Lentil and Mung Risotto

Sometimes simpler is better. Let me rephrase. Simpler is always better. Tonight I share with you simple bliss. The beauty of heartiness from dried goods and vegetable broth with the comfort of intense nutrition. So here she is, with little embellishment, a vegan meal to make your tummy full and your tongue a twitter. I think the overall cost is probably 3 bucks too:)

3/4 cup of white arborio rice 3/4 cup of dried red lentils 3/4 cup of mung beans 1 cup of vegetable broth 1 cup of water dried oregano salt pepper Combine all ingredients in a rice cooker. Test for flavor midway; add salt, pepper and oregano as needed. I like a lot of oregano in my risotto, always have. I just know this is going to fill me up for a couple of lunches to come.

White Bean Soup

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White Bean Soup 
1/2 yellow onion
2 medium carrots
1 zucchini
2 cloves of garlic
1 can of white kidney beans
1 can of cannelini beans drained
1/2 c of vegetable broth
1/2 c of soy milk unsweetened juice of
1/2 lemon
2 bay leaves
2 tsp of dried sage
2 tsp dill
salt to taste
2 large handfuls of spinach

Chop and saute the onion, carrots, zucchini, and garlic in a medium large saucepan. Add the beans, vegetable broth and soy milk along with the dried bay and sage and allow to simmer while you cook your cornbread. Add the lemon juice and salt after about 20 minutes. After 30 minutes blend the soup in a blender until smooth being very careful to cover the top with a towel to prevent hot soup from pouring out of blender. Pour the soup back into the pot and add the dill and the spinach and allow to cook another 5 minutes. Serve with the cornbread and vegan butter.
Fill up!
Sometimes you just gotta throw up a recipe

A Vegan Guide to Paris Ed 2

There is hope for vegans in Paris. I stumbled upon a website called vg-zone.net that has a very complete listing of all the vegetarian and vegan friendly restaurants in Paris as well as recipes and cookbooks and other helpful vegan tidbits. Here's the deal. I have found that the best way to search for information about Paris veganism is in french, preferably from a search engine like google.fr or from a computer that recognizes that it is in Europe. It's just the prejudice of our super high tech machines that believe they are being helpful by only providing us information « nearby ». I, like any vegan who doesn't want to starve, tried to do my research in advance and found very little information compared to my recent internet searches in Paris. www.vg-zone.net
One of the restaurants I found in advance was « Loving Hut », a chain of restaurants that, apparently, are headed by a Guru and tout a completely vegan philosophy. It is located at Metro Chemin Vert, Line 6, head north when you get out of the metro sortie on Blvd Bonne Marche. Whatever your feelings may be about the Guru, whom I know very little about and can't comment on at all, the restaurant is great for purists. This is your go-to guy. It's open til 10 everyday and closed on Sundays. So far I've only tried the veggie burger with fries because I was honestly jonesing for one and I gotta say. It was awesome!

I had the vegan cheese and the vegan mayo with it. I was so stuffed I didn't get dessert, which I'm really sad about because they have vegan cheese cake. I'm definitely making another stop here before I leave. We don't have Loving Hut in Austin and it's a shame because I can't get honest to goodness restaurant fare that's completely vegan like this unless I cook it myself. The menu is chock full of great big plates of yummy FOOD. I don't mean to be mean but for the most part vegan restaurants serve you a lot of raw veggies and beans but Loving Hut and Saveurs Veget'halles will actually make you a seitan steak.
Next I gotta tell you about my visit to Reims. It's about 1 hour away from Paris and was one of these weekend trips that I make with all the people in my program. I am lucky this time because I am in a class where our outings are just 3 students and 2 teachers and we have the luxury of being able to go to smaller restaurants. I always hate going out with the big groups who are being served 45 plates of veal and foie gras, yuck! This time we went a small, super cozy, super posh restaurant that had a real, REAL chef as their cook. I'm sorry, but I've never had anyone this good prepare me food before so I have to show you. The starter was absolutely amazing, a cold gazpacho soup that had so much flavor I would have been satisfied with just that but along side I was served a small scoop of sorbet, tomato basil sorbet.
It was so amazing, sweet and savory but not sweet and salty and not at all perturbing, it was actually appealing and it made me think. Food that makes me think is usually a bad thing but this time it wasn't. My desert was your standard plate of fruit with sorbet. I usually don't care much for this kind of desert but it's the only think they ever have that is servable to a vegan. This one though, was so beautiful, and the fruits were chosen with just the right balance of texture and color. And then, the sorbet was super! They served me two scoops, one raspberry and the other this amazing combination of peach and apricot that I can't get out of my head. The beauty of it all was great.
So here's my tip from all of that experience. Go to a good french restaurant one night. Call ahead and warn the chef that your coming and how you eat. Try to find that restaurant that seems to be cognizant of veganism somewhat or has a vegetarian friendly look to their menu or feeling from their staff. Make a reservation and go. Try it out, these chefs are really some of the best in the world. At the very least, they will plate your salad and balsamic dressing in a way that will still make you want to take a photo, just like I always do.

The next suggestion I have is that all vegans must go Le Marais at least once or twice while you're in Paris and have the falafel. There are several vendors on the street so you can have your pick. Their basic falafel is a super awesome vegetarian (actually vegan) falafel with « creme de sesame », don't be scared because sesame cream is just that, it's basically a creamier tahini and it doesn't contain any milk, I checked.
I hate to admit it, I didn’t try Las Du Falafel, the incredibly popular falafel place that everyone says is the best because, well, there’s always a line, and I can’t bring myself to believe that there’s that big a difference between their falafels and the others next door. So I went to Chez Marianne’s twice, because I loved their eggplant the best and they had hot sauce and Pepperoncini’s at the counter to help yourself to. I went to King falafel and one other place at random and they were all stupendous. Usually the way it works is you have to order your falafel and pay for it at a cashier (it is located indoors at Chez Marianne) and then you take your ticket to the outdoor window and your falafel dude will fry up your chickpea balls right before your eyes. It’s yumm.
To get there take line 1 to St. Paul Le Marais, when you come out of the metro cross Rue Rivoli and walk straight down Rue Mahler and then take a left on Rue Rosiers and you’re there. If you get lost look for people walking with falafel in their hands and go in the direction they seem to be coming from. This totally works and it’s worth getting a little frustrated because Le Marais is both the Jewish quarter and the gay/lesbian area so it’s really nice to be in, comfortable and not at all scary. Just nice. Everyone finds their own little area in Paris and Le Marais was definitely mine.

A Vegan Guide to Paris edition 1

The first thing that people told me when I got to Paris and they heard that I was a vegan was that it was going to be very hard to be vegan here. I have to admit that when you go into any traditional or cheap street restaurant they typically don't have much that someone who doesn't consume animal products can eat. What I have noticed though is that even if you are going out with your friends to a typical french restaurant you can still get something to fill your tummy. They normally have a salad with a warm goat cheese that you simply ask them to remove. The dressings are typically a balsamic or a tomato based dressing with oil and herbs so they are also safe. And of course they have potatoes, pommes frites, so that you can have the old vegan stand by of salad and french fries. This is what I suggest when you are going out with friends and the social aspect is more important than the meal.
But I would like to respond to the idea that you can't do vegan in Paris. You totally can. I did my research before coming and found four vegetarian/vegan restaurants that I set out to try. The first one I hit is called Saveurs Veget'halles. The address is 41 Rue des Bourdonais. The best way to get there is the Chatelet metro stop and get out at the place de st. opportune exit. It is just wonderful.
The menu is vegan, the restaurant's philosophy is vegan and they also label several of the foods on their menu gluten free. I had a plate of crudite with tofu and chutney that was not only very large and very tasty but was also the first serving of tofu I had had in 3 days. This I do not recommend as I began to get very shaky and I lost a few pounds. I think that tofu must be very expensive or very novel because the serving I got was admittedly a little smaller than I would have liked given my protein deficient state. This was before I had done any shopping so I hadn't gotten the supplements I needed yet. So here is my important advice to vegans coming to Paris. GO STRAIGHT TO THE GROCERY STORE! In most stores they have a "bio" or organic department and there you will find soy, almond and oat milks, tofu, veggie burgers, and lentils. They also have had, so far, in every store soy yogurt and soy pudding in the dairy department next to the other yogurts and puddings. Speaking of pudding, at Saveurs Veget'halles I ordered the menu with the entree and dessert. Chocolate mousse with a light soy cream topping. It was the best! I recommend it to everyone, because while milk and egg eaters are having their traditional chocolate mousse and looking quite full halfway into it, the vegan mousse was just perfectly right.

The next thing I did was go to the grocery store. As I said, there are plenty of products to choose from that are vegan. I would read the labels on some of them, as they don't all have a vegan label. I have noticed that the packaged foods in France have fewer ingredients and they are all recogizable as food so I felt really good about buying them. The only thing about the soy products I mentioned is that they are not fortified. As Americans we don't even realize that most of our food is pumped up with vitamins, but it is. I know this because even as I was eating tofu and soy yogurt every day I still had anemia bruises under my eyes. This happened to me with an iron supplement. I am admittedly borderline when it comes to iron levels and when I'm on my monthly I always test anemic so I am more sensitive. So I had my husband read the labels at home and he told me that my almond milk is fortified with iron and that it also naturally has iron and magnesium. I am only eating soy! No IRON!! So, I doubled up on my vitamin F and I feel much better now. I also bought hummus which is very lovely. I prepared the tofu at my tiny apartment with soy sauce and dijon mustard and garlic and kept it in a small tupperware. The past two weeks I have been taking the mozarella cheese out of my salads (provided for free by my program, one must economize) and placing tofu or hummus inside.
I also went to one of the markets nearby. In Paris there is an open air veg and fruit market every day. This has enabled me to make stir fries and salads with local organic foods.

I'm in paradise when I can continue to eat seasonal local and here in France they have foods that we don't have in TX at the local farmer's market like cherries!!!!
The next restaurant in Paris that I've tried is called Au Grain de Folie. The address is 24 Rue de la vieilleville and the closest metro stop is at Abbesses. It's in the Montmartre district which is very hilly but also houses the most amazing view of paris at the steps of Sacre Coeur. The restaurant is vegetarian and very small and I highly recommend making a reservation or at least calling ahead. Me and the other lovely vegan in my program, Laura, were struck by the tininess and the coziness of the atmosphere. First of all, you can talk to the owner/cook/waitress while she is cooking your meal which she doesn't start until you've ordered it. It's a very large plateful of food. I had her vegetable pate and vegetable tort with lentils and salad. I was sooo happy!
The owner was lovely. She teased two young men who came in right before she closed and by the time we left I felt like we had gone to dine at her house and that we had been admitted as members of the family. The restaurant has been there for 30 years and the owner admitted that one of her favorite things about the place is the variety of nationalities and stories she gets to experience from her clientele. She loves to ask questions and talk to her guests. It really was a true french experience open and ready for VEGANS to have. She is very ammenable to making sure your meal is vegan even if her menu is vegetarian. Just tell her and she will make you something special. I highly recommend it, and as a matter of fact I plan to go back as much as I can. Next week is a whole new adventure in veganism in Paris so I will come at you with my edition 2 in a couple of weeks.

Poivrons Etoufee!

You know what, etoufee means stuffed in french so I think that the cajun image you got it your head should just be tossed. I made stuffed peppers tonight and while they are horribly simple to prepare they are so beautiful. The flavor was awesome. I love the base of bell pepper, that truly earthy sabor along with a mild stuffing. These are stuffed very simply with brown rice, sliced tofurky beer brats and kale all sauteed with green garlic. I added a little bit of cayenne pepper at the end to give them some spice. I also added flavor by drizzling some of my vegan cheez sauce on top. The reason I made the cheez sauce see, was for the shockin violet cauliflower that was amazingly beautiful steamed. Don't forget, this stuff doesn't look as pretty pureed. After I finished this meal I was "etoufee". Amazingly, tomorrow is another pajama day and I am in the middle of making a peach blackberry cobbler. Looking forward to breakfast, that's for sure!

A Passion for Purple

The spring is notorious for color. I love the changes of seasons especially because of the vibrance available to my palate after a long fall and winter of root vegetables and bitter greens. When you eat according to the seasons you couldn't imagine how much you look forward to a new crop of veggies. I haven't had fruit for ages and bell peppers have become a taste I start to crave come February. So now that it's may and we're sliding into summer I have found my shopping bags stuffed with a variety of colors. What most struck me this week was the beautiful variety of purple food. I've never just shown off a part of my haul from the Barton Creek Farmer's Market. I love to cook what I buy but the beaty is also in the bunches and bunches of beautiful raw delectables. This week I'd like to highlight the violent violets that I picked out from my fridge. From potatoes to peppers the variety and flavor are sure to make all my vegan dishes pretty pretty pretty.

From left to right watermelon radishes, red leaf lettuce, purple onion, grafitti cauliflower, purple bell pepper, shallot and small purple potatoes in the center. I couldn't photograph the blackberries I got because they are mascerating in preparation for a cobbler. You will see them soon.


This is what the Johnson's Backyard Garden folks call grafitti cauliflower. I'm giving you a close up to show you the odd crystal like growth of the floweretts. It reminded me of the pyramid cauliflower I posted last fall. It seems that this strange fractylized growing pattern is normal for cauliflower but I still think it's got something to do with a fusion between technology and nature.

The trick to pajama day is chocolate cake for breakfast!

So it's spring break, which should explain to you not only why I am blogging today but also what I am blogging about. A very good friend of mine who is of great consolation and counsel to me was once listening to me bitch about my crazy life and how tired I was and how rare time with my family had become and she suggested to me "pajama day". A day of no errands, no classes, no homework, no phone calls and no street clothes. Straight up PJ's all day long and RELAXATION! My daughter and I decided to do it up. Here are the tricks that I recommend for a succesful pajama day. First, clean the house. It is very hard to relax in a dirty house so get it out of the way ahead of time. Second, tell everyone it's PJ day, don't make plans, don't squeeze anything in, set the whole day aside. Third, get snacks and food before hand and don't forget to make the chocolate cake for breakfast. YES! Chocolate cake for breakfast is essential to a relaxing day. Fourth, get a good book. We decided not to veg out to movies, instead we read all day long and snacked. It was awesome. SO, here it is. This super simple gluten free vegan chocolate cake was modified from a weight watchers recipe that my friend made for me on my bday in lemon. I highly recommend PJ day with a chocolate cake starter, there's no other way to do it.

Vegan G/F Chocolate Cake


Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix
1 can of diet cherry Dr. Pepper
2 tbsp apple sauce
1 tbsp xantham gum
1 tub of pillsbury sugar free chocolate fudge icing (yes, it's vegan)

Prepare according to package instructions and don't eat too much at once or you won't have any for desert at night.