smoked paprika for kitchen experimentation. I'll post some of my successes here for any interested cooks who happen by.

Sonoma County is an unabashed foodie haven, and I always comes alive there to the abudance of creative foodstuffs northern California has to offer. During the summer months, the Sonoma County Farmtrails program adds fantastic outdoor produce stalls to the wine road meandering.

I love hiking the coast and the mountains, but the Healdsburg area is all-in-all my #1 weekend destination. Check it out.

Early spring reverie

2006-02-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

A week since I posted anything new. Bad, bad blogger! Spent part of it in Sacramento, visiting old high school girlfriends. Perfect evening on the river, like it was summertime instead of early February.

Back home, I notice buds popping out on trees and shrubs all over the Bay Area. The birds are busy, darting among the tangled branches of the sprawling wisteria vine out back that is sporting a few fragrant flower clusters -- already!

Such signs of spring always gladden my heart, promising beauty and bounty as the light returns. Now, though, my happiness is clouded by concern. What if another storm comes through and blows off all the early blossoms? Not good for the fruit harvest, for sure. And the bees can't make honey without plenty of flowers.

Of course, in my privileged corner of the world, I don't really have to worry. Monterey Market, my favorite produce market in Berkeley, will continue to have way too much of everything at low prices. California supermarkets and farmers markets and roadside stands will still offer their wares to consumers, sometimes 24/7. I will continue to feast on the fat of the land, and to feed my friends and family well and abundantly.

So why this slight twinge of worry or regret, this haze on the lens as I gaze upon the sunlit winter garden. Chalk it up to existential angst in the age of global warming, I guess. And my awareness that there are so many in other parts of the world who don't have enough, who will suffer even more if the world food supply diminishes.

I vow to dance more, sing more, celebrate life with my heart and senses fully open. I vow to not overeat, overindulge, overconsume. "Live simply, that others may simply live" will be my motto this year.

Here's a recipe that is simplicity itself, and perfect for early spring weather... (from 15-Minute Vegetarian, which you can order from this blog--see the menu of books in the right-hand column).

Blessings and bon appetit!

PASTA IN BROTH WITH PESTO AND CHARD

7 cups (1.7 L) vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (115 g) dried cappellini (angel hair pasta)
6 cups (215 g) diced chard leaves
1/4 cup (65 g) prepared basil pesto
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Bring the broth, garlic, and salt to a boil over high heat in a covered stockpot. Break the capellini strands in half, then in half again, and add them to the boiling broth, along with the chard. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the pesto and black pepper and stir to combine.

Chanterelle heaven

2006-02-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

We were blessed indeed on that chilly January morning to unearth 15 pounds of meaty chanterelles within about 20 minutes. Here they are.

Everyone took home a few pounds. Here's a list of what I did with my share of the loot.
1. Sauteed in olive oil until carmelized. Added minced garlic and salt during last 2 minutes of cooking time. Served on toasted rustic bread. You know what I mean by rustic, don't you? Crusty and chewy, and sold in a whole loaf for freshness. (See my post entitled Bread Lament for more on that subject.)
2. Cooked in a tomato sauce with Italian herbs and eggplant, served with gorgonzola polenta.
3. Sauteed with onion at the beginning of curried lentil and chard soup.
4. Added to breakfast eggs and eaten in corn tortillas with salsa.

The fungus among us are a culinary gold mine. Seek out a mushroom club in your area and join the forage...

Humungous fungus among us

2006-02-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

Word has it that this is a great year for chanterelles in California. Judging from my own experience, it's a fact. Got called to a friend's place to help harvest the strange mushrooms he had found protruding from the ground under the oaks on his property near Cloverdale. We went, we foraged, we feasted.

Here's the happy band of mushroom hunters (that is a one-year old child, not a hobbit, in our midst).

Next post shows the harvest, and tells you a little about what we did with all that abundance.

A bit of a hit

2006-02-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post a photo of tonight's dinner at my house (sorry it's not very high-quality; I'm still learning).

Here's how it was done, in case you're interested:

1: Saute onion, small carrot bits, and sliced fresh shiitakes in dark sesame oil for a few minutes.
2. Add soy sauce, paper-thin slices of fresh ginger, some left over brown (or white) rice, and a drizzle of water. Cover and cook over medium for 5 minutes.
3. Add chopped leafy greens of choice. Cover again and cook until the greens wilt.
4. Oh, and I put some cayenne pepper into the saute, and sprinkled on some minced fermented black beans from the Asian grocery a couple of blocks from my house. (Keep the soy quantity down if you're using those black beans. They're really intense.)
5. If you feel the need for concentrated protein, add tofu (or even chicken or shrimp or ??? for you omnivores out there).
6. Enjoy with loved ones, if available. If not, relish your solitude.

Pretty big "yum."

Welcome, old friends & new

2006-02-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

Greetings.

If you're someone who just got my email announcing the launch of this blog, you're among my inner circle. Welcome and THANK YOU for bothering to check out my efforts.

I'd really like to make this site useful and fun so you'll come back often, and so perfect strangers will be clamoring for my next post. How can I do that? Is there anything in particular you'd like me to write about? Do you have food questions, issues, ideas you'd like me to address? Please leave me a comment to let me know you've been here.

Blessings and bon appetit!

A mushy message

2006-02-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Every overnight guest who wakes up to a bowl of Mindy's mush asks me why it tastes so good. I guess mush has a generally pretty dismal reputation. That must be because people don't understand that mush is a blank canvas, awaiting your creative brilliance.

Here's what to do. First, make sure you have organic 5-grain cereal or steel-cut oats or rolled oats in the house. Also stock up on dried fruit, nuts, nut butters, soy milk (or rice or almond milk, or cow juice if you prefer--organic, please), and maple syrup. There are other great additions, too, but I'll get to those later.

If you're cooking 5-grain or steel-cut mush, it will need more water and longer cooking. If you never have much time in the morning, you can cook up a big batch of these bigger grains and use it for days, or just use regular rolled oats instead (don't buy "quick-cooking" rolled oats; they don't have enough texture when cooked). Either way, add some cut up dried fruit (raisins, figs, apricots, what have you) while the pot's bubbling. Cook as directed, then start "decorating." Oh, and be sure to add a scant pinch of salt to the cooking water.

Put blobs of the mush into bowls and if you're using nut butter (cashew macadamia nut or almond are my personal faves), stir it into the mush. At this point you could also stir in some ground flax seed (a must in my bowl) and spirulina or other super-green powder (note to self: remember this on St. Patrick's Day).

Now top with some soy milk, but not too much. You want the mush to be protruding from the liquid like a lovely island. Drizzle on just a bit of maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon, then top with a little bit of chopped fresh nuts of choice. Pecans, almonds, walnuts -- or some of each. Don't stir anymore -- you want the bowl to look appetizing with all those colors and textures going on. You could add some chopped fresh fruit, too, for further beautifying.

Serve hot, with maple syrup and milk set out on the table so people can add more if desired.

VERY IMPORTANT: Sit down with your family/friends and discuss what's up for everyone. Morning is also a great time to read aloud a paragraph or two of some great spiritual teacher (Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn's books come to mind) or a yummy nature poem (by Mary Oliver, for instance). Sets a positive tone for everyone's day.

That's it. Pretty simple.

Bread lament

2006-02-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

I promised rants, so here's one:

Why is the typical American bread so very boring, so lacking in color and structure and personality? Why are most of the loaves on our supermarket shelves loaded with additives? How could something as wonderful as bread come to this?

Bread, after all, is the ancient "staff of life." When properly made, it provides complex carbohydrates, B vitamins, and fiber. Sadly, most American bread delivers nothing but empty calories. Staring at my supermarket shelves, I want to scream. But I don't. I just turn on my heels and go shopping someplace else, where quality is the raison d'etre.

Fortunately -- VERY fortunately -- I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where food artisans are plentiful, so I have several fantastic bakeries within a few miles of my home. The "real bread" movement is alive and well in other parts of the country, too, providing people with chewy, thick-crusted bread, fermented with high-quality natural yeast, sometimes using whole grain flours, sometimes studded with rosemary or olives or garlic. In short, bread as it was meant to be.

Check out your local options. Maybe there's a baker in town who takes pride in her products, who uses traditional techniques and top-notch ingredients. If she makes a crusty loaf of whole-grain wheat or rye bread, you're in luck. If she doesn't, ask her to start and promise to become her best customer.

Go on, speak up. Demand excellence. It's a revolutionary act in our bleached out, polluted, over-processed culture when we take a stand for what is authentic, pure, and simple.

February feasting

2006-02-01T10:31:00.000-08:00

News flash: It gets cold in California. Folks visiting from the Midwest would laugh out loud to hear me complain about temps of Fahrenheit 45, but hey, I have small bones and really feel the chill.

When I lived in Sacramento, California's capitol, February was often the month of fog. Mists would rise up off the two local rivers and envelop the city in a gray blanket that stifled every cheerful thought, sometimes for weeks on end. In the San Francisco Bay area, the weather is more dynamic. Right now it's overcast and a bit breezy (and did I mention cold?). This afternoon it might be sunny enough for a walk along the white-capped water. This is one of the reasons I love it here. Change is always in the air.

I've been leafing through my cookbooks, looking for a great cold-weather recipe, the first to appear on this blog. Will it be a casserole, stiry-fry, or hearty soup? Since I've written 13 cookbooks, there are lots to choose from. It's an embarrassment of riches.

Here's one from my latest: The 15-Minute Vegetarian. It was inspired by a dish I once ate at an award-winning Indian restaurant in Berkeley (one of many, I might add). If you think you hate okra, this recipe will convert you. All the ingredients are available year-round in my supermarket; hopefully at yours, too. (The book, by the way, just came out and is available now, in your local stores or online.)

Can you really make this stew in 15 minutes? Depends on whether you're a raw beginner or have some experience with cooking. Here are the ground rules: Set out all your ingredients and implements before starting the clock and read through the recipe to get an overall picture of the process before you begin. Then stay focused and work with an attitude of calm efficiency. It may take 20 minutes or so the first time out, but this really is a very simple recipe, sure to satisfy on a winter day.

CURRIED OKRA AND BLACK-EYED PEA STEW
This hearty stew is an exotic way to enjoy two favorite foods of the American South, okra and black-eyed peas. Serve it with toasted chapatis (Indian flatbread) and a leafy salad for a perfect cold-weather meal.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (360 g) canned diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups (355 ml) vegetable broth
1/2 cup (120 ml) light coconut milk
1 tablespoons mild curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoong round cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can (15 ounces, or 420 g) black-eyed peas
2 1/2 cups (450) frozen sliced okra
1 carrot, finely diced
1/3 cup (60 g) dried couscous

In a large stockpot ov er medium-high heat, combine the tomatoes with the broth,c oconut milk, curry powder, garlioc, cardamom, and salt. Place the black-eyed peas in a colander, rinse, and drain. Add them to the soup, along with the okra and carrot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then add the couscous, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

A beginning...

2006-01-31T21:27:00.000-08:00

To an unusual degree, my life is about food.

Like you, I eat or drink something many times every day. This is universal to the human experience (at least for those of us lucky enough to be adequately fed). But my focus on food goes further, because I earn my living by inventing scrumptious vegetarian dishes and sharing them with the world.

When you read the recipes in my cookbooks, you won't find "peaceful heart" and "awareness" in the ingredients list, but I believe these components make a difference in the quality of the finished product. I believe that when we bring the best of who we are to the cooking process, something extraordinary happens: the food we create and share with loved ones doesn't just satisfy our physical hunger, it nourishes us to the soul.

For me, cooking is an artistic pursuit and a spiritual practice. All my senses come alive as I blend and layer different colors, textures, aromas, and flavors -- and I am consciously cultivating generosity, patience, gratitude, and other spiritual qualities in the process.

So this blog I'm creating is about food and spirit and life. It comes from my heart and is informed by decades of passionate vegetarian cooking. In addition to my own musings, it will from time to time include poems (my own and others'), recipes, quotations from famous foodies, and more. It won't try to sell you on any dietary dogma, because we all have to make our own way to health and consciousness.

Here's an original poem in honor of my blog-launching day:

May my efforts
in the art of cooking
nurture goodness,
cause joy to blossom,
make many hearts
serene and content --
free for a few delicious moments
from desire.

~ Mindy Toomay