This ‘n that.

Apologies for the half-assed nature of this post, darlings. Since I’ve taken pictures of food we’ve made recently, I feel obligated to share them with you, my lack of photography skills be damned. Enjoy!

First off, three meals from Appetite for Reduction:


Smoky Tempeh & Greens Stew is a great example of a dish that I didn’t think would work, but it does. Splendidly. I was a little skeptical of the tomato base (wouldn’t it be like pasta sauce?) and lima beans (childhood dinnertime traumas), but when everything gets together, it’s party time. The greens are dealer’s choice, so we used kale. This is savory and satisfying, and prompted at least one, “Oooh, that smells amazing!” from a coworker. Cue impromptu tempeh lesson.


We don’t usually make multi-part meals, but this time we did, following Isa’s suggestions for complementary dishes. Here we have Broiled Blackened Tofu, Pineapple Collards, and Butternut Coconut Rice. The rice is creamy and satisfying enough to be a meal on its own, and the tofu is very tasty (I could have left it in the oven for another few minutes, but the broiler makes me paranoid). As for the collards—I love ‘em, and any dish that lets me eat pineapple out of the can while I cook is a winner. (P.S. You know I saved the leftover juice and drank it with some vodka later.)


“Are you sure you want that?” I asked Red when he chose Tempeh Helper for dinner. More accurately, I wasn’t sure I wanted it; nooch sauces tend to taste less like cheese and more like old socks, so I just avoid them. But we made it anyway, and lo and behold, it was yummy! So easy, too. I get what Isa was going for—that out-of-a-box weeknight goodness, with the powdered sauce packet that will still be good a hundred years from now and is probably flammable. Next time, we’ll add more peas. Or will that ruin the nostalgia factor?

From Vegan with a Vengeance:


Red wanted breakfast for dinner, so we made Fronch Toast and Tempeh Bacon. He has cemented his place in our household as tempeh bacon-slicer, because he gets the pieces perfectly thin and even in a way that I can never hope to. Knife skills, he haz them. And thin is definitely the way to go with tempeh bacon—the thinner the better, because then you get lovely little crispy strips of savory smokiness. Usually we make our Fronch Toast with sandwich bread, but this time we did it Isa’s way and used a baguette. Let me tell you: It’s tasty, but a pain in the ass to eat. Regular bread is easier to slice. If we never do the baguette thing again, I won’t miss it.

And finally, from 30-Minute Vegan:


This is the Monk Bowl, and it is super-delicious in that “I’m so healthy” way. Most of the 30-Minute Vegan recipes are like that, actually. I’ve never been good at baking tofu, but I tried it again this time, and it came out very well. It will never get as crispy as pan-fried tofu, but whatever, it’s less fat and much less work. To speed things up, we deployed some frozen edamame and a bigass bag of mixed Asian veggies from Costco. (I know, I know, Costco is evil and those vegetables sure as shit weren’t organic.) Topped with a splash of tamari, the Monk Bowl is good eating, even if it does have “I’m a damn hippie” written all over it.

Thanks for helping me clear out my camera! I’d promise you a more socially relevant post soon, but we all know it would just be pictures of Lucy and maybe some story about how I scandalized my husband by scooping mold out of the applesauce jar because the rest of it was still totally edible.

CSA Week 2: What the hell is mizuna?

This CSA delivery started off more auspiciously than the previous one, because we actually knew what everything was. There was a list this week, so Red was able to jot down what we had. That is how I learned that one of our many bunches of greens was a mysterious form of vegetation called mizuna. “Are you sure you wrote it down right?” I asked him, squinting at his handwriting. He rolled his eyes and proved to me, via the power of the Internet, that mizuna is a Japanese mustard green and not one of Godzilla’s lesser-known adversaries.

Forgive the plastic bags. I put everything away before realizing I hadn’t taken a picture for you people yet.

Perhaps fittingly, our mizuna found its calling in the wok, where it partied with some garlic, ginger, and beet greens. (Veganomicon’s Easy Stir-Fried Leafy Greens, in case you were interested.) Totally easy and delightful. I am not a particular fan of beets, so the beets themselves are still sitting in the Crisper, awaiting Red’s pleasure.

Arugula liked us so much that it decided to return for an encore. This resulted in one of my stranger culinary mash-ups thus far. I hacked a tester recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’ upcoming cookbook; there was no way it could be a valid test, since we didn’t have all the ingredients, but Red and I decided to ghetto it up and see how it fared. We ended up with a pasta salad (always a good start) with arugula, kalamata olives, and black-eyed peas, tossed with a sun-dried tomato-walnut dressing. It was unusual. Totally edible, but perhaps not something I would serve to strangers. Had I been able to make it properly, I’m sure it would have been a rousing success.

Orange bowl of doooooooom!

Continuing with the salad theme, next I made a strawberry salad from Becoming Raw. I think this is where the green-leaf lettuce ended up. (My confusion stems from the fact that we still have red-leaf and romaine lettuce chilling in the fridge—they’re a little tired, but they’re to meet their destinies this evening in a Caesar salad. SO MUCH LETTUCE.) It had an orange-poppy seed dressing that was really, really yummy. I could just drink the dressing, and it was so simple to put together! I dumped everything into a jar and shook it like a Polaroid picture. Now this was a salad fit for company.

Ain’t this some fancy-looking shit?

On Sunday, I moved back to the stove and made some seitan. I try not to order you guys around, because you’re here of your own volition, but you should really learn to make your own seitan. It doesn’t take too terribly long and it’s hella cheap, plus you can flavor it however you want. The seitan at the store is all slimy and expensive. Anyway, my seitan went into the wok with rainbow chard and spinach (minus a few leaves that dedicated themselves to pre-yoga hummus wraps) for Veganomicon’s Sautéed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach. It’s not Asian-inspired at all, but French; I just made it in the wok because that’s the biggest pan I have. I’m sure a French chef out there would die after hearing that, but life’s tough for all of us. We spooned it over mini gnocchi, but there was way more seitan and veggies than gnocchi, so now we’re eating the leftovers with rice. (No, I did not make the gnocchi from scratch. What kinda time you think I got?)

It looks like a mess, but it’s quite elegant. Kind of like yours truly.

Finally, it was time for kale. I love you so much, kale. You’re infinitely versatile and uncomplaining. I could take you out back and run you over with a truck, and you’d still be delicious. This lucky bunch of kale went into the wok for that fabulous Vegan with a Vengeance creation, the aptly named Garlicky Kale. You would never think that three ingredients—garlic, kale, and oil—could be so goddamned tasty. I didn’t even bother making the accompanying tahini sauce. Who needs it? I could have eaten that kale all day. Between us, we ate all of it with some BBQ tofu. Homemade BBQ sauce, what what! Alas, the victory was bittersweet, because there was no Twin Oaks tofu to be had at the hippie grocery and we had to slum it with some vastly inferior stuff. Please, Twin Oaks tofu, come back to me!

Natural light makes my photos suck less.

And there you have it. Just in time for tonight’s haul! This has already been a really good exercise in learning what to do with all these greens. Happily, the simplest explanation seems to be the best: stir-fry ‘em lightly, then chow down. I can handle that, though I think I might try a frittata from Vegan Brunch if we’re snowed under with leafy goodness again this week. Stay tuned!

CSA Week 1: So. Many. Greens.

Welcome to the inaugural installment of a new feature here at Chez Burnout, wherein I will regale you with our weekly CSA haul. Are you excited? Good.

Red and I bought a share from One Straw Farm, which is located about an hour north of us. They are lovely people up there and grow some really tasty food! Initially, I waffled on the idea of committing to a CSA: I wanted to support a local farm, but I really didn’t want to give up control of what we’d be eating every week. Who hasn’t looked at a pile of random produce and wondered how the hell to turn it into dinner? I’m used to picking recipes and then going shopping, not vice versa! Eventually, I got over myself and reasoned that it would be a good experiment in eating seasonally and would stretch my creativity in the kitchen. We won’t be getting any avocados, for sure. We got 24 weeks, kiddos, so strap in.

[Technically, this should really be Week 2, or Week 1b, since we had a surprise early delivery of a whole big bunch of strawberries two weeks ago. They were divine. We ate a couple pints, then turned another couple into a strawberry-coconut crisp (I hacked a recipe from Veganomicon). I highly recommend eating local strawberries whenever they’re in season where you are. There’s nothing like it.]

So. First week of our CSA, and what do we have? Greens. A massive boatload of green leafy things. Holy cats, there was so much greenery I thought it was effin’ Christmas.

Well, it wasn’t entirely greens:


There were some strawberries that clearly wished they’d been on the bandwagon two weeks ago. They were fine, but definitely not the luscious jewels we’d gobbled before. Strawberries, alas, are fleeting.

There was also a bundle of green freakiness that looked like Medusa’s hair as interpreted by scallions. These little devils turned out to be garlic scapes, also known as that part of the garlic that sticks up above the ground. It’s garlic hair, y’all, and it behaves like a garlicky scallion. Ours found their destiny in the Zucchini-Corn Fritters from 30-Minute Vegan.

The green chard was easy to identify, since I love it so. I knew exactly what to do with it, too: Veganomicon’s Fresh Dill-Basmati Rice with Chard and Chickpeas. This recipe is so good, I cannot stress it enough. I don’t know what it is about the lemon and dill, but they remind me of my grandma and it is one of the simplest, tastiest meals I have ever made. You seriously need to make it. Red and I could crush the whole batch in a single day if we were of a mind to.

Arugula! Oh, weird peppery-smelling arugula. What do I do with you? We didn’t really feel like eating salads all week, so we went the cooked route. Half the bunch went into miso soup, and we were delighted with the results. Arugula rocks in miso soup, guys! You don’t need any fancy seaweed or baby spinach—use whatever greens you have on hand, and your miso soup will be good. Shameless product plug for which I am not being paid: Twin Oaks Tofu is rad. It is rad in scrambles, stir-fries, and now miso soup. I’m sorry if you live too far away from the Virginia commune where the hippies make it, but we do not, and we reap the benefits of their hippieness. The rest of the arugula and tofu contributed to a stir-fry with diced zucchini and peppers, which then got together with…

…Red leaf lettuce for lettuce wraps! Man, these were a bitch. I officially hate lettuce wraps. It doesn’t wrap! I had a tantrum and made Red do the wrapping. Didn’t he do a nice job, though?


Only two more bunches of greens to go. After much consideration, we settled on turning the kale into kale chips. I was a little sketched out, because how good could roasted kale taste? It’s leaves, after all. But we reasoned that if our direst fears came to pass, we could chuck the whole batch into the compost bin and try something else with the next head of kale. I used this recipe; it took me twice as long to get the kale crispy and chip-like, and I added way too much salt because I was afraid of eating bland dried-out leaves, but they were good! The kale chips were declared a success by Red, King of All Snacking, and even suggested as a worthy accompaniment to veggie burgers in place of potato chips. A triumph.

The last bunch of greens was a puzzlement, indeed. I must have searched online for damn near an hour trying to sort out its provenance. Curly endive? That wasn’t it. Celeriac? The leaves looked right, but it terminated in thin stalks, not a bulb. Finally, by sheer luck and Googling “WTF is this vegetable,” I found it: dandelion greens. It was almost anti-climactic, but I was relieved to finally know what I had in my fridge. We had some leftover potatoes, and Google led me to Mark Bittman’s (Mr. “Vegan Until Dinner,” don’t get me started) recipe for Green Mashed Potatoes. I couldn’t tell if the dandelion greens added anything flavor-wise, but you can’t go wrong with mashed potatoes. I think I’ll have some after yoga tonight, actually.

And there you have it, my darlings—a recap of everything we did with our first CSA pickup. I’m anticipating plenty of greens for the foreseeable future, to be slowly replaced by more winter squash than I can roast, puree, or steam to perfection. Tell me: What are you doing with your seasonal produce, CSA or not? Together we will stave off local-eating exhaustion!