Whipped Tofu & Greens Toast

I keep meaning to post recipes. In the time between this post and the last (TWO YEARS!), I've made some delicious things, often followed by "I should post this on my blog!" And yet, here we are. I would love to say that I'll keep posting things here, but my best intentions aren't quite paying off. 

Also since my last post, I've lived a lot of life! Nicole and I have done some amazing travel, I've taken students on a research trip, I've met new friends and said goodbye as other friends have moved elsewhere, lost two kitty cats, I sold my house and Nicole and I bought a new house, and so much more! 

In the process of making our new house a home, we've spent some good time cooking together. However, we've also done a lot of home projects, in addition to our full time jobs, so sometimes we just need a quick and healthy dinner with foods we have on hand. Enter this whipped tofu and greens on toast recipe. We had some greens from CSA that needed to be used soon, but both wanted more than just greens. With a bit of back and forth, we landed on this experiment, which wowed us both and has returned multiple times. It's a surprisingly satisfying dinner, doesn't really heat up the kitchen the summer, and uses things we keep on hand. I hope you'll like it just as much as we do! 

Maggie's Lazy Dinner Air Fryer Tofu Poppers

Almost two years since my last post here. Two years of life, love, work, growth, travel, and a whole lot of cooking! Here's a super brief summary of the past two years: I finalized my divorce after almost one year of separation, I finished up my role as interim dean and returned to teaching full time, and I've been dating my wonderful partner, Nicole. 

Meanwhile, I've been cooking a ton and hope to put more of those recipes here. Nicole has such a fun palate and loves to play with flavors and try new foods. Nicole isn't a cook, but is an amazing sous chef and has encouraged me to experiment with new flavors and recipes. Despite that, this first post back is not a great example of all the amazing new things I've been cooking. 

This post is an example that Lazy Dinners still happen and new tools open new avenues for them. Through Nicole, I have a new tool in my kitchen, an air fryer! Nicole had a large one and a small one, so brought the larger one to my place and kept the smaller one at home. These air fried tofu poppers were a "hmmm, let's see if this tastes good" idea that turned into an easy meal in regular rotation. Serve them with any dipping sauce you like - my favorite is a vegan sriracha mayo!

Maggie's Vegan Korean Beef/Rice Bowls

Hi friends. It's been a while. A looooooong while. The longest while between posts on my blog since I started it. So, here's the LesVegan scoop. 

1. Late last spring, our dean announced she was leaving. She and the president worked on figuring out who could take on parts of the dean role, as it would have been impossible to find a permanent person to start by July first. Two colleagues and I were asked (and agreed) to split the role. That's taken a lot of time and has been a steep learning curve. 
2. I've been, like most folks, bogged down by the emotional weight associated with swirling currents of a global pandemic, political uncertainty, and civil unrest (for good reason, when we look at continued pressure for racial justice in the US). 
3. Shana and I separated and are finalizing a divorce. The separation was sudden and the number of adjustments one makes after being with the same person for 16.5 years leads to a lot of mental and emotional work. I'm thankful to have supportive friends and family and that I'd already had a well-established relationship with a therapist. I'm well-loved and thriving. 

All of those things, plus more, led to shifts in my cooking and not enough time or energy to keep posting recipes. BUT, I think I'm back (at least sporadically), even though all of the things above are still happening. 

Thus, here's a new recipe that's easy and speedy and delicious: vegan Korean beef & rice bowls. I was inspired trying to use up food I had in my house, which included a weirdly large number of bags of Gardein Beefless Ground. I didn't want tacos or sloppy joes or chili, so I turned to the internet, found some ideas, and a delicious dinner was the happy result. I hope it's a great weeknight meal for you!

Lazy Dinner Teriyaki Tips

Can you believe I haven't posted a "Lazy Dinner" post since 2017?  With COVID shifting schedules and working from home, it's not like we haven't been eating lazy dinners... so I'm not sure why I haven't posted an new one! 

Anyway, this recipe is a a quintessential Lazy Dinner. It's really quick (relying on a faux meat product), super easy, and delicious. Plus, its versatile! If you don't want Asian flavors one evening, use the same technique but switch to different flavors. 

Maggie's Vegan Wild Rice Stuffing

A few years ago, I was FaceTiming with my sister, talking about our respective plans for Thanksgiving. We were heading to the home of some friends (remember when we could do that?!). Of course, the conversation turned to what we planned to eat. Among other things, I told her that I was planning to bring the wild rice stuffing we grew up eating and we both said, simultaneously, "because it's the only kind."

Fast-forward to Thanksgiving 2020, when COVID cases are out of control in much of the country and every major health official is telling us not to join together. With complicating layers of tradition, troubled historical legacies, a sense of unease pervading most of the US, a desire to be mindful about giving thanks, and an unknown future during the darkest months of the year, many of us may have a hard time feeling festive. However, food can bring a great sense of comfort and normalcy, especially when imbued with memories, as this stuffing is for me. 

Not pictured, all of the gravy that I pour on my stuffing.

Maggie's Lentil Barley Soup

IT'S SOUP SEASON!!

Soup season is the best season because soups are the best. I don't think anyone who has spoken with me in cooler weather and/or visited this blog is surprised at that statement. 

This particular soup emerged because I'd been digging past all the lentils in our pantry when my hand landed on a jar of pearled barley. Obviously, the first thing I thought of was soup (I mean, I'd just been touching lentils!), but I felt *certain* I had a recipe for barley soup already on my blog. Turns out I do, but it uses quick barley, not pearled, and in looking at the recipe, it just wasn't the flavors I wanted. Plus, it's very clear that I love lentils in soup. After looking at a huge number of possible ideas on the internet, what emerged was a blend of the recipes I'd looked at and the flavors I was dreaming out. Healthy, hearty, and happy-making, this soup is going to be in regular rotation. 

Maggie's Instant Pot Lentil Sloppy Joes

The temperatures each day of the past week have been dropping, little by little. Tonight it's supposed to dip below 50 degrees and tomorrow I'll wear my first sweater of the season. I've had apple cider, gotten the first of the fall squashes in my CSA (delicata!), and purchased my first pie pumpkins at our local farmer's market. I don't care if fall doesn't officially start for a few more days; it's fall to me. 

This particular dish perfectly straddles this late summer/early fall time, including some summer produce and minimal heating up of the kitchen paired with savory, warm flavors and a hearty texture. 

All things fall make me happy. The colors of the trees = happy. The smell of the air = happy. The sweater-ready weather = happy. The food = happy. This particular recipe is certainly included! 

Maggie's Chickpea "Tuna" Salad

I talked about vegan potluck before and how much I love it. We haven't had our regular potluck since February and I miss the company, camaraderie, and cooking of our vegan potluck crew so much! As I kept thinking about our monthly gatherings, I'd remember a delicious dish from one month, a different dish from another month, and so on. But one dish kept popping up in my head. At the very first potluck she came to - years ago!, our friend Alissa brought a chickpea "tuna" salad. Everyone was amazed. As in, there was outright clamor for the recipe. Alissa gladly shared. 

About a month ago, as the temperatures kept rising, I wanted to make this chickpea tuna salad again but could not find the recipe. Alissa couldn't either! But she remembered better than I did. With her list of ingredients + rough amounts and my tinkering around, what emerged was this amazing, healthy, and summer-temp worthy "tuna" salad. 

Maggie's Vegan Strawberry Pie

While I love all fruits and vegetables, I certainly have my favorites. For fruit, there's no comparison to strawberries, as far as I'm concerned. This year, I planted my own strawberry plants, which hopefully means I'll have my own source of strawberry deliciousness for years to come! In the mean time, I'll be making this strawberry pie with berries from other local & organic sources. That's actually how this pie originated! 

Shana knows I love strawberries. Last summer, she surprised me with a delivery of 5 pounds of local & organic strawberries. That's love, folks. I kept eating them a bowl at a time, but worried that I wasn't going to get through them all quickly enough! Then a dinner party with some friends took shape and I asked if they'd all mind trying out a new strawberry dessert. After enthusiastic positive responses, I decided on a strawberry pie and began scouring the internet for ideas. As usually happens, none of the recipes I found were quite right. Instead, I decided to take some ideas from all of them, plus from some of my other recipes, and created a magical dessert. It was a hit at the dinner party and is a perfect cool treat for summer temperatures.

Maggie's All-Cuisines Salad Dressing

Well, we are mid-way through spring with hints of summer in the air. This means that it is time for our CSA again! I was *so* excited to sing our "CSA-day" song on the first week of pick-up. The joy at our CSA starting up again is also set against the backdrop of the global pandemic that rages on. Indiana has slowly begun to open up, but we're still very wary about heading to restaurants and we've only been going to the store every three weeks or so. Our weekly CSA box has dramatically expanded our access to fresh veggies, especially leafy greens! Seriously, we've gotten lettuce mix, heads of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, braising greens, and micro-greens, plus turnips, radishes, and the first bit of asparagus; it's magical.

With so many leafy greens to eat, we've been finding new ways to eat them. Shana has been craving tikka masala with regularity, which is fine by me since it is delicious. A leafy green salad is a wonderful companion. When we first confronted the combination of tikka masala and salad, I looked at the dressings in the fridge and didn't love any of the possible taste combinations. So obviously, I made up my own! 

While originally intended as a lovely accompaniment to flavors in Middle-Eastern dishes, this salad dressing works beautifully with every flavor profile we've tried. It's a fast, easy, and tasty dressing for salads with any meal. 

Poured here on a simple salad of spinach and toasted almonds.

Maggie's Almond Sour Cream Jam Muffins

These muffins are so, SO good. I wasn't sure what to expect, since I more-or-less made up the recipe and baking isn't as much my thing as cooking, but wow. They are rich, have great texture, and I love the dollop of jam in each one. I ate four in one day!

I didn't intend to create a sour cream muffin recipe, but I'd used a small amount of sour cream making cheesy taco mac. While normally I wouldn't think twice about an open tub of sour cream in the fridge, I've been far more conscientious about the food we've been making and using. We have only been to the grocery store twice in the last six weeks, and while we are very lucky in terms of our ability to stock up on food (plus, beans and lentils are cheap and delicious!), I am pretty sure that our changed behaviors have altered my processing of food in our house. This recipe is a great thing to emerge from my shifted consciousness and it is sure to make it into a regular rotation!

Crockpot Teriyaki Tofu with Veggies

It feels odd to be posting new recipe during a global pandemic. This feels especially true I last went to the grocery store over a week ago and don't plan to go again for at least another week. However, I did a good job planning when going to the store last week AND we did a good job planning dinners around how long each veggie will last. This teriyaki tofu dinner (based on a recipe from The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook) was just perfect, using up the last of our bell peppers and half of our kale. The rest of the kale will be used tomorrow in white bean and kale soup. Plus, I made a great teriyaki sauce from ingredients in my pantry - though feel free to buy one instead!

While I do like the flexibility of cooking at home without having to plan around classes, meetings, events, and more, I miss my students and colleagues and friends so much that this flexibility pales in comparison. sigh. At least we're eating well?

I hope you're eating well, too! If not, try this recipe?

Maggie's Self-Quarantine Lentil Soup

The world is a little anxiety-provoking at the moment, hmmm? A global pandemic, a weak and uncoordinated response from the US government, and unheard of rates of unemployment; any one of these would be enough to produce anxiety, so all three is a doozy.

Shana and I have both been self-quaratined since March 13. She has been sick enough that much of the time, us being at home didn't matter. She was sleeping 17 hours a day and even when awake she found the walls and ceiling entertainment enough. She's on the mend, but just at the time that we're running out of fresh veggies.

Given our general lack of fresh veggies and the need for comfort, dinner last night called for soup. On one hand, it's odd to be a creative cook during a pandemic. On the other hand, necessity is the mother of invention. The soup below is simple, using only ingredients that stay good for long periods. It's also healthy, with veggies and protein. If you have a frozen chunk of bread to thaw & warm, it's a great meal for trying times. Take care of yourselves. <3

Protein Breakfast Cookies

Shana and a group of friends have started a once-a-month brunch. When she told me about the first one, I'd already planned another morning event, meaning I didn't attend. Coming home afterward, she proudly announced that we were hosting the second month. Fast forward and we are into month three.

Here's the problem: I'm running out of brunch recipes.

Let me clarify. I'm running out of brunch recipes that travel well and will be more or less a meal for me and Shana, as no one else in this group is vegan. I've got a few more ideas in mind, but I'll take any ideas you've got!

For tomorrow's brunch, I'm bringing these high-protein breakfast cookies. These were a recipe my sister-in-law was making when she was following a paleo diet. Shana tried them and loved them, so got the recipe for me. With a minor edit they became vegan and are absolutely delicious. There was a while when I was making a double-batch on the weekend so we could both grab a couple for breakfast during week. I just might have to start doing that again...

Maggie's Rice Skillet Dinner

If you're friends with me and Shana on Facebook, you've likely seen her tag me under a recipe or share something to my wall with "veganize this?" or "make this for me?" and nothing else. As it turns out, she does that outside of social media, too. Years and years ago, Shana used to have a subscription to a magazine that no longer exists, but it often included recipes that were easy and quick to prepare and targeted at families with children. Recipes would get torn out of the magazine and excitedly waved in my line of sight. Sometimes they were made right away, but often they went into the giant stack of recipes I want to try.

When looking for a new dish to make a while ago, I stumbled upon one of those torn magazine-page recipes. It looked good, especially with the tweaks I was envisioning to make it both vegan and a one-dish dinner. With approval from Shana to try something new, the rice skillet dinner was a go and resounding success! Nothing fancy, just warm comforting goodness for when you're short on time but still want a delicious meal.

Oh, and make sure to use your largest skillet! A 12" is a necessity (or cut the recipe in half)!

Maggie's Asian Salad with Sesame Dressing

Last summer I kept looking for new ways to eat food that also involved the least amount of heating in my kitchen I could handle. For me, the obvious solution was meal-sized salads, but I had to do a bit of Shana convincing... When I got a begrudging approval for a salad as dinner, I knew it had to be a good one. Luckily, I found a winner with this salad, filled with beautiful colors, lots of texture, and Asian-inspired flavors.

The recent hot streak we experienced this summer was the perfect impetus to see if this salad was still a dinner time success. It still was! Mix and match ingredients to your own tastes, buy a pre-made salad dressing if you find one you like, or do whatever - this salad will still be delicious.

Amanda's Taco Soup

When we first moved to Richmond, we kept ending up at different grocery stores in town at the same time as another couple close to our age. In addition to them grocery shopping at the same stores and at the same time as us, we noticed that they never had meat, cheese, or eggs in their cart. At some point, we finally decided to introduce ourselves to them. In doing so, we found out that they are vegan, grew up around here, and are just plain awesome.

Since then, we've had great times with our "grocery store friends" (which is the name of our group text message). We have sporadic dinners, they come to vegan potluck, and Brent & Shana did carpentry school together.

When we eat together, we often ask Amanda to cook taco soup. It's seriously so good, on its own and with add-ins like faux cheese and avocado. I'd tried to replicate it, but mine was never as good. I finally asked for the recipe so that I can make it more often than our busy schedules align (plus, it feels rude to have her always making the four of us dinner!). With the string of cool summer weather we've been having in Indiana, this was a perfect meal for us to eat this week. It tastes like summer, doesn't heat up the kitchen (it's a crock pot recipe), and still warms your insides.

Maggie's Vegan Charoset for Passover

Happy Passover, friends! As you've read in other posts on my blog, Shana was raised Jewish and I've been slowly developing a repertoire of traditionally Jewish foods. For example, I've got two recipes for kugel (sweet and savory), challah, matzo ball soup, and a faux brisket.

Both the frisket and matzo ball soup graced our table recently when we hosted our annual Seder for Passover. I *love* Seder. It's filled with tradition, symbolism, storytelling, and singing. It brings together an amazing group of people (we always bring in at least a couple of Seder newbies). Moreover, the fundamental message that's relayed is that no one is free until all are free. I love everything about all of that.

One of the symbolic foods eaten at a Passover Seder is charoset (huh-ROE-set), a lovely mixture of apples, walnuts, and other ingredients. I think of charoset the Italian red sauce of Seders - every family has their own traditional version, which they claim as the best. I'll stake my claim on that as well, because my charoset is so good you'll want to eat it other times of the year!

Vegan Tikka Masala with Soy Curls

It's been a long time, dear readers, and I'm very sorry. In fact, this may be the longest time between posts on this blog - yikes! Life has just been busy for the two of us, which means we've been meal planning around events and/or meetings most nights. We've gotten involved with some local organizations pretty heavily, I took on a new 1/3 time role at work, last semester was rough on campus, my dad was diagnosed with and treated for cancer, and we are working to make a dream/business(?) of Shana's into a non-profit! All of this creates a hectic schedule and also means that I haven't had time to be creative.

Although I haven't been creative in the kitchen on my own, I have been tweaking and we have been eating some new foods, including this amazing vegan tikka masala sauce. I love my version of this recipe for the following reasons:
1. I can mostly throw things in the Instant Pot and end up with magic.
2. I had to purchase a new herb!
3. IT'S SO DELICIOUS!!! Seriously, it's magic.

The recipe for the sauce I've tweaked from Vegan Richa's recipe (her whole blog is SO good!), most importantly to remove the ginger since Shana is intolerant. In addition, the inclusion of soy curls makes this a hearty and satisfying main dish. While there are a number of components to make the recipe this way, I promise that your taste buds will thank you.

Winter Lentil Soup

It's soup season. I love soup season so much. Soup is versatile, filling, and (usually) healthy. More importantly, soup is warm in my tummy and my soul. Many folks, myself included, need warmth in both of those places right now. Sometimes life is stressful and hard, but good food can nourish in multiple ways.

Enter this lentil soup. This soup has such an amazing taste and blend of textures. It's rich and velvety and round. Plus, it's full of good-for-you lentils and veggies. After a big bowl of this soup (plus some crusty bread), I'm comforted.