July in a Nutshell

Life has gotten busy, hence I haven't posted anything in almost three weeks; I've still been following the plan, it's just that the time for documentation has gotten scarce.  My summer class started, plus we had some car-related adventures leaving us stranded in Massachusetts for a few days.  Fun!

While I didn't document everything over the past three weeks by any stretch of the imagination, I do have a few highlights here to share -- from those few times when I actually remembered to bust out a camera!

Pinto Bean Burgers

I made these pinto bean burgers for the fourth of July, and we grilled them up at our friends' house.  Sarah, the lady of the house, also made some killer potato salad -- also pictured on the plate!  Sarah & Will had slices of soy cheese at their house, as well as some tomato and lettuce from the farmers' market.  The burgers themselves were an improvement on the black bean burger I'd made previously; much sturdier for grilling while being a bit lazier of a recipe.

• 2 15 oz. cans of refried pinto beans
• 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
• 2/3 c. vital wheat gluten
• 1/3 c. cornmeal
• 1/3 c. salsa
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, to taste)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well mixed; if the mixture is too liquidy, add more flour or cornmeal as needed.  Divide into eight balls on a plate and refrigerate for at least an hour.

After cooling, flatten the balls into patties and grill at least five minutes per side until well-cooked.  Extra burgers can be placed between wax paper, wrapped together, and frozen until needed.

Vegetable and Gardein Kebabs

Again, at Sarah and Will's house, we made our first ever kebabs.  Although we all like kebabs, none of us had ever made them ourselves.  The peppers and tomatoes were from the farmers' market and the onions were from our CSA; the fake meat is gardein.

Sarah had bought wooden skewers to make s'mores, but she had plenty of extra skewers for the kebabs!  This picture is pre-grilling, though the kebabs looked a bit different after cooking.  Everything was supertasty, but the most notable thing for me was how deliciously sweet the onions were.  I was ambivalent about grilled onions prior to our kebab experience, but now I am a devoted fan of the grilled onion.  Mmm.

Swiss Chard Quiche

The swiss chard quiche was so good in principle, and such a disaster in practice.  The crust puffed up in all the wrong places, the chard was not soft enough . . . basically, this was a lesson in what not to do for quiche!  I used the crust recipe from Vegan Brunch and the tofu filling recipe from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.  The idea of the quiche was a good one though, and I'm not giving up on it!  I will defeat the quiche by the end of this summer, mark my words.

We have stopped getting greens from the CSA though, so I'll have to figure out another vegetable that is good to quicheify.  More on the quiche saga as it unfolds!

The last two photos are not actually foods I prepared -- though they are foods I enjoyed!

Blueberry Pie

This is my friend Sarah's famous blueberry pie.  It is as good as it looks . . . and maybe even better.  She makes it every fourth of July, with fresh blueberries from the farmers' market.  Did I mention that it is super good?  I'm not normally a huge fan of blueberry pie, but I absolutely make an exception for this deliciousness.  In fact, even the picture is making me crave it.  I don't remember her exact recipe, but I know it involves blueberries and lemon juice and no sugar.  And some kind of magic.  Yum.

Moroccan Sweet Potato Stew

Our friend Jimmy made this and brought it over to our house in early July.  His mother cut the recipe out of a magazine for him -- and we both thought it sounded fabulous.  Being the wonderful guy that he is, Jimmy whipped up a batch and brought it over to share with me and P.  It was super delightful, and we ate it over plain couscous.  Here's the recipe!

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed with press
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 3/4 c. vegetable broth
• 1 c chick peas
• 1 large (about 16 oz) sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
• 2 small (about 6 oz each) zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
• 1 c whole-grain couscous
• 1/4 c loosely packed fresh mint leaves, chopped

In a nonstick 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until tender and lightly browned, stirring occasionally.  Stir in garlic, curry powder, cumin, and allspice; cook 30 seconds.

Add tomatoes, broth, chick peas, and sweet potato; cover and heat to boiling over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook 10 minutes.  Stir in zucchini and cook, covered, 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, prepare couscous according to package directions.  Stir mint into stew.  Serve stew over couscous.

Turnip Soup, Take Two

Emboldened by the rousing success of the Indian turnip & chickpea soup, I decided last night to try a turnip soup without the help of Indian spices. Unfortunately, I really didn't have enough turnips to pull anything off; P remarked that he'd never heard anyone say "I don't have enough turnips" before, and he doubted he would hear it again. But that didn't stop me from trying! I left out the carrots, the chickpeas, and the curry powder from the other version -- and added a few cloves of garlic and some black pepper instead.

We sliced up some delicious bread from the farmers' market to eat with our soup, and set to eating.


It was a far cry from the deliciousness of the last soup. I thought it was . . . fine. Edible, anyway. But not good. P didn't even think that highly of it. He said it was like someone made hot cocoa, only instead of chocolate, they used turnips.

I ate my bowl anyway, but P was not about to eat his. And I was not about to let the soup be a waste. His main complaints were that it was too thin . . . and that it tasted like turnips. So I doctored up the soup: thickening it up with some cornstarch, then adding a can of chickpeas and some curry powder that my friend Charlotte sent me.

As you can see, the soup looked a lot different after that. Yellower, lumpier, thicker. Also, spicier and tastier.


So I guess the lesson was learned: if I'm going to make turnip soup, it had better not be just turnips.

Indian Turnip & Chickpea Soup

I have to start off with a confession: I am totally afraid of turnips. Or I was anyway -- until tonight's soup changed all that. It's not that I never had turnips before, it's that I never liked how they were prepared. So tonight I gave turnips one more chance -- but I was still skeptical.

To use up half of the turnips from this week's share, I decided to make an Indian-flavored soup featuring chickpeas and turnips; Indian food is my favorite, so I figured that if anything was going to salvage turnips . . . Indian spices would be it!

Still, just to be safe, I fried some tofu in an Indian sauce to make sure there would be something else to eat in case the soup turned out horribly wrong. It turns out my precautionary measure was totally unnecessary -- the soup was awesome.

All four of us -- me, P, my dad, my brother -- had seconds; some of us even had thirds. The tofu got eaten, but only as an afterthought. Let me say it again. The soup. Was. Awesome.

Granted, it isn't terribly photogenic . . . but I am willing to forgive it on that point. You can see a bit of the tofu peeking out from behind the bowl, as if trying to remind me that it was there. Sure, sure. I see you, tofu. But getting back to the soup . . .


Indian Turnip & Chickpea Soup

• olive oil
  
• 1 spring onion bulb, chopped (regular onion would be fine too)
  
• about 2 cups of turnips, chopped into small chunks
• 2 15-oz cans of chickpeas, drained
• 2 small carrots, chopped
• about 2 tbsp curry powder, to taste
• a dash of salt
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups plain soy milk
  

Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a pot big enough to hold the soup, sautee the onion until brown. Add the turnips through the salt, stirring to make sure the spice is distributed well; add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then allow the soup to simmer covered for at least 20 minutes until the turnips are soft and tender. Remove two cups of soup to be pureed in a food processor or blender, then return to the soup. Add the s'milk and mix everything back in. Gently warm up the soup to make sure it is heated throughout, then serve.