Chez LDubs

Dinner tonight—peanut butter pasta = whole wheat penne +...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:26:00 -0400

Dinner tonight—peanut butter pasta = whole wheat penne + broccoli + banana peppers + peanut sauce made with delicious things like red pepper flakes, ginger, parsley or cilantro, and garlic. Adapted from my best friend’s homemade* vegan how-to guide that started it all.

Oh, and a glass of shiraz out of a box (the classy kind of box—environmentally friendlier than a bottle ‘cause you can fit 4 of those suckers in one box so it takes less energy to ship the same amount!).

*Does not mean she didn’t steal it from a vegan cookbook. But the banana peppers are all LDubs—usually it has red bell peppers but we were out.

PS Forgive the nasty flash lighting…too long of a day to make up a softbox.

"The Way Breakfast Should Be."

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:30:42 -0400

Once again, I’m going with a Maine (“The Way Life Should Be”) slogan here. I should note, though, that as Dana at OneBigDork pointed out, life in Maine is not all blueberries and lobster. The state has a lot of rural poverty and some pretty crazy politics, and I can imagine that if you don’t live near the water (ocean, lake, or river), like Dana doesn’t, life might kind of suck. That is why I would choose Vermont over Maine (assuming I never win the lottery because that is what it will take to buy even a modest house on the ocean).

I digress.

Breakfast in Maine was a fortuitous confluence of factors: “happy eggs” laid by chickens that run around free and eat whatever they want on the farm next door to my in-laws’ New Hampshire home, which even my hardcore vegan sister-in-law will eat + the presence of Aunt Michelle who lived for a while in Spain and knows how to whip up Spanish “tortilla.” If you think this means making flat wrap-like products with which to encase burritos, you are mistaken. ”Tortilla” in Spanish is like a mix between our omelette and our quiche (both stolen from the French, incidentally) and often features just one ingredient in addition to the eggs: potatoes or spinach are common tortilla components. We broke the rules (but not the tortilla!) and put in all our leftover veggies: potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, and I’m not sure what else. Give it a side of toast and beans and a mug of coffee with a splash of soy milk and you have one tasty, practical, environmentally-friendly breakfast. Yum.

“Leftovers” Tortilla topped with homemade salsa.

The next day, we did a little mango (check out that grid perfection, thanks to my sister-in-law Patricia) and coffee tango. Mmm.

Our final morning, we spotted some wild blueberries right outside our back door and Patricia and I had fun picking and eating breakfast right where we were. No pics, though—our hands were too messy from berrying.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my final Maine post: local alcohol!

Vacationland.

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:40:00 -0400

Warning: Non-vegan food ahead.

If you are going to be about as enthusiastic as Haley the Greyhound is about lobsters, skip down a few photos.

The L-Dubs just returned from a much-anticipated sojourn to Maine, which is know as “Vacationland” according to their license plates. (What I want to know is, what if you live year-round in Maine? Does it then become “Staycationland”?)

Maine is also home of the world’s best potatoes, blueberries, and lobstahs. As we cook vegan primarily for environmental reasons (it takes a lot less energy for the sun/water/soil to produce a pound of, say, corn and soy beans than it does for a cow to produce a pound of beef out of close to 16 pounds of corn and soy), we are also aware that eating mangos from Mexico and asparagus from Peru does not a healthy ecosystem make. So when presented with locally-sourced dairy, egg, or seafood options, we are likely to give a hat tip to the animal that gave of its life or reproductive faculties to provide our meal and enjoy something both delicious and environmentally friendly. Hence, our Maine vacation cuisine.

Lobster…

Lobster + Clams…

Local corn on the grill…

Aunt Jeanne’s pasta salad…

Cousin Kyle surveys his feast (complete with local beer):

All was delicious. Thank you, bounteous Maine sea coast. We will be back again to partake of the fruits of your glorious waters.

More food adventures from the Great State of Maine to come! Bon appétit!

Burritoooos (again)

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:00:37 -0400

We eat burritos a lot. A lot a lot. (See previous post.) I promise not to put you through weekly burrito posting unless we do something different/creative with our burritos on a particular day. But since the homemade salsa and homemade hummus I made for my sister’s bachelorette party last night (yayyy!) were consumed post-haste, no photos, I am left with posting pictures of a typical burrito-making fest. The only difference between these babies and our normal burrito-ing is that we usually use black beans and red and yellow peppers are usually too expensive so we just use green. Hurrah for “Manager’s Special” (read: about to go bad) at Kroger.

Add a tortilla, avocado, homemade salsa, handful of spinach, maybe a dollop of plain soy yogurt (“sour cream”), and enjoy!

Dinner last night = leftover pasta sauce + soon-to-be-dead green...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:39:15 -0400

Dinner last night = leftover pasta sauce + soon-to-be-dead green pepper + onions + garlic + banana peppers (the secret ingredient to make everything tastier, trust me) over whole wheat penne.

PS. I’m not lying about the banana peppers. I was skeptical until Chris suggested I put them on a sandwich…and folks, I am now a believer. They give the perfect little ZIP to whatever you are eating without overwhelming it—turns a humdrum sandwich into a lunch with pizzazz! (Do I sound like I’m being paid by the Banana Pepper Growers’ Association yet?)

Burritos to your door

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:34:00 -0400

Our buddy LauraBeth came over to hang out tonight while her SO was out of town and brought dinner with her—how thoughtful! She made us burrito filling consisting of black beans, sweet potato, a little bit of onion and red pepper and some seasoning.

We added in rice, avocado, homemade salsa, and “sour cream” (plain sour cream) and wrapped it all in a wholesome whole wheat tortilla-y blanket.

The result?

Comma cookies from the UCC’s 28th General Synod, because,...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:29:00 -0400

Comma cookies from the UCC’s 28th General Synod, because, as Gracie Allen says: “Never put a period where God has placed a comma.” God is still speaking,

PS These were so not vegan. Sorry Mom.

We went to the United Church of Christ’s 28th General...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:28:00 -0400

Our new flock

Toucan Sam

We went to the United Church of Christ’s 28th General Synod this past weekend and picked up some sweet fair trade Guatemalan swag: hand-carved birds to adorn and identify our wine glasses. I will not go into the irony of people of privilege (us) buying items designed to help keep track of all of their many glasses of a luxury drink (wine) from an artisanal collective of economically underresourced women in order to even out the global wealth disparity (instead of not buying wine at all and sending the proceeds their way, perhaps?), but rather leave you to enjoy their avian cheekiness and maybe say a prayer for Karina, the woman who made these. Then you can check out the collective’s website here and support them yourselves! Over and out.

Brunch with the Brekksters

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:24:00 -0400

The Veganomicon’s Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes (made with lime zest instead of lemon, though, since we can’t seem to ever make these ‘cakes according to the recipe…lime, orange, even grapefruit zest, but never lemon) + cantaloupe = Brekke’s welcome home brunch! We’re glad you’re back, Brekke darlin’, so we can serve you plain old fashioned American vegan food. None of this British stuff (except the delightful tea you brought us. We’ll drink that).

Today Chez LDubs (aka Casa de los Sickies, where we have some...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:06:00 -0400

Today Chez LDubs (aka Casa de los Sickies, where we have some kind of nasty bug): 2 gigantic frozen bananas + soy milk + plain soy yogurt + 2 generous scoops of peanut butter + a swirl of chocolate syrup = epizeutics-friendly afternoon snack. Everything else lately has been cereal, English muffins, or thawed-out frozen leftovers stock-piled for just such an immune emergency.

SLurp!

PS Awesome straws from the local Asian market. Normally used for boba tea; Chez LDubs, used for everything.

Dinner with Dudes Experiencing Homelessness (a regular feature).

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:05:47 -0400

Wow. Could this photo look any less appealing?

I promise, though, this was one tasty dinner. Chris and I hand-rolled 100+ bean enchiladas Friday night for the guys at the local men’s shelter, cooked up a big pot of Mexican rice, and collaborated on a salad with our friend Marvin. Then we cleverly forgot to take pictures until all was devoured except the last half-pan.

Note well: this was no vegan meal. A slight sprinkling of cheese inside each enchilada plus a generous dairified dousing on top made it rather too lactose-y to pass muster. But, in a roomful of men used to eating MEAT (my father-in-law’s fraternity dinner stories come to mind…..), cooking something even vegetarian and getting the thumbs up is a big deal. We’ve previously made baked ziti (cheeeese), veggie chili (which elicited some complaints re: no meat), and red beans and rice with cajun sausage added by a meat-eating friend. We compromise, because hospitality is more important to us than eating rules—if we show up with a dinner that no one likes just so that we can be righteously animal-free, have we really done our job to care for our brothers experiencing homelessness?

Friday night, though, we found out that one of the guys living at the shelter is vegetarian. Sweet, sweet validation—and you can bet there will be more veggie meals coming from this crew!

Just devoured Kitsch’n 155’s first-run veggie...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:04:02 -0400

Just devoured Kitsch’n 155’s first-run veggie burger…and while we ate that deliciousness too fast to take a photo, it deserves a post. These folks just opened up down the street from us and here’s their deal: fresh, tasty diner food in a kitschy 1950s-esque atmosphere worthy of your Aunt Ethel’s Oldsmobile. We checked them out last week (Chris ordered their very non-vegan, but totally scrumptious, handmade ice cream cookie sandwich—2 fresh baked cookies bookending a hearty helping of Ben & Jerry’s) and mentioned that we loved that they were independently owned, had reinvigorated an empty storefront in our neighborhood, and served antibiotic-free, hormone-free, veggie-fed meat—but alas, we didn’t eat meat and would love to see a veggie burger option.

So THEY MADE US ONE.

Not kidding. They took down our name & email and sent us a lovely note this morning saying our veggie burgers would be ready this evening at our convenience. We brought along friends (for whom they graciously made 2 extra burgers), ordered a ton of FREE toppings (grilled mushrooms, jalapenos, grilled onions…), sides of sweet potato fries and grilled asparagus (what diner serves that? awesome) and ate it up. The fries were clearly just cut from a lovely orange tater in thick, juicy slices with the skin on (hallelujah) and sea salt…best sweet potater fries I’ve ever had, so much sweet, just enough fry. The burger was black bean, had visible pieces of onion and green pepper in it, good texture (minimal fall-apartage, a common problem with veggie burgers), and some tasty seasoning—and when we said it could use more of a kick, they took notes. They even heard Chris out when he suggested using wheat gluten instead of egg for their binder—for then we would have a vegan-friendly burger on our hands!

But regardless of the egg, this is a tasty, well-topped veggie burger—probably the best I’ve had in Atlanta (though the Flaming Ice Cube in Ohio still has my heart)—with some killer sides (baked apples, okra, country corn, and other options rotating in) and to-die-for fries. And did I mention ice cream sandwiches to make you lick the plate they come on—after you’ve rubbed all the just-out-of-the-oven-melty-chocolate-chip-goodness off your face?

Also on the menu: veggie combo plate, blue plate specials like meatloaf and liver and onions, Ben & Jerry’s malts and shakes, and old-timey drinks like Cheerwine and the local Red Rock ginger ale.

Three cheers for Kitsch’n 155, and mad props for their flexibility and accomodating-ness! We’ll be back again. With a camera.

The The Veganomicon's Snobby Joes

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:03:02 -0400

Check out the Veganomicon, our go-to vegan cookbook, here. The Snobby Joes of recent posts came from there, and while I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to repost their entire recipe, I would like to give notes on what we felt was helpful/modifications, etc. If we significantly modify a recipe enough to call it our own “adaptation,” we’ll post it; otherwise, just notes.

I was happy with the overall texture, but the joes seemed a bit more likely to escape their buns than the traditional meat-based kind. The recipe calls for 1 cup uncooked lentils and 4 cups water, but we found this made them a little soupy—so we’ll scale the water back next time and see if they hold together a bit better. Also, we used Canadian red lentils and they fell apart (nothing against Canada!), so we’ll be trying a firmer variety (such as green or brown) next time.

Last night’s dinner: leftovers reincarnated once again, this...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:01:56 -0400

Last night’s dinner: leftovers reincarnated once again, this time as “meaty” spaghetti sauce. The sloppy joe flavoring reminded me of the spaghetti that was my favorite Mom-made food growing up, so we added some extra spaghetti sauce and put it on top of whole wheat penne. Since I can’t do dinner without something green (oh how far I’ve come from a childhood spent refusing to touch vegetables), I sauteed a green pepper and threw it into the mix. Delish!

PS I promise our next meal will feature something besides snobby joes, especially for all those leftover-haters out there (a most peculiar stance that requires a whole ‘nother post to address….).

NB

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:01:04 -0400

I am consolidating two blogs into one (long story) so please forgive all the reposts/let me know if you know an easy way to do this instead of recreating all of them and filling up all of your “follow” feeds. Bleh.

Let’s get this out in the open: we love...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:00:05 -0400

Let’s get this out in the open: we love leftovers.

Therefore, today’s lunch: vegan “snobby” joes part deux, with a side of my mom’s famous potato salad (red potatoes, green onions, dill, EVOO, balsamic, S&P, and some nice dark mustard) leftover from community dinner on Sunday.

Bon appétit!

Lunch today: leftover “Jesus bread” (aka Communion...

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:02:14 -0400

Lunch today: leftover “Jesus bread” (aka Communion from last Sunday…still good!) with hummus out of a jar* + baby peppers (manager’s special) + tomatoes with a salad of spinach + tomato + almond slices + balsamic (that’s the Duke who makes the vinegar in the background. Dude is debonair in his 17th century get up). Downed with ice coffee (coffee from this morning + ice +soy milk).

Simple but fresh, and cheap, with all the maanger’s specials and odds and ends going on in this meal.

*It was a manager’s special at the grocery store—we never, ever buy premade hummus anymore, it’s so easy (and tastier!) to make.

The Veganomicon’s “Snobby Joes” (aka sloppy...

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:10:00 -0400

The Veganomicon’s “Snobby Joes” (aka sloppy joes made with lentils) on multi-grain bread leftover from Communion (is that sacrilege?) and spinach, topped with some tahini. Joe was accompanied by broccoli sauteed with EVOO, garlic, lemon juice, S&P and sliced almonds. Dinner = accomplished.