Cooking Up a Storm

I always find it soothing to do a little cooking after a long, hard week. Here’s what I’ve been making:

Cashew “Cheese”

I’d gotten some goodies at Nuts.com, and I was excited to try out this recipe for cashew “cheese”. It’s not bad, but I think next time I will have to soak the cashews longer (I only soaked them for about two hours) and cut down on the lemon zest. The recipe makes for something more akin to hummus, and I think I was looking for something a little bit more neutral…so next time, maybe a splash of red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice, and then more nutritional yeast.

Chinese Mustard Green, Smoked Tofu, and Enoki Mushroom Sauté

One of the stands at my local farmers market has some great Asian greens, so I picked up a typical Chinese green and made an easy stir fry with a little seafood sauce for flavor (you could use black bean sauce for a vegan option). I think it’ll be really good with quinoa or farro as an easy lunch dish for the week ahead.

Braised Collard Greens with Onions

I braised these greens in vegetable stock, and I had some for lunch with the cashew cheese and some of the kobucha squash that I steamed. All three went into a naan for a delicious and satisfying wrap.

Roasted Kobucha Squash Seeds

I’m not one to waste the plentiful seeds inside my kobucha squash, so they got washed in a colander, patted dried, sprinkled with garam masala and olive oil, and roasted for about 12 minutes (with one toss in the middle). An easy snack food.

Now I’m in the middle of baking a tomato quiche using flash-frozen tomatoes from the farmers market and a recipe from the New York Times. Hopefully it turns out nicely. Of course, now I have ideas about making a vegan mac and “cheese” and a vegan chocolate shake…but clearly I have my work cut out for me, eating this stuff first.