One of our family’s favorite menu items is make-your-own-sushi. In fact, judging by the reactions from our friends, sushi night seems to be a favorite for everyone. Over the years it’s gotten a little fancier, but it doesn’t have to be. When we first began doing vegan sushi nights, I would make the cut rolls… And the ingredients varied but usually included some baked tofu, cucumber, and avocado. Sometimes we’d have romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, or veggie “ham.” In other words, it really varied.

As our girls got older, and developed their incisors, sushi night got easier because I stopped making cut rolls. After all, making a lot of hand rolls is a lot faster. Then came the switch to “make your own.” I would prep the ingredients, and everyone would make their own roll. This was wonderful because it resulted in two things… 1) our girls’ food prep skills increased and 2) it gave me more time to focus on the ingredients and prepare a variety of fillings.

Recently, that extra time has also been used to explore the world of nigiri sushi. I know, this pushes me back into the crazy world of frenetically creating labor intensive meals, but the results are worth it, and it keeps me fresh with new ideas. In truth, the actual prep work increases a little, but not as much as. You’d think. Making nigiri isn’t as time consuming as making hand rolls or cut rolls, and the topping for the nigiri can often be the same ingredients you use for the hand rolls… Maybe cut in a slightly different way, but it can still be the same stuff.

Before I go into the different things I did for our last sushi night, I want to talk about su for a little bit. Sushi su is the vinegar mixture that you use to season the rice and give it that distinctive flavor that adds a bit of subtle depth of flavor and aroma. There are a lot of sushi su recipes out there. I’m sure that most, if not all, sushi chefs have their own twist to the recipe. Sushi su is essential. The fillings in rolls are important too, but the flavor and texture of the rice can make or break sushi. For me, the big thing is balance of flavor. Here’s my recipe.

Note: I use all organic ingredients. Non-organic work fine as well. It’s all about what you prefer.

4 cups of sushi rice. I use some medium grain brown rice, but short grain works too. White is fine, but I like the protein of brown.
1/2 cup rice vinegar (do NOT use seasoned rice vinegar… That’s a totally different ingredient with salt and sugar already added)
3-4 tablespoons agave nectar
1 and 1/2 tablespoons kosher sea salt
1/4 cup or more of toasted sesame seeds

Cooking Instructions:
This recipe uses four cups of rice. Adjust accordingly if you need less or more.

Rinse rice well until the water is more clear. Add water as per markings on the rice cooker. Let the rice sit in the water for about 30 minutes. If you don’t have a rice cooker, then get one. Yes, you can cook rice in a pot. It’s not that hard, but the days of measuring with a finger, watching for the water to boil, covering the pot, lowering the heat, and simmering till done are over. It’s so 20th century! Rice is much more consistent when it’s cooked in the rice cooker. Very little chance of burned bottoms with mushy middles and crunchy tops.

Start the rice cooker and wait. When it’s done, don’t open the rice cooker. Let it sit steaming and off for then minutes. Note: while the rice is cooking, you have time to prep all other ingredients you’re filling the rolls with or toast sesame seeds or read a few chapters in a book.
For the sushi su, you will mix all the ingredients together until there are no crystals of salt. Note: if you have no agave, sugar will do, but you might actually have to increase the sugar… Agave can be sweeter.

It’s time to season your rice. Put the rice in a large, shallow bowl. The traditional wood sushi containers are great, but ceramic works fine too. The key is shallow and wide. If the sides are high, but the bowl has a smaller diameter, then the rice won’t breathe enough and it’s far more likely to get mushy.

Put the rice in the bowl and pour a little (like two tablespoons) of the su over the rice. You want to pour it on the rice paddle so that it splashes more evenly over the rice. When you get more experience, try bouncing or shaking the paddle vertically while pouring the su on it… The su will splash and spray a lot more, but that’s what you want.

Mixing technique varies, but you want to be a thorough and gentle at the same time. It’s like folding in an ingredient to a delicate batter… But be thorough!

When the su is fully absorbed, add more sushi su and repeat folding. When you’ve used a little over half of the amount of sushi su, begin tasting the rice to check for enough seasoning. This is a personal preference thing.

When you’ve added all the sushi su you want to, sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds onto the rice and fold in throughly.

The rice is ready for sushi now!

Note: a lot of people, me included, get someone to fan the rice as you are adding the sushi su. This does two things… It cools the rice a little bit and it makes it shiny.

Variations: if you like a fresh citrus flavor, substitute some (not all) of the rice vinegar with fresh lemon juice. If you like the sesame flavor to be more pronounced, add a 1/4 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil. Black sesame seeds are a fun, colorful treat as well.

Traveling and being vegan doesn’t always mix. Sure, you can launch your VegOut application or visit Happy Cow or go to the VegGuide for that city, but it’s still no guarantee that you’ll find wonderful food outside of big, diverse places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, or New York. We’re spoiled in LA because we’ve come to expect a variety of vegan, vegetarian, and veg-friendly food options. So when we went to Denver, Colorado recently for business (the International Society for Technology in Education 2010 conference), and saw a grand total of three vegetarian restaurants listed in VegOut (and no purely vegan ones), we were a little apprehensive to say the least. Fortunately, one of the restaurants was WaterCourse Foods, and that proved to be a gem. In fact, we tried two other restaurants in Denver (and liked City, O’ City the vegetarian pizza bar owned by WaterCourse), but always came back for more food at WaterCourse because of the variety and quality.

Within minutes of reaching the city, before even checking in to our hotel, we decided to visit WaterCourse. It was lunch time, and we’d mainly eaten snacks on the road. The first positive mark was the atmosphere. The servers were very friendly and polite, and there was a warm feeling everywhere. When we walked in, we saw a double display case full of bakery items… From fancy looking cakes and pies to cookies, muffins, and cinnamon rolls (just to name a few things). Naturally, we didn’t get overly excited and asked, “Which of these items are vegan?” When the hostess replied, “All of them,” we knew that this wasn’t just any old vegetarian restaurant.

After being seated, we began looking through the menu. First thing I noticed was that they served breakfast till 5:00 pm. Huge bonus there! I love breakfast and brunch items anytime I can get it. And pretty much anything can be made vegan by omitting the cheese. Sure, it would be nice if they would serve Daiya, but if the demand isn’t there yet, then I’m not going to fault them.

We started with the Seitan Buffalo Wings. You have the option of having it with buffalo, BBQ, or teriyaki sauce, so we chose the traditional buffalo sauce. The texture of the seitan was really interesting in a good way. What I mean by that is the seitan I make at home is a little more dense and pleasantly chewy, and WaterCourse’s is much more airy and light. There was a reason for this. The lightness of the seitan basically allowed any sauce to fully infuse into the pieces, which is exactly what happened with the buffalo sauce, and WOW, what a sauce! It was tangy and spicy. The celery and vegan ranch that it came with were welcome sides to cool down our mouths. We loved it… Really really loved it. The one small problem… Which shouldn’t even be considered much of a problem is that the serving portions are HUGE. So our family of four could get through the appetizer without problem, but we couldn’t finish our entrees! So, if you’re planning on having appetizers, be sure to consider sharing entrees afterward.

Dumpling decided to have the Thai Peanut Stir Fry with grilled tofu. The tofu was nicely grilled and quite firm to stand up to the sauce and veggies. The veggies were crisp and fresh. The dish was good… Not great. I guess when you have a whole slew of vegan and vegetarian Thai places in Los Angeles, you appreciate great peanut sauces. If the sauce were a little more robust, it would have stood up to the thick tofu better…or maybe if we had chosen breaded tofu, it would have absorbed more sauce. Of all the dishes we had in this first meal, this one was the least favorite. That said, it kicked the butt of anything else we could get in Denver or Utah, so take our very light criticism with a grain of salt. Another bonus was the brown rice it was served with. I love the fact that brown rice was the norm here.

I chose to have breakfast (of course) and selected The Conejos without the cheese, a beautiful dish of scrambled tofu, tempeh chorizo, home fries, salsa, and avocado with a choice of bread (I went with the corn tortillas). This was one hearty dish. The slight tanginess of the salsa worked perfectly with the salty, earthy tempeh chorizo, and it was all tempered with the creaminess of the avocado. The tofu and potatoes added body and absorbed the flavors well. It was fantastic! I was most amazed by the tempeh chorizo. It wasn’t too spicy, but had such a great flavor. I’ve had plenty of soyrizo and similar things, but they’ve all been based on soy or TVP, so it was wonderful to have one based on tempeh!

Baby Corn takes after me, so she chose to have breakfast for lunch and selected the Breakfast Burrito without the cheese. Even without the appetizer, this would have been difficult to finish on her own. It’s understandable, considering the fact that the burrito was ginormous! Almost the size of her head, it was chock full of refried beans, tofu, and home fries, and it was smothered in a green chile sauce. Each ingredient in the filling was great alone, and it was even better all combined. The green chile sauce was balanced with sour and salty flavors, and it had a nice little kick to it. Not too spicy… Definitely not as spicy as the buffalo sauce… It had great warmth and depth of flavor.

Sweet Potato went with a sandwich called The Grinder and, of course, opted for no cheese. It’s a French baguette stuffed with shaved seitan, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and avocado served with an au jus. Think of it as a fancy vegan French dip. This was incredible… Really really incredible. The seitan seemed more firm than the one used for the Buffalo Seitan Wings. It was pleasantly chewy with a little saltiness. The onions, peppers, and mushrooms were all lightly sauteed but not mushy. The avocado added creaminess and a full-bodied flavor. What can I say about the au jus it was served with? It was like a nice broth with a little soy sauce or liquid aminos. I’m sure there were other spices and such, but the bottom line was that it was amazing. It seasoned and moistened the baguette without overpowering the rest of the sandwich. The Grinder, like all the sandwiches and wraps, came with two sides. There are some great sides here… From mashed potatoes and gravy to the soup du jour to fries to steamed greens to brown rice… In fact, there were even more options than I’ve listed. Sweet Potato went with the steamed greens and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were okay, but the greens were excellent. All in all, this was our favorite dish of lunch. If you visit, make sure you try the mashed potatoes and gravy, soup, or quinoa salad. Those were phenomenal!

We had no room for dessert after lunch… In fact, none of us even came close to finishing our meals. We would have stuffed ourselves more so that we would waste less, but like the Buddhist saying, “if you finish your meal when you’re full, you’re still wasting the food.” It was a learning experience for all of us. We ordered too much, but didn’t make the same mistake again. We went back for dinner that night (and dinner the next night, and lunch the following day), so we had plenty of other opportunities to finish other meals and order dessert. Suffice to say that dessert is great at WaterCourse. On our other visits, we tried some of the muffins, the Scout Cookie, the Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll, and slices of the Boston Cream Pie and Chocolate Cake. The muffins and Cinnamon Roll make a great breakfast. They have gluten free muffins as well. The cakes were sweet, but also had other flavors to give them depth. The girls loved the Boston Cream Pie the most, but I really liked the Scout Cookie. Just imagine a big, wholesome, vegan Samoa-like cookie… But better (and vegan). Next time we’ll be sure to take photos before finishing them.

We really enjoyed everything we tried there (food-wise… Not just desserts). By the second meal, we’d learned the trick to ordering… One appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert for the four of us. We’ll also make sure that we order more of their vegan milkshakes! The food is fancy yet down to earth, the prices are fair, and the service was excellent. I have to admit, although there’s a plethora of vegan and vegetarian places in the Greater Los Angeles area, very few match WaterCourse for quality and variety. It ranks right up there in our favorites with Madeleine Bistro, Shojin, and Cha-Ya. Props to the two Lucases who served us. We wish we had eaten there more times, but we’ll save that for a later visit. Unfortunately, my business doesn’t usually take me to Denver, but we’ll be looking forward to the next time we make it to the Mile High City. And on that future visit, we plan on just going to WaterCourse for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

WaterCourse Foods
837 E. 17th Ave.
Denver, CO 80218
303.832.7313

Life as a vegan has gotten easier over the years. From Gardein (garden protein meat substitutes) to Daiya (non-dairy, non-soy, meltable, delicious cheese alternative) to the vegan food pyramid, veganism is not only more accessible, but also more accepted. Another way you can measure how much easier and more mainstream veganism has become is through the amount of vegan restaurants. There could always be a greater variety, of course, but there seem to be more and more options for cruetly-free dining out.

The San Gabriel Valley has quite a few vegetarian restaurants and a few vegan ones as well. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they lean toward the Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants that can be heavy in oil and salt. Some are good. Some not as much. What’s incredible is the absolute dearth of vegan options in Pasadena’s trendy Old Town area. I mean, really? Its hip to be vegan or to eat vegan food, so it would make sense that there’d be plenty of choices in such a popular area. The closest is My Vegan far south of the Old Town area. Whenever I see the managers or owners of Veggie Grill or Native Foods, I tell them to comet the San Gabriel Valley because they would fill a gap in vegan cuisine. Think of how many Buddhist families are in San Gabriel, Rosemead, Temple City, and the surrounding area. Think about all the kids in these vegan families who want to eat more Western style food like vegan burgers, pizza, or salads… That’s a big market!

So imagine our surprise and delight when we launched the VegOut application on our iPhones, and saw that there was a new place in Old Town Pasadena! And it’s about time! Sure, My Vegan has been around in Pasadena, and it’s decent to good, but it’s not great… Believe me, I like having a vegan place close to home, but I prefer Truly on Hollywood Boulevard when I have a hankering for vegan Thai.

Green Earth is great! It’s billed as a vegan Vietnamese, Italian, American food restaurant, but it also serves up some Chinese and Thai as well… Really, it’s what I would call a California Asian Fusion cuisine place. They do a lot of things well, but it’s their sauces that my family and I fell in love with. Although we first stopped in during memorial day weekend, we’ve since been back three more times, and we haven’t had a sauce there that we didn’t like.

On our first trip, we shared the Quinoa Sushi appetizer. We’ve had sushi with brown rice, white rice, and even devoid of any rice, so quinoa in the seaweed wrap was new for us. It was really good. Quinoa gives the sushi a nice nutty crunch and flavor, and the other ingredients give it depth of flavor. Carrots and cucumbers give a fresh crunch, alfalfa sprouts provide a sharper clean taste, avocado adds richness, and the portabella mushroom contributes the ever elusive umami (Japanese for an earthy flavor). It was a great start to our meal.

Dumpling ordered the Joy Luck Special, a wholesome plate with green beans, brown rice, and veggie chicken. The green beans were cooked to perfection. We appreciated that they weren’t greasy or over-salted or overcooked. They were crisp and were well-seasoned. In other words, they were salted just enough to bring out the flavor of the green beans. The veggie chicken was good. If you don’t like veggie meats, then you won’t like the veggie chicken. Me? I’m fine with it. I think of it as an interesting way to do soy protein. At the same time, I prefer less processing. That said, the veggie chicken was mighty tasty. It wasn’t too salty, and the sauce was really great. It was a light creamy sauce with a balance of salty, sweet, and sour. Dumpling loved it!

Baby Corn went with the very hearty Wonder Sub… A gooey, cheesy (daiya), saucy, hearty sandwich served with sweet potato fries. The meatballs are made out of TVP and are definitely solid and meaty. The bread was well-toasted and there was a good amount of daiya, but not too much. It’s really easy to have too much daiya on a dish, and then it’s overpowering, but there was just enough to add a lot of flavor, but not make it overly gooey. It’s about flavor and texture. The sauce again was what made the dish. The fresh tomato sauce wasn’t too chunky or runny. It was again very well-balanced with sour, salty, and sweet flavors, and that’s an art. You’d never think that a predominantly Asian restaurant would do Italian so well, but it does. The sweet potato fries were good. Not as great as the ones at Veggie Grill, but pretty light and flavorful.

Sweet Potato tried the Gourmet Burrito (oh yeah, they serve some Mexican style food as well). It wasn’t huge, but it was chock full of textured vegetable protein, brown rice, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. It tasted incredibly fresh and full of nice, balanced flavors. Like most of the items on the menu, it was just a great balance of flavors and textures. Just imagine it… Crunchy lettuce, chewy TVP, soft tomatoes, and creamy guacamole and sour cream. It’s so well thought out with the details on textures. The salad was good. No cheap iceberg. Nice flavorful baby greens with a light vinaigrette. A great compliment to the burrito.

I had the Fettucini Alfredo. So, let me begin by saying that I’ve never really liked cream sauces even when I was still eating dairy. Now I’ve come to the conclusion that I was just eating the wrong kind of cream sauces. Soymilk based is the way to go. This dish again was so perfectly balanced with textures and flavors. The soy chicken was a salty, chewy component, and the red bell peppers were crisp and tangy with a hint of sweetness. The zucchini was crispy and the fettucini noodles added body. The sauce was incredible. A little creamy with hints of sweetness, sour, and salt, all rolled into one. It was steaming hot and full of flavor.

To end our meal, we shared an order of the fried bananas with non-dairy ice cream. Crunchy, hot, cold, creamy, sweet, and a touch of salty… In other words, it was amazing. This place opened recently, and they’re working out some of the kinks of service. In other words, when it’s busy, you may need to wait for your food, but it shows so much promise because the flavors, especially sauces, are so darn good. They have the food part down pat, and it can only get better!

You can find Green Earth Vegan Cuisine at 37 S. Fair Oaks Ave. just south of Colorado Blvd. They’re open everyday from 11:00 am, and they close at 9:00 pm… Except on Friday and Saturday night where they close at 10:00 pm. Call to double check. 626.584.0268

From fries to green beans to kissing to revolutions to the Eiffel Tower, we have a lot to thank the French for (*see note at bottom). If there was a scoreboard for a country’s contributions, then chalk up another point for French toast. In my opinion, French toast theory is pretty simple; it’s controlled bread pudding. Well, that’s my take, at least. For my family, perfect French toast is a little crisp on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. Sometimes, we even allow it to be soft to the point of being custardy. Although the crunch on the outside can be created by corn flakes or something else toothsome, I go with the old school method of just pan frying it till it’s good and done (golden brown with flecks of darker brown… Black would be over done).

French toast has long been a favorite of our family. When we went vegan (almost four years ago), we erroneously believed that our happy French toast eating days would be over. After all, one of the main ingredients of traditional French toast is usually eggs… And when it figures so prominently, it’s hard to substitute. Of course, we were wrong!

This recipe is based on Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s great “Fronch” Toast recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. Like I said, it’s a great recipe, but I changed a few things to please my family… And I like experimenting anyway. Don’t we all modify recipes a little (or a lot)? I have no pre-conceived notions that you’ll follow this recipe to the “t” so change it all you want… As long as the secret ingredient isn’t bacon fat or something, I’m good with pretty much any modification. This recipe makes about 15-20 slices of French toast… Depending on type, size, and thickness of bread. If you want to do less, just cut the quantities in half.

Ingredients:
1 loaf of good quality bread. Italian or French bread are both great. I usually get a multigrain or whole wheat sourdough bread from a little bakery at the farmer’s market. Baguettes work… larger slices are good… Basically any type of bread is good as long as it isn’t the some kind of thin sliced white bread food product.
1 cup soy or other non-dairy creamer (I’ve used Silk and Mimicreme, and they’re both excellent… That said, if you don’t have any non-dairy creamer, just use soy milk or any other non-dairy milk)
1 cup rice milk or other non-dairy milk
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour (AKA chickpea flour)
2 Tbsp agave nectar (maple syrup or any other natural liquid sweetener)
4 Tbsp arrowroot starch (cornstarch works fine too)
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:
Slice the bread into 1/2 inch to 1 inch rounds. If I slice it myself, then I’ll often slice it at a bias, so it’s not just straight on… It makes the dish more fancy. This type of cut is often called a “french cut” which is ironic, right? French cut French bread… Hee hee. Okay, I guess it’s not so funny… Anyway, stale bread works really well because it absorbs the batter without totally falling apart. Fresh bread works well too.

I won’t lie to you. Lots of recipes that use arrowroot (or cornstarch) recommend dissolving the arrowroot with the liquid ingredients first. Clumpy arrowroot isn’t good. Clumpy garbanzo flour is fine if there are just some small clumps (I know, it’s a double standard). Here’s the thing, if you put all the ingredients in a big bowl and use a wire whisk on it, the arrowroot dissolves just fine.
However, if you’re really into making sure that the arrowroot is fully dissolved, then first add it to the creamer and milk and mix till it’s dissolved… Then add the rest of the ingredients. If you’re pressed for time or trust in your mad whisking skills, then throw everything together and whisk like crazy. It’s not like you save a ton of time, but putting all the ingredients together, instead of adding arrowroot first, is one less thing to worry about.

Put the mixture into a shallow, wide bowl. I use a jelly roll pan because it gives me a chance to maximize the amount of slices of bread I’m preparing. Soak the slices about one minute per side. It’s important to only soak as many slices as you can actually cook. I have a dream range with a griddle, so I can cook about eight full slices of bread. Before we got the range, I could do about four to six in my two cast iron skillets.

I pre-heat my pan at about medium/medium-high heat. When I’m ready, I pour about a teaspoon of oil in and move it around with a paper towel so that it’s evenly spread and isn’t a puddle. One of my other secrets: I use an oil mister that I got from Pampered Chef (Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma also have them), and I give the cooking surface a nice even spray. You don’t want too much oil. Just enough to help the French toast keep from sticking. Even after spraying, I’ll use a paper towel to quickly spread and absorb any excess.

Put the already soaked French toast in the pan to cook. After about two minutes, flip over and cook about another minute or two more. It should look like French toast… In other words, golden brown with some nice flecks of dark brown. Really, you can cook it more, and it will be fine. My family likes a little more crunch, so I cook just a little longer. It still tastes good.

Serve with non-dairy butter, pure maple syrup, cashew cream, banana slices, a luscious berry compote, freshly grated nutmeg, a dusting of powdered sugar… You get the point.

Variations:
See final bullet point in Directions…

Just kidding. Sometimes I take a tablespoon or two of peanut butter and whip that into the batter for a rich peanut-buttery taste.

Do you like tropical flavors? Substituting coconut milk or coconut cream for the non-dairy creamer adds a very rich flavor that is reminiscent of a Hawaiian brunch.

**Author’s note: okay, so it’s time to come clean…
French fries aren’t really French. Several sources cite pommes frites as the early fry and Belgium as the country of origin. There are many guesses as to the origin of the name ” French fries.” some say it’s because French was the spoken language of the Belgian army during World War (and the fries were popular among the American and British soldiers)… Others think it could be the cut of the fries (French cut) or the way they are cooked.

There are French green beans (AKA haricot verts which is actually French for ‘green beans’), but it’s more common to refer to the green beans as French cut.

French kissing… Well, that’s another story. So kissing with an open mouth and tongue (French kiss) is not specific to the French. In fact, the origin of the term goes back to the 1920s. Some sites suggest that it was coined because the French were thought of as morally liberal in a physical way. The stereotype of the French at that time (and even now) is that they are a passionate people. That said, the origin of French kissing may actually have nothing to do with the French at all.

The French revolution really did happen. For ten years, from 1789 to 1799, France was politically in upheaval as people rebelled agains the monarchy and aristocrats. In fact, the monarchy fell within the first three years as the French people fought for their rights.

The Eiffel tower is real too. Designed in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel for the World’s Fair, it is still the tallest structure in all of France. Located in Paris on the Champ de Mars, it’s entirely made up of metal. It is the single most visited landmark that people are willing to pay for.

French toast is not necessarily French in origin. It’s eaten in England and known as “eggy bread.” in Brazil it’s “rabanada.” And in Spain, where many believe modern French toast originated in the 15th century, it’s known as “torrijas.” Most of the popular recipes include dipping the bread in an egg mixture, but hopefully this recipe will help change that.

Crunchy, sour, and fresh. Those are the first three adjectives that come to mind when I think about this salad. It happens to be a family favorite… Especially with Sweet Potato (my wife not the ingredient)… And you’ve probably heard the saying, “a happy Sweet Potato is a happy family,” or something like that. A lot of people say that they like green cabbage better than red cabbage, but I’m pretty sure they haven’t tried this recipe. Red cabbage is a little stronger in flavor than green, so it needs a stronger dressing. Unlike coleslaw, one of the more common ways people consume green cabbage, this recipe gets its slight creaminess from emulsifying the oil and vinegar for the dressing.

Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to share the fact that I really enjoy veganizing old, favorite recipes… I’ll spend hours trying to adapt recipes for my vegan family… Tinkering with flavors till I get some semblance of what I remembered while modernizing it. I guess that fact actually doesn’t really apply to this recipe. As you can imagine, there aren’t a whole lot of red cabbage salads in China, but there are a lot of pickled salads and there’s even a pickled cabbage salad (green cabbage), so me having fond memories of this red cabbage salad isn’t a huge stretch. Now, in terms of veganizing this recipe… there’s no need to veganize this salad recipe (unless your family’s secret ingredient was lard), but I did adapt this recipe to make it a little healthier (another favorite thing I do with recipes). Many of the recipes I’ve seen for this salad use twice as much oil (or more), and that’s just not necessary. Emulsifying also helps cut that amount down because it increases the volume of the dressing.

One final comment. Red cabbage isn’t really red. It’s a lot more purple than red, but as Sweet Potato pointed out, it’s closer to red than green cabbage is. I have to agree with that.

Red Cabbage Salad
Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1-2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (or a flavored spice mix… I use a shish kabob seasoning that Seitan and the Conscious Eater gave us)
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• About 1/8 of a fresh onion or 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 medium clove garlic grated
• 1 head red cabbage, cored and shredded

Directions:
• If using fresh onion (my preference), place all ingredients except for the cabbage into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. This helps create a creamier, emulsified dressing. The dressing will be kind of orange/pinkish, but dont worry… The cabbage makes it redder. If you don’t have fresh onion, or prefer onion powder, you can mix the canola oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, seasoned salt, pepper, and onion powder in a bowl. Mix it well.
• Place the shredded cabbage in a large ceramic or glass bowl.
• Pour dressing over cabbage, and toss to coat.
• Cover, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight, stirring occasionally. Drain before serving.

Variations:
• Like things a little more garlicky? Add more cloves of minced garlic to the dressing before blending. It’ll give the salad a more pronounced garlicky kick.
• Speaking of kick… Adding a 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper will give it a spicy kick. You can also use your favorite chili pepper sauce instead.
• Finally, this isn’t a variation… It’s a tip. If you have a leak-proof container (like the newer Oxo brand containers), then you can save tossing time by putting the shredded cabbage with the prepared dressing in the container, closing the lid, and shaking for all your worth. It’s pretty good exercise too. A Ziploc type bag would work as well, but it also increases your carbon footprint.

(Author’s note: Okay, so I didn’t get back to writing once per month yet, but I’m working on it. I also wanted to thank my Fullerton friends. I’m glad you like the recipes… it’s motivating me to write more! Finally, a photo to follow soon… I promise!)

So VeganMoFo ends, and I decided to take a small break. Maybe a day or two… maybe a week at most. Well, that was the intent. I was so excited that I’d been a better (more regular) VeganMoFo blogger (mostly due the partnership I had with Seitan of Conscious Cooking), and I vowed to continue with the recipes, reviews, thoughts, and more (someday we’ll start the podcast)… and then life happened. This included issues with one of my other blogs, so I kind of put my Wok on the Wildside blog to the side. What a huge mistake that was, huh? This is the blog I enjoy the most, and I neglected it. The irony here is that Seitan, our families, and I have been continuing our weekly vegan supper club, and we were both musing this past week that neither of us have written much.

But all that is going to change… I swear. I can’t promise daily or weekly entries, but I do promise to write every now and then. This isn’t a promise to any reader in particular, it’s not a commitment I’ve made with Seitan or my family, but it is a promise to me. I want to write more because I enjoy it. I love being vegan, I love sharing food, I love cataloguing my recipes, and I want to showcase that on my blog!

And wouldn’t you know it? Seitan jumped in first and is motivating me again. At a recent vegan supper club, I served a crispy sesame kale that she enjoyed, and she wrote about it on her blog. Now I really have to get moving on my writing!

So in the spirit of starting fresh, here are some pics and stuff from Thanksgiving (Yikes! Thanksgiving? Yep)… and the secret ingredient is love, of course… well, actually, today’s ingredient I’m writing about is tofu skin, but I create the food with love:

So Thanksgiving is a tradition for our family. It’s a day that my mom can take a break and I do the cooking for her, dad, my family, and any of my brothers who might be visiting. This year, due to some personal matters, my parents elected not to come by… what a bummer! So instead of moping around, something that I could have done, we arranged for Seitan and The Conscious Eater to come by and start a new Thanksgiving tradition with us. It was nice to do an all-vegan feast and avoid Thanksoween, as Dan Piraro calls it.

Like any good Thanksgiving feast, it was an all-day event filled with eating, cooking, eating, talking, eating, laughing, eating, and more eating. Although Seitan and I cooked most of the day, it was never rushed or frantic. We took breaks and even got a chance to take a walk around the neighborhood. We were actually trying to get boba from our favorite drink place in Temple City (Boba Express), but of course, it was closed. However, the walk was wonderful. Baby Corn and Dumpling enjoyed the weather and company. Having Seitan and The Conscious Eater there also meant that there were two more pairs of eyes to watch our girls, so Sweet Potato and I got a chance to walk together hand-in-hand… a rare event!

The real magic to the day (other than the wonderful company), was the food, of course.

The menu included:

Need I say that there was way too much food? If we were hobbits, we would have been in food heaven… of course, if we were really hobbits, then we would have had two or three suppers in the evening. I’d have to say that everything was wonderful… I know, I’m pretty biased, but it was! I was most pleasantly surprised by the persimmon pie. That was seriously good! Think pumpkin pie, but with a soft persimmon mousse like consistency. The spices weren’t overpowering, and the crust was amazing with flavor and hearty goodness. I was surprised by it because I’m more of a crunchy persimmon kind of guy… not the soft squishy ones. That said, it was so good. Just the right amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. Seitan did a great job on it, and it featured her wonderful cashew cream.

One of the reasons I decided to make my own seitan turkey was because there are too many products out there that cook up really dry. The Field Roast is pretty good, but I have to admit, I’m not a fan of the Tofurkey turkey or the Now and Zen one. I think they’re dry and a little salty. With my own thing, I get to control the moistness of the seitan I make. I can shape it into little drum sticks or larger breasts if I want to. Most of all, I can wrap it with tofu skin to help retain the moisture and give it a crisp exterior.

So here’s the secret to working with tofu skin (also sometimes referred to as yuba skin or wrap). Okay, it’s not really a secret, but these are tips and tricks I do when I use tofu skin… One quick note, although you can find fresh tofu skin or yuba in many asian supermarkets (or even make it yourself), I prefer to buy the frozen variety because it’s consistent and convenient. So, here are my tips and tricks…

Tofu skin is very easy to use and can wrap a lot of different things. We love the crispy crunch of the tofu skins that have been basted and baked, so we use it to create little eggroll-like things with stuffing. We’ve also created something I call Chinese Samosas with them. When we do things like that, we actually pan fry them with just a small amount of oil in a cast iron skillet. Very yummy!

Quite often, I find life to be amusing. Plenty of things amuse me… like covers of 80s songs in a ska-punk style, the vegan beignets at Madeleine Bistro, and the way that one daughter talks loudly in her sleep while the other just giggles. One other thing that amuses me is when I discover something new about friends. That’s always fun. So when I read Seitan’s post on the MoFo Survey, I was in amusement heaven… well, maybe not amusement heaven. I guess I’d need some vegan beignets and sleeping giggling talking daughters while I was reading it…

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I’m definitely flattering Seitan here.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?

I’m a soy boy, but I’m realizing that almond milk is quite tasty too.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?

Shepherd’s Pie, Peach Cobbler, Seitan Hot Wyngs

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?

Creole Seasoning

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?

Vegan Vietnamese Meatloaf… couldn’t get the mix right for the “egg-like” substance.

5. Favorite pickled item?

Green beans

6. How do you organize your recipes?

Savory and sweet… definitely could use more organization.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?

I hate myself for saying this… but mostly recycle and trash. Gotta get back into composting.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?

Mangoes, swiss chard, and whole wheat pita with hummus (okay, I cheated… that was four items).

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?

Chicken in the Garden. It was a foil wrapped packet with chicken, rice, and lots of veggies. I remember loving the rice and veggies baked with butter and a little soy sauce.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?

Turtle Mountain’s Purely Decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Coconut Ice Cream.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?

It changes… depending on what I’m using most. Probably the blender. We have a Kitchen Aid. Currently, though, our dehydrator is the workhorse of the family.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?

Okay… I chose to select a seasoning… Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?

Some chocolate cookbook my great grand uncle gave me when I was about nine. That said, my favorite cookbook is between Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz or The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?

I’m with Seitan… anything berry… Apricot’s good too (I know, will I ever just make up my mind and give one answer?)

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?

Pan-Fried Stuffed Tofu Skin Rolls.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?

Tofu, of course.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?

Brunch… definitely a nice multi-course brunch.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?

Little vegetable figurines given to us by a friend.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.

Homemade popsicles, vegan dumplings by Pulmuone, frozen corn.

20. What’s on your grocery list?

Anything seasonal… but the staples are bananas, soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, tofu, tempeh, apples, and cabbage.

21. Favorite grocery store?

Other than the farmer’s market (when we can get there), Whole Foods.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.

Spicy Hot Wings

23. Food blog you read the most. Or maybe the top 3?

So many… well, Conscious Cooking, of course… maybe I’d better choose three others that I read other than Seitan’s work. The Post Punk Kitchen, quarrygirl.com, and Nom! Nom! Nom! blog. Do I get honorable mentions? Well, I guess I should name a few more in future blog posts.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?

Chocolate: Sjaak’s Vegan Chocolates

Non-Chocolate: Surf Sweet Sour Worms

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?

Yeah, same as Seitan… puff pastry dough… Aussie Bakery Puff Pastry to be exact.

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?

Natto.

That’s right, today is World Vegetarian Day! What better day to begin the Vegan MoFo III? There’s a long list of participating bloggers for Vegan MoFo III, and I’m thankful you’ve come here to visit. Be sure you visit my partner in crime, Seitan’s blog, called Conscious Cooking. We’ll be taking turns blogging, and today she has a fun entry on “heels.” Not only is Seitan a great friend and an amazing cook, she’s got wit and writing ability in spades. Enjoy!

-Tofu

I can’t believe I haven’t posted for 11 months. That’s a long time. I had every intention to do it. I swear. Apparently the Vegan road to hell is paved with good intentions… or Tofurkey slices.

So here’s something to kick me into gear! Vegan MoFo III! Yes, the Vegan Month of Food. This time it’s being organized by Cake Maker to the Stars. I feel inspired because along with Seitan of Conscious Cooking, I want to share my thoughts, food, and pics with the world – (vegan and not so much). So we’re going to try a collaborative Vegan MoFo participation. We will alternate blog entries each day so that we set a manageable participation rate that will hopefully be sustained this year. It’s exciting because Seitan and I (Tofu) have been sharing and collaborating on food for most of the summer and then some. Lots of new ideas. I just need to take the time to share it.

Hopefully, you find the information here informative, wonderful, and delicious.