Here is a really simple recipe for cranberry sauce that I've been making for several Thanksgivings now. It's the only cranberry sauce recipe I've tried, because it was so easy and well-received that I didn't need to try any others. :) It's one of those traditional dishes that is enjoyed by vegans and omnivores alike -- so much better than the stuff out of the can. I recommend making this a little ahead of time -- though it cooks up really fast, it can take a while to cool and thicken.
It's a slightly altered version of a recipe I found somewhere on the internet... I wish I could remember where so I could give credit!
Yummy Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients:
1 12-ounce package of whole cranberries, rinsed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup orange juice
1 cinnamon stick
Directions:
Combine sugar and orange juice in a sauce pan over medium heat. When sugar is dissolved, add cranberries and cinnamon stick. Stirring frequently, cook until cranberries pop, then remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick. Sauce will thicken as it cools.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
It's November again!
It has been one year since I went vegetarian full-time! I am as happy about my choice as ever, and really can't imagine ever going back.
And you know what else this means -- my second vegetarian Thanksgiving is approaching! Time to start planning the menu!
Many new vegetarians (and non-vegetarian guests at a meatless holiday table) may feel like they will miss having a turkey, that it just won't be Thanksgiving without one. I say, what's so special about it, anyway? Most of my memories of Thanksgiving turkey weren't so great -- it was usually really dry and chewy, no matter how it was cooked (sorry, Mom!). I suspect lots of other people secretly feel that way about their experiences of Thanksgiving turkey, too -- but it's such a deeply ingrained American tradition that it's hard to let go of. But just think of all the poor turkeys! :(
Well, there are other options! Of course, there are various turkey substitutes available from Quorn (their meatless turkey roast -- a log-shaped, very tasty substitute which has a firm, meat-like bite -- I highly recommend it), Tofurkey (a meatless roast complete with stuffing -- not bad, but a little rubbery in texture), and Field Roast Grain Meat Co. (I have yet to try their stuffed Celebration Roast). Or you can decide to move away from the turkey tradition altogether and make another main dish -- my meatless "meatloaves" have been a big hit at the past two Thanksgiving dinners! Or take it a step further and have a completely untraditional meal -- whatever you want! Try a new hearty vegetable soup recipe with garlic toast or sandwiches, make a smorgasbord of your favorite breakfast foods, barbecue up some veggie burgers and tofu dogs, bake a vegetable lasagna or some meatless burritos with all the fixin's... or just get some take-out! Don't be afraid to think outside the box. The world will not come to an end if you don't have turkey and green bean casserole on the fourth Thursday in November. ;)
Over the next two weeks, I intend to share a few recipes and review a few Thanksgiving-related veggie foods. Stay tuned!
<3 jazzhands
And you know what else this means -- my second vegetarian Thanksgiving is approaching! Time to start planning the menu!
Many new vegetarians (and non-vegetarian guests at a meatless holiday table) may feel like they will miss having a turkey, that it just won't be Thanksgiving without one. I say, what's so special about it, anyway? Most of my memories of Thanksgiving turkey weren't so great -- it was usually really dry and chewy, no matter how it was cooked (sorry, Mom!). I suspect lots of other people secretly feel that way about their experiences of Thanksgiving turkey, too -- but it's such a deeply ingrained American tradition that it's hard to let go of. But just think of all the poor turkeys! :(
Well, there are other options! Of course, there are various turkey substitutes available from Quorn (their meatless turkey roast -- a log-shaped, very tasty substitute which has a firm, meat-like bite -- I highly recommend it), Tofurkey (a meatless roast complete with stuffing -- not bad, but a little rubbery in texture), and Field Roast Grain Meat Co. (I have yet to try their stuffed Celebration Roast). Or you can decide to move away from the turkey tradition altogether and make another main dish -- my meatless "meatloaves" have been a big hit at the past two Thanksgiving dinners! Or take it a step further and have a completely untraditional meal -- whatever you want! Try a new hearty vegetable soup recipe with garlic toast or sandwiches, make a smorgasbord of your favorite breakfast foods, barbecue up some veggie burgers and tofu dogs, bake a vegetable lasagna or some meatless burritos with all the fixin's... or just get some take-out! Don't be afraid to think outside the box. The world will not come to an end if you don't have turkey and green bean casserole on the fourth Thursday in November. ;)
Over the next two weeks, I intend to share a few recipes and review a few Thanksgiving-related veggie foods. Stay tuned!
<3 jazzhands
Friday, September 4, 2009
Living Harvest/Tempt Hempmilk, Chocolate flavor
I first tried Living Harvest Hempmilk about a year ago. It was the sweetened vanilla flavor, and I really wanted to like it. It tasted sweet and creamy and good at first, but left an unpleasant bitter aftertaste that I just couldn't look past.
Since then, Living Harvest Hempseed products got a makeover when they merged with the Tempt brand. While the new packaging looks very boring and generic (they call it "modern"), the taste does seem to have improved. They claim it now has more omega fatty acids, less sugar, and a smoother taste.
Of course, I can't really compare apples to apples here. I hadn't tried the chocolate flavor before, and I haven't tried the new, improved vanilla -- but there does seem to be a difference in texture between the old vanilla and new chocolate and, most importantly, there is no detectable bitter aftertaste!
It has a sweet, cocoa-y, nutty flavor, and the creamy texture you'd expect from chocolate milk. It's dairy- and soy-free and has lots of omega fatty acids, but is higher in calories and fat than other milk substitutes while only having 1g of protein per serving. It is also a bit pricier than other milk alternatives.
While it doesn't rate quite as high for me as chocolate Almond Breeze for flavor, it is a close second. It makes another great alternative to dairy and soy. The company also makes other hempseed food products, including a frozen dessert (which comes in several flavors), hemp protein powder, and hemp oil.
Oh, and one last thing: Sorry to break it to you, but this is HEMPMILK, not POTMILK. It has no THC and won't get you high. ;)
Living Harvest/Tempt Official website
Protein Source: Hemp seed
Allergens: Cocoa?
Vegan
Since then, Living Harvest Hempseed products got a makeover when they merged with the Tempt brand. While the new packaging looks very boring and generic (they call it "modern"), the taste does seem to have improved. They claim it now has more omega fatty acids, less sugar, and a smoother taste.
Of course, I can't really compare apples to apples here. I hadn't tried the chocolate flavor before, and I haven't tried the new, improved vanilla -- but there does seem to be a difference in texture between the old vanilla and new chocolate and, most importantly, there is no detectable bitter aftertaste!
It has a sweet, cocoa-y, nutty flavor, and the creamy texture you'd expect from chocolate milk. It's dairy- and soy-free and has lots of omega fatty acids, but is higher in calories and fat than other milk substitutes while only having 1g of protein per serving. It is also a bit pricier than other milk alternatives.
While it doesn't rate quite as high for me as chocolate Almond Breeze for flavor, it is a close second. It makes another great alternative to dairy and soy. The company also makes other hempseed food products, including a frozen dessert (which comes in several flavors), hemp protein powder, and hemp oil.
Oh, and one last thing: Sorry to break it to you, but this is HEMPMILK, not POTMILK. It has no THC and won't get you high. ;)
Living Harvest/Tempt Official website
Protein Source: Hemp seed
Allergens: Cocoa?
Vegan
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Hello again, interwebs
That's right, I just couldn't stay away from you, my fellow food adventurers. :) I keep finding myself trying new foods and wanting to blog about them!
I don't expect that I will update as often as I once did, but I would like to at least update once in a while. I'm not sure what that means yet, but we'll figure it out.
Your friend,
jazzhands
I don't expect that I will update as often as I once did, but I would like to at least update once in a while. I'm not sure what that means yet, but we'll figure it out.
Your friend,
jazzhands
Sunday, June 28, 2009
TTFN
It's been 6 months since I started this blog. Since interest seems to have tapered off (assuming there was some to begin with) and I have a lot of other things going on, I'm putting Vegetablog on hold indefinitely. Perhaps someday if the mood strikes me or if I receive a petition full of signatures, I will come back to it. If not, hopefully the posts in the archive will be of use to somebody, somewhere.
your friend in food,
jazzhands
your friend in food,
jazzhands
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Stir-fry
One of the easiest and yummiest dishes I like to cook for myself is a stir-fry. It doesn't take too much time or preparation or skill, doesn't require a recipe, is full of flavor and nutrition, and can be easily tailored to your taste, mood, diet requirements, or what you've got lying around.
Often I decide to make a stir-fry just as an excuse to experiment with cooking tofu. :) Tonight was just such an occasion. I wanted to try marinating tofu for the first time. Previously, I had only ever attempted to add flavor to the tofu during the cooking process, but it never worked very well. So anyway, I searched the pantry and fridge and decided to whip up a concoction consisting of barbecue sauce (diluted about 1:1 with water), a bit of "beef" bouillon, and a few shakes of hot sauce. I cubed up a third of a block of drained extra-firm tofu and let it marinate in a zip-top bag for about an hour. During this time, I raided the fridge for veggies to add: fresh bell pepper, onion, green beans, and mushrooms, and frozen corn. I cooked the tofu first as I prepped the fresh veggies, then set the tofu aside on a plate while I cooked the veggies using the same pan. I've found that cooking the tofu and veggies separately has these benefits: tofu seems to take longer to cook to my liking than veggies, so cooking it separately first I can make sure it's right; plus, mixing uncooked tofu in with veggies tends to lead to crumbled tofu... not that there's anything wrong with that...
So, I seasoned the veggies as they were cooking with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and toward the end I threw the tofu back in to reheat it a bit. It looked and smelled pretty good, but I felt like it was missing something -- something crunchy. My first thought was chow mein noodles, but I don't usually keep those on hand. I considered crushing up some multi-grain chips, but finally decided on tossing in some sunflower seed kernels.
The final result: yumminess!
The tofu marination (if that's a word) worked pretty well. It added a lot of flavor, and probably would have worked even better if I had been patient enough to let it go longer.
Also, this dish wasn't just a tofu experiment: it was the first time I cooked/ate green beans that didn't come from a can or in a soup. I always thought canned green beans were pretty gross, but fresh green beans are completely different. They're actually kind of sweet-tasting, and way better than canned.
Protein source: soy, sunflower seed kernels
Allergens: soy, sunflower seed kernels
Vegan
Often I decide to make a stir-fry just as an excuse to experiment with cooking tofu. :) Tonight was just such an occasion. I wanted to try marinating tofu for the first time. Previously, I had only ever attempted to add flavor to the tofu during the cooking process, but it never worked very well. So anyway, I searched the pantry and fridge and decided to whip up a concoction consisting of barbecue sauce (diluted about 1:1 with water), a bit of "beef" bouillon, and a few shakes of hot sauce. I cubed up a third of a block of drained extra-firm tofu and let it marinate in a zip-top bag for about an hour. During this time, I raided the fridge for veggies to add: fresh bell pepper, onion, green beans, and mushrooms, and frozen corn. I cooked the tofu first as I prepped the fresh veggies, then set the tofu aside on a plate while I cooked the veggies using the same pan. I've found that cooking the tofu and veggies separately has these benefits: tofu seems to take longer to cook to my liking than veggies, so cooking it separately first I can make sure it's right; plus, mixing uncooked tofu in with veggies tends to lead to crumbled tofu... not that there's anything wrong with that...
So, I seasoned the veggies as they were cooking with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and toward the end I threw the tofu back in to reheat it a bit. It looked and smelled pretty good, but I felt like it was missing something -- something crunchy. My first thought was chow mein noodles, but I don't usually keep those on hand. I considered crushing up some multi-grain chips, but finally decided on tossing in some sunflower seed kernels.
The final result: yumminess!
The tofu marination (if that's a word) worked pretty well. It added a lot of flavor, and probably would have worked even better if I had been patient enough to let it go longer.
Also, this dish wasn't just a tofu experiment: it was the first time I cooked/ate green beans that didn't come from a can or in a soup. I always thought canned green beans were pretty gross, but fresh green beans are completely different. They're actually kind of sweet-tasting, and way better than canned.
Protein source: soy, sunflower seed kernels
Allergens: soy, sunflower seed kernels
Vegan
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Don't worry, I'm coming back
Hello again, fellow food adventurers. Sorry about the month-long hiatus... things have been a little busy and I've been trying to decide on certain blog-related things -- namely, whether or not to write about certain topics -- and for the meantime, have decided not to. Thus, no new posts for a month. But I promise I'll get back to it soon! Really!
-jazzhands
-jazzhands
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)