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Food Blog Vegan MoFo

#VeganMoFo Day 24: What Is A “Hors-e D’uv…ruh”?

ALTERNATE TITLE: Ain’t No Party Like A Brown Rice Sushi Party ‘Cause A Brown Rice Sushi Party Is…Healthy?

Folks, I am not a party person. Making a million tiny things for dozens of well-clad individuals engaging in small talk and enjoying cocktails? I DO NOT DO THIS. I host approximately one dinner a year–Thanksgiving–and attendees are mostly family members who enjoy cooking, so half our time is spent simply cooking our brains out, for fun, then eating it until we realize we planned and prepped at least one too many things. And few of these things are finger foods. So much work for something you’re just gonna pop in your mouth! Psssh!

Arguably things like fresh rolls and sushi are this kind of food, though, and I’m no stranger to making them. You can create a whole meal around it! Perhaps that is beside the point, but I gotta justify my food resources somehow!

I usually make brown rice sushi because, well, I always have short grain brown rice on hand, but not so much white sushi rice. It’s more filling and healthy, anyway. Today I made four rolls:

  • Artichoke heart + avocado + cashew
  • Avocado + roasted trumpet mushroom + carrot + black sesame seeds
  • Baked tofu + beets + microgreens
  • Roasted trumpet mushroom + tofu + avocado

My sushi technique is…not perfect, but it’s still a solid finger food. For a party of one. (OK, two, but I appreciate your pity.)

I’m also coming down with a cold, so miso soup was a necessity.

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Food Blog Vegan MoFo

#VeganMoFo Day 14: Chim Chiminey, Chim Chimichurri

For today’s ONE COLOR challenge, I cooked an all-green dinner. Look, I know there is a SIMILAR prompt on the 20th, but I am gonna go with the OTHER meaning of “green” then. Stay tuned.

My all-green platter includes: green seitan, kale, avocado, chimichurri, pepitas, and jade green rice.

How do you make seitan green? Take the steamed white seitan recipe from Viva Vegan, blend the 1 ½ cups of broth with a handful of spinach plus herbs (I used basil and cilantro), and violà! Green – well, olive greenish – seitan. It’s nice and dense and flavorful.

How do you make chimichurri? Throw a bunch of stuff in a blender and be happy. Stuff includes cilantro, parsley, garlic, onion, jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. It manages to stay a nice bright green.

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Food Blog Vegan MoFo

#VeganMoFo Day 8: On the Other Side

According to Antipodr, the direct opposite of my locale in Northern California is somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean – but near enough to Madagascar to … well, let’s say I wouldn’t want to be left in open water here, but we’ll make Madagascar our “dig a hole through the Earth” destination for today.

I went searching for Malagasy cuisine and found a few simple, vegetable-based recipes to try: pumpkin stew with peanuts, and avocado salad. The ingredients were all familiar, fresh, and colorful. And the result… lovely.

To make a complete meal out of it, I served the stew over brown rice and added some simple braised kale on the side. The tangy tomato “dressing” (more like a salsa) really tied things together. And the peanuts in the stew were a nice, gentle crunch – it wasn’t super heavy like other peanut stews I’ve made.

Whether or not this is remotely representative of the food eaten on that faraway (to me) island, it was a nice lunch here in California.

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Food Blog

Cast-iron stir fry with broccoli and tofu over brown rice

Somehow I think I’ve avoided making this particular Isa Does It recipe – even though it has a bunch of things I really like. Perhaps it was the lack of hoisin sauce of mirin in my pantry? I ended up subbing sherry for the mirin and mixing up a peanut butter-based substitute for the hoisin. The broccoli is crisp, the peanuts are salty and crunchy, and the basil adds a nice freshness.

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Food Blog

Soba noodles with green avocado sauce, tempeh, and cabbage-tatsoi stir fry

The sauce includes the following, thrown in a blender until creamy: 1 overripe avocado, splash of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, squirt of gojuchang, bit of green onion, handful of torn spinach leaves (to amp up the green), and a little water.

The tempeh was pan-fried in a cast iron skillet with sesame oil and soy sauce until brown, then I cooked the veggies (green cabbage, baby tatsoi, julienned carrots, green onions) with red pepper flakes in the same pan.

Maaaaybe a little too much soy sauce, but pretty good.