I'm back

Iknow it's been a long time, and I will explain after I tell you about this new dish I discovered tonight. I saw a link for tofu recipes on my MSN homepage, clicked it, and found a recipe called Spice-Crusted Tofu. It's really simple--tofu dredged in coriander, cumin, and paprika, then sauteed, and then drizzled a sauce of boiling water, lemon juice, and honey. But since I don't use honey, I subbed agave nectar instead. Agave is a little thinner than honey, but just as sweet, and I think the next time I get a cold (right about when it starts getting cold), I might try agave nectar in my hot tea instead of brown rice syrup (which has the texture of honey but is not nearly as sweet). I also didn't have the pine nuts the recipe calls for, but I did have some slivered almonds, and I used those instead. I heated up some leftover pilaf (a box mix from Seeds of Change) and some frozen haricot verts, and as soon as I get done with this, there's a carton of Purely Decadent Pomagranate Chip calling my name.

I guess it's been mid-July since I posted. I turned 39, attended the Taking Action for Animals conference the next week, went out of town to visit my family where we celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday, what else? I've had a bit of a health crisis the past couple of weeks, and I have not felt like cooking anything blogworthy, much less actually blogging. It began with some mild chest pains, so I eventually went to the emergency room, had a bunch of tests, including two EKGs, which all came back normal (thank goodness). They took blood from me three times! They had to take it from my lower left arm after one vein on my outer elbow area did not cooperate, and the bruise has finally faded. Can I just say that being in the hospital sucks out loud and in stereo? After all my tests were done and the docs were saying I could probably go, I waited hours for them to spring me. A doctor had to take the IV needle (pro forma when someone's on a cardiac monitor) from my arm after it was clear I probably wouldn't need it.

A nurse friend says that when patients my age have chest pains, it's usually GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), and my internist, who I just started seeing before all this happened, also thinks it might be that. I'll know the results of the last test, an upper GI scan with barium (ick!), for sure on Tuesday. If it isn't, I don't know what I'm going to do.

But I figured it was time to start blogging again, even if what I cook isn't the most exciting stuff on the planet. Heck, I should write about this new line of analogues from Germany called Viana. It's truly awesome stuff. Both Vegan Essentials (www.veganessentials.com) and Pangea (www.veganstore.com) carry the six varieties: Chickin Fillets (delicious! My favorite!), Chickin Nuggets (they're decent--get them for kids), Cowgirl Veggie Steak (needs something with it for flavor), Spicy Veg Kabob, Cevapcici (Yugoslavian sausage), and Veggie Gyros, the latter three I haven't tried yet. They use mostly organic ingredients and ones you can pronounce, too! The stuff is pretty easy to cook; I just toss it in a frypan for about five minutes total, and it's done. It also looks very much like the image on the box, always a good thing.

So if you're looking for a new analogue, check out Viana. Yes, it's kind of expensive, but it's worth every penny.

Miss me?

I've been rather busy the past few weeks. I have started taking classes in American Sign Language at the local library, and I love it. It turns out a number of people I know have some knowledge of it, and almost eveyrone I know thinks it's pretty cool that I'm learning it. One of the women in the class pointed me to a website that has video of the signed word, which helps, but I would really love a site that not only had a person doing the signing, but an indication of what handshape, where you start, and the motion you use to make the sign. Sometimes the signer goes too fast, and I have to play the thing over and over. I keep a dictionary with me at all times and will look up random words while riding Metro. I don't know that I'll ever be good enough to be an interpreter, but if I can communicate with other deaf people--and there are a number of deaf and hard of hearing in DC--that will be a plus. I just wish I could get my boyfriend to learn, but oh, well.

This means I haven't had much time to cook, as the class is twice a week, and while it's supposed to be an hour, it frequently runs over. Not that I mind. I seriously want to learn. I will also be attending ASL Meetups if I can and trying to find fellow ASL newbies to practice with me to keep our knowledge and skills.

But never mind that--you probably miss my cooking, right? I recently discovered that there is a little farmer's market near my office building every Thursday. One day I saw a vendor with green tomatoes, and I knew I had to get some. However, I had plans for that evening and didn't think it would be practical, so I decided to wait. Last week, even though I had plans, I bought a bag of green tomatoes. I wanted to cook fried green tomatoes at some point! Warning: if you do buy green tomatoes, cook them the very same day. Even three days later, they've ripened quite a bit, much to my dismay. But I dipped them in soy milk, dredged them in a mix of flour, paprika, salt, and pepper, and then fried them up. I made a simple gravy from The Dirty South (which has another Southern-style vegan cookbook, Hot Damn and Hell Yeah on the other side), and then dredged some tofu in a mixture of flour, sage, pepper and powdered garlic. Mmmmm, gravy. The tomatoes were juicy, tart, and crisp, although I suspect a real Southern cook would disapprove of my cooking them in canola oil. Some recipes I looked up suggested using bacon drippings--ewwww. But mostly, you take some flour, toss in some seasonings, dip, dredge, fry. If you have ample space in your kitchen--which I certainly do not--it's easy, easy, easy. If you don't have ample space in your kitchen, trying to work around it can be challenging. But it was so worth it. The tomatoes really didn't need the gravy, but the tofu surely did. I've got a lot left over to try to use in a week (maybe I should halve the recipe next time), so I'm going to have to get creative here.

Plantains, yay!

When I was growing up in Florida a less enlightened person, I loved Cuban food and (blush) arroz con pollo. I especially loved the plantanos or plantains that came on the side. So when I saw a packet of three peeled plantains at Trader Joe's today, I had to get them. I had on hand a box mix of Casbah Saffron Rice, which can be Middle Eastern or Caribbean. Hey, it takes only 20 minutes to cook, including the time to heat the water to boiling. It's quick and easy--in fact, everything on my plate was quick and easy.

After pressing the tofu, I mixed up some garlic powder, Mexican seasoning mix, and oregano and dredged the tofu. I put it in a baking dish with a cut-up onion and a 14.5-ounce can of chopped tomatoes (note to self: next time, use more tomatoes) and baked it at 350 degrees for half an hour, turning the tofu slices midway through. The plantains, you just slice and saute, then drain on paper towels. The riper the plantain is, the sweeter, and these must not have been terribly ripe because it had the starchiness of tostones as opposed to the sweeter maduros. This is the only negative to buying plantains peeled.

I'm going to be tinkering with this recipe, I think, mostly with the amount of ingredients. I may try cutting the tofu differently to get more spicing as well. If I get this perfected, I'll let you know.

Smokin'

If you like smoked foods--and I guess I don't, or I didn't cook it correctly--check out Smoke & Fire Smoked Tofu. It was sitting around my fridge, so I decided I may as well heat it up (sauteed it in a pan) for dinner. I was at Whole Foods today and picked up a couple of vegetable skewers (and fruit because there are chunks of pineapple in there). I slathered them in Annie's Smokey Maple Bar-B-Q sauce (which I do like). There are two skewers per package, and I stored the second one in the container in which it came. And of course, I had my old standby, a baked potato with Earth Balance margarine.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with prepackaged, precut veggies. If it gets someone to eat more fruits and veggies, then precut, packaged fresh (or even frozen) veggies are fine by me. Just avoid most canned veggies as they are lacking in nutrients. Yes, I buy canned tomatoes and tomato sauce and paste, and I buy canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans, always checking for a low sodium level), but I wouldn't touch canned green beans, carrots, peas or corn. And sure the precut veggies are a little more than whole veggies, but if you're unsure how to cut up a butternut squash, or you want to make sure you like it (I kinda do), consider it a savings of time instead.

That said, I still make my own seitan. It just tastes better and has a better texture when I do.