Fig Pizza and White Bean Soup

I've been saving my bottle of The Grade's Sea-Fog Sauvignon Blanc (2009) for a nice occasion, but now that finals have snuck up on us, I decided we could use some pampering. About a month ago, my family enjoyed a lovely weekend in Napa where The Grade Cellars had prepared a wonderful tasting for us. The night before, we had dinner at Tra Vigne, in St. Helena and I had the Wood Oven Baked Fig Pizza without the gorgonzola cheese. I loved it. So, to go along with our Sauvignon Blanc for the evening, Nick and I recreated this pizza (with figs and mixed greens from the Moraga Farmers Market) and made a delicious soup to go along with it (with yellow carrots also from the Farmers Market).

Nick made his dad's delicious pizza/ focaccia dough recipe for our pizza:

2 pkg Dry Active Yeast
2 cups tepid water (about 30 seconds in the microwave)
2 tbsp sugar
¼ c. olive oil
½ c. vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
5-6 c. white flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Microwave your water for 30 seconds. Pour in yeast and sugar. Stir up to wake up the yeast.

Mix together all the liquid ingredients in your mixing bowl. Add 2-3 c. of the flour and stir together with a wooden spoon to begin pulling dough together. Add salt. (According to my dad, salt can kill your yeast. So he adds the salt at this point rather than adding it to the liquids. Dead yeast =flat pizza). Keep adding flour and mixing until the dough begins to hold together and you can begin kneading by hand.

Knead on a flat floured surface. Continue adding flour and kneading until the dough reaches the desired consistency. Tuck your dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl with a little bit of olive oil. Flip the dough around so that it gets coated with the oil.

Cover the bowl with a clean dish rag and set aside in a warm place. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size (about 45-60 min). Punch down the dough, recover with the cloth, and let the dough double again. Spread the dough out onto its pan, cover with a towel and let it rest again for about a half hour.

While the dough is resting, this is a good time to prepare the toppings. You'll need:

About 3 figs

1/2 an onion

Garlic

Vegan Blue Cheese

Mixed Greens

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive oil

Agave nectar

Caramelize half of a while onion, along with some chopped garlic in olive oil. Slice figs, crumble vegan blue cheese and mix balsamic, olive oil and agave together.

Put the dough in for a few minutes before topping it to let the dough set up.

Drizzle a small amount of the balsamic glaze over the dough. Then, top with caramelized onions, garlic, figs and vegan blue cheese. Cook for about 16- 18 minutes.

Once the pizza is done, top with mixed greens and drizzle the rest of the balsamic glaze over the pizza.

The soup of the night was the Vegetarian Times' White Bean Soup. We added fresh rosemary to the soup instead of parsley and it ended up being very tasty.

Everything was delightful and paired very nicely with our wine. I'm definitely making both the soup and pizza again sometime soon.

A Vegan Thanksgiving

This year was my first Thanksgiving as a vegan :) After checking out many different recipes, I decided that my contributions to our family dinner would be Isa Chandra's Chickpea Cutlets and Greens Restaurant in SF's Roasted Brussels Sprouts, which was published in this years Nov/Dec Vegetarian Times magazine. I was also going to make a homemade vegan pumpkin pie, but ran out of time and instead purchased a Fabes Pumpkin Pie from Whole Foods. While I was there, I discovered a vegan "whipped cream" called Rice Whip, which is pretty tasty!

My mom made the following alterations to her usual side dishes to make them vegan:

-Sweet potatoes: agave sweetener instead of butter and brown sugar

-Green beans: raw (my favorite) instead of cooked with butter

-And her cranberry sauce was already vegan :)

Everything was easy to make, healthy, earth friendly, cruelty-free and delicious. My non-vegan family members even enjoyed my vegan contributions :) Below, you can find the recipes and the photos that I took throughout the process.

Chickpea Cutlets

I also made a sauce to top the chickpea cutlets with:

-red wine

-olive oil

-white onion

-sliced crimini mushrooms

-dried thyme

-paprika

-garlic

-earth balance vegan butter

Heat olive oil on medium heat in a sauce pan with white onion and the crimini mushrooms. Add thyme, paprika and garlic. Allow the onions to caramelize, then bring to a low heat and pour in red wine. Toss in about three tablespoons of vegan butter and stir. This paired really well with the chickpea cutlets!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

(This is the recipe from the Vegetarian Times magazine)

2 lb. brussels sprouts, halved

3 tbs. olive oil

2 tbs. maple syrup (I used a maple syrup from Trader Joe's that has NO high fructose corn syrup)

2 tbs. butter (optional) (I used my vegan butter... Earth Balance)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Toss brussels with oil in large baking dish or sheet and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes, or until tender, loosening sprouts from baking sheet with spatula every 15 minutes.

2. Transfer to serving bowl, and toss with maple syrup and butter.

And last but not least, here is the pumpkin pie (and rice whip!)

What's the story of your food?

Nourish Trailer from Nourish on Vimeo.

Vegan Crepes

I'll admit.... the hardest part about becoming vegan was giving up crepes. They are my favorite, hands down. After a few months of being vegan and thinking that making a vegan version of crepes would be pretty impossible, I checked out a few different recipes for them. I found that flaxseed and buckwheat recipes do not work for these if you are used to the non-vegan kind. Here is the tastiest recipe so far:

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups soymilk (or almond milk, soy milk creates a denser batter)

3 tsp ener-g egg replacer (mixed with 4 tablespoons of H2O)

2 tbsp of canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract (if you're making these for savory crepes, you should probably use 1 tsp)

a dash of salt

Bring your skillet to medium heat. Butter it up with some Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, depending on your skillet size and how large you want your crepe to be, scoop 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the batter into the skillet. Depending on how talented you are at crepe making, you can either rotate the pan to spread the batter or with a thin, flat, rubber spatula spread the batter around the skillet. It should be ready to be flipped fairly soon; these can be fragile and take a lot of attention. Once your crepe is done, make sure to wipe the skillet and add more Earth Balance before pouring the batter for the next crepe.

Your first crepe might turn out like this...

But it will definitely get easier with practice :)

There are so many ways to enjoy these! Tonight, our crepe menu was:

- lemon, sugar, agave, strawberries

- semi sweet vegan chocolate chips, agave, strawberries, cinnamon

- agave, cinnamon, sugar

Delish :)

Happy Birthday Laura

Rainy Day Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This weekend was one of our first rains of the season...My favorite ways to spend a rainy day include some music making, game playing and enjoying warm comfort food. Being vegan makes the third part a bit more challenging than usual. On a trip to the Davis Co-Op, Nick and I picked up some freshly baked sliced French bread (from http://daviswiki.org/Village_Bakery), vegan monterey jack cheese (http://www.followyourheart.com/), crimini mushrooms and a poblano pepper, in hopes of creating some simple and satisfying sandwiches. We began with sauteing the sliced mushrooms and roasted the poblano pepper over the gas flame on the range, buttered up both sides of the slices of bread with Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, warmed the bread for a bit, added the slices of vegan cheese and covered the skillet to help melt the cheese. After the cheese began to melt we added the sauteed mushrooms and slices of the poblano pepper. Once the bread was toasted, we finished assembling and proceeded to devour before playing some Banana Grams and Jenga. They were everything we wanted and more :)

A Molly & Theresa Creation...

Tonight my friend Molly and I decided to bring some of our ingredients together and see what we could create. Here is what happened when my sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, and mushrooms met her Thai rice noodles, snap peas, bok choy, and chili peppers.....

-Olive oil
-Rice Vinegar
-Sweet Chili Sauce (Tj's)
-Soy Sauce
-Sesame Seeds
-1 clove garlic (chopped)
-1 shallot (sliced)
-1 chili pepper (chopped)
-Bok Choy (full or sliced)
-Sliced white mushrooms
-Sugar snap peas
-Thai rice noodles

While the rice noodles cooked, we added all of the other ingredients into a stir fry. First the olive oil and garlic, then shallots and mushrooms. After those cooked for about 5 minutes on medium heat, we added the bok choy, chili peppers and sugar snap peas. We mixed some of the sweet chili sauce together with the soy sauce and poured it over the stir fry about two minutes before it was done cooking. After the noodles were ready, we tossed them with some rice vinegar, added the stir fry and noodles together and topped our servings with some sesame seeds. It was delicious!!

An 11 year old presents "What's Wrong With Our Food System"

Spaghetti Squash

It's autumn! Time for pumpkins, squash and beautiful foliage! I was introduced to spaghetti squash by a friend at the beginning of college and love it... Spaghetti squash tastes great with any sauce, I made a tomato basil sauce with some garlic and red wine this time (YUM). Preheat your oven to 350, cut the squash in half and scrape out all of the seeds. Then, place both face down in a baking pan with a 1/2 inch of water. The squash should bake for about 45 minutes, once they are done allow them to cool. Once they have cooled, take a fork and scrape the inside and surprise!- it's spaghetti! Now just add your favorite sauce and enjoy :) (One squash made about 4 servings.)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

With an apartment full of guests this past weekend, I wanted to whip up something delicious to share with everyone after our adventures at Power to the Peaceful in San Francisco. So, I decided that I would make Nick's favorite cookie (minus raisins plus chocolate.) It's a simple recipe but if you have a KitchenAid- use it, this one takes some strength to mix. And beware, these cookies disappear within seconds.... Enjoy :)

2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 & 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs worth of egg replacer
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix your egg replacer with the appropriate amount of water. Add in canola oil and vanilla. In a larger bowl mix the flour, baking soda, sugar, brown sugar and salt together. Now add the egg replacer, canola oil and vanilla mixture into the dry ingredients. Once those are all mixed in well enough, add the oatmeal and chocolate chips. Scoop them out onto cookie sheets, cook for about 10 to 12 minutes and then devour. A nice cold glass of soy milk pairs nicely with these :)

The Most Delicious Blueberry Muffins!

My friend Molly and I made these the other night after spending the day wine tasting in Napa Valley. They were a great end to an already delicious day. It's a very simple recipe. We added a brown sugar topping with Earth Balance natural buttery spread and instead of 1 and 1/2 cups of blueberries we added an entire bag, which turned the batter into beautiful blue and gold swirl. Check out the recipe here: Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Sweet Couscous

- Whole wheat couscous
- Vegan butter (I use Earth Balance, natural buttery spread)
- Cinnamon
- Dried cranberries, raisins, and blueberries
- Organic blue agave sweetener

Step 1: Follow instructions for couscous with the vegan butter.
Step 2: About one minute before the couscous are ready, add the cinnamon, dried berries and raisins, and agave sweetener.
Step 3: Mix together and continue to warm for the last minute.
Step 4: Devour.

Balsamic Portabello Mushrooms and Zucchini over Couscous

(Serves 4)

- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 tablespoon ground pepper
-2 teaspoons of salt
-1 small red onion
-4 portabello mushrooms
-2 zucchini
-2 or 3 vegan sausages
-1 cup couscous

Whisk the oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, pepper, and salt together. Cut the onion, mushrooms, zucchini and place in a re-sealable bag with the balsamic marinade. Set aside for an hour or two. Then you can grill the veggies and vegan sausage or cook them in a skillet. Follow the directions provided on the box of couscous. (You can replace the butter needed for the couscous with olive oil or vegan butter.) Lay the couscous on the plates, top with the grilled veggies and remaining marinade juices, and enjoy!

the BEST veggie burger ever.

THE PLANT cafe & restaurant
Pier 3, The Embarcadero in San Francisco.
http://www.theplantcafe.com/index.htm

This environmentally conscience restaurant is just a few feet away from the ocean and offers tons of fabulous VEGAN dishes!!

We started with the (gluten free and vegan) "shiitake spring rolls" with roasted onion peanut sauce (amazing). Then decided to try the "PLANT burgers", made from lentils, mushrooms, beets, cashews and bulgur wheat, which ended up being the most delicious veggie burger I've had so far. Check it out!!

Cold Buster

The first soup i've made :)

-vegan vegetable broth
-finely chopped garlic
-italian seasoning
-brown rice pasta
-peppers
-sliced white mushrooms
-extra firm tofu

-while cooking pasta, start heating veggie broth in a separate pot on medium heat
-saute mushrooms in olive oil
-add chopped garlic to the broth
-cut tofu into small squares and add to broth
-add sliced peppers and some italian seasoning to broth
-once the pasta and mushrooms are done add them to the broth, and your soup is ready :)

P.S. Mushrooms stimulate and support your immune system by increasing your amount of T-cells (the white blood cells that find and attack harmful bacteria) in your body. So if you are sick or feel like you're getting sick, this soup may help! XOXO

Fajitas

Thanks to Nick for creating these! They were amazing!!!!

-Fresh corn tortillas (we got ours from the Davis farmers market...best yet)
-Chimichurri (vegan, from Marin Gourmet, also at Davis' farmers market)
-Firm tofu
-Grated vegan cheese
-Garlic
-Onion
-Red and green peppers
-Lime
-Avocado
-Toffuti's sour cream
-Black beans

Slice tofu and wrap in paper towels to soak out the moisture

Chop peppers, onions and garlic, then grill in a skillet with olive oil (and add whichever spices you'd like)

Cook black beans

Dice tofu and cook in a skillet with chimichurri sauce

Warm tortillas on skillet, add veggies, beans, tofu, cheese, avocado, sour cream, and squeeze some fresh lime over the fajitas.

Enjoy :)

Veggie Sandwich

My new favorite vegan sandwich....

-sliced bread (it's really good toasted too)
-Tofutti's "better than cream cheese"
-sun dried tomatoes
-sliced cucumbers
-baby spinach leaves

... you can find the Tofutti (vegan cream cheese) at Trader Joe's.

Bon appetit :)

Dining Out, Vegan Style.

This weekend some friends and I stumbled upon an great restaurant in Berkeley, Ca called Berkeley Thai House on Channing Way. They have a good amount of vegan options... I enjoyed the Cucumber Salad, the Tofu Tod which is deep fried bean cakes served with sweet peanut sauce, and an amazing fresh fruit smoothie with lychees, mango, and strawberries. Everything was so flavorful and delicious! So if you're ever in the area and looking for some delicious vegan food, I highly recommend the Berkeley Thai House :)

Pepper and Mushroom Stir-fry

-Organic brown rice
-Firm tofu (marinated in soyaki sauce)
-Island Soyaki Sauce (trader joes)
-Sliced mushrooms
-Sliced peppers


Cook brown rice & start cooking marinated tofu in a skillet with olive oil on medium heat.
Once the tofu is lightly browned, add sliced mushrooms and peppers.
After two or three minutes gradually pour a small amount of soyaki sauce into the skillet.
Add brown rice and continue to mix around in skillet until it looks ready.
And enjoy!

Sun Dried Tomato, Hummus, and Cucumber Creation

Great for a little snack or an appetizer :)

-Whole wheat lavash bread (or whole wheat tortilla)
-Hummus
-Sliced sun dried tomatoes
-Sliced cucumber

Roll it all up, cut it into bite size pieces, and enjoy!

tasty tofu?

I haven't been the biggest fan of tofu, but I thought I'd give it another chance (and I'm glad I did) :)

-Marinate TJ's "organic firm tofu" overnight in Island Soyaki Sauce (SO GOOD!)
-Grill the marinated tofu in a skillet with olive oil until it is browned
-While the tofu is cooking, warm lavash bread (or whatever sounds good to you) with some vegan cheedar cheese
-Add the tofu to your bread and wrap it up for a quick sandwich

:)

15 Minute Pizza

You can find all of these ingredients at Trader Joes and Whole Foods.

-Preheat oven to 400.
-Lightly oil pan with olive oil
-Lay clay oven baked whole wheat lavash bread on pan
-Cover with tomato basil marinara
-Grate vegan cheese (mozzarella flavor) and sprinkle on top of sauce
-Add your favorite veggies for toppings (I added sliced mushrooms and spinach)
-Heat in the oven for about 10 minutes

Mangiare! :)