Spanish (not really) stew

T'other night I wanted stew (yet again, see http://shortycanburn.blogspot.com/2011/09/couple-of-noms.html).  But we had the last (sniff sniff!!) of our garden tomatoes to use up, and somehow none of the stews I usually make are tomato-based. But those 'maters REALLY needed to get eaten or they were going to go bad, so I poked around on the Internerds for something stew + tomato-centered.  I found a lot of Spanish-esque tomato-based stews out there, but how to veganize? Let me tell you, we went to Spain some years back when I still ate dairy, and it would be hard to get by there as a vegan. All the recipes seemed to have chicken and bacon in them.  I ended up sauteing some onion and LOTS of garlic in good olive oil, adding in some Butler Soy Curls and smoked tofu (in lieu of the aforementioned chicken and bacon), about 4 big chopped up tomatoes, veggie broth, smoked paprika, chickpeas, potatoes and cilantro.  I bet some olives would've been awesome too, but we were out. Anyhow, I served it over polenta and it was really good. I felt like this was one of the first new things I'd "engineered" largely on my own in a while so I was pleased :).
Have a great weekend!

Adorable kittehs

Anyone who wants to give Kat Kompliments is more than welcome....

Couple of noms.....

These are a couple of horribly photographed but tasty meals recently enjoyed here at Casa del Stacy.

First up, mashed sweet potatoes, garlicky greens, and black-eyed peas:

This dish was based on one in Jae Steele's cookbook, Ripe From Around Here.  This is an awesome cookbook, if you don't have it, focusing on seasonal, whole vegan foods. The photo is a bit misleading because the best way to enjoy this is by having a little bit of all three dishes together in every bite! The sweet potatoes are just mashed with maple syrup and cinnamon, the greens are sauteed in garlic and olive oil, and the black-eyed peas I made "my way" with tomato sauce, chipotle peppers, parsley, and celery.
Next up, the portobello/pepper "steak" stew from Appetite for Reduction:

This photo truly is ghastly, sorry! It makes this look like dog food, but man oh man, do I love this recipe. I absolutely HATE winter but the only good thing about it is that it's stew time.  Especially this stew. That is a big hunk of delicious bread on the left, BTW.  I basically followed the book's recipe but added cabbage because everything is better with cabbage in it, IMHO.  You could probably make a more seasonal version of this in the winter by subbing other veggies (e.g., carrots, potatoes) in for the bell peppers.

Noms, and noms. Nomulent. No, that is not a real word.

Edit: Re-reading this post, I feel like I should clarify: even though I live in Canada, no, it is not in the least bit wintery here yet. It's actually still really warm and beautiful here......so far. However, I know winter is coming and I am dreading it already. Thinking ahead about tasty vittles is the only way I can calm myself down.

Mexican nite!

I made stuffed chile rellenos the other night and they were fab.

But the thing I really want to talk about is the rice. I love Spanish-style rice. Noms. I used to buy a packaged brand but when I went vegan, I had to give it up because it had whey in it or something. Boo.  Anyhow, it is just as well, because why buy an expensive product full of crap when you can make your own?!?! I made mine in a rice cooker.
Here are rough guidelines, if you are interested:
Combine 1.5 cups of brown basmati rice with 3 cups vegan broth (I have tried many kinds and they've all tasted about the same. Or you could just use water + salt), 3 tbs tomato paste, 2 tbs olive oil, a very small (or .5 medium) chopped up bell pepper, a very small (or .5 medium) chopped up onion, and nutritional yeast to taste.  Cook until the rice is done and add salt if needed (I eat too much salt probably but my blood pressure is fine and I love it so).  That's it!

The 40-year-old starter

I want to pitch a movie about a 40-year-old sourdough starter who finds true love with a 30-something vegan after she uses part of him to make the best pizza ever. Do you think Hollywood will be interested?!?

I would also like to add that if you can snag some eggplant, it's a great idea to slide it thinly into strips, then grill it over wood chips so it gets all smoky, THEN use those strips on pizza (see above) or in place of noodles in a lasagna:

Shirataki noodles

"Authentic" aroma + rubbery texture = ugh.

Kimchi cucumbers

I highly recommend these if you like hot things. Great way to use up cukes. I followed this recipe (sans fish sauce): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7YQYDNoIHY

I'm back.

I've decided to return to vegan blogging, inspired by Zoa http://airyway.blogspot.com/, who took a rather long hiatus but came back in full force! It's been about a year, I think, since I killed my old blog without warning. If you followed it and were annoyed, I'm sorry. I have to admit that I got really burnt out on trying to post every day + comment on other people's blogs every day.  My work schedule just doesn't permit that.  Plus, while I would say 99.999% of the comments were awesome and supportive, a very small minority kinda....well...ticked me off.  So I quit in a huff. What can I say, I'm a sensitive blogging artiste :).  So why am I back? I found that I missed the creative outlet. I sometimes post photos of meals on my facebook account, but very few of my facebook friends are vegan and they just don't "get it." Comments like "that would be awesome with pulled pork on top..." Yikes! At any rate, here I am again. It'll be a on a highly reduced blogging schedule relative to the old blog.  I reserve the right to disappear for weeks at a time. We'll see how it goes.

PS This explanation is not meant to imply that I think the vegan blogging community has been sobbing into its collective pillow over my absence. My blog was always a small operation. I did feel that an explanatory note was in order, in case any of the 9 people who used to read it come back :).