Chickpea Croquette? Hummus Fritter? Whatever. Delicious.

We got our new Vegetarian Times today and coupled with some mild food-blahs and no plans for lunch, we decided to get creative and try something new. Armed with some dry garbanzo beans, we happened to have nearly everything we needed for their recipe for Chickpea Croquettes with Greek Salad Topping (with some Zipper modifications). Given the challenge of making chickpea flour (see below), I actually halved the recipe-- but it gave us plenty for lunch for two.

the Greek Salad topping is very similar to our Arabic Salad (sans mint). Veg Times uses cherry tomatoes and low-fat vegan feta, which we omitted, and no parsley, which we added. :

1 cucumber diced

2 tomatoes diced

1/4 c. parsley chopped

2 green onions chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1 Tb. olive oil

Toss everything together and season with a little salt and black pepper

The Croquettes

1/2 c. chickpea flour (see below)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Chickpea flour is basically made with dry chickpeas, your food processor, and a high tolerance for noisy grinding. It took me nearly 20 minutes to pulverize the beans and sift through a sieve what turns out to be about half a cup of very flour-like chickpeas, indeed. I had to work in small batches, and initially, the huge, hard beans made a TERRIBLE noise-- like gravel stuck in a blender. Just keep pulsing. Eventually it'll break down, and down some more, and if you're impatient like me, you'll take every opportunity to process, dump the crushed mixture out, sift it, dump it back into the processor and repeat. Once you have about 1/2 c., whisk or sift in the spices until well blended, then mix in about 1/3 c. hot water (to get the exact measurement, fill up a half cup measuring cup 3/4 of the way). Once you have a delightful smelling paste, add:

1/2 can of garbanzo beans

3 green onions chopped

1/4 c. tomato diced

1/4 c. parsley chopped

1 clove of garlic minced

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 Tb. olive oil

If it looks and smells like chunky hummus, you're on the right track! Spoon out 1/4 c. "croquettes" in a lightly oiled, heated non-stick pan,and lightly fry over medium heat 3-4 minutes on each side until golden.

BUT WAIT! There's More!

As we were prepping this, Zips started wondering what else might go with these-- so I whipped up a nice vegan tzatziki sauce with our homemade soy yogurt. We didn't have a ton of the right ingredients, but enough to figure something out. When I nail down this recipe, I'll be sure to feature it here, but this worked out just fine, and was a delicious addition:

Vegan Tzatziki Sauce

6 oz. plain soy yogurt

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 cucumber peeled and seeded

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 c. parsley

dash of salt

Whiz the garlic and the cucumber up in your food processor (If I had some, I would have added more cucumber, and maybe some fresh mint.). Strain the yogurt (I didn't and had a soupy, liquid sauce) and add it, along with everything else in your processor. You're done!

We ended up pouring the tzatziki sauce over the croquettes-- they were a great cool, creamy addition that prevented them from being too dry. Now I can't imagine eating them without the sauce.

Long Weekend Cookout & Lavender Blueberry Ice Cream

This was, of course, our last long weekend before autumn holiday season (halloween not withstanding). Since the weather is finally starting to ease up, not scorching the earth in every waking minute, we decided to have a cookout. We made a foil packet with red potatoes and diced new mexico green chile (it was actually Zipper's grandma-in-law-- notoriously new-food-phobic-picky-eater-- who thought up this one. Genius!), veggie hot dogs and burgers, a purple cabbage and apple slaw (yum!), and corn on the cob. We didn't have any buns in the house, so I thought I'd try my all-purpose shortcake recipe-- and simply bake it in the shape of a bun. Althought it turned out a bit dense, and even though everyone agreed it was a bit like cornbread, it sure worked well as a dog-conveyance-device:

But the real winner today comes from Cathe Olson's vegan ice cream recipe book, Lick It! I have kept some lavender buds that I bought in the bulk section of some co-op with my crafting supplies for quite a while--- great for making scented sachets as gifts. Zips was reminded of this when flipping through the cookbook for something special for today's dessert, and landed on the page for Lavender Blueberry Ice Cream. After ransacking my sewing boxes, craft baggies, and desk, I finally found my ziploc bag of purple-y goodness and the game was on.
It turned out such a lovely color. The darker pieces are actually blueberry skin (not lavender buds, those gets strained out). It's heavenly. We all agreed we'd like to take a bath in it. It's a little tart, mildly sweet, smooth and floral. You have to try it!

Lavender Blueberry Ice Cream

1/2 c. plain soy milk

2 Tb. lavender buds

2 c. blueberries

1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk

1/2 c. sugar or agave syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Heat the soy milk until it boils. Remove from heat, stir in the lavender buds, cover and steep for 20 min.

Strain the milk (now purple) into a blender jar. Add remaining ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours (we poured it into a plastic quart container). Throw it in your ice cream maker and freeze away!

We served ours with a tofu 'whipped cream" topping from the same book (but it was just okay) and a sprig of mint. This has made Zips completely obsess over what else we can put lavender in to eat! Hopefully we'll try something soon. Happy Last Long Weekend!

Cookin' like it's Winter, part 1

Tried out a new recipe for dinner. I'm really surprised by how delicious this turned out. It didn't sound like something I'd love so much! Zips has recently learned of all the health benefits of sauerkraut (!). So she's been looking for something to make to encourage our eating of the stuff and found this recipe for us. Initially beer-braised seitan with sauerkraut didn't pique my curiosity, but in the spirit of trying new things, I flung myself into the endeavor. The result: absolutely delicious! Even though I had to substitute dark beer for what we had: corona light (I know, I know. Beer drinkers and foodies may cringe over this substitution. We're just not beer people. I may just go out and find something nice and dark to keep in the pantry for the next time I make this. Okay?)

in case you're too lazy to click the hyperlink:

Beer-Braised Seitan (or as Zips has discovered: Vegan Carbonnade a la Flamande)

1/4 c. olive oil (sounds like a lot, but it isn't)

1 onion (diced)

2 tsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat your oven to 300.

Heat the oil and saute the onions with the brown sugar and salt for 10 minutes.

3 c. sauerkraut (this is 1 1/2 cans)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

black pepper

2 bay leaves

1 lb. seitan (diced) (I used 2 8 oz. packages of Trader Joe's Meatless Beef strips)

4 potatoes (diced in large chunks)

2 carrots cut into 1/2" rounds (I used 4. They were skinny)

12 oz. dark beer (or..er.. corona light)

After sauteing the onions, add the sauerkraut, garlic, black pepper, bay leaves, seitan, potato, carrot, and beer. Bring everything to a boil. Remove it from heat and throw it all into a casserole dish to bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until your veggies are tender.

As you can see, Zips approves. This will be even better when it's a little chilly out, and maybe we have some crusty french bread. and some dark beer.

Tofu Scramble, Homemade Pancakes and Blackberry Sauce from Scratch

I'll say it. I'm a zombie in the morning. Can't think. Can't wake up. Can barely open a can of cat food. And can barely figure out how to feed the kitties without dumping the can onto their little furry heads. Last semester we relied a lot on quiche (egg/feta/spinach and egg/broccoli/cheddar) to get us out the door with little thought or effort. Now that we've been moving away from eggs, and breakfasts involving mostly frying, it's been really exciting (and, yes, challenging) trying out new hearty breakfasts. That's what led us to breakfast quinoa. And has inspired the creation of my tofu scramble:

I really really despise tofu scrambles at most restaurants. Anything that "scrambles" tofu to the texture of mushy cottage cheese and then tries to "trick" you into thinking they're eggs by dying them yellow with turmeric *shudder*. From awful places we've eaten at (Annapurna's in ABQ) and beloved places (Flying Star), a good tofu scramble seems like the vegetarian holy grail. (Here's the key: it's NOT EGGS! It's not going to taste like eggs! So it doesn't have to look even remotely like eggs!) So I've taken matters into my own hands.

I happen to really like tofu. The way it tastes "raw," its texture, the way it sautes, the way it takes on flavors. So I dice up an onion and brown it in a little veggie butter, then add tofu that I've squeezed the moisture from, and break it apart with my fingers. I guess this is the "scrambling" part. I don't mush it up. I don't break it all down. I haven't tried whizzing it in a blender with some soy milk and mustard (as Post Punk Kitchen has you try). I just leave it in fork-worthy chunks and let it brown in the pan with the diced onion. The fun bit is adding sazon. This is the secret ingredient to my mom's fried rice recipe. We get the culantro con achiote flavor of sazon. This is what turns it orange and delicious. I use about half a packet. And a little black pepper. When it's all browned (and orange-ed) evenly, it's ready to go. I add some fresh cilantro (and maybe some green onion) at the end. and NO turmeric.

Okay, and the promised pancakes from scratch are the Perfect Pancakes from Vegan Brunch. They're delicious. Rich, flavorful. Hearty enough to carry a couple slices of bananas in the batter. (There's also a recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes. Zips is waiting until it's properly fall before we crack into those!) So we made 'em and drizzled maple syrup along with a Blackberry Sauce I Macguyvered in the moment. (Maple syrup is sweet and rich. Blackberry sauce is tart and rich. Knock yerself out!)

Blackberry Sauce (perfect for pancakes, ice cream, cheesecake, whatever!)


2 c. blackberries (I used ones I had frozen)
2 Tb. water
1 Tb. sugar
1/4 c. apple (peeled, diced finely)


Put everything in a pot together and bring to a simmer. Mash the apple against the side of the pan as it cooks. The apple works as a natural sweetener (less sugar added), and the fruit pectin in it helps thicken the sauce (no extra thickeners to add). Once everything has simmered and broken down, puree everything (I used my hand blender). Then strain out the wicked blackberry seeds so your loved ones won't walk around all day trying to get them out of their teeth.
Zips liked it all. Especially the maple syrup. Couldn't keep her face out of the pancakes!