Half-Assed Homemaker

I love the idea of mocha cake. I rarely have it so the last two times I was asked to choose a birthday cake, I chose Mocha Cake. Coincidentally, they were both vegan and both winners. As such, I am developing very specific standards which will prevent burnout.

Someone: Mocha Cake?
Me: Is it vegan?
Someone: No(?)
Me: I'll wait until my birthday.

Vegan Mike made me a vegan mocha birthday cake with Caffy's help. It was based on this recipe from Martha Stewart and hats off to the lady, it was a really great cake that was straightforward to make. Rather than a layer cake with icing in between and ganache on top, we made it in a 9x13 and iced the top.

The recipe called for espresso powder for which we substituted coffee. I had never used espresso powder so I winged it on the proportions. The results were great but I will experiment sometime with more. Instead of 4 tablespoons espresso powder in 2 cups water, I brewed 2 cups of french press coffee using 4 tablespoons of ground dark roast coffee. Instead of espresso powder in the icing, I supplied the icing team with finely ground coffee. The coffee flavor came across as a subtle but rich finish which played so nicely with all the other flavors.

The vegan margarine used was from Earth Balance, tropical oils are back!

Labels: cake, coffee, earth balance, espresso powder, mocha, recipe, vegan

This is a hearty egg dish that I like to make on a weekend when people are around and I have a lot of eggs. I use 4 or 5 eggs for 2 or 3 people respectively.

canola oil
potato
onion and chili, chopped
eggs, beaten
water, milk or cream
cilantro, chopped
salt
black pepper, ground
small iron skillet

Heat some oil in a small iron skillet. Break off chunks of a cooked potato into the skillet. Chop some onion and chili, add to the pan and stir until the potatoes are slightly brown.

Beat some fresh eggs with salt, black pepper and a splash of water (or milk or cream if you like). Stir in some chopped cilantro and pour into the pan. Preheat the oven.

Cook over low heat (on the stove) until the edges and bottom look done, move it to the oven and bake until almost done. Remove from oven, let it sit for 30 seconds, slice and serve.

If it's particularly thick, all packed with veggies and such, the top may not cook completely so you can finish it under the broiler for a about a minute (maybe less).

Labels: eggs, iron_skillet, recipe

I am going to try to make hemp milk and then try to make it regularly. I currently keep brick packs of soy milk in my office and use it on cereal. I want to try something new and am attracted to hemp for various nutrition advantages and the ability to easily process it without cooking it. Making hemp milk will also reduce waste. According to the recipe below a 10oz foil pouch will produce 5 brick packs worth of product. That also lightens the shopping cart load. It will cost less than buying soymilk and cost more than making soymilk but is far less work. Making soymilk involves soaking the beans, grinding, boiling and straining. Since the seeds are hulled, the hard fibrous part has been removed and there is no need for soaking or straining. It is not necessary to boil hemp so the product is live and raw.

It also sounds like tons of fun.

In a one quart mason jar, add:
1/3 cup hulled hemp seeds
1 cup water
some raisins or some other sweetener (optional)

Screw the blender base (the cap with the blades) onto mason jar and fit into blender as normal. Blend well. Add water until total volume is 1 quart. Shake and serve or store chilled.

FAQ

Q: Where did you get this idea?
A: I tasted hemp milk and liked it. I came across this recipe and decided I wanted to try it. I scaled it up slightly to make a quart at a time and incorporated this blender + mason jar trick to save some cleaning.

Q: Why raisins and how many should I use?
A: I currently pour unsweetened soymilk over shredded wheat and raisins. For this recipe, I decided to move some raisins up the timeline. I imagine you'll need less raisins if you blend them in than if you ate them with the finish product because the blending, soaking and shaking will probably allow better distribution of the sugar. Start with a clump and experiment to determine for yourself.

Q: Have you tried this yet?
A: No, not yet. I'll update if I need to adjust the proportions after I try it out.

Q: Are you excited?
A: So excited.

UPDATE: Hemp Milk is very strong tasting. It has a nutty, grassy flavor. I need to work on the recipe. Stay tuned.

Labels: hemp, recipe

I adapted this recipe from the first recipe and then realized that even though it has no cheese, it can still be called a quesadilla.

Vegan Spinach Quesadilla

1 handful Spinach, chopped
a few cloves garlic, chopped
small handful walnuts chopped
2 whole wheat tortilla, slightly warmed or toasted
salt

Heat the garlic and walnuts in oil until they smell very good. Stir in spinach, add salt and saute until bright green. Add half into each tortilla, fold and enjoy.

This is an excellent dish that can be cooked and assembled on the go. One night Caffy wanted something with fat and vegetables, I modified the following recipe because she doesn't eat cheese. These are simple enough that some might not consider them recipes so call them whatever you want. Most important, they are fast, wholesome and satisfying.

Spinach Quesadilla

1 handful Spinach, chopped
1 handful cheese, shredded
(Oaxaca, Monterey Jack or any good melting cheese; Oaxaca can be shredded by hand!)
2 tortillas

Warm a nonstick pan, over low heat and place one tortilla. Spread out half of the cheese. Pile on the Spinach, top with the rest of the cheese and the other tortilla. Cover and let cook a few minutes, flip and cook until the other side is toasty and warm.

Labels: recipe, spinach

I heard about Chimichurri on the radio and decided to take a stab at it. I made up a recipe according to the description heard and it wasn't quite right so I decided to take another stab at it. My first attempt was essentially a fine relish of garlic and parsley which I loosened with olive oil, it didn't taste great and the texture wasn't so pleasing.

I recalled a time in college when a friend of mine had some take out from a Columbian restaurant, he gave me a taste. I don't recall what it was, the picture in my mind resembles an empanada, I dipped it in a sauce accidentally dropping it in said sauce and felt a little bad for storming up his meal with my little mishap. I don't remember the taste at all but I do have a clear visual memory of the sauce. It was a semi-clear liquid with ingredients floating in it.

Chimichurri

1 good pinch parsely leaves, chopped
1 smaller pinch cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small pinch chili, minced
(I used some tiny Thai chilis of which I have a bouquet hanging up to dry in my kitchen)
1 pinch salt
black pepper, ground
1 Lime, juiced
1 small drizzle of oil

Combine in a bowl and serve or to be fancy, combine most of the greens with the salt, pepper, chili and garlic and pound gently to get the natural oils going. Add the lime juice and oil, stir and serve.

Labels: chili, condiment, recipe, sauce

I have been making these quite often over the past few weeks, with most of the prep work done ahead of time (ie the weekend), it is a badass meal after work without much time. Some things to prepare ahead of time include brown rice, a crock pot of black beans, and chopped vegetables. The vegetables have included red and white onions, bell pepper, portabello mushroom, and salted and rinsed zucchini (technique). Toss in oil and a little spicy vinegar, store in fridge.

Grilled Veggies

At meal time, get your iron skillet pretty hot. Drizzle in a little oil and mix in some vegetables. The goal is to get all sides of the veggies in contact with the skillet. Spread them out so they are in one layer after each time you toss or stir them. I like to use high heat to get a slight char and to cook the vegtables quickly, leaving them crunchy.


The Extras
Any or all of these extras can be included in your meal depending on what you have on hand and something like beans or egg can be used as the main attraction. Heat the beans and/or rice in a pan with a little water, ideally the water the beans cooked in. Wash some large leaves of romaine lettuce. The lettuce lines the tortilla, providing some extra crunch and keeping the tortilla dry. Egg is nice with this from time to time, beat one or just have it ready.

Assembly
The veggies can be pushed to the edges of the skillet while other things can be quickly cooked in the middle like the egg and the tortilla. Cook each side of the tortilla on the grill until slightly puffed up. Cook the egg if you are using one. Cover the tortilla with a lettuce leaf, add the rest of the ingredients.

Recently I made a chimicurri sauce to go with it, I'll blog that next. The next experimental step for this recipe is to make my own flatbread instead of using tortilla.

Labels: grilled, iron_skillet, recipe, vegetables

At the farmers market, I was happy knowing that the bunch of cilantro before me would serve the household well this week, salsa, guacamole, hari chutney (Cafy's new favorite), you name it. It even smells like cilantro so I was sure it was not parsley.

Days later, I noticed cilantro doesn't smell as much like cilantro as the farmer's market did. It's parsley and I'm not happy. You see, cilantro is what I was craving. Since it was already washed and chopped, I tossed it to this salsa and had it with my dinner.

I then looked into a tabouli recipe to use up some more of the parsley. It seems my salsa's ingredients are similar to those of tabouli so I divided the leftover salsa into two containers, added some bulgar wheat, water, more parsley, olive oil and mint. The next day, tabouli and lettuce for lunchy!

Recipe

tomatos, diced
onions, chopped
garlic cloves, parsley, and a fresh chili (jalapeño, in my case), minced
salt
lime, juiced
black pepper, ground

combine and consume and/or continue

one cup bulgar wheat
one cup water
a few tablespoons of olive oil
mint, chopped
parsley, chopped

mix and chill

Labels: bulgar, parsley, recipe

Curry Zucchini Soup

2-3 Large Zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 Onion, coarsely chopped
2-3 Cups Vegetable Broth (or water flavored with bouillon or nutritional yeast).
3-4 cloves Garlic
Ground Cumin
Ground Coriander
Ground Black Pepper
Ginger (grated or dried)
Ground Dried Chili (or chopped fresh chili)

2-3 small Zucchini, chopped into thin discs (salted and rinsed, see below)
1 Carrot, sliced thin
1 Handful chopped green beans

Slice the small zucchini and lay out in a single layer on a plate or in a strainer. Apply a generous amount of course salt. This will pull out the water and allow it to keep its texture when cooked.

Saute the large zucchini and onion until very soft and then add to the broth. Add the garlic and spices and blend until creamy.

Rinse the zucchini slices and saute gently with the carrot. Combine all ingredients, the green beans will cook slightly from residual heat.

Labels: curry, nutritional yeast, recipe, soup, stick blender, zucchini

I had lunch with three Database Administrators the other day. I've never sat down with that many Indian people I wasn't related to. Of course, I was the only one not toting Indian food. "That's very healthy" one guy said, "oh, this is my favorite lunch" I said. "I need rice in the afternoon." another guy replied.

Black Bean Salad.

Make a pot of black beans, stash some in the fridge and some in the freezer. Spoon it over a salad of greens (spinach or lettuce), slivers of red onions and fresh tomatoes. The critical ingredients here are the beans and tomatoes. I seem to have red onion and lettuce more often then not but I tomatoes came to the farmer's market in June so it was exciting to have tomatoes again after my two-Sunday sabbatical in Boulder. The beans are courtesy of having access to a crock-pot that works. I also got some long mild chilies a few weeks ago that have kept nicely, I slice them thinly into this salad. Serve with tortilla chips.

Labels: black beans, lettuce, recipe, salad

Yuca is so many things to so many peoples. Across the world, it is known as yucca, cassava, manioc, rumu, mandioca, aipim, macaxeira, mandio, mogho, bi ketella, kasp, balinghoy, cây ngọc giá, maniok, tapioca and arrowroot according to the internet.

Last night is was a creamy and playfully sinuous seductress. Peeled and steamed yuca is the most exciting tuber treat I can think of. It ends up like potato but only more fibrous enough to be, as I say, playful. In between the fibers is a gently sweet and velvety delight. This structure causes it to break into morsels rough enough to lap up dipping sauce in a way that makes ask yourself what life is without a the bite of fresh lemon and garlic swimming in olive oil sliding around the inside of your mouth.

Labels: mojo, recipe, yuca