Meatless March

Ah, Vegan Vednesday, you have been my Vaterloo. Meatless March was a cinch, but I have had a devil of a time observing veganism once a week. The first week , I pulled an innocent-looking mystery sauce out of the freezer that turned out to contain meat juices. The second week, I confidently ordered pad thai with vegetables, forgetting that it would also include egg. The third week , a travel ordeal left me weak-willed when a tray of dairy-heavy delights appeared in front of me. And last week, I ordered chicken for my backup dancer, and even though I was perfectly satisfied with my own vegan dinner, I ate some the chicken because she wasn't going to finish it, and it looked (and indeed was) so good. This brings us to today, and I am mighty proud of myself for reaching 9:12pm without having consumed a single animal product. Vegan victory at long last! I started the day with Anita's coconut yogurt with my own muesli mix, and here I have to express my horror that the yogurt cos...

The flavors in " Curried Coconut Corn Soup ," from Food52, are really great. It takes some time to make, but it was worth it. I served it with steamed green beans and slices of homemade sandwich bread (recipe from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"). I had a cup or so of leftover veggie stock in the fridge, so I used that as a starting point for the corn stock for the soup. I ended up using about 2 cups of stock in the soup. I'm done waxing on about stock now. The photos shall do the rest of the waxing. Oh one more note: I mixed my oat milk byproduct slurry into the bread! But to be honest, the bread tasted the same as it always does, slurry or not. Final note: this meal was actually vegan, unlike yesterday's meal which I mistakenly and repeatedly referred to as vegan even after blithely stirring delicious cheese into it.

Due to my recent travels, it had been two weeks since I last got produce from the local farmers market, and it was such a joy to sink my teeth into super-fresh corn and tomatoes again tonight. I don't like winter for all sorts of reasons, but the absence of juicy summer produce is up there among them. So let's live in the moment, shall we? This is " Tomato Risotto ," from NYT Cooking (subscription required). There was some chopping and grating involved, but other than that, it was easy, and both my back-up dancers liked it. Fresh from the shower, one of my backup dancers helped me add the tomatoes. I forgot to add the two tablespoons of oil at the end, and I do think it would have been good to add it. Note to self. I used homemade veggie stock ( Bittman , of course). A friend noticed that Emma likes to help me in the kitchen, and very kindly gave her a gift this weekend: a kids cookbook called " Baking Class ." It has a lot of fun-l...

"So simple," the recipe said. "Really easy," it said. I guess if you are a good enough cook to make a living with your cooking blog, then tasks like making your own 2-ingredient oat milk are no big deal. But as you know, awkward difficulties are among the things define me as a chef; they are my signature. There's no point in glossing over that. I'm not proud. So I'm here to tell it to you straight: oat milk from the "Simple Vegan Blog" is not THAT easy to make. It was straightforward until I poured the blended oat slurry into my dishcloth for squeezing. That dishcloth always serves me very well for squeezing the liquids out of shredded veggies, but the oat slurry (I really love that word) was really thick, and didn't want to come out. I threw all my strength into it and it dribbled all over my hands and made a bit of a mess. And then when I concluded the slurry squeezing, the solids left on the towel made a slimy coating that did not ...

Yesterday was my third Vegan Vednesday, and it did not go well, which was especially disappointing on the heels of last Wednesday's unwitting consumption of meat juices . I decided to choke down some more "So Delicious" (HA) coconut milk yogurt for breakfast to avoid food waste. Anything is edible if you stir enough maple syrup into it. But then for lunch, I was feeling all smug for hitting on the idea of an Asian noodle dish, until I got halfway through my pad Thai and it dawned on me that I was eating bits of egg. Sigh. "But I can finish strong," I reassured myself, as I boarded a flight for which I had preordered a vegan dinner. *cue the foreboding instrumental music* We sat on the plane on the runway for FOUR HOURS. When we finally took off and were served dinner, Emma (whose normal bedtime was three hours prior) fell right asleep, with her uneaten tray in front of her. I stared down at my sad rice and soggy veggies, and my hard roll with its oil-ba...

Tomorrow is #VeganVednesday again, and here are a couple vegan snack ideas for you: 1. Guacamole ! I used to flip open Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" for the proportions, but now I just wing it: a couple of mashed avocados, a tablespoon or so of minced jalapeño, a tablespoon or two of minced onion, a healthy squeeze of lime juice, and salt. 2. Tapenade ! I tried a recipe tonight from The Spruce Eats and it was intensely garlicky, but other than that it was good. I mean, I liked it garlicky, but have mercy on the people around you. In the food processor bowl I don't really know what effect I was going for with this photo. I thought I would also take this opportunity to brag about mowing my own back yard with a reel mower, which I started doing a few years ago. It takes me about 2 hours, every 10 days or so. Plus you can look super-sexy while mowing, like me. It might take you less time than me if you mow your own lawn, because we hav...

We had some friends over last night for " Zucchini Jack Casserole " (A Garden For the House), corn on the cob, biscuits (Bittman, obvi), and " Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake " (NYT Cooking, subscription required). It all turned out splendidly, if I do say so myself. As it is getting late and all I want to do is finish the book* I am reading, I'm going to let the photos do most of the talkin' tonight. All produce came from the farmers market, and parsley came from my own garden. This is the casserole before it went into the oven. I actually only mixed the chiles into half the casserole, because I am more than a little weary of hearing my young backup dancer complain that things are "spicy," but actually I don't think she'd even have noticed; the added heat is very subtle. My guests are the best for humoring my blogging aspirations. This was as good as it looks. Strawberries from the farmers market were perfect for the reci...

Quite some time ago, back before I became so alarmed about meat's deleterious environmental impact, I made " Pork Ribs Adobo " (NYT Cooking; subscription required). I loved it, but had to acknowledge that the sauce was excessively vinegary. I had at least an extra cup of said sauce and it sat in my freezer for a long time, forgotten. This week, I noticed the sauce in my freezer, labeled simply "adobo sauce - vinegary!" I swear I did not remember that I had cooked meat in the sauce when I decided it could be rejuvenated as a shortcut for " Cauliflower Adobo " (also NYT Cooking). I only realized it when I checked my long-ago cooking notes this morning. We therefore unwittingly ate a meat-infused dish last night, which may explain why it was SO DELICIOUS - the vinegar got milder either in the freezer or during the second simmer, or both. Even if I'd remembered the sauce's origins, I would still have rejuvenated it. We need not be militant...