Easy Falafels

Falafels + tahini sauce = yummy.

but... sometimes:

making falafels from scratch + making tahini sauce = too much work for one day!

Finally, I've found some prepared falafels that I like! You see, I've tried the dried mixes where you add water, mix up, then form in patties and fry. They are oddly spicy to me, and I always have leftovers that I don't use because they just aren't worthy of a second meal.

Then, I come across these refrigerated prepared falafels by Pita's in our local supermarket (Save-On). I'd give you a website for more info, but I wasn't able to find one. Too bad, because these are tasty "instant" falafels. Even though I'd take homemade falafels over prepared any day, the blend of ingredients in these is not too spicy, and pairs perfectly with a homemade tahini sauce.

Speaking of tahini sauce, I've posted my Tahini-Tamari Sauce from TEV and my Sesame Mustard Tahini Sauce from Vive on my recipe page. Why both? I can't choose which one I like best, so you can choose which one you want to use! The Tahini-Tamari sauce is more lemony with parsley, and the Sesame Mustard Tahini Sauce is a little richer with more toasted sesame oil. Personally, I often choose the Tahini-Tamari Sauce for falafels, and then the Sesame Mustard Tahini Sauce for other dishes (like my Sunflower-Lentil Pie or Moroccan Chickpea Patties from Vive, or as a salad/sandwich dressing).

Whichever you choose, they are simple to make. I whiz them up with my handblender, directly in a jar (this is one of those 'Nuts to You' larger nut butter jars). This pic is the Tahini-Tamari Sauce, and you can see the flecks of parsley blended in - nummy!

These falafels are a snap to prepare. Just have to place them on a baking sheet to reheat. No need to fry them, because they already been fried to get a crispy coating before packaging. But... they aren't too oily or greasy - just have a nice crispy coating that gives a crunch to bite into.

I served them in these very thin flatbreads instead of pitas (just less bread so I can enjoy the taste of the falafel more). I had picked these Mountain Bread wraps at Capers in Vancouver, and haven't seen them in our local area. Checking out their website, I'm now jealous to see all the varieties they have - oat, corn, barley - wow! These were great for the falafels, and would work nicely for any type of wrap. But, if you can't find them, use whole-wheat tortillas instead. Or, if you can find whole-wheat pitas that aren't too thick and bready, go for those.

So, the falafels are served up on the flatbreads with the tahini sauce drizzled over top. We also had salad and leftover home fries to add to the meal.

And what's that in the corner of the plate? Cranberry sauce! Yep, cranberry sauce. Trust me, this works. I wanted something to contrast the spice and savory flavors of the falafel and tahini sauce, and the cranberry sauce did the trick! Much like a mango chutney with Indian food. Anyhow, this was my own cranberry sauce from E,D&BV, but you can buy a prepared cranberry sauce or relish - there are some on the market now that are quite good and made with natural sweeteners.

I hope you can find some of these 'convenience' foods in your area. Makes for an easy falafel dinner.

Occupational Hazards of Cooking

We all know the dangers that lurk in the kitchen... sharp knives (or blunt knives that can cause the worst cuts), hot pots and pans, boiling liquids, keeping kids out from underfoot... and yeah, having chocolate in arm's reach!

But, have you ever heard of straining ligaments from loading the dishwasher? Well, now you have! Perhaps it's a message that I've been spending all too much time in the kitchen. Perhaps it's some universe message to reinforce my husband's continual suggestions to "relax". Or maybe, just maybe... I'm a little klutzy!

I was just going about my regular after-dinner routine, washing up dishes, and I felt a strange pull in my foot. It hurt, but not too bad so I kept going about my business. Then, as I was twisting back and forth to load dishes, I noticed it hurt more and more. I joked with my husband and sat down to give it a break. Within the hour, it was so painful I couldn't rotate or otherwise move my foot and no position sitting made it better. I was trying to edit (since I got the design edits back and needed to return them asap), but couldn't even focus on the papers it hurt so much. Hubby said "should we get you to the doctor or hospital?". He said he thought I would scoff at him, but I quickly said "yeah, let's go".

So, we went over to the hospital, which is close by, and he had to carry me to the car and into the hospital!! Can you believe that? When the triage nurse asked me if I fell and twisted it, I said "I wish I had a good story, but I hurt it while doing the dishes". How embarrassing!! Gah! We saw the doctor pretty quick, and hubby said with a determined tone "this is unusual, because Dreena has a very high tolerance for pain" (was he thinking about two natural childbirths? I think so... I certainly remind him enough times any given week).

After all was said and done (and the pain medication had kicked in), the doctor explained that I somehow traumatized my ankle area - not like a typical sprain, but something called a "pivotal trauma". He said that it was fairly odd to have that kind of trauma, and I said "I'm a complex gal!" So, I'm thinking all those months/years of mucking in the kitchen, twisting and quickly stepping about (without decent footwear: my bad!), took it's toll that night. I'm doing okay now, but I spent a day on my butt pretty much - editing. Editing, editing, editing. But yay, the book is going to print very soon now!

So, that's where I've been the last couple of days. I felt so badly for hubby, trying to cook and keep up with everything. Our older girl said that night "I guess we'll be having a lot of macaroni these days". Hee hee. He made grilled cheese for lunch that next day - poor thing, took him about an hour. Then we ordered pizza for dinner and he made a salad. He said "arrggh, it's taken me about 45 minutes to make a salad". I consoled him with the thought that if I had to go downtown to his office and do his job, it would take me forever to get the swing of things (and I probably never would!), so I don't expect him to be efficient at what I've been doing as a mom for 6+ years.

Our girls were so concerned and sweet through it all. Our older girl said "mom, why is your foot sore... because those things happen when you get old?" Ha! Well, that wasn't exactly the 'sweet' part, but they were very endearing with their concern.

But it's amazing how much better I am already. Just wrapped my ankle, and wednesday spent most of the day on the couch editing, then yesterday I hobbled around some, and today I have most of the mobility back and can walk around fairly well. Still not jumping on the mini-tramp, but doing pretty fine. I think I'll be back to my multi-tasking self in just another day or two!

With all that, do I have any foodie goods? Well, I do have to show you this adorable pic of zucchini from last week's farmers' market:

I buy organic produce from this stall all the time, and when I saw the zukes and yellow squash, I said "how cool, look at these". The vendor said "yeah, we've had lots of those this year", and she called them twin zucchini! Love that. But, she said that no one wanted to buy them.

Why? Because they aren't 'perfect' looking? Do other folks think they have some strange genetic modification? It's a local organics stand for goodness sake, people! Besides, how else can you get snow people in the summer...

:)

Have a great weekend guys, and don't forget to vote if you haven't yet (do I get your sympathy vote after this post?) - Kiiiidding!

Carrot Pineapple Muffins

First, thanks again to all of you for casting your votes for me! You're the best. :)

Next, back to food! Several days ago I made my Carrot Pineapple Muffins from TEV (p.165).


As you can see, I made them as regular muffins rather than the 'tops' option in the recipe. For the flours, I used partial whole-wheat pastry flour and oat flour. About 1 cup of each, except I went a little generous with the oat flour, probably using closer to 1 1/8 cup. Oat flour is interesting to work with in baking. When you first mix a batter with oat flour (or ground oats), it is looser than you'd like, but then the ground oats gradually soak up the excess moisture so that within a minute or two you see the batter much thicker. So, when I first made the batter, it wasn't quite thick enough. I sprinkled in a touch more oat flour, but then remembered it would thicken significantly. And sure enough, as I was ladling the batter in the muffin liners it was already a better consistency. (oh yes, I also forgot to drain the canned crushed pineapple, so I had to lessen the soy milk measure to compensate - see, even us cookbook authors mess up recipes... even our own! egad! - was that Jughead's saying?)

Anyhow, I finished up and got 12 average-sized muffins with this batter. As a side note, it's quite tricky to judge sizing and yields with recipes. For instance, with muffins, they once used to be an average size. Now we have the jumbo muffins available in trays at grocery stores and places like Costco. (We know these are miniature cakes labelled as 'muffins', right?) So, what used to be known as an average-sized muffin now seems rather small!

Now for the "Gentle Reminder" for those of you that haven't done the VegNews survey... skedaddle on over to vote!

VegNews Nomination!

Some of you have probably already noticed the VegNews button to the right... looky over there ----> ------>

I'm totally stoked to be nominated in 3 categories for the VegNews 2007 Veggie Awards:

- Favorite Cookbook Author
- Favorite Veg Blog
- Favorite Column (Simple Meals)

Though my cookbooks have been out for a number of years now, this is the first time I've been nominated in the VegNews awards. Hoo-Ah! I am giddy to be nominated, and would be thrilled to win any category. But, I need your help!

Now, I'm not one to beg of course. So, I'll "enthusiastically encourage" you to vote for me! That sounds better than beg, right? Then, I'll "gently remind" you in each of my posts to vote if you haven't done so... again, better sounding than 'nag'?!

Ok, so please take a few minutes and complete the survey... and vote for me... and ask your friends to do so too! oops, that sounds a lot beg-ish. Let's try enthusiastic encouragement - in the words of dearly departed Fred Elliot (I'm a Corrie fan, folks) "Vote for Dreena, I say... vote for Dreena". :)

Summer Food (but where's the sun?)

Where's our summer gone?! Those of you living in the Vancouver area, isn't this weather a downright bummer? I know "we need the rain for the trees and the grass and the birds" and blah, blah, blah (I don't need to hear that, especially when I say it myself to the girls). It's rainy, and drizzly, and gray, and cold. Cold, I say for mid-July! All week, rain-cold-drizzle... blech!

I'm very much a spring and summer girl. I love the bounty of produce that appears this time of year, and I like the warmth of the sun. So, despite my cold-weather-induced-crankiness, let's get on to some food we ate LAST week! (you know, when summer was here)

I picked up beautiful green peas at our local whole foods store (Choices). They were on sale, and quite fresh. I suspected our older girl would have fun shelling them with me... and she did! I opened up the pods and let her swipe the peas out into a bowl. She had a great time, and enjoyed seeing the different sizes of peas in each pod.

Now, this girl LOVED peas through her first few years. I mean, I would take green peas (frozen, warmed in boiled water then drained) on outings with us for snacks. Yes, she loved them that much. Peas and corn kernels. Easy vegetables to give her, and she gobbled them up! Then one day, she 'stopped' liking them. I know their palates develop and move through likes and dislikes, but huhhhh? Green peas. They are sweet and fun to eat for kids, aren't they?

So, I thought with her getting involved she would rekindle her love for the green peas. I sauteed them ever so briefly in a touch of Earth Balance (she loves this stuff, so I thought, again it might give the green peas an extra edge rather than using olive oil). Now, if you are cooking green peas - whether sauteing in oil and seasonings, or steaming, or however you cook them... cook just until they turn that bright green color. Then, taste test! Once the starchy pea taste has just turned the corner to that wonderful sweet pea flavor - they're done! And it just takes a few minutes. You'll see the color get brighter, and then quickly test. Remove from heat, and serve! Don't let these beautiful peas get overcooked and lose that vibrant, sweet flavor.

Ok. So, I make a pasta that will be in ED&BV. A Lemon Garlic Pasta that will take you only as long as the time to cook your pasta. Seriously, the sauce can be made while your pasta is cooking. It's great for summer days, because the sauce isn't cooked - just the pasta. Here's the pasta, topped with the gorgeous fresh peas:

Ahhhh, it was sumptuous! (and doesn't it look creamy? - but not a drop of non-dairy milk or 'cream' in there.)

For the girls, I pulled out some plain pasta and tossed it with olive oil and salt. Our sauce was just a bit too garlicky for them. Kids love 'plain' pasta. Anyhow, I topped their bowls with the peas too. I was excited to see the girls' reactions. After a couple of nibbles, not so impressed. I built it up saying "hey dad, Charlotte helped me shell these peas today, aren't they great?" Now, hubby has never liked green peas much himself. As a kid, his mom would give him a pea for each year (ex: 7 peas at 7 years - ha, he'd be in trouble if I had to dish up his peas now with that same formula!! he he). He told me he always hated them. Again, I don't get this. I understand if he was eating canned peas (and probably was). They are grey and mushy and not vibrant tasting. But these fresh peas... yummy! Sweet! As you can tell, I loved them. Sadly, I was the only one. But, I ate everyone else's. Their loss. The pasta with the peas... it was all delicious.

Btw, if you remember this potato salad post, you can now dive into the recipe in the current VegNews ("Picnic Panache" article, pages 70-71). It's delish, go get some of those seasonal new potatoes and make it for your next BBQ or picnic!

Choco-Cinna-Nut Biscotti

This week I wanted to bake an old favorite. I wasn't feeling muffins, or a quick bread, or scones, or even cookies (I know, shocking!). Ok, well I was kind of feeling cookies, because I made these Choco-Cinna-Nut Biscotti from Vive.

I substituted a sifted whole-grain spelt flour for the all-purpose flour, for a healthier take on biscotti. I've posted the recipe with the note for using spelt flour. You see, I knew I would need a bit more spelt, since I almost always do when substituting it for white flour. But, I didn't measure it. I just used two cups on the generous side. When I baked the two biscotti logs, they spread out just a bit more than they should have. Nothing major, the biscotti still worked beautifully, they were just a tiny bit flatter than I would have liked. So, if you make the same substitution, try about 2 1/4 cups spelt flour to replace the all-purpose (this note is also within the posted recipe).

After making these, I wanted to get back and come up with other variations. They are fun to make and even if you don't dip them in hot tea or coffee, they are still a nice nibbler, or you can have them with your 'soy-frappuccino'... (do they make these? I don't know, I'm not a coffee drinker.)

You may not be in the baking mood with the summer heat, but if you get the baking itch like I did, try out these biscotti. A little cocoa, a little cinnamon, a little nutty, and a whole lot yummy!

Oh, remember the guessing game yesterday? Well, I decided to make it a little contest to win a copy of the Everyday Dish dvd! So I drew names from those that guessed correctly on both of my photos (the chocolate pie and hummus dips). There were 3 fully correct guesses, and Teresa you won! I'm a sneaky vegan momma (just ask my kids)... you never know when I'm going to throw a treat out there. :) Teresa, e-mail me and I'll send you the dvd!

Disappearing Dreena

Have you been thinking I've disappeared? Maybe run off to a spa to edit in luxury?

Well, no I haven't abandoned you, and I'll be posting more regularly again. The process of book writing is a curious thing. Just when I thought I had a tiny break, I was juggling details again. You see, once I submitted my manuscript, it went through editing with my publisher. Through their review, they'd e-mail for extra information on recipes or for clarification within a section of the book. Then, when their editing is complete, I receive stacks of chapters with the changes along with the newest version for me to then review. I then go through to ensure the changes read correctly, and are otherwise okay from my perspective. Now, I've sent all the edits (well, I have a very small batch left) to my publisher, and now the book goes for final design work. I then get that "final" version from design to go through once more to check for any small inconsistencies/typos, etc. Then, we're off to the printer!

So, for now I have some breathing room, until I receive the book from design to review... and then, I'll be breaking for a short while again.

I have such a backlog of photos to show you and cooking tidbits to share. I don't know where to start!

I'm going back about a month here. To another pizza night. Again, I used a premade whole-wheat pizza shell. I didn't have a decent sauce to top the pizza, so I searched my cupboards and fridge for options. I had about 1/4 jar of roasted red peppers in the fridge. So, I poured off some of the liquid, and pureed the red peppers. Yep, right in the jar with my immersion blender. If you don't have one of these hand blenders, what are you waiting for? This is one of my must-have kitchen tools. Immersion blender and food processor. Gotta' have 'em!

Anyhow, the roasted peppers had a lot of flavor with some garlic in the jar, so this made for a zippy pizza sauce! Then, I sprinkled on capers and leftover chickpeas from this dish. Added a scattering of vegan cheese and then topped it with very thinly sliced onion, and freshly ground black pepper. I kept the veggie toppings to a minimum on this pizza because we were having a generous salad with our dinner.

Here's the pizza with our salad. The salad is drizzled with a new Creamy Basil Dressing that will be in ED&BV.

There are two options for the dressing, one "semi-raw", and the other purely raw. Either way, it is fabulous, and great with an entree such as this that is very savory.

Here's more of the dressing...
mmmmm I just love it, but I am a huge sucker for fresh basil. I cannot grow it fast enough as I can pick it, so I opt instead to buy heaping bags at the farmers' market when I can. How I love summer!

Btw, none of you guessed my food photos on Pam's website. There are two from our food photos for ED&BV... take a guess which two!

Food Photo Shoot Excitement

Well, the food photo shoot for Eat, Drink and Be Vegan is done! It was tiring, but still so much fun for me. (This is a long post, get a tea and cookie!)

...and I mean tiring. I didn't leave the kitchen all of Saturday and Sunday prepping food, cleaning, and prepping again. Plus, I had already prepped about 15 recipes through the week, and components of other recipes to help us quickly get recipes ready and timed for the photography.

On a side note, I picked up a kitchen timer since I knew I'd need another one. I use my stove timer, and had a second manual timer, but it broke. So, knowing I'd be timing several recipes at once I got a nice timer. The challenge was taking it out of its packaging.

Don't you hate this kind of packaging, where you have to cut through the molded plastic, and in the process can easily cut yourself with how sharp those plastic edges are? Then, you have to fight to pry away the plastic? This packaging comes with kids' toys, and so many things. I recycle it, but I don't know if it ultimately gets recycled, and plus, it is SO flipping annoying to try and open. I do like my timer though, once I got to it!

It went something like this. We started Saturday morning. We were scheduled for 9, but our photographer had unforeseen equipment troubles, which she quickly got fixed but it pushed us back to just after 11. I was concerned before she arrived, wondering if the delay would be any longer, or if we'd get off the ground that day at all. But we did, and made good progress, starting the first photograph around noon. There is a lot of set up behind the scenes. Equipment is just the beginning. The "scene" of a food photo must be considered, including dishes used, placement, linens and background, etc. So, our living room was quite full with photographic equipment, boxes of dishes and utensils, linens, props, and more.

We needed to wrap up shortly after 4 that day, so we managed to get 5 photos in. That meant 8 more photos to do on Sunday. I was freakin' out a bit, because I knew the next recipes were more prep heavy, meaning I had to be on the ball even more, timing the dishes and keeping on top of prepping recipes, cleaning up, and getting to the next dish. As we moved through the recipes, I quickly ran out of counter space, dishes, dish cloths, and found myself turning in circles in the kitchen several times looking for an item or trying to remember what I was getting on with. I was popping my vitamins, I tell you! :)

We had a babysitter come in to help with the girls, and hubby was here too of course. But at times, the girls would run in to the living room/kitchen area, and I'd quickly shoo them back outside or downstairs. They had a blast, though. Full-on play and attention all day! Plus, they finally got to eat some of the food they had looked at for a couple of days but "couldn't touch"! I had labels on containers of food in the fridge with "Photo Shoot" so hubby wouldn't get his paws in there. Sorry hon!

Speaking of my fridge, omg, I was running out of space!! With all the food prepping, I had containers upon containers. Plus, so much fresh produce and herbs... I am still amazed that it all fit. I do have a big fridge, but I could still use a second one. Especially through the summer when we buy gigantic organic lettuces and the most beautiful berries and other produce at the farmers' market. But I digress, back to the photos...

We had a rough game plan of which photos we would do each day. There were a few flipped around, but for the most part, the planning worked. The first day we photographed five photos, the second 8. We had great efficiency and flow on Sunday, doing 8 images in about 6-7 hours. With the other 3 we did the day of the cover photo shoot, we now have 16 total, with about 30 recipes included in total.

The photographer, Pam, would check with me about which recipe we were doing next. We had chatted over e-mail about the elements of the recipes through the weeks leading up to the shoot, so she already had sketches and creative ideas of how she thought the food should be showcased. So, we'd talk about the recipe elements, and what accompaniments should go in and things I'd like to see in there. Then, Pam and her assistant set up the scene with the dishes and linens. She first took shots to get the angles and composition she wanted. Here she is setting up the scene for my Chimi recipe:

Then, we'd get the food ready on the plate. Here's Pam setting the plate with Gimme Chimis, Guacamole Con Alga Marina, and a simple fresh cucumber salad tossed with Cumin-Cinnamon Vinaigrette:

Here, Pam is getting the scene set for my Orange Sesame Tofu, Coconut-Lime Basmati Rice, and Simple Swiss Chard:

Speaking of Swiss Chard, I had hubby run to our farmers' market to pick up fresh organic chard and basil that morning. The chard was absolutely amazing! Pam even took a pic of it, she was so taken with it. It was huge, and so utterly fresh, I'm certain it was picked early that morning.

The girls snapped a pic of me affectionately looking at the chard since I had been yapping about how incredibly big and fresh it was. Note the T! Figured if I was freakin' out about how much I had to do that day, I needed to wear my Vegan Freak t-shirt. Get yours here. I also have a vegan.com t, and will have to show you that one soon.

I cannot wait for you to see the finished photos! They are beautiful. Pamela Bethel was the photographer, you can visit her website here.... oh, and you can get a preview of two of my photos on her website. Poke around, can you guess which two are mine?!

I must get back to edits, and will be back again soon. p.s. don't tell hubby I'm blogging today, he really wants me to take a break and relax. But I love sharing all this!

Talk soon... eat vegan, stay vegan!

Gone Swimming

In a sea of edits, that is!

I'll be back to you soon, but first I must attend to these edits so this book can get in your hands asap!

Will have some fun, behind the scenes stuff from the photo shoot to share when I return...