Red Thai Tofu

Another hit from Appetite for Reduction: Red Thai Tofu. I don’t eat huge amounts of tofu, but it’s been fun trying new tofu recipes out of this book. Used a carrot instead of red pepper! Made roasted brussels and baby red potatoes to go with. On brussels sprouts: I try to buy them throughout the winter, since they’re my favourite vegetable and all, but for the past few years they’ve looked so anemic! I buy them anyways, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for a great brussels sprouts season next year, full of firm, bright green little gems.

Below, the hefty version for Mack: added kamut with Peanut Lime Dragon Dressing (from Appetite for Reduction, of course) and leftover Nicoise Salad.

Two-Rounds Scarlet Barley Dinners

I can’t decide if the aesthetics of these dinners are blog-worthy, but I’m going to charge ahead. I eat dinner sometime between six and eight. My sweetheart works until eleven, so he eats dinner at 11:30. When he comes over after work, then, I get to invent a second version of what I did earlier in the day. (I must interject that I’m fully aware of the sunshiny domestic tone of this post: every time I express my enthusiasm for cooking for my boyfriend, I’m reminded of a scene from the TV show Roseanne. Jackie: “This is so great, you know, cooking for my man.” Roseanne: “Yeah, and if you play your cards right, you get to do it every single day until one of you DIES!”)
Anyhoo, I made the above for myself: scarlet barley from Appetite for Reduction, and warmed up leftover Hottie Blackeyed Peas and Greens. Like polenta or risotto, barley really firms up in the hours following cooking, so I decided to make pan-fried croquettes for round two, served with warmed-up Jamaican curry from Veganomicon out of the freezer.

Valentine’s Greek Feast

Nothing says romance like fifteen cloves of garlic and gallons of olive oil! Spanakopita from Vegan With a Vengeance, Lemony Roasted Potatoes, Cashew Cucumber Dip, and Saffron Garlic Rice from Veganomicon, and salad. The potatoes are insanely good, and Mack and I couldn’t stop picking at the leftovers all night, as we watched the most random assortment of TV shows imaginable: part of an American Experience documentary on Ronald Reagan (made in 1998, so happily pre-bizarre-bipartisan-beatification), Jersey Shore, the works. I didn’t take a picture of the Chocolate Rum Pudding Cake from Vegan With a Vengeance, but it was delicious, too. I thought it would be nice to splurge, calorie-wise, and to make all dishes I had already made before.
A word on the Pudding Cake: I made this years ago with an ancient springform pan, and it was problem-free and fantastic. Then that old pan finally bit the dust–its finish got degraded beyond repair and I had to throw it out. I tried the cake again about a year ago with a new pan, and the rum/boiling water layer spilled all over and was a nightmare. So I got a new pan for this try: a pretty little Wilton number. Alas, the same thing happened and about five minutes into baking I had to dump the whole mess into a pie plate and continue baking it that way. Since it’s pudding cake, it’s pretty forgiving, luckily. But what stress! Rum was dripping all over my oven and the floor, and I was swearing up and down. All’s well that ends well, I suppose.

Sanctuary Bowl

The ideas for “bowls” in the back of Appetite for Reduction are worth the price of admission, in my humble opinion. Usually I’m a little annoyed when cookbooks say “use any bean or grain or dressing you want”: it seems like a bit of a cop out. However, when Isa says it, and because she accompanies that phrase with so many sample recipes for bowls, I’m not annoyed at all, just inspired. Especially since all the dressings in Appetite are so delicious. This one uses the Sanctuary Dressing, which is the book’s version of Ranch Dressing (it looks like I used a lot in the photo, but that’s just because it’s what’s teetering on top of all that goodness underneath). Now, it’s no Green Goddess Garlic dressing, or Caesar Chavez Dressing (both from the book)–but complaining about that is analogous to Michael Jackson being upset that sales for Bad didn’t reach the level of sales for Thriller. The rest of this bowl is leftover Pineapple Rice (also from the book), steamed broccoli, shredded carrot, and beautiful anasazi beans.

Pear Walnut Chard “Blue Cheese” Pizza

Okay, this one’s definitely not from Appetite for Reduction, and it’s from the 2010 archives (oh, picture backup!) I made my pizza crust from Nonna’s Italian Kitchen, and a batch of Creamy Bleu Cheez dressing from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. The dressing is downright delicious, but let’s just say its base is equal parts tahini and olive oil, so it comes by its delciousness honestly and with no skimping on calories. I didn’t add the full amount of water because I wanted more of a sauce than a dressing–next time, because of this, I’d lower the amount of white wine vinegar a bit, too, to compensate for the relative lack of dilution. Anyways, I always loved a pear, pinenut, and cambozola pizza that I used to make for dinner with my mom, so this is a takeoff on that. I had a whole bunch of finely diced ruby chard stems left over from something else, so I sauteed those up. These added a great vegetal note of clean earthiness, which I think really balanced the generally-uber-rich pizza nicely. I toasted some walnuts, and sliced a bosc pear (oooh, boscs are the best!) If I’m not mistaken, I think I caramelized some onions, too. I think the picture below was the next day’s version (yes, I made this pizza twice in a row–the crust makes two pizzas–and ate the whole works myself), which didn’t have any pear, but it was just as tasty; except that in the second version I think I kind of overdid the bleu cheez dressing. More isn’t always better! Bottom line, this was super delicious, and it better have been, for it was about eight million calories.