Last night’s new recipe was a leek and brown rice dish from Greek Vegetarian Cooking by Alkmini Chaitow. I have to say that while the end result tasted decent, the recipe was a bit confusing. When it said to “cover ingredients with water, just barely,” I took it to mean that the water level should be just above all the ingredients. Turns out that this isn’t the case, as the water never came anywhere close to evaporating completely. The dish was a little mushy as a result.

This recipe for Leek and Rice Pilaf looks similar to the one I made, but is more specific. The book’s recipe also had two pounds of canned tomatoes and one large onion, chopped as well as 1/4 cup of olive oil (versus 1 tablesoon).

I’ve been looking for some nice, quick ethnic dishes as of late and I think this might be a good “go to” dish once I perfect it.

I’ve been reading through the archives over at Droningon.com, which include a lot of opinion pieces based on the over-consumption and over-commercialization in our modern world. One sentence really stood out from all the others, though:

“Nothing wrecks the joy of consuming like nagging guilt.”

I encourage you to read the piece, which focuses on sweatshops and how we, as consumers, rarely think about where the products we consume or purchase come from. This very thing is one of the reasons that I became vegetarian.

The “nagging guilt” got to me.

Last night was one of those “it’s getting late, let’s make something quick for dinner” nights, so I sauteed some leeks and carrots in olive oil and dry white wine and sprinkled them with nutmeg (nod goes to Nava Atlas for this) and put it on top of some pasta (butterfly pasta and ziti). I also poured an off-the-cuff sauce on the pasta made up of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, oregano, sea salt, and a dash of sugar. I topped things off with a little bit of shredded Veganrella. The end result was surprisingly flavorful (but not overwhelming) and the whole process (preparation and cooking) took less than 25 minutes.

Interesting fact: John Street, mayor of Philadelphia, is a vegetarian. It’s surprising considering he’s mayor of a city known for its cheesesteaks.

If you’re one of the folks I owe stickers to, don’t worry—I have your information saved and the stickers will be going out shortly. :)

Last night’s new recipe met with mixed results. This time around I made a cauliflower, potato, and lentil soup with some Indian flavor, a recipe from Nava Atlas’ wonderful Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons. While I was pleased with the Indian flavor that the Garam Masala gave the soup, Huyen thought it was a little bit too overpowering, negating the taste of the cauliflower. I think had we used larger chunks of potato and caulflower rather than dicing them so finely, it might have turned out a little better.

I must admit, though, I’m becoming a fan of Garam Masala, a blend of cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cloves, and black pepper that’s traditionally used in North Indian cooking (the South Indian version has fenugreek and turmeric and more coriander). CuisineCuisine.com has a some good information on Garam Masala, as well as some recipes for making your own. Like curry, when it’s used in soup, it makes the house smell wonderful (one of my favorite by-products of cooking an Indian-style dish).

During our visit to the Finger Lakes last month, we had lunch at the Harvest Deli (good pictures on their For Sale page), a conveniently located vegetarian food court-style eatery in Ithaca. I had a wonderful vegan Cuban Seitan-Steak Sub sandwich. They had a nice variety of ethnic vegan options and a full line of smoothies and juices. Ithaca has a lot of vegetarian choices, but the Harvest Deli is definitely worth a stop if you’re spending the day shopping in the Ithaca Commons.

Hm… the recipe for Portuguese Chouriço and Kale Soup sounds mighty good. I wonder if it can be successfully de-meated. Obviously, either Unchicken broth or vegetable broth would be substituted for the chicken broth, but the main ingredient is where it gets a little tricky.

The soup’s main ingredient is chouriço, a smoked pork sausage seasoned with paprika, crushed pepper, garlic, and other spices. The trick would be trying to get the right levels of seasoning on a sausage substitute. I found a page about how to make your own chouriço, which might be helpful. I think I’ll start directly with a store-bought imitation sausage and attempt to marinate it in a similar way.

It should be an interesting experiment. The soup sounds like it would be nice and warm and spicy, a good combination for cold winter nights.

Some Sabot Publishing employees were feeling a little bummed because they were downsized and facing their final days with their respective magazines. But something managed to make them laugh: a wild turkey on their stoop. What makes this story interesting, though, are the magazines published inside the office: Better Nutrition and Vegetarian Times. The turkey must have known it was safe. :) Read more…