leftovers and tetris!

here is the bottom of the fridge. it contains tupperware and pyrex-filled leftovers.

i can't decide whether to eat them or to play tetris with them. they both hold equal appeal.

tricky.

tricky.

**

in other news, 'nosh' is going on its first roadtrip! that's right - tomorrow, i'll be heading to st. louis, and will be there through sunday. i have big plans to take pics of lots of all things culinary with my crappy camera and crappy phone camera - and share them with everyone here. although, i feel i must point that, oddly, thanksgiving dinner may not be a part of this, since i'll be spending it at the house of people who have never met me, and i think the first impression of a girl who cares more about taking pictures of her food than anything else might be too much.

but then again, maybe not! life is an adventure. i've only been to st. louis once and, while really fun, was only for 24 hours. so, i'm looking to up the experience. on the food agenda this time is the pizza place the obama's shipped out from....i'm excited already.

happy thanksgiving y'all :)

three sisters stew / bountiful vegan thanksgiving!

a few weeks ago i was surfing one of my many beloved food blogs, and i came across the small e-cookbook 'a bountiful vegan thanksgiving.' its technically a compilation of 65 recipes, although over the half the recipes are by nava atlas. it was only $9, and all the profits go to charity. i like cookbooks and i like charities, so it seemed like a win-win situation.

if you're still looking for recipes for this week - or just want some fun fall recipes - you should (click here) and check it out yourself.

last night, i finally got around to trying the 'three sister's stew (three sisters being the native american trio of corn, squash, and beans), and it was pretty good. nava has posted the recipe on her website, which you can check out (here)...

to begin with, you have to roast butternut squash. this, of course, means cutting the thing in half and dumping it in the oven. i was impressed that i was able to do this myself and not hurt myself.

the trick is roast until soft but still firm, so that you can then cut up the squash into little cubes when it is cool, like so...

then they sit aside for a second while you cook (wait for it).... onions and garlic.

now the squash can go back in...

plus tomatoes...

plus corn, chiles, peppers, beans, veggie stock, and spices.

here is what it all looked like before half an hour of covered simmering...

and after, which is kind of the same. some of you may be wondering what i do during such simmering periods that don't really require much except occasional stirring. this time, it was dishes. that, and an exciting random playlist. i had just finished transferring some random songs from old computer to new computer to ipod, and so i was treated to such delightful random old-yet-new songs as digital underground's 'humpty dance,' joni mitchell's 'help me,' and joseph arthur's 'honey and the moon.' all three are pretty good songs, if i do say so myself. anyway.

here is how i served the stew, which was pretty good, although i must remember to add red pepper flakes next time.

and, as proof that i do actually buy them, here is a baguette, which was eaten on the side. that is all.

mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodles!

so, my copy of 'vegan cookies invade your cookie jar' finally showed up in the mail, and i am very, very happy. after buying veganomicon and receiving their cupcake cookbook, i knew that i needed to own this one as well. the only problem was, of course, which ones to start with.

i opted for...mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodles. because i had the ingredients. AND, unbeknownst to me, its one of the few recipes that's also up on the post punk kitchen blog, so i can actually link to it for those of you who may be reading this blog and who don't own this cookbook...because i'm fairly sure i can't legally print recipes from something that's brand-spankin' new.

so...(click here) to get to it.

apart from raw banana ice cream, we have my first real dessert recipe post (not that that one doesn't count - it truly does - its just that this one involves, you know, an actual recipe). and, you know what this means? no picture of sauteing onions! instead, my friends, we begin with sugar...

see? nothing like an onion. unfortunately, this is where the excitement ends. i discovered quite quickly there's not too much magic when it comes to putting this baby together, pictorially speaking. like, who wants to see 8 pics of me putting sugar in a bowl, and then oil, and then maple syrup, and then milk, and then vanilla, etc. not even me. so...i condensed.

and i tried for one action shot. because i have a B.A. in communications with a specialization in radio/tv/film, and i learned that action shots are more exciting. look at the movement HERE:

or not. anyway, here's all the dry materials (cocoa, baking soda, etc) after the flour. note the dusting of the cayenne pepper on top, about to be stirred in. its the secret ingredient, elevating this recipe to stellar.

and here we have the dough all mixed together - look what i can accomplish with nothing but a fork...

and in this corner, we have topping. 'what's all this about topping,' you say? let me show you...

you roll the dough in little balls, and smoosh them in the topping, like so...

and then its covered in lovely topping, which is then placed gently on the cookie sheet. notice how i've managed to perfectly capture the exact opposite of what i wanted to in this shot.

here we have a shot of the cookie sheet pre-oven...

and after.

and, so that you can see the awesome sugar topping, one with the dreaded flash on my crappy camera. these cookies were awesome! non-vegan lovers - you can't tell the difference. make these now!

spinach and mushroom lasagna!

i made spinach and mushroom lasagna tonight.

it was going to be my first, full on, vegan spinach mushroom lasagna. as in, the kind with cheeze. because, i do pasta dishes that are naturally vegan all the time, but never any that have, you know, vegan type 'products' in them. but i was going to try an actual recipe that included tofutti and vegan shredded cheeze. i wrote down the ingredients i needed and went to the supermarket.

and guess what? they didn't have tofutti or shredded vegan cheeze. and, for various reasons, it just wasn't feasible tonight to trek on over to try the other supermarket. so, i decided i'd just improvise and buy what i thought would be the ingredients for a related vegetarian spinach mushroom lasagna. as it turns out, i did pretty well. only bought one thing that wasn't in the recipe.

and the first recipe i clicked on was one that i liked, which almost never happens. and, interestingly enough, the winner is some kind of hybrid in a green planet series that was developed by emeril but is owned by martha stewart. i don't make these combinations up. (click here to link to the original recipe).

i'm wondering if there's a dinner recipe on this blog that doesn't start out with onions and garlic. i don't think so. i'm certainly not breaking that chain now:

add some mushrooms...

and then the spinach...

and then tomato sauce (i also added some tomato paste), veggie broth, and spices. and there you have it - lasagna sauce!

mix low-fat ricotta with a touch of nutmeg. and there you have it - lasagna cheese filling!

assembly is easy: first layer no-boil noodles...

for the record, its hard to spread ricotta on noodles. not a TOP CHEF moment.

follow that with a layer of sauce...

and a layer of shredded mozzarella. repeat assembly 3x's.

this is what it looks like finished with some locatelli romano, pre-oven

and post-oven. done. i could have taken a pic of this on the plate, but, uh, it wasn't pretty on the plate, although it tasted quite good. but i think it looks pretty here, so here is where i will leave you. thank you and please have a nice day.

mediterranean lentils and rice!

my step-sister has been on a quest to recreate a mediterranean lentils recipe from an old restaurant. i have no idea if this is anywhere close to what she is looking for, but i googled 'mediterranean lentils,' and this is one of the few things that came up that looked healthy and that wasn't a soup - so this is for her. i really liked it - the next time i make it i would include even more raisins than 1/3 cup. this suggestion would only work if one likes raisins. if not, you'll probably want to go for something else....

one thing that's a big bonus about this recipe is that its CHEAP! one onion? that's nothing. and everyone should already have cumin and cinnamon hiding in their cabinets already.

and lentils are, like, a dolla. that's it. and so is the rice you'll be cooking on the back burner. if you can't spring for fancy veggie broth, boil water and add a broth cube to mix to the lentils. speaking of which, here is the soupy mess before half an hour of simmering...

and after. its true that you have half an hour to do nothing but occasionally stir lentils. what to do with the time? might i suggest motown dance party. you could start with 'money: that's what i want' and sing ironically to the lyrics: "the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees. i need money. (that's what i want.)"

then you add fun things tomatoes and raisins...

and let the whole thing blend...

and serve over rice. nice.

vegetable and chickpea ragout!

i made vegetable and chickpea ragout for dinner last night. i got the recipe from the epicurious website, but this is also somehow from the self magazine website at the same time. its crazy how they do that. either way, (click here to get to it). i sort of adhered to the recipe. as in, everything you see there i did, but i used more of it.

as in, i think this is more like 3/4 of a cup of an onion instead of 1/2. oh my!

the broccoli and red pepper you see before you is also more than 1/2 a cup. i'm a rebel.

the tomato paste you see wasn't even if the recipe. yup, i'm crazy like that. but with the extra veggies, an entire can of chickpeas, etc, i needed more tomatoes, and that was what i had on hand. and to help offset the whole thing, i added a cup of veggie broth.

i was, however, very happy that the holy grail of tomatoes was on sale. we'll be happy to splurge again next time they are on sale, too:

this is what the pan looked like after 20 minutes (what mess in the bottom left corner?)...

and here are the final add-ins of peas, olives, and artichoke hearts - cooked long enough to warm...

and now for the assembly. first, the pasta. smart people have guessed that i made more than the recommended 1/2 cup, which is just silly. i made the whole box, because leftover pasta goes with everything...

ragout...

and blurry basil! this was prettier in person, and quite tasty. go TOP CHEF in the making. and speaking of my favorite cooking show, i have been re-watching season 2, and i feel marcel got a bad break. sure, he was a bit socially awkward at times, but he became the scapegoat in a strange witch hunt for no real reason that i could see. he has cool werewolf hair and he can make me foam anytime. and so can sam and elia. thank you and please have a nice day.

toasted coconut cupcakes with buttercream frosting!

i haven't posted in a few days, and this post is still kind of a cheater post. this is because i've spent the last few nights helping out with auditions and call-backs of a play (and so dinners have been things like peanut-butter sandwiches and frozen things. there may even have been a 'tater tots at midnight' episode that won't be mentioned again.), and lunches and breakfasts have been things i've posted before or things i'm embarrassed to post or that i'm sure will be of interest to no one.

however, i will be cooking tonight.

and, i found a couple old pics of a fun dessert, so i thought i'd share.

this, my friends, is from a fun little cookbook that i got as a gift: vegan cupcakes take over the world: 75 dairy free recipes for cupcakes that rule. let me first say that this little cupcake cookbook is awesome. its square and small and cute and i've probably made five recipes out of it so far and each has been amazing and in no way could one tell that they were vegan. it was so awesome that i ordered the next in the series and i'm expecting it in the mail any day now. plus, anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that i'm a cookie girl, anyhow.

but i digress.

i give you, two somewhat-crappy-flash photos of: toasted coconut cupcakes with buttercream frosting! they are awesome and they are vegan - which is a bonus if you care about such things, and don't taste different from a non-vegan cupcake if you don't! here is an aerial view:

and here is a side view.

and, as a bonus, (click here) to get a view of the recipe, which another blogger has decided to post.

and, i must take a small opportunity to say...

happy veteran's day, everyone!

to everyone who is currently/or has served in the military - we are honored, proud, and in debt to your service. we respect you and thank you. i would give you all cupcakes, at the very least, if i could. and, to those of you who are unable to serve in the military because of your sexual preference, i protest that ignorant law as long as it stands. in the meantime - come have a cupcake with me, too.