Kale mushroom and squash macaroni

Last night I decided to try my hand at making up my own recipe. I had a kobucha squash laying around and some mushrooms and kale that needed to be used before they went bad.  Yoshi and I headed into the kitchen and we got to work. 

Warning: this recipe will show you how little I have in my kitchen in terms of utensils...it's actually sad. I'm starting a bucket list today of appliances I should probably invest in to have a legitimate vegan kitchen. But I started this blog to chronicle my journey through veganism, and I feel as though many beginner vegans have the same issues. 

I've never cooked kobucha squash before so I googled kobucha squash and found a paleo website with tips for cooking it. 

I took the squash and cut the top off, then sliced it in half. I used the knife to cut around the pulp and scooped it out along with the seeds with a spoon. Then I cut it into slices, which was DIFFICULT. Very difficult. Next I took the slices and arranged them along two brownie tins, since I don't own a cookie sheet. I popped them in the oven at 400 for 30 min. 

One crucial step I missed was using some sort of oil to toss the squash with. Additionally, next time I bake the squash I will peel and cube it before baking, rather than after. Also, if you own an immersion blender or food processor, you can blend the squash with some veggie broth (after it's done cooking) to add more creaminess to the dish. Sadly I own neither. 

While the squash was baking, I started on a mushroom gravy. My gravy recipe is:

1 med onion

16 oz sliced baby bellas

2 T flour

2 c vegetable broth

1 t salt

1 t soy sauce 

Slice the onion and put in a skillet with high heat oil. Cook on med heat til the onions turn translucent. Next add the mushrooms, and allow them to cook until they release their liquid. Add salt when mushrooms are just beginning to soften, this will help them soften more quickly. Once the mushrooms soften, add the vegetable birth and soy sauce. Whisk in the flour to thicken the sauce. Depending on what flavor you want the dish to have, season accordingly. Last night I used chipotle powder, smoke seasoning, black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. 

While the gravy cooked I boiled 4 cups of water and added 2 cups of macaroni noodles. 

After the macaroni is done, drain the water and return the noodles to the pot. Pour in the mushroom gravy over top. 

The last piece to this dish is the kale. Using the same skillet as the gravy, cook the kale down until it has completely cooked and the stems are no longer crunchy. Stir into the pot. 

When the squash finishes, remove the skin and add to the pot as well. Add whatever seasonings you wish to add and enjoy!

Creating this recipe made me realize I tend to rely on the same spices too often. My new goal is to learn more about the European herbs and incorporate them more into my cooking. 

Note: using a double batch of the mushroom gravy will increase the creaminess of the dish. 

Spaghetti Squash

Last Thursday after a long day of jury duty selection which concluded with being selected as a juror, I was tired and wanted a delicious, filling, simple meal.  I had picked up a spaghetti squash at the store the other day and decided it was a perfect time to cook spaghetti squash for the first time.  I decided to cook the squash whole, as I am highly accident prone and didn't want to slice a hand off.  I cooked the squash as follows:

oven - 375
poke 10-15 holes all over the squash using a sharp knife
place squash in baking pan
cook for an hour

After the squash was cooked, I cut it in half with my cut going through the middle of the squash, NOT the ends with the stem.  Getting the pulp and seeds out was tricky without burning my hands and some of the pulp was stubbord about coming out.  After the pulp was removed, I scooped out the squash itself with a spoon and then covered with a marinara sauce.

My squash was a little underdone, but I also had a very large spaghetti squash.  In the future if I have a squash that big again I will try it for 1.5 hrs to ensure it is completely done all the way through.

Spiced Indian Lentils

Great Recipe for Indian Style Lentils.  (I'll post pics next time I cook it, I'm new to this food blogging thing!)

2 cups red lentils
4 cups water
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 med red onion (cut in half and sliced very thin)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
3 dry red chiles
1 tsp red chile powder
1 tsp salt
1 T neutral oil

Add lentils, water and turmeric to 3 qt pot and boil then reduce and summer for 15-20 minutes, skimming off foam from top (only need to skim foam for first 2-3 min after simmering starts)

While lentils are simmering, heat oil in skillet. Add dry chile, mustard seeds and cumin and fry for about a minute, until fragrant and splattering. Then add red onion, garlic powder and red chile powder and cook until translucent.

After lentils are done with first simmer, add the onion mix and salt. Simmer 15 more minutes and enjoy!

Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!  I enjoy mine with sriracha chile sauce as well!

Adapted from a recipe for Masoor Dal in the Betty Crocker Indian Home Cooking Cookbook

Vegan shopping!

I'm currently a week into this round of veganism and very proud to report that I've been doing fairly well!  Minus a disastrous ordering of thai food where I forgot fried rice had eggs in it, I've been 100% vegan.

One of the most intimidating things about going vegan is veganating your kitchen.  I've had a vegetarian kitchen for years now, but as an extremely broke recent college grad who is paying off student loans, my kitchen is pathetic.  So I'm a vegan with no food processor, no immersion blender, no REGULAR blender, no wok...like I said, my kitchen is pathetic.  So many amazing looking vegan recipes call for these things, but I make it work!

I took a trip to the grocery store yesterday and came back with a fairly good haul of vegan items.  I'm also trying not to rely too much on fake meats and meat replacements, as they are expensive and processed.

On my trip I picked up:

red onion

quinoa

cereal and granola (read the labels to make sure they are vegan)

Glory brand kale (I'll be posting my indian kale recipe soon, it's always a favorite!)

high heat safflower oil (olive oil actually becomes carcinogenic when heated too high)

mushrooms

carrots

hummus

bread (arnold soft 100% whole wheat is vegan)

kombucha squash (i haven't ever cooked with these but I've read great things!)

red miso

natural peanut butter

spaghetti squash

organic baby lettuce and spring mix

tofu pups (the only fake hot dog I'll eat...my meat eater friends love them too)

red miso

almond milk (i prefer the plain unsweetened kind by soy)

I highly recommend this type of almond milk over the others, as it has 0 sugar and it has a great flavor still.

Last night I cooked up some indian style lentils, the recipe is adapted from a recipe from the Betty Crocker Indian cookbook.  I'll be putting the recipe up in my recipe section!  

So all in all it's going great so far, and as I'm writing this I have some sweet potato fries baking in the oven!

We all have our passions, the topic that we can spend hours and hours talking about and getting excited about and researching.  My passion happens to be vegetarianism.  I love it.  I live and breathe it.  I absolutely adore vegetarian everything.  I've been a committed vegetarian for five and a half years now, but I tend to go through it in waves.  While I've been great about not eating any mammals or birds, since moving to New York City in June 2011, I've been pescatarian more often than not.  But no longer.  I'm doing it for real this time and I'm going to document my journey.  I'm going vegan.

I've done the vegan thing before, when I was in college, when delicious amazing unlimited amounts of vegan food were provided for me everyday by the amazing staff at Lowry dining hall at Wooster.  But this time I'm doing it alone.  No stir fry station or black bean trough or salad bar or vegan cookies or all the other amazing things.  I've learned quite a bit about cooking in the past year and I'm gonna put my newfound knowledge to the test.  I'm going to attempt making my own veggie burgers, my own sauces, my own chicken nuggets and everything else.  And most fearful to me: baking.  vegan baking.  I'm terrified about that one but we'll see!