Vegan Month - Day 16: Black Beans Ordinary Night Dinner

I've done vegan trials before - and I have always loved them.

Mostly I've done 2 week stints in the past - this month long one has been easy because I've taken very specific breaks (all over wknds).  Saturday i had a dinner party with some college friends and I took a break for this Martha Stewart recipe as made by Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/05/marthas-macaroni-and-cheese/

If you like Mac and Cheese (or even if you don't...) you must make this.  It is as amazingly delicious as the blog implies... it was so good that my friend whose house I was cooking at and works in the food industry took the leftovers to his co-workers the next day and received so many compliments that he took credit for making it himself...

So, after a week of eating plant-based everything, this super creamy - melt in your mouth - totally fattening dish, really was worth the exception :)

But back to veganism... I would love to someday kick it up a notch and be full time vegan. But it's difficult. Mainly because most wine is technically not vegan... but also because my career as an event planner is often dependent on me knowing the food I'm serving, trying things, and occasionally traveling off to strange parts of the world where I don't have a lot of flexibility in diet.

It's also difficult in NYC where a lot of social life revolves around restaurants and non-vegans are usually not interested in vegan restaurants. Luckily a lot of NYC available foods have great vegan options - most asian is very easy - Italian, not so easy...

As I've also been going no-takeout for the month, I've been doing a lot of cooking.  The no-takeout has been hard. And I've had a couple of slip-ups - mostly 2 incidents that I insist aren't cheating - (1) I was at someone else's apartment and he ordered and paid for the takeout and (2) I had a ridiculously non-stop day at work on Wednesday with meetings starting at 8 am so one of my co-workers was nice enough to order me some (vegan) sushi.  The point was to get out of the habit of relying on takeout and I feel I am accomplishing that.

So what have I been cooking? Well readers (okay, mom, since I think you are my sole reader), I've been experimenting with a of great recipes - but also just throwing together pretty easy basics that I would eat even as a non vegan.  Making an elaborate tofu stir-fry (btw, you should make this - it's delicious!!!), isn't something I would often cook, but the following is something I cook alllll the time.

Black Beans Ordinary Night Dinner

This is obviously super simple and cheap!  Along with glowing eyes and skin, a slimmed down figure, and overall energy boost, inexpensive eating is one of the best by-products of eating vegan.  So here goes:

-Can of black beans
-1 Tomato (chopped up)
-1 Yellow Onion (halved and sliced)
-Pinch of Cilantro (chopped)
-Chile in Adobo
-Handful of Spinach

For serving:
-1 Cup of Brown Basmati Rice
-Tablespoon of Tofutti Sour Cream
-Small side Salad of chopped up Cherry Tomatoes, Cilantro, and Avocado

Saute the tomato, onion, half the chile and a teaspoon of the adobo sauce in olive oil for a few minutes until the onion is soft and translucent, add the clack beans and cook for another 2 minutes, mix in the spinach and saute all together for another minute or so.  Then stir in the cilantro and serve over basmati rice with the side salad.

This was plenty of dinner for 2.

The rice I cooked (to perfection) in a rice cooker - an amazing purchase that stands next to my new juice and high powered vacuum as the life-changing purchases I have made in 2014!

Event Planner at Home: NYE

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.

---From "We Need a Little Christmas" from the Musical "Mame" by Jerry Herman

I love the holidays.

It usually involves a lot of parties, dressing up in sparkly outfits, and channeling of the fab Rita Hayworth in Gilda:

It's almost popular to hate them... but I absolutely love them.  I am happy from Thanksgiving straight through to New Years Day.  

I love that we get a month of being over-the-top-fabulous.  I love the fact that you see your friends. That you see your family. That you have fun with your co-workers after working hard all year.  That every outing is all of a sudden festive.  I love the poinsettias and the lights all over fifth avenue and in the Manhattan restaurants. The romance - despite the cold and snow - fixes anything.  Fights with your friends, with your boyfriend, your job is stressful, well - it's okay... it's the holidays, have fun:) For Christmas and Thanksgiving, I'm lucky enough to get to take a cozy train ride up the Hudson River to spend those days with my fam in Vermont.  Possibly the best time in VT - fluffy white snow and pine tree dotted mountains - George Washington's eggnog, roast turkey straight from the farm, and an occasional fireplace.

Back in the city, NYE is, by extension, one of my favorite holidays.  What could be more fun than spending a night with all your best friends, wearing a sparkly dress, and living it up for a night in this glittering, beautiful city?

I've done many different things for NYE over my 12 years in NYC - romantic dinners at fancy restaurants with boyfriends, penthouse apartment parties, sang showtunes all night in dive piano bars, dinner with friends, and co-hosted a few parties myself.  This year though, a lot of my friends weren't around.  So - I got together with my little sis/best friend/roommate, and we hosted a couple of our very best friends for an intimate and cozy ringing in of the new year.  There was food, there was wine, there was champagne, there were friends - and we settled on the perfect movie - the '58 classic Auntie Mame.  The Comden and Green penned screenplay, based on Patrick Dennis' fantastic memoir, encapsulates all of the sophisticated ideals that we all want our Manhattan life to be.  The brilliant Rosalind Russell carries the film perfectly.  

So, for this year's NYE, I made a few fav recipes handed down from my Irish and Abruzzese mom, grabbed some great friends, and had a fab night.

Even if I was basically this in the AM:

So, anyway, here's the menu:

Appetizers:

(each combo held together with a toothpick)

Blue cheese and red grapes

Prosciutto and Melon

Caprese (cherry tomato, basel leaf, mozzarella)

Assorted meats/cheeses

Dinner: 

Vermicelli with Caviar

1 pound vermicelli

¼ pound butter

4 ounces caviar

Juice of ½ lemon

Cook vermicelli al dente. Have a large hot bowl at hand with soft butter in it.  Lift the pasta directly from its boiling pot into the bowl, draining it over its pot before forking it into the bowl.  It must be hot, and it must be al dente.  Have hot bowls ready. Now mix the caviar into the pasta in its bowl, turning well with wooden forks.  Add the lemon juice and toss again. Serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.

Dessert:

Ricotta Cake

Make own pound cake or buy Frozen Sarah Lee Pound Cake.Divide cake into four layers. Divide filling into three. Fill three layers. Frosting and almonds will go on the top.

Filling:

Ricotta—1 lb.

Confectioners Sugar—1/4  cup

Sour Cream—2 T

Strega –2 T (I couldn't find Strega so I replaced with Sambuca)

Chopped almonds—1/4 c

Semi-sweet choc chips—4 oz

Beat ricotta w/ sugar and sour cream. Add Strega/Sambuca. Fold in almonds, choc, fruit. Chill. Divide filling into three. Fill three layers. Frosting and almonds will go on top.

Wrap in waxed paper. Chill.

Frosting:

Semi-sweet choc chips—4 oz

Strong coffee—1/4 cup

Softened unsweetened butter—8 T

Sambuca - 1 T (I added this here)

Melt chocolate with coffee over hot water or in microwave. Blend in butter in small pieces a few at a time. Chill until it spreads without running

For decoration:

Slivered almonds—1/4 cup

Frost cake. Cover with almonds.

Here's a peek - festivities crammed into my little apartment:

Vegan Month - Day 6: Vegan Arugula Bowl with Chick Peas and Creamy Lemon Sauce

Less then a week into vegan month - and to combat what has turned into a very snowy and cold NYC weather - I've been cooking a whole lot of very hearty vegan recipes, such as this delicious mushroom stroganoff.  And a very tasty vegan matzoh ball soup.

I've been on vacation for 2 weeks straight (mostly spent snowed in with yoga pants and comfort food ... I even wore yoga pants on NYE... though I did manage a sparkly statement necklace...) I finally had to go back to work today.  It was actually good to get back to the office - I had been feeling stir crazy and I have a lot of fun events coming up for the spring.

So on this particularly rainy and grey Monday day (which is allegedly the most depressing day of the year), I decided to play around with this refreshing and delicious (non-vegan) California Barley Bowl from Epicurious.

So, we're going to call it, "Vegan Arugula Bowl with Chick Peas and Creamy Lemon Sauce."

Incidentally, having an apartment to myself is a rare luxury, so I also made it with one of my favorite old standbys - Rosemary Roast Potatoes (which is basically just tossing some yukon potatoes - cube into about 1/2 inch pieces - along with chopped up rosemary, garlic, sage, salt, pepper, and plenty of extra virgin olive oil).  I curled up to enjoy this, my favorite potatoes, a whole lot of cabernet, and the classic Otto Preminger noir, "Laura."

So... here we go:

Vegan Arugula Bowl with Chick Peas and Creamy Lemon Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1. Handful of arugula (2 cups)
2. Can of chickpeas
3. 1 cup of dried cranberries
4. Half a cucumber, chopped up
5. 1 cup mung bean sprouts
6. 1 tablespoon olive oil
7. 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
8. 1 avocado, chopped
9. 1/2 cup of Tofutti vegan sour cream (this is actually delicious!!)
10. 1 tablespoon chopped up scallions
11. 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
12. Juice from half a lemon

Directions:

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl.  Toss with the evoo and balsamic.  Top with the avocado.

For the sauce, mix together the final 4 ingredients. Use to top the salad when serving.

The whole dinner was totally delicious, super easy.

The year is going, let him go;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

--- From Lord Alfred Tennyson's "Ring Out, Wild Bells"

This year was a strange one - though aren't they all?  2013 held many unique adventures for me.  Work-wise, I travelled to Sundance, Miami Art Basel, the Venice Biennale, Rio (my first time in South America), and Palm Beach.  I hosted a private dinner on the roof of the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation in Venice, stared in awe at the Cristo statue on Corcovado, ate in a restaurant carved out of a mountainside that looks like a treehouse.  In my personal life, I turned 35, had my first serious and longterm relationship in several years, my best friend became a US citizen, my beloved cousin suffered and beat ovarian cancer, I lost friends, gained friends, I have friends that have still not recovered from the financial crash of several years ago, others that have had amazing career successes. I gained even more appreciation for my wonderful parents that forever love and support me, I found out how important all of my many homes are.  I learned a lot about myself this year and feel entirely ready to say goodbye to 2013.  I spent New Year's Eve watching Auntie Mame, drinking champagne, and eating caviar pasta with some of my favorite people in NYC (recipe to be posted later).

People make resolutions every year. It's a joke - for 2 weeks, we all hit the gym, but by President's Day, it's empty.... I often make nebulous resolutions, but this year, I'm making a few concrete ones... I'm taking it one month at a time, so for the month of January - here they are:

1) Eat vegan for the month of January (with several pre-planned breaks for specific events).

2) Not order takeout for the entire month (a high-stress job, cold weather, and NYC living make this a true challenge, but I am determined for my health and financial management to kick this habit).

3) Watch one Italian movie per week (I used to speak almost fluently but have let it slide terribly. Spending a week in Venice last year had me speaking like practically a native by the time I landed back home in JFK.    So this year, I want to do enough to at least keep the rhythms in my head).

4) Take a samba dance class (this is the wild card/fun resolution.  I kinda fell in love with this music in Rio and am determined to do something totally different - and heat up this cold, cold January just a little bit).

Ultimately, here are my thoughts on 2013... Bette Davis in All About Eve, "A-men"

So let's ring in the new...

Vegan Month - Day 5: Vegan Matzoh Ball Soup

One of my favorite parts of winter is matzoh ball soup, so during one of my vegan months, it was a no-brainer to work up a delicious vegan version!

Broth: 

Handful of parsley, chopped up

1 carrot, chopped up

1 yellow onion, chopped up

1 celery stalk, chopped up

2 cloves garlic, chopped up

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

2 quarts water

For the matzoh balls:

2 cups matzoh meal

.5 cup silken tofu

.5 cup self-rising flour

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp chopped scallions

For the broth: Saute the vegetables in olive oil in a pot until soft and translucent.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add 2 quarts water, bring to a boil. Simmer for an hour plus.  Strain out veggies and save broth for later.

Matzoh balls: Combine the matzoh meal in a bowl with the silken tofu, self-rising flour, chopped up parsley and scallions, a little water, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Form into balls (size of golf balls), and refrigerate for an hour so they solidify. 

Combine: Heat broth on stovetop.  Remove balls from fridge and let rest for 30 minutes. Dust with flour and pan fry for a few minutes in olive oil.  Drop balls in broth, simmer for 15 minutes. 

And serve!!

Note - when I made these, I accompanied them with Post Punk Kitchen's awesome vegan potato pancakes: http://www.theppk.com/2007/12/happy-hannukah-eat-some-latkes-for-me/