The Peaceable Kingdom

So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 114, The Mega Post

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:09:11 -0700

Time really flies. It's the middle of July now. I haven't been blogging much lately. I have a very good excuse this time. I was transitioning to Ubuntu Hardy (a very popular Linux distro) in the past two weeks. I was really busy configuring my system, getting our wireless network to work, and synchronizing the iPod Touch with my new Ubuntu system. I'm really excited about this move because I'm finally free of Windows and all the Windows woes. And I can cut our future expenses down - no more software purchase! And in the midst of setting up my own notebook, my husband's Windows Vista was actually wiped out by a serious and malicious virus. All of his files and his Windows system files were deleted after a reboot. We got no warning whatsoever from our expensive antivirus software. Yeah, what was I expecting a stupid little Windows program to do? The outcome is that now we are both using Ubuntu only. I guess Windows finally pissed us off enough. I'm certainly not gonna miss it.

Being inundated with setting up two Ubuntu systems, I haven't posted any food porn but I have been eating. Well, that goes without saying. I have been cooking, sort of. So this post may seem a little long.

The first photo is the Deep-Dish Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche. I saved the recipe from Vegetarian Times for several months before I felt perplexed why I hadn't made it earlier. It was worth the wait, I'm telling you. It's good for a summer dinner that will delight your taste buds, which keeps you refreshed and cheerful.

Deep-Dish Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

Here's a closeup that you can't miss. Oh, I really loved this quiche! It's also the first time that I have made a pie crust with whole wheat pastry flour. I enjoyed the whole process for a good reason then.

Deep-Dish Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

The second photo is the Lentil, Bok Choy and Potato Soup. The original recipe is Lentil, Spinach and Potato Soup by Carla of "But Did They Eat It?". I liked it very much, but didn't eat the leftover soup the second day. It's really not the soup's fault. I'm just going through a very particular food-crisis phase. I basically don't know what the heck I want to eat for the next meal.

Lentil, Bok Choy and Potato Soup

The third photo is my first attempt at making mochi. I bought a bag of mochiko a month ago and every time I saw it in my pantry, I felt guilty of not picking it up. One hot afternoon my cravings made me venture into the kitchen and made some basic sweet mochi. I was too lazy to make any azuki bean stuffing, and simply pan-fried (or rather, pan-baked) the mochi. The mildly sweet rice cakes came out so good. Boy, I love Japanese desserts! Oh, I almost forogt. I followed this recipe on Chow.com.

Pan-Fried Mochi

The next photo is Nicole's Four Grain Pancakes. I used the modified recipe by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. Kudos to both Nicole and Aparna! It's a great recipe and I totally loved these healthy and hearty pancakes. These four-grain pancakes can be easily made into savory ones that will go nicely with some beautiful soup.

Four Grain Pancakes

Yet another photo of my regular udon noodle bowl. This one consists of asparagus, dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked), and faux meatballs. The sauce is simple: a couple dashes of vegetarian oyster sauce, dark soy sauce or tamari, a pinch of hot smoked Spanish paprika and a lot of parsley.

Udon Noodles with Asparagus, Mushroom and Neatballs

And yesterday afternoon I made these beautiful Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffins. The original recipe is by Katy of Legally Vegan. She used chunky peanut butter but I'm loving the unsalted macadamia butter now so naturally I used that. I also subbed a silken tofu "egg". Definitely a keeper!

Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffins

This is after my two bites. It wasn't easy to put down my muffin to take this photo, so I didn't care much about the quality of the photo at all.

Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffin (Closeup)

Finally, I made a very simple side dish - Summer Squash Sizzle. It's just what I needed in this summer. Crispy vegetables with a hint of lemon freshness. The original recipe is found in My Vegan Cookbook. I love that Web site! Many thanks to the man behind the curtain for all those wonderful vegan recipes.

Summer Squash Sizzle

I guess I won't have much time for regular blogging yet. But I'll try to, especially I've got so much to catch up in my

Vox neighborhood. Until then, take care and God bless!

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 110

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:45:25 -0700

I don't really have time to write a post now but I do have some food porn to share. So let's get down to business immediately.

The first thing is Jamie Oliver's Asparagus, Mint and Lemon Risotto with Fresh Fava Beans. I found the recipe in Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen. I replaced dry white wine with Merlot (no choice), omitted cheese, and added fresh fava beans (a.k.a., broad beans). The risotto had a very nice and creamy Middle Eastern flavor.

Asparagus, Mint and Lemon Risotto with Fresh Fava Beans

The second thing is inevitably a dessert - Hot Fudge Cake (recipe courtesy of Jewish Vegan). Boy, it was such an ooey gooey hot cake! Hot fudge+chocolate pudding+warm chocolate cake. I wasn't so sure when the cake just came out of the oven. I'm never sure when I have to pour a lot of hot water directly over the cake dough.

Hot Fudge Cake (After Baking)

Now look at it again! After a slice was plated, I poured some of the hot fudge and pudding over cake. It was clearly the best chocolate fudge I've ever had! Everything just melted in my mouth.

Hot Fudge Cake

The last thing is Choklay's Tibetan Lentil Soup, recipe by "eat me, delicious". I don't need to say anything. The photo shows everything. Oh, just one thing: I didn't know Tibetan's eat lentils too. Did you?

Choklay's Tibetan Lentil Soup

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 109

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:03:42 -0700

I tried out a very simple yet ultra-yummy recipe of Nava Atlas - Stewed Tofu with Corn and Tomatoes. I've always enjoyed Nava's recipes because they are simple, straightforward and often involve a balanced and tasty combination of commonly-used ingredients. No fancy schmancy, and no fuss. Vegetables, grains and tofu taste good on their own, and we shall try to remember that whenever we cook. My variation of this recipe: I added a small onion (cut into half-moons), 2 celery sticks, half a red bell pepper, bok choy, and I used fresh cilantro and basil as suggested. I also subbed packaged fried tofu so I avoided pan-frying firm tofu squares. The stew is full of different textures and different tastes that blend well together.

Stewed Tofu with Corn and Tomatoes

And I'm really glad to announce that I finally tried the chocolate pudding Purplesque made a while ago, recipe by courtesy of Jugalbandi. This is clearly the best chocolate pudding (vegan or non-vegan) I've ever had. It's so chocolatey and rich that we practically inhaled it. I didn't even have a chance to photograph its complete form before it was chilled. My husband, who doesn't like any dessert, ate half of the pudding when it was still warm. The photo below was what was left for me.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding

Thanks, Purplesque, for the wonderful recommendation of this pudding! Now it's a staple in our household.

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 97, Three Is The Charm!

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:29:14 -0700

One vegan cookbook is essential. Two vegan cookbooks are fun. Three vegan cookbooks are definitely the charm. You've got a whole world to enjoy now. I actually made three things out of three different cookcooks. Well, be warned first: my sweet tooth kicked in when I was cooking.

Spanakopita In A Pie (VwaV, page 91). I still didn't get any phyllo dough. I made the pastry crusts (Veganomicon, so a 4th cookbook?) better this time and used a little less lemon juice. My husband was very pleased with the result. He said it was better than the first time I made it.

Spanakopita Pie (Take Two)

Hot Apple Turnovers (Cozy Inside, page 75). This is the first time I have tried any recipe from this cookbook though I bought it like two months ago. This is an excellent dessert choice after a hard day. The turnover wasn't overly sweet or heavy. A very gentle touch on your whole body. I was really glad I tried it.

Hot Apple Turnover

Mom's Chocolate Pudding (La Dolce Vegan!, page 207). I didn't like this pudding as much as I thought I would. It was very easy to make so I didn't mind it. It's probably just not my type of chocolate pudding. I was expecting something closer to the 75% dark chocolate, rich and velvety. But it wasn't quite there. A little too timid for my liking but it was still good enough to satisfy a chocolate craving.

Mom's Chocolate Pudding

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Thing-A-Day #5: Birthday Cupcakes

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:06:17 -0800

I can't believe I'm posting here at this hour. I feel like I haven't slept in 2 days. I actually feel as if I had been waiting for a midnight flight at the airport. Obviously I wasn't feeling too creative. Anyway, it was my mother's birthday and since she doesn't like eating much sweet food, I made half a batch of vegan cupcakes for her. They were the basic chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ~~buttercream~~ ganache frosting (VCTOTW) and a strawberry cut into halves on top. Both my husband and I took photos of the cupcakes. I like both photos below so I decided to post them together. The cupcake looked like a bunny rabbit, don't you think?

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcake

x-posted

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 75

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:07:24 -0800

My obsession with zucchini pizzas hasn't died. I made another zucchini pizza. I used the usual tomato sauce as a base and just laid some zucchini slices on top. The final step is to sprinkle some chives on top of zucchini. And voila! Our delicious tomato-zucchini pizza right out of the oven.

Tomato-Zucchini Pizza

During the dough rising hours, I found myself wanting to make a cake just to pass time. I saw the last two big oranges left on the table and naturally I made the Chocolate-Orange Cake (original recipe by Susan of Fatfree Vegan Kitcken). It's a very moist bundt cake. I didn't have any soy yogurt (and don't intend to get any) so the same amount of silken tofu was used. I used only 2/3 of the sugar called for and it worked out very well. Unfortunately, I didn't have any extra orange left to use as garnish on top. But the chocolate icing more than made up for it.

Chocolate-Orange Cake with Chocolate Icing

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 69

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:39:41 -0800

I made only half a batch of Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies (Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, page 184). Yes, I only make half a batch of everything sweet now, since I will be the only one eating them for the next few days. The new Swiss dark chocolate bars I bought were really good. They contain 85% cocoa, which makes them taste quite bitter. I love bitter chocolate bars. I guess I will be baking some chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cakes. OMG, it's almost like everything starts with "choco". Enough digression. The spice cookies were GOOD! I ate two right out of the oven. The melty chocolate chunks were oozing out. Ultimate yumminess! By the way, I used oat flour instead of barley flour (1:1). You can also use all-purpose flour (less 2 tablespoons). I will be making more wheat-free baked goods from now on because they taste better and have a better texture somehow.

Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies

I also made the first vegan Stuffing in my life. The original recipe is by Veglicious. I followed it strictly so you will have to check out the blog yourself. It's really worth your time though. I found a few great vegan recipes there.

Stuffing

Personally, I don't think it's quite fair that stuffing is only a side dish. Just because stuffing is typically used to stuff a dead turkey's body afte its innards are taken out, it's only called stuffing? We call it Beyond Stuffing in our household. It's perfectly fit to be an entrée.

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Really Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (VCTOTW)

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:52:54 -0800

I've been trying to make a smaller batch of cupcakes now. Usually 4-6 instead of 12 every batch. This works really well since I don't want to end up eating the same cupcakes for the next 3-4 days. However, I still have to learn how to cut down the frosting for 4-6 cupcakes. I obviously made too much chocolate buttercream frosting. The consequences are: (1) I piled way too much frosting on each cupcake because I'm greedy; and (2) I ended up eating too much chocolate buttercream. Oh, don't forget: (3) I love Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Golden Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

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Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:30:00 -0800

I said I wasn't going to make any desserts until Christmas but the season of baking just got to me. I can't stop myself from baking cute little cupcakes. I made these Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes from VCTOTW. They were so wonderful that I bookmarked some more cupcake recipes to try in the next 2 days. I guess my diet plan is shot to hell, as always. But let's just all be merry now.

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 50

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:45:14 -0800

There is nothing too special to speak of this time. I simply made a chickpea-quinoa pilaf (from ~~VwaV~~ Veganomicon) which was very healthy, and tasty, of course. I would love to add some edamame in it next time.

Chickpea-Quinoa Pilaf

The raspberry blackout cake came out of the oven smelling divine. But I didn't make the chocolate ganache-y frosting because I ate too many fauxstess cupcakes in one day due to that frosting. Too dangerous. I left the cake as it is, but it was already too good to resist.

Raspberry Blackout Cake

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