Clean Plate Club

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Attempt No. 2

Success! By adding molasses and a couple tbs. of vital wheat gluten I was able to bake a lighter, moister loaf of bread without sacrificing the whole grain status of my sandwich bread. The only problem is that I forgot to add salt this round. Oops.

I also ran out of bread tins to bake in so I ended up using a cake pan for the loaf on the left. I figure I can use that bread for an eggplant lasagna that I’ve made in the past from Vegan Yum Yum. Ideas are already turning for the next potluck…

Second Dish cooked up in Iowa - Carrots with Dates and Raisins

Another simple one from Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East. This one is an Iranian dish and it stole my heart. If you know me personally, then you know that I have a problem with eating too many carrots… I’ve given myself orange skin in the past. I just really like those sweet, orange roots. I could never be a Jainist.

This dish was interesting to me because it turned out differently than I thought it would at first. You let the carrots, onion and dried fruits caramelize for a long while, so it really brings out the sweetness. I expected something a little more savory, though in retrospect I don’t know why. The recipe calls for butter, but instead I used Earth Balance ‘buttery sticks’. Ha ha. Sounds gross, right?

First dish cooked up in Iowa - Spicy Cauliflower and Zucchini

Well, I’m finally settled in here in Iowa City. On Friday we had a little pot-luck get together at our new house here and this is one of two dishes that I made. Both were from Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East - Vegetarian Cooking, a great and pretty under-rated cook book. Jaffrey does a good job of bringing together a lot of different regional cuisines (including Iranian, North and South Indian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and more) under one roof while keeping the format clean and organized, which helps keep everything accessible and not-so-scary. Also, the recipes are delicious.

This was a pretty simple dish to throw together. A majority of the time making it was spent sweating the zucchini and letting the cauliflower soak in cold water (around half an hour). After that you just stir fry with garlic, ginger and chili and you’re done. Really simple, pretty light (lots of oil, though…) and very tasty.

Last Lunch in Dallas - Spiral Diner

So, tomorrow I’m moving to Iowa for graduate school and as a final Dallas cuisine experience, I decided to re-visit Spiral Diner and try something a little more exciting than a salad (though that was a really good salad). This time I got Bryan’s BRUTAL Tacos and subbed tempeh for seitan. I don’t have anything against wheat meat or anything, I just really like tempeh as a taco filler.

The dish was pretty good, though I wish that they had been a little bolder and braver with the marinade/seasoning on the tempeh. It had a nice kick but just needed to be more pronounced. But really, I’m just nit-picking and it’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a few dashes of good hot sauce (which is readily available at the condiment bar). I’m not sure if they make their corn tortillas in house or what, but they were really good. I’m beginning to appreciate corn more and more as a tortilla base, getting over my texture prejudice from when I was a kid. I definitely need to try making some after the move.

In the end, I thought that the sides that came with the tacos stole the show. I really enjoyed the tomato-y black beans. The tomato was so… tomato-y. Ha ha. It had that spicy kick that I like. Also, the guacamole at Spiral is really fresh, which I think it makes a big, discernible difference in the taste. Thumbs up.

Dinner for 8/4/10 - Homemade Black Bean ‘Sausages’, spicy oven fries and steamed cauliflower and broccoli.

I guess I’m on a black bean kick. These versatile, vegan sausages were made from a variation on this recipe from Vegan Dad, one of my favorite food blogs. Actually, the whole meal was inspired by the photo at the head of his post for the sausages. It just looked good… what can I say?

I was really happy with the sausages but what was really nice were the oven fries. I tossed potato wedges with 1 tbs of olive oil, 2 tsp each of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 tbs of cracked black pepper and 1/2 tsp of cayenne. Just before baking I also sprinkled, very lightly, with coarse sea salt. IMO, however, they didn’t really need them since the other flavors are so huge. Pretty tasty stuff.

The best way to spend a Monday afternoon in Houston - Saint Arnold’s Brewery

I’d done the St. Arnold’s tour before, when they were in their old brewery but I wanted to see the new digs before I left Texas. The place is beautiful! If you haven’t been and you live in Texas, then you owe it to yourself to make the drive. Also, if you bring in a glass with their logo on it, or buy one on the spot, they will fill it for you up to four times (the tour comes with an 8 oz. taster glass… but why just use that when you can fill up a half liter weizen glass?!).

I only tried three beers on tap because I was driving and was… trying to be responsible. I had the octoberfest, the Texas wheat and the Elissa IPA. All great, all delicious. The octoberfest was just released for this year. It was sweeter than I remember, but oh so nice. I’m going to miss you, St. Arnold.

Lunch Monday - Hobbit Cafe

The classic black bean burger with a mountain of shredded carrot on the side.

The second year that I lived in  Houston one of my best friends, Alex, took me to Hobbit Cafe. I remember that even though I wasn’t a vegetarian at the time, I decided that the black bean burger looked like a good idea… how right I was. This was one of my first introductions to not only a great non-fast-food option, but vegetarianism as well.

The experience stuck with me, as did the memories of all the times we used to go there after a long day at school for bottomless cups of coffee and beers with ABV’s we could barely handle. I didn’t realize it until very recently, but it’s things like this from my early college experiences that have really shaped the foodie that I am now. Since this was one of my last visits to Houston before leaving town, I had to go back and revisit. I’m very happy I did.

Dinner Sunday night- Jenni’s Noodle House in Houston

“The Uptown Lauren” off the $5 kids menu. Flat rice noodles stir-fried with broccoli, carrot and peas. Perfect proportion, perfect price and delicious to boot.

Dinner Yesterday - Kalachandji’s in Dallas

Kalachandji’s is a vegetarian (though almost completely vegan… all the dishes containing dairy are very clearly marked) buffet that is connected to a Hare Krishna temple on the East side of Dallas. A few days ago I blogged about New Start Veggie Garden and my general disappointment with buffets of all kinds. Well, my friends, Kalachandji’s is definitely the exception and not the rule.

The food was fresh and did not sacrifice any flavor whatsoever. I ended up getting yellow split pea soup, pappadam, sauteed collar greens, brown rice, curried tofu, curried peas and a spinach salad with beets, cucumber, olives and an amazing almond dressing. For dessert I had a vegan apple crisp and Margaret and Jeff, my dining companions, shared a blueberry halva that Jeff suspected was made with almond butter (which I wish I had tried… could I have found an application for my mealy almond butter?!). The menu changes not only seasonally but every single day. The freshness of the everything really blew me away.

Similar to Cosmic Cafe (yes, I ate at two Dallas Indian, veg restaurants in one day) the flavor was pretty perfectly balanced. The curries had big cumin and turmeric notes that were really enhanced by the spice. Something that really wowed me at Kalachandji’s is that they don’t use any garlic or onion in their food (I don’t know much about Hare Krishna, but I do know that in Kundalini yoga, you aren’t supposed to eat these foods because they heat up your body, something to be avoided). How? How do you get so much flavor, so many beautiful, elegant savory and spicy notes without using garlic or onion as a base? It’s mind blowing to me… and I must learn.

Also worth mentioning is that all of the staff at Kalachandji’s are volunteers from the temple, and the pricing is really just a suggested donation. You can pay more if you want to, or if you’re in a dire situation, financially, you can pay less. It’s really nice to know that there is a place you can go to even if you’re dead broke and eat a great, fresh and healthy meal. What a great idea, right?

Lunch Yesterday - Cosmic Cafe in Dallas

I was driving along Oaklawn in Dallas yesterday and wanted to try a restaurant that I hadn’t eaten at before. Low and behold - there was Cosmic Cafe, vegetarian cafe that specializes in healthy Indian cuisine. This place is great - a really bright and colorful atmosphere (if that affects you), yoga and meditation classes upstairs, and best of all… really, really good food.

I was particularly happy that I could order simple, cheap food there that didn’t skimp on flavor. My order, pictured above, was curried vegetables and brown rice with a side of pappadam and a chai tea (they have both regular chai and soy chai). All in all, only ten bucks for a filling a satisfying meal.

They use seasonal produce for their curried vegetables (it’s currently spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and chickpeas). The dish had ridiculously big flavors, but without being overly spicy. It had heat but only enough to accentuate the rest of what was going on. Along side the brown rice, which is also lightly spiced, it was a very well balanced meal (in terms of flavor and nutrition). The pappadam was probably the best that I’ve ever had… once again, just the right amount of spice to give you that little punch, but without razing your mouth.

I held off this time but next time I go, which will be soon, I think that I’ve gotta try one of their vegan cakes. Chai-vanilla cake? I’m there. If you’re ever in Dallas, give this place a try.