little red radish » breakfast

weetabix!

admin — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:12:11 +0000

Last summer, before a trip to Ireland, I was a little anxious about the B&B breakfast situation. I expected this with few other options. Fortunately, most places we stayed had Weetabix and our B&Bs were happy to stock soy milk on request. Fresh fruit was also usually available to round out breakfast. Back here in California, it’s a bit tricky to find but some Whole Foods do stock it. I like it with ice cold soy/almond milk and a little drizzle of molasses. A big handful of blueberries or other fresh fruit is also a great addition.

2 biscuits: ~130 calories, 0.5g fat, 4g fiber, 2g sugar

Image: Weetabix

pumpkin scones

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:05:17 +0000

That’s right. Vegan pumpkin scones. There is no way better to crawl back into bed on a sleepy Saturday morning than with a plateful of these guys with a little covering of molasses. Super easy, delicous dough, done start to finish in about a half an hour. Perfect! I made a half of the original recipe which covers one cookie sheet nicely. I also appreciated the comment on the original to use about half margarine/half vegan sour cream.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tsp spices: I like to mix ginger powder, ground cloves, cinnamon
1/4 c mix of vegan margarine/vegan sour cream to your taste. I go heavy on the sour cream
1 cup pureed pumpkin

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices). Cut in margarine/”sour cream” mix – use a knife until pieces are quite small. Stir in pumpkin puree until well mixed. You can use your hands to form it into a ball and incorporate all the last little dry bits. On a floured surface, knead and flatten into a circle that is bout 3/4 inch thick. I had poor results cutting into pieces like a pizza. Ripping into rustic shapes worked. Place on a cooking spray prepped cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes. Serve with a whisper of veg margarine and a drizzle of molasses. Soy latte? Yes, please.

tex-mex brunch approximation

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:06:20 +0000

I moved to California from Austin almost six years ago and still long for the Tex-Mex breakfast and brunch options from places like Trudy’s or the former Las Manitas. The closest I’ve found in these parts is Papalote. Their salsa is excellent and they have great grilled veggie tacos (zucchini/eggplant) or seasoned tofu tacos. When I was there last weekend, I bought a jar of their salsa and that has me fired up to use it as often as possible. Here’s what I put together to approximate their offerings.

Caramelize an onion by slicing into thin half moons and heating in a skillet over high heat for about 10-15 minutes, lower heat and continue to cook for another 30 minutes or longer until very well done. Set aside. Chop up 4 small zucchinis and cook in the skillet until brown. Combine with the onions. Season and bake some tofu from this recipe here. Heat some refried black beans, and serve with onion/zucchini mixture. Add sliced avocado and salsa if you’ve got it! You can also serve with corn or flour tortillas or I enjoyed this with blue corn tortilla chips.

spicy chipotle baked tofu

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:36:36 +0000

This is my first experiment with baking tofu. It’s a nice change in texture from raw or stir frying, a bit chewy and the seasoning give it some kick. I used Penzy’s Medium Hot Chili Powder, which I love love love, and got the chipotle powder from Rainbow Grocery which has great bulk spices.

Ingredients:
1/2 block firm tofu
1 teaspoon chipotle powder, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon medium chili powder, or to taste

Directions:
Cube tofu into about half inch squares, toss with spices. Taste and add more seasoning if you like. Cook at 400 for 40 minutes tossing every 10 minutes or so.

cornmeal pancakes

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:11:40 +0000

I’ve wanted to see about “veganizing” some of the Joy of Cooking recipes for a while. This morning, I made my first attempt and am calling it a total success. I don’t think I can print the recipe here, but I used the “corn meal pancake” recipe and made substitutes for all the animal products. Instead of milk I used unsweetened vanilla soy milk, in place of the egg, I used one Tablespoon well-ground flax seeds shaken up a jar with two Tablespoons additional soy milk and one Tablespoon water. Vegan margarine instead of butter and voila, it’s vegan. And still REALLY good. Nicely buttery. I used canola oil spray for the skillet and re-sprayed between each batch.

If you are curious about eating fewer eggs (I was spurred on to do so after reading the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Saffran Foer) and making substitutions in your baking recipes, the flax seed and water/soy milk combination works really well.

tofu scramble

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:38:20 +0000

I wish I were in Austin this weekend! It’s SXSW and I would love to be filling up on Trudy’s breakfast tacos and then heading out to hear some music. To fill the taco void, I made a satisfying tofu scramble for breakfast. And now I will throw on some L’il Cap’n Travis and finish my taxes. Sigh.

Ingredients:
1/2 block of firm tofu, drained
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
vegan american cheese, about a half a slice
chili powder

Directions:
Crumble tofu with your hands into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle in turmeric, garlic powder, taco seasoning and mix with a fork. Prep a skillet with non-stick spray. Over medium-high heat, cook onions, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and brown for another few minutes. Add tofu mixture and peppers. Stir in chili powder, to taste. I like a few teaspoons full. Continue to cook over a high heat until slightly browned, about another 5-10 minutes. Add american cheese and stir until melted. Serve with salsa, a side of black beans and some vegan sour cream if you’ve got it. I added a handful of blue corn tortilla chips. Avocado slices would have been a nice addition as well.

polenta with black beans, roasted red peppers and chimichurri sauce

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:14:59 +0000

I had a lovely ladies brunch to attend last weekend and wanted to tackle the challenge of making a savory dish that was still vegan and easy. A friend suggested something with polenta and a lightbulb went off… I had some Whole Foods roasted red peppers in a jar, a can of black beans… and a trip to my fantastic local market, Bi-Rite to look for something like pesto but not quite like pesto yielded a small container of their house-made Chimichurri sauce. Not familiar with Chimichurri? Me neither. I asked what it went well with, and got “it’s great on steak!” Hmm. I muttered something about polenta and trusted my instinct that it would work with my idea, and I was right. I’ll try to make my own someday, but for now, Bi-Rite has me hooked on their version. Ingredients: Italian parsley, Champagne vinegar, garlic, serrano peppers, EVOO, S & P. If you don’t have access to or feel like making the sauce, the rest of the ingredients can stand on their own. Try with a bit of fresh pepper, olive oil and balsamic instead. Maybe some chopped fresh basil?

Ingredients:

Polenta – I used one of those long shelf life tubes and cut it up into 3/4 inch rounds
2 roasted red peppers, chopped
1/4 of a red onion, diced
1 can of black beans – drained and rinsed
Chimichurri sauce - about 1/4 cup or to taste

Directions:

Slice polenta and place on a cooking-sprayed cookie sheet. Broil on both sides (took about 10 minutes on each side). Keep a close eye on it, you don’t want it really browned. You can either serve the polenta with a pepper/bean/onion mixture on top, crowned with a bit of sauce, or cube the polenta and mix everything up. Option one has more curb appeal, but for the brunch I went with option two and it was easier to serve and still worked. If going with option two, however, it occurred to me later that it might have been better to roast the polenta in cubes, rather than cutting up the rounds post-roasting which was less clean looking.

cinnamon spiced oatmeal

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:48:53 +0000

This is my attempt to bring the cookie dough flavor of my favorite holiday cookies into a warm oatmeal breakfast. I may still tinker with this a bit more, but I’ve been pretty happy the with this balance of spices.

Ingredients:

Oatmeal (instant or stovetop)
1 Granny Smith apple
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Molasses
Vanilla soy milk – optional

Directions:

Prepare a bowl of plain oatmeal. I like instant and make about a half a cup. In a small jar mix cinnamon, ginger, cloves. Shake to combine. NOTE: This spice mixture is enough for many bowls, so it is a good idea to combine it in a container you can put back on the spice shelf for the next time. Sprinkle some of the spice mixture onto oatmeal, to taste – about a teaspoon or less. Mix. Drizzle molasses over oatmeal, about 1-2 teaspoons. Chop up the apple and stir into oatmeal. Pour in soy milk (I like about a half a cup). Breakfast is served!

Option 2: In place of the apple, microwave frozen peaches and strawberries until hot and add to the oatmeal instead.

morning smoothie

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:55:07 +0000

Most weekday mornings I start off with a smoothie and some tea. It’s winter, so I’m using frozen fruit which makes it even easier to prepare. They key is having a variety of fruits ready in the freezer.

Ingredients:

Frozen fruit – peaches, strawberries, blueberries, mixed berries

Frozen spinach

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

½ cup Light Vanilla Soymilk (or whichever kind you prefer)

Directions:

Fill a cereal bowl to near the top with a mix of frozen peach slices, strawberries, mixed berries. I usually use 50% peaches and the rest according to my mood. Add a handful of frozen spinach. Microwave for about two and a half minutes or just long enough so it’s still a bit on the frozen side. Use a hand immersion blender to puree the fruit/spinach together with the soymilk and the flax seeds. I drink it right out of the immersion blender cup. Thick and delicious!