My Matchy-Matchy Meal

I grew up watching lots of Food Network (way back when it called the "TV Food Network"), and if there's one thing I learned, it's that meals should have "gorgeous color." When I was home alone in the summer, I'd concoct crazy meals in my mama's kitchen with way too much spice. And I'd say to my pretend audience, "Just look how the color of these green beans pops against the yellow corn." Sometimes, when I'm alone, I still pretend like I'm on a cooking show when I'm prepping meals (yes, I just admitted that). And I still brag about the lovely colors in my saute pan.

I also know that one's plate should contain lots of colors for the full nutritional spectrum (beta carotene, flavanoids, and all that mess). But tonight's two dishes violated that rule. My entree and my side veggie turned out almost the exact same color. I didn't even think about that when planning this very orange and tan meal.

My main dish were these Chickpeas with Carrots and Onion from The Natural Vegan Kitchen:

This is the sort of dish that doesn't need a recipe, but it has one magical ingredient that I wouldn't have thought to include without some direction from cookbook author/macrobiotic guru Christine Waltermyer — kombu! The flat, dark green sea veggie is simmered with the dry chickpeas, carrots, and onion, and after it sits a spell, the juice gets all thick from the gelatin-like effect of the kombu. Not like Jello-thick, though. More like cornstarch-thick, but without the gravy-like consistency.

My other orange and tan dish was this serving of Steamed Sweet Potato Melt, also from The Natural Vegan Kitchen:

It might look similar to melted cheese, but that gooey stuff on top is actually melted mochi! If you've never had mochi and love chewy food, this stuff is a must-try. It's a pressed rice cake that melts when heated and puffs up when baked in the oven. It's super chewy and delicious.

I must say though, this sweet tater dish may be one of the weirdest things I've ever cooked. Delicious, but weird. The potatoes are steamed in orange juice and then topped with a tahini-dill sauce and melted mochi. Strange as hell, right? But I think that's why I was drawn to it. I'm always attracted to dishes with weird-ass flavor profiles.

Anyway, I'm sure I got plenty of beta carotene from this meal, considering all that orange. Despite it's color-sameness, the two dishes complemented one another quite well.

Do you strive to get as many colors onto your plate as possible? Or do you also secretly have pretend cooking shows in your kitchen (I know I'm not the only one!)?

It's All Gravy

Everything tastes better with gravy on it. When I see "gravy" in a recipe title, the dish immediately gets pushed to the top of my very, very long to-make wish list.

But gravy doesn't have to be your typical white, Southern country gravy. I'm intrigued by unique gravies, like the masa-based sauce in this Seitan In Mexican Gravy recipe from The Natural Vegan Kitchen:

I reviewed The Natural Vegan Kitchen in yesterday's post, but in case you missed it, this new cookbook by Natural Foods Cooking School founder Christine Waltermyer features a nice mix of macrobiotic and regular vegan meals. I'm not sure where this dish fits in, but it's delicious.

From the picture, it's hard to tell what's going on in that bowl, so let me explain — tender chunks of homemade seitan are simmered with cabbage, carrots, onions, and garlic and then it's all enveloped in a thick, creamy masa-flour based gravy. Masa is typically used to make tamales, so just imagine a gravy that tastes just like tamales. Yea, it's super-yummy. I served the gravy dish over brown rice and topped it with a little cilantro and sriracha. Oh, and I had a little green salad with Annie's Goddess dressing on the side.

By the way, if you'd like to win a copy of The Natural Vegan Kitchen, head over to the Book Publishing Company's website to enter their giveaway. Click here to enter.

What food do you like to smother in gravy?

The Natural Vegan Kitchen

I've run into a handful of totally macrobiotic folks in my day, and I always ask, "How can you live without tomatoes or potatoes?" I'm sure its the macrobiotic equivalent to the annoying, age-old vegan question, "Where do you get your protein?" But I can't help but ask. I'm down with brown rice and mochi and all that, but I need nightshades in my life.

Thankfully for not-so-diehard macrobiotic food fans like me, there's Christine Waltermyer's new book, The Natural Vegan Kitchen. Much like Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, Christine's book combines the foods of a macrobiotic diet (whole grains, sea veggies, miso, etc.) with some regular vegan recipes made with whole foods. For example, Christine has recipes for the very macrobiotic-sounding Magical Miso Soup (think wakame, daikon, and shitake mushrooms) and the not-so-macro Mom's Potato Salad (taters, vegan mayo, the works).

As the founder of the Natural Foods Cooking School, Christine know a thing or two about delicious, healthy eatin'. She managed to cure her own health problems (recurring fibroids in her breasts) by switching to a vegan diet in 1992. I've tried a few recipes from The Natural Vegan Kitchen so far, and I'm really loving it!

Last week, I made her Tempeh Mock Tuna Salad and served it on pita bread with green leaf lettuce:

I've made tempeh tuna salad before, but Christine's recipe was very different from any other I've tried. It called for cooking the steamed tempeh with mustard and miso to season, and then mixing it with vegan mayo, pickle relish, and the other stuff typically found in tuna salad. So creamy and delicious.

Normally, I'd eat chips with a mock tuna sandwich. But after flipping through this book, I was in the mood for a healthier side. So I went with the very macrobiotic Stewed Nishime Vegetables:

This may not look all that appetizing, but OMG! So delicious! "Nishime" is a Japanese term for waterless cooking, and these veggies — cabbage, onions, daikon, carrots — are essentially steamed in a teensy amount of water with a strip of kombu. Then they're seasoned with miso paste. The result is a soft, sweet 'n' salty side that tastes like something someone's Japanese grandma made. I loved daikon before trying this dish, but now I'm gonna have to marry it.

I'll be featuring another Natural Vegan Kitchen recipe in tomorrow's post. But if you'd like a copy of the book for yourself, click here to enter the Book Publishing Company's cookbook giveaway. They're giving away quite a few vegan titles this month: Speed Vegan, The Natural Vegan Kitchen, Vegan In 30 Days, The 4-Ingredient Vegan, Becoming Vegan, and Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness.