Chesapeake Pumpkin Seeds

I like to roast winter squash, while the things remain in season, I roast a butternut or kabocha squash at least once weekly. And while separating seeds from strings can be a pain in the ass, I enjoy roasted pumpkin seeds enough to endure the process.

I bought, roasted, and pureed a huge cushaw squash this week, which left me with three to four cups of seeds. Looking through my parent's spice-less pantry (cinnamon, garlic salt and onion powder are the only spices my mother likes), I found a half-used tin of Old Bay. In Maryland, you can buy Old Bay potato chips - Old Bay on pumpkin seeds wasn't much of a stretch. But it does make for a tasty snack:

Chesapeake Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

Seeds from one pumpkin or winter squash, washed and patted dry with paper towels
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp Old Bay spice mix

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a roasting pan with foil. Pour the oil and Old Bay on the foil. Spread the seeds over the foil in an even layer, stirring them around in the oil and Old Bay with your fingertips. Put them in the oven, stirring them every 10 minutes for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin seeds turn golden brown and crunchy.

Pumpkin Muhmarrah

Last night, I hosted a Halloween potluck. I contributed this Pumpkin Muhammarah (along with homemade Twix and miniature caramel apples), which was tasty, but not very pumpkin-y. Next time I will perhaps omit the red bell peppers to let the roasted pumpkin shine, but this dip makes a yummy snack as-is:

Pumpkin Muhammarah

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

In a food processor, add all of the ingredients in order, allowing them to throughly mix between additions. You will have to scrape down the sides a few times.

My Mom's Birthday Dinner!

I cooked from cookbooks this time (odd for me, I know), so can't take credit for the delicious results. But I wanted to make something fancy for my mother's 40-somethingth, and my meals tend to err on the simple side. So I made the moussaka from Veganomicon (pictured above) and the spanokopita from Vegan with a Vengeance (pictured below), plus grape leaves stuffed, alternatively, with TVP and a pumpkin-cream cheese mixture.

The moussaka was a win in my book, though really, I'm going to enjoy anything with roasted potatoes in it. I didn't have pinenuts needed to make the called-for pinenut cream, so I made a walnut-cashew sauce that reminded me of a sauce I ate with gnocchi in Italy. Now that I remember it, I'll have to recreate the dish!

The spanokopita were delicious, but it was my first time working with phyllo, and I struggled to keep the dough moist. I used one bag of frozen spinach and one pound of tofu (the recipe calls for two), which worked well. But I can't help but wish there was a bit more flavor to the filling - next time I will play with the herbs in the recipe and perhaps add some extra spices.

Java Green

Last Friday, my sister and I headed to Java Green for a pre-theater dinner. Java Green, which describes itself as an eco-friendly all-vegetarian cafe, is the sort of place you can take a non-vegetarian without scaring them. Or so I thought.

Ashley the Anemic: I don't want to eat anything fake.

Me: Soy chicken's not fake chicken. It's flavored wheat gluten that is taking chicken's place in that particular wrap.

Ashley the Anemic: Ewwww! They make vegetarian ham!?

Luckily, my sister likes tofu (though perhaps I should've insisted that she not get soy protein, something known to inhibit iron absorption). And though her first bite of the Avocado and Tofu Wrap was "too spicy," the heat was only in that first bite. Personally, I didn't think it was hot at all, but I was also eating Californian Gimbob (pictured) doused in hot sauce. I like spice.

Java Green serves food quickly - you don't have a waiter - and the food is consistently fresh and tasty. I find the salads a bit boring, though I like the black rice and hot peppers on the Bi-Bim Bob salad. My favorite dish is the Boolgogi Deluxe, a big serving of noodles, kimchi, mushrooms and soy beef. Like I said, I like spice.

Don't get plain, black coffee - it tastes old and is often lukewarm. Java Green's also pricey - prepare to spend eight dollars or up per entree. But the cafe's eclectic menu (vegan Korean, raw soups and salads, wraps and smoothies) appeals to all types and make Java Green worth visiting.

Bonus picture of Ashley the Anemic hiding from the camera:

Vegan MoFo Survey

I promise that I haven't forgotten about MoFo – a sinus infection, an abruptly scheduled endocronologist appointment, and a play that kept me out of the house well past 12 a.m. have prevented me from posting the past few days. And while I have been cooking and eating and photographing, I traveled home for my mother's birthday without bringing along the equipment I need to upload images from my camera. So just to post, I'm answering a survey from the PPK:

1. What was the most recent tea you drank?
Trader Joe's peppermint tea. It is inexpensive and yummy.

2. What vegan forms do you post/lurk on? If so, what is your username? Spill!
Vegan-wise, I post on the post punk kitchen forum as KarynMC. Serious Eaters (very, very unvegan) also know me as KarynMC.

3. You have to have tofu for dinner, and it has be
an Italian dish. What comes to mind first?
Polenta in a marinara sauce with tofu ricotta. That's my favorite meal at the restaurant Great Sage.

4. How many vegan blogs do you read on an average day?
I might check three to five over the course of the week. I was trying to keep up with MoFo, but I only have time to write or read, not both. Maybe I will spend November catching up!

5. Besides your own, what is the most recent one you’ve read?
Vegan Yum Yum.

6. If you could hang out with a vegan blogger that you haven’t met, who would it be, and what would you do?
Melisser from the Urban Housewife. I want her to make me candy corn! And she lives in San Francisco, and I want to spend more time in that city.


7. If you had to base your dinners for a week around one of the holy trilogy – tofu, seitan or tempeh, which would it be?
Tofu. It's the only one that works well in puddings and sweet pies, and I would happily eat pies for a week.


8. If you had to use one in a fight, which would it be?
If I covered the floor with silken tofu, you would fall and hurt yourself.


9. Name 3 meals you’d realistically make with that tough protein of choice!
Coconut cream pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie. I picked a good protein.


10. What’s a recipe in vegan blogland that you’ve been eyeing?
Avocado pie. And avocado frosting. Though right now I can't remember if those are blog recipes or PPK recipes or both.


11. Do you own any clothing with vegan messages/brands on them?
Nope. But I have a Threadless shirt of a cheese grater murdering a piece of cheese, and once people learn that I'm a vegetarian, they think it's some sort of pro-veg statement. But it's not.


12. Have you made your pilgrimage to the 'vegan mecca' yet? (Portland, duh)
1. Nope. It's not even on my "must visit" list - that honor goes to places like Barcelona and Vienna.

13. What age did you first go vegan? Did it stick?
No comment.


14. What is the worst vegan meal you’ve had? Who cooked it?
I really haven't made or tasted anything that disgusting.


15. What made you decide to blog?
101 Cookbooks, a blog that I love, posted several recipes very similar to dishes that I make all of the time, so I thought, "Hey! I can do this!" Plus, I wanted something to keep me writing while I was in-between jobs.


16. What are three of your favorite meals to make? Pie. I love rolling out the dough, I find it relaxing. I also like making chili in my crock pot and stirring risottos.


17. What dish would you bring to a vegan Thanksgiving-themed potluck?
I want to veganize my Grandma's cinnamon rolls, but I haven't gotten to that yet. Maybe I will if I get to go to a vegan Thanksgiving potluck!

18. Where is your favorite vegan meal at a restaurant? How many times have you ordered it?
I really couldn't tell you. I just don't think about meals as being "vegan," because so many wonderful foods fall into that spectrum. I love getting (and sharing!) big vegetarian platters at Ethiopian restaurants, I like vegan Thai and Indian meals. I just tried Burmese for the first time, I enjoyed that, too.

19. What do you think the best chain to dine as a vegan is?
Does Soul Veg count as a chain? I don't really eat at them.

20. My kitchen needs a………
Where to begin? I want a yogurt maker, a pressure cooker, a food processor ...

21. This vegetable is not allowed in my kitchen…..!
Not a vegetable, but lima beans.

22. What's for dinner tonight?
I made the Veganomicon moussaka, Vegan with a Vengeance spanokopita and dolmades.

23.Add a question here! What's my usual lunch?
I usually have a salad with roasted pumpkin on it and an 8 ounce cup of coffee with a teensy splash of cold soy milk.

Roasted Brussels

As a child, I liked most vegetables. As an adult (haha, hahahah), I've reconciled with most of the vegetables I couldn't stand as a kid. Brussels sprouts are one case in point. My mother boiled them, then covered them in butter. My father adored them, I considered them soggy green balls of death.

Then, I discovered roasting. Slice some brussels, spray some oil, and a dash each of salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning (I use chicken grilling spices from Trader Joe's), then roast, and I am in crunchy, tender, vegetable Heaven. I now consider brussels sprouts one of my all time favorite vegetables.

Just, eh, don't expect me to stomach lima beans. I don't know what I'd have to do to make those palatable ..

French Onion Soup

When I come home from work, I tend not to linger – tofu scrambles, salads and quick-cooking grains usually prove the order of the evening. I don't often make the sort of meals that benefit from long, slow simmers. Still, when I do plan ahead and make a soup, the results hit home.

French Onion soup is one of my favorites. The recipe's so simple I almost don't want to post it – the ingredients are all relative. But I promise that this simple meal will never disappoint:

French Onion Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Earth Balance
1 tsp kosher salt
black pepper, to taste
4 very large, sweet onions (Vidalia or Walla Walla), sliced into rings
4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups crusty, artisan-style bread, like sourdough or a baguette, chopped into large chunks
2 cups vegan cheese, optional (I used Follow Your Heart Montery Jack)

In a very large skillet, melt the butter on medium-low heat. Add the onions, the salt, and the pepper. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they become translucent and very brown. This can take awhile, 15-20 minutes, so be patient. When the onions are cooked, pull out your crock pot. Pour in the vegetable broth, then add the cooked onions. Set the crockpot to its lowest setting, then let the soup sit for at least one hour. I tend to leave it all day.

When you're ready to eat, preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Ladle the soup into individual, oven-safe bowls, like ramekins. I used a small pyrex. Put 1/2 cup of bread into each bowl. Put 1/2 cup of shredded cheese onto each bread. Cover the bowls with foil, then leave them in the oven until the soup is bubbling hot and the cheese has melted, about 30 minutes.