Kale and "Sausage" Hash

I've been super busy lately: out shooting from the hip with my holga, taking a painting class at the local community college (gotta love those continuing education classes!), still trying to finish a few quilts (I should probably finish them before the babies I am making them for graduate high school or something), and writing, writing, writing!

But a girls gotta eat, so I've been making simple fast foods like this hash, which there a bazillion different variations on. That's why I love them: chop up some potatoes, add whatever is on hand, saute everything in some oil until heated and crispy and voila: a filling and delicious meal that doesn't break the bank and only takes about 30 minutes to make.

Kale and "Sausage" Hash

Sweet Potato and Kale Enchiladas

These enchiladas were the star of my birthday dinner extravaganza. They're not exactly traditional by any means, but they sure are tasty!

I totally adapted this from Veganomicon, the holy bible of vegan cooking. Using sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes makes this dish jump off the page, and if you use Okinawan sweet potatoes (which are pretty much the coolest tubers ever) the combo of purple of the yam and the green of the kale looks amazing. If you can't find Okinawan sweet potatoes (and you likely won't be able to unless you live in Asia, Hawaii, or the west coast) regular ol' orange yams will suffice.

My cat kindly took off the top of this enchilada so you could see the filling

Enchiladas:

A Simple Curry

One of my favorite things in the entire word is having friends over for dinner. I like sequestering myself in the kitchen for a few hours and tuning into Thelonious Monk, playing mad scientist with spices, and ignoring the rest of the world until friends knock on the door and it's time to set the table. Sometimes I plate and serve full courses, and sometimes I spread all the elements on the table, and let my guests put together their own plates. The following curry works best in the latter format, as people can choose how much rice, vegetables, sauce, and garnish they want. It's a good meal for a smallish (4-6) dinner party.

Cilantro, Coconut Curry Sauce, Cumin Scented Rice, Roaster Cauliflower and Carrots, Steamed Spinach and Choi Sum

Curry Powder:

Spaghetti and Meatball Amore

In 1987 a TV special by the name of Frog aired. In my fuzzy brain, Fred Savage starred in what I thought was a full length movie involving frogs falling from the sky over a first kiss while "That's Amore" played in the background. Well, fortunately, someone threw the whole 50 minutes of it up on youtube, and I discovered I was wrong about everything except for the kiss and the song. Oh, there's frogs alright, but not falling from the sky, and there's definitely no Fred Savage. That's ok, I've got Little Monsters and Wizard to get my Fred Savage fix.  

Then, in 1991, when I was in 4th grade,our school performed a "Musical Olympics," in which pairs of students had to dress up in a country's traditional garb and sing the national anthem. Leave it to my father to convince me Italy's national anthem was "That's Amore," resulting in me to making a complete idiot of myself on the first day of rehearsal when I insisted I knew the whole song and broke into "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie..." A rendition that ruined my social status and my classmates eardrums for years to come, but that's ok, 'cause I got to rock a pink shawl, some plastic flowers in my hair, and a kick ass floral apron.

That's about the extent of my history with the 1950's classic. Well, accept that insist on singing it every time I make spaghetti and meatballs (which isn't that often) but I did get a chance to make them last weekend, and what meatballs they were! So throw a red gingham table cloth on your kitchen table, stick some carnations in a vase, put on some accordion music, light some candles, and serve your sweetie a very Americanized vegan version of an Italian classic.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

“Cheesy” Potato Gratin

I finally fed my craving. See, I've been craving scalloped potatoes since Thanksgiving. The warm cheesy bubbles that pop with steam on the way from the oven to the table, the crisp browning edges that crunch, the perfectly laid rows of thin potato slices that are soft when you bite down, yet not mushy... yeah, that's what I've been craving. 

I fought the craving off for a while until Christmas rolled around and we had dinner with my wife's family and my mother-in-law served up a potato gratin, looking like the angels had made it and placed it down right beside me to tantalize my olfactory senses. And it was made with bacon. As quickly as the angels had laid down this dish beside me, the Devil was there to enforce the steadfast law that if you want something done your way, you better just do it yourself. So I begged for the recipe, veganized it, and bestow upon you the holy grail of potato gratin.

“Cheesy” Potato Gratin

Portuguese Bean Soup

If you wanted to try my linguica seitan "sausage" recipe, but weren't sure what in the world to do with said "sausage," don't fear! you can make this awesome cabbage stew. It's a true "peasant stew" americanized by generations of mothers passing down to their offspring, and it was a favorite of mine when I was small during the winter months.

On a completely different, yet slightly related note, I blame Michael Scott and Ricky Gervais for my 4th grade stifled laughter over the last two days. Trust me, I know it's stupid, and immature, but I can't, for the life of me, read or type the word "sausage" without immediately thinking "that's what she said!" Even if it makes no sense whatsoever. Thanks, pop-culture, for taking over my brain. Again.

Portuguese Bean Soup

Stuffed Winter Squash

Cooking is as much about eating as Friday Night Lights is about American football. I'm sure everyone who knows me and reads this silly little blog just did a double take when I said "football" since I have never exhibited the slightest interest in football and often go out of my way to avoid American football to watch more civilized sports like hockey and roller derby. Yes, American football is central to the story line in Friday Night Lights, it's the glue that binds the characters together, the engine that drives the story line, but it's the character's attitudes and struggles that transpire off the field that suck us, the viewers, into this weekly teen drama with a capital D. It's like that with cooking. It's the act of supporting the community you live in buy buying from local farms. It's prepping a meal for friends, driving down to their house and having conversations in the kitchen while you spoon out the guts of acorn squash, setting the table together, laughing, debating, and yes, eating, that make cooking more about community than food itself. Food is something that makes it possible for a group to gather around a table, raise a glass of wine, and toast "Here's to good friends living large in Texas" (or where ever you happen to be).

Stuffed Winter Squash

Chick’n ‘n’ Dumplings (slow cooker recipe)

I head into this years Thanksgiving with apprehension. It’s the first year in 5 years I am going to have Thanksgiving with my family, and while I am grateful, I do have apprehension. For the first time in 5 years, I will be having a mixed vegan and non-vegan Thanksgiving, and mixing family and friends. I’m making all the sides, plus an app and dessert that are vegan friendly. It’s a little stressful. And who has time to make a meal for themselves the day before with that pressure? Thankfully, I think I have found an answer: Slow cooker chick’n ‘n’ dumplings.

With the exception of the chick’n, I had everything else on hand, as the rest of the vegetables were all getting cooked in Thanksgiving dishes. That’s what makes this dish brilliant for the day before Thanksgiving– you can pretty much have everything on hand, and with little extra work, you’ll have an awesome dinner to empower you through cooking. 

Chick’n ‘n’ Dumplings (slow cooker recipe)

J.P.’s Itsy Bitsy “Meatball” and Dumpling Soup

I don’t know Joshua Ploeg, but I wish I did. Fortunately, he’s got a cookbook and a couple of zines out, so I don’t have to know him to be able to try and cook like him. See, Ploeg is a traveling vegan chef, riding the Greyhound and Amtrak through this land dubbed amerika, cooking dinner parties, sharing his cooking wisdom, and generally stirring up mischief (don’t trust me? Grab a copy of The Traveling Chef and read it. If you are fluent in the language of kitchen and not a prude, you will die multiple times from laughter.) 

At any rate, he put out a little gem of a cookbook a few years ago entitled In Search of the Lost Taste. It’s a whole $8, so just STFU and get a copy. It has tastes I would never think to put together, but I’m glad he did. From sweet to savory, sometimes using local fresh ingredients, sometimes using tofutti cream cheese, and always using what’s on hand (although you might not have it on hand…) it’s one of the most diverse little cookbooks out there. Plus he cooks the way I do, which is to say “if you’ve got some extra XYZ, you should just go ahead and throw that in there…” Like I said, it’s a little gem.

I made the Itsy Bitsy “Meatball” and Dumpling Soup last night, and if anyone wants a bowl, come hit me up, 'cuz I’ve got a ton of leftovers. I’m not giving you the recipe–that’s just rude to disperse others recipes, especially when the chef in question sell his book for $8. But I will say this. I added smoked paprika to the dumplings, had an adventure whist making vegan faux meatballs, used 2 bunches of carrots (as opposed to 2), and should have thrown in some taters and kale. The only issue I had was the dumplings were a little chewy, but everything I have made in the last few weeks that has supposed to be light and fluffy just hasn’t worked out. Please do not bring up the word “gnocchi” in my presence right now; I need a few weeks to get over that epic fail before I tell you the story. Also, if anyone runs into Mr. Plague, please let him know my birthday is March 6th, and I would like nothing more to have him cook a dinner party for me in my tiny kitchen with no counter space and my ¾ sized stove. At least I have a large stock pot, a cast iron skillet, and some decent Henckels. Thanks! Oh, and here's his recipe for pumpkin pie!

 

Why I Cook, plus Simple Tofu Scramble

If you ask me why I cook, I’ll tell you it’s not about food. Not really. I mean, I could probably survive on rice and lentils with no seasoning if I needed to. Or ramen. Or grass. Or McDonald's burgers and shakes. (Though if I went that route, I wouldn’t survive very long as my colon, along with every other organ in my body would run the risk of spontaneously combusting by the time I hit 30).

But cooking, for me, is not about survival. It sounds pretentious, but I know I’m a good cook. I have a decent knack for what flavours go together and how to season food. I love farmers markets and like adventure, so I try new vegetables and fruits and grains on a regular basis. If you bring me a vegetable, I’ll figure out something to do with it. And I like the quietness of the kitchen when I cook. The care and patience it takes to prepare that which nourishes us.

Cooking and sharing meals for me is just that: nourishment. And not just for our bodies. It is something I can share with the people I love, give the people I care about. Most of my friends work in some field of social justice or social welfare. The great majority are activists, counselors, non-profit workers, teachers and artists. They are the ones that choose to look society in the face and fight back. It’s not easy to look at the scars left on each other and our planet and not give up.

At the end of the day, I don’t believe anyone wants to go home to a TV dinner, even the vegan ones. “remove from wrapper, place in microwave for 5 minutes. Eat.” How very sterile and boring. At the core, I think what we want, and need, is connection. Anthony Bourdain says cooking should be taught in school, that it would make children more patient, appreciative, and in general, better people. I don't agree with Bourdain on much, as he can be a vegan's nightmare, but I will give him props for that statement.

I offer connection and nourishment to you when I cook. A thank you for being in my life, offering me your friendship and support. So stay in the kitchen with me and taste the process. Sit in a space with me and share what I have made. Good ingredients cooked well and good company make for good conversation shared, and it is for that simple connection that I cook. I should stop now before I sound anymore like an overdone Hallmark card.

Here is a simple little recipe I whipped up the other day to share. While it’s true there are thousands of ways to make a tofu scramble, sometimes simple is best.

Simple Tofu Scramble:

Curry Carrot Soup

Well, the rain has officially started here in the Pacific Northwest. Sure, we had a few day stretch about a month ago when it sprinkled, but that wasn’t really the start of the rainy season. A few last warm sunny fall days had been promised, so spirits were still high. And then yesterday happened. Gray and rain, and we officially stepped foot into the weather Seattle is known for. The showers permeated the city, the old windows in our apartment started to rattle against the wind and the “clunk, clink, whoosh” of the steam radiators that heat our apartment building kicked in at 7am.

Once I drug myself out of the quilted cocoon (a.k.a. my bed), and had a cup of tea, I spent the morning hanging shelves all over my apartment (which, by the way, has no storage, but very high ceilings). I realized around 3 pm I was famished, and found an onion and some carrots in the fridge: fixins for a perfect meal to welcome in the fall weather. Nothing beats hot soup on a cool day, especially when it doesn’t take much time or effort. 
 

Curry Carrot Soup