Tangy Rice with Kale and Tomatoes

I made some rice the other night and everyone wished for more. I'd only used a cup of dry rice, so the next night I made the dish again with two cups of dry rice, and there were leftovers, with a couple of comments that it had been better the night before. So I will tell you how to make a small amount of TANGY RICE WITH KALE AND TOMATO for you to start off with. 

If you do end up doubling the recipe, be sure to use just a little less water than you did for the single recipe, because that's where I went wrong. There just ended up being too much liquid and the rice got mushy. It was still very edible, though, and I enjoyed it in my miso soup last night; all need not be lost (or thrown out) when you make mistakes in cooking (except, maybe, too much salt or baking powder...and a few other things I'm not remembering right now).

Lucy's Butter Bean Soup and White Bean Soup

I asked my friend Lucy Boyce if I could include her recipe for White Bean Soup in this blog, and she said she didn't make a white bean soup, that I must be talking about Lucy's Butter Bean Soup. I checked back with the recipe I'd taken down years ago, and it just said Lucy's Bean Soup, but then said to use white beans. So. I will tell you her recipe, and then what I actually did, because my daughter Wren asked me to.

For the original LUCY'S BUTTER BEAN SOUP, have about a quart of cooked butter beans on hand. That would be about 3 cans worth, since she has you drain the beans. Butter Beans are a light brown tan small lima bean.

Breakfast Muffins

muffins with blueberries

If you have some leftover cherry pie filling, or if you have some other berries or fruit, you could make some BREAKFAST MUFFINS the next morning. Muffins don't take very long to make, and they can be baking while you are getting ready for your day. These muffins are nutritious enough for breakfast, although around here they get eaten throughout the day until they are gone. You will need a twelve hole muffin tin for these. It could probably also be baked as a cake, if you don't have muffin tins, but the baking time would be more like fifty minutes to an hour, whereas muffins bake at 350 F in about half an hour.

Cherry Pie

Yesterday was George Washington's birthday, so despite the unlikelihood of the cherry tree chopping story, I made a CHERRY PIE. We like pie in our family, so we don't need much of an excuse to make one. This recipe could be used to make any number of fruit and berry pies, and the crust is good for any pie.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the FILLING I used 3 cans of organic cherries last night, but 2 cans would have been enough for one pie. I will tell you what I did with the leftover cherries, later.

Scrambled Tofu and Garlic Toast

Last night I didn't feel like cooking anything very complicated, so I decided to make some SCRAMBLED TOFU. The good thing about this dish is that it is all in one pot, so there is an easy clean up afterwards. It also lends itself to various additions, so it is something you can make every week or so, changing the flavor if you want. We like having turn around days, with breakfast for dinner, but scrambled tofu is good any time, really.

The problem many people have with tofu is that it is white, flavorless and flabby. This recipe will solve all three issues. I like to make a lot of something, if I am going to the trouble of doing it at all, and having the leftovers in the refrigerator for the next day or two is a nice bonus, so I used three tubs of tofu last night. A person living alone could get two meals from one tub.

Miso Soup for the sick

When I say I have been a vegan for 35 years, it would be more accurate to say I have attempted to be a vegan for all those years. There have been some mistakes along the way, one of which brings me to today's recipe for MISO SOUP. I had been ordering it at Japanese/Chinese restaurants over the years, figuring they made it like I did at home; but they, it turns out, have fish in their base stock. So it is always good to ask, if you want to know, even if it does seem pesky sometimes.

One of my daughters brought home a friend this past week who was feeling a little sick, and she requested I make some miso soup. In our family, this is akin to chicken soup in its healing qualities. In fact, I can't think what the chicken adds other than fat and protein, and a certain flavor which no longer appeals to me.

Salad and Croutons

My name is Bethany, and I'm a vegan. I've been a vegan for 35 years now, as of 2010, and a vegetarian for a couple of years before that. You've never heard of me because I keep a low profile — but all that is going to change, starting with this new blog. (Ha, ha! 14 years later, my anonymity is going strong.) 

 

I've decided to answer the question "What DO you eat?" This is asked of many vegans when they state they don't use animal products. The short answer is: anything in the vegetable (and mineral) kingdom, within edible reason.  

 

But this blog is going to be more like the long answer. I will try to add to it from time to time, if I make something for the family that seems to be popular, or if I enjoy eating it myself.  I'm sure I'll add a lot of extraneous information along the way, so please bear with me. As many organically grown ingredients as possible will be used, so I will say that up front, rather than writing Organic, Organic, over and over. Read on for a meal of SALAD and CROUTONS.