KZCAKES

June 18, 2014

Salad Samurai Review

Like the majority of all the vegans of the world, I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Terry Hope Romero's new book, Salad Samurai, for the past several months. I'm so glad it was released in early summer, since it's salad season. I keep saying that I'm going to eat only salad, wake up early and exercise every day, run after work, and be the most fantastic vegan of all time, and I'm going to totally dive in starting July 1st-- but that's big talk from someone who ate two cookies for breakfast this morning...

Seared Garlic Chickpeas, Spinach & Farro (and Arugula)

The release of Salad Samurai has helped me at least begin to get on track for my planned month of healthy eating habits and exercise. I've been making tons of salad, and all of them taste totally amazing. I want to eat all of them, so kudos to someone making me crave salad, my arch-nemesis. Most vegans go out to eat begrudgingly to some random chain restaurant with their friends and look at the menu, anticipating the worst, and then seeing their only option-- the garden salad; with no cheese, please. People assume that vegans really like to eat salad, and only salad, as if it fills us up and makes us love our lives. Disclaimer to all non-vegans: Maybe your vegan friends smile and grin and bear it when you suggest Buffalo Wild Wings as a good place to go when you get together, but inside, your vegan friend is like WTF?!?

Left: Smokehouse Chickpeas 'n' Greens Salad, Right:Pepperoni Tempeh Pizza Salad

And listen, it isn't like we HATE salad, we just don't appreciate your run-of-the-mill, average, pathetic bowl of rabbit food that is placed in front of us while we watch all our friends eat slices of pizza. Salad, for a meal, needs to have a little something going on. It needs to hit all the bases for flavor, texture, temperature, and nutrition. A bowl of iceberg lettuce is neither nutritious nor satisfying. We need lots of players on our salad team! We need chickpeas for protein, peas for snap, avocado for creaminess, and cucumbers for crunch! Arugula for pepperyness, Soy-glazed tofu or mushrooms for saltiness, raisins for sweetness, capers for tanginess, lemon for zing, and tahini dressing for mmmmmmmm. The salads in Salad Samurai deliver all of these required features and more.

Pesto Cauliflower & Potato Salad

If you're thinking of how long it takes to make a salad, you're probably thinking, "not long!" And you'd be right. To make the salad really sing, a few items need to be prepped, but if you are comparing it to how long your average Sunday Dinner takes you to make, well then you could probably have 10 gourmet salads made with their personal effects and all, for every lasagna you crank out.

Some farro, cooling, and seared garlic chickpeas

We really loved all the salads we made, but the first two especially so. The Pesto Cauliflower & Potato Salad, and the Seared Garlic Chickpeas and Spinach Salad were really perfect. We decided to make them in the morning, and pack them up and take them to McCarren park for a Sunday Picnic lunch! It was quite adorable. Alex made the croutons, even though neither recipe called for them, just 'cause. He likes being on "crouton duty." :)

Classic Croutons

A very adorable picnic lunch

She has a "breakfast salad" chapter at the end too, which interested me, after having fallen into a smoothie rut.. I actually got sick from a bunch of bananas I bought and froze, and haven't smoothied since! I'd been curious about trying overnight oats, and this recipe came the the right time. I really dig the oats! The creme is definitely necessary for sweetness, though. Good thing it's easy to make ahead, and it lasts for 3-4 days.

Overnight Oats with Mexican Chocolate Creme

Inside, you will find a cure for every craving; something creamy, something spicy, something crisp, crunchy, sweet, salty, savory, hearty, chewy, tender... Everything you want is in this book.

Left: Mexican Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado (Esquites), Right: Italian Wedding Farro Salad

This book has a really great variety of salads, all separated by the seasons, to help you utilize the produce that's in season all year round. Each salad is definitely well thought-out, with no throw-aways. I've made a whole lot of salads that were really meh, but all these look like they were made by someone who's sick of eating "meh" salads. She talks about how her palate is growing up alongside her-- for example, she doesn't really crave cookies and cupcakes the way she used to, now she craves more healthful things like smoothies, and even salads! I think I'm experiencing a similar shift, too. I mean, I don't really bake cakes for myself the way I used to all those years ago. I'm trying to do better by myself, my body, and my mind. What I'm looking for is my own version of "soul food", and I don't mean "comfort food." Food that I can feel like I am eating to improve myself. I want to wake up and feel like I helped prepare yesterday for today by eating, behaving, and practicing habits that will contribute to my well-being. Too many mornings of my life have I woken up thinking, "I need to eat better." I'm old enough now that I feel it's really time for those habits to begin. So in my own way, I feel like I really "get" what Terry is trying to say with Salad Samurai. It's time to do right by ourselves, and damn, is it delicious.

June 12, 2014

The Spring is My First Love

May 28, 2014

Peacefood & Against Me!

May 03, 2014

Tea Time

April 05, 2014

Lasagna Lifestyle

I think if you went to a party where you didn't know anyone, or maybe one of those meet-and-greet mixers, or some vulnerably awkward situation where you needed to quickly find something interesting to talk about with strangers, you should start talking about lasagna. Every American child of the 90s has a soft spot for lasagna. Lasagna night was awesome. Lasagna filled with something creamy and tangy, or something fresh like tomatoes, or chewy like mushrooms, or meaty, like lentils... there are so many possibilities. As long as you have that doughy pasta bite covered in salty red tomato sauce, it doesn't matter if it's lasagna rolls, lasagna soup, or stuffed shells. You can't really go wrong. You could start by saying, "I made this vegan lasagna last night!" Then, "Yeah, it's vegan!" Then, "it had spinach, artichokes, lentils, Oh and this crumbly parmesan-style topping!" And eventually, "Oh you have to try it, I'll give you the recipe..."

The best thing about lasagna is that it makes a TON. You won't have to cook for a week. And you get to eat lasagna for a whole week. So that's like a bonus.

The TLC required in lasagna-making might be a touch laborious for a weeknight. So on a Sunday or whatever day you don't work, put on some calming tunes, and relax yourself while you dive elbow deep into lasagna and make it everything you ever wanted lasagna to be like. Make it with your best bud and it can be a team effort. A long cooking task isn't always unenjoyable. Sometimes I emerge zen-like from my kitchen after a Sunday cooking marathon.

There would be more peace in the world if we all made lasagna a little more often. Vegan lasagna, that is.

1 box lasagna noodles

Filling:

1 lb soft tofu

3/4 cup cashews

1/3 cup nooch

1 can or 1 1/2 cups lentils

1 can or 6 artichoke hearts, chopped into 4 pieces

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

4 cups baby spinach

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1-2 teaspoons salt

1 bunch chopped fresh basil

1 bunch chopped fresh parsley

4-5 cups tomato sauce, jarred or homemade

Topping:

1/2 cup almonds

zest of 1 lemon

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon nooch

Boil the lasagna noodles and lay them out on a large cutting board or workspace. If they are sticking, spray with a little olive oil cooking spray.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat with a little olive oil if you like, and sauté the onion until light brown. Add garlic and stir around for a minute or two, then add the lentils and artichokes. You can wilt the spinach in now, or you can layer it fresh into the lasagna before baking. Stir around and add the dried spices and salt. Saute for a few minutes. and turn off the heat.

If you're super savvy you can make the tofu-cashew filling while you sauté the lentils and veggies. All you have to do is crumble the tofu into a blender with the cashews and nooch and blend it really well. I have a high-speed blender so it only takes me about a minute, but I never had any problems when I had a tag-sale blender either. I just blended an extra minute or two.

Scoop this mixture out of the blender and into a mixing bowl. Rinse the blender out because you're going to use it again to make the topping.

Once the lentil-veggie filling is not totally burning hot, add it to the tofu mixture in the mixing bowl, and fold in. Fold in the chopped basil and parsley.

Preheat your oven to 400ºF.

Get your 9x13 or whatever size lasagna pan you want out and spoon some tomato sauce over the bottom so that there's no dry space. Now add 3 or 4 lasagna noodles lengthwise, overlapping a little if necessary. Actually I think overlapping helps with the integrity of the lasagna after baking, so overlap away! Now add a few heaps of the tofu-lentil mixture and smooth out on top of the noodles. If you didn't wilt in the spinach before, you can lay your spinach leaves flat on top of the filling, just enough of them to cover the filling layer. Now add some more tomato sauce over the top of that.

Keep layering in the same order, and you should get about 3 full layers. Finish by topping off the pan with red sauce.

Now make the topping by throwing the almonds, lemon zest, salt and nooch into your blender and pulverizing them to make dust. If you doubt your blender's abilities, then you can use a food processor.

Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the top of the lasagna, cover and bake for about 30 minutes. You can remove the foil to try and brown the top after the 30 minutes, but it's not necessary.

Let cool a minute, call all your friends, tell them you made a lasagna bigger than an air-hockey table and come help you eat it.