She Let Me Cook
Jane wasn't feeling all that energetic yesterday, and so she let me in the kitchen. It's been cold and drab and wintry here in Los Angeles, and so comfort food was on my mind. What could I make?
- Scrambled eggs with dill, um... not vegan.
- Spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce, um... not vegan.
- Grilled chicken thighs - too cold to BBQ, not enough time to marinate the chix, and um... not vegan.
Suddenly I had a newfound appreciation for the challenges Jane faces on a daily basis. When you've been cooking one way for over 20 years, it's a bit of a challenge to come up with new meals when you're under the gun.
Then it came to me -- a meal my roommates and I used to cook up in NY in my twenties, "Spaghetti mit Peas." The only problem with that is that neither Jane nor I had any idea where the original recipe was, and my friend Rich didn't respond to my email. So I decided to wing it; I'd made the recipe often enough in my life and I knew what ingredients were involved, I just didn't remember exact proportions.
Dinner was exactly as expected, a little heavy on the carbs, but warm and filling and comforting. Of course, we had salad with that.
After we finished eating my computer beeped at me, signifying mail had arrived. Looks like I remembered the recipe exactly! Including the "farts to follow, not date food" warning in the last line!
Vegan Chili
Jane used to serve home-made chili and beer to me and my friends during football season. (Have I mentioned how great my wife is?) Prior to this vegan diet we were not red-meat eaters. Jane would have the occasional cheeseburger or pork product (she was completely addicted to bacon when we went out for breakfast), but other than that it was poultry or fish for us. During games, Jane would make ground turkey chili for us.
I had a few guys over on Sunday for the Patriots / Redskins game and dinner. We've told a few people that we're vegan, but none of these guys knew. So, Jane served us guacamole and chips and beer early on. We have plenty of non-vegan beer on hand and we still have loads of Guinness from our pre-vegan days. And here's my confession: I had three bottles of Guinness. Do I feel guilty? Kind of, but hey, it's Guinness...
(See this post for the disturbing news on non-vegan beer.)
For dinner we had vegan chili with brown rice and a salad. No one noticed the chili was vegan. Jane used red, black, and pinto beans along with TVP (that textured vegetable protein stuff). The TVP provides a little chewy meat-feel to the chili and since everything is smothered in sauce and spices it's not easy to tell you're not eating ground beef/turkey. (I'd say impossible, but I haven't had red meat intentionally in 20+ years.
Needless to say, everyone liked the chili a whole lot more than the game as the Patriots crushed the Redskins.
Pepperoni Pizza
Do you remember Bagel Bites? Little frozen pizza on a bagel? I never actually had any, but the jingle is till floating around the back of my brain.
As a vegan, I wrote off pizza. Not without regret mind you. But being a native New Yorker (even though I now live in LA, I'm still a native New Yorker at heart), I've probably had enough pizza to last a lifetime, at least for the non-New Yorker.
For dinner last night, Jane made us mini pizzas , and now I'm singing the old Bagel Bites TV jingle, "Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at suppertime. When you have pizza on a pita, you can have pizza anytime..." Excuse the poetic license. We didn't even have our pizza on a pita, it was a tortilla, but hey.
I wouldn't call this gourmet food. But if you have a kid to feed.... Jane used whole wheat tortillas topped with tomato sauce, Yves Vegan Pepperoni, and vegan mozzarella cheese, oregano and a drizzling of olive oil. The cheese sort of melted, but not before the exposed tortilla began crisping. Overall, not a gourmet meal, but a quick tasty dinner. Served with a large green salad, of course.
Sausage and Peppers
Here's a quick and easy weekend lunch idea... a sausage and pepper hoagie (or submarine, sub, wedge, hero, sandwich....). OK, it's not what I used to have as a meat eating child. And I'm not wholly convinced that someone who had an authentic sausage and pepper hoagie the day before would really love this. But for us vegans...
Jane "steam-fried" the peppers and onions. A technique she read about in Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes
Jane used Yves Sweet Italian Sausages (a vegan product of course) and served it all up on some fresh La Brea bread. Yummy. A perfect accompaniment for the football game.
You’re Feeding Me a Mushroom For Dinner?
I almost got killed last night. Well, not literally, but it could have been close.
As I've mentioned before, Jane is the cook in our household. I get home from work after 7pm, so she usually has dinner just about plated up as I'm walking thru the door. (Yes, I know I am spoiled -- but hey, at least I appreciate it!) We accomplish this feat with the use of "modern technology. I usually email Jane to let her know when I'm leaving and will often call her when I'm at the 10 minute mark (on my hands-free cel phone -- In our house, we do not condone driving with a phone pressed up to your ear!).
I used to ask Jane what was for dinner, but I'm not allowed to do that anymore. And if I ask, the response is "Dinner!" In case you are wondering, the reason I'm no longer allowed to ask is that once or twice, when I heard the reply to my query, I commented on the dinner which was being lovingly prepared for me. The comment was less than positive, and along the lines of "I would rather have pizza" or some equally distressing-to-the-chef statement. So now I'm no longer allowed to ask. It saves us both a little stress and anxiety, and usually I'm happy enough with what I'm being served.
So last night, when I walked into the kitchen and saw the beautiful grains 
Jane had on the side of the plate, I was looking forward to whatever the main course was, and then I saw it, a giant mushroom (Portobello). I couldn't help myself, and blurted out "You're feeding me a mushroom for dinner?" Really, you could just see Jane dreaming of bashing in my skull with the skillet she held in her hand.
But damn that mushroom was good! And now I have to figure out how to get out of the doghouse!
Bacon and Eggs — Vegan Style
No, we haven't slipped. We're still happily doing the vegan thing, not that you could necessarily tell from this photo. Looks like the real thing, eh?
Last night I was feeling a little unwell and I asked Jane to make me some comfort food. We'd just had pasta so that was out. Jane decided we'd try an old standby from our non-vegan days. Of course, she converted everything to fit our vegan lifestyle. She made a tofu scramble and we had Lite Line's Smart Bacon along with Alternative Bagels (low calorie, low carb, vegan friendly), Tofutti Cream Cheese, cherry tomatoes from our local farmer's market, sliced red onion, and a large green salad.
Verdict: Yummy. This dish needs to make it into the rotation. The tofu scramble tasted better than scrambled eggs and the smart bacon passed Jane's test. I couldn't believe it! How could scrambled tofu taste better than scrambled eggs?! Wow!
Spaghetti Redux
Pasta seems to be one of those vegan things. There are tons of recipes in every vegan cookbook.
Tonight we're having spaghetti. We've had this one before. Jane has not done a whole lot to her original "recipe." She uses Whole Wheat Pasta, Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce, and now .... ground meat alternative. Of course, there's more too it than that. She does something with olive oil and garlic and onions... and I know she sneaks in the vegetables that are sort of on their way out, I've seen the zucchini peel in our compost bucket. But it all works! No special vegan recipe needed here!
Lane
