Popcorn made on the stove

Life has been extraordinarily busy for me lately and I feel like I have little time to focus on food. It’s sad, really, because I have been getting such interesting produce in my CSA box. I just don’t have the time to cook the eggplant or celery root, and as a food blogger that is a hard thing to swallow. The reason, of course, is I get things I don’t normally cook with and all I want to do is make something and share it with you! I’m thanking my lucky stars that this madness is only temporary and eventually I’ll be able to get back to cooking (and posting) more regularly.

The other night I grabbed my camera, and decided that a good post to share with you would be on how to make popcorn on the stove. I’ve only made it this way three times, and I am completely sold. For years, even growing up, I have made popcorn in a popcorn popper, and while that’s great, I’ve discovered that popcorn done on the stove lends a more nuanced flavor. The way that this popcorn is done means that you don’t need to add extra butter or salt once popped – just sprinkle on a few of your favorite seasonings and you’ve got a tasty and well balanced bowl of popcorn.

How to Make Popcorn on the Stove
This recipe is based on the Perfect Popcorn Recipe from Simply Recipes

• 2 tablespoons canola, peanut or grapeseed oil (high smoke point oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup popcorn kernels (try to use organic)
• Additional seasonings to taste

In a large saucepan (about 3-quarts), add your oil, salt and two or three kernels, then cover and put your stove on medium heat. When your kernels pop, you’ll know that your pan is hot enough to take the remaining kernels.

Note: I have tried using oil with a lower smoke point (sesame oil, specifically), and it works, but it does make the kitchen smoky if you’re not careful!

Adding oil, salt and a few kernels

Add the remaining kernels, and remove from heat for about 30 seconds. This allows all of the kernels to be brought up to the same temperature and makes it so they are all more likely to pop.

Adding the rest of the kernels to the pan

Return to the heat source, cover with a lid. Make it so the lid is partially cracked so that the steam can escape. Every once in a while pick up the pan slightly and shake back and forth so that your kernels do not burn.

Shaking allows the kernels to move around and not get burned

Pretty soon, your popcorn will begin popping. Continue to shake periodically because the popped corn is more likely to burn on the bottom of the pan.

Finally - it's starting to pop!

Once there are about two or three seconds between each pop, turn off the stove and take the pan off of the heat. It will still continue to pop for a few seconds, but it’s pretty much done at this point.

You can add melted vegan butter and additional salt if you like, but I have found that the oil and salt that I used to pop the kernels is sufficient. I just like to mix in a little bit of nutritional yeast, and sometimes a pinch or two (or three) of cayenne pepper to give it some heat.

I've added nutritional yeast to this batch of popcorn

Do you ever make stove-top popcorn? What are your favorite seasonings? And do you have a favorite oil?

Yummy popcorn!

P.S. Here’s a great little video showing these steps in action.

A happy accident

Imagine the following scenario – you’re partway through cooking a standby recipe that calls for standby ingredients that you always have in your kitchen. Except, when you go to add that one ingredient you realize that you’re either going to have to turn off the stove or the oven, drive to the store and buy that vital missing link or you’re going to have to get creative. This is what happened to me a few weeks ago and I’m actually pretty glad, because it turned me on to a new version of an old recipe I’ve been making for at least ten years.

I make lentil soup pretty frequently, and I have never altered the recipe. I’ve pretty much been making the same recipe over and over and over, and couldn’t have been happier with the results. All you need is lentils, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, a can of tomatoes, a couple of bay leaves, some salt, a little oil and enough water you’ve got a hearty and delicious soup in about half an hour or forty-five minutes.

On that fateful day a few weeks ago I had all of those ingredients except for the can of tomatoes. This soup needs tomatoes. It begs for tomatoes. It just doesn’t make sense without tomatoes. I literally stood at the pantry with a quizzical look on my face for at least a minute or two wondering how on earth I was going to fix this dilemma when I spied a can of salsa.

You have to realize that I don’t like store-bought salsa all that much. I much prefer freshly made salsa with all fresh ingredients, but recently I’ve been on a chipotle kick and have been enjoying the chipotle salsa from Trader Joe’s. I grabbed the jar in my pantry, thought “Why not? I make this all the time, so what’s one bad batch of soup if this doesn’t work?” I added in a few tablespoons, then I threw caution to the wind and dumped the whole thing in there. That plus a can of corn, and I knew that this was truly a great solution to my kitchen dilemma.

Southwestern Lentil Soup
This makes enough to serve about four people.

• 1/2 pound dry lentils, sorted and rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
• 2 or 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• Water
• 1 16-ounce jar of your favorite salsa (i.e. Trader Joe’s Garlic Chipotle Salsa) or 1 16-ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1 16-ounce can sweet corn or 1 10-ounce bag frozen sweet corn

Ingredients for a southwestern style lentil soup

Sort and rinse your lentils, then put in a large cooking pot. Add water to about an inch above your lentils. You may need to add more water later, which is fine. Add your salt, oil and bay leaves and turn on the heat to medium-high.

First steps in making lentil soup

Chop up your onions and garlic.

Chopped onions and garlic

Add the onions, garlic and frozen corn to your soup and stir everything together.

Adding ingredients to vegan lentil soup

Allow it to cook for a few minutes, then pour in the jar of salsa (or can of crushed or diced tomatoes).

Adding salsa to the lentil soup

Allow the soup to simmer, and stir occasionally. At this point you’ll want to turn down the heat to about medium so that the liquid will not evaporate more quickly than the lentils have time to cook.

After about twenty minutes check the lentils to see if they have cooked through. You want to be sure that they are soft but not mushy. The liquid may have still cooked off a little bit, so you may want to add an extra cup or two to make sure it is still soupy.

Vegan lentil soup

Once the soup is done, discard the bay leaves (don’t eat them), then serve with vegan buttered bread or toast or with tortilla chips. For a creamier soup, add about a tablespoon of Vegenaise to an individual serving of soup.

Southwestern lentil soup

Do you make lentil soup? If so, how do you enjoy making it?

P.S. Check out my new vegan community on www.Lunch.com, Vegan Living. I am going to be sharing more about this in a future post, but wanted to let you in on the secret a little bit early.

This is another post in a series focused on how to be more frugal in the kitchen. Recession or not, it’s a great feeling to know that you can create good homemade food for less.

I love pocket pita. I love dipping it in baba ghanoush or hummus, and I love cutting it in half and filling it with avocado and sprouts for a simple, yet delicious sandwich. I usually buy pita at the store, but lately I’ve decided to start making my own to save money. Not only that, it’s actually kind of fun to make pita because of how interesting it looks as it puffs up in the oven.

This is so easy that you’ll probably wonder why you haven’t gotten around to making it at home yourself. Sure, not every single pita puffs up the way you may hope, but it’s fresh and still tastes really nice.

The recipe I’ve been using comes from The Fresh Loaf, and has extra info and pictures that you may find helpful. I’ve replaced the non-vegan ingredients with vegan ones.

Pita Bread
This recipe makes 8 pitas

• 3 cups flour (white or whole wheat, or a mixture of the two is fine)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar or agave nectar
• 1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil, vegan butter, or shortening

If you are using active dry yeast, follow the instructions on the packet to activate it. Otherwise, mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar.

Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a spoon.

All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water (I had to add an extra 1/4 cup).

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, such as a cutting board, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.

(The purpose of kneading is to thoroughly combine the ingredients and to break down the flour so that the dough will become stretchy and elastic and rise well in the oven. A simple hand kneading technique is to firmly press down on the dough with the palm of your hand, fold the dough in half toward you like you are closing an envelope, rotate the dough 90 degrees and then repeat these steps, but whatever technique you are comfortable using should work.)

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

Here you can see that it has approximately doubled in size.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it’ll be easier to shape.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough.

You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes.

It should start forming bubbles after about a minute of baking.

This one has awkwardly puffed up, so this one will likely be used for dipping in hummus.

This one has puffed up perfectly. I can cut this one in half and use it to make a sandwich by filling it up with hummus, avocado and sprouts.

If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, but it isn’t necessary.

Let’s figure out how much I’ve saved by making this at home.

I’ve grabbed all the following prices off of a random grocery store’s website I’ve found online. The final price may vary for you, but this should give you a general idea of how much you can save.

In my calculations below I am only including the cost of the flour and the yeast. The other ingredients are so minimal that it would be hard to figure out exactly how much they add to the cost of individual pitas. If you think it would be more accurate you could add on a few cents.

A package of store-bought pita costs $2.39 for six pitas, effectively making each pita cost $0.40.

One five-pound bag of flour contains 20 cups (thanks Google!). Whole wheat flour costs $3.19/five-pound bag (I believe it actually costs more than this at my local grocery store, but I don’t think it’s gone beyond the $4 mark yet), and all-purpose white flour costs $3.69/five-pound bag. So to figure out the cost of one cup of flour, you’d do $3.19/20=$0.16. A packet of yeast, which contains three sections of yeast, costs $2.59. Each section costs $0.86 ($2.59/3). I used one section in this recipe.

This recipe ultimately costs $1.36 for eight, but let’s compare the cost of a package of six pitas to the cost of six homemade pitas (assuming that we’ve used the same recipe to make six larger pitas as opposed to eight smaller pitas). I’ll show how much this would cost depending on a few different flour mixtures.

It’s amazing how much you can save by making your own pita at home (and you may be able to reduce the price even further by using natural yeast). The first time or two is a little time consuming, but once you’re used to making them it can go really fast. The thing to keep in mind is that you will need to make sure that you have time to make these since it does have rise time, plus the time it takes to bake them. I can usually bake two at a time, but since it only takes three minutes to bake them, the entire baking time is less than 20 minutes.

Do you make pita? Do you make it any differently? And how do you eat it?

The weather in New York is being a bit cranky. A couple of weeks ago we had early summer weather, but this past week was more like mid-spring. Today it’s warm again, and only time will tell if it stays. Since we’re in this in-between stage, it only seems appropriate to have a few last bowls of soup to warm ourselves up.

It has been a while since I have made barley soup, and after realizing I had the makings of it in my cupboards I decided that would be today’s project. The nice thing about this soup is that it is so easy to make that it takes hardly any effort. Chop up a few vegetables, toss in some barley, water and spices and you’re pretty much done. The result is a filling, yet mild soup.

Barley Soup

• 1 8-oz pkg. button or white mushrooms, chopped
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 3-4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. Chicken-style seasoning or vegetable-based seasoning (to make the water more broth-like)
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry barley

Chop up all of your vegetables. I like to chop my mushrooms into quarters if they are small enough. This makes them a little more meaty, but you can slice your mushrooms however you like.

Heat up your oil in a large pot and throw all of your vegetables in with your spices. Sauté for a few minutes (about 7-10 minutes).

Add the water and barley, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is at the boiling point lower the heat and let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir the soup occasionally. Taste test the soup once you are close to the end to make sure the barley is as tender as you like. It all depends on how chewy you like it. Serve.

I like this soup because it is really so simple – mainly because it does not have too many spices or vegetables. I like it as well because the barley lends a little bit of creaminess to the soup. For a vegan it’s nice to have a bit of creamy every now and then without the guilt of extra calories that soy milk (or almond or hazelnut or…or…or) brings.

Perhaps next week I’ll be begging the weather for mercy and wishing for cold weather. Until then, though, I’ll be cozying up to my barley soup.

That night, Alex cooked me my Last Supper. My last healthy meal for a month. I looked at that fresh tossed salad, the vegetable tart, the quinoa and red pepper salad, and bid fresh greens and veggies a fond adieu.

-Don’t Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock

I first saw Supersize Me, a documentary film by Morgan Spurlock, a couple of years ago or so. It was both comedic and disturbing at the same time. On the one hand you had a guy making fun of McDonald’s and himself, but on the other his health was quickly going downhill – all because he was eating a very poor diet which consisted of 100% McDonald’s.

This book picks up where the film left off. It filled in a lot of the blanks, and continued to make the case for not eating a diet of mostly or only (or really any) fast food. His humor still shines through, and I enjoyed his sarcasm. I don’t feel like I truly learned anything new about the food industry, but I was reminded of the reasons why I very infrequently consume fast food.

I had every intention of making a vegetable tart based upon Morgan’s Last Supper (the supper before the self-imposed month-long McDonald’s binge), but as I was rummaging through our cupboards and refrigerator last night I decided to shift gears and make a stir fry. As I was making it I thought – this could do justice as a last meal. I’ve got veggies, tofu, and brown rice – all common staples of a vegan diet. Alex would possibly approve.

Veggie & Tofu Stir Fry

• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 Tbsp. white sugar
• 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 1 package firm or extra firm tofu, drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup edamame, shelled
• 1 small can water chestnuts, sliced
• 1/2 cup cashews, rinsed
• 1-2 sheets nori, cut into narrow strips
• oil for frying
• Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or soy sauce

Cook the brown rice according to package directions. I use a rice cooker, which makes the process easier in my opinion.

While the rice is cooking, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Slice the tofu into cubes, and put into the skillet. If the tofu is still moist/wet you will need to be careful to not burn yourself. Cook the tofu on medium to high heat. You will want to make sure that the tofu gets a little brown on most sides, which may take up to 10 or 15 minutes.

Once the tofu is at a good stage, lower the heat to medium and add the chopped onion, sliced water chestnuts, and edamame (if it is frozen edamame you may want to boil it first, drain, and then add it to the skillet). You can also add in the cashews now, or you can toast them first (either by toasting them carefully in a skillet or for a few minutes in a toaster oven). Stir every few minutes to make sure that nothing is sticking or burning. Stir in the nori strips at the very end of the cooking process, when you feel that everything is cooked to the amount you like (I like my onions to still be a little firm so I tend to stop cooking sooner rather than later).

When the rice is done, you can either choose to eat your stir fry with rice now, or you can make your rice a little sticky. To make your rice sticky you can sprinkle the sugar and vinegar on top and then using a regular or rice spatula work the rice around for a couple of minutes until it gets to the sticky-stage you like best. There are better ways to make sticky rice, and many people will tell you that brown rice is not the best to use for true sticky rice – but we like our lazy and easy method pretty well.

Serve the stir fry on the brown rice. You can add your Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or soy sauce either during cooking or later while you are eating it. To reduce the sodium intake it is probably best to add it to your food at the table. We also like to put a bit of asian red pepper paste on it as well for a little bit of a kick.

We make stir fry probably once every few weeks. We used to make it a lot more often, but lately we’ve been getting into the habit of eating other things instead. Last night’s stir fry was inspired by other blogs as well as meals I’ve had at restaurants. It really depends on what we have on hand, and what we like. My enjoyment of this meal was no different than other stir fry meals, and I can’t imagine having to give up good homemade food like this for a month.

Vegan Dinner Rolls

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I wound up using only white flour.)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. yeast (or one small package)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• Egg substitute to equal 1 egg (I used Ener-G)
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• Melted butter (Optional; I did not use this.)

Mix 1 cup flour with the sugar, yeast and salt. Stir in warm water, egg substitute and oil. Beat until smooth (this will be very runny). Cover with a hand towel and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Stir in remaining flour and knead for about three minutes on a floured surface. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Divide dough into 12 rolls and arrange in a greased baking pan or muffin tin. Cover and let rise another 15-20 min.

Optional: brush tops with melted margarine. Bake at 425 degrees F for 8-10 min or until slightly brown.

While these were mostly good, I admit that I wasn’t totally satisfied with this recipe. The recipe had been highly rated, and typically I have good results with recipes that have a lot of good feedback.

First off, they should have stayed in the oven for longer. They look very toasty in the pictures, but that is because I put them in the toaster oven for a few minutes more. Additionally, I should have cut down on the yeast a little bit. I probably used more than what the recipe called for because our yeast is a little old (there are some items that we tend to buy in bulk which has its pros and cons), which resulted in a strong yeast flavor.

This was a very easy recipe, however, and I’d be willing to give it another crack.

Weekend before last we went to the year-round farmers market in Union Square. Since we are now in the winter months farmers are mainly selling root vegetables. There are other goods to be had – fresh meats and eggs, wines, cheeses, and assorted odds and ends. My mission was to obtain some fingerling potatoes, which I have never had before, and prepare them for our Christmas meal. It was a success – although I had a hard time figuring out which varieties to buy. I settled on three, but I’ll admit that I forgot which ones they were.

I wasn’t entirely sure how I would prepare the potatoes. I didn’t think that I had a sufficient amount for mashed potatoes and turnips, so I decided to figure out something else.

I finally decided on roasting them. Normally when I roast potatoes I have to leave them in the oven for much longer than the recipe usually advises. It was no different this time. Many of the recipes I found said to leave them in the oven for 45 minutes or until tender, but they were in a similar firm condition to all other types of potatoes I have roasted in the past.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

• 3 lbs. fingerling potatoes, chopped into good sized pieces
• 4-5 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• salt and other desired spices to taste (suggested spices – thyme, oregano, rosemary)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large bowl mix together all of your ingredients, then pour them into a large baking dish. Place the dish in the oven for one hour, going back once or twice to stir. After one hour, check the potatoes to see if they are done. If they aren’t done (which is usually my plight), leave them in the oven and continue checking them every 20-30 minutes until they are at the desired tenderness.

I typically roast my potatoes with other ingredients like onions and mushrooms, but this time around I felt like these potatoes could do with just garlic and a few spices. This simplified version was delicious and satisfying. The taste of these fingerlings was probably a little nuttier and more delicate than your standard store-bought potatoes.

Now that I’ve had fingerling potatoes I am interested in possibly going back and experimenting with other ways of making them – perhaps potato salad or a potato soup. I’m sold no matter what, and nothing is more delicious to me than eating a locally grown veggie.

I am still in the midst of reading The Shark God by Charles Montgomery, so I decided to share the results of this weekend’s baking: vegan banana bread. This is a recipe that I make every couple of months or so, and have found it to be easy to make, delicious, and perfectly moist. For those of you who are vegan or who are trying to lay off of eggs, this is a great replacement for standard banana bread that uses eggs.

Vegan Banana Bread
Heavily inspired by Moist and Delicious Banana Bread
In a large bowl mix:

• 3 cups flour (I did 2 cups white, 1 cup whole wheat)
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

In a medium size bowl mash bananas, and then mix in the ingredients up to the brown sugar:

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoons light cooking oil (Canola is a good choice. I have also used almond oil, but that is not very light – and it is expensive.)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (This time I used light brown sugar.)

In a small bowl or glass mix:

• 4 tbsp. water
• 2 tbsp. light cooking oil
• 2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a large pan (9x15x2 is a good size for this recipe), and set aside.

Mix the first batch of ingredients. If you can, sift them together to make sure everything mixes well together. If you don’t have a sifter you can use a wire whisk to stir. I use the latter option and it works well for me.

In a second medium sized bowl first mash the bananas. I use a potato masher, but a fork could work, too. After you mash the bananas add the oil, vanilla and sugars.

Now the fun part – the binder. This is what replaces eggs, and I always feel like a kid back in elementary school when I mix this together. In a small bowl mix together the water, oil, and baking powder. When you add the baking powder and start mixing it all together (I use a fork) the concoction starts to fizz. Pour your egg replacer into the banana mixture and stir. You’ll notice that the consistency of the banana mixture has now changed and is acting more like a binder.

Add the banana mixture to the bowl with the flour and other dry ingredients. Stir this all together with a spoon, and once it is completely mixed (try to not over-stir) pour it into your greased baking pan.

Put your baking pan in the oven, and bake for about one hour. Check it at the 45 minute mark to see how it is doing (use a toothpick or knife in the middle of the bread and if it comes out clean you’ll know it is done). If it still needs more time then leave it in until the full hour is up.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool, then slice it up and serve.

Our favorite way to eat this is to place a slice of banana bread in our toaster oven for a few minutes, and then to spread some butter on it (we use Earth Balance or Soy Garden).

Consider playing around with this recipe. Would other spices work instead of or in addition to the cinnamon? Maybe nutmeg? Try other flours as well. Maybe all whole wheat or try a gluten free flour. See how well it binds with half the egg replacer, or use Ener-G Egg Replacer. Try adding walnuts or other kinds of nuts that might go well with bananas. Use applesauce instead of oil (except for the egg replacer – that might not work well). Whatever you do, it is an easy recipe and you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Stopping off for gas, I realized that I had not yet fulfilled part of rule #11: beef jerky, so I spent five bucks on a large bag of Oberto brand jerky. It looked like tree bark but smelled like a dead animal that had been left outside for a few weeks. I hadn’t tried the stuff in years, actually, since it’s expensive, and to be honest, I always associated beef jerky with the suburban/redneck element of my hometown, which was an element that I had spent most of my postsurburban New Yorker-subscribing life distancing myself from. Still, on this morning I was hungry, the sack of jerky was on the passenger side, and with Rush blaring on the car radio, I decided to try it. And Oh My Ever-Loving God. It went straight to my bloodstream. I was flying. This was the best thing I had ever tasted! If this was what conservatives ate, I was ready to sign up for the John Birch Society right then and there.

-Conservatize Me by John Moe

When a book has me visibly laughing or weeping while on the subway, you know that it has grabbed me. I try to maintain a normal composure since I am in public so as to not seem like I’ve lost my mind (at least for my own benefit), so laughing usually winds up being more like smirking. I smirked often throughout Conservatize Me. I tend to be more left-leaning myself, although I wouldn’t consider myself a complete liberal, so I respected John Moe’s self-inflicted month of immersion in the politically conservative culture.

The full title of the book is Conservatize Me: How I Tried to Become a Righty with the Help of Richard Nixon, Sean Hannity, Toby Keith, and Beef Jerky, so from the outset I knew that I would be making jerky. Since I am vegan, it would wind up being tofu jerky. I had planned on making a couple of different kinds of jerky – one out of tofu and one out of seitan, but I had already been cooking a couple of other things and fell back on what would be easier.

I usually buy jerky, whether it is Primal Strips or Tofurky Jurky, but on occasion I will make my own, inspired by Susan Voisin’s Baked Tofu. This time I decided I wanted a little more flavor, so I added some spices to the marinade.

Conservative Jerky

• 1 lb. extra firm tofu, drained, then cut into thin strips
• 1/4 cup soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (I used a little bit of both; also be sure to find a gluten-free soy sauce if you want to make this allergy-free)
• Black pepper, garlic powder, and Garlic Gourmay’s Killer Cajun to taste
• 1 tsp. light cooking oil

After cutting the tofu into strips, place them into a plastic or glass container. Mix the soy sauce and spices together and then pour over the tofu strips (don’t worry if the liquid does not cover the strips). Cover the container with a lid and place in the refrigerator for a few hours (I let mine sit for about four or five hours).

Preheat the oven to 200 – 250 degrees F. To reduce clean up time, cover the top of a cookie sheet with tin foil then brush the foil with the light cooking oil. Place the tofu strips on the sheet in a single layer, and then place in the oven.

Check the strips in about 30 minutes. Take them out of the oven and turn over all of the strips, and then put them back in the oven for another 20 to 30 minutes. The time in the oven is really dependent upon how tough you like your jerky. It also varies depending on how thick the slices are. The thicker the slices, the less tough they will be.

If you don’t eat the jerky right away, you can use the same foil that you used to cover the cookie sheet to store the jerky in the refrigerator.

My initial reaction to this batch was that it was too salty. I should have just used Bragg’s or used a lesser amount of regular soy sauce. The Killer Cajun spice also had salt in it, so it might have been better if I had used cayenne or chili pepper. It was still pretty good, though, and my husband declared it good. Next time maybe I’ll try making seitan jerky.

At home, Ushman makes rice and lentils. As he and Farak did when they had many people for dinner, he sits on the rug in the living room, with his bowl in his lap. There is a soccer match on TV. The game keeps him company. He accepts his loneliness with resolve. It is familiar to him. There are no surprises in it.

-The Rug Merchant by Meg Mullins

Aside from living vicariously through other people’s sadness, it has been a while since I have experienced my own permeating melancholy. So when I sit here wondering what food it is that I prefer to have when I am swimming in the blues, I come up empty-handed. There was a time when I’d go out and buy myself chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, and a good amount of string cheese – but these days I’d like to think that I’d choose a healthier fare like Ushman did.

I normally make lentils as a soup with tomatoes, so I was definitely interested in expanding my horizons. I scoured the internet for Iranian lentils and rice recipes, and finally came across Persian Lentil Rice. I used the recipe mainly as a guide, as I didn’t have some ingredients on hand and I forgot others. The end result was probably not what it was supposed to be, but it did come across as a comfort food.

Comfort Lentils and Rice

• 1 cup lentils, sorted and rinsed
• 1 cup jasmine rice (the original recipe called for basmati, but I bought jasmine by accident instead)
• 1 cup ground beef or ground beef substitute (I used Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style)
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• Light cooking oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Soak the rice in water for about 3-4 hours. After it has soaked cook it in salted for 10-15 minutes until it is tender. Do not overcook it, otherwise it will be mush. If it is still watery when it is done cooking, drain it and allow it to sit for a few minutes.

Cook the lentils for about 25 minutes in salted water until the desired tenderness. Keep in mind that you will be cooking the lentils a little more a little bit later, but they should be close to the consistency that you like.

Sautee onions in a tablespoon or two of cooking oil until they start to turn slightly golden. Add the ground beef or beef substitute and salt and pepper, and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

If you are using Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style, you may want to consider using a potato masher to get it to break up into smaller pieces.

In a medium to large cooking pot add 1/2 cup of water and about a tablespoon of oil. Add to this half of the rice, followed by the lentils and meat mixture, and finally put the rest of the rice on top. Allow this to cook over low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Take the pot off the heat and mix well, then serve.

When tasting this I knew that something was missing. In fact, there were a few things missing. The original recipe called for raisins, dates, and saffron. I kept the raisins and dates out purposefully, thinking I would add them into my own dish later as my husband is not fond of sweet and savory flavors mixing in a main dish. I did try to find saffron at my local grocery store, but had no luck, so that, too, was missing. In the end I forgot the raisins and dates entirely, and wound up putting a healthy dash or two of Killer Cajun Seasoning from Garlic Gourmay on the mixture.

I am not sure that I will try to make this again. It was very time-consuming and involved, and the flavors were too bland for my taste. Then again, if I made this closer to what the original recipe called for (red lentils, basmati rice, saffron, raisins, and dates) I might not be so disappointed.