Lisa's Culinary Atrocities

Ooooh doggie I made some good vegetable soup. Really and truly—I’m not just tooting my own soup-horn.  My recipe was adapted from this recipe from the Food Network.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups chopped leeks
• 2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
• Sea salt
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 2 cups quartered small yellow potatoes
• 2 cups fresh green beans, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 quarts vegetable broth
• 4 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 ears corn, kernels removed
• 1/4 cup packed, chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2-4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste—I like more)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in large, heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the leeks and garlic, and cook until they begin to soften, approximately 7 to 8 minutes.  Meanwhile, steam the carrots, potatoes and green beans until just soft enough to stick a fork in half way—about 10 minutes)

Add the stock and steamed vegetables to the pot and increase the heat to high. Once simmering, add the cherry tomatoes and corn kernels. Reduce the heat to med-low, cover, and cook until the vegetables are fork tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add the parsley and lemon juice.  Season, to taste, with sea salt and more lemon juice.

Brush olive oil on sliced par-baked chiabatta bread and toast in waffle iron.

Consume.

Falafels?  Waffles?  Fawaffles!

I started my waffle lab this week with my brand new pancake-waffle pan from Williams Sonoma!  I know I said I don’t like to fry things..but that was before I discovered you can make WAFFLES on the stove! Utter excitement!

I decided it would be wise to start this experiment with falafel mix and save the homemade stuff for later. Glad I did:

Final and vastly delicious version:

Falafel

• 1 cup dried peeled fava beans (7 ounces), soaked overnight, cooked.
• 3/4 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, cooked.
• 1/4 cup green onion
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• 1 (or so) garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3 tablespoons water
• Splash (or so) of extra virgin olive oil

Combine and process in food processor until a very coarse mixture is attained. With olive oil on hands, roll into small balls and press onto waffle iron or on nifty pan.   Cook until pretty and not burnt like above.

Tahini sauce:

• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seeds + food processor)
• 3 gloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped (optional)

In a food processor or blender, combine ingredients and process until desired consistency.  Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor.

Vegan Tzatziki Sauce:

• 1/2 cup cucumber
• 1/2 cup unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced

In a food processor or blender, combine ingredients and process until just-combined. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor.

I love to make fresh hummus and since I’ve already posted about this, I’ve decided to repost but with my recipe.

-Soak garbanzo beans at least 7 hours and simmer 2.5 hrs. (I usually soak the beans in the morning, then cook them when I get home from work)

- Pick up favorite baguette on way home (me: Ken’s Artisan Bakery makes a sensational baguette with a crunchy exterior and soft interior…plus it’s fresssssssh)

- Make some tahini:  sesame seeds + dash of sea salt + food processor

- In food processor combine until desired consistency:

• 1 heaping Tbl. tahini
• 1.5 cups cooked garbanzo beans (use canned if you must)
• 5 cloves garlic (to taste, of course)
• 5 tbl Kalamata Olive Oil
• sea salt to taste
• 2 tbl H2O

I often vary between a chunky and a fluffy-creamy hummus, depending on my present culinary temperament.  The longer you process, the fluffier and creamier it gets.  I also like to garnish with fresh roasted garlic (seen here), beans, and sesame seeds and extra virgin olive oil.  Nummy.

I paired this with a 2009 Rendez-Vous Beaujolais Nouveau (thanks Deano).  Now, I must be honest here and admit that I really don’t care for this wine by itself BUT paired with the garlicky hummus is very nice.  ’Nuff Said.

I received a great lasagna recipe from my friend Sheila and have meant to try it for some time.  Seeing as how the weather here in Portland right now is rather chilly, I decided that lasagna was in order (somehow that just pairs).

I have made a several modifications to her original recipe, making it completely vegan for zeh husband and also modifying it so I don’t have to use the stove much.  I have realized, since starting this blog, that I am an oven girl.  I avoid using the stove as much as possible, unless it’s to boil water/steam things.  Hmm.  I am not sure why.

So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 package extra firm tofu

1 cup plain, unsweetened soy yogurt 

1 small lime, juiced

1 roasted bulb of garlic

5 chopped green onions

1/4 cups nutritional yeast

1-2 Tbl. fresh rosemary

1 pkg Trader Joe’s soyrizo, relieved of it’s casing

1/2 bottle Amy’s Marinara Sauce

1 small steamed acorn squash

3 cups fresh & raw spinach

lasagna noodles (Tinkyada brown rice noodles, wheat and gluten-free and has a great texture)

(for me) rosemary asiago

(for him) Vegan Gourmet mozzarella

Panko

Zinfandel

 Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F

• Open Zinfandel and pour yourself a glass.

• Make vegan ricotta by combining crumbled tofu, soy yogurt, lime juice, roasted garlic, nutritional yeast and rosemary, and let sit for 1 hour in refrigerator.

• Peel squash and cut into 1/4 inch chunks.  Steam until just soft.

• Combine soyrizo and marinara sauce in separate bowl.

• Boil noodles (or use no-boil)

• Layer: ricotta, noodles, soyrizo mixture, vegetables, repeat.  Top with panko. Bake until panko is browned.

As with most things like this, the second day is even better.  I think next time I will prep the lasagna and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Note: This was a hit!  The sweetness of the squash contrasted so well with the spiciness of the soyrizo, and the textures were just wonderful.  The rosemary in the asiago, as well as the ricotta was fantastic.  I will definitely be making this again!

Yet another The Cravings Place creation is their Cinnamon Crumble Coffeecake Mix which is gluten, dairy, egg and nut free…but definitely not taste free!

Wanting to make some WAFFLES (who me?) I prepared the batter according to instructions with only a few modifications: added extra water/soymilk to make a more liquidy batter and made the topping in the oven by melting the cinnamon sugar/butter (Earth Balance Butter) mixture, letting it cool and breaking it apart.  While it tasted good and added a nice crunch, it photographed like a bacony looking-icky-stupid-waffle.

bacony looking-icky-stupid-waffle

So I tried a different method to see if I could get a better looking waffle by pouring the batter in the waffle iron first, and adding the topping on top of that.  It was a massive FAIL.

massive FAIL

I finally decided to made a mini bundt cake with the rest of the batter.  I will conquer this ill-looking waffle…later…and with a homemade batter.  I’m tired from scraping the waffle iron.

Bundt Coffeecake

From yesterday’s pizza dough I made cute little pizzettas in tartlet pans:

Pesto, Tomato & Raclette du haut Livradois*

Spinach, Walnut, Garlic & Marinara

For the pesto, process until desired consistency:

1 bunch fresh basil

3/4 cups pecans (or whatever nut you like)

1/4 tsp. sea salt

5 cloves garlic

3/4 cups Kalamata olive oil

Vegan Pecan Pesto

* Raclette Description:

Produced in both Switzerland and France, Raclette takes its name from the French verb “racler”, meaning “to scrape.” Traditionally, Alpine cheesemakers would lunch upon boiled potatoes and cornichons, covered with melted cheese scraped from a rock near the smoldering fire. Raclette is a semi-soft pressed cheese, made of raw cows’ milk and washed with brine to impart a deep, fruity pungency. True to its name, it melts beautifully and can be scraped atop all manner of root vegetables for a winter supper.

Raclette du haut Livradois is from Livradois, France