Waffles for Christmas Brunch

Christmas at our house is not generally a big affair. Aar and I exchange presents on Christmas Eve night and celebrate both Christmas and the day before with special meals. This year, that meant gingerbread waffles and winter fruit salad when we got home from the gym.

This is the first recipe I've tried from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's book, Vegan Brunch. If you've read the front matter in her other books, you know that she considers herself something of a legend for serving outstanding brunches to her friends when she lived in New York City. If these waffles are any example, her claims are true.

I'm no food photographer or stylist and even my best waffles look as though I studied at the Salvador Dali culinary school, but still, they're delicious.

The waffles are redolent of cinnamon, cloves, fresh ginger, and molasses. They're not quite as crispy as waffles made with eggs, but I can assure you that the texture did not deter me from inhaling more than four of them (that's where lost count). Aar made a spectacular winter fruit salad containing apples, persimmons, pomegranate arils, clemintines, and banana and of course, the whole thing was doused in maple syrup. On the side, Lightlife's Smart Links. Every bit as good as their porky counterpart without laying a finger on a single pig. No cholesterol either! The whole thing adds up to a very merry Christmas.

The Wonderful World of Soy Crumbles

If you'd like to reduce the amount of meat in your diet, but aren't quite sure what to start with, try making a casserole using soy crumbles. As you might know, soy can take a lot of forms, including tofu, milk, burgers, and tempeh. Crumbles are just another permutation of this flexible, protein-rich bean.

Resembling ground beef in look and texture with a somewhat meaty taste, crumbles are a pre-cooked, no-cholesterol swap for the real thing that you can use in burritos, spaghetti sauce -- even shepherd's pie -- with absolutely no risk of E.-coli contamination.

One of my favorite ways to use soy crumbles is in Hungry Girl's Hot Tamale Pie. (Scroll a bit; it's the third recipe down.) It uses several convenience foods to their best advantage, delivering a delicious, quick casserole.

These days, most grocery stores, including Trader Joe's, sell soy crumbles. Among the makers are Morningstar Farms, Boca, Yves, and LightLife.

Health Magazine's Easy Granola

Making holiday sweets for my friends is something of a tradition for me, but one close friend, A., is diabetic. I don't want to interfere with her regimen by presenting her with sugary treats, so this year, I'm making her some granola. The oats, nuts, and seeds metabolize more slowly than straight white sugar and flour, so even though it is sweet (mine contains maple syrup, dark agave syrup, and dried fruit), it won't cause her blood sugar to spike.

I am a rabid recipe clipper and I found this granola recipe in Health magazine's October 2009 issue. It was contributed by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and you can get it here.

The beauty of granola is that no two batches are alike. This time, I put in walnuts, chopped almonds, and pecans. I also added sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds to the mix and a couple bags of mixed dried fruit. But you can use any fruits, nuts, and seeds you like. Pine nuts, hazelnuts, poppy seeds, raisins, dried apricots -- the sky is the limit and Jamie's recipe allows for improvising.

Granola isn't the only healthy sweet you can make for your loved ones. Bran muffins and banana bread made with whole wheat flour have also been a hit with my friends. And who wouldn't enjoy a gift card to Jamba Juice or Whole Foods? Have an oatmeal lover in your life? Make them a gift basket with a couple different kinds of oats (for example, steel cut and thick cut), a variety of sweeteners such as agave syrup and apple butter, and a sampling of exotic dried fruits. 'Healthy' and 'treat' don't have to be mutually exclusive terms!

Roasting Brussels Sprouts

If you don't like Brussels sprouts, you haven't tried them roasted. On the West Coast, they're a real taste of the season. Here's how to roast 'em:

1. Preheat your oven to 425F.

2. Select the best Brussels sprouts you can find. We found this beautiful stalk -- about three pounds worth of perfect, tight-leaved, deep green mini-cabbages -- at the farmers' market. To remove them, just pop them off the stalk. No sweat.

3. Prep them. To do this, first I slice off 1/16" off the bottom stem. Be careful, though. You don't want to completely slice off that stem because it holds all the leaves together. Having trimmed the stem, cut an X into the bottom. Two reasons for doing this: first, it allows you to clean the inner leaves. Second, by exposing the inside, it helps the sprouts to cook faster.

Once you've trimmed and X-ed the sprouts, wash them. Usually, I'm pretty lax about washing my fruit and vegetables; just a quick rinse and I'm done. Recently, however, I found Environne fruit and vegetable wash and now I swear by it. Environne can coax out the finest grit and the tiniest bugs without leaving any residue, taste, or smell.

So put a small squeeze of Environne into a large bowl. Fill with water and drop in the sprouts. Let them soak for around 15 minutes, then rinse well.

 4. Oil and season them. This step is simple and even fun! Put a tablespoon or so of olive oil into a large Ziploc bag. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill bag with roughly a dozen sprouts, close the zipper, then mush it around to coat those precious little globes of green.

5. Place the sprouts on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat. Put them into your preheated oven.

6. Bake for about half an hour, til the outer leaves have browned. Don't fuss over them. Just let them roast in peace. You'll be richly rewarded.

If you don't love 'em roasted, then you're incapable of appreciating this humble but delicious vegetable. Fortunately, you can use this method on any cruciferous vegetable. On Friday night, I'll be roasting some broccoli and cauliflower.

Hey Butterfly - You Won!

Congratulations to Butterfly, who won the Moosewood Restaurant Farm Fresh Meals recipe deck. The deck has 50 recipes organized by season. Here's the dish, cranberry bulgur pilaf, I made to accompany the stuffed squash I made for Thanksgiving. It's tasty, high in fiber, and has a lower glycemic index than most starchy holiday side dishes.

Cranberry Bulgur Pilaf
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 c chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
dash of salt
1 orange, plus juice to make 1/2 c
1/2 tsp. crumbled dried rosemary (1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh)
1 1/2 c medium to light bulgur
1 1/2 c water or vegetable broth
1/2 c dried cranberries, currants, or raisins, chopped
1 T soy sauce, more to taste
1 T lemon juice, more to taste
2/3 c chopped toasted pecans, walnuts, or almonds (optional)

In a saucepan on medium heat, warm the oil, add the onions and garlic, sprinkle with salt, and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. While the onions cook, grate the orange peel and juice the orange.

Add the rosemary, orange zest, and bulgur to the onions and cook for a minute, stirring. Add the orange juice, water or broth, and dried cranberries, cover, and cook on low heat until all the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. If the bulgur is still crunchy, add 1/4 c of hot water and cook a few minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir in the soy sauce and lemon juice. Add the nuts if you like, and more soy sauce and/or lemon juice to taste.

Quorn and Moosewood Giveaways

I like to keep the holiday spirit alive throughout the winter holidays, not just on the big eating days. Because I don't eat animal flesh or drink milk and limit how much yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and eggs I eat, I can party-up my meals without gaining a lot of weight. Sort of. (OK, so I'm dangerous around candy, ice cream, and baked goods.)

Anyhow, you'll find that going meatless during the holidays -- even at just one meal each week between Thanksgiving and New Year's -- offers infinite variety as well as a tasty, humane change of pace. Here's a 'chik'n' dinner I made recently that celebrates the season without going overboard on fat and calories.


Chik'n Nuggets by Quorn. I don't actually know what McNuggets taste like, but Quorn nuggets are simply delicious. The taste and texture is remarkably like chicken and the breading belies the fact that they're baked in the oven rather than fried. At 180 calories for 4 nuggets, this delightful little finger food is a calorie-watcher's pal. As to the dipping sauce, we ditched the ranch dressing, substituting jalapeno chutney for a more grown-up taste.

Cranberry bulgur pilaf. Bulgur (aka cracked wheat -- the stuff you use to make tabouli) plays an unexpected but welcome supporting role in this meal. The dish is seasoned with orange, rosemary, and dried cranberries. The rosemary is aromatic and a good foil for the sweetness of the berries. Note, though, that if you're making the dish ahead of time or serving it cold, you should add the rosemary immediately before serving. The flavor doesn't stand up to reheating or refrigerating.


You can have them both! I'm thrilled to offer one lucky reader an assortment from Quorn that includes a sample of every product they make! On the blog, I've reviewed their chik'n tenders, turk'y burgers, and now the chik'n nuggets and my taste buds stand behind every one. One lucky person will receive a sample each of their 12 products, shipped in coolers with ice packs to keep them cold. (BTW, Quorn products are meat free and soy free, but not vegan.)

I'm also happy to be giving away Moosewood Restaurant Farm Fresh Meals recipe deck, a package containing 50 of the Moosewood collective's newest recipes for every season. This is where I found the bulgur recipe. You'll also find dishes like sweet potato-stuffed eggplant, mediterranean orange and olive salad, and brussels sprouts with chestnut beurre blanc.

To have a chance at winning one of the prizes, simply register as one of Ms. Veggie's followers, then post a comment indicating so (don't forget your name, too). I'll choose two random numbers using random.com and the writers of the corresponding comments will share in the loot! I'll take entries until Saturday, December 5 at noon Pacific time.

The grand finale

Before the moment is lost for good, I have to tell you about my third and final Thanksgiving dinner.

We had originally planned to work and eat at Cafe Gratitude, who was putting on a free dinner in exchange for helping out that day at the restaurant. It sounded like fun, but cut into our gym schedule (shallow, huh?), so we were staying open to other possibilities, too.

On Wednesday night, to celebrate the four-day weekend, we went to a favorite place of ours, Merit Vegetarian, in Sunnyvale. The owner, Sam, recognized us from our many previous visits and came over to say hello. We told him about Cafe Gratitude and he mentioned that a friend of his in The City also owned a vegetarian restaurant and that he had been helping her prep for the Thanksgiving blow-out she was putting on.

Golden Era Vegan Cuisine -- located in the Tenderloin, just a short walk from our beloved Millenium -- offered a four-course vegan meal for just $25 dollars (that's half of what Millenium was charging)! And it was terrific!

We started with a savory pumpkin soup, flavored with a little curry and a lot of hot pepper. It was as smooth as silk. Non-dairy cream soups such as this one this never cease to amaze me -- how do they achieve such a glorious texture with no butter or cream?

From there, we enjoyed an entirely serviceable dinner salad with field greens, shredded cabbage and carrot, and a nicely tart vinegarette.



The third course was simply beautiful:

Faux meat fascinates me the same way that dairyless cream soups do; how do they do it? Nancy, Golden Era's owner, gave us a rough overview of how they made the faux turkey, but all I took away from it is that the outer skin, which tasted remarkably like the skin of a turkey, is made from tofu-skin wrappers. On my own, I surmised that the 'meat' was seitan (she said tofu, but it really didn't taste like or have the texture of tofu) and that the stuffing was regular old stuffing that would have been happy on just about any Thanksgiving table, vegan or otherwise.

Seitan, if you're interested, is the base of a lot of faux meat. It's made from something called wheat gluten. What that is and where one buys it I don't know, but it makes for mighty tasty fake flesh. But back to the dinner...

Being as I'm never one to shy away from dessert, I gladly took on the fourth course, a pumpkin cheesecake. It had the same tanginess of a dairy-based cheesecake and the spiciness of a traditional pumpkin pie. I feel certain that an omnivore wouldn't have felt that he was missing a thing.

Actually, there was one thing missing for me: the weight gain that invariably accompanies the day after Thanksgiving. My weight stayed exactly where it had been the day before. I didn't miss a thing!

BTW, we asked Nancy if they were planning a dinner for Christmas. She said they were considering it, but hadn't reached a final decision. So make a point of calling her (415/673-3136) and telling her to do Christmas dinner, too!