Veganomicon

I posted something the other day about "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I loved that book so much that it sent me running to the Kindle store for the famous but new-to-me 'Veganomicon'- this lady is rapidly becoming my new hero. Recipes that are detailed in the suggested order of steps (there can be a lot of steps in any scratch cookery, not only vegan!)- but also allow the cook to use common sense and preferences should she or he have any of either. 'If you haven't tried white balsamic vinegar, this recipe is a good place to try it. Otherwise use regular'. Same idea with miso. Isa opens my eyes to the variety of inspiring ingredients out there, without creating recipes that require a pantry full of awkward and strange ingredients found only in the great cities of the world.

I'm the kind of shopper and cook who prefers to have a menu for the fortnight planned. Now more than ever it really helps to know that I have the necessaries on hand to cook evening meals for most of my 2 week pay cycle- I top up fresh stuff during the period, but really our new fridge is so good that properly stored veggies seem fine after a few days. Mostly I sit down with a little notebook and plan say 12 meals, writing them down ia list, on one page, and a shopping list of corresponding ingredients on the other page. Often most if not all of the recipes I plan to start from come from blogs or sites like taste.com.au, lately from some of the great blogs you see in the right hand sidebar. This week, I thimk almost all of my plans came from Veganomicon, and that's just a few of the meals I want to try. Here's my plan... Let's see how closely I stick to it!

• spinach noodle kugel with sweet potato and pear tsimmes
• seitan pot pie (veganomicon contains detailed instructions for homemade seitan! I am super excited because the canned stuff is good, and I want to make my own. Gluten flour was ordered today, hope it comes soon!)
• eggplant/potato moussaka
• pineapple quinoa stirfry
• lasagna (made this tonight... Used isa's recipe for vegan ricotta... Mindblowingly good!
• pumpkin saag
• spaghetti and beanballs
• risotto
• mujadarah
• burgers
• mac and cheeze
• curried kidney beans (again so soon? They were pretty awesome)

Here's a pic of the lasagna I made tonight- seriously delicious and eaten up by all the meat eaters at the table.

The Big Roast-Up

When you are vegetarian, and especially vegan, you do seem to spend a fair amount of time on food preparation, compared to the days when meat-and-a-side graced our tables. Part of me enjoys the preparation- it's part of the practice of eating mindfully; and moreover I enjoy cooking- the anticipation of good food lovingly prepared is a pleasure in itself. I may only be planning to have a giant delicious salad for lunch, but preparing something wonderful for dinner is an observance that dulls the edge of any sense of deprivation I might momentarily feel.

There are lots of ways to expedite vegan food preparation... Think in terms of things like a big container of pre-cooked quinoa or even rice in the fridge to be used in salads, soups or what have you as the wish arises. Likewise an idea I got from a wonderful (non-vegan but very pro-wonderfulness) book called 'An Everlasting Meal' by Tamar Adler is to have a big weekly roast-up. When I return from the market with a boot full of fresh stuff, it may include goodies such as bunches of raw beetroot (pendant from their bunches of exquisitely red-veined dark green leaves); ears of sweet corn, pumpkins, kale (finally found it in Australia!), carrots, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, potato and sweet potato- you get the picture. If it's not specifically a salad vegetable, I usually include it in the Big Roast Up. Like Tamar, I roast and then happily eat all kinds of odd greens- beetroot greens are an obvious fave! But also the green part of a cauliflower, and the stems of broccoli are delicious roasted.

With the oven on and hot, I stow trays of the above veggies- things like beetroot in a bit of water covered with foil, pumpkin in large pieces with skin on, half a head of cauli, etc. I keep the oven full and rotate the trays of veggies out as they become cooked, Then the cooked goodies go into the fridge, to be used in recipes, salads, or just eaten during the coming days. I figure that if I cook it fresh, it stands a better chance of being eaten than after several days shrivelling in the fridge. I love having cold cooked pumpkin at the ready, for pizza, salad, rissotto or to have on toast.

Along with always soaking beans, because you will want them tomorrow or the next day, the Roast Up is my favourite efficient-vegan habit.