uglyfood.

i am convinced that the uglier food is the better it tastes.

case in point: this quickly-throw-together mix of marinated artichokes, kalamata olives, shiitake & maitake mushrooms, lemon, garlic & red chili flakes over spaghetti. it was salty and slightly spicy and mouthwatery, plus a little tart and bright from the lemon, and it was just what i needed after a less-than-wonderful day at work. (turns out when i don't get enough sleep, i'm super cranky - and neither i nor my students really have a good time with that.)



i love pasta dishes where the prep time is no more than the time needed for the noodles to cook, like this one.
and it still strikes me as really funny that i love to eat this kind of stuff, since i used to be so olive- and mushroom-phobic. i'm actually more likely to order EXTRA mushrooms when i'm eating out now instead of asking for them to be withheld. i sometimes think about the time i wasted not eating those briny and earthy treats, respectively, but i probably wouldn't have the appreciation for them i do now had i always been a fan.

at least i came around, right?

post-new year's day prosperity induction

so, i know you're supposed to eat beans & greens on new year's day, but i was feeling all kinds of self-loathy and lame yesterday and could only muster up the energy to eat my leftover new year's eve burrito. (i rang in the new year at harry's burritos after walking around central park in the snow and sleet, lamenting that i'd never been to tavern on the green, which is now closed.)

so today, in addition to getting some errands run, i managed to cram in some spicy and garlicky kale and black-eyed peas. continuing the self-loathing bent, i unthinkingly skipped breakfast and then ended up eating this stuff so late that i missed the yoga class i was going to attend.

so, self-loathing: 2, self-loving: 0.

things i love this summer #4

CORN!
corn is one of my favorite foodstuffs and i'll eat it prepared just about every way i can think of. lately, i've just been typewritering it off the cob, raw. when it's sweet corn, it's a super-delicious treat on a hot day.

today was my first day back at work after a long, lovely summer off and i thought it'd be a good idea to make up a batch of soup to take for lunches. so i resorted to my favorite standby: isa's corn chowder from vegan with a vengeance. unfortunately, i only had purple carrots to use, so i wound up with this kind of maroonish dark mess. fortunately, this chowder is THE BOMB, so it doesn't matter what it looks like.



choosing to make corn chowder ranks as one of my better decisions today, right up there with taking a load of dirty underwear to the laundromat. and, you know, actually laundering it. now i can greet my kiddos for their first day of 10th grade nourished and not-too-skanky. i have work to do before bed still, so i might be a little cranky when i initially greet the kids, but i'm sure they're going to appreciate the fact that their teacher isn't rustling up dust clouds like pigpen.

things i love this summer #3

TESTING FOR ISA'S WEIGHT LOSSY COOKBOOK.

i ate and ate all kinds of junk this summer, so now that i'm back in NYC, it's time to start practicing some moderation. and what better way than by testing some of isa's delicious low-fat, low-calorie meals? hopefully the book will keep its testing title, appetite for reduction, because that kickass name, coupled with the awesome stuff to be found between the covers, is sure to make it a classic.

most recently: cauliflower pesto soup
comes together in two shakes of a sanctuary lamb's tail and tastes like OMG.


before that: vietnamese rice noodle salad with grilled tofu
the #26 lan bowl comes home, on the skinny.


this book is going to be so great. thanks, eesie!

things i love this summer #2

mostly-cold meals!
i'm feeling a general move toward less cooked food, even if this meal is not really evidence of that. and i know i'm not the only person averse to cooking in the hot summer months, so i'm not suggesting that this is some great revelation in eating. but i am SO into having meals that include cold foods. salads are the easiest way to achieve that goal, of course, and they have the added bonus of being super-convenient!

this was my go-to meal for a few days. there was a box of ditalini that was nagging me to cook it and i finally gave in, turning it into some brooklyn deli macaroni salad. i'm not complaining that making the whole recipe meant that i ate the salad for lunch and dinner more than once in a week, but i realize it's probably not the best idea to be eating so much pasta. i feel like i get a pass, though, because i usually had it with one of joanna's beer brats, cooked in my recently-pilfered-from-my-mother convection steamer! oh, cuisinart, it is SO ON.



this is the perfect appliance for summer, for sure, because it saves me having to sweat over the stove. i hope it's a bit of a workhorse because i fully intend to crack the culinary whip year-round, using it to steam sausages, rice and grains, dried beans, and veggies! i found it two days ago and have used it twice already. it just might be single-handedly responsible for getting me back in the kitchen!

things i love this summer #1

i am all about cold drinks, even when it's not a million degrees in the shade.
during the summertime in south florida, however, it IS a million degrees in the shade, so i am even more emphatically about them.

the only place i'd found near my mom's place in delray beach that even stocks soymilk is starbucks. and they've always used vanilla soymilk, which i have NEVER understood, but at least they used to use silk. now they've switched over to some new, i think proprietary brand, which is reason number 3847532 why starbucks is not the move.

one day, i wandered into the coffee district on NE 2nd avenue and found what i'd been missing. the folks that work there are super nice and when i ordered my soy iced mocha, the barista asked if i wanted vanilla or plain soymilk. i'm not going to lie, i might have shed a tear of gratitude into my coffee.

my one complaint is that they give you a cup wrapper for cold drinks. wtf?

THANKS BE TO THE NYCDOE!

(image borrowed without consent)

snow? so, soup!

i was wandering around the whole foods on houston last weekend with paula when i ran across some chickpea miso. i've heard of but never had it and i picked up a jar, mainly due to the promise of a soup recipe printed on the label. i got around to making it today, hoping to stave off dreadful sunday feelings and eager to keep things moving in the right direction around here. snowy weather is trying to trap me in a wintry mood, but i'm fighting it tooth and nail. it's march 1st and spring is around the corner, i tell you!

mother nature can stick her snow where the sun don't shine.

it cannot be overstated how simple this soup is to prepare. it takes all of 15 minutes, prep time included, and the end product so lovely it would easily be worth twice the effort. i just had a small bowl, eaten with a hunk of fresh baguette. warmmm.



i used south river chickpea miso and here's the recipe from their website, altered just a little. (the jar recipe doesn't suggest wakame, but i bet it would be a great addition! also, i used two leeks and three carrots because vegetable overload is how i roll...)

Chickpea Leek Soup

Serves 4

1 medium leek sliced
2 carrots sliced
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 three-inch piece wakame (optional)
4 cups water
1-2 tablespoons Chick Pea Miso
Chopped parsley for garnish

Wash and cut vegetables. (Leeks need special attention when washing; slice lengthwise and rinse under cold running water.) With kitchen shears cut wakame and add to 4 cups water in 2-quart saucepan. Add carrots and bring to boil. After 10 minutes add leeks and chickpeas continue to boil for 3-4 minutes. In small bowl blend miso with small amount of liquid from pot. Reduce flame to low and add diluted miso; simmer 3-4 minutes. Garnish and serve.

beer: it's what's for dinner.

i'm so in love with the beer brats i made yesterday, i worry all my meals might be centered around them. it's not unlikely, but i figure one day is too short a time for the honeymoon to be over, so i built a beerific dinner around them tonight. while drinking a beer (stone ruination IPA), i combined...

1 medium onion, sautéed in some canola oil,
3 beer brats, sliced thick and lightly browned with the onions,
1 mess of potatoes, cubed, and
half a small head of red cabbage, roughly chopped...

...with a cup or so of water and a cup or more of beer, to get the steaming going. chucked a lid on the pan and tried to distract myself so i wasn't watching the clock.

some time later, i got up and found everything was cooked just so. i chucked in a few caraway seeds for good measure and let things sit off the heat while i opened another beer. (credit where credit is due: i loosely based this on the kielbasa/potato/cabbage combination my mom used to make, though she forewent the beer and caraway.)

i served it with a little bit of beer mustard for the brats and a beer for drinking. i thought briefly it might have been a six-pack kind of dinner, with 6 beer appearances, but now i'm only finding five. i can't be bothered to do the maths on a dinner like this.

also, the picture is crappy and purple-y from nighttime and red cabbage and a geometry book. whatever.

eat your veggies, brats!

i tested joanna's beer brats tonight and they changed my life.
steamed seitan sausages, pioneered by julie hasson, is so incredible. combine the great texture with joanna's knack for flavoring (and a palate that sees eye-to-eye with mine - never mind the nonsensical nature of that metaphor) and you wind up with logs of straight genius. i tried one tonight, grilled for a few minutes on the stovetop and slathered with brown mustard, and it was phenomenal. rumor has it they're even better when cooled and reheated. i can't imagine.

i was hanging out with handsome william a couple weeks ago and he was eating some mixed veg for dinner. i have to admit i snuck a few bites (taking veggies from babies?!) and realized i haven't been including enough produce in my diet. so i sliced and steamed some carrots and quick-cooked some peas + corn to serve with my seitan and dare i say they rivaled the star of the plate. i will never understand people who claim to not like vegetables.

the final great thing about this dinner is that it will make my, indeed would make any, mother proud!