Kale and Tofu Stir-Fry

It's finally cooling down here in central Illinois, and my kale is as happy as can be. Last year I pulled my kale up before this time because it was so littered with bugs I didn't think it would bounce back. This year, out of sheer laziness, I left it in the ground and it started putting off new, beautiful leaves. I picked a hefty bunch of them and needed to use them right away because I was about to leave town for a week. I didn't have many other ingredients in the house, so I threw together a simple and tasty stir-fry.



Kale and Tofu Stir-Fry

Olive oil
1 large bunch kale, washed and chopped
1 pound firm tofu, pressed and crumbled
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce (less if using strong soy sauce)
2-3 T. toasted sesame oil
1 tsp. powdered ginger

In a large saute pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add crumbled tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger and cook until heated through and some of the moisture has cooked off. Add washed and chopped kale and continue to cook until kale has wilted and is tender (may take longer if using a tougher variety of kale). Serve over cooked rice or quinoa.

Upton's Ground Beef Seitan Wontons

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, which would have been more appealing. But I'm sure you can picture those delicious little fried morsels of tastiness that most Chinese restaurants have on their appetizer menus. If you have a decent Asian Grocery in your area, you should be able to buy frozen wonton wrappers that are vegan. You can use whatever meat substitute you want in your wontons, I chose Upton's Ground Beef Style Seitan this time because it's easily accessible to me and relatively inexpensive, not to mention it's a great product and I feel good supporting them because they are a good local company.

Wonton Filling:

1/2 small yellow onion, minced
2 green onions, sliced
1 T. Toasted Sesame oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. Upton's Ground Beef Seitan
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large saute pan, add both kinds of onion, cook until softened. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add ground "beef" of other meat substitute and saute until hot.




Assembly:

Thawed wonton wrappers
Small bowl of water

On a cutting board or plate, lay out one wonton wrapper. Place about 1 tsp. filling in the center of the wrapper. Dip your finger into the water and run it around the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, sealing the edges well. Set aside and continue with the remaining filling.




Once you have used up all your filling your wontons are ready to be fried. I use a deep fryer set at 350 degrees. Fry until golden. Serve with your favorite dipping sauces.

Veggie Enchiladas

While I was working today, I suddenly smelled something that made me think of enchiladas. I'm not sure what it was, we weren't making enchiladas, but I knew at that moment I was going to make them for dinner tonight. I've tried a couple recipes for them in the past that were pretty good, but they were all too complicated and time consuming. I did some enchilada recipe research on my lunch break and decided I'd throw something together instead of just following a recipe word for word. I have to say, I was pretty pleased with them. A lot of times when I just "wing it" with recipes, they don't turn out the best. I put whatever veggies I had on hand in them, but I'm sure there are other combinations that would be just as good.


Veggie Enchiladas

2-10oz. cans red enchilada sauce
1-can vegetarian refried beans
1-package small flour tortillas
2 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small summer squash, seeded and diced
4 oz. baby bella or white mushrooms, diced (other vegetables can be substituted)
¾ cup frozen corn
½ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp oregano (Mexican if available)
1/8 tsp. chipotle powder
salt, to taste
2 cups cheddar style Daiya Shreds
1 can chopped chili peppers (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish, set aside. Heat oil in large pan until hot. Add onion, sprinkle with a little salt and cook until onions begin to soften. Add the squash, garlic and mushrooms and cook until just tender. Add in the frozen corn and spices and cook until corn is heated through. Taste mixture, add salt and more seasonings as needed. Heat the refried beans with approximately ¼ cup of enchilada sauce in a pan until hot.

Pour one can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the glass baking dish. To assemble enchiladas, put a generous amount of beans down the middle of each tortilla, topped with some of the vegetable mixture, sprinkle with a little Daiya cheese and roll tightly. Lay enchiladas, seem side down, in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas, making sure to coat the tortillas thoroughly. Sprinkle enchiladas with any remaining cheese and chopped chili peppers. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted and sauce is bubbling. Good with guacamole and soy sour cream.

Grown-up Mac & "Cheese"

The kale in my garden is getting pretty out of control, so I keep trying to think of ways to use it. The problem is, when I get hungry, I just want to fall back on easy, tried and true recipes. Tonight I decided to combine the two. This is my grown-up version of mac & cheese using Daiya vegan shreds. I think next time I make it I may add some garlic and/or onion granules to give it a little more flavor, but it is delicious as is.


Grown-Up Mac & "Cheese"

9 oz. elbo macaroni
1 bunch Kale, washed and roughly chopped
3 cups Daiya vegan shreds
3 T. Earth Balance Margarine
2 cups unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage, or other non-dairy beverage
1 T. Nutritional Yeast
1 T. flour
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to package instructions, but about a minute or so before it's done, add washed kale and continue to cook until kale is wilted. Drain pasta and kale mixture. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is warming, prepare cheese sauce. In a medium sized sauce pan, melt margarine. Add nutritional yeast, flour and black pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for a couple minutes. Whisk in non-dairy milk and continue to stir until heated, add vegan shreds, stir to combine. Pour sauce over cooked pasta, mix thoroughly and put in a greased 8x8 casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs and sprinkle with paprika. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes, or until cheese starts to bubble and top begins to brown. Remove from oven and top with vegan parmesan cheese (optional).

Rain, rain, go away!

We've been getting a LOT of rain lately. I like rain, and so does the garden, but the mosquitos also really like it. Yesterday we got anywhere between 2 and 4" (I've been hearing varying amounts) of rain in about 30 minutes. Someone decided at some point in our house's history to, sort of, build a wall around our backyard, creating the perfect space to hold water. Here are some pictures.


My cucumbers, trying to keep their heads above the water.


Sweet corn.


This picture doesn't show it very well, but I'm up past my ankles in water.


A view of Lake Bolthouse.


But hey, at least our basement is dry :)

So I'm still not sure I understand how garlic works. You plant a single clove, wait several months, and you get a whole head of garlic. What happens to that original clove? Is it part of the head? Does it just disappear? Either way, I think it's pretty cool. This is part of my first garlic harvest.



After months of begging and nagging, I finally got my husband to help me till up a big part of our backyard. Then he so kindly and without much complaint, built a wooden frame around it. I'm excited because I'm trying for the first time to grow sweet corn. We have had TONS of rain and heat here in the last couple weeks, so everything in the garden is growing fast. This is my sweet corn.



I'm pretty sure we have a rabbit nest in our yard somewhere. We keep seeing these adorable little bunnies running around our yard. They are so cute it's really hard to get mad at them when they chew down my broccoli every time it recovers from the last chewing. So, today I spent my morning in our swampy, mosquito infested backyard, trying to rabbit-proof my garden. I think it will at least keep the rabbits out, but the squirrels are a whole different story.

This Year's Garden

Imagine tomatoes, corn, squash, cabbage, peppers and peanuts growing in the large empty bed. I'll post more pictures as it progresses.



My kale is outta control! This is White Russian kale, which is my new favorite variety because it's very tender and has a really nice flavor.



My garlic that I planted in the fall is almost ready for harvest. Also in this bed are snap peas, carrots, onions, chard and beets.

The Best Cookies In The World

I just have to say that the Maple Walnut cookies from the cookbook Vegan With a Vengeance are the best cookies in the world, seriously. I followed the recipe exactly, but also add about 1 cup vegan chocolate chips. They are soft and gooey and oh so delicious.

Kale and Chard Frittata

In an effort to use some of the fresh greens from my garden, I decided to try a recipe for a vegan frittata. I used the recipe from the Vegan Brunch cookbook with a few additions of my own. I had been reading about something called black salt or Kala Namak in Vegan Brunch and on the web. It's a an Indian condiment that is supposed to have an eggy flavor. My husband decided right away that from now on he is calling it fart salt because, you guessed it, it smells a little sulfury. I also added some Daiya vegan "cheese" to it because I can't seem to get enough of the stuff. If you haven't tried Daiya yet, I highly recommend it. I think the frittata would still be pretty good without the cheese, but I think it helped hold it all together.

Here is the recipe the way I made it:

Vegan Frittata

olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
A mixture of greens (I used Chard and White Russian Kale, but you could use pretty much any greens), chopped (about 4 cups)
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. black salt
1 pound extra firm tofu
1 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. turmeric
several dashed freshly ground black pepper
1/4 nutritional yeast
1/2 cup Daiya cheddar cheese
salt, to taste

In a large pan over medium heat, saute the garlic in the olive oil until golden in color.

Add the greens and oregano and cook until the greens are wilted and soft.

While the chard is cooking, in a large bowl, prepare the tofu. Press tofu to remove any excess water. Use your hand to crumble the tofu into small pieces. Add the soy sauce, mustard, turmeric, pepper, nutritional yeast, vegan cheese and black salt and mix well. When your greens are ready, mix them into the tofu mixture. Taste for salt.

Lightly oil an 8-inch pie plate and firmly press the tofu mixture into it. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden and firm. Allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Tofu Jerky

There is a local guy that makes vegan jerky and sells it at our co-op. It's not bad, but pretty much tastes like a salty over-baked piece of tofu. A couple of my friends, however, think it's the best thing since sliced bread. They are buying many expensive, tiny little packages of this stuff a week. So, I decided I would try to make some myself. I used this recipe I found onVegweb.com. I don't have a dehydrator like the recipe calls for, so I baked it on the lowest setting in my oven, flipping it over about every 30 minutes or so until it looked like most of the moisture had been removed. It takes a couple hours, but it is soo worth it! All my co-workers agreed it is much better than the stuff you can buy at the co-op, and a lot cheaper. The second time I made it, I added a couple tablespoons of Sriracha Hot Sauce to the marinade. It's a little spicy, but I think it's just what it needed.

Vacation

We're back from vacation, and all I have are some pictures and a peeling sunburn to remember it by. These are a few of my favorites.

Me, looking at something in the sand.

Goofy picture of Chase.
And the mandatory squinty eyed couple picture.

We'll see how long this lasts...

So it's day 6 of vacation and I'm starting to get a little bored and homesick. I'm on an Island in Florida that is pretty far from being vegan friendly, staying in a house that is too nice for me. And while it is relaxing for a few days to do nothing but lay around on a practically private beach, I miss being at home with my cats, working on my garden and being able to cook whatever I want, whenever I want. So what do I do about it? Start a blog of course!

If you know me very well, you're probably thinking I'm crazy. I'm not a writer and am usually pretty quiet and private about my life. Plus, I can't spell and I don't always use my commas and apostrophes correctly. I'm sure my sister could point out every grammatical error and misspelling in this post in less than 10 seconds, but that's ok, she can't help it. So, we'll see how long this blogging thing lasts..

We'll start with a picture of the view from the beach house on St. George Island, Florida.

We drove about 15 hours to get here, but my husband and I agreed it was one of the most pleasant drives we've ever made. I think it's because we stopped in Metropolis to take a couple pictures.