I had a bit of a hiatus, but I'm back. I don't have a knew recipe this time, but I just tried this fabulous restaurant in the Berkshires, and I want to talk about it! It's called Xicohténcatl, located in a cute bright yellow house in Great Barrington, MA, just a mile from Butternut. The locals call it "Chico's." They have a reputation for THE BEST margaritas, and I can say I very much enjoyed my Xichoh Margarita (with a splash of grenadine). The food was very flavorful, lots of herbs and gentle on the garlic. The rice seemed not to be too loaded with butter, too. I had the Veggie Burrito Grande, and took a picture of half of it. D had the Stuffed Chile Rellenos, which were perfectly spicy, but a bit overpriced, and J got the Mexican pizza from the kid's menu. they use organic, locally grown vegetables while they're in season, so the summer is great time to enjoy that feature, too. While on this weekend away, we picked just one meal to eat out, so we could save up for a treat like this. I highly recommend it!

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

As part of Mardi Gras season and for my mom's birthday, I baked a king cake. It's a recipe supposedly by Emeril Lagasse, and on the website where I found it, there is a whole story of the king cake tradition in New Orleans. Seeing how my mom is from there, and she was visiting me in Massachusetts over her birthday, it seemed a fitting time to bring this local traditional cake to a new locale. The only Mardi-Gras-style beads we had to decorate te cake with this time were dedicated to remembrance of Hurricane Katrina, which turned out to look nice on the cake, but I didn't actually intend for it to be a Katrina cake and take away from my mom's 60th. The other issue that came up with this once was the available colors in sugar sprinkles. Traditionally for Mardi Gras, it should be purple, green and gold, but I used all kinds of sprinkles that I still had around the house after the holidays. It came out festive enough for a birthday cake, so we all decided to call it good.

I'm still hoping to bring the king cake tradition here. It will only take more people to get involved! I made the cake with a pecan inside, and, as the tradition goes, we cut the cake into 2-inch slices, and the person who got the pecan had to bring the king cake to the next party. In this case, the next party was not really a king cake party, but a birthday gathering for multiple people. My husband had gotten the pecan from the last cake, so he brought the cake to this next party. I wanted to try it again, so I did it in a braided form, and injected the cream cheese filling into sections of the braided cake. It turned into a fun family event, as my toddler also joined in a when it came time to add the colorful sprinkles. I'm posting the pictures of my mom's cake first for ideas on decorations, and I'll post the second cake's pictures shortly. Since I used this existing recipe, I'm just sending the link to it here.

Portobello Burgers with Roasted Pepper Spread

My aunt sent me a book for Christmas, Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals: Veggie Meals, and I tried this recipe a couple weeks ago. I highly recommend it. The marinade is earthy, aromatic with the rosemary. I made sandwiches with the 3-seed bread, which tasted great, but the sauces from the mushrooms and the red-pepper spread ended up making the bread a little soggy, even though I had toasted it. The recipe suggests a toasted Kaiser roll, so that might work better for this kind of sandwich. The spread might have still had too much liquid in it. It's important to strain the red peppers! Try it any way you like it; you can't go wrong!

What you need:

4 medium portobello mushroom caps

for the marinade:

3 splashes balsamic vinegar (2-3 tablespoons)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 or 5 dashes vegan Worcestershire sauce (no anchovies)

2 sprigs rosemary, leaves stripped from the stem and minced

salt and pepper, to taste

4 slices provolone cheese or 6 oz. fresh smoked mozzarella, thinly sliced

for the red pepper spread:

1 jar (14 oz.) roasted red pepper, drained, or 3 homemade roasted peppers

1 clove garlic, cracked from the skin

drizzle olive oil

A handful fresh flat-leaf parsley

A pinch of coarse salt and black pepper, to taste

4 pieces romaine lettuce or arugula

4 thin slices red onion

4 crusty hard rolls (Kaiser or Italian club rolls, sesame-seeded or plain), split and toasted

Suggested side dish:

Tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions, cut into chunks and tossed with rice wine vinegar and olive oil.

Instructions:

1. Rinse and pat dry caps, set aside.

2. Combine marinade, except salt and pepper, in a large bowl. Brush on caps with a pastry brush. (Alternative: you can put all this in a large plastic storage back and shake to evenly coat the caps.)

3. Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet over medium heat. Add portobellos and cook, 3-5 minutes on each side, turning once. Caps should be tender and dark. Place a slice of cheese on each cap and remove from heat.

4. Combine ingredients for the red pepper spread in a blender of food processor and pulse until a paste is formed.

5. Toast rolls lightly under broiler or in toaster oven. Spread generously with roasted pepper spread. Pile burgers in this order: bottom of roll, portobello with cheese, romaine or arugula leaves, red onion slice, and roll top. Garnish with the chunked vegetable salad.

Almond Schoko Coco Cake

I tried several new recipes for Thanksgiving 2010, and this was one of my faves. It's got a crust made with almonds and couscous (yes, really!) and then a layer of the chocolate cake, and topped with toasted coconut. It is almost like chocolate cheesecake, but it's made with extra-firm tofu instead of cream cheese. It might not fool the cheese lovers, but it was very good nevertheless. I recommend it, even if you think you don't like tofu. The recipe I used called for cashews for the crust, but since I couldn't find raw cashews when I needed them, I opted for almonds. I LOVE almonds for so many reasons, not to mention the lovely flavor and aroma, so this was not a problem for me at all.

I would try it again with even more chocolate chips or with cocoa powder to bring out that flavor. I recommend doing so if you prefer dark chocolate, since this ended up tasting more like milk-chocolate. The toasted coconut on top is a must, but you do have to watch closely so as to not burn it.

Tools you will need: a 9-inch springform pan, blender or food processor, measuring cups and spoons, a plate, a double boiler, a medium saucepan, a baking sheet, a spatula or bowl scraper.

Almond Schoko Coco Cake

1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1 cup raw, unsalted almonds

1 1/2 cups coconut-pineapple juice (can substitute with apple juice)

1 1/4 cups unrefined cane sugar

1 cup couscous

1 1/2 TBSP vanilla extract

10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 packages (12.3 oz each) firm or extra firm tofu

1/4 cup maple syrup

Pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully, as it will burn quickly. Transfer to a plate and let cool.

2. In a blender or food processor, puree the almonds with 1 cup water until very smooth. In a medium saucepan, combine the almond milk, the coconut-pineapple juice, sugar, and couscous. Mix well. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until thickened, 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Spread into the springform pan. Let cool.

3. In a double-boiler, melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring until smooth. Scrape into a food processor. Add the tofu, maple syrup, and salt. Process until very smooth.

4. Pour the chocolate tofu over the couscous layer. Sprinkle the toasted coconut evenly over the top. Refrigerate until the cake is set, at least 2 hours or, ideally, overnight.

(Main source for this recipe is Ken Charney, The Bold Vegetarian Chef (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002). Thanks, Lisa, for giving me this book!

Three (or two) Seed Bread

I mixed some recipes from eat better america's website and Bob's Red Mill (www.bobsredmill.com) flax seeds package to create this bread today. It was delicious and fluffy. I might try it with more whole wheat flour next time to make it a little heavier, but I like breads that way. I also didn't want to spend $5 on a tiny jar of poppy seeds today with my tight budget, so I opted for more sunflower seeds to replace them. I topped off a slice with Earth Balance spread, and it was heavenly. For the vegans out here, I suppose you'd want to substitute the honey for brown sugar, and I think the amount could stay the same.

3-Seed Bread

Ingredients :

2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 ¼ cups hot water

1/3 cup flax seeds

2 Tbsp roasted sunflower seed kernels

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp. Vegetable or canola oil

1 Tbsp. Poppy seeds*

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 ½ tsp. salt

¼ cup warm water

1. In small bowl, dissolve yeast in ¼ cup warm water. In large bowl, mix honey, oil, salt, and hot water. Cool 5 minutes.

2. To cooled honey mixture, beat in 1 cup unbleached white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, scraping bowl frequently. Beat in remaining 1 cup white flour and dissolved yeast. Add a little flour with a spoon as needed to get the dough to pull cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Stir in the seeds lightly. You will work them into the dough as you knead it in the next step.

3. On a clean, dry, and floured work surface (a large wooden cutting board is perfect), knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. You may need to add a few handfuls of flour. Only one at a time, though! Spray a clean bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in the bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes, or until light and doubled in size.

4. Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough with a rolling pin into 18x8 inch rectangle. Starting with one 8-inch side, roll up dough tightly, pressing with thumbs to seal after each turn. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Press each end with side of hand to seal Fold ends under loaf, place seam side down in pan. Cover with a towel and let rise in warm place 30-45 minutes or until doubled in size.

5. Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover dough and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven to 350°F and bake for another 5-10 minutes. (Note: Check frequently to make sure it’s not too brown. If you use a convection oven, you will likely not need this extra few minutes.) Loaf will sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove loaf from pan and place on wire rack. Cool for about 1 hour.

* Poppy seeds can be expensive. I replace them sometimes with one Tbsp Sunflower seeds.

New Year, New food!

I'm starting this blog now- finally- not as a New Year's resolution, but as an "I finally got around to doing something I said I would do a long time ago" resolution. As for the cooking, I've been doing that part for a long time, but only recently started keeping track, writing recipes, and taking pictures for the blog.

I've been a vegetarian for 6 years now, and I'm trying out some vegan recipes more in effort to reduce my carbon footprint and to shed some of the calories from sugars that come in dairy. The recipes I plan to share are vegetarian and sometimes vegan, but you can always adapt them for your food and diet preferences.

I have been a graduate student for a very long time, and so I'm used to semesters kind of dominating my schedule and not allowing room for taking care of myself. For those of you out there who know these schedules, I'm sure I don't have to explain. Just a week before I took my comprehensive exams for the Ph.D., I decided to take up running. I kept it up and slowly added more training, but I had injured my shoulder from poor posture, carrying a heavy backpack, slouching while working at the computer, and not strength-training. Eventually, I met with a nutritionist to get my weight back under control, and learned a lot about protein, fat, processed foods, and the benefits of exercise. So many of the things seemed like they should be common sense, but why did I ignore them for so long and treat myself so poorly for all that time?!?! And I actually thought I was eating rather well before I couldn't figure out why the pounds were racking up on me. I was wrong. I have to admit it. It is actually a long-term goal I've been working on for the last year to take better care of myself and my family, but this year I'm continuing that practice as sort of a New Year's resolution.

Today, I discovered almond milk. I put some in my coffee as creamer, and boy was it good! I made a cream of cauliflower soup last night that called for it as well, but since I didn't have it already, I omitted that and tried the recipe without dairy milk, too. It still needed something, and I think salt and pepper were fine to adjust the flavor. Since it's a white soup, the recipe called for white pepper, so as to avoid the black flecks in the white soup. Oh well, I did that anyway since I didn't have white pepper at home, and I didn't feel like paying so much for it at the grocery store. So, to keep trying to adjust the recipe, I went ahead and bought the almond milk today to get ready for some of the other recipes, and I added it to my leftover soup. It was very nice. Creamy, not too sweet, and only about 5 more calories added (35 calories in a cup of this stuff!)

In Skinny Bitch, all recipes are vegan, and many call for almond milk to replace dairy or lactose-free milk. I got the book recently, thinking I would end up adjusting the meat recipes for my vegetarian diet, and then noticed when I got home that it was actually a vegan cookbook. Life made simple- sort of! The nice thing is that the recipes are actually kind of simple, and the author motivates readers to buy fresh and locally produced items, and to make almost all things from scratch (no processed veganism allowed here!), so things are actually easy to find. I want to try the cupcakes in the book that have buttercream frosting made from Earth Balance (vegan, olive oil-based buttery spread, also sold in sticks) and Almond milk, and only a few other ingredients. I might have all the necessary ingredients now, so maybe I can bake some tonight.

Recipe posts to be continued . . .