Main Dishes

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Achiote Beans Recado

August 12, 2008

When it comes to seasonings, I’m a compulsive buyer. When I see an herb or spice that I’ve heard of but never used, I can’t pass up the opportunity to buy it—even if I have no idea what to do with it. I’m particularly bad about this when I’m ordering from Penzey’s or The Spice [...]

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Chili Mac

August 2, 2008
Chili Mac

I’ve always known that labeling recipes as Kid-Friendly is somewhat misleading; children, like adults, all have different tastes, so predicting what other children might like based on my own child’s taste (which seems to change as often as her clothes lately) is kind of presumptuous as well as silly. Still, the error of my ways [...]

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Polenta and Tofu Skillet

July 20, 2008
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When Nava Atlas wrote to me a couple of years ago and asked if I’d consider taking the photos for her new book, Vegan Express, I recognized it as a unique opportunity to expand my photography skills and have my photos published in an actual book–a chance that wasn’t likely to ever come along again. [...]

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Golden Potato and Tempeh Casserole

July 12, 2008
Golden Potato and Tempeh Casserole

Does anybody make casseroles anymore? I’ll be the first to admit that just the sound of the word is enough to give me flashbacks to the potato chip-sprinkled, tuna and cream of mushroom soup concoctions that were so popular when I was growing up. They were enough to drive a kid to vegetarianism, which, now [...]

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Cumin-Grilled Tofu with Papaya Salsa

July 5, 2008
Cumin-Grilled Tofu with Papaya Salsa

I know that some of you are eager to hear how the McDougall Celebrity Chef Weekend went, but I’m sure others couldn’t care less and are just waiting for the next recipe to be posted. So, in the interest of being all things to all people (a character flaw of mine), here’s a quick summary [...]

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Tofu and Vegetables with Lower-Fat Thai Peanut Sauce

June 5, 2008
Tofu and Vegetables with Lower-Fat Thai Peanut Sauce

We were in Phoenix our last night in Arizona and really should have eaten at Green. We’d planned to, actually, but after D and I made the executive decision to eat lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant, E complained that we never let her decide where to eat. So, reluctantly–and playing up Green’s great qualities–I presented [...]

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Turkish Pilaf with Pistachios and Chickpeas

May 28, 2008
Turkish Pilaf

With the emerald green of the pistachios, the red of the tomatoes (which would resemble rubies if they were riper, summer tomatoes), and the purple eggplant, which if I squint my eyes up just right I can imagine are amethysts, I was tempted to call this cinnamon-infused rice “Jewel Tone Pilaf.” The recipe is adapted [...]

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Skillet Gardener’s Pie (Vegan Shepherd’s Pie)

May 22, 2008
Skillet Gardener's Pie

“If everyone lived on mashed potatoes, the world would be a happy place.” –EV, Food Philosopher and Potato Lover I have a confession to make, the kind of deep dark secret that I would tell only a very close friend, preferably a non-judgmental one who doesn’t cook or care about food. Here goes: For the [...]

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Pistachio Crusted Tofu

May 19, 2008
Pistachio-Crusted Tofu

After looking for them for months, I finally managed to find a 1-pound bag of shelled, unroasted pistachios at the Indian grocery. Of course, after all that time I’d forgotten what it was I planned to do with them, so they’ve been languishing in my fridge for a couple of weeks, tempting me to open [...]

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Spicy Collards and Black-eyed Pea Soup

May 15, 2008
Spicy Collards and Black-eyed Pea Soup

I’ve had a package of pre-washed, pre-chopped collard greens in the fridge for a few days, and I was hoping to do something different with them. But as time went on and no new recipes came to mind, I started to get afraid that they’d go bad; at the very least, they were losing nutrients [...]

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Rasedar Rajma (Kidney Beans in Curry Sauce)

May 2, 2008
Rasedar Rajma

Have you ever picked up a cookbook and opened it right to the page with the perfect recipe, the one that exactly suited your mood and for which you had all the ingredients? No? Well, neither have I. Normally I pour over multiple cookbooks, imagining this recipe and that–or this recipe combined with elements of [...]

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Spring Green Quinoa

April 27, 2008
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I love a good one-pot dish, but sometimes it’s just not possible. This simple recipe is a good example. Oh, how I would have loved to have figured out a way to make it without using three separate pans. I combined steps as much as possible, quick-cooking the asparagus and zucchini in the same pot [...]

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Spinach-Matzo Pie

April 24, 2008
Spinach-Matzo Pie

When I saw the Spinach and Matzo Pie recipe in this month’s Gourmet, I thought, “Wow, an easier way to make a spinach pie! No fooling with thin sheets of phyllo, just lay down some matzos instead.” I figured it’d be a snap to take my Spinach and Artichoke Pie and just substitute matzos for [...]

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Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust

March 31, 2008
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Chris, of the popular vegan food blog Eat Air, observed in a post last week that the overwhelming majority of vegan food bloggers are women. To address this disparity and provide some good male role models for his son, he posted a challenge to the men of the house: Cook something and then write about [...]

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Pasta with Asparagus, Cannellini Beans, and Porcini Cream

March 27, 2008
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One of the things I love most about this time of year, besides the flowers and the birds and not having to wear a jacket all the time, is that fresh asparagus is actually affordable. When the price drops below $2.00, I start buying two or three bunches at a time and eating it almost [...]

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Dublin Coddle with Vegan Irish Sausage

March 23, 2008
Dublin Coddle with Vegan Irish Sausages

Finding something different to make for St. Patrick’s Day isn’t easy when you’ve never been to Ireland and have no idea how authentic any of the dishes that we Americans think of as Irish actually are. I set out looking for something different from the Corned “Beef” and Cabbage I’d made last year, something that [...]

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Porcini Wonton Ravioli

March 12, 2008
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I went a little wrapper crazy on a recent trip to the Asian market. For some reason, I felt compelled to pick up eggless wonton wrappers, gyoza, spring roll wrappers, and thin sheets of tofu. I didn’t really have anything in mind to do with any of them, and since they were all frozen, I [...]

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Korean Noodle Stirfry

March 7, 2008
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I’m always saying that I love Korean food, but when I stop to think about it, what I really love is certain flavors of Korean food: kim chee, Korean barbecue sauce, and gochujang, the hot pepper paste that Koreans consider one of their three essential condiments. I’m sure there’s more to love about Korean food, [...]

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Smoky Refried Bean Soup

March 4, 2008
Smoky Refried Bean Soup

Thanks to everyone who emailed and left comments identifying my mystery birds. The robins and cedar waxwings are still hanging around, even after last night’s storms. I’ve discovered that they’ve finished the hackberries and are now eating our holly berries, so I’m hoping there’s enough food for them to stick around a while. Since I’ve [...]

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Ridiculously Easy Lunchbox Enchilada Casserole

February 24, 2008
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All cooked out, all blogged out: That’s how I’ve been feeling lately, which explains my unprecedented 6 day absence from blogging–even longer since posting one of my own recipes. Though I’ve been spending lots of time reading cookbooks and finding recipes that give me plenty of inspiration, when it comes time to actually go into [...]

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Red Lentil Sambar from Vegan Fire and Spice

February 18, 2008
Red Lentil Sambar from Vegan Fire and Spice

Robin Robertson, the prolific author of Vegan Planet and over a dozen other cookbooks, has just come out with a new one, and boy is it hot–literally. She recently contacted me to ask if she could send me a review copy of Vegan Fire & Spice, and being the heat-seeking eater that I am, I [...]

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Vegetable Fried Quinoa

February 8, 2008
Vegetable Fried Quinoa

I’ve been crazy for quinoa lately; I just can’t seem to get enough of it. I’ve been adding it to soups and stews and basically any other dish that could use a grain. It’s fast and nutritious and it just plain tastes good. One night last week, I needed something healthy that I could get [...]

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Personal Polenta Pizza

January 29, 2008
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It was Friday night, and I was in the mood for pizza. But I’ve been strong, sticking to my resolution to eat healthier, and I knew I needed something lighter than the standard crust. You may remember that I’ve already used potatoes as a pizza crust; this time I wanted something a little more crust-like [...]

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Cauliflower Dal with Panch Phoran

January 17, 2008
Cauliflower Dal

Sometimes a recipe comes along that’s so spectacular that you feel compelled to climb your way up to the top of the nearest alp and sing like Julie Andrews, giddy and overflowing with such love for the world that the power of your emotions threatens to send you skidding down the mountain on the backside [...]

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Potato “Gatto”

January 11, 2008
Potato Gatto

Thank you so much for all the wonderful responses to my my anniversary post. I’m happy and a little amazed to hear how many people love green smoothies, and because of one reader’s comments, I’m going to try adding collard greens to mine. All I stand to lose is my lunch. (Well, that came out [...]

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Creole Black-eyed Peas

January 8, 2008
Creole Black-eyed Peas

Last year, a cold made me feel so miserable that I didn’t even think of having my traditional New Year’s black-eyed peas until a few days into the new year. This year I was determined to have them on New Year’s Day, despite the fact that a sizzling, burning short in our breaker box had [...]

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Sichuan Tofu with Garlic Sauce

November 28, 2007
Sichuan Tofu and Garlic Sauce

My family had only one complaint about this meal: there wasn’t enough of it. I’d been looking for fresh water chestnuts ever since I saw the recipe for Chicken with Garlic Sauce on the food blog that has taught me the most about Chinese cooking, Barbara Fisher’s Tigers and Strawberries. According to Barbara, the recipe [...]

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Quinoa and Red Lentil Cutlets and Roasted Pumpkin and Vegetables

November 20, 2007
Quinoa and Red Lentil Cutlets

I make no secret of the fact that I don’t really like Thanksgiving. I’ve tried my best to see it as a time to get together with family without all the commercialization of Christmas, but all the emphasis on food just annoys me. It’s probably not surprising that as a vegan I bristle at the [...]

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5 Croquette Recipes

November 12, 2007
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Spinach-Sun Dried Tomato Hummus Croquettes by Jule I’m busy compiling a complete round-up of all the Can This Recipe Be Saved Contest entries. But before I could do that, I needed to give the recipes that were emailed to me (rather than posted on blogs) a place of their own on the web. So here, [...]

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Red Chile Rice with Black Beans and Dried Tofu

November 6, 2007
Red Chile Rice with Black Beans and Dried Tofu

I don’t have a lot to say about today’s recipe other than that it’s an adaptation of a Rick Bayless recipe from a book I checked out from the library and that I bought a jar of ancho chile powder just to make it. The original recipe included chicken, white rice, and 2 tablespoons of [...]

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Tofu and Vegetable Cacciatore on Roasted Spaghetti Squash

October 21, 2007
Tofu and Vegetable Cacciatore on Roasted Spaghetti Squash

Last night I made a dish with two ingredients that I don’t like very much, and it turned out so delicious that my husband is insisting that I make it every week, and my daughter, who doesn’t like three-fourths of the ingredients, ate every bite. If you take a look at the title up there, [...]

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Limericks and Pupusas

October 12, 2007
Black Bean Pupusas

Though a vegan can often be seen Eating lentils and tofu and beans, Still when omnivores pass They invariably ask “How do you get your protein?”* Yesterday, Isa, the punk goddess of Vegan with a Vengeance fame, held a vegan limerick contest on her blog with the prize being a signed copy of her new [...]

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Easy Macaroni and “Cheeze”

October 1, 2007
Easy Macaroni and Cheeze

It’s a funny thing, but the recipe I’m asked for most often is the one I’m most reluctant to give out. Every time I mention that macaroni and “cheese” is one of E’s favorite dishes, parents wanting to wean their kids off the dairy stuff and onto something more healthy ask me for the recipe. [...]

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Gold Rush Chili

September 26, 2007
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I apologize for my absence from blogging for the last week, but it’s hard to write about cooking when you haven’t been doing any. We’ve been going through a family crisis (not serious, just time-consuming) that began last Friday, and since then, the whole family has been completely exhausted, both mentally and physically, and no [...]

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Vegan Omelette for One

September 19, 2007
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I’m not a big breakfast eater. In fact, ordinarily I skip breakfast and don’t even miss it. But I’ve been trying to change my ways since finding out that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight than people who skip it. In addition to speeding up your metabolism, eating breakfast has also [...]

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Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Olives from Nava Atlas

September 8, 2007
Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Olives from Nava Atlas

Wow! I’m overwhelmed by the number of people who left a comment in hopes of winning a copy of Vegan Express! In all, there were 231 guesses, 67 of which were correct. Congratulations to those of you who recognized my style (or possibly the serving dish, which has appeared here before holding Spicy Grapefruit Coleslaw). [...]

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Home-Style Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms

August 18, 2007
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I don’t often cook other people’s recipes, at least not exactly as written. I like to get inspiration from cookbooks and other people’s blogs and then go off and do my own thing, incorporating the techniques that have worked well for me in the past. But when I saw the recipe for Peng’s Home-Style Bean [...]

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Grilled Baby Eggplants with Korean Barbecue Sauce

August 14, 2007
Grilled Baby Eggplants with Korean Barbecue Sauce

Blame my husband. Normally I wouldn’t post back-to-back eggplant recipes, but while visiting his family in New Orleans, D took a shopping trip to the Hong Kong Market and brought home the last thing we needed, more eggplant. But he knows how much I love baby eggplants, so he and E couldn’t resist buying them [...]

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Garden Gumbo

August 12, 2007
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Even the best cooks can’t work their magic without good ingredients. I like to think I know my way around a kitchen, but I can say with certainty that without fresh ingredients, my cooking would be pretty blah. In the summer, cooking becomes very simple for me: walk outside, see what’s ripe, and combine it [...]

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Mussaka

July 14, 2007
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When I moved to Jackson about 6 1/2 years ago, there was only one real Middle Eastern restaurant, and it was actually a grocery store with a few tables where people could eat the hummus, tabouli, and other delicacies available in take-out containers. It was a small place, but their baba ganoush and tabouli were [...]

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Baked Spinach Kofta with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

June 22, 2007
Baked Spinach Kofta

I never buy cookbooks for the pictures, but I broke that rule a few months ago after previewing Tropical Asian Cooking. It’s nowhere near a vegan book, though there are several vegetarian or near-vegetarian recipes, but the photos were just so lovely that I had to have a copy. So I bought it and it [...]

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Eight-Ball Zucchini Stuffed with Rice, Basil, and Sun-dried Tomatoes

June 17, 2007
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When I saw 8-ball zucchini at the nearby farm stand, I snatched some up immediately, even though I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them. After all, who can resist squash the size and shape of a pool ball? Stuffing was the obvious option, because otherwise their cute shape would go to waste. [...]

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Dal Bhaji–A Recipe Redux

June 14, 2007
Dal Bhaji

Think of it as the Indian version of sloppy joes. Pav Bhaji, the wonderful street food of Mumbai, traditionally consists of a potato and vegetable curry (or bhaji) served on a bun (or pav). I’ve never had the pleasure of sampling Pav Bhaji in Mumbai, but I did cook up my own version last year, [...]

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Maitake and Beech Mushrooms with Simmered Tofu on Sesame Rice

June 12, 2007

Maitake Mushroom I’ve been interested in mushrooms for a while and once even grew my own shiitakes on a log, a hobby that I’m planning to return to. But I’ve become a little more interested ever since picking up A Cook’s Book of Mushrooms (ACBOM) while I was in New Orleans. Who knew there were [...]

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Seitan Baked in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce

May 25, 2007
Seitan Baked in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce

Yippee! Today is finally the last day of school! You’d think I was still in school (or teaching freshman comp) the way I get so excited. (Though to be honest, when I was teaching I was much, much happier to be finished; there are some of us who were born not to teach!) Anyway, E. [...]

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Palak Tofu (Tofu in Curried Spinach Sauce)

May 15, 2007
Palak Tofu

Let me take a moment to wish a belated happy Mothers’ Day to all you moms and kids. I was very lucky this year to be able to spend the day with my own mother, which happens very rarely even though we live only a few hours apart. The older I get, the more grateful [...]

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Barbecued Seitan Ribz

May 1, 2007
BBQ Ribz

Sunday was such a beautiful day that I had to get outside, away from the kitchen and the computer, and just enjoy the sunshine and flowers. I spent all of last week closeted in my office trying to copy files and programs to a new computer and set up a new home network. By Sunday [...]

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Caribbean Beans and Quinoa

April 26, 2007
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File this under “Tastes Better Than It Looks”: It’s Caribbean-style beans and rice, only I was running short on time, as usual, so I opted to use quick-cooking quinoa instead of brown rice. As a result, dinner was on the table in about a half hour. The allspice gives this dish its distinctive Caribbean taste [...]

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Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons and Portabella Mushrooms

April 23, 2007
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I won’t go into details about my weekend. At this point, all I can remember of it are fragments anyway: birthday bowling party… girls’ sleepover … junk food … late nights … the insidious beat of some Disney “rock” song pounding in my head. E. may have turned 10 last weekend, but the blowout celebration [...]

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Unstuffed Baby Eggplants

April 19, 2007
Unstuffed Baby Eggplants

I’m a lazy cook. I’m constantly combining steps so that I can get dinner on the table in as little time and with as few pots and pans dirtied as possible (though D, our resident dishwasher, would tell you that I don’t always do a good job at that last goal). Last night I started [...]

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