One of my greatest pleasures is going to the Saturday farmer's market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. One of my new discoveries this weekend was purple kohlrabi which I found totally facinating shape-wise, and in color.
I found some turnips and some gorgeous heirloom carrots in a rainbow of colors. Isn't this bowl of root vegetables so pretty! I love the rich colors.
I decided to roast the vegetables at 400 degrees for 30 minutes with some olive oil, sea salt, and fresh thyme which I tossed in at the 20 minutes mark so they wouldn't burn into a crisp.
At the farmer's market, I also found this organic blend of greens from Marin Roots Farm consisting of Garden Cress, Chickweed, and Miner's Lettuce. I gotta say this green blend is now one of my new favorites.
For the salad, I sliced some of the roasted kohlrabi into smaller chunks and tossed onto a bed of the greens. I topped the roasted vegetables with almonds and crumbles of Cana de Oveja sheep cheese from Spain I found at Cowgirl Creamery.
I saved the rest of the roasted vegetables to eat by themselves as leftovers. So good for a hearty winter dish!
When I took this pizza out of the oven my parents thought the pie was made with real chicken and dairy cheese. Nope, it's vegan! I'm kinda proud of myself for finding a way to make the cheese look like real melted mozzarella. I shall share my secret in a moment.
One of my beefs (no meat pun intended) with most vegan pizza I've tried or seen is that the cheese doesn't look melted or tastes like you would imagine vegan cheese to taste. I've been doing experiments with different vegan cheeses, and this experiment proved successful.
This is only the second time I've ever made pizza at home. The first time was a disaster because the baking pan I used burned the outside of the crust and left the inside a bit gooey. This time I bought a pizza stone, and what a difference. I bought my stone at Cost Plus World Market for $12.99, and what a great investment.
My crust turned out fat because I didn't roll out the dough thin enough, but that's okay. We can be creative and call it fat crust versus thick crust like we did it on purpose. I like my pizza topping heavy, so as you can see I loaded up on the stuff. The crust is a darker brown because it's made with whole wheat.
This entire pizza is made with pre-made ingredients I purchased from two stores: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
Daiya also has a Jack Wedge which is another nice looking cheese that is white like mozzarella, but it doesn't have as much flavor as the Havarti. If you like mild, try the Jack. Although the Havarti has Jalapeno, the heat is really mild to almost non-existent, at least to me.
If you don't have a Whole Foods nearby, Trader Joe's also has pre-made pizza dough and vegan chick'n strips. I really like the Beyond Meat Chicken because it shreds like real chicken. With the barbecue sauce, the Beyond Meat Chicken comes very close to the taste and texture of real chicken. Remember my Beyond Meat chicken salads?
I used the coconut flour instead of wheat flour to help roll out the dough and to make shreds with the Daiya Havarti wedge because loose wheat flour can burn. Cornmeal is also recommended.
Here's the secret to making my melty looking vegan cheese. I combined two different vegan cheeses, the Trader Joe's vegan mozzarella and the Daiya Havarti wedge which I turned into shreds. Daiya does make mozzarella shreds, but I do not care for the taste and I don't like how it melts. The Trader Joe's vegan mozzarella by itself doesn't melt that great in my opinion and is not that tasty.
When you mix the Daiya and Trader Joe's cheese together some magic happens!
The trick to making Diaya Havarti shreds
I tried making shreds with the Daiya Havarti wedge straight on a handheld cheese shredder and it was a disaster because the havarti is too soft and clumps so you end up with a sticky ball. What works better is to cut about a 1/4 of the whole wedge, coat it with some coconut flour or cornmeal, and put the wedge into the freezer for about 90 minutes so the cheese hardens but is not rock solid.
The semi-frozen havarti will now make some nice shreds that won't stick together. As you shred, periodically stop and sprinkle some of the coconut flour on the shreds and mix them around so the shreds coat with the flour. This will help prevent the shreds from clumping together. In a bowl, blend the Trader Joe's vegan cheese and Daiya Havarti together.
An important point about the cheese
Save the shredding of the Daiya Havarti until the very end. Rolled out your pizza dough to your desired pizza size, and top your pizza with the BBQ sauce, Beyond Meat Chicken, mushrooms, red onion, and basil. Blend the TJ cheese and Daiya Havarti together and top at the very end because the Havarti will warm up fast and start clumping together. The key is to keep the Daiya as frozen as long as possible.
I baked my pizza on the stone for 15 minutes at 450 degrees rotating the pizza about 90 degrees every five minutes. Another good tip is to pre-heat the stone for about 10 minutes before you put your pizza on top of it.
Now that I have discovered a cool way to make melty looking vegan cheese on pizza, I cannot wait to try other flavor combinations. Are there any tricks you've used to make melty and better tasting vegan cheese for pizza?
For Meatless Monday, go spicy garlic eggplant at your favorite Chinese restaurant. I usually get my dish mild to medium, but if you are feeling adventurous go for the heat. At one of my favorite local Chinese restaurants, I'll ask them to add tofu or broccoli to my eggplant for some additional protein or veggies.
One of my favorite pre-made salads in the deli section of Whole Foods is their Autumn Couscous salad made with Israeli couscous.
I love the pearled Couscous as it reminds me of Asian pearl tea drinks. I also love the butternut squash and dried cranberries for a sweet flair. I couldn't find a recipe online but the ingredients are basic so you could easily make up a version at home.
One of my favorite Thai dishes is Pad Thai! What's cool is that Pad Thai can easily be made vegan or you can get it vegetarian with scrambled egg in it.
For Meatless Monday, go to your favorite Thai restaurant and order Tofu Pad Thai or if you are avoiding soy, ask them to replace the tofu with eggplant, broccoli or string beans.
I found this recipe for Farro, Butternut Squash and Cranberry Pilaf in Rachael Ray's magazine, and it's a fantastic hearty dish. I used pre-cut butternut squash from Trader Joe's. The pumpkin seeds not only add a nice crunch but also protein.
Farro has a nutty flavor and is similar to wheat berries in texture. This pilaf is great as a side dish or main dish, and is vegan and soy-free.
I loved it! This pilaf is one of my new fvorite staples.
At one of my local Whole Foods, they were sampling Fava brand fava bean hummus and I fell in love with their hearty Roasted Red Pepper fava hummus. I've never had a hummus made with fava beans before. I was easy to convince to try it because I have an affinity for Roasted Pepper flavored hummus.
Silence of the Lambs made fava beans with chianti thrilling, but no need to fear here with this hummus. Fava beans are nutrient-dense, high in fiber, and high in protein. From Livestrong, here are some of the health benefits of fava beans.
I love beets but cooking them from scratch can be a great deal of work because of peeling the rough skin of the beet.
I happened to be at Walmart the other day and in the grocery section, I saw boxes of Melissa's Peeled Baby Red Beets and thought how wonderful- no cooking! These beets are trimmed, peeled, and steamed so they are ready to eat. Melissa's beets are also void of additives and preservatives. It's just beets.
Even though the beets are pre-cooked, I roasted them a little bit in a little olive oil and sea salt for about 7 minutes at 400 degrees. While waiting for the beets to cool down. In a large bowl, I massaged half a bag of Trader Joe's organic arugula with a couple tablespoons of Brianna's Blush Wine vinaigrette.
I tossed in the cool beets along with some toasted walnuts. This dish is vegan, soy-free, and gluten-free.
Last week at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer's Market, I discovered a new green I never heard of called Ruby Streaks Mustard Greens, and wow, I LOVE this vegetable!
The texture is much like Frisee. The purple streaks are really cool, but what blew me away was the flavor. This Mustard Green has this incredible hint of wasabi taste without the heat. I mixed the Ruby Streaks with arugula and just added some basic salad toppings from the Whole Foods salad bar for a fun lunch salad.
As far as health benefits, compounds found in mustard greens provide special support for three body systems that are part of cancer prevention: 1) detox 2) antioxidant, and 3) anti-inflammatory. [via Ecopia Farms]
I'm glad I got a big bag of the Ruby Streaks Mustard Greens because I ate it all. This mustard green is one of my new favorite vegetables. Definitely try it!
You know I'm all about easy. This risotto dish was made entirely from a box and salad bar fixings.
The risotto is Lundberg brand Organic Florentine Risotto. This risotto is vegan. You could easily use another one of the Lundberg risottos to make a vegetarian meal. I would pick the Butternut Squash Risotto.
I followed the instructions on the box except used only 3/4 of the seasoning packet to help cut down the sodium, and used 1-1/2 cup of vegetable stock and 1 cup of rice milk instead of 2-1/2 cups of water. The vegetable stock and rice milk add some flavor and creaminess.
From the salad bar at one of my local Whole Foods, I got about 1/3 cup of mushrooms, 1/3 cup of peas, and a handful of the pea shoots. I love the salad bar because everything is already pre-cut. Trader Joe's also sells pea shoots in their vegetable section. Check you local natural food stores for pea shoots as well.
When the risotto was done cooking and I took the pan off the burner to cool, I mixed in the peas and mushrooms because they don't really need to be cooked. I added the pea shoots as a decoration when plating the risotto.
Voila! Quick and easy risotto with lots of beautiful vegetables.
