Slow Food Shabbat

The beginnings of a feast. In the center, my cheddar scalloped sweet potatoes.

Fridays hold in store a new tradition for me, I think! For the past two, I've convened with friends both new and old to share potluck-style dinners. This week, around ten kids met at my house to talk about the formation of a Slow Food chapter at our university. We had a delicious spread, shared wine and bread, and came up with some exciting ideas to carry out with the club this semester.

For my contributions, in an attempt to stay mostly in sync with my Detox for Women (which I start in earnest today!), I tossed up a simple green salad and utilized the five-pound block of Daiya cheddar my roommate and I just ordered to create a decadent vegan version of this Food Network recipe.


A beautiful monstrosity, amirite?

Cheddar Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
serves 10, easily!

1 tablespoon soy-free Earth Balance
8 small-medium sweet potatoes, washed and peeled
about 1/2-pound cheddar Daiya cheeze, grated
2 3/4 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
a pinch of nutmeg
s&p

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a rectangular or oval-shaped pan with EB. Slice sweet potatoes to 1/4-inch. Meanwhile, in a medium-sized pot, bring the almond milk, garlic, nutmeg, s&p to a boil over medium heat.

Create a layer of sweet potatoes on the bottom of the pan, so that the slices overlap slightly and none of the bottom of the pan is showing. Sprinkle this layer with Daiya. Make another layer of potatoes, then another of Daiya, then one more of potatoes before pouring the recently-boiled mixture over top.

Finally, finish of with the rest of the cheeze and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. Broil for an extra five to get some nice browning going on top.

Voila, Veganized!

For a while after I went vegan, it was hard for me to watch some cooking shows or read some food magazines anymore because of the amount of meat and dairy usually involved in the recipes. These recipes seemed off-limits in a way.

Then I realized just how freaking easy it is to veganize just about ANYTHING, as I'm sure many others have too. That's why, when I glimpsed the cover of this month's Food & Wine magazine ("American Classics Updated: 50 Best Recipes from the New South"), I had a very good feeling about the next week in my kitchen.

My first veganization? A combo of two recipes. Adapted their classic shrimp n' grits, then nabbed their spice-roasted shrimp and transformed it into spice-fried tempeh. Lordy lordy, do I love me a classic Southern brunch! Check it.

Spice-fried Tempeh with Grits n' Greens
adapted from Food & Wine magazine, serves 2

[Cajun-fried Tempeh]
1/2 pound tempeh
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onions
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/4 cup safflower oil
s&p

Cut tempeh into strips and boil for 10 minutes in well-salted water. Drain and cool while in a paper or plastic bag, you combine all the spices. Drop the tempeh into the bag and shake vigorously, so that the tempeh gets coated. Let it sit for a few minutes while heating the oil in a frying pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side. Meanwhile...

[Grits n' Greens]
2 2/3 cups water
2/3 cup quick-cooking grits
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
s&p

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil, then gradually add the grits and a big pinch of salt. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the grits are thick, about 7 minutes. Season with s&p, stir in the nooch and spinach. Top with fried tempeh and serve immediately!

Dinner in 20

Here's one of my momma's tried and true recipes for a quick, veeery nutritious weeknight dinner. Leftovers taste even better!



Beans n' Greens
serves 4

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped
red pepper flakes
1 large bunch of kale, washed and trimmed
1/3 cup water or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 drops liquid stevia (or other sweetener)
2 cans cannellini beans
s&p to taste

Saute the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes in a skillet until softened. Add the kale and water or stock, steaming until the kale is wilted. Fold in the apple cider vinegar, stevia or other sweetener, beans, s&p. Heat the beans through, then serve with a sprinkle of your favorite hot sauce.

Fantastic over polenta or with corn bread, jsyk.

Hail Yacon!

So I literally JUST ate the devil outta these johnny cakes.



I haven't enjoyed johnny cakes with cane syrup, one of my favorite breakfasts ever, in quite some time. Yes, I recently whipped up the fabulously cheap and easy-to-make cornmeal pancakes to accompany my Southern Caviar the other day, but I really prefer them smothered in Earth Balance and something sweet. Maple syrup and cane syrup, though, and even most jams, I generally try to avoid because of the massive sugar content.

Enter yacon syrup!!! Saw this ingredient in a few scattered raw recipes across the blogosphere and picked up on its reputation as a molasses substitute with a radically low glycemic index. Got a hold of a bottle of the stuff and I'm going to town with it! What a relief to have found something so dang yummy, AND healthy to boot, to drown my breakfast cakes with. Try them:

Johnny Cakes
serves 4

2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups boiling water
coconut oil for frying

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the boiling water slowly into the mixture. Stir with a spoon until well combined.

Heat up some coconut oil in a skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high. Once hot, spoon three cakes into the pan, shaping them with a spatula. Allow the cakes to cook for about 7-8 minutes on the first side, then flip and fry for another 7-8 minutes. A scrumptious crust forms with time, so don't lose your patience.

Serve with Earth Balance and syrup. Or whatever!

Easy Livin' Summertime

Summertime evokes a lot of food memories for me. Deciding what to make for the small potluck dinner party I went to last night, I discovered some long-forgotten black-eyed peas and was quickly reminded of my grandmother's recipe for Southern Caviar, beloved by all as an appetizer on hot summer evenings at her house.



For the party, I opted to bring a pint of homemade ice cream, saving my grandmama's glorious cold salad for my own consumption this evening. It's so simple to make, but goes fast with company! Once you start dipping, it's tough to stop until dinner is served. Here's my variation on her classic recipe.

Southern Caviar
4 cups canned black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno, de-seeded and chopped
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
the juice of one whole lime
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, toss and chill. Serve with corn chips for an appetizer, or hoe cakes for supper.

Georgia on my Mind

Whilst among my Southern kin, my mom and I came by a bag of some of the first Georgia peaches to ripen this season. Mm mm, do I love me some peaches! So in my fervor to fulfill this nagging craving for a fruit tart I've been having since the onset of Spring (remember?), I decided these peaches were destined to adorn one. Added bonus: It's RAW! And in keeping with the Southern feel, it starts with an easy pecan-based crust.



Raw Peach Tart
makes 8 slices

[Crust]
12 pitted Medjool dates
8 oz. raw pecans

Blend well in a food processor. Press crust into a tart dish, cover and refrigerate until you assemble the tart.

[Peach Topping]
5 fresh peaches, sliced
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon raw agave nectar or honey

Toss and refrigerate until you assemble the tart.

[Cream]
8 oz. raw cashews
3 tablespoons raw agave nectar or honey
1 teaspoon almond extract

Soak cashews in water for at least two hours. Blend thoroughly with sweetener and almond extract, until very, very smooth. Spread over crust, top with peaches and either serve immediately or let it set up in the fridge for a few hours beforehand.

I'm still working on my cashew cream, trying to get it to that point of sublime smoothness, so if you have any suggestions or go-to recipes for a cashew cream, go right ahead and make 'em public!

Celeb Inspiration: Dead Prez

Yep, that's right, the radical rapper duo Dead Prez provided the spark for tonight's dinner! I was lucky enough to see 'em up close and personal at Harvest of Hope this past weekend, along with a ton of other sweet music (Dr. Dog! Mountain Goats!! Broken Social Scene!!!), and their performance was absolute purrfection. As soon as they came on, the sky opened up and it poured rain for the large part of the set, which definitely added to the intensity.

So anyway, they didn't play this song, but it's one of my favorites and upon listening, I think you'll hear where I first heard of the dish we made tonight:



Stic.man has been a vegan for 11 years! And, to my incredible delight, I also learned his wife wrote Vegan Soulfood Guide to the Galaxy, a cookbook that's been on my list for a while. So much inspiration!!

Okay, finally, here it is.


Doesn't it seem to say, "EAT ME!"?

Curry Falafel
serves 4

1 box Fantastic Falafel Mix
1 1/4 cups water
1 heaping teaspoon red curry paste
1/2 inch of canola oil in a large skillet

Stir up the mix with water and curry paste, let it sit for 10 minutes, then roll into little balls. Heat up the canola oil, then fry those little buggers up until browned and crispy on the outside. Transfer them to a plate with a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.

We ate this EASY little creation on Chapati by Halie (my roommate's GF version of this that happens to sound like a perfume), schmeared with hummus, dappled with red onion and sprinkled with sprouts. DELISH!

Soul to the Max

As the new Soul Food banner highlights the beauty of the black-eyed pea, I here (again) highlight its deliciousness:


Chipotle Black-Eyed Peas with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Collards from Jae Steele's fabulous cookbook, Get It Ripe.

And though it's been rained out, the enVeg Veguary potluck today was to celebrate Soul Food, too! We're on a roll here, folks. I'll just eat all these biscuits and gravy myself.

Happy February!

January went by so slowly for me...certainly in a good way, I just can't believe I've only been posting on this thing for one month! But onto month TWO, y'all.

I thought I was having a bit of chef's block, as our pantry is rather bare at the moment. But after taking a thorough inventory, I realized I had almost everything I needed to make the incredible Open-Faced BBQ Tempeh Sandwich with coleslaw from Vegan Soul Kitchen! Here is my coleslaw recipe and a variation on the BBQ tempeh.



Open-Faced BBQ Tempeh Sandwich with Creamy Coleslaw
serves 5

[Coleslaw]
1/2 a medium head of cabbage, chopped
1 big carrot, shredded
5 radishes, chopped
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
5 heaping tablespoons Veganaise
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

[BBQ Tempeh]
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1/4 water
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 large chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped with some sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 packets powdered Stevia
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 pound tempeh cut into 1/2-inch fingers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk all ingredients except tempeh in a large baking dish. Add the tempeh and coat it with the marinade. Let sit for around 15 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for 15-17 minutes.

Brunch is da best.

It seems like on Sundays and, on long weekends like this one, Mondays, brunch is a welcome inevitability. I lounge around in my jammies until it's just too late in the day for three full meals to be feasible. So on this lovely MLK Day, we made a big ol' skillet of home fries and some quick stove-top ketchup! I am so excited to have found such an easy ketchup alternative, since I really dislike high fructose corn syrup.



Home Fries
serves 4

4 tablespoons canola oil
6-7 medium potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
s&p

Heat the oil in a skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high. Add the onions and saute until slightly softened. Add the potatoes. Keep turning over the layers throughout the next 20 minutes, but do allow the bottom to begin to brown between tosses. Toss in your thyme, s&p. Test a larger chunk of potato for doneness.

Homemade Ketchup!!!
a slight adaptation of Jae Steele's recipe, serves 4

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon arrowroot starch

Place all the ingredients but the tomato sauce and arrowroot in a small saucepan on high heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, stir in the sauce and starch, cover and cook for about 8 minutes.

Scoop some ketchup onto a big pile of potatoes, mix 'em up and EAT.

BBQ B-EPs, OMG

This introduction is already long overdue. Readers, meet Vegan Soul Kitchen.

Bryant Terry has seriously accomplished something wonderful with this book. He has captured the essence and incredible flavor of soul food without a single ham hock!

Tonight, I wanted to treat my bf, recently recovered from some nasty mouth surgery, to a home-cooked meal. Because of the rain, we were aiming for something really comforting, so Vegan Soul Kitchen immediately came to mind. Landed on Barbeque Black-Eyed Peas. Great decision.




I've tried a number of Terry's recipes in the past, many of which can be found in this Google Book preview, if you're interested in testing a few. Uncle Don's soup, the Cajun-Creole-spiced tempeh with grits and yellow potato soup are all VERY good. The BBQ recipe is on there, too!

Now, you too may go forth and make soul food.

[edit] Sammi thankfully pointed out that the Google book preview does nottt list the b-ep's, but there are a few good 'uns on there anyway.

So much new!

Today is the first of the year. It is my twentieth year of life and it's high time I blogged about it. I am in search of the stuff that feeds my soul - good food, yes, but also knowledge, music, nature and conversation. I'm going to try my best to fill this blog with what I find. And try to make it interesting.



It's my Southern New Year's tradition (and my mother's and her mother's and her mother's before that) to fill up on Hoppin' John (black-eyed peas and rice), collards and cornbread, respectively signifying good luck, good fortune and, well, the cornbread just tastes good. Mom and I made this meal together today, only our version was completely vegan. Not to mention incredibly delicious.

Here's how we did it:

Hoppin' John
a Real Simple mag adaptation of beans n' rice, serves 4

[Dirty rice]
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
sea salt
1 cup white basmati rice
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and salt, cook until softened. Add the rice and toast it for about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chilies and 1 1/4 cups water, then bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and let it all simmer (no peeking!) for 10 minutes before stirring once. Cover again until all the water is absorbed - about another 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave it covered for 5 minutes.

[Black-eyed peas]
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced
2 15-oz. cans of black-eyed peas, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
s&p
4 scallions, sliced

Heat up the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until softened. Add the beans, oregano, 1/2 cup water and s&p to taste. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beans are thoroughly heated. Stir in the scallions, fluff that rice and get to eatin'!

Tangy Collards
serves 4

1 bag frozen collard greens
1 small onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 apple cider vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar (or other sweetener)
s&p

Saute the onion until tender in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for another two minutes. Mix in the vinegar and sweetener, then bring to a boil. Cover and lower the heat to simmer for 10 minutes. If you need more liquid, pour in a few tablespoons of vegetable broth. Add s&p to taste.

Corn Muffins
makes 12 muffins

1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of yellow corn meal
1/4 cup of maple syrup
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon of water
1 small can of whole kernel sweet corn

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease the muffin pan. Mix up the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine the tablespoons of cornstarch and water. Add the rice milk, oil and cornstarch mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the sweet corn.

Spoon the batter into the pan, then bake 20 to 25 minutes - until a fork stuck into the middle comes out clean.