Vegan Is Easy iPhone App

I admit that I'm fond of an ice cold beer in the summer. And though I'm not as fond of beer in the winter, I've never let that stand in my way. Some vegans and vegetarians, however, might be unaware that animal and animal by products such as Isinglass are used during beer and wine production. Here is a handy iPhone app from Matthew Feinberg that can tell you which ones might be vegan or vegetarian friendly. It does a search through the Barnivore Vegan Alcohol Directory. Very handy. Barnivore welcomes contributions from the vegan community as well. So, if you've done some checking on one of your favorite drinks, you can provide them with what you found. Drink up and enjoy!

Black Bean Enchiladas

Enchiladas are one of my all time favorites. The preparation tends to be a little messy and time-consuming, but if you can hang in there this an easy and elegant dish. You can soak dried beans over night, but I tend to use the canned variety.

Ingredients:

2 cups black beans
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin

6 tortillas
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of onion

For the beans:
Drain the (canned or soaked) beans and place in a medium sauce pan. Cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add the spices. Simmer the beans for about an hour, adding more water if necessary. You want the beans to be soft and a little soupy, so make sure you don't burn them. Once the beans are cooked, drain off about half of the water and mash them with a potato masher.

Heat one or two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan at medium heat. Add the beans and fry, stirring whenever a crust forms. Taste every so often and adjust the seasonings. The beans should get nice and crusty but not dry. Add a little liquid if it looks like they're drying out. They should be nicely fried and aromatic after about 15 minutes. Set aside.

For the tortillas:
In another skillet heat a teaspoon of oil over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt, cumin and chili powder. Add the tomato sauce. Once it's warm and bubbly. Take the tortillas and heat them them through once on each side. Don't cook them too long or they'll fall apart. You just want them to be soft and pliable. Set them aside on paper towels. Add more cumin and/or sauce as necessary until all the tortillas are done.

For the enchiladas:
Spread a large spoonful of the black beans over each tortilla. Sprinkle with a thin layer of minced onion. Finally add the cheddar cheese. Roll up and place in an oiled baking dish.

When all the tortillas are filled pour the remaining beans, onion or cheeses over the top. I actually used some leftover Havarti in the picture above. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, garnish with cilantro and serve.  

Marco Polo Didn't Go There

I picked up Rolf Potts' award winning collection of travel essays, Marco Polo Didn't Go There after reading an article by him in Afar magazine. Written over the course of the past decade for a variety of travel magazines, each carefully constructed story creates it's own little world and moment in time. Rolf's writing is humorous, wistful, thought provoking and informative. He comes across like a really smart and cool friend you hear from every so often who is off in places you wouldn't dream of going, and doing things you wouldn't do if someone paid you. Most of the stories take place in southeast Asia and the Middle East, which are very popular in vagabonding and backpacker circles. The 'characters' he meets reflect that mixture of past/present everywhereness we've become accustomed to in the Information Age where you might be a subsistence farmer with a cell phone or a rapper living in a rainforest. I liked his 'backpacker' perspective, as I'm not one, and enjoyed the artistic eye and literary sensibility he brought to his writing. Each story concludes with 'Endnotes' explaining what Rolf left in or took out and why: a sort of 'Behind the Music' for each story, which seemed oddly appropriate for the 21st century.  

Falafels

Peoria, Illinois, where I grew up, has a surprisingly large Lebanese population. Jenni and I used to love stopping at Haddad's restaurant on Main to get some home cooking courtesy of Mr. Haddad and family. Tabouli salad, hummus, pitas, falafels, really great stuff.

Falafels are a popular, protein rich, street food throughout Israel, Egypt and Lebanon. You can get mixes to make them, but it's easy to make your own from scratch.

The recipe below comes from Joan Nathan's book the Foods of Israel Today It was also posted on Epicurious.com

1 cup dried chickpeas

1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon salt

1/2-1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper

4 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon baking powder

4-6 tablespoons flour

Soybean or vegetable oil for frying

Chopped tomato for garnish

Diced onion for garnish

Diced green bell pepper for garnish

Tahina sauce

Pita bread

1) Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.

2) Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.

3) Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.

4) Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, or use a falafel scoop, available in Middle-Eastern markets.

5) Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Stuff half a pita with falafel balls, chopped tomatoes, onion, green pepper, and pickled turnips. Drizzle with tahini thinned with water.

Wideroe Dash8 cockpit view landing at Tromsø Airport

I was listening to This Week in Travel earlier today. On the show was commercial airline pilot, Joe d'Eon of Fly with Me.com. Joe and host, Jen Leo of the LA Times were talking about videos people have shot from the cockpits of commercial flights, showing take-offs and landings. I went out to YouTube and found a fair number of them. Some are pretty jumpy, as you'd expect, and might not be great viewing for those a little nervous about air travel. But if you've every been curious about the view from the front, they are kinda cool. Given it was in the 90's and humid here today, I found this one particularly engaging. It shows a landing in Norway.

Under the Tuscan Sun

A friend of mine is working his way through Italy: eating, drinking and looking at art. While looking at his posts on Facebook it put me in mind to pick up Under the Tuscan Sun again. I remember reading it years ago and wondering, how on earth does one buy a home in Italy, and where is this Tuscany I keep hearing about? Since then there have been numerous books about expats buying and restoring houses, eating great food and living la dolche vita. Frances Mayes has written several other books about her experiences in Tuscan, Italy, most recently Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life, but Under the Tuscan Sun remains something of a classic. When I first read it, I had recently become a vegetarian and was still trying to figure out how we were going to feed ourselves, let alone enjoy it. But Mediterranean cooking lends itself to a vegetarian diet: simple herbs, pastas, sauces, olives, nuts, edible flowers, just cooked vegetables; it's a great place to get your feet under you.

Ms. Mayes has a lyrical way of describing Italian cooking and celebrating her ingredients. There are two sections in the book containing her favorite summer and winter recipes. And peppered throughout you see how food influences life and vice-versa. It's worth a read for the aspiring vegetarian or the arm chair traveler.

Here's a link to a recent podcast where Rick Steves speaks with Frances Mayes celebrating 20 years since she wrote Under the Tuscan Sun.

Quiche Florentine

It's a little cliche to post a quiche on a vegetarian website, but this one is light, fluffy and delicious. To make it uniquely French you should use Swiss or French Gruyere cheese. I tend to add a little Parmesan too. If you have the time, make your own crust. It's far better, and many store bought crusts contain lard.

10 ounces fresh spinach, stemmed and washed
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
3 or 4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Crust
1 1/2 cups of flour
large pinch sea salt
6 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons of ice water

Prepare the crust by sifting the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Rub in the butter using a fork or your fingertips. When the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, bind it with water. Knead lightly on a floured surface until smooth. Wrap the crust in wax paper and chill for about 30 minutes before rolling out.

Blind bake the crust in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.

While the crust is cooking, blanch the spinach in salted, boiling water. Drain, chop and set aside. Saute the onion in the butter or oil until crisp-tender. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl and the milk. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, toss together the onion, spinach and the cheeses. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the crust. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the top. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until firm to the touch.

Pesto with Green Beans and New Potatoes

Before I became a vegetarian I liked pesto about as much as I liked Brussels sprouts when I was 10. But times change. Pesto is delicious. And you can make quite a few variations on the basic idea. I've used this recipe a lot over the years whenever I find we have too many green beans in the garden.



6 small new potatoes
3 cups dried penne or fusilli
3/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cup into 2 inch lengths
4 tablespoons of Pesto sauce (see below)
basil leaves to garnish


Pesto sauce
2 tablespoons pine nuts (or walnuts) toasted
2 cups of fresh basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt

Seven Essential Breakfasts for the World Traveler - Slideshow - World Hum

Seven Essential Breakfasts for the World Traveler - Slideshow - World Hum

Jenni isn't a big fan of breakfast, but I can't seem to get started without it. As soon as I wake up in the morning, the first thought that goes through my mind is, "What's for breakfast?" And it's no exception when we're traveling. There was the pain au chocolat and cup of coffee I had in a smokey Heathrow cafe on our first trip to London. The Turkish coffee I could stand a spoon in when we were staying in Budapest. The smorgasbord style buffet we had each morning at our hotel in Stockholm last fall. I remember those meals as much for the food as for what happened after they took my plate away.

Here is a link from World Hum. A great travel story website. On it they show you a few typical breakfasts from around the world. Not all are vegan or vegetarian, but that doesn't mean you can't change them to your liking. And remember what your mom told you, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Free Trip Planner and Personalized Travel Guide - NileGuide.com

Free Trip Planner and Personalized Travel Guide - NileGuide.com

Jenni and I are heading back to London in August. I was looking through NileGuides for some attractions we hadn't seen before. I've always been a big fan of guidebooks by Arthur Frommer and Rick Steves, and of course Lonely Planet. I have many scribbled up, dog eared and highlighted copies of well used, well loved guidebooks in our spare bedroom. Nile Guides extends that concept a little bit for the 21st century. They've curated information from sources such as Frommer's, Travel + Leisure, as well as content from their 'location based writers,' and serves it up interactively.' Nile Guides lets you create your own guidebook based upon where you want to go and what you want to do. You can print it, share it with your friends and family, and send it to your phone. You can even book your trip through them. And, of course they have an iphone app too. Best of all, it's free.