Birthday Bonanza 2012

So, here's what I made (and ate!) for my birthday!

 Old Fashioned Chelsea Waffles made with my Homemade Soy Milk (from the Tempeh making process).  The recipe is in Vegan Brunch.  

 The homemade soy milk gave them this gorgeous mottled look, especially around the edges, where it was most striking.  I've never seen it before when making these (I usually use Trader Joe's Original Soy Milk to make them).  These were particularly tender and tasty, and I really think it was the homemade soy milk that did it...

 For lunch, my Homemade Tempeh marinated in an Asian type marinade, then sauteed in my cast iron pan, served over Cilantro Scallion Basmati.

 For dinner, pressure cooker Cuban Black Beans over my Ten Minute Polenta (recipe post to come for that, it's SOOO easy).  

 Cuban Black Beans over Organic Polenta with cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, and pimento olives (traditional to serve with Cuban Black Beans :-)

For dessert, a gift from my sister: The Luscious Locavore Box from Lagusta's Luscious.  

 I love the Blueberry Black Pepper Currant one best!  The others are Apple Fennel, Coriander Beet, and Raspberry Balsamic.  All are fantastic!

I poured the rest of the polenta into my new 10 inch Nordic Ware non-stick loaf pan.  This is a teaser for tomorrow night's dinner (or at least that's what I'm thinking right now)...

And, now, for the presents.

From my husband, I got a REAL roasting pan, a gorgeous one from Cuisinart.  I have been using my jelly roll pan for a few years now.

 Behold! All that shiny stainless steel :-)

These are my gifts to myself!

 This burger press is so hokey and fun looking, I just had to have it!  I have no idea if it will work for veggie burgers, but it's going to be fun trying.  So hilarious.

Lastly, from Nordic Ware's "Platinum" line, the Garland Mini-Bundt Pan.  Gorgeous.  Can't wait to try it.  

I still have to make my birthday cake, maybe they will be belated bundt cakes!

If you are interested, here is what I did for my birthday last year.

We're gonna have a good time with all our new kitchen toys, aren't we?

Pressure Cooker Black-Eyed Stew

For you new readers (hey guys!) and anyone unfamiliar with the term "fazool," I wanted to explain the derivation.  The traditional Italian dish of pasta with beans, "pasta e fagioli," is otherwise known as "pasta fazool." So, my blog is "vegan fazool," to celebrate my foremothers and to carry on the Italian tradition of lovingly cooking plant-based foods (beans especially!) in novel and delicious ways.

I have bags and bags of dried beans in my pantry, and although I love to eat freshly made beans, I am tired of all the soaking and boiling, boiling, boiling.  So, I finally decided that in order to make efficient use of those beans, I had to do something different.

Enter, pressure cooker!

Here is my brand-new, lovingly washed and dried,  Six Quart Presto Pressure Cooker!

Even though for everything but lentils and black-eyed peas, you still have to soak them, you can cook them super fast in a pressure cooker.

I decided to try black-eyed peas today since they didn't have to be soaked.  I used the classic French mirepoix as a stew base and went from there.

Fazool Stew (Pressure Cooker Black-Eyed Stew):

1 cup dried black-eyed peas (you don't have to soak them!)
3 cups liquid (whatever you like: water, veggie stock, water and wine, you can also use bouillon dissolved in warm water first if you want to do it that way, I recommend Rapunzel veggie bouillon it's excellent).
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
½ a small onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp fresh or dried rosemary

Put everything in the pressure cooker.  Bring to pressure and cook for four minutes.  Remove from heat.  Let pot come back down to pressure on it’s own (about 15 minutes).  Add salt to taste at the end (if you add it during it may make the beans tough).  That’s it. I love my new pressure cooker!

Here are the pics:

 The dancing carrot.

 Everything is in the cooker and ready to go!

 Bringing it to pressure took about nine minutes.

 Action shot! The pressure cap "rocking" back and forth, a little steam escaping. Allow four minutes of gentle "rocking" (I turned the heat down to about medium to get it to rock gently) then turn it off.

 After about 15 minutes of letting the pot depressurize on its own, the stew is done!

 Wha La!

My son ate two bowls of it and so did I.

Until tomorrow, MoFoers!

Black Bean Burgers of New Jersey

I developed a NO sauté NO food processor veggie burger and I am so proud!  It is also (mostly) gluten free, as I don't particularly like vital wheat gluten in vegan burgers sometimes.  You could sub for the breadcrumbs with oats ground up in your food processor or more chickpea flour or other gluten free flour. And, it's soy free, for those of you who are allergic to soy! These are super easy and taste fantastic.  Perfect for the 4^th of July weekend that is quickly approaching!  Bring your vegan treasures to an omnivorous party and watch them get gobbled up (make a double batch if you are taking them to a barbeque!).  Try to use as many organic ingredients as you can, but if you don’t have any on hand, conventional ones are OK.  Enjoy!

AWESOME Black Bean Burgers of New Jersey J

Soy free, (mostly) gluten free, pretty much work free :-)

2 cans black beans (organic if possible!!)

1 cup corn (frozen or fresh)

2 garlic cloves, chopped

½ sweet onion, chopped

½ cup chopped organic, fire roasted, red peppers (jarred in water) or roast fresh ones if u want.

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp salt (I use coarse Kosher salt, you can also use sea salt)

1 tablespoon Cholula hot sauce (more if you want it spicier)

½ cup garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour

½ cup bread crumbs (freshly made if possible)

¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro (if you have it)

2 Ener-G egg replacer eggs (3 tsp egg replacer powder and 4 tablespoons of water)

In a small bowl, whisk the egg replacer powder and water until it is creamy and frothy. Set aside.

Drain and rinse beans in a colander.  Place in a large bowl (where all your ingredients will fit) and mash with a fork.  Add the rest of the ingredients and the egg replacer mixture. Mix it up with a big spoon or just with your hands. That’s it.

You can let it rest at this point in the refrigerator if you want to (or need to) for an hour or so or even up to overnight.  Some folks say resting in the fridge makes it easier to shape veggie burgers.  Or, you can just go ahead and make it into burgers without resting it (which is what I did).  I use a large oxo scoop to grab the burger mixture (way overflowing over the scoop, I just use it to help eyeball the size) so they are all about the same size. Then I roll them into balls in my hands and flatten them on the baking sheet or tray. Done.

You can bake, grill or sauté these burgers when you are ready. 

To Grill:
I use a disposable aluminum baking pan that fits in my grill. I line it with extra foil, and generously oil the foil with olive oil.  Put the raw burgers on your prepared baking tray and place on your grill.  I used a hot fire (I have a charcoal grill, so the fire is hot, but you can use lower heat if you have a gas grill) and grilled about 6 minutes or a little longer on the first side with the lid down.  Be sure to brush them with olive oil before you flip them over inside the pan, and then grill another few minutes until golden on the second side.  That's it!

To Bake: Line a baking sheet with foil (you don’t have to but it makes clean up a lot easier) and brush generously with olive oil.  Put the burgers on and brush the tops with olive oil.  Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  Flip, bake another 10 minutes.  You want them nice and brown on both sides (or at least that’s how I like them!).

Or, sauté: on medium heat in olive oil until golden on each side, again, about 6 minutes or so per side.

Serve with sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, vegan mayo or vegan sour cream (like Tofutti’s brand, which is excellent) and extra hot sauce, or any burger topping you like!

Enjoy your 4^th of July weekend!!!