My Secret Ingredient: Nooch-ing

I bet money my "secret" ingredient is the number one mention by VeganMOFO bloggers. It's in most stores, but if you're new to plant-based eating you probably have never given it a second thought. What is it?

It's nooch to the aficionados, and nutritional yeast on the label. This unassuming yellow flaky substance will rock your world. But, no, really, what is it?!

Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast (not the stuff you use to make bread or beer) that you can usually find in the bulk or spice section (weirdly, sometimes also in the health and wellness section.) It's got a great cheesy, nutty flavor. And, it's often fortified with B12 (one of 7 vitamin that you cannot get from non-fortified plant foods.) 

Some easy noochy recipes:

• Popcorn. Make popcorn, add nooch, a little salt and earth balance margarine, coconut oil, or go oil-free. Ask anyone who knows my cat, he literally cannot help but stick his head in the bowl to lick up the cheesy goodness...after I'm done of course.
• "Parmesan" topping. If you're lazy like me, sprinkle the nooch straight on the pasta dish. You can make it more creamy and substantial with this simple recipe.
• Soups. The trick to minestrone is the parmesan rind with its salty, umami quality. Substitute in nooch and a little salt and voila! I add nooch to chili and any soup I want to have savory, mouthwatering depth.  

Have you ever tried nooch? What's your favorite recipe? 

www.veganmofo.com 

Impressive Plants

First, I do not engage in converting people's food choices. Food choices are personal and complex from family traditions to health needs. I know people that encourage others to be more reflective and make food choices that embody their values, and that's admirable especially when done from a place of empowering rather than guilting or converting. That said, I LOVE empowering someone who has made the choice to eat more plants by sharing my favorite recipes, restaurants, products and tips.

There are also times I want to cook for my omnivore friends whether they just became parents or I'm inviting a group over for dinner. My standard never-fail-to-impress-an-omnivore is this black bean and swiss chard enchilada casserole (recipe here.) I often make substitutions in the recipe from the type of vegan cheese used on top (my current favorite is So Delicious Dairy-Free Cheddar Jack Shreds) to the veggies (sweet potatoes, peppers, greens are all great additions.)

The casserole is made all the better by serving it with lots of mix-and-match toppings for a choose-your-own-adventure experience. Popular toppings to include: tomatoes, raw onions, cilantro, lettuce, vegan sour cream, avocado, salsa and hot sauce.

If you find yourself with someone who wants to eat more plants, but does not embrace vegetables or beans, this dish isn't going to work. In that case, I'd recommend almond ricotta stuffed shells with marinara sauce (check out Miyoko Schinner's amazing recipe here.)

Vegan Wedding Catering

We're celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary this month, so I thought it fitting to share a catering success story: our wedding!

My husband and I are foodies. When we began planning our wedding, we had the same challenge we have when we go on vacation: more food we wanted to share than meals in the day. The solution: We celebrated our wedding over a week of meals with close friends and family (some from out of town.)

We welcomed our out of town guests with Japanese sushi and grilled (robata) plates at Masu, and then whisked away the wedding party and moms for manicures at the Aveda Institute across the street.

Instead of holding a dance after the wedding, we opted to go swing dancing earlier in the week at the Wabasha Street Caves and fuel our dancing with Cambodian stir fry dishes from Cheng Heng. Their tamarind stirfry dish (chha kaim som) is my favorite with a sour, savory sauce served over peppers, onions, broccoli, pea pods, tofu and thai basil. My hubby's fave is the lemongrass and peanut stirfry (chha kroeng).

We had the wedding rehearsal dinner at our favorite date night spot, Little Szechuan, sharing green beans, spicy fried tofu, and more. We've celebrated our anniversary here ever since.

For the wedding day meal, we wanted an all vegan meal that all our friends and family would enjoy. Chowgirls Killer Catering is a local company that offers seasonal vegan friendly options. We did a taste test with my parents and a friend sampling a lot of the vegan offerings, and I'm glad we did! I was adamant pre-tasting that I didn't want a simple salad with green goddess dressing (vegans aren't rabbits!) I also thought we'd likely go with vegan versions of familiar foods like mac and cheese bites or meatless meatballs. In the end, we decided to go with classic delicious food that "wasn't too weird". Roasted veggies, dips and pates, root vegetable quinoa salad, and yes...that herbaceous, amazing green goddess dressing on a simple salad. They snuck it in our tasting, and I remember feigning displeasure at the hard sell on the salad, until I took a bite. The day after our wedding I was scraping every last drop of the leftover dressing on a salad.

Of course, what wedding is complete without the cake? We're fortunate to have an amazing baker at our local coffee shop, Groundswell, who really outdid herself with five vegan cupcakes: pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, banana with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache, champagne with frosted cranberries, spice cake with apple compote, and chocolate with chocolate ganache and a coconut macaroon. Our local baker beat out Chicago Diner and a local coop in our cake test.

Thanks for sharing this walk down memory lane with me, and if you're local I hope you'll support some of the amazing businesses that helped make our wedding week special.

Junk Food Fave: Taco Dip and Doritos

Growing up, taco dip was a staple at family functions. It was a given Pace Medium Salsa was involved, and the family was split on whether the dip should be served with Doritos or plain tortilla chips.  Here's my veganized taco dip recipe. 

You might be thinking the vegan version can't be served with Doritos, but you'd be wrong! Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos are vegan, and work just fine with the dip. You could also try Late July's Bacon Habanero chips (yep, vegan.)

I don't know if my taste buds are mellowing out in old age, but blue and yellow corn tortilla chips are slowly becoming the standard when serving taco dip. Hope you enjoy!

Pasta, again?

I admit I get excited when the vegan option is pasta with veggies (extra credit for a decent marinara sauce.) I mean I've had worse: steamed, unseasoned frozen veggies take the cake. And, I NEVER get hummus at a restaurant if I have a choice. It's the cliche choice for the plant eaters. I mean really, which one is more common: a black bean burger or hummus? Not to mention, half the time the burger is not actually vegan or vegetarian.

So, back to the pasta....it's a pretty decent option though light on protein and high on carbs. It's also probably a staple at home recipe for a lot of people. So, how can we change it up, amp up the protein and make it special?

1) Replace the noodles.
Cutting carbs is usually a good thing, but how do you do it without feeling like you're losing out? Baby steps and find what works for you! Eating traditional pasta today? Maybe try whole wheat or a lentil or quinoa pasta first. Two of my favorites: GoGo Quinoa Macaroni and Tolerant lentil pasta.

The quinoa pasta cooks fast and can get soft and break down in wet sauces/soups, so it's best for a dry pasta dish or pasta salad. I prefer the rotini shaped lentil pasta which holds up well to hot sauces, and doesn't have too al dente of a texture (like the lentil penne can have.)

Just play around with different kinds until you find what works. Some other options I've tried: Banza chickpea shells, Tolerant black bean penne, organic edamame pasta, and  House Foods tofu shirataki noodles.)

2) Pack protein in the sauce.
Tofu or nut-based cream sauces cut fat and cholesterol from traditional alfredo sauces, and pack a lot of protein compared to a marinara or pesto sauce.

Love the marinara? No problem. Add beans (kidney or cannellini are my favorites) or a faux meat (Gardein meatless meatballs are the best!)  Or, make your own cheesy topping of nutritional yeast and nuts to sprinkle on top.

3) Make it special.
So, the noodles or sauce are covering the protein, now what can you do to make your pasta dish special? Play with the sauce: 1) mix some pesto or fresh herbs with your marinara or alfredo, 2) mix the alfredo and marinara, 3) make it spicy with crushed red pepper, or 4) skip the sauce with a light splash of good olive oil or melted earth balance and lemon juice/zest.

Challenge yourself to add more veggies. I've found adding kale (or spinach if greens are not really your thing) is a great way to increase my veggie intake ... oh, and peppers, onions, carrots, eggplant, you name it! Keep some frozen veggies on hand so it's super easy to add them in. You can even turn the vegetables into noodles. Check out this recipe for zucchini noodles with pumpkin seed pesto and peaches for a refreshing treat:

What's your pet peeve veg dish?

A Good Ribbing

I'm a sucker for popular culture. It's brain candy - wasting time, attention, etc., but somehow amusing. In most cases, it's like being an anthropologist trying to figure out why it's popular when it makes little sense to me. Enter my momentary fascination with McDonald's McRib. This thing really is disgusting when you dissect its ingredients (like a hot dog), yet it's something of legend.

McDonald McRib devotees who use "McRib tracking sites" and have launched "Save the McRib" campaigns (clever McDonald marketing.) Simpsons played the craze homage by making Homer a ribwich deadhead. But how does it stack up compared to a comparable plant-based alternative?


via GIPHY

I compared the McRib to a vegan MorningStar Farms Hickory smoked BBQ riblet on a Food for Life whole wheat burger bun. Here's how they stacked up: 

Sources: MorningStar, Food for Life, McDonalds

Fewer calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium and more protein and iron in the vegan version. The vegan version was also higher in carbs, sugar and dietary fiber. Definitely not a health food, especially if you're watching your glucose or sodium levels.

Swimming in Cheddary Bliss

On Friday, I had to alert the staff I work with that due to a wind chill warning that could reach -40 degrees they should work from home, or at least take extra precautions if they chose to come into the office. This was the same weekend my newlywed husband was making final preparations to leave for a lifelong dream trip to Nepal instead of our Hawaiian honeymoon. I was in need of something warm and comforting.

Flipping through the pages of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Isa Does It cookbook featuring easy to prepare home-cooked 100% plant-based recipes, I found myself getting inspired. Then, I flipped to Cheddary Broccoli Soup and I was sold. 

I didn't have an immersion blender and I'm not crazy about pureed soups, so I left the veggies in tact, but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. The results was a delicious, satisfying soup I couldn't get enough of, and was literally scraping the last bits of the side of the bowl. So enamored was I with this soup that I mentioned it in a radio interview I did later that week.

The plant-based "cheddary" flavor is a mix of white miso, nutritional yeast and cashew cream. The miso has the slightly salty, mouthwatering effect while the nutritional yeast adds color and a funkiness you get from cheese. The cashew cream is velvety creamy with just the slightest touch of sweet that pulls the whole thing together. Seriously, you need to try this recipe.