We tried two new recipes this week: a delicious squash soup and a simple, yet elegant (and tasty!) beet salad (recipe below). Yummers!

Admittedly the kitchen now has random yellow and red stains throughout it, but I think it is worth it.

Winter Beet Salad (from VegNews)

2 cups mixed baby greens
1 medium beet, peeled and shredded
3/4 cup thinly sliced fennel
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste

What You Do:

In a serving bowl, combine all ingredients. Toss gently and serve.

Is it just me, or has this winter been rather unbearable? Everyone I talk to lately seems to be suffering from an acute case of the “winter blahs.” Blah…

On the weekend I jumped into a new recipe, one I’ve wanted to try for a while: the Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry from Veganomicon. The smell of fresh pineapple and the cathartic, repetitive chopping of vegetables and herbs went a long way towards banishing the blahs, at least for a little while!

This recipe is a two-parter. Cook the quinoa ahead of time and let it chill for at least a few hours (overnight is best, according to the recipe). Then assemble your stir-fry ingredients and voila! Yummy vegan dinner!

Quinoa
1 cup quinoa, well rinsed and drained
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

Combine quinoa, juice, water and soy sauce in a medium pot. Cover, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Stir a few times, lower the heat to medium-low, cover and cook 12-14 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed. Uncover, fluff and let cool.

Stir-Fry
4 ounces of cashews, raw and unsalted
3 tablespoons peanut oil [*note: since I'm deathly allergic to peanuts and peanut products I used sesame oil here instead]
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red hot chile, sliced into very thin rounds [*note: my dining companion needs to stay away from super hot foods so I omitted this ingredient]
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup frozen green peas or shelled edamame
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, rolled and sliced into thin shreds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
10 ounces fresh pineapple, cut into bite-sized chunks (about 2 cups)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons vegetable stock
1 tablespoon mirin
lime wedges for garnish

Use the largest non-stick skillet you have. Have all of your ingredients chopped and easily within reach.
Place the cashews in the dry pan and heat over low heat, stirring until lightly toasted – 4-5 min.
Remove cashews from the pan, raise the heat to medium and add oil, scallions and garlic. When the garlic starts to sizzle add the sliced chile pepper and ginger. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add bell pepper and peas. Stir-fry for about another 3-4 minutes, until the bell pepper is softened and the peas are bright green. Add the basil and mint, and stir for another minute before adding the pineapple and quinoa.
In a measuring cup combine the soy sauce, vegetable stock and mirin. Pour over the quinoa mixture. Stir to incorporate completely and coat the quinoa. Continue to stir fry for 10-14 minutes.
Serve with lime wedges, cashews and additional soy sauce.

One of the most common reactions people have when they find out you are a vegan is “oh wow! I couldn’t live without cheese.” Not only have I heard this dozens of times in recent months, but I also used to be someone who would say this kind thing! Cheese was definitely the last thing to go for me, but the more I learned about the dairy industry the less I wanted to have cheese. Missing cheese is no longer an issue for me, I don’t know if this is because I kicked the habit (there has been some research that suggests casein is actually a rather addictive substance) or if I just got used to thinking about images of the darker side of the dairy industry whenever I wanted to toss some grated cheese on my pasta. Either way, I certainly CAN live without cheese and have been doing so for quite a while now, thank you very much!

Having said that, there are occasions when I might want a cheese substitute in a recipe – when I first embarked on the 21 day vegan kickstart last spring I was rather flummoxed by the different kinds of vegan cheese on the market. I quickly discovered that most of them are shite. Tasteless, lumpy masses of ick and, to add insult to injury, a lot of these so-called vegan cheeses still contain casein. Hrumpf. I was delighted to discover Daiya this year – pretty darn tasty, definitely vegan and getting easier to find. I don’t eat a ton of Daiya (see above re: not really craving cheese), but it does work well as a pizza topping, etc.

But what about swanky occasions where one might typically find a nice cheese, good bread/fancy crackers and a glass of wine? Daiya shreds certainly wouldn’t cut it there, but the Dr. Cow “cheeses” certainly would! I picked up an aged cashew & hemp seed “cheese” at Panacea last week. I was mostly driven by curiosity – I’d heard that this was the gourmet of vegan cheeses, but after having so many disappointing vegan cheese experiences I didn’t have high hopes. I was so wrong. This stuff is really nice! I would definitely serve it at the swankiest of parties, if only I could get my hands on some more of it. It is, apparently, really hard to find. We are prepared to take a drive to various locations in upstate New York to find more Dr. Cow, but the shops we contacted are all out of it at the moment.

You know I’m already googling around for raw cashew vegan “cheese” recipes. Anyone tried this?