Vegan Buffalo Mozzarella!!! Vegan Brie!!!!

Got up at 6 this morning to finish the cheeses.  The brie set beautifully and is now aging after being rubbed down with salty hands.

The Buffalo Mozzarella is delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have added many more details to the recipe though.  The photo is below and the recipe is in there.  First of all, cheesecloth should be listed as a necessary ingredient since this was harder to do with tea towels.

Second, when lowering the mozzarella into the ice water, it is important to lower the scoop FACE UP and patiently give the mixture time to cool a bit before trying to release it from the scoop.

Next, I made two different sizes - one bocconcini sized and one ice cream scoop sized.  The little ones were easier.  But another must-have was the ice cream scoops with the little circular sweeper thing so that the mixture would release.

Julia never would have omitted these details.  I realize that "magazine style" just doesn't lend itself to as many details, although they would have been really helpful.

Having said that, this is my first time - the product is DELICIOUS!!!! - and the hardest part was the waiting and timing.  (And OMG a lot of dishes!).

Don't attempt these recipes without being near home base for an extended period of time because they are not fast.  But they are very good and I am glad I have ventured here.

I can now add "artisan cheese production" to my resume.

Nine Lines for Cheese, Nine Pages for Bread

Check this video out:  Excellent and cute.  http://makeitpossible.com/take_action/

Veg News posted their Big Cheese Issue this month.  The pages were packed with beautiful "cheese" recipes (all vegan) that I couldn't WAIT to try.  The Veg news recipes for both Brie and Buffalo Mozzarella seemed simple enough.  About nine or ten lines per paragraph, and only three of those per recipe.

It took me about nine days to ensure I had everything in the house I needed, even though there were only about nine ingredients.

Agar Agar is a plant based seaweed coagulant that subs in for the animal bone based gelatin in most cheeses.  Found it on my most recent trip to TO at the gorgeous St. Lawrence Market.

Located plain soy yogurt at the Whole Foods in Oakville on the way home.

Tapioca flour was the last non-pantry item I needed to find... at Bulk Barn around the corner.

I guess the "let sit for 8 - 24 hours" lines just snuck in there.... and this recipe is taking what feels like FOREVER.  But the pride I'm feeling from working through this is indeed a lot of fun.  Patient fun.

In sharp contrast, Julia Child's recipe for bread - yes, flour yeast salt water - BREAD!! - is NINE PAGES.

NINE PAGES of techniques!  And worth every single word.  That woman was masterful in her details.  It is a work of military precision reading and working through those pages!

So,  going 9 lines at a time with about a day and a half in between steps I should have the cheese done in a few months, tops ;)

Bread will be done in a few hours.

I bet, however, that homemade Vegan brie and homemade bread is going to be worth it.

Or at least a NINE out of ten.  Stay tuned.

Monday means Red Beans and Rice for dinner

One of my absolute favourite go-to recipes for a quick, delicious and cheap meal is the classic New Orleans dish, Red Beans and Rice.

Hearty, robust, nutrient dense - great in large batches or small.  Great as leftovers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_beans_and_rice

Flex your creativity and throw in what you like, but the must-haves are:

1.  Peppers (green is traditional) Onions, Celery.  Carmelize them in some oil to develop their flavour.

2.  Thyme, Garlic, Cayenne and "cajun spice" - blends are everywhere and I never run out.  Sprinkle in to taste.

3.  Red Beans - canned are convenient, slow cooked are dirty cheap.

I don't have a conflict about not including andouille or pork in mine any more.  Plenty of great vegetarian sausages out there (fennel seeds will give it a sausag-y flavour) make this a non-issue.

4.  Final veg trick is to add a few dashes of liquid smoke to the batch.  That smoky goodness subs out for the other food that usually adds smoke and fat to the dish.

Top with some chopped green onions, chopped celery leaves, a glob of earth balance and plenty of hot sauce and DIVE IN.

Traditional on Mondays, this might just eliminate years and years worth of asking "what's for dinner?" at the beginning of the week.

Make It Possible

http://makeitpossible.com/

No words are needed for this blog.

No animal products are, either.

(Basil) Salt of the Earth

I read somewhere that the industrial nature of farming means we eat a lot less dirt than we used to.  And that this is a bad thing.  Apparently trace amounts of dirt and soil which used to regularly come with our food  contains lots of minerals which were good for us.  Who knew?  Have you ever heard your older generation acceptingly reassure us that "we'll all eat a bushel of dirt before we die?".

Modern guys turned this into the five second rule.

Once, on a wine tour of all things, I learned that there is a form of regulation which permits a certain amount of insects to be included in wines and juices.  I guess that makes sense - my black widow spider incident convinced me that it is pretty hard to get the critters out of the plants where they live, and it is ESPECIALLY hard to do without damaging insecticides being sprayed on food.  People around the world sometimes consider insects a delicacy - from chocolate coated grasshoppers to ants.  People eat em' on Fear Factor and Survivor too.  They don't hurt you, but it's still kind of gross.

Having said that, I am willing to accept that despite my absolute, vigilant best efforts today, there might very well be a speck or two of dirt and maybe even a spider or two in my latest creations.  I certainly hope not, but I am not afraid of the idea, either.

It is October 27th and my beautiful summer herbs are sprouting their final leaves for the season.  My basil looks tired and cold, my opal basil is withering on the stems and surprisingly my thai basil is holding on the best, sprouting tiny basil flowers which look remarkably like orchids!

My solution to this past-their-prime foliage is to make basil salt.  A sprinkling or two on fresh local tomatoes brings the taste of a fresh caprese salad fast within reach - even without the fresh, tender green basil.

I took the final leaves off my plants, poured some kosher salt into the Magic Bullet and within seconds, I had three beautiful basil salts.  Opal, Thai and Genovese.

Some leaves of mint buzzed up with some sugar has left me with Mint Sugar as well.  Great for tea or fruit.

Time to locate my black widow costume from last year and head off to the two Halloween parties we have been invited to.  Hostess presents will be basil salts:)

Cayenne Kick

Delicious burn.  My lovingly sprouted cayenne pepper plants from the spring have yielded the most luxurious harvests of cayennes in my entire life.  I have been regularly producing batches of cayenne pepper sauce, which is now aging in jars, bottles and containers.

Cayenne pepper sauce has long been a fave of mine, since my University days.  Now, even though the thought of eating a chicken's wing revolts me, I am still very much a fan of "vegetarian wings" and a great homemade hot sauce.

My go-to recipe NEVER yields leftovers.  Here it is:

Karen's Kicked Up Hot Wings Sauce

2-4 tbsp Earth Balance (or you can use butter if that's what you like)

2 tbsp hot sauce

1 tsp smooth dijon mustard

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

The dijon helps emulsify the sauce to become beautiful, clingy and thick.

One of my fantasies is to be able to order vegetarian "wings" at restaurants.  President's Choice makes a great version or "meatless chicken tenders" that sub in perfectly here.  The protein is a vegetable protein with a hearty, rich flavour.  It would be AMAZING if restaurants could just add these to their purchasing so that  people could get them with a cold beer.

The thing I always hated about "wings" - and most people do, vegan or not - is the reminders that what you were eating had both veins and feathers.  I hated that spindly plucky feather coating, even if it was crispy when deep fried.  The drumettes were usually easier to get a mouthful of chicken but the pieces with two bones often revealed a browning vein or two between the "meat".  Vegan wings remove all that discomfort and (almost) all the saturated fat.  No side order of environmental degradation or suffering either.

I believe that the reason veg wings aren't on menus is that they are probably more expensive than traditional wings.  The mark up on chicken's wings is extraordinary.  BUT, if a restaurant's objective is to make money, hopefully the rest of the tab might make up for the loss leader of a plant-based wing?

I have probably jarred about 4 litres of hot sauce using an extremely simple recipe.  Hot peppers (cayennes are my fave), vinegar, garlic and salt.  That, plus a little time.  The aging process is very good to hot sauce.  It mellows it out, reduces the sharpness and heat-forward taste.  It adds to the flavourful balance.

I have actually filled two small ketchup bottles with my homemade hot sauce.  One for my purse, one for my travel bag - for those meals where no hot sauce is available.  

When I think of those gorgeous pepper seeds, sprouting, popping out their first two leaves to now, I am so proud of my little plants' life cycles!  

For my friend...

Have you ever noticed how simple things can be when you strip all the layers away?

While pondering the myriad of events happening lately, I was rushing to create a quick raw dinner for us after a very long weekend.  Some couscous and hot, salted water gave me a base.  I chopped fresh, ripe, seasonal tomatoes into bite size morsels and tore basil leaves into the bowl.  Salted and peppered them, with a squeeze of lemon.  Done.

A perfect, simple, dish - stripped of pretension.  

We had an extremely interesting evening last night over this meal & things came out perfectly. 

Food, like life, can teach us lessons.  At the end of the day, with all the cheffy techniques and layering of flavours, or development of signature styles, what we are really left with is only the good stuff we begin with.

 On my drive home, it got me thinking that sometimes things are just so much simpler than we make them out to be.

A perfect ingredient is made to be perfect.  

It requires no changes - no making it into something it is not already...

organically... 

intrinsically.

How something grows naturally is how it is meant to be enjoyed.

And life and food is just about one thing - enjoyment.

"Hey Mom - want to try this?"

I brought some appetizers home from a reception I held for work yesterday evening for Harrison to snack on.  One of the snacks was a feta stuffed cherry tomato.  He has always hated tomatoes, but has been much more adventurous lately.  He asked innocently "do we have any red onion?" after noshing on several of the selections.  When I answered "no", he said "S'Okay.  I'll use chives."

After I had changed out of my work clothes, he asked me "want to try this?"  Above is a picture of my cutting board, with his re-purposed appetizer.

It was the best bite of the night.

"How do you think up this stuff?"

At dinner with my family yesterday, I showed my aunt my recent (raw) blog posts.  Especially the raw beet and citrus salad.  She looked at me quizzically and said, "How do you think up this stuff?"

She could have meant any number of things, from... "that is too weird for me"   OR  "I like my oatmeal for breakfast, thank you very much"     OR  "hmm - my neice is a creative genius".

Probably somewhere between the first and the second.

But it begs the question - where ideas come from.  I have wanted to teach regular people to cook for some time now - with lessons.  The way a piano teacher teaches music, or a hockey coach runs drills.  People have much more capacity for cooking and feeding themselves than they credit for.  But it does take some mental flexibility...

Instead of "weird", I prefer to consider myself "experimental".

Instead of traditional, I prefer "unconfined by convention".

Instead of genius, I prefer "opportunistic".

This morning's coleslaw is a combination of shredded napa cabbage, segmented grapefruit, macadamia / almond / pecans, and dressed with a puree of agave, grapefruit pulp, grapefruit juice and fresh mint from the garden.  Topped with hemp and chia seeds.

All of these ingredients are not just one big "idea", but many different influences and lessons.

Why breakfast coleslaw?  Because of too much wine watching the New Jersey / LA Game.  I need some detox from both wine and adrenaline!!!!!  AND there was napa cabbage in the fridge - with little else.

I never would have added chia to my salad unless I read a book called "Thrive Diet" by Brendan Brazier, recommended to me by one of my students AND saw Chia seeds in the bulk food section (without the clay pottery!).

I never would have added hemp seeds unless I browsed the natural section of my grocery store with some extra time on my hands AND been influenced by the chefs on "Chopped" who always say that textures add pleasure to food.

And I never would have added fresh mint unless I had some growing in the garden AND saw a chef on some other show add fresh mint to a grapefruit granita.

What I mean is that every dish is so layered with our experiences and influences that the best way to become a better cook is to increase experiences and influences.  To buy things you might not be familiar with and just play.

The expression "to find a prince, sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs" comes to mind.  For everything that I have tried and loved, there have been things that I tried and thought - this is never going in my mouth again - but if I only stuck to what I liked without trying new things?

I would have had my fave treat from when I was 8 for breakfast today!

A mustard sandwich.

Maybe weird is the right word after all !!

:D

Burst of Breakfast

Just got back from a run.  Didn't have as much muscle power as I would have liked - probably because I was running on coffee and zero breakfast.  It should be a grocery day, although I don't know where I'll fit that in.

In any event, I was running hard just to get to my fridge!  The one thing I know I had there were two different kinds of beets - red and orange - and one orange, several grapefruits and some soaked walnuts.  Apparently soaking nuts increases their nutritional availability - and boy did I need it.

Conscripted Bill into my sous-chef for two minutes, and we peeled and grated the beets, I segmented the orange and grapefruit, and blended the middle fibrous leftovers with vanilla coconut milk in the magic bullet.

Tossed the whole vibrant rainbursting contents in a bowl with the dressing.  Needed a bit of sweetness, so reached for some raw agave, and it was just delicious.  Crunchy - sweet - an absolute light show of nutrients.

Even though this soounds weird, I'm sure - it is a must try.  Now I know I have the energy my day is going to demand of me.

Cold Heat : Raw Indian Cauliflower and Bean Salad

I am totally getting into this raw thing.  Last night, I chopped up a head of cauliflower into bite sized pieces, and added a can of rinsed chickpeas and another can of black beans to a bowl.

To make a sauce or dressing, I used my magic bullet to blend a can of san marzano tomatoes until they were smooth.  Added garam masala spice, cumin, coriander, cayenne, curry powder and fenugreek to a pot and was careful to just warm the sauce, so as not to destroy the raw enzymes in the tomatoes.  I also added a quarter cup of raw coconut butter, and mixed until smooth, and then seasoned it with sea salt.

When I poured over the cauliflower / bean mixture and stirred until combined, it became a nice marinated salad!

After a taste check, the raw cauliflower required more salt, and more spices - raw veggies don't have the subtlety of cooked ones, and need more seasoning.

Garnished with celery leaves.

Harrison ate the whole thing, and was surprised that he did!  Bill and I negotiated over the leftovers.

p.s.  they are delicious for lunch!  ;)  The "heat" in the dish is surprising, even though it's a cold salad, and it seems to be even better today than it was last night.

Raw Power

Last Saturday, I had just about had it with my overboard non-vegan week.  I was feeling like my veins had slow moving oatmeal running through them, my energy was low and my skin was dull and breaking out.  It's like a big scarlet letter on my forehead when I eat dairy now - a telltale sign that I've been off my veggies.

So - recalibration time.

Breakfast was two peeled and seeded grapefruits, and two cups of spinach in the blender, with some ice cubes and filtered water.  Yielded two full glasses of green juice, which tasted better than I thought it would.  It actually felt quite detoxifying - like it was going through my system as if it were cleaning up after a wild party.

I booked a facial at 4:00, a gift-certificate from Bill for Valentine's Day.  I could get clean on the inside and out!  Since most of the yard work was done (except for actually PLANTING), I could just sit, drink an herbal tea and read.  My choice?  A raw vegan cookbook that I got for Christmas.

Lunch was another cup and a half of spinach blended with vanilla coconut milk and green apple.

The recipies lept off the page, my facial was great, and Bill got home around the same time.  We went out for dinner, had a nice bruschetta with lots of tomato, garlic and basil, a fresh asparagus soup and two loaded fresh salads - mine with cranberries and walnuts, and his with beets and pecans.

Couldn't believe that I felt satisfied, full and really balanced.

Sunday through tonight have led to some really RAW choices, and I have never felt more stable.  Animal food makes me more anxious than plants, and I sleep better too.

Sunday lunch was raw asparagus spears tossed in umeboshi vinegar, lime zest and a bit of soy sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds and chia, and another bruschetta with local tomatoes and my yet, unplanted sweet basil.

Dinner was a raw "asian stir-fry".  One of my favourite kid tricks is instead of mixing everything together already, I will put out about 8 veggies, some chopped two different ways and hand Harrison a pan.  When you give a child choice - even over simple items - it empowers them, and broadens their taste buds.  Amazing how he chooses the carrots, the finely diced celery (but avoided the larger ones), the mushrooms (I avoided those) took a few peppers for colour, no asparagus.  Tossed in some Blue Menu teriyaki tofu from president's choice, and dinner was raw, colourful, flavourful and fresh.

Lunch was a napa cabbage, with avocado, orange segments and julienned green apple.  Dressing was orange juice, umeboshi vinegar, agave and a bit of salt.

Yesterday's dinner, following a 3.5 mile run, was broccoli, cashews, more thin cabbage, and more organic green apples in a dressing of sweet chili sauce, soy and my own hot sauce.  Another raw winner, that doubled as a great lunch today.

Smoothie this morning was apple, banana, and napa cabbage, and was surprisingly delicious!  Banana for snack, raw hummus with hot sauce and Ryvita crackers, for another snack, and a raw salad with celery, red and yellow carrots, cucumber, and balsamic yellow tomatoes with Italian dressing spiked with Jerk Seasoning.  Our new fave.

Since I was not even remotely sore from my run the day before, I went for another 3.5 mile run again today. I attribute the complete muscle recovery to the raw veggies.

Ravenous at 8 PM, instead of a cereal alone, I cut up another green apple and added 1/3 cup of soaked walnuts to 1/4 cup of cereal with coconut milk.

This raw thing is really amazing.  Maybe I'll go for a month 90% raw, and see whether it makes any difference?
I

Asparagus Ribbons and Coconut Hollandaise

Three more hours this morning did it.  The garden beds are finished, as are my arms and lower back. 

While cutting the grass this morning, I kept pondering last evening's question - why animal food, when vegan makes me feel so amazing?  Is it just the label?

I really don't think that I'm lacking in discipline, but the truth is that familiar animal-based cuisine is delicious to me still.  One of the things I continually seek out are vegan versions of my favourites and today was all about the hollandaise.

One of the best things about blogspot.ca is that when you double-click a picture, it expands to show beautiful detail in my food photography.  Do it right now....

That is some lightly sauteed asparagus ribbons (a vegetable peeler does it beautifully), some de-seeded orange tomato bits and some lemon juice.  Over the top is.....

A stunning coconut hollandaise. 

Coconuts are exceptional substitutes for butter and cream.  The thick cream in a can of coconut milk has made my tastebuds swoon more times than I can count.  I have added it to curries, of course, thai cuisine, of course and ventured into the more challenging world of caramels and creamed soups - all to massive acclaim.

So - on the quest for an even better hollandaise than the original I added a few tablespoonfulls to a warm pan, with a scant teaspoon of spicy dijon mustard, some cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt and the zest of an organic lemon.

When it whisked smooth, and a spoon coated beautifully with a creamy, luscious pale yellow liquid, I could only anticipate whether this would work.

The asparagus deserved a beautiful accompaniment.  Did you know that the centre of asparagus are literally luminous?  LUMINOUS!  Shimmering, opalescent and reflective.  It is very surprising.

But most surprising of all was the hollandaise.  It was, in a word, magnificent.

And  I scraped the bowl clean...dove into my asparagus for the start of the Top Chef Canada marathon on right now, and remembered that these food questions in life make me curious enough to keep pushing the envelope as a cook.

Coconut hollandaise.  What a real surprise.

What do you eat when no one's watching?

One of the real tests of what a person is really made of goes something like this...

"what do you decide when no one's watching?"

There are various versions in Zen, in religion, in pop culture - but the essence is the same.

With the guys away, I have had nothing but a really busy two days of hard gardening.  

Our property is massive.  We have almost a full acre of stunning mature trees, lots of perennials courtesy of the previous owners, and much more grass than last year thanks to some landscaping decisions which cut the responsibility for everything in half.  The thing is though, half of TOO MUCH is still - in my books - too much.

Not one to dwell on what's overwhelming for too long, my usual solution is to just dive in and get things done.  And with all the physical labour, I chose to focus on a great core workout and really intense arm exercise.  And daydreamed about what it would look like when I am finished.

Very few things go better together than tomato and basil, and my first garden (about 6 feet in diameter) will contain both.  One gorgeous full tomato plant, and six surrounding basil plants.  Harrison would eat cardboard if it had pesto on it, so this should be a good option.

I also intend to populate the second garden (about 15 feet in diameter) with squash plants and selfishly harvest them purely for the blossoms.  Something about eating flowers that just seems elegant!  And I can't buy them anywhere, so must do it myself.

Herb garden of course, must go in the best soil... AND the one closest to the kitchen!  My chives and rosemary came up beautifully all on their own, but I must get at least three variations of thyme.  Will grow some lavender again, even though I  haven't for three years.  Heirloom carrots are also on the agenda, just for the flexibility.  Another thing I can rarely get in stores, and few things make me feel as good as pulling a beautiful carrot from the soil...especially in a light rain when they yield to me much more easily.  Green onions, garlic, and shallots are also other must-haves.  And finally, the colourful nod to my heritage - some beets.

Of course our main entranceway will hopefully be flocked by rows and rows of cayenne peppers and jalapenos!

So with aching fingers barely able to hold a shovel any more today, I will seek out something in the kitchen to take away the hunger pains slightly.

When no one's watching I am constantly surprised how much I crave eggs...  Yesterday I did a beautiful souffle yesterday when my mom came for lunch, and made some rich hollandaise to go with mounds of local asparagus and the New Jersey / Rangers game.  Since I went to law school with the head coach of the New Jersey Devils AND he's a law school alum, I am very obviously rooting for a Devils victory...  It would make a great alumni story for my magazine.

Eggs always seem to be the one thing I consistently cheat the vegan diet with, whether Bill's gone or not.  Let's face it - on a fishing trip with the guys, I doubt he's eating legumes and fiddleheads, so turnabout is fair play.

And that's what I mean about what one eats when no one's watching.  Even though I feel a zillion times better on a plant based diet, I really struggle with the cravings.  Why the need for eggs (OK... and even some cheese) the minute he's out of the house?  Where is it coming from?  Am I vegan only when someone's watching?  Or am I just vegan most of the time?  It's like saying "I'm loyal to my husband" - "except for those times that I'm not".

And while animal based food isn't adultery, it does make me question why I can be so passionately committed to a plant based diet when someone's around, finding massive amounts of delicious, healthy choices everywhere and resisting temptation, and then yielding to temptations occasionally when no one's around.

No answers tonight.

Breakfast

This morning's eggs... with chives, blossoms and avocado.

Inspiration from yesterday's lunch.  Avocado, sliced thinly, and fanned.  I want to perfect this over the weekend with my alone time.

Planting seeds...and what they ultimately grow up to be.

I'm down to my last bottle of homemade hot sauce from the fall. My cayenne peppers did so well in the front garden last year that I harvested several of the seeds and sprouted them in early March. I told myself I would have been thrilled with four or even six sprouts. Last year, I harvested hundreds of beautiful red cayennes from only eight plants, and I want to do twice as many this year.

When no fewer than 30 peppers sprouted (fuelling my optimism!) I transplanted them to larger soil containers. They spent their first day outdoors yesterday, enjoying the sunshine. This particular Victoria Day weekend is going to be perfect. Sunny, warm, dry - ideal for planting... and I can't wait.

 I sometimes think briefly about putting some flowers out front, but why grow something you can't eat? And can you possibly beat those red, spicy, flavourful morsels for everything from breakfast to a midnight snack.

Every so often, events in life push you back to time frames which surprise you. My involvement with alumni reunions mean that I spend the better part of my fall in a time warp. I watch our students graduate in June, new students on their first day of first year law in September and then get to join the party of every reunion class in between. And even those celebrating their 40th reunion feel like day one of law school was just yesterday.

 I have spent several heady days in the 80s this week. From the fuschia, turquoise and neon yellow colours everywhere, to the plaid shorts and sparkly shoes - seems that a 22 year fashion cycle has again ressurected. All we're missing is the big hair and rubber bangle bracelets. And my not-so-18 year old self having a nostalgic look back.

 I had a friend when I was 18 who went to chef school. He made the best hollandaise I have ever had one weekend in 1988. I remember thinking that the hours of a chef must be so draining - to have to work weekends, evenings, every single holiday. How much of a sacrifice that must be. How hard life would be to "have to" be a chef. My wanna-be lawyer brain thought that unequivocally. I couldn't imagine giving up so much.

I subsequently learned that as a lawyer, I was also giving over every weekend, every evening, every weekend - not to food, but to paper. And now I am certain that paper will NEVER trump food. Although I wouldn't have appreciated it then, I sure as heck am certain of it now.

Working with edible items, preparing them with care, seasoning them with the right balance of confidence and risk, all the while making it look beautiful, real and tasty are just the very best way to nourish my own soul. And now that I actually have the brain of a lawyer, all it really wants to do is cook, and wait for the sounds of enjoyment from the people I love.

And I get to do it every day - weekends, evenings, and every single holiday!

In the words of Elton John, from the Sleeping with the Past album from 1989...


 It's no sacrifice at all.