Punjabi-Style Mustard Greens

Lousy day at work...all because of one lazy co-worker...but, that really doesn't have much to do with food and cooking, I guess, so I don't think I'll vent about it. Instead, I'll talk about food, and a new recipe I tried, Saturday evening? Mm, I think so.

Thursdays, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution has a section called "Food Guide," with a few ads, what's the best produce in the stores, nutritional advice, and recipes. This week I found a recipe called "Punjabi-Style Mustard Greens." I wanted it. I really, really, really wanted it. Well, as usual, I didn't have "exactly" what the recipe called for, lol, so I just did the best I could, and I was quite pleased with the results, altho it wasn't quite spicy enough to suit me. So, here it is:

Punjabi-Style Mustard Greens

2Tbs.clarified butter or vegetable oil 1/2 small onion, chopped
1tsp.garam masala 1/8tsp.crushed or ground fennel seed
1Tbs.chopped fresh ginger 4 garlic cloves, minced 1/2tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2lbs.fresh mustard greens, chopped 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
Juice of 1 lime or lemon Salt to taste

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add the oil. Add the onion, garam masala and fennel. Cook until onions are translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and turmeric and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the mustard greens. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the moisture eveaporates. Add the tomatoes and lemon or lime and cook until the tomatoes soften, 3-5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Ok, now you have the proper recipe, and now I'll tell you how I did it, with what I had to work with. I didn't have any mustard greens, so I used half a bag of frozen turnip greens. Since I didn't have any Roma tomatoes, I used one can, drained well, of diced tomatoes. I've never been able to find garam masala at Kroger, so I used curry powder instead, because according to a couple cookbooks I've read, this is ok. And, because every description of fennel says it tastes like licorice, which I hate with a passion, I do NOT have any fennel...nor will I ever. Never, I say, never!!! And, the only ginger I had was ground ginger, so I had to use that. Now, even with all these substitutions, the greens were really excellent...but needed more spice, as I said earlier. I ate them with a big baked potato,and some of the leftover lentils, and enjoyed every bite of it.

Sunday night I fixed the Alfredo Noodles again. This time I actually had some mushrooms, so I put them in, like the recipe calls for, and, I used a little more coconut milk than the recipe calls for. It was wonderful, and I ate the whole thing, lol. The recipe for this is somewhere on this blog, and I apologize, but I don't know how to link to it, sigh.

Last night, I pulled the last of the cauliflower/potato soup out of the freezer, and had that with biscuits. Also a very enjoyable meal.

Tonight? Well, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking about trying to make a gravy with tempeh, the rest of the mustard(ok, ok, turnip)greens, and mashed potatoes. I haven't had mashed potatoes in a long, long time. Even if I don't like the tempeh gravy, I can still eat enough of the 'taters and greens to fill up, so I'm certainly not going to go hungry tonight.

Tomorrow...Wednesday...is grocery day. My Christmas bonus check showed up yesterday, at work, so I can have a good time shopping, lol. Always nice to know I'm not going to run short before I'm thru, which seems to happen to me a lot lately.

Until next time, Happy Eating.

Crunchy Granola

According to an email from foodieblogroll today, the widget is on my blog, but I'll be darned if I can see it, lol. I went over to their site and sure enough, found my blog listed with the others. Right now I don't understand, but I'm sure not going to complain, and am going to get in touch with Sherrie(http://adollopofcream.blogspot.com) and ask her to help me...Sherrie, I saw your comment, so thank you, I appreciate you. A LOT!!!

Yesterday I kinda went crazy in the kitchen, but since it was chilly, grey, very, very rainy(which was wonderful and we still need lots more rain), it was a perfect day to do that. I made a batch of homemade granola, another tofu eggnog cheesecake, and then for dinner, a pot of Cauliflower/Potato Soup. There's enough soup left for dinner(do you say dinner or supper, btw? I used to say supper, but now it's dinner...don't know why.)tonight, plus enough to freeze for another time, a time when I won't want to cook.

The granola is from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," by Mark Bittman, one of the books on my wish list. So, without further ado, here's his recipe:

Crunchy Granola

6C rolled oats(not instant or quick-cooking)
2C mixed nuts and seeds, like sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, and sesame seeds
1C shredded coconut 1tsp.ground cinnamon, or to taste Dash salt
1/2 to 1C honey or maple syrup, or to taste
1C.raisins or chopped dried fruit.

1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
2. Put a 9X13-inch roasting pan over medium-low heat(put the pan over 2 burners if it's convenient). Add the oats and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to change color and become fragrant, 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the nuts and seeds and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the coconut and cook, stirring for 2 minutes more. Add the cinnamon, salt, and sweetener, stir, and put in the oven. Bakde for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice.
4. Add the dried fruit, stir,cool on a rack, continuing to stir once in a while until the granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator; it will keep indefinitely.

A couple of his variations: use 1/2C coconut milk with 1/4 or more honey; add 2 Tbs. vanilla extract to the sweeteners. Omit the coconut if you like.

So, there's the recipe, and here's how I ended up making it. I didn't have any shredded coconut, so I added the 1/2C coconut milk to the honey, for a total of 1C. I also added the two Tbs. vanilla...I love vanilla. I used cashews for the nuts, they were all I had, and I used two snack-size boxes of raisins, as that was all I had, also. My 9X13 pan turned out to be too flimsy to heat over the burners, even on very low heat, and started to scorch the oats, so they didn't really get toasted the way they should've been. Next time I will use a heavy skillet. I will also leave the granola in the oven longer than 20 minutes, as it didn't come out dry and crispy, just sort of damp and chewy. But, it's still good, and since I had everything already here, it didn't cost me anything, and I have a lot of cereal now. Oh, I will also buy some shredded coconut when I make this again, and then will only use the honey for the sweetener.

As for the soup, I didn't use a recipe, just cooked it by gosh and by gorry, lol. I finely diced one large carrot, half a good-sized onion, and one large stalk of celery. While these cooked gently in about two tbs. of evoo and margarine, I peeled and diced three medium potatoes, and added those to the mix, along with a good tsp. of minced garlic. Then I added a 16-oz. bag of frozen cauliflower, and a 32-oz.carton of low-sodium vegetable broth, let it come to a boil, and simmered it until everything was very soft, about 30 minutes. When the veggies were all soft, I used my immersion blender to puree it, and there ya are: soup. Thick, good, nice and hot, and perfect for a rainy, chilly evening.

Another thing I've prepared this week is Cashew Butter. As much as I love peanut butter, it hates me with a passion, so when I get the urge for a PB&J, I make cashew butter. It's really easy, too. All I do is dump a can of cashew pieces into my blender, and start off with about 4Tbs. of vegetable oil, in this case, I used safflower. I use the pulse button for a few turns, to chop the nuts, and then change to blend. The hardest part about this is having to continuously scrape down the sides of the blender, as the blender will reach a point where it's just spinning, all the nuts and oil have been slung onto the sides. So, that's the time to start adding more oil, a tbs. at a time, until it reaches the consistency you'd like. Mine was very crunchy, as I like it that way. And I enjoyed several cashew butter and strawberry jam sammiches!!! CB&J's, lol.

Until next time, Happy Eating!

My blog has been accepted for foodieblogroll, which means I have to show their widget. Ok, I am more than willing to show the widget, but I don't think I've done this correctly, sigh. I am sooooooooooo computer illiterate, dagnabit. Even if this has gone thru, it's not going to be in the right place, I don't think. Somebody, anybody, help?!?!?! Thanks.

Ok, it didn't work at all, sigh. HELP!! I will be back tomorrow to try again.

Tuesday evening, and I didn't do any cooking yesterday at all. Dinner was a bowl of granola with vanilla soymilk, lol. Hey, it was what I wanted, and it sure was good.

Sunday night I had lentils and biscuits. No real recipe here, but basically, I heated some olive oil and butter in a saucepan, and sauteed some onions, garlic, and finely diced carrots, for about five minutes or so. Then I added about a quarter pound of lentils, a bay leaf, and six...I think...cups of water with two vegetable buillion(don't know how to spell it)cubes, and let it all simmer for about 45 minutes or so, until the lentils were nice and soft and the carrots were done. When I ladled it into my bowl, I added a good-sized chunk of butter(ok, ok, so it's really margarine), and ate it with hot, buttered biscuits. Pretty good stuff, too. I've been known to cook the lentils and have a baked potato with them, instead of biscuits. There's still some in the 'fridge, which may be dinner tonight, but I really don't think so.

I have some mushrooms, coconut milk, and unflavored chevre(goat cheese), and seems to me I can come up with some kind of creamy, buttery sauce for pasta, with a green veggie on the side. Comfort food to the nth degree, seriously.

My last post I mentioned the Fat Free Vegan site again, without an URL, but I have the URL so you can visit her site if you wish. It's a great site, I really think you'll like it. Here goes: http://blog-fatfreevegan.com
At least, I hope I've got it right. Let me know if I haven't, please, and I'll correct it.

On a different subject, I did another craft. This one came from Family Circle, and is, again, very, very simple: paper Christmas trees. Quite simply, it's two triangle shapes, both the same size, with a slit from the bottom about 2/3 of the way up on one, and a slit about 2/3 of the way down from the top of the other. Fit the two together, and there's your tree. A heavy paper works best. I "thought" I was using card stock, but it was rather limp, and the tops of my little trees curl a little bit, lol. There was also a pattern for a star, and I had better luck with that. Same principle: two components, two slits, fit the two together. I'm thinking of making several of the stars, probably with yellow construction paper, but maybe red, and hanging them here and there in the living room.

And, I found another recipe, also Family Circle. The name of it is "Asian Beef and Noodles," but of course I won't be using the beef. I'll use tofu, or possibly tempeh, instead. There was also a recipe for a mushroom omelette...that just might be dinner tonight. Sigh....Too many decisions for me to cope with right now. Anyway, when I make the Asian Noodles, I will post the recipe, as well as tell you how I liked it.

Marinated Tofu w/Cabbage, Tomatoes, and Sour Cream

Not a bad day at work at all, thank God. We weren't all that busy for a Sunday, but still stayed steady, and I made good money. And we had three dozen assorted doughnuts, as well as a huge plate of chocolate brownies that had nuts in them, and swirls of yummy caramel. I've brought home a lot, so I can have some with my coffee in the morning.

Friday I cooked the Woman's Day recipe of Marinated Shrimp...without the shrimp, of course. Instead, I used a block of tofu, cubed. So, here's the recipe, along with the Cabbage with Tomatoes and Sour Cream from Mark Bittman's cookbook, "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian."

Marinated Tofu in Cabbage with Tomatoes and Sour Cream
1pkg. firm tofu, drained with a 1lb.can on it for about 20 minutes, and then cubed
1/2C olive oil 1/2C lemon juice 1/2tsp. each minced garlic and hot sauce
1tsp. salt and pepper.

Mix the oil, juice, garlic, hot sauce, salt and pepper in a good-sized bowl, and add the tofu cubes. Stir the cubes in well, and marinate for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to be sure that all the cubes get covered with the marinade.

Now for the Cabbage, etc.

2Tbs. butter(oil for vegans) 1 med. onion, chopped 1Tbs. minced garlic
6C shredded cabbage, preferably Savoy(about 1 small head){I used plain old green cabbage, and it was fine.}
salt and pepper to taste 2C chopped tomatoes(drained, canned are fine){I didn't drain them, and it was fine.}
1Tbs. caraway or cumin seeds(optional) 1/2C sour cream{Tofutti Sour Supreme}

1. Melt butter in large deep skillet. Cook onion and garlic, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. {I added the tofu cubes here, with the onions and garlic} Add cabbage, raise heat a bit. Cook, stirring, adjusting heat so cabbage doesn't brown, until it softens, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Add tomatoes, and the seeds of you're using them, and cook over lively heat, stirring, until mixture is saucy but thick, about 10-15 minutes. Lower heat to the minimum, then taste and adjust salt and pepper. Stir in sour cream and cook another couple minutes, stirring. Serve hot.

What I should have done, I realized too late, was to fry the tofu cubes first, to get them nice and brown and crispy, and then added the onions and garlic. I also cooked the cabbage separately, letting it simmer for about 30 minutes in a pot of salted water, because I like my cabbage very tender, not crisp-tender. While the cabbage was simmering is when I did all the rest of it, and the whole thing turned out very, very well. I really enjoyed this, and will probably make it again...I know I'm having the leftovers for my dinner tonight, lol. Friday night I had some leftover cornbread, so I sliced it in half, buttered it, and cooked it in a frying pan, nice and brown and crispy...my version of polenta, which I think would have been good with the cabbage and sauce. Tonight I'm just going to have a baked potato with it, and "maybe" a green veggie, depends on my energy level by dinner time.

Vegan Fettucine Alfredo; Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake

I realized I had a couple more recipes I want to post here, here I am again. But first of all, I need to explain something, sigh, something stupid I've done...which isn't all that unusual, btw. Anyway, on the left of the blog there's a section called "Tags." When I did it, I had hoped that it would link itself automatically into my posts, but, um, nope, it didn't, and I don't know how to do it. I'm going to leave it there, tho, because it will give you some idea of what to expect to find here, even if it won't take you right to each category. Sorry about that,

This next recipe is for Fettucine Alfredo, it's vegan, and I found it on www.vegweb.com submitted by Melissa. It's incredibly good, and I was delighted with it, so, many thanks to Melissa for sharing her recipe.

Fettucine Alfredo

1Tbs. oil(whatever kind you like)
8(or more, or less{or none})mushrooms, chopped
5(or more or less)cloves of garlic, minced
1/2C coconut milk(you want the creaminess here, so I wouldn't recommend soymilk)
some vegan soy parmesan{I used quite a bit, but she said that she'd never used it.}
about 1/4tsp nutmeg(makes the recipe, don't leave out{I put it in, like she said, and don't know how it affected the recipe at all, lol}
1/2-1tsp black pepper(freshly ground is nice)
You can also add some lemon juice to the sauce, freshly squeezed is best, or garnish with lemon wedges{I didn't use any lemon, but next time I make this, and believe me, I will, I'm going to try the lemon...as well as add a little more nutmeg, just to see what happens}
Salt to taste

Directions:
Saute the mushrooms and the garlic in a pan over med-low heat, until it looks yummy. Separately, bring the coconut milk to a boil over the lowest heat possible, and as soon as it starts boiling, add the parmesan, nutmeg, pepper, lemon if you're using, and remove from heat. Mix it all together.

Add the coconut sauce to the mushrooms and garlic, and simmer onlower heat until the sauce reduces. Make sure to stir it constantly or else it will burn. Just stir until it comes to a consistency that looks like alfredo sauce, and serve immediately over fettucine noodles. I like to use black pepper fettuccine, but any kind is good. This recipe is awesome! Tastes as good as it sounds.

And yes, she's right, it's really excellent. I used plain old-fashioned egg noodles, as I had no linguine. I've never heard of black pepper fettucine, but I bet it's good, and will try to remember to look for it next time I shop.

This next one is from another blog I found, Fat Free Vegan Cooking, and I'm so ashamed to have to admit that I don't have the URL nor the owner's name. My very sincere apologies to this lady, and I hope she doesn't mind that I'm posting her recipe here, because it's an excellent recipe, and I will be making it many, many times in the future.

Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake
1(12.3oz.)pkg. extra firm light silken tofu
1(8-oz.)tub Tofutte "cream cheese"
3/4C sugar
1/2C vegan eggnog OR vanilla soymilk(I used Silk brand vanilla soymilk)
2T lemon juice
2 1/2 Tbs. brandy or rum(I'm a recovering alcoholic, so left this out.)
1/2tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3Tbs.cornstarch
1 prepared graham cracker crust(the first time, I had to make it without a crust, and loved it anyway. The second time I made my own graham crust, and loved it more, lol.)

Preheat oven(I neglected to copy the temperature down, but 350ºF seemed to do quite well, altho 325ºF might be better...less chance of browning it.)
Drain tofu and put it and "cream cheese" into food processor and blend until smooth(I don't have a processor, so I used my blender, and it was fine.). Add sugar and milk, process again until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Pour into pie crust and bake in middle of oven about 55 minutes-do NOT brown(well, I did, and it tasted ok to me. Might not to you, tho.) Filling will be slightly jiggly, not set, until it has chilled.

Remove from oven, let cool, and chill, the longer, the better.

So, a couple comments here. The second time I made this, I used half the lemon juice, and a full tsp. of vanilla. The next time I make it, I'm going to use a full tablespoonful of vanilla...since I didn't add the alcohol, I need a boost of flavor. I also will add another 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg, for the same reason. All in all, tho, this is just plain wonderful, and like I said, I'm going to be making this over and over and over and over!!!!

Unstuffed Sweet and Sour Cabbage

The last two weeks have been brutal. For one thing, I worked 11 days with only one day off, and that was after six days...brutally busy days, at that...in a row. One of those days was Thanksgiving, which normally would be my Thursday off, but I was told it was mandatory to work. So how come several folks who usually do work on Thurdays were given the day off, hmmm? Talk about attitudes! Then I was off one day and came right back into five more. Most of these days have been wicked busy, but, in a positive light, I made enough money to get December's rent paid, all the utilities and a doctor's bill paid, and spend a LOT of money on groceries a couple days ago. Plus, I have a whole bunch of library books to read, including the new cookbook on my list, "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," by Mark Bittman. That sucker is over 900 pages, just packed with excellent information, techniques, recipes. Awesome book, and of course is on my Christmas list. Any takers?~?~!!...snicker

Ok. Last time I posted, Sherrie and I were doing a pantry challenge. I've seen the soup she posted on A Dollop of Cream, and it looks and sounds fantastic. I ended up with a can of 'maters and one of rutabagas, and managed to utilize them both...two different recipes, both, as far as I was concerned, excellent!!!

With the rutabagas I made a Potato/Rutabaga salad, without using a real recipe. Just make a potato salad the way you like it, and dump in the drained can of rutabagas. How hard is that, right? I thought it was super, I really did.

With the tomatoes I made Unstuffed Sweet and Sour Cabbage, from a recipe I'd found in Family Circle(I 'think"), which, btw, also fulfilled my personal challenge of one recipe and one craft idea from each magazine each month. The recipe was originally a meat recipe, but I simply left out the meat, and loved the results...enough to eat it two times, in fact. So, here goes:

Unstuffed Sweet and Sour Cabbage Serves four

1(2-lb.)head green cabbage, quartered lengthwise and cored
1/2 C reduced-sodium vegetable stock
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, divided
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 (28-oz.)can whole tomatoes in juice(I had to used diced ones. It worked fine.)
1/3 dried cranberries(I'll die of hunger before I'll use cranberries in anything!!)
3 Tbs. red-wine vinegar
1 Tbs. packed dark brown sugar(all I had was light brown. It worked fine.)
2 Tbs. chopped flat-leaf parsley(all I had was dried, used 1 Tbs., worked fine.)

Place cabbage in a deep 12-inch heavey skillet with broth, 1 garlic clove(sliced), and a rounded 1/4tsp. salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cook, covered, turning cabbage occasionally, until very tender, about 45 minutes, adding more broth or water if necessary.

Meanwhile, cook onion and remaining garlic in oil in a heavy medium pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 8 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and stir in tomatoes and their juices, cranberries, vinegar, and brown sugar, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes with spoon, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt.

Pour sauce into skillet with cabbage and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

So, there ya have it, and I hope you like it, I sure did.