Nutritional Yeast

I'm surprised I haven't talked about nutritional yeast yet. It's a wonderful, delicious source of protein. 

What exactly is nutritional yeast? Deactivated yeast, usually sold as yellow flakes. What does it look like? This...

Ok, it's not much to look at. Especially compared to previous snaps of my fresh garden vegetables. But it's a humble ingredient that I recommend keeping a jar of around.

What is the nutritional value? It is a source of protein and vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins, and is a complete protein. (thank you Wikipedia)

What can one do with nutritional yeast? Well...

Sprinkle on popcorn.
Use in lieu of Parmesan cheese. 
Add to vegetarian soups, broths, and sauces to add richness.
Sprinkle on any salad, stirfry, or sauteed vegetables to add protein.

In bulk, nutritional yeast costs approximately $9 a pound. Since it's about as light as a feather, $5 of nutritional yeast will last me a month. Nutritional yeast is available at any health food store, and most major grocery stores now as well. Of course, you can always find it online. Although I prefer to buy in bulk, Bragg is a great, reliable brand. (Later I can talk about Bragg apple cider vinegar, and Bragg liquid aminos)

Although I'm not an expert vegan cook, nutritional yeast is often used in vegan cooking. Such as Vegan Mac & Cheese!

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that will take you to Amazon, and if you choose to purchase items, I will receive a small (very small) amount of commission on your purchase. The price is exactly the same for you.

Kale...As You Like It

This blog has suddenly taken on more importance for me, as I've just accepted a wonderful job. Thrilled about it, and will share details as soon as I can. However, it's a huge pay cut. Worth it, but not worth sacrificing my or my family's health. So now I'll be increasingly searching for ways to make a vegetarian diet tasty, interesting, and frugal.

So let's talk about kale. Yes, I know, you've heard enough about this superfood. But it really is so versatile.

Just tonight I made kale chips!

Kale Chips

Preheat oven to 275.
Tear off pieces of kale. Any kind works, but curly or dinosaur kale works better than flat.
Toss in a bowl with olive oil and salt.
Spread out in a single layer, if possible.
Stir from time to time, until crispy.
Try to catch before they brown.
Also delicious sprinkled with nutritional yeast afterwards.

One of my very, very favorite salads is the Raw Deal from Wheatsville. I know, I know. You don't have Wheatsville in your town. So stop in next time you're in Austin. In the meantime, this recipe is pretty close, just use kale instead of the chard. And I would cut the salt a bit: The Raw Deal Salad

While I'm not an advocate of extreme cleanses, I have found that green lemonade in the morning makes me feel great, especially if I have been indulging (vegan doughnuts are still doughnuts).

Green lemonade

In a high power blender, blend one peeled lemon, an apple, a handful of lettuce, a handful of kale, and a thin slice of ginger. If you don't like the texture, you can strain it. But if it's pulverized enough, it drinks like a thin smoothie. I use a Vitamix, which a very generous and lovely aunt gave me as a gift.

The easiest way to eat kale: Sauteed kale with garlic. You don't need a recipe for this, it's self-explanatory.

As for the economics of it, I bought two big bunches for $3, and it has lasted me a week

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that will take you to Amazon, and if you choose to purchase items, I will receive a small (very small) amount of commission on your purchase. The price is exactly the same for you.

Plant a garden

In this post, I will give you no information about how to actually plant a garden, just tell you to do it. Because that's how I did it. I bought several $1 little plants from outside of Wheatsville, and planted them in our front bed. It was mostly just supposed to be a nature lesson for Atticus.

Whether it is the rich soil, the reused dishwater I use to water them, or just dumb luck, I now have a HUGE tomato plant, and a respectable bell pepper plant.

For $1, I now have more local, organic, vine-ripened tomatoes than I can eat. I literally give them away to my parents, neighbors, and even strangers who stop to peruse our Free Little Library. 

They are best raw, with some basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Maybe mozzarella if I'm feeling extravagant. However, there are other wonderful options for a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Today, I made a very simple gazpacho.

Gazpacho (a cold, tomato soup)

4 small tomatoes

2 small bell peppers

A handful of basil leaves

Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

Throw everything in the blender with a cup of water. You might have to add more water as you blend, to achieve the texture you want. I like to throw in a couple ice cubes, since gazpacho is a cold soup.

Other ideas: slice and put on pizza, simmer down into a pasta sauce, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!

As an amateur gardener, I have to say that there is something very satisfying about watching your plants flourish and produce so much beautiful fruit. I highly recommend it. Give it a try, it might be worth your $1 investment :)

This guy thinks so...

Texas Vegetarian on Bloglovin!

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And I'll leave you with this...

A black bean burger, sweet potato fries, a local stout...and our charmingly rustic backyard.

Grocery List Update

What have we spent so far? These estimates are on the high end, so your total could be a bit lower.

Avocado - $2
Eggs - $5
Flour - $4
Dry beans - $1.16

A grand total of $12.16, but far from a full shopping list.

Next time: coconut oil! (with a bonus recipe for coconut oil deodorant!)

Avocado Love

In a previous post, I mentioned the ubiquitous pot of pinto beans. My coworker speaks lovingly of her mother's frijoles. I could eat them plain, wrapped in a tortilla, or over rice. However, there is one thing that will elevate those humble pinto beans...

Avocado.

When I lived in New York City, I had two great food complaints: no proper tortillas and no ripe avocados. The lack of tortillas forced me to learn how to make flour tortillas, so that actually made me stronger through strife. But there was nothing to be done about small, hard avocados that would never ripen.

Cost of an avocado:
There are many regional and seasonal variables, but to keep it simple, I'll say that I will spend $1-$3 per avocado. They are often on sale, because that's better than the store throwing it all out. However, beware of the overripe avocado on sale. Not worth it.

Buying an avocado:
Choose carefully. An overripe avocado is pretty vile, and tastes like mushy dirt. An under ripe avocado just isn't usable, and you'll find yourself trying to mush it with sour cream just to have some passable guacamole.
Avocados should be firm, but give to pressure. Gently feel the whole avocado, so you don't lose half to some black spot.

My favorite uses for avocado:

1. Guacamole. Skip the extra stuff. A good avocado needs only the juice from half a lime, and some salt and pepper. Mash it all together, and serve it with tortilla chips, pita chips, gluten-free rice chips...

2. Dice and add to salads, soups, tacos...anything.

3. Avocados and eggs are an amazing combination. Tonight I sliced avocado and tomatoes on a piece of homemade wheat bread (see previous post), and put a fried egg on top. So satisfying, economical, and healthy.

4. While I don't do this often because I don't want to muddle a good avocado with other ingredients, avocado adds beautiful creaminess to a smoothie, http://www.macted.ro/sunday-smoothie-avocado-banana/, or creates an interesting twist on green gazpacho, http://www.chow.com/recipes/29205-raw-vegan-avocado-gazpacho.

5. Finally, something I discovered at an Austin City Limits Festival years ago, at the Mighty Cone food truck (http://www.mightycone.com/). Fried avocado. Delicious for obvious fried, creaminess reasons. Chuy's Tex Mex also occasionally has a fried avocado dish on the menu. http://www.kimshealthyeats.com/crispy-baked-avocado-fries/

Don't use for baking brownies...even though it's a good fat substitute. That's a dumb waste of a good avocado, in my professional opinion. Unless you have a flourishing avocado tree in your backyard, and then you should probably just invite me over.

No chicken, just the egg

Every vegan I know will best me with tofu-fueled wit as to why it's hypocritical to eat eggs but not chicken. So be it. I try my best to get the most natural eggs possible. Someday I would love to have a small coop. As of now, however, I buy them from someone else  and pay a little extra for this crucial protein source. Eggs are versatile, relatively cheap, and delicious.

Cost analysis:

Farmers market, free range, vegetarian (the BEST) = $5.00 (this varies widely, based on where you live)

At $5 a dozen, that puts each egg under $0.50 each. 

Besides the obvious scrambled, fried, and poached, eggs increase your recipe potential (see Flour post).

One recipe that has become a standby is the poached egg on pasta.

1. Cook pasta.

2. Poach an egg.

3. Put the egg on top of the pasta.

4. Include any other parmesan, vegetables, and pesto.

5. Break the yolk, and instant, rich sauce.

Mark Bittman even writes his version up for the New York Times: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/recipe-of-the-day-spaghetti-with-fried-eggs/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

You can put a fried or poached egg on pizza...


Adding a poached or fried egg will always raise the net worth of any meal.

Beans!

Your shopping list so far:
1. Unbleached Flour - $4
2. Dry Beans - $1.16

Growing up, there was almost always a pot of pinto beans in the refrigerator. My mother used it for bean burritos (mashed beans and cheddar cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla) or bean chalupas (mashed beans and cheddar cheese on a fried corn tortilla). Both delicious, but you can do more...

A pound bag of black beans at the grocery store costs $1.16. Garbanzo, kidney beans, and pinto beans all run about the same price. This goes a long way.

And so many options!

Hummus is always an easy, versatile dish. On tortillas, in a sandwich, paired with a salad. It's always delicious, and can be fancied up for a dinner party.

Hummus

1 cup of cooked chickpeas (reserve some of the cooking liquid)

1 garlic clove, minced

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Blend the chickpeas, garlic, and lemon in a food processor, gradually adding in the olive oil. Use the reserved chickpea cooking water to achieve the desired consistency. Once it is the texture you want, add salt and pepper to taste.

If you want to get real, you can use a couple tablespoons of tahini, but I find that I don't use it enough to justify keeping around. Likewise, you can add roasted red peppers, olives, or sun-dried tomatoes for variation. But I'm partial to the classic.

Homemade Bread with Just Five Ingredients

As a follow up to yesterday's post on the importance of flour to your vegetarian pantry, I want to post a link to my dear friend's delicious bread recipe: 

http://www.lovingmarshall.com/2013/08/an-easy-homemade-bread-recipe-just-five.html?spref=bl

People will be unduly impressed.

Flour to the Rescue!

As I said in my opening post, one of my goals here will be to find ways to be a vegetarian on a budget. On a heart-stopping student loan budget. I'm going to do it ingredient by ingredient, and some delicious recipes will emerge.

Let's begin...

The first ingredient I suggest you always have in your kitchen is unbleached flour. Unbleached. Because bleached flour has bleach in it. Bleach. Yuck. Bleached flour is cheaper, but not worth it. You will use this ingredient on almost a daily basis, unless you're gluten-free.

As long as you have flour, you can almost always make something.

Here's the financial breakdown, using King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose as example:

On the website, you can get 5 pounds for $4.95, but 10 pounds for $8.95! Obviously 10 pounds is a better deal. 25 pounds is $21.95, but that might be difficult to store. $6 shipping decreases the value, so I would head to your local grocery store, unless they don't carry unbleached flour.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/ingredients/flours#

At the grocery store, you can usually get the 5 pound bag for $3.50-$6. I frequently find one of the premium brands of flour on sale.

Also, check out your store's bulk section. That will probably be your most economical and environmentally-friendly option, depending on the store.


Claire's very simple bread recipe:

2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of yeast (or one package)
teaspoon of salt

Dissolve yeast in the water. Wait until you see bubbles to see that the yeast is activated. Mix in with the flour and salt.

Once it gets too tough to mix with a spoon, start to knead. Knead it way more than you think you should, this will be worth it in the end.

Let rise in a oiled, covered bowl for an hour. Either use immediately as pizza dough, or shape into french loafs and let rise another hour.

Bake at 500. The time completely depends on your oven, the type of pan, the thickness of your bread, etc. But basically, not long.



Salad alone = sad. Salad + bread = meal. Soup + bread = meal. Avocado + bread = meal. You see where this is going.


You can also make pancakes. Pancakes are great because you can substitute almost everything in the recipe for something else. But not the flour.

I have a fantastic vegan muffin recipe I use all the time. I trade out the fruit, depending on what I have:

Simple Vegan Blueberry Muffins (adapted from vegweb)

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup non-dairy milk (I like almond or coconut, but you could use soy)
1/4 cup oil
1 cup blueberries, chopped apple, rasberries, nuts, etc.

Mix all ingredients together, pour into muffin tins, and bake at 400 for 25 minutes.



But the above are obvious...bread, muffins, pancakes. The real lifesaver comes with...frying. In our CSA box in the last few weeks, we have received bags and bags of spinach. Delicious, but we needed something besides sauteed or in salads. So I discovered the wonders of...SPINACH PAKORAS!

Here's the recipe from Veg Recipes of India: palak pakora recipe, how to make palak pakora or spinach fritters.

The only change I made is that I add a little honey to the batter. It was a fortunate accident that revealed how delicious the subtle sweet is with the savory. My three year old loves these. And he's not one of those toddlers that "loves" beets, but he likes Spinach Pakoras. I'll take it.


The point is that with flour, you can turn so many of your standard ingredients into treat. And that's what we're in it for, the vegetarian treats!

picture from http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/


Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that will take you to Amazon, and if you choose to purchase items, I will receive a small (very small) amount of commission on your purchase. The price is exactly the same for you.

Welcome to my blog!

I admittedly live in Austin, definitely the easiest city in Texas to eat vegetarian. In fact, during my travels, I have found that Austin is easier than may other places. So this blog is less about defying the odds, and more about sharing recipes, tips, and questions about being vegetarian. Currently, my thoughts are on how to be a satisfied vegetarian on a post-graduate school budget. Woman cannot live on quinoa and black beans alone, so how can we make those ends meet, while still eating all the delicious foods we love?

Here's me:

I want to start from scratch, so instead of pulling up some recycled pictures of kale chips and black beans burgers, albeit delicious and impressive, I want to share some of my favorite resources.

Best restaurant in Austin...Bouldin Creek! My absolute favorite thing to get there is the chipotle-pecan pesto with pita and a side of avocado. Here's their website, with an endearingly bad link to the menu: http://www.bouldincreek.com/. Just trust me on the pesto.

I wish I could shop every single day at Wheatsville Co-Op. It is one of my favorite places on this planet, and that's not an exaggeration. Everyone is so nice, you don't have to examine every label for bleach or aspartame, and the prepared food is excellent. Popcorn tofu...for example. I have tried my darnedest to replicate the recipe, to no avail. http://wheatsville.coop/

  

In my experience, the best ethical and economic way to get your local, organic vegetables is through a CSA. Be prepared for an overload of certain vegetables (lettuce is literally spilling out of my refrigerator right now). But it makes you try new recipes and veggies, and to get over the Whole Foods syndrome of getting anything you want at any time. My very favorite is Urban Roots: http://www.urbanrootsatx.org/.