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The VeggieHeadOnline Vegetarian Cooking Blog!
Do you ever wonder what a vegetarian eats every day? Think it's all rabbit food? Ever wonder about transitioning toward a vegan diet from a lacto-vegetarian diet?
Come on, follow along with the Lickel Sisters on their vegetarian & vegan culinary adventures!
10/12/06 -
Heather hosted a little soiree to celebrate the birthday of a co-worker,
and she put together a fantastic buffet of appetizers! She started with the
Spiced Nuts, pg 68 from
La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer.. It was hard not to shovel them into my
mouth they were so good. And a pretty easy recipe. She also prepared
Mushroom Pate, Pg 60 from the
same book. Wow. She served it with Triscuits and everyone just loved it. It had
the exact same consistency of a meaty pate, but of course, there was no cruelty
involved in Sarah Kramer's version! Heather was also dying to try out homemade
hummus and found a nice recipe in the Vegetarian (Best of Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library). (pg 20). Now,
I'm a little bit picky when it comes to hummus. It's got to be really fresh. She
did a nice job on this. It was bright and fresh tasting and also a hit with the
guests. The biggest surprise, however, was the flat-out awesome
Sweet Potato and Pea Salad
from none other than Robin Robertson's The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook
9/20/06 - I surprised Heather with a pseudo-steakhouse dinner. I
cooked up Worthington Stakelets, tossed up a fresh salad with baby greens, and
prepared Mushroom Stuffed Potatoes,
pg 189 from the Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet
9/2/06 - The Lickel Sisters took a short sabbatical to relocate and complete all necessary tasks related to this kind of ordeal. Most meals consisted of pizzas and other carryout. Over Labor Day weekend, I prepared a meal for my family to celebrate getting all moved in as well as a birthday in the family. Fortunately, all these recipes I found online! I started with the Green Onion Dip found on the Vegweb site. I served this vegan dip with baby carrots and celery, and it was a huge hit. It's something different from the usual ranch dip or dill dip. For the main course, I served an Apple Walnut Salad with a Maple Vinaigrette from the culinary in the desert website, this was a refreshing salad with a variety of textures. The pasta dish was an angel hair pasta (we polyglots say capellini) and the sauce was made of garlic and onions sauted in olive oil, added to crushed tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano, and simmered in port wine. It took a little working with the ingredients, adding here and there to taste, but it also was a nice late summer lite entre. We had to save our appetites for dessert -- New York Cheesecake. I'm afraid I didn't try tofu cheesecake, it was made with real cream cheese. I like the kind that are baked, and this was no disappointment! I can't remember where I found the recipe! Waaaaa!
6/28/06 - We
busted out the All-Clad slow cooker, and you know what that means. It means
we'll be cooking with Robin Robertson again! This time it was the
Maple Baked Beans, pg 98 of
Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals that Are Ready When You are
6/25/06 - Heather, fueled by her love affair with flax, got up again and prepared a flax-filled breakfast. She did the Scrambled Tofu - pg 24 again, but added potatoes, and that was even better. I think we'll keep working with it and next time we'll add a can of mushrooms, or maybe fresh mushrooms. She also made French Toast - pg 28 from the Flax cookbook. These were hearty, as she also used a wheat bread, much more substantial than with a white bread. I think if we keep coming up with winners from this flax cookbook, Heather may become a breakfast lover after all!
6/24/06 - It was one of those afternoons when a hankering for baking over took us. We cracked open The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer, our favorite Canadian vegans, and baked up a batch of Brownie cookies, pg 185 and sugar cookies, pg 182. The Brownie Cookies were marvelous! Really moist with chunks of semi-sweet chocolate, very hard to believe they were vegan. Very brownie-like in flavor. I thought they rocked. The Sugar Cookies were also pretty good, but it's very hard to compare to my Grandma Lickel's own sugar cookies, which remain in my heart as the best EVER. My grams is a master baker and literally perfected the sugar cookie. Seriously. Does everyone feel that way about their grandmothers? The vegan sugar cookies were not as cakey, but more dry and crumbly. They were sweet enough, and make very good, smooth canvases for frosting. They would be fine vegan holiday cookies.
6/20/06 - Heather continues to worship the cookbook repertoire of Robin Robertson. Tonight she cooked up some Peanut Sauce, pg 279 from 366 Simply Delicious Dairy-Free Recipes. This was luscious over some angel hair pasta (we polyglots and savvy gastronomes call it capellini, or course). Really easy to make, very peanutty, with just a bit of a kick with a half teaspoon of hot red pepper oil. It's a great dish to whip up when you come home from a late evening at the office and you just can't bear to look at another packet of ramen noodles, even though you're on a bit of a budget. A little cilantro and scallions liven it up and give it texture. Ms. Robertson also suggests this sauce as a dipper for eggrolls and tempura, and I'm inclined to believe that in fact would be incredibly tasty, and something a little different from sweet/sour sauce.
6/18/06 - Heather, very uncharacteristically, prepared breakfast this morning. She's not a breakfast person - not to eat, let alone to cook! But let's face it: We're flipping over flax! She prepared Pancakes - pg 26 of Flax - The Superfood! Put a little Earth Smart spread on there, and some pure maple syrup from the North Woods of America's Dairyland, and this is quite a treat! Heather felt that the batter could be a little thinner, because the pancakes cooked up really thick, probably an inch or so. So maybe a little more soymilk there. These pancakes are totally vegan and a kitchen well-stocked with staples will probably already have everything on hand. Flax can be an egg substitute, so it's great for doing vegan baking. 2 grams of fiber per pancake! She also prepared Scrambled Tofu - pg 24, which was pretty tasty as well. She added onions like the recipe suggested, and I think some potato chunks, mushrooms and tomatoes would even jazz it up further. This also was totally vegan and much more flavorful than a scrambled egg dish. Nutritional yeast gave it just a hint of a cheesy flavor. And when has there ever been fiber in egg dishes - scrambled tofu -- 2 grams per serving! Oh Flax, is there anything you can't do?
6/17/06 -- I went on a little baking expedition, and thus begun a foray into the super excellent world of flax seed. Not sure about flax, like what in the Sam Hill it actually is? No worries, I'll have a little article for you toute de suite that explains flax in all its glory and why you should incorporate it into your diet. I prepared the Scones - pg 42 of Flax - The Superfood! It called for only 1 1/2 tablespoons of a granulated sweetener - I used Succanat - so they tasted much more savory than sweet, and I would either follow the recipe as directed but keep out the raisins and use it for a soup dipping bread, or increase the sweetener. And you probably could use some different fruit, like perhaps berries. I'm going to try that next time so I can eat these in place of the blueberry scones I get at Starbucks...They had the texture of scones, and looked like scones, only these were vegan and really, really healthy! 2 grams of fiber per scone! They bake quickly and are easy to prepare. I also baked the Very Berry Muffins - pg 38, I used fresh blueberries since they are in season. This recipe called for a liquid sweetener, so we used agave nectar - that's right, a little cactus juice - and that turned out pretty good. 3 grams of fiber per muffin. So as the counterpoint to the slogan: Beef - it's what's rotting in your colon, we'll say: Flax - it's what pushing all the toxic waste out of your colon!! I'm not sure if the flax marketing folks will find that very charming. But it's oh, so true! Not sure about agave nectar, like what in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is it? No worries, I'll add that to my list of articles I'll be composing. If you're a veggiehead with diabetes, pre-diabetes, or insulin resistance, you'll want to check out this stuff - you may find it a satisfactory sugar substitute.
6/8/06 - Heather prepared Hoisin-Glazed Tofu over Rice - Pg 22 of Rice & Spice by Robin Robertson. Sometimes we Lickel Sisters fixate on one cookbook for a few days. We had prepared this awhile back, before starting the blog, and we make notes on the page. Last time we didn't have scallions but noted that scallions would have been good. So we had lots of scallions. Hoisin sauce is a tasty Chinese sauce, that we easily found in our local grocery store.
6/7/06 - Since Heather was doing some overtime in the salt mines, it was Fend for Yourself Night for dinner. Fortunately it wasn't difficult, because Heather had stayed up late last evening and prepared Indian Rice Pudding with Cardamom & Rose Water - pg. 134 of Rice & Spice by Robin Robertson. In other words, if you're familiar with Indian cuisine, that's called kheer. It's difficult to describe if you haven't yet experienced the subtlety of Indian cuisine, and the different spices. This is a delicate rice dessert, served chilled. It is sweet, but in a gentle way and the cardamom and rosewater come out in little hints. It's one of those foods that a person should eat mindfully, in order to notice and appreciate all the things that are going on in the mouth. It would make a great dessert for a summer meal, a nice finish to a particularly piquant entree.
6/6/06 - We tag-teamed tonight with the dinner preparation. I got home first and started up some long-grain white rice in the steamer. Heather arrived later and prepared Nigerian Black Eyed Peas - Pg 57 from Rice & Spice by Robin Robertson. We really liked this dish. It was super easy and fast to prepare and we had all ingredients already on hand. It is a very healthy and unusual variation on the beans and rice theme, and has a nice piquant tangy flavor, with tomatoes, onions and spices with the beans.It's also colorful and has good eye appeal. It smelled wonderful. Heather stated after this great meal was finished, "That's why Robin Robertson is my favorite cookbook author."
5/28/06 - It was a lovely day in America's Dairyland, and we fired up the grill for a belated Mother's Day luncheon for our mom, grandma and auntie. We prepared Grilled Artichokes, from an online recipe by the Artichoke Advisory Board of California. We did prepare them the night before in the marinade, and it is a little labor intensive...but oh so worth it! They tasted wonderful, and it's a little something different from the usual grilled veggies. They look really nice grilled as well. We also did Grilled Portobello Mushrooms, from another online recipe. These were divine. Succulent! The garlic butter as a basting sauce was delish. You could do these completely vegan by skipping the butter, and just have the olive oil. They get really juicy on the grill. We tried some with the gills left on and a couple with the gills scooped out. Leaving the gills in seemed to be the best bet, and they don't really get too charred. We also basted fresh asparagus spears in some olive oil and grilled them until tender. Which is the key. Grill them a little past al dente, and let them shrivel just a bit, that's really when the flavor is the best. If they're too crisp, they don't seem as flavorful. But be careful not to char the tips! Two of three of our dining guests are vegetarian, with Grams partaking in the flesh-eating whenever she's not with her family...and our mom was gaga over everything on her plate. She's a good person to cook for, because she makes a big deal out of whatever you prepare for her. It's good for the ego. Thanks, Mom!
5/6/06 - It was Heather's turn to provide breakfast treats at her office, so she prepared Blueberry Bars from The Giant Book of Tofu Cooking by K. Lee Evans and Chris Rankin., and Cinnamon-Walnut Coffee Cake from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer. Both were great, the blueberry bars were packed with blueberries. The coffee cake was a super smash with Heather's colleagues, and then she got to tell them that they just ate tofu!! Isn't she sneaky? You honestly would not ever suspect that the coffee cake was totally vegan. It was moist and sweet and really decadent, and the nice crumbly topping was...well, topping on the coffee cake!
5/2/06 - Heather has really gotten into this Williams Sonoma book! She prepared the Braised Leeks. We had the Classic Mashed Potatoes again and used some of the sauce from the leeks over the potatoes, which made a nice light gravy. The leek dish was an elegant dish that showcased the subtle flavor of the leeks. Heather reports that it was a bit complicated to prepare, as the sauce needs to be reduced, but it would make a great side dish for a special meal, particularly when you want to be impressive! It has an attractive presentation as well.
4/30/06 - Heather prepared a marvelous dinner, including Classic Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus with Orange Shallot Butter, and Summer Squash Tian from Williams Sonoma Mastering Vegetables by Deborah Madison. Heather modified the potato recipe by using soymilk, but used real butter, and they were creamy and delicious. The asparagus was a gorgeous dish with steamed spears smothered with an orange buttery sauce. The tian was a layered dish with yellow summer squash and zucchini sliced over a delectable layer of red onions sauteed in olive oil, marjoram, thyme, garlic, and white wine. I am not a big fan of zucchini, but I loved this! We started the meal with a salad with jicama, grape tomatoes and pea pods, with a House Dressing from Salad Dressings 101edited by Nathan Hyam. It was a sweet and garlicky vinaigrette that was perfect over the crispy jicama. The meal was lovely on a spring evening.
4/16/06 - We decided to take over the cooking duties for our annual Easter gathering with the Lickel family. Our cousins, Teal & Lacey, joined Heather & I for a glorious Easter brunch. I prepared Belgian Potatoes with Beer & Onions from Passion for Potatoes. I also fooled the Lickels into eating tofu by preparing the awesome Scrambled Tofu with Asparagus. You can print this recipe right off the internet. It looked just like scrambled eggs and the tofu took on the flavor of the asparagus and cheese, and was a big hit with all the carnivores!!
3/25/06 - Heather prepared Sloppy Joes from The Giant Book of Tofu Cooking by K. Lee Evans and Chris Rankin. It was OK, but we enjoy our mother's scratch recipe using Morningstar Griller Crumbles better. I didn't really buy into the texture using tofu bits. The flavor was satisfactory.
2/07/06 - For lunch, I packed a Faux Chicken Salad Sandwich - pg 67 from How it All Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer. Another tempeh recipe! We discovered how reasonably priced tempeh is to buy in the store. We're learning to make it a staple in our household. This is a great sandwich to pack in a lunch. Very filling! And completely vegan! There's celery and dill pickle to add a little crunch between cubes of tempeh. The sauce is garlicky, so make sure you drink it with some green tea to cleanse your mouth before returning to work! My sandwich was on Sunny Millet Bread by Natural Ovens of Manitowoc, a magnificent bread made by a company right here in America's Dairyland! We Lickel Sisters think globally and buy locally...This is the first Barnard & Kramer cookbook, and it's such a groovy book. The design is retro and fun, and it's also really practical, with recipes for kids and even how to prepare natural beauty treatments. And you have to check out the "45 Things You Can Do with Vinegar." Who thought such a malodorous substance could be so miraculous?
2/5/06 - For dinner, Heather prepared BBQ Tempeh in Buns - pg 38 from The Tempeh Cookbook by Dorothy R. Bates. Heather was a big fan, and so was our Mom. Me, not so much. The sauce was a little too tangy for me, a little too vinegary. The tempeh did have a good texture that works well with a BBQ sauce, and perhaps next summer, we can try this recipe on the grill and see if it works.
2/04/06 - This morning, we prepared Banana Waffles - pg. 40 from The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer. These were hearty, sweet waffles that went perfectly with some Morningstar Farms Veggie Strips or "faux bacon" and fresh cut pineapple and oranges. These were a nice change from usual buttermilk waffles. The banana really added a nice flavor. We did not put the whole batter in the food processor as the recipe recommended since our processor is too small, but the batter was not too gloppy and the waffles turned out fine. We did substitute almond milk instead of soy milk, as we prefer the taste of almond milk. We did include the optional nutmeg and it added a little extra hint of flavor. This recipe was quick to prepare, produced very fine waffles, and a great way to use up your last banana that is approaching the point of no return in ripeness. Most of the other ingredients are already on hand. We used Earth Balance spread on the waffles and used real maple syrup from the great north woods of our state. This cookbook is the second in a trilogy of vegan cookbooks that are useful, fun and have truly tasty recipes.
2/02/06 - For dinner, we prepared The Shadrach - pg. 284 from Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook by Robin Robertson. Delicious! Juicy sandwiches that resemble a Reuben but with tempeh in place of the corned beef. The Quick 1000 Island dressing recipe was really good. It tasted great, it was easy and totally vegan! We used Frank's Bavarian Style Sauerkraut because it is sweeter and has caraway seeds in it. For the cheese, we did go lacto and bought Deppler's Baby Swiss, a delectable creamy mild cheese that we grew up eating. It's one of the most difficult challenge in moving toward a vegan diet - we grew up in (and still live in) America's Dairyland and ate cheese fresh from the factory. Unfortunately, we have not found a soy cheese with that kind of flavor. But we're trying!
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