apologies, for the lack of posts on this very new blog....but life has reared its head.
things are getting back on track now, so expect more to come.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
It Ain't Meat Mixed Mushroom Stroganoff
Hi again.
Let me begin by saying that I ain't a food blogger. I don't have a great camera, with an amazing macro lens or the patience for step-by-step photography (and even if I DID have those things, I don't think I'd be the kind of person you could trust with a knife and a camera at the same time...and boiling water would definitely be out).
So you're going to have to deal with WORDS. OK, I might post the occasional picture...but if I do, it will suck. And we're all gonna have to learn to live with that.
Ok?
With that caveat firmly in place let me just say...wow. I was impressed with this meal. It was meaty and mushroomy and saucy and creamy and just plain delicious-y. I ate the leftovers for lunch today....cold...and it was just as good. How often can you say that?
I do have to add that we don't typically {ok, never} eat pasta at our house, so that might have added to the sheer enjoyment factor. But whatever the reason, yum yum yum!
I used this recipe from Vegan Yum Yum but made a few changes to accommodate what was in my cupboard (and fridge).
1 tub of the very hard to source Tofutti sour cream
approx 8 oz seitan (homemade - I double-dog dare you to find this in Sydney, Australia)
12 Cremini Mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 Portabello Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 bundle (is that a measurement? Its like a fist full...) of Namateki Mushrooms (if you've never had these before, oooh man are you in for a treat) - if you can't find them, sub Enokitake mushrooms instead.
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
3 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tsp Beef "Style" Stock (powdered stuff)
1/4 cup of water
1 Tbs Tamari
A splash of white wine
Cracked Black Pepper
Organic spiral pasta (cause that's what we had)
OK, so here is what I did. Again, this is basically Vegan Yum Yum's recipe so full credit, shout out, what have ya goes to her. I only made small changes to the method!
Cook your pasta according to directions. Once its done drizzle with a small amount of olive oil to keep it from sticking and set it aside. Taste a few pieces, cause you know its been bloody AGES since you've eaten pasta (wait, that might just be me).
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over low heat (VYY says medium low, but I tend to burn things so I always err on the side of caution). Add onions and saute over low heat until soft and caramelized.
While onions are cooking, chop your garlic, Portobello and Cremini mushrooms and seitan. Trim the bulky bottom off your Namateki (or Enokitake) mushrooms and set everything aside (keeping each item separate). VYY notes that the mushrooms and the seitan should be chopped to about the same size (I used thin strips like she suggests, but next time I'm going smaller. The hubby found them a bit overpowering).
When the onions are caramelized, add garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the Portobello and Cremini mushrooms and 1 tbs olive oil. Turn up heat to medium-high and saute until the mushrooms have softened and absorbed some of the oil and flavours. Add a little wine to the pan and cook until the it has been absorbed by the mushies but don't let them get too soft.
Now add the seitan to pan. Saute until the seitan no longer looks dry and has absorbed the liquids and yumminess in the pan - just a couple of minutes at the most, should do it. You might need to add more olive oil (I did, but I'm a fatty fatty 2x4 (in the best possible sense, of course), so I leave that up to you).
Now, for the best part! Dump in the entire tub of sour cream (and feel good about this - its vegan after all!). Also add your dry stock powder, the tamari and 1/4 cup of water. Stir it around until all the seitan and mushrooms are covered with sauce, and the sauce is fully incorporated of its various ingredients. Let it cook down until its pretty much the consistency you want (this took about 35 seconds for me).
NOW...add your Namateki mushrooms. These babies are so yummy all on their own that we really just want them to warm them up. Once you've incorporated them fully, add in your pasta and heat everything through.
Load up your plates and finish off with some freshly ground black pepper and baby you are off and running.
Note to the reader: VYY says this makes two large dinner sized portions. She means it. I can eat and eat and eat (especially pasta) but this kicked my *ss! My dear JLo finished his just fine though....
And now...I said NO PICTURES (and I meant it) but you really need to see these beautiful Namateki mushrooms...so here's a stock photo (by a professional who is clearly good at his/her job)...
Let me begin by saying that I ain't a food blogger. I don't have a great camera, with an amazing macro lens or the patience for step-by-step photography (and even if I DID have those things, I don't think I'd be the kind of person you could trust with a knife and a camera at the same time...and boiling water would definitely be out).
So you're going to have to deal with WORDS. OK, I might post the occasional picture...but if I do, it will suck. And we're all gonna have to learn to live with that.
Ok?
With that caveat firmly in place let me just say...wow. I was impressed with this meal. It was meaty and mushroomy and saucy and creamy and just plain delicious-y. I ate the leftovers for lunch today....cold...and it was just as good. How often can you say that?
I do have to add that we don't typically {ok, never} eat pasta at our house, so that might have added to the sheer enjoyment factor. But whatever the reason, yum yum yum!
I used this recipe from Vegan Yum Yum but made a few changes to accommodate what was in my cupboard (and fridge).
It Ain't Meat Mixed Mushroom Stroganoff
1 tub of the very hard to source Tofutti sour cream
approx 8 oz seitan (homemade - I double-dog dare you to find this in Sydney, Australia)
12 Cremini Mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 Portabello Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 bundle (is that a measurement? Its like a fist full...) of Namateki Mushrooms (if you've never had these before, oooh man are you in for a treat) - if you can't find them, sub Enokitake mushrooms instead.
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
3 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tsp Beef "Style" Stock (powdered stuff)
1/4 cup of water
1 Tbs Tamari
A splash of white wine
Cracked Black Pepper
Organic spiral pasta (cause that's what we had)
OK, so here is what I did. Again, this is basically Vegan Yum Yum's recipe so full credit, shout out, what have ya goes to her. I only made small changes to the method!
Cook your pasta according to directions. Once its done drizzle with a small amount of olive oil to keep it from sticking and set it aside. Taste a few pieces, cause you know its been bloody AGES since you've eaten pasta (wait, that might just be me).
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over low heat (VYY says medium low, but I tend to burn things so I always err on the side of caution). Add onions and saute over low heat until soft and caramelized.
While onions are cooking, chop your garlic, Portobello and Cremini mushrooms and seitan. Trim the bulky bottom off your Namateki (or Enokitake) mushrooms and set everything aside (keeping each item separate). VYY notes that the mushrooms and the seitan should be chopped to about the same size (I used thin strips like she suggests, but next time I'm going smaller. The hubby found them a bit overpowering).
When the onions are caramelized, add garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the Portobello and Cremini mushrooms and 1 tbs olive oil. Turn up heat to medium-high and saute until the mushrooms have softened and absorbed some of the oil and flavours. Add a little wine to the pan and cook until the it has been absorbed by the mushies but don't let them get too soft.
Now add the seitan to pan. Saute until the seitan no longer looks dry and has absorbed the liquids and yumminess in the pan - just a couple of minutes at the most, should do it. You might need to add more olive oil (I did, but I'm a fatty fatty 2x4 (in the best possible sense, of course), so I leave that up to you).
Now, for the best part! Dump in the entire tub of sour cream (and feel good about this - its vegan after all!). Also add your dry stock powder, the tamari and 1/4 cup of water. Stir it around until all the seitan and mushrooms are covered with sauce, and the sauce is fully incorporated of its various ingredients. Let it cook down until its pretty much the consistency you want (this took about 35 seconds for me).
NOW...add your Namateki mushrooms. These babies are so yummy all on their own that we really just want them to warm them up. Once you've incorporated them fully, add in your pasta and heat everything through.
Load up your plates and finish off with some freshly ground black pepper and baby you are off and running.
Note to the reader: VYY says this makes two large dinner sized portions. She means it. I can eat and eat and eat (especially pasta) but this kicked my *ss! My dear JLo finished his just fine though....
And now...I said NO PICTURES (and I meant it) but you really need to see these beautiful Namateki mushrooms...so here's a stock photo (by a professional who is clearly good at his/her job)...
As you can see, they look pretty much the same as Enokitake mushrooms, but are much yellower in color. So Good!
-KLo
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The First Vegan Shop (aka, "honey, we don sell dat crap hera")
No one REALLY said that, you know. Well, not in those exact words at least.
But I gotta be honest here....shopping vegan is durn hard. Seriously. Last weekend JLo and I ended up shopping literally all day long (ok, we had a short stop at the mall to get a haircut/pedicure (respectively), but still....).
Even so called "health food stores" didn't have many of the items we were looking for, and in some cases, didn't even know what they were. I admit I had no idea what nutritional yeast was before I got going on this insane plan, but come on. I'm a corporate lawyer -- I don't run a health food store that supposedly caters to vegetarians/vegans.
But enough on that. We were able to get pretty much everything including Tofutti sour cream, which is blazingly difficult to find in Australia (non-dairy sour cream of any variety actually). In the end it took 1 produce market, 2 health food stores, 1 "vegan" shop and 1 online store. But we did it.
And honestly, its been a bit of a mixed bag.
Some of the meals we've made have been very good. Even JLo has liked them. And neither of us have found that we've missed meat at all or dairy at all. The switch to soymilk was surprisingly easy as well which I'm very glad about since JLo was "a bit concerned" about his morning Wheatbix.
On the other hand - I've felt like crap. After the first couple of days I noticed that I had a lot of energy. I was bouncing off the walls at some points, on days 3 and 4. But after that...well, I don't know what happened. But the energy was gone. In fact, I was exhausted all the time. And the stomache was...well let's just say, things were not as they should be.
But I've slogged through - and today I feel a little bit better. I have heard from other people that it takes some time for your body to adjust to the changing nutritional profile. I hope that's the case!
But I gotta be honest here....shopping vegan is durn hard. Seriously. Last weekend JLo and I ended up shopping literally all day long (ok, we had a short stop at the mall to get a haircut/pedicure (respectively), but still....).
Even so called "health food stores" didn't have many of the items we were looking for, and in some cases, didn't even know what they were. I admit I had no idea what nutritional yeast was before I got going on this insane plan, but come on. I'm a corporate lawyer -- I don't run a health food store that supposedly caters to vegetarians/vegans.
But enough on that. We were able to get pretty much everything including Tofutti sour cream, which is blazingly difficult to find in Australia (non-dairy sour cream of any variety actually). In the end it took 1 produce market, 2 health food stores, 1 "vegan" shop and 1 online store. But we did it.
And honestly, its been a bit of a mixed bag.
Some of the meals we've made have been very good. Even JLo has liked them. And neither of us have found that we've missed meat at all or dairy at all. The switch to soymilk was surprisingly easy as well which I'm very glad about since JLo was "a bit concerned" about his morning Wheatbix.
On the other hand - I've felt like crap. After the first couple of days I noticed that I had a lot of energy. I was bouncing off the walls at some points, on days 3 and 4. But after that...well, I don't know what happened. But the energy was gone. In fact, I was exhausted all the time. And the stomache was...well let's just say, things were not as they should be.
But I've slogged through - and today I feel a little bit better. I have heard from other people that it takes some time for your body to adjust to the changing nutritional profile. I hope that's the case!
Vegan Week 1 Results
7/10
Monday, November 30, 2009
Being vegan
Let me begin by saying, I know absolutely nothing about being vegan. OK, not nothing. I know, for example, that vegans don't eat meat and that they usually have dreadlocks and names like Willow and Flower and Lycopene (that might be an essential amino acid, I don't know).
Hello?
Hello?!
Alienated you already, have I?
All kidding aside, if you took the square root of all the information in the world about vegans and veganism, and hell...let's throw in vegetarianism generally as well, and then, divided that by half, and then by half again, and then again by the square root of pi and the diameter of the earth and again by the time it would take you to travel to Jupiter and back...and then....just for kicks, divided it by half, again....you would STILL know more than I know about "being vegan".
But I'm here to learn.
So come along for the ride. Next up: The First Vegan Shop (aka, "honey, we don sell dat crap hera").
Hello?
Hello?!
Alienated you already, have I?
All kidding aside, if you took the square root of all the information in the world about vegans and veganism, and hell...let's throw in vegetarianism generally as well, and then, divided that by half, and then by half again, and then again by the square root of pi and the diameter of the earth and again by the time it would take you to travel to Jupiter and back...and then....just for kicks, divided it by half, again....you would STILL know more than I know about "being vegan".
But I'm here to learn.
So come along for the ride. Next up: The First Vegan Shop (aka, "honey, we don sell dat crap hera").
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
