Sweet and tart carrots

We had company for dinner last night and my husband and I shared the cooking. He made Bolivian cabbage and potatoes and wok-seared tofu. I made curried coconut corn soup, basmati rice in the rice cooker, steamed carrots with champagne vinegar and lovage dressing, and chocolate banana cake. Everything but the soup and carrots has appeared on this blog (the tofu is in other recipes) and the carrots, little orange bursts of flavor, debut tonight.

I wanted an easy, colorful and delicious veggie to round out the plate, and I thought why not carrots? Their bright orange color would look good with the green cabbage and white (yes, I admit it was white) rice. Plus you can get them in a bag already washed and peeled. My husband was supposed to make them and he's not such a great cutter, so I thought he could just get a bag of baby carrots and slice each one in half lengthwise. Anyone can manage that, right? He did that, but then he couldn't think of what to do with them. I remembered a salad dressing I made some time ago that would be perfect to dress up the carrots. It's tart and sweet and I got the great idea to add finely shredded lovage to the dressing. Lovage has a sharp, slightly bitter taste similar to celery leaves, and is very refreshing. It perfectly balanced the vinegar and crystallized ginger and its deep green color looked really cool on the carrots. I had some of the leftover carrots for lunch today and they were fantastic. I'm going to make some ahead of time for a brunch we're having so they can marinate overnight.

Sweet and tart carrots

• one pound of ready-to-eat baby carrots
• 3 Tablespoons orange muscat champagne vinegar (or rice vinegar or wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons natural soy sauce, shoyu or tamari
• 1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger pieces
• several lovage leaves, celery leaves or mint leaves

Make the dressing.

1. Mix the first six ingredients in a small bowl. Finely cut the leaves and add to the bowl.
2. Slice each carrot in half lengthwise.
3. Steam carrots in a small amount of water until tender-crisp, or however you like them.
4. Arrange the carrots in a dish and pour the dressing over.

About the lovage. I have no idea why I originally planted lovage. I like growing herbs and probably thought it sounded like a cool plant to grow. It's been growing for about 15 years - faithfully coming back year after year with no help whatsoever from me. Some years I even forget to eat any of it. This year it has reproduced itself, and has appeared in another garden spot much more convenient for picking. Such a clever plant. It grows about three to five feet high and I find it rather attractive and tasty. It tastes a lot like celery.

Chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookies

I used to be far more conservative about using fat and sugar in baked goods than I am now. If a recipe had more than 1/4 cup of either of those ingredients, I wouldn't make it. As you can imagine, my baked goods were utilitarian, at best. Actually, I liked them, but other people regarded them as "healthy." (Overheard at an event to which I contributed cookies, "those look healthy. I think I'll try these instead.") I still think I'm better off with simpler desserts, but I give in now and then for special (and not so special) occasions. I enjoy baking things that look and taste good to friends and family, though I still try to keep things as healthy as I can.

Anyway, my husband made these cookies (He's getting so domestic. I didn't even ask for cookies!) from Post Punk Kitchen and they were electrifyingly good. Like little sparks of electricity with every bite. Real killers. He SAYS he only used 1/2 cup of oil and only 1 cup of sugar but who really knows. He may have said that to calm me since he knows I hate adding lots of oil and sugar to food. Or he may have sensed my presence watching over him as he measured out the oil and sugar, and truly cut back. I can't say for certain. I'll have to make them again myself to find out. They were the darkest chocolate cookie I've ever seen and REALLY good. You can make the original recipe or try a more conservative version a la husband. (He used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. I would have used whole wheat pastry flour but the white whole wheat worked great. And he used sucanot for the sugar.) You can find the recipe here.

These clematis are growing in my garden.

garbanzo cheese

There used to be a Country Life restaurant near our house. (If you're not familiar with Country Life Vegetarian Restaurants, they are a chain of restaurants associated with the Seventh Day Adventist church. I'm not sure of the exact relationship — franchises or independently owned — but in the case of our local Country Life, the restaurant was staffed and managed by members of the church. The restaurants promote the Adventist principle of keeping your body healthy by eating the highest quality food. This generally means vegan. There are other obvious items to be avoided, like alcohol and tobacco, and less obvious ones like cinnamon.)

Anyway, in addition to being the only vegan restaurant in town, Country Life was also very child-friendly. So, being vegans with three young children, we went there a lot. We got to know the managers pretty well and it got to be kind of like going to their house for dinner, except that we had to pay. Our children were never the kind that would be happy with a few bites from my plate. They were all hearty eaters who required full portions of food. They loved going to Country Life with its huge, comfortable room, fireplace and attached store, and where they could order anything on the menu. And they enjoyed the food. I usually ordered the salad bar — a wonderland of fresh salad ingredients with extras like chickpeas, olives and vegan potato salad.

Since the staff were not really professional restaurant people, this was not the sort of place you would go if you were in a hurry. Once we waited so long for our food, and the order was so confused, that they gave us the meal for free. We were quite comfortable with the pace and we liked going there. And even though they were all obviously "working in God's service," they never suggested we actually read the literature on the table, or pressed their religion on us.

The food was mostly familiar-sounding "comfort food," which is why I once got the (stupid) idea to take my parents there when they came to visit. I thought they would enjoy the food even though they weren't vegetarian. My father was not a patient man, but I thought we could all go out and enjoy a leisurely meal together. I mean, we could hang out, have conversation, enjoy each others company. Right? Well, I'll spare you the gory details, but I wasn't sure we'd be welcome again at Country Life after that night. But they were very gracious and understanding, of course, and we continued our visits there until the restaurant closed. (I can assure you we never returned there with my parents.)

We took a series of cooking classes at the restaurant and learned how to make tofu and other stuff and bought a couple of cookbooks. "Ten Talents" by John and Rosalie Hurd is a classic Seventh Day Adventist cookbook that has some weird and interesting recipes. We also have a "Country Life" cookbook, which brings me to the subject of this post. I've decided to revisit some of the old recipes I used to make. Some of the food seemed really good to me back then and I want to see if it still has appeal. I remember making garbanzo cheese and thinking it was so delicious, so I started with that. It isn't hard to make, but takes several days to sprout the beans. And the final step of cooking requires constant stirring for 25 minutes. It didn't seem as great this time around. But the process still fascinates me and the cheese is interesting and slice-able. Actually, I don't know why they called it "cheese." It's more like a garbanzo loaf. Today I wrapped some slices in a burrito with avocado and shredded lettuce and it tasted pretty good. Will I make it again? Maybe; it's strange, but it has a certain something that I find very compelling.

I fried a few slices in a tablespoon of oil until they were browned and crispy, and they were delicious. I gave some to my son, who had been grossed out by the stuff while I was cooking it, and he said it was really good.

Garbanzo cheese
Soak 1 cup dry garbanzos for 24 hours. Sprout for 48 hours. (To sprout, drain the beans and place them in a glass jar or ceramic bowl. Rinse and drain them twice a day. It helps to use beans that are not too old.)

Whiz in blender or food processor until smooth (really smooth):

• the soaked sprouted garbanzos
• 1/2 cup brazil or other nuts
• 1-1/4 teasp. onion powder
• 1-1/2 teasp. salt
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup yeast flakes (you know, nutritional yeast)
• 1/2 cup jarred pimentos
• 1/8 teasp. garlic powder
• caraway or celery seed (optional)

Place in double boiler and cook until thick, or cook in a saucepan over low heat, 20–25 minutes, stirring constantly. I used the sauce pan and medium heat because I didn't have the patience for low heat. This stuff burns in an instant and you have to be vigilant. If you keep stirring and scraping the pan bottom, it will cook more easily over medium heat. It gets quite thick. Pack it into a loaf pan rinsed in cold water. I used a 9" square pan because that's what I had. Chill thoroughly before slicing. Try frying some slices for breakfast.

Update: Oh no. I'm addicted to this stuff just like I used to be. Especially the fried version.