Vegan Week - Day 5 (The Finale)

Mexican-Inspired Salad.

Well, today was the last day of my being a vegan lab rat, a plant-based diet guinea pig.

I brought a tote-able breakfast of applesauce and trail mix (almonds, walnuts, berry-flax granola, dairy-free dark chocolate chips, and dried cran- and blueberries) to work. It was quick, it was easy, it was good. It was really good. As someone who has a tendency to graze, it was a perfect snack.

Trail mix and applesauce.

For lunch, I'd made some Italian-style vegetable soup filled with lots of wholesome vegetables: mushrooms, onions, zucchini, tomato, carrots, celery. To go with it, a couple of slices of the ciabatta loaf were easily packed up. But since I had such a late breakfast, eating at work rather than at home, I wasn't actually hungry for the soup before I left to go on my Friday afternoon schlep through Kroger.

Italian-Style Vegetable Soup.

As I'd reviewed my groceries and my menu options before heading out for the day, I wasn't sure what I was going to do about dinner. Then my friend Olivia posted a picture of a salad on Facebook, filled with avocado, corn, lettuce, tomatoes ... all items I had on hand! She and I both planned to make this tonight.

Sure, the original salad contained chicken; but I could simply leave that out. So, I set out all the ingredients around a scoop of the leftover beans from Monday night, drizzled salsa over everything, and enjoyed an exceptionally nice dinner. A few crumbled corn chips on top didn't hurt, either ... :)

So ... my thoughts after five days as a vegan?

First and foremost, I'm looking forward to eating cheese. I want parmesan on my pasta, feta on my spinach, cheddar on many, many things. I want to be able to use eggs again. I want my Coffee-Mate, which offers no redeeming nutritional value along with the richness of cream.

It seems as though I've been snacking more, as though I'm feeling some sort of loss on a cellular level. It's not as though I've deprived myself of calories or protein or fats or sugars or anything else fun. But there must be some sort of recalibration going on. Ordinarily, if I have a big lunch then I only need a salad for dinner. I found myself still nibbling beyond that, though.

Of course, we can thank the Fritos and the faux-reos for that, singing their Siren songs to me in the night. I bought them so I wouldn't feel deprivation, to be able to have treats and not just denial, to show everyone that a vegan diet doesn't have to be just about rice, beans, lettuce, and tofu. But it's so much easier to resist that kind of stuff at the store, rather than at home! I usually don't buy those things, when I'm on my own. I know I'm weak. I proved that once again, these past few days.

I do think I'll be a mostly-vegetarian after this. My personal feeling is that cows are producing milk, chickens are laying eggs, and bees are making honey whether we eat and drink those products or not. As long as the animals are treated humanely, living happy lives, then those items should be a part of our diets. Veganism is simply too extreme, and unnecessarily so.

And while one might adopt a vegan diet for health reasons, bulking up on fruits and vegetables and whole grains, that gets very boring very quickly (for me, anyway, as someone who constantly craves variety). And it's also potentially expensive. I could have special-ordered vegan "cheese" from L.A., and "meat" from Minneapolis. I could have gone to various markets and restaurants around Toledo to get vegan dishes. I could have made "cheese" from cashews.

Really, that's just excessive. Be conscientious about what you eat - for political, ethical, moral, health, financial, and other reasons - but exercise moderation.

The thought of eating some chicken that's in the freezer, though ... I'm not so keen on it. Or the sausage that I'd intended to use in making red beans and rice on Monday.

The seed for this week's experiment was planted at an event a few weeks ago: braised veal cheeks were on the menu.

I was uncomfortable as they were presented to me, even as they smelled divine and were tender enough to melt on the fork. I tasted them, out of politeness (and for work); they were wonderful. I felt guilty.

And yet, I'm debating whether to grab a burger this weekend. How is it that I can eat the mother but was uncomfortable when the baby was on my plate? Because I knew which part of him I was chewing on? Because I buy the mother wrapped in plastic, displayed on styrofoam?

Once again, as I've done many times before, I'm hanging my head in shame and disgust as a hypocrite. I admit it, though not proudly. It is something I ruminate about, contemplate, grapple with, discuss, and consider at great length and with great frequency.

While I don't want to say I'm ruling out meat - or that burger - entirely (especially since I'll be judging a chili cook-off in two weeks, and there are only two or three vegetarian options being served), I can see myself becoming more of a vegetarian. Not that I eat meat all the time, but I can certainly feel comfortable eating it even less frequently now. Until temptation, like barbecued ribs, lures me in, I'm sure.

So, after all the thought and planning I put into Vegan Week's menu - and I probably have another two weeks' worth of meal suggestions that didn't get eaten - I have no idea what I'll have for breakfast tomorrow morning. It may be more Elvis-style oatmeal. It may be bacon and eggs. I might even go all-out and have a steak, which is usually a once-in-a-decade option.

The point is that I'll have a choice. I'll have lots of choices, rather than having entire food groups eliminated and having so many options taken away from me (or, more correctly, taking them away from myself).

Vegan Week was definitely a worthwhile experiment. It fed me, my blog, and also my column for this Tuesday. And it offered food for thought.

But now it's time to go back to eating whatever I want whenever I want. Time to go back to being an omnivore ... except for tofu and sushi!


Italian-Style Vegetable Soup

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large mushrooms, caps removed, sliced
1/3 cup sliced zucchini
1 small stalk celery, chopped
1 small carrot, peeled, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
A very generous splash of red wine
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
A generous handful of baby spinach
1/2 cup water
Pinch of sugar
Italian seasoning

Place the oil into a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat with the red pepper flakes. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms; cook for 2 minutes, until mushrooms are softening. Add zucchini, celery, carrot, and scallion; cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add wine, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, spinach, water, sugar, and Italian seasoning; bring just to a boil, then cover partially and lower heat to simmer. Cook for 30 minutes.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings
Source: Mary Bilyeu


Mexican-Inspired Salad

Oil
Corn kernels
Shredded lettuce
Chopped avocado
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Chopped red onion
Leftover Pinto Beans with Rice and Quinoa
Fresh salsa
Sprinkle of cilantro
Corn chips, crushed

Quantities are variable, based upon number of people being served and ingredient preferences.

Place the oil and the corn into a small skillet; stir together. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until corn is toasted and golden.

Place lettuce on a serving plate. Place corn, avocado, tomatoes, and onion around the circumference of the plate, on top of the lettuce. Place the leftover beans in the center of the plate. Drizzle salsa over the salad, then sprinkle with cilantro and the crushed corn chips.

Source: Mary Bilyeu (Adapted from cleanfoodcrush.com)

Sweet Potato and Corn Potatonik

My very good friend, and a former restaurant chef, Kate wrote to me recently with this tantalizing tidbit: "Just discovered potatonik while reading a local obituary, and after Googling it realize that this could change everything come Thanksgivikkuh! Might be the perfect dish for blending the flavors of both traditions."

Well, remarkably - given that I work and live in the Jewish community - I had never heard of this. (Who's been holding out on me???) So, of course, I immediately did a search and found a recipe from Mark Bittman for his grandmother's recipe. A potatonik is essentially a giant latke!

But for Thanksgivukkah - the fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime overlapping of Thanksgiving with the first day of Hanukkah - we needed to incorporate some of those Thanksgiving flavors into this potato dish. So I adapted the recipe significantly while following the basic procedure, adding sweet potatoes and corn and just a bit of cornmeal.

I fried it up, watched it sizzle, flipped it (a little less than gracefully, so patching was required), cooked it more on the other side, and then plated an enormous, golden, crispy melding of Jewish and Thanksgiving culinary traditions.

Serve it with both Brandied Cranberry Apple Compote and sour cream, and enjoy every little celebratory bite!

Sweet Potato and Corn Potatonik

1 pound sweet potatoes
1/2 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup corn kernels
3 eggs
3 tablespoons cornmeal
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 cup oil

Peel the sweet potato and trim the ends; grate into a large mixing bowl. Grate the potatoes and add to the sweet potato; stir together with the onion, corn, eggs, cornmeal, salt, and pepper.

Heat the oil in a 13" skillet, then carefully spread the sweet potato batter into it, flattening the mixture. Cook over medium-ish (bit more than medium, but not quite medium-high) heat for 15 minutes. Slide the potatonik onto a large platter, then cover with another platter; flip, then slide the potatonik back into the skillet and cook for another 15 minutes.

Slide potatonik onto a serving platter, then serve by cutting into wedges.

Makes 12-16 servings.


And here are some other dishes for your Thanksgivukkah feast (or for either Thanksgiving or Hanukkah, whatever you're celebrating in the next few days!):

Kugel Latkes

Loaded Baked Potato Latkes

Burek (Spiced Beef Egg Rolls)

Provolone Fritto con Marinara (Fried Provolone)

Curried Potato 'n' Pea Latkes with Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce

Pumpkin Apple Bread

Sweet Potatoes Baked with Rosemary

Pomegranate Molasses-Glazed Carrots

Butterscotch Pumpkin Pudding

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Frugal Floozie Friday - Satchel's BBQ

On a recent rainy, cold, dreary afternoon, Craig and I went in search of some good ol'-fashioned comfort food. And for frugal prices - within our mandatory budget of $5 per person - we found precisely what we sought at Satchel's BBQ.

I decided to try something a bit off the proverbial beaten path, so I ordered Satchel's Stew - "smoked chicken & pork, corn, okra in a tomato broth" - that comes with a large slice of cornbread for $5. I spooned the stew over the cornbread, which made for a very filling meal; I even brought half of the stew home with me, and it made an exceptional breakfast one morning. (Everyone else loves breakfast for dinner; I like that too, but I adore dinner leftovers for breakfast!) Accented with some of the vinegar sauce that's available at each table - there are four different varieties of barbecue sauce to choose from - it was rich and spicy and very good.

Craig went for the classic pulled pork sandwich for exactly $5; the photo doesn't do it justice in showing how generous the portion of meat is. Tender and smoky, the sandwich was so good that Craig - who can be a picky eater, so his favorites should really feel complimented! - commented on how exceptional it was.

There are several frugal options to enjoy, including a pulled chicken sandwich. Side dishes cost $1.25 each; you could easily choose four of the options - cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, greens, or beans and rice - and make a meal from them. Or you can order a pint of any side dish for only $4, if you want to focus solely on one item.

The service at Satchel's was very friendly, and we were welcomed not only by the staff but also by the amazing aroma when we walked in. So for hearty food at reasonable prices, try Satchel's BBQ soon.


Satchel's BBQ
3035 Washtenaw Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-971-5100
Monday - Sunday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.



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Sweet Corn with Cumin, Curry Leaves, and Chilis

As you read yesterday - when I posted a lovely recipe for Chicken Curry - my friend Sid, who regularly sends me videos showing how to prepare delicious traditional Indian recipes, told me that I should look into a bloggers' link-up that involved cooking from the fabulous book 660 Curries.

Well, as someone who loves Indian food, you can imagine my glee in perusing the cookbook!!! I had to start cooking right away, after being led into temptation, so I made several recipes with ingredients I had on hand, tweaking ever so slightly to accommodate my pantry.

One dish that I made on a cold, dreary day and brought to work for lunch sounded so simple, so much like a throwaway; but the ingredients had been available, so it won the coin toss.

I was so surprised and delighted to find that this was a fabulous dish! Bright, spicy, addictive - I kept eating and eating, enjoying it so much!

Instead of using the red chilis called for in the recipe, I put a small piece of my lone ghost pepper into the mix. And just before serving, I mixed in some of the Indian snack mix I had recently bought, which contains all sorts of lovely crispy tidbits with a hint of sweetness. (If you don't have access to an Indian market, here's a recipe; just add a handful of golden raisins to approximate the mix I bought at the store.) It was one of the best lunches I'd brought to work in a long time!

You could serve this corn as a side dish with meat, over rice, with naan ... it's up to you. But serve it, even if it sounds a bit unusual. It really is fabulous!


Sweet Corn with Cumin, Curry Leaves, and Chilis

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 cups frozen corn
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 large curry leaves
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and turmeric; cook for 10 seconds. Add the corn, water, cilantro, and salt; bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat to medium. Add curry leaves and pepper; cook for 8-10 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove the curry leaves and serve immediately.

4-6 as a side dish.

Shredded Pork Ribs with Corn Cakes

People think of cornfields when they think of Iowa. I know someone who drove through the state this past summer, and she commented on the many, many rows of corn she and her husband passed.

But Iowa actually is a top pork producer, and so for this Saturday's Michigan-Iowa game I offer my famous-among-loved-ones shredded pork ribs. Serve them with corn cakes, and you've represented our opponent's state very well.

The ribs are cooked slowly in a crockpot, so they require virtually no effort. The corn cakes are easily made using a box of Michigan's own Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, produced about 30 minutes away from my kitchen.

What a great way to get into the spirit of this match-up!

University of Michigan at University of Iowa
Saturday, November 5
GO BLUE!!!

Shredded Pork Ribs with Corn Cakes

Ribs
4-5 pounds boneless pork ribs (8 ribs)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with foil; lightly grease the foil.

Place the ribs into the prepared pan. Combine the remaining ingredients and sprinkle onto all sides of the ribs. Roast for 1 hour.

Sauce
1 12-ounce bottle barbecue sauce (your favorite one)
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce

Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour 1/3 of the sauce onto the bottom of a 6-8 quart crockpot. Place a single layer of ribs over the sauce, and continue layering sauce and ribs, ending by pouring the last of the sauce over everything. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Stir the pork to shred it and combine the meat with the sauce.

Corn Cakes
1 8.5-ounce box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, to grease skillet

In a medium bowl, stir together Jiffy mix, buttermilk and egg; let rest for 5 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and lightly grease with a bit of the butter. Pour batter with a 1/8-cup measure, and cook until set on the sides and golden underneath. Carefully flip the pancake and cook for 1 more minute.

To serve: Place 2 corn cakes onto a serving plate, and top generously with pork.

Serves 6-8.

Harvest Stew

I love my crockpots! I only have two now - Mama Bear and Baby Bear, as I call them. I gave the enormous Papa Bear one away to someone in need. But the ones I have left are perfect for making dinner and for keeping dips warm, respectively.

It takes almost no effort to put together the ingredients when using a crockpot, and then to let your dinner simmer away - without the need for monitoring - so that it can be ready for your return home after a long day.

This stew is a perfect way to eat something warm and nutritious on a chilly Fall day while also celebrating the bounty of the harvest; it's a stellar example of seasonal cuisine, featuring pumpkin, sweet potato and apple cider.

This hearty dish is vegan - yes, vegan! - if you use the soy chorizo noted in the recipe; carnivores are welcome to substitute a spicier treyf ([TRAYF] = not kosher) pork variety of the sausage, though.

Either way, it's a great meal to come home to. The house smells amazing, and your dinner will warm your soul.

Harvest Stew

2 tablespoons oil
1 12-ounce package Trader Joe's soy chorizo
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 cup corn
1 15-ounce can pureed pumpkin
1 sweet potato, peeled, cut into 3/4" dice
1 15-ounce hot chili beans, undrained
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons coriander
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 cup Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Brown and Wild Rice Medley
1 32-ounce container Imagine creamy sweet potato soup
1/2 cup apple cider
generous splashes of cayenne pepper sauce

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat; add the chorizo and saute for 5 minutes; place in a 6-8 quart crockpot.

In the same skillet, saute the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and seasoned salt until the vegetables are softened; add to the crockpot.

Add the corn to the same skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly toasted and some of the kernels are golden; add to the crockpot.

Add the remaining ingredients to the crockpot. Cook on "low" for at least 8-10 hours, and serve hot.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Black Bean and Grilled Corn Salad

If you've got leftover corn on the cob and don't know what to do with it, here's your answer: make a simple, inexpensive, light but flavorful salad!

It's best if the corn has been grilled and cut off the cob; but you can even approximate that with frozen corn if you place it into a skillet and toast it over medium heat for about 5 minutes until golden. Add in some beautiful produce - tomatoes and peppers - from your garden or from the farmers' market, and your dish is complete!

Whether accompanying an entree, served in a tomato as a light lunch salad, or even eaten with chips dipped into it, this is one of my favorite summer treats ....


Black Bean and Grilled Corn Salad

Salad:
1-1/2 cups corn kernels, from grilled corn
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small red pepper, finely diced
1 small orange pepper, finely diced
3 large purple scallions, chopped
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Dressing:
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
juice of 1 large lime
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce

Place the cumin seeds in a small skillet; toast over low heat for 1-2 minutes, just until fragrant. Place into a small mixing bowl and combine with the rest of the ingredients; whisk to combine, then pour over the salad.

Let the salad rest for 30 minutes or more, for the flavors to blend.

Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

Salsa Fried Rice

This is one of those, "I've got stuff to use up and need to make some sort of meal out of it all" dishes.

Call it Salsa Fried Rice (the catch-all phrase I came up with), or call it Mexican Hash (what Tom called it as he ate) ... it's a not-particularly-photogenic amalgam of stuff that is actually remarkably good! It even has nutritional value -- not bad for a dinner that took maybe 10 minutes to almost literally throw together. Who needs Rachael Ray and her 30-minutes meals???

A little brown rice ... a little of the Wholly Guacamole salsa that I'd received as a sample awhile ago ... the last dribble of corn that had been taking up space in the freezer ... some onion and a portion of an orange pepper ... one egg ('cause I'm a bit OCD-ed and there was an odd number of eggs in the carton; using one, as is done with traditional fried rice, made everything better -- and even!) ... some vegetarian burgers, chopped up ... a little cheese.

And these myriad little tidbits all came together to make an excellent dinner!


Salsa Fried Rice

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1/2 small orange pepper, chopped
2 Morningstar Farms Spicy Black Bean burgers, defrosted, chopped
2/3 cup corn
1-1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 cup fresh salsa
1 egg
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chopped tomatoes with chilis
1/2 cup grated cheddar
sour cream, for serving

Heat the oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Add the onion and pepper; saute until the onion is translucent. Add the black bean burgers and the corn; saute 2 minutes. Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes.

Combine the salsa, egg, chili powder and salt; make a space in the center of the rice, pushing the rice to the edges of the skillet. Pour the egg into the center, and stir gently for 1-2 minutes as it starts to cook. Stir the egg and the rice together, sauteing for 2-3 minutes until the egg is cooked. Stir in the tomatoes and the cheese, and continue cooking until the cheese has melted into everything.

Serve hot, with sour cream.

Hail to the Maize 'n' Blue ... Corn with Blue Cheese, That Is

I read Melissa Clark's article last week in The New York Times, which contained a recipe for a creamed corn dish that was deemed "much too good to share." She selfishly gorged on it herself, unable to control her glee at having created something so amazingly delicious.

Being a fan of fresh corn, Gorgonzola, cream, and all the other wonderfully rich, luscious ingredients required, how could I resist??? I forwarded the article to both Jeremy and Tom -- devotees of such goodies themselves -- and we determined that it must be made, and made soon.

So then Tom and I were at Arbor Farms (a health food grocery store), and found a display right by the front door of corn on the cob that had been grown just down the road in Whitmore Lake ... God was sending a message, telling me "Make the corn dish. Now." I'm often fairly obtuse when it comes to interpreting what God wants from me, but this communication was pretty clear!

I picked up some of the corn, and then proceeded to meander through the store looking for the rest of the ingredients. I knew the recipe had required cream, but I thought perhaps that decadent buttermilk from local mainstay Calder Dairy might be better. I bought some Amish blue cheese. I was ready.

Since I didn't bother to look up the recipe before I started cooking and was relying upon my increasingly-feeble memory (a.k.a.: "The Sieve That Is My Brain"), I didn't remember that I was supposed to serve the corn on sliced tomatoes ... and I had freshly picked tomatoes from my garden, too. I also didn't remember the toasted pine nuts, which I adore. And I forgot the basil, even though I have 3 plants of it in my backyard.

But you know what? The corn didn't need any of it. I'm sure it would have been lovely with these additions -- as well as with some crumbled bacon, rather than just bacon fat saved from previous indulgences -- but it was also virtually addictive without them.

Truth be told, Jeremy thought the corn tasted like soap ... whaddya gonna do??? Tom liked it very much, though, so all the more for both of us!

And oh, isn't this just the perfect Maize 'n' Blue -- ha! -- dish to serve at a University of Michigan tailgate here in Ann Arbor, land of renewed excitement about football with our #21 team??? Yeah!!!

Creamed Corn with Blue Cheese

3 ears fresh corn, uncooked
2 tablespoons bacon fat
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 ounces crumbled blue cheese

Cut corn from the ears. Melt the bacon fat in a large skillet.


Add the corn; saute for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the corn is starting to turn golden brown. Add salt and pepper, and stir to mix.


Stir in the buttermilk and cook for 3 minutes until much -- but not all -- of the buttermilk is absorbed.


Stir in the cheese, stirring to break up lumps and make sure that the cheese melts.


When everything is creamy, it's ready to serve