Black Bean Hummus Sandwich

Since my recent interest in food and nutrition, I've been reading/watching documentaries about the subject. One of the major points that comes up every single time is to stop eating processed foods as much as possible. I know it sounds like a no brainer; of course foods that can sit on our shelf for a year and are jam-packed with salt, sugar, corn syrup, and other taste enhancers can't be good for us. Still, I found that at least 80% of the food I was consuming BC (before cooking) was considered processed. Yikes! So with a conscious effort to replace some of my staple snacks, I ventured out for a homemade hummus recipe and stumbled upon one that I absolutely love. It's so easy and delicious that I plan on keeping it in my fridge at all times! The recipe is for a black bean hummus that I found off of allrecipes.com and is great traditionally with crackers or used as a spread in a sandwich.


The recipe (including my tweaks) calls for the following:
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 15 ounce can of black beans, include liquid
1 medium sized lemon, squeezed (juice only)
2 Tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
5 Greek olives

Investing in a food processer is ideal for this recipe. Luckily, my handy dandy roommate already hade one :). I just tossed all the ingredients in and pressed the on button. After dishing, I garnished it with more olives. Within minutes, I had completed another successful dish!

The next day for lunch, I put together a black bean hummus sandwich with sprouts and cucumber slices. It was so good and quick to prepare, I continued to make the sandwich every day for lunch. The recipe makes about 8 servings so it's ideal for anyone who plans out their weekly meals. The best part is, it passed the boyfriend test!   

If you're not a huge olive person, the original called for half a teaspoon of salt. Try to use iodized salt if you choose to go that route. It also called for lemon juice but I find that juice squeezed from the lemon has a little more zing. If you'd like, it also calls for a garnishing of paprika- but that's all for looks.

Riding Solo

The other day at work, a coworker asked me what I missed most since going vegan. My reply without hesitation was social eating. Unfortunately, when I went vegan, my friends did not. It's no secret that food is a big part of every get-together and being the only one at the party not reaching for the nachos can totally suck. BUT, it doesn't have to...

Over MLK weekend, my boyfriend and I met up with friends and stayed at their ski house in Killington, Vermont. Being slightly concerned about the meal situation, I packed a lot of veggies and grains so I wouldn't be tempted to cheat or be forced to eat unhealthy alternatives. To be honest, I was a little nervous that I might stand out from the group because I would be eating something different than everyone else. I don't know about you guys, but I will get those looks of pity when they ask me if I'd like some bacon and then realize that I can't have any. (People it's a choice- if I wanted to eat it, I would. Watch Forks Over Knives and you might make the same choice as me!) Anyway, My boyfriend is usually the one to do most of the cooking in settings such as this and he cooked up some dishes for me while tending to the steak for the rest of the group. Even though he isn't vegan, my boyfriend really likes most of the vegan meals I prepare/request so I knew he'd be eating some as well.

I was keeping my mouth shut (figuratively) about what I was eating because I didn't want to make a scene. A lot of times people will hear the word "vegan" and will loose all interest in trying something(especially guys!) They immediately think it will be bland or not filling enough or maybe they're just afraid to eat something green. But to my surprise, everyone wanted a side of what I was eating! Turns out if it smells good, looks good, and is ready to be served, people will want to try it. They weren't complicated dishes: just steamed kale over pasta with garlic and olive oil, and for day two, sliced potatoes with broccoli, baby spinach, mushroom, and onion sautéed in vegetable oil. yum! For the slopes, I packed a bagel with banana and peanut butter and started my days with some oatmeal and honey.   

So even though going out for brunch at the local diner might still be difficult, I am no longer afraid to bring a kick ass vegan dish to the party!

How were the conditions on the mountain? Amazing! Check out my new Gnu!

Steamed Kale and White Bean Pasta - Super Easy!

I am currently sitting on a train on my way back to the city feeling full and satisfied. I’m coming from my parent’s house up in Marlboro, NY where they normally follow the normal Italian guidelines in cooking. (In other words, my family is far from vegan.) However, when I come home, my mom will graciously make a meal just for me that is delicious and totally vegan.  Today when it was time to prepare our lunch, my mom pulled out a large bundle of kale and asked if I’d like to prepare a dish with it. kale is a food that I had never even tried before going vegan but now eat at least once a week. It’s something that cooks quick and easy and is amazing for you! So naturally, I was on board to try a new dish using kale.

My mom is what I like to call a food innovator. Every time she prepares a meal, she tries something a little differently than the last time she prepared it. She very rarely measures anything and doesn’t use a cookbook – mind blowing! Today, she coached me through this simple recipe that she made up on the spot. It includes the following ingredients which made 4 servings:

1 large bundle of kale
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
About 1/2 cup of vegetable broth (again, she didn't measure so I just eyed it)
About 2 Tablespoons of EVOO
1 can of white beans (juice included)
Fresh pepper (use as much as you like)
A pinch of iodized salt
4 cups of pasta

Using a large pot, the first step was to boil water for the pasta. While waiting for the water to boil, we prepared the kale by washing the bundle, putting it into a separate pot with the vegetable broth and olive oil, and covering after stirring. Next step was to add the chopped garlic and entire can of beans into the kale mix after it had cooked down for 5 minutes. We cracked fresh pepper and added a pinch of salt for taste. By now, our water was boiling in the first pot and it was time to add our pasta. After 8 to 10 minutes, our pasta was ready to be strained and the meal was ready to be served. If you like it spicy like us, you can add hot pepper.

It was delicious and totally satisfying. The broth-oil-bean combination made the sauce taste like a butter sauce. This dish is a nutrient complete dish without adding any animal byproducts and could be even better for you when used with whole grain pasta – but that would never happen at my parents’ house ;)

Mama D’Orazio tip: We waited to add the garlic until it was almost done so it wouldn’t over cook and burn. Garlic gives a more bitter taste if cooked until browned.

My Attempt at Homemade Eggless Gnocchi - Take One

Ok guys, only two recipes in and I'm seriously reconsidering this... This is a lot harder than I thought!

On Sunday, I attempted to make homemade eggless gnocchi and a classic red tomato sauce. I know, I jumped to far too quick. I must have thought my Italian roots could somehow make me a cooking prodigy or something. The sauce was actually a success. It's something that I've watched my mother make more times than I can count. I've made it a few times before and I found that all you really need for a great tasting red sauce is patience. Once I got the hang of it, I started making large amounts of sauce and freezing it in portions so it would last me a long time.

Unfortunately, the gnocchi didn't come out as planned. The recipe I followed seemed easy enough; it called for two potatoes, garlic powder, dried parsley, dried basil, and a pinch of salt. I baked the potatoes for 50 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees- just like the recipe called for. After letting them cool, I peeled the skin and mashed the potatoes until they were smooth. After adding the spices, I proceeded to add the flour. (This is when it got tricky.) The recipe called for a cup and a half of flower but in the description stated "mix in half the amount of flower and add as needed." At this point I'm talking back to the book like a crazy person"How should I know what's needed?!" I browsed the internet and found that most people suggested not to add too much flower so I stopped at half.
After I mixed the flower into the potato and made it into a dough, I rolled out long thick strands of it and cut them into pieces. Last step was to boil it in water for 2 to 3 minutes or until they float to the top. I made it all the way to this step and they were still looking really good! But in a hurry to not leave them in too long, I dumped the boiling water and gnocchi into a strainer like I would with any pasta. BAD IDEA! The pressure and heat of the water totally destroyed my poor little gnocchi and all that was left was a pile of mashed potatoes.
Nonetheless, I dished out my mashed gnocchi, topped it off with sauce, and brought it to the table for my boyfriend to taste. I told him that I was really upset that I spent hours making it and then ruined it. I said "I'll never try to make that again." And then he said exactly what he needed to say to pick me up, "But that's the fun in cooking! You get to try it again and try things differently. If it was easy, it wouldn't be as rewarding." (Can you tell who's the cook in this relationship?)

So there will be a next time!! I'm open to suggestions if anyone has been successful with this recipe or has any pointers. But in the mean time, I'll stick to less difficult recipes! I was too depressed to take a picture of the finished product, but I promise to post one when I'm successful. Hooray positivity!



    

Pumpkin and Coconut Curry Soup!

For my first posting, I thought it was only fitting to do something that could keep me satisfied and warm on this cold, snowy, winters day: Pumpkin and Coconut Curry Soup... Yum!

I based my recipe off of the Curried Pumpkin Soup I found in the Everything Vegan Cookbook but I tried a few substitutes to match what I had in the house. Nonetheless, It came out amazing! I'll be sharing my version with you just below:

What I used:

1 small yellow diced onion

3 cloves minced garlic

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 15 ounce can organic pumpkin

3 cups vegetable broth

2 bay leaves

1 Tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup coconut milk

The 4 steps I took:
1) Simmer onion and garlic in oil for 5 minutes
2) Add pumpkin and vegetable broth and stir well to combine. Add bay leaves, curry, cumin, and ginger.
3) Cover and cook for 15 minutes, medium heat
4)Reduce heat to low and add coconut milk, stirring to combine. Let cook for another 5 minutes

You're ready to serve!

My story

About three months ago, I had a very unexpected interaction with a stranger that made me reevaluate my eating and drinking choices. On this day, I was traveling home on the subway after a long night out followed by a day of greasy comfort food for recovery. I needed to get home, shower, and go to bed immediately and I was in no mood to chat with anyone. Frankly, I felt and looked like crap. When the train opened its doors at one of the more popular transfer stations, I made eye contact with an older man who had a salt and pepper full beard and had a tattered long jacket on. After making eye contact with me, he stepped into the train and sat down in the empty seat next to me. Now that I had a better look at him and the large garbage bag he was lugging around, I was pretty much convinced that he was homeless and I was even more inclined to get home.

After the doors closed and the train started to move, he looked at me and asked how I was feeling. I gave a sarcastic laugh and told him that I'd been better and wasn't feeling my best. He then reached into his garbage bag and pulled out a dietitian book and said "It's your diet." He flipped through the pages showing me the benefits of clean vegan eating and told me how difficult it was for my body to run off of meats and dairy. He showed me what alcohol was doing to my body long term, even just a glass of wine at dinner and he told me the benefits of juicing my fruits and vegetables.

We road the subway talking until it was my stop to get off. I shook his hand, thanked him, and went on my way. I haven't had any animal by products since my interaction with this man. I don't know his name, and I have yet to see him again. I'm not even sure if he needed to be on that train, but he changed my life and my way of living. I now eat 100% vegan and I'm already seeing the benefits; my skin is clearer, I sleep better, I've slimmed down, and I find myself being happier and more positive though out every day life situations.

Even though I've been eating vegan for three months already, it's my new years resolution to introduce different foods into my diet and to make these foods in my own kitchen. I no longer will depend on restaurants, canned, prepackaged, or frozen processed foods.

So here goes nothing!