Vegan Potato Salad

As a vegan, I am very use to bringing my own food to all sorts of events; weddings, luncheons, cookouts, etc. Whenever I am invited to a function and someone finds out that I am vegan, they immediately ask what I can eat. I explain what I can and cannot eat. Then, I know people are just trying to be nice, offer to buy/make me food. I understand this, and it is very kind, but, most of the time it becomes a hassle, people buy/make things I can't eat, etc. It is so much easier for me to just bring my own things. This seems like a shock to the host when I offer this. I am not trying to be rude, but accommodating. I don't have carnivores over to my house and offer to cook them steak. Heck, I would probably kill them if I did such a thing. I love to cook and enjoy bringing my food to share with everyone. All because it is vegan, doesn't mean it isn't good or worthy to share with everyone. Usually, my vegan food is a big hit! 

To put all of this into context, I am headed to a cookout tonight at one of John's coworkers. They nicely offered to go to Whole Foods for me, but I declined to bring my own things. I decided to make my black-eyed pea salad (previously blogged) and potato salad. 

Vegan Potato Salad

1 bag small, red potatoes

Wash and dice potatoes

Bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook the potatoes until soft (not too soft or they will mash when mixing)

Dressing

While potatoes are cooking, assemble the following in a large bowl

1 cup vegan mayonnaise

1/4 cup mustard

2 tablespoons brown mustard or any other mustard variation

1 tablespoon minced chives

4-5 stalks of celery diced 

Pepper to taste

Assembly

After potatoes have cooked for about 10 minutes, check for softness

Strain and run cold water over the potatoes before adding to the dressing mixture

Add potatoes to the dressing mixture and stir

Refrigerate 

Garnish with smoked paprika for added flavor

This salad is always a hit. John doesn't like normal potato salad, but loves mine (I wonder, does he?)! My mom also puts it up there with my grandma's potato salad which is supposed to be the best potato salad in the world. The recipe is super easy and tastes great even a few days later.

Happy Cooking!

Paella With a Side of Potatoes

This post is a little delayed, but better late than never. I had a lot of produce leftover from my farmer's market run last Saturday. I wanted to use a lot of it in one recipe. I thought about it for a bit and then it dawned on me, just throw it all into a paella. This was a super easy and delicious solution to using up produce. John really enjoyed the paella and thought it had the right mix of spices. The key to paella whenever I make it is using saffron. Saffron is pretty expensive, but worth getting. It seems like you don't get a lot for the money, but you don't use it very often and a little goes a long way. Invest in saffron! Paella is super easy, just make the rice, add the rice to the  veggies and broth, and add spices...easy! I am pretty sure  John could make it!

Rice

1 cup brown rice

2 cups water

My brown rice takes about 40 minutes to prepare. I decided to cook it halfway by itself before adding it to the paella mixture.

Boil the rice and water together for 20 minutes, get rid of the remaining water.

Add the rice to the paella mix

Paella Mix

Saute 4 cloves garlic and one shallot in 1 tablespoon olive oil for about 2 minutes on medium heat (I used a wok)

Add the following to the wok:

1 diced green pepper

2 tomatoes

1 green zucchini 

1 yellow squash

1/2 jar or can of artichokes 

Assembly

Cook all the veggies for about 5 minutes

Add 2 cups vegetable broth and bring to a boil

Add the 1/2 cooked rice

Turn to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes

Around 15 minutes in, add the following spices (taste and make adjustments dependent on your personal taste)

1/8 teaspoon saffron 

1 Tablespoon smoke paprika

Pepper

1 Teaspoon paprika

Dash of Seasoned Salt 

1 teaspoon chili powder

Potatoes

Wash and dice 7 yellow potatoes

Cook them in a medium saucepan for 7 minutes

Put in a glass pan

Cover in 1/2 a can of crushed tomatoes

Add 1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Add 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Bake on 425 for 20 minutes

This was a very filling and yummy meal. We didn't feel too full after eating. The Paella made a lot of food with plenty of leftovers for lunch.

Served with toasted bread and raspberries

Happy Cooking!

Farmer's Market Lunch

I am having a vintage weekend. A "vintage" weekend is when John and I spend time apart. We are coming up on one year of living together. Before that, we had a long distance relationship since freshman year of college (1 1/2 years dating in high school as well). With that being said, we are both pretty good at living by ourselves. John went home for the weekend. I spent time watching a new TV series (How I Met Your Mother), browsing the internet, going to a Farmer's Market and catching up with an old friend. I wanted to use some of my produce for lunch. I made a big salad and a cilantro and raspberry dressing.

Some of my delicious finds. I also got green onions, raspberries, and cilantro. 

Salad

Spinach

Chickpeas

1 hot banana pepper

1 tomato 

So fresh and yummy

Dressing

3 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Liquid Aminos

Splash of balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup cilantro

8ish raspberries

Not the prettiest, but it was yummy

My lunch was fresh and light. I need to figure out what else to make with all my yummy produce. I can't wait to go back next weekend for some more. I might get herb plants and try to grown them on my tiny back porch. I wish my kitchen got more light so I could grow herbs on the walls. 

Nothing better than a yummy lunch with water and cucumber

Happy Cooking!

Marinated Tempeh, Mashed Potatoes, Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Oh summer break, how I love you. I actually had time to look through cookbooks and decide what I wanted to make for dinner with the ingredients I had on hand. I have also started using pinterest to discover other blogs and websites that have vegan recipes. I often use these as inspiration and tweak as I see fit. Tonight I winged the mashed potatoes and black-eyed pea salad. I tweaked a recipe for hot sauce tempeh from Veganomicon.

Mashed Potatoes

1/2 bag of small yellow potatoes

Wash potatoes

Boil potatoes until soft

I used leftover white bean garlic aioli to mix into the potatoes to create creamy potatoes

*See previous post for aioli recipe*

Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Just mix the following ingredients together and refrigerate

1 can black-eyed peas rinsed and drained

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

fresh ground pepper

1 tomato diced

1 tablespoon fresh, minced parsley or you can use cilantro

*Add fresh avocado if you like*

Marinated Tempeh 

I will not post the exact recipe because it is in Veganomicon

I used one package tempeh, cut it into triangles and simmered it for 10 minutes to get rid of the bitterness.

You can create any combination of ingredients to create a marinade. I used Frank's Hot Sauce, a hot sauce from Whole Foods, vegetable stock, liquid aminos, cumin, and garlic

I marinated the tempeh for 1 hour

Pan fried in a skillet for 10 minutes over medium heat turning often and adding the marinade while cooking

Marinade

Marinating the tempeh

Halfway through pan frying

The finished product

This meal was easy and pretty quick (minus the hour it took to marinade the tempeh). John liked the tempeh and they were not too hot for him. John loves my black-eyed pea salad. It is so easy that I even taught him how to make it.  It was nice having a cold side to balance the slight hotness of the tempeh.

Happy Cooking!

Pearled Couscous, Baked Green Beans and Potatoes, with Garlic Aioli Bread with Tomatoes

I am offically on summer break! I just got back from vacation in NYC. I had a great time. It was nice getting away from home for a bit and exploring a fun city. It is nice to be back to some sort of a routine. My goal this summer is to blog more of my recipes. I hate making school an excuse for not blogging, but man, do those kids wear me out, not to mention that craziness that is the end of the school year. 

John and I got back from NYC and were craving a home-cooked meal. We ate out everyday of vacation. I had great vegan food in NYC. I had the BEST food at Candle 79. If you are in NYC, you should definitely check it out. Now, onto my dinner. I am posting it in order that I made everything. I always try to reuse pots/pans to minimize the amount of hand-washing I have to do afterwards. 

Green Beans and Potatoes

1 cup green beans-canned, fresh, or frozen (I used frozen because the fresh ones didn't look very good at the store)

1/2 bag of small golden potatoes washed

Bring a pot of water to a boil

Boil beans and potatoes for 6 minutes

Seasoning for when you bake them

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Half a shallot diced

Pepper

Seasoned salt

1 teaspoon thyme

Baking

Add beans and potatoes to baking dish

Add seasonings and mix

Bake for 20 minutes at 475

Pre-bake

Garlic Aioli 

1 can great northern beans-drained

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup flat parsley

Salt 

Pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Blend all ingredients in a food processor

Before Blending

After Blending

Pearled Couscous

Boil 1 1/4 cups water

Add 1 cup couscous

Simmer for 8-10 minutes

Pearled Couscous Add-ons

Dice 2 cloves garlic

Cook garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium low heat for 2 minutes

Add 1 1/4 cups fresh spinach

Add 1/2 a can of olives 

1/4 fresh parsley (don't cook the parsley, but add to the couscous as you mix all the ingredients together before serving) 

Cooking spinach, olives, garlic, and olive oil

Fresh Parsley

Finished Project

Pearled Couscous Sauce

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (usually 1 lemon)

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Splash balsamic vinegar

Lemon juice

Add olive oil

Add White Wine Vinegar

Splash Balsamic Vinegar

Bread

Put garlic sauce on bread (I used pre-sliced Italian Bread)

Thinly slice tomatoes and put on bread

Put in oven with beans and potatoes and bake for about 5 minutes 

This was a pretty easy dinner. The couscous was very fresh and light. The dinner would have been filling without the beans and potatoes. The beans and potatoes would have been better paired with a chickpea cutlet. John enjoyed this home-cooked meal. His favorite part was the pearled couscous, and he highly recommends that part of the meal to make. It is nice to be back in the kitchen, even though it is incredibly hot.  We don't have central AC and our two window units are in the living room and bedroom. Almost no cool air makes its way to the kitchen.