Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

It's sunny and warm now, but it was chilly this morning, and I had a jones for scones, plus two oranges that needed using, plus a little basket of wild blackberries in the fridge, so I came up with this variation on my usual low-fat scone recipe. The recipe is low in fat because it only contains 1 Tbs. of oil (though the pecans and chocolate chips raise the fat level in this version!), but the scones are nice and tender, due in part to the pastry flour. Try them-- they are yummy!

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S LOW-FAT CHOCOLATE-ORANGE-BLACKBERRY-PECAN SCONES
Makes 6 large scones
This recipe only has 1 T. of oil in it, but the scones are light and tender.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Have ready:
3/4-1 cup fresh blackberries

Mix in a large bowl with a whisk:
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 c. organic light unbleached granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Stir in:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
4 oz. organic dairy-free fair-trade chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

In a small bowl whisk together:
1/2 cup orange juice
6 Tbs. non-dairy milk
1 Tbs. oil
Grated zest of one organic orange

Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix lightly but thoroughly.


Dump the dough (very soft) on a greased cookie sheet. With wet hands, shape into a circle about 1/2" thick. With a sharp floured knife, cut 6 wedges. (If you want the edges of the scones to be soft, don't separate the wedges; if you want them crispy, separate them.)


Make slight indents in the dough with your finger where you want the berries to go and place a berry in each indent.


Bake about 15 minutes, or until golden. Pull the scones apart and serve warm.
Enjoy!

What I made for lunch the other day-- I call them "Mediterranean Quesadillas". I had some grilled eggplant and zucchini, and some wholewheat tortillas, leftover from dinner the night before. I cut one tortilla in half and spread one half with Ajvar, a Balkan red pepper and eggplant spread (see more about this and a recipe below), and the other half with vegan mayonnaise (my low-fat version). Then I added the grilled veggies, plus roasted green peppers (you could use red ones) thin slices of smoked tofu, and fresh basil leaves.

I put it together and cooked over medium heat in a nonstick pan until golden and crispy on both sides.  Cut into wedges with a sharp knife. This will serve 1-2, depending on appetite. Have napkins handy!

ABOUT AJVAR (pronounced Eye-vahr):  
This delicious condiment is originally from Macedonia, Croatia, and Serbia, but is popular also in Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey, etc., and all over the Middle East now, it seems. It is sometimes called "vegetable caviar", and  there is hot ajvar and mild ajvar. In some areas they use roasted green peppers.

Commercial versions are inexpensive in Middle Eastern stores and many brands are available from amazon.com. Trader Joe's sells it but they don't call it ajvar on the label. They call it Trader Joe's Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic. I understand that Whole Foods sells an organic version with "Ajvar" on the label.


USES FOR AJVAR:

I use it on all kinds of wraps, panini, and sandwiches:


Panini made with my homemade ajvar and vegan white "cheese", recipe in my book "World Vegan Feast".

It also makes a great cracker spread or a dip. Serve it as an appetizer to spread on thick slices of country-style bread or flatbread such as pita or lavosh, or use it as a side dish. Or just use it like salsa. You can use it 0nrice or potatoes, or as a quick pasta sauce; or mix it in with hummous and other dips. It's used on grilled meats, so why not on grilled seitan or tofu? Or on some big Tofurkey or Field Roast veggie sausages? Or  how about with white beans, veggie "meatloaf", "cheese" toast, or bruschetta? Spice Island Vegan used it with my tofu fritatta from "Nonna's Italian Kitchen" and it would be good on scrambled tofu, or vegan omelets, too .

PS: ABOUT PRESERVING HOMEMADE AJVAR:
Many Balkan families can their own supplies of it every year, but I can't find anything specific about canning it. I read that green beans and unripe tomatoes are sometimes mixed in with the ajvar before canning. All the canning sites I consulted warn against canning any pureed vegetables because of the problem of getting the temperature up high enough in the center of a jar of pureed food without commercial equipment. Perhaps if you made it very chunky you could pressure can it in small jars (1/2 pint) and then puree it after opening. I did read that you can freeze it, too.

HERE'S MY RECIPE:

Palestinian Lentil Soup (Shawrbat 'Adas Filasteeniya)

For the last few days, my husband and I have been moving my almost-89-yr-old mother to a new house here on Denman Island. (Well, not a NEW house, but new to her!) This entailed weeding out junk and some packing (she did alot of it herself), the actual move on Thursday evening (with the help of my son and daughter-in-law and their truck, and my friends Holly Walker and Fireweed), and then, the worst part, the cleaning of the old house. Everyone but me and my husband had to go to work on Friday(I took a day off from the library), so, after Holly and Amber helped me move the last bits and pieces, it took me and Brian all the rest of the day to clean. Then there was the junk and garbage, which Amber and Tim took to the dump yesterday. (You gather alot of stuff in 88 years! After this I am determined to weed out the unecessaries from my house to spare my children!) Then there was organizing the stuff in the new house and trying to get my mother to rest and not push heavy boxes of books from room to room!


My mom, Eve Urbina, age 88, photo taken July 5, 2006!

There is still stuff to do (a friend is helping her put books on shelves today), but we're taking today off until this evening, when we'll go put up her shower curtain, and some little things like that. So that is why I am sitting here blogging!

Yesterday we came home for lunch and I made a quick pot of soup for us to have for supper and to take some to my mom. When we got home for supper, I made a Syrian green bean salad to go with our supper, and pulled out one of the pita breads I made the other day from the freezer, to make zatar bread (included in that recipe) to go with the soup. It was a very satisfying and delicious meal.

Both the soup and the salad recipe are adapted from recipes in a wonderful book called "Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa" by Habeeb Salloum, "a Canadian author and freelance writer specializing in Canadian, Arab, Far Eastern and Latin- American history, travel and the culinary arts. Besides five books and 15 chapters in books, he has had hundreds of articles published about food, travel, history and homesteading in western Canada." Mr. Salloum just happens to be the uncle of one of my subscribers!

BRYANNA'S VERSION OF HABEEB SALLOUM'S PALESTINIAN LENTIL SOUP (SHAWRBAT 'ADAS FILASTEENIYA)

This soup really benefits from being made several hours ahead of time and reheated. It's simple, but very delicious. Adapted from the excellent book "Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa" by Habeeb Salloum. Really, the only change I made was to use broth instead of water and add the lemon juice directly to the soup pot (I used the highest amount he recommended, and I also used the pureeing option he gave). This soup serves 6-8 for a starter serving, but we ate it as a main dish, in which case it will serve 4 nicely. NOTE: you could cut down the amount of oil, but it really adds to the taste, and a good serving is still low in calories even with the whole 1/4 cup in the recipe.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large onions, minced
7 cups hot vegetarian chicken-style broth
1 cup split red lentils
1 tsp ground cumin
1 pinch saffron
2 Tbs basmati rice
2 Tbs lemon juice
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste

In a nonstick skillet, saute the onions in the oil over medium heat until they soften and start to brown (OR microwave the onions with the oil in a microwave-safe dish, covered, at full power for 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, mix the broth in a soup pot with the lentils, cumin, and saffron. Add the softened onions and bring to a boil. Turn down and cook, covered, over low heat, for 20 minutes.

Add the rice and cook 15 minutes more. Puree the soup with a hand immersion blender and stir in the lemon juice. Taste for salt and pepper.
Servings: 4 main-dish, or 6-8 starter

Nutrition (per 1/4 recipe): 335.6 calories; 38% calories from fat; 14.7g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 6.9mg sodium; 391.4mg potassium; 40.1g carbohydrates; 6.2g fiber; 2.8g sugar; 33.9g net carbs; 13.1g protein; 7 WW points.


Note: the yellow bits on the beans are actually from the evening sun shining on the olive oil dressing!

BRYANNA'S VERSION OF HABEEB SALLOUM'S SEASONED GREEN BEANS (SYRIA AND LEBANON)

This is adapted from another recipe in the excellent book "Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa" by Habeeb Salloum. The contrast between the sweet fresh green beans and the garlicky lemon dressing is superb. The only changes I made were to use fresh beans instead of frozen and cut the olive oil from 3 Tbs. down to 2 Tbs. This was supposed to serve 4, but 2 of us ate the whole dish!

1 lb. fresh small green beans, trimmed
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
freshly-ground black pepper to taste

Steam the green beans until just tender and cool under very cold water, then drain. Place in a serving bowl. Mix the garlis, lemon juice, oil and salt together with a small whisk and toss with the beans. Grind pepper over to taste.
Servings: 2

Nutrition (per 1/2 recipe): 202.1 calories; 60% calories from fat; 13.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 485.0mg sodium; 520.6mg potassium; 19.7g carbohydrates; 7.9g fiber; 3.8g sugar; 11.8g net carbs; 4.5g protein; 4.5 WW points.

Enjoy!

SusanV over at http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ "tagged" me for this "non-meme". She wrote: "The idea is to create a list of food bloggers' top picks for things you've eaten and think that everyone should eat at least once before they die." It comes from Melissa at The Traveler's Lunchbox.


It was tough to choose, so I just decided to go with what came to mind first:

1.) homemade crusty sourdough bread

2.) Denman Island Chocolate, especially the hazelnut variety

3.) a sandwich made with homemade white bread, (vegan) mayonnaise, a ripe tomato still warm from the garden (it HAS to be freshly-picked from a garden and NOT the hothouse variety), and a little salt

4.) homemade ravioli with porcini mushroom filling

5.) hot homemade cornbread with vegan butter (try my homemade palm oil-free Buttah) and blackberries you just picked


NOW, ABOUT THAT PITA BREAD.....



I hadn't made homemade pita for some time, but yesterday I decided to try it in my new oven because I needed some for a recipe I was trying out for the newsletter. As you can see from the picture above, it worked beautifully! It's really very easy to make and better than any you can buy. You need a pizza stone or a cast iron skillet or griddle (at least 10-inch) or some unglazed tiles (you can buy slightly chipped ones at a tile store very cheaply) and a good hot oven.

The pitas (which are pretty large) are cooked one at a time, unless you have enough unglazed tiles to cover a whole oven rack, in which case you can do 2 at a time. But they take only 3 minutes to cook, so, even though you have to be there during the whole baking time, it goes fast.

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S HALF-WHOLEWHEAT PITA BREAD
makes 8/ 9" pitas

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp. dry active baking yeast (or 1 1/2 tsp. instant yeast)
3 cups wholewheat bread flour
1 T. salt
1 T. olive oil
3 cups unbleached white flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the whole wheat flour and mix briefly. Let this "sponge" stand for about 30 minutes. Add the salt, oil and unbleached flour, and knead for about 8-10 minutes. Don't add too much flour-- the dough should be silky smooth and not tough. You can knead the dough with a little oil instead of with flour if necessary to keep it from being too dry.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, oil the top, cover, and let stand in a warmish place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch it down and divide into 8 equal pieces on a floured counter. Keep the balls of dough covered when you aren't working with them.

Roll each piece out on a floured surface with a rolling pin to about 9" in diameter (they don't have to be perfectly round). For maximum "puff", try to avoid stretching the dough. I just roll out from the center toward the outer edge, turn the dough a quarter-turn and repeat, doing this until it is the right size. The thickness should be even all over. You'll get the hang of this after a while and it will go very fast.



Keep the rolled-out pita on a floured counter or floured cookie sheets and cover them.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F., with your unglazed tiles or pizza stone or cast iron pan or griddle on the rack at the lowest position (remove other racks).

My old method of transferring the pita to the hot surface was to place the pita to be cooked on a well-floured cookie sheet, pull the rack out as far as it will go and just flip the cookie sheet over to upend the pita onto whatever hot surface you are using. (If it lands with a wrinkle or two, just quickly straighten it out and shut the oven door.) If you are deft, you can just slap it onto the hot surface with your hand!  Now I use a well-floured small baker's peel or cake and pizza lifter or even large bench scraper.

When the oven is up to temperature, place a pita bread (or 2, depending on how much room you have on the tiles/stone) on the hot surface, as directed above, quickly shut the door, and set the timer for 3 minutes.

Turn on the oven light and watch it puff up before your very eyes! (At first, your efforts may not puff perfectly, but you'll get the hang of it! You can still use them even if they don't puff.)



When the timer "dings", take the pita out carefully (use a large bench scraper or small baker's peel to take it out (or check out this nifty inexpensive cake and pizza lifter), and either place the hot pita bread (which will deflate immediately) in a large open paper bag, or wrap loosely in a clean large tea towel. Stack them up as you go. The pita should not get brown or crispy! You want them to stay flexible and soft.

That's it! Eat them within a day or so (place in plastic bags after they cool thoroughly) or freeze them. If they have puffed properly, when you cut them in half, they will have a "pocket".

Another way to enjoy them is as "Zatar bread":



Brush the bread with a little olive oil and sprinkle with the zatar, a delicious Lebanese spice mixture of lemony-tasting reddish sumac, sesame, thyme and sometimes other herbs.

See this post of mine on za'atar.


Enjoy!

The brownies in question, my "Almost-No-Fat Brownies" (but with walnuts added), recipe below.

Yesterday afternoon Brian and I went on a trip with my son Tim, his wife and their three girls, on their little boat around Denman Island, where we live. It was a glorious day and we had a great time. Best of all, was seeing our home island from a different perspective, seeing the mountains on both sides of us,



seeing houses on Denman that you can't see from the roads, and seeing porpoises and seals right alongside the boat! I took some inari sushi made with brown rice and quinoa (an interesting if inadvertant Peruvian/Japanese fusion, I just realized-- Peru has a large Japanese population, which has influenced the cuisine), and some almost-no-fat brownies for munching.

NOTE: I forgot to bring my digital camera with me on this trip! So, the scenic pics are variously from government and local tourism sites, or taken by me or my friends Fireweed, and Debbie Knight, previously.

We embarked on our little journey at the boat launch near Boyle Point Park, which the locals call "Eagle Rock":



We headed across to Ford's Cove Marina on Hornby Island (my oldest daughter lives on Hornby with her husband and two teenagers. It's a quaint little spot with some beautiful homes and a funky, well-stocked grocery store (shown here) and art shop. (The store carries soy cheese and fresh tofu, soy ice cream and fruit sorbet, and lots of Asian condiments.)



Here's a view from a Hornby beach:



and a view of Denman from Hornby:


After getting a few necessaries, we headed back across and up the eastern side of Denman to "Tree Island" (actually "Sandy Island Provincial Marine Park", but everybody calls it "tree island"). We had porpoises swimming near the boat on the way there.


You can actually walk there at low tide, but it's a long way and people have got stuck there! we spent a couple of lazy hours on the sandy beach there, taking in the sun (there was a nice cool breeze to mitigate that), and watching the girls cavort in the water.



Then we all piled into the boat again and went back to the boat launch up the western side of Denman, enjoying the cool wind and admiring the houses along the shore, which we never see from the land. The two younger girls fell asleep on the way.



Here's the ferry dock on the west side of Denman:



and a view of Denman from the ferry dock on the Vancouver Island side at Buckley Bay:



and a Denman Island beach scene:


We drifted for a bit near Chrome Island Lighthouse



where we saw a seal feasting on the school of tiny fish that were jumping in the water all around us-- it looked and sounded as if it was raining! We docked the boat and went home feeling very relaxed.

Once home, we had a very simple supper of rosemary-roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and steamed asparagus with mushrooms in a simple sherry sauce:



Now, those brownies:



Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S ALMOST NO-FAT BROWNIES(Can be GF)
(From my second cookbook, The Almost-No-Fat HOLIDAY Cookbook.)

Nutrition facts include 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. If you need a big batch of brownies, triple the recipe and use one whole 12.3 oz. box of extra-firm (regular or lite) SILKEN tofu.

1 cup brown sugar
4 oz (1/2 c.) medium-firm tofu OR firm or extra-firm SILKEN tofu
1/2 cup unsweetened organic cocoa (I use Dutch-process-- read about cocoa powders here)
1/3 cup flour OR GF flour mix
1/4 cup water (can be part liqueur of choice, such as Kahlua)
4 tsp powdered Ener-G or Orgran No-Egg egg replacer powder
1 Tbs coffee (or coffee substitute) granules or espresso powder
2-3 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
OPTIONAL: 1/4-1/2 c. chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the food processor mix until smooth the sugar, tofu, cocoa, water, egg replacer, coffee granules, vanilla and vinegar.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Add the cocoa mixture and mix briefly. Add nuts, if using.

Pour the mixture into a 7 x 11" or 8 x 8" cake pan lined with cooking parchment. Spread evenly. Bake 25 minutes. Cool on a rack in the pan, then cut into bars.

Servings: 12

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/12th): 131.7 calories; 22% calories from fat; 3.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 148.4mg sodium; 159.5mg potassium; 24.4g carbohydrates; 1.6g fiber; 18.0g sugar; 22.7g net carbs; 2.5g protein; 2.6 points.


Enjoy!

After the excess of last week's blog entry, here is my take on a simple, healthful, delicious Lebanese dish that is one of our favorite go-to quick meals-- plus a delightful Lebanese iced tea recipe from an old friend.  In the Middle East, pasta is often added to sauce-y dish in its dry form, which saves a step, and washing a pot, and thickens the sauce.  This is a great example of that technique, and it works well with whole wheat pasta.  The greens in the dish are not traditional, but they are often added to Lebanese lentil soups, so I decided to add some and we prefer it that way now.

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S LEBANESE STYLE LENTILS AND PASTA
Serves 3-4
This is a delicious Lebanese dish. It makes a full meal (the greens aren't traditional, but I like them).

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
5 cups vegetarian broth
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2-4 cups chopped raw chard, kale or, other greens, or 1/ 10 ounce package chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 ounces spaghettini, broken into 4" long pieces (whole wheat pasta is good in this dish)
1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro (optional)
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice OR 1 tablespoon sumac (see about the herb sumac here)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth and lentils to a boil . Turn down to low, cover and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but still holding their shape. (OR, pressure cook for 15 minutes.)

Steam-fry the onion, garlic, and cumin in a large nonstick pot sprayed with oil from a pump sprayer, or with cooking spray, until soft. OR place in a covered microwavable dish or casserole (such as Pyrex) and microwave at full power for 7 minutes. PS: if you don't mind a little fat, saute in a bit of olive oil instead.

Pour the lentils and all of the broth with the onion mixture into a nonstick wok or deep skillet. Add the greens, broken pasta, optional parsley or cilantro, if using, and the cayenne. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium.

Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender and most of the broth has been absorbed, leaving a sort of sauce. Add the lemon juice or sumac and mix well. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve hot.


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Printable Recipe

EASTERN TEA FOR DANCERS
(Given to me by my friend Lee Hoffman of New Orleans. She tasted this in a Lebanese restaurant and thought my bellydancer friends and I would enjoy it, which we do! This is her "voice" describing the recipe.)

Description:
A tangy iced tea that tastes like you've left the continent and arrived in an exotic place. I had some in a middle Eastern restaurant, but couldn't duplicate it until I got hold of the pomengranate molasses.

Ingredients:
4 tea bags or caffeine-free tea bags
4 C. boiling water
Make tea as usual.
Add 2-3 T. pomegranate molasses (see below)

Sugar to taste. Serve over ice.

Add 1 tsp. rose water on the top. Don't stir.

Sprinkle on about a tablespoon of pine nuts (raw). Why? I don't know, but it was served that way in the restaurant.

ROSEWATER = rose water = ma ward
Notes: This is distilled from rose petals, and used in the Middle East, North Africa, and India to flavor desserts. Don't confuse this with rose essence, which is more concentrated.

ABOUT POMEGRANATE MOLASSES (known as nasrahab in Georgian and dibs rumman in Arabic) is an essential Middle Eastern ingredient. It has a wonderful flavor and heady aroma, and keeps in the refrigerator after opening almost indefinitely. The Iranian kind tends to be sweeter and thinner than the Lebanese brands.

The uses for this thick, tangy, piquant syrup are many. It blends well with walnuts, adds a tart and pungent flavor to beans and other savory dishes, and gives an astringent edge to salads and vegetables. It is delicious in glazes and marinades and it can even be diluted and used for sharp drinks and tart sorbets.

This should not be confused with grenadine syrup, which is made from the same base but has sugar and other other flavorings added.

Both rosewater and pomegranate molasses are available from amazon and from Middle Eastern, Greek and Persian grocery stores, and gourmet food stores; rosewater is also available from Indian grocery stores.

Enjoy!