Sunday Supper, Episode 4: Vegan club sandwich recipe

There are a few things that I miss about Michigan, with friends and family ranking high on the list. I also miss the vegan club from Brick Road Pizza. A lot.

For three months, I've contemplated the possibility of emulating the Grand Rapids' restaurant's recipe at home. Earlier this month, I tried. It didn't taste like Brick Road's version, but it was good in its own right. The inspiration and basis for my sandwich(s) was taken from Vegweb.com, where I found the simple - if unwieldy named - "Husbands Love This Vegan Club Sandwich." Full credit and a sincere thank you to the creator of the recipe.

As always, I altered the recipe to suit my tastes, budget and pantry contents.

Vegan Club Sandwich
Ingredients
-1 block of extra firm tofu, drained, patted dry and cut into 1/2" thick slices
- 1/2 block tempeh, cut into thin slices
- 3 TB extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 TB soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 tsp liquid smoke (Surprisingly cheap at Whole Foods)
- Naan, one piece per sandwich
- 3 pieces of Romaine lettuce
- Sliced tomato
- Vegan mayo (I am obsessed with Vegenaise)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Tofu cutlets: Mix a marinade olive oil, soy sauce, Dijon and black pepper in a small bowl. Dip each piece of tofu in the bowl and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Save leftover marinade.
Tempeh bacon: Add liquid smoke the marinade and dip each piece of tempeh into the mix. Do this carefully, since tempeh is pretty dry and tends to crumble before cooking. Place this on a separate baking sheet.

Place both baking sheets in oven. Flip tofu and tempeh slices after 15 minutes, and cook for another 15 minutes, or until tofu is golden brown and tempeh is crisp. Let cool.

Build your sandwich by lightly toasting the bread. Spread vegan mayo on each side of bread, layer tempeh and tofu, and add lettuce and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tips: Keep a close eye on the tempeh, which can quickly escalate from "nice and crisp" to "No, no. I like well-done food. Honestly, honey, I don't mind that it's tearing my mouth to pieces."
The recipe calls for maple syrup for the marinade. I bet this is a delicious touch. However, with the pronounced lack of deciduous trees in Florida, maple syrup is outlandishly priced - even for Whole Foods. The recipe also calls for white bread, but I felt Naan would be the closet thing to the delicious homemade bread served at Brick Road Pizza. It was the right call. Also, next time, I will marinate the cutlets for about 20 minutes and add chopped dill pickles as a topping. And, heck - I would like to throw seitan in the mix somewhere. It's no BRP, but it's the closest thing we've got.

Trouble in paradise: Pet peeves about Florida

Make no mistake. I am delighted that I moved to Florida. Cool job, nice apartment, great winter/spring weather, proximity to beaches, new people, outdoor festivals, great restaurants, burgeoning art scene, killer people watching, etc. No regrets.
But as with any situation, you take the good (beaches, weather) with the not-so-good (hurricane season and horrifying stance on capital punishment.) It's been awhile since I wrote an acerbic post, so why not? Here they are: The things I hate most about Florida.


1. The drivers.

It's not so much that the traffic is bothersome. Yeah, I could do without the hour-long commute to work each way, but it's inevitable, given that twenty billion people live in Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties (True story.) No - it's the drivers that make driving intolerable.
In Michigan, whenever you see someone with a Florida plate, someone would say: "People from Florida can't drive." It's funny/enraging because it's true. They can't! No one down here can drive. They all think they can and they are wrong. It's as if every day is the first day of driver's ed for everyone on the highway. They all seem to operate with the "I'm impervious to death" attitude of a 15-year-old and the attention-span of a fruit fly. These are the worst drivers I have ever seen - and I've driven in Boston. During rush hour. No, my friends. This - this - is some seriously amazing carelessness.

Florida drivers (and this includes snowbirds, locals and tourists) fall into at least one or more categories: death-wish motorcyclists, freeway accident Lookie-Loos, Loni Lanedrifters, obsessive hornhonkers, pedestrian hitters, obviously-compensating-for-something-Hummer-driving-tailgaters and Cellphone Suzies. Oh, and the jerks who drive 45 MPH in the car pool lane during H.O.V. hours with no passengers.

I've never seen such reckless endangerment of life (or more accurately, multiple lives). People change lanes without looking in mirrors or checking blind spots - all while flinking around on their Blackberries and "steering" an SUV at 90 miles an hour - like it's their jobs.

The most baffling part of the puzzle is, if you spend any time on I-95, you are constantly reminded of the dangers of driving. On any given day, I see one to six accidents. A high percentage of these are fender-benders caused by people slowing down to rubberneck at a fender-bender on the other side of the road, as if it's a herd of unicorns or something never seen in all of human existence, instead of something that is as much a part of the daily commute as getting honked at for waiting "too long" to go on a green light. Often enough, there is a stomach-turning, send-chills-down-your-spine kind of accident scene (with special Serious Incident response vehicles) that should make you slow down and reconsider your driving habits. But it only seems to increase the need to lurch erratically into the path of a vehicle traveling at a faster rate of speed than you for no discernible reason. The fact that I will one day become a Florida Driver serves only to fan the flames of bile and contempt.




2. Creepy crawlies
The cats have/had(?) fleas. Our apartment has sugar ants, fruit flies and the occasional horrifyingly gigantic "Palmetto Bug" (which the cats seem to enjoy killing. Thank you, boys.). Reportedly, the summer brings ravenous mosquitoes, flying fire ants and locust swarms. Welcome to paradise!







3. Red Tape
There is no Florida Secretary of State, at least, not like we know it to be. And several months spent trying to secure a Florida driver's license, car registration and plates might convince you that there is no God. Never has a state made seemingly straight-forward tasks - proving you are a citizen and a licensed driver - more needlessly complicated. The Florida Department of Transportation caused me to use the "F" word on the phone with my mother at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. K.B. and I think the state slogan should be changed to: "Florida: Just how badly do you want this?" I'll say one thing for this state - they certainly know how to make you work for it. Oh, and I don't need some smartass to send me a link to the Florida Department of Transportation. The answers are not there. You might think they are. They are not.

4. Legions of Gym Guys - As far as the eye can see!

5. Ed Hardy.
Adam and I have the misfortune of living below an Ed Hardy loving Gym Guy and his high-heel wearing girlfriend. Cheesiest. Neighbors. Ever.

Sunday Supper, Episode 3: Surprisingly easy vegetarian quiche

Vegetarian quiche with spinach, feta and tomato

Quiche always has seemed a lofty creation, one which must be treated with a certain level of reverence. "Oh! Mustn't open the oven whilst the quiche is baking, lest we disturb its delicate baking process. Do not look directly at the quiche! Never look directly at the quiche!"
But this recipe is easy. So easy, in fact, that I was able to pull it together at 8 p.m., after a long and expensive* visit to Publix and a growling stomach that caused me to cut corners and race against the clock. (*The quiche ingredients were not expensive. The damned cats and their special food are expensive.)

The recipe is a very close adaptation of the cover-featured recipe from the April 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times (recipe not yet available online). The VT is my vegetarian Bible. Every issue is filled with mouth-watering photos and amazing sounding recipes. It is a very motivating publication and I save every dog-earred copy in a pile next to my stack of cookbooks.

Veggie quiche (Adapted from a Vegetarian Times recipe)
Ingredients
-6-8 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed (This should be thawed at room temp for two hours. Or, if you're like me, microwaved for 30 seconds and very carefully pulled apart)
-3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
-2-3 tsp. sesame seeds
-1 10-ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed with all water squeezed out
-3/4 low-fat feta cheese
-20 grape tomatoes, halved
-2 eggs
-1 cup soy milk
-Pinch ground nutmeg
-Sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To make the crust, place first phyllo sheet into a lightly greased glass pie pan. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover with a sheet of phyllo. Repeat as desired (as in, if you want a thick crust, repeat the step with 7 or 8 more sheets, thinner crust=less layers). Press cheese into crust. Cover with spinach and top with tomato halves. Whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and pour over crust. Place on a baking sheet in middle of oven. The recipe recommends 45 to 50 minutes, but I left mine in for closer to 55, or just about long enough for the top to turn brown and the center to set.

Tips
I intend to try a vegan version of quiche, if such a thing exists. This recipe is pleasantly and surprisingly light. The crust is crisp and not at all heavy. Because there is no butter and only two eggs, this is a relatively light quiche. Next time, I plan to try an egg alternative and add more vegetables, such as steamed asparagus or artichoke. The more veggies, the better, right? This pie disappeared quite quickly, but Adam said what little leftovers remained were just as tasty the next afternoon.
A HIGHLY recommended entree. A bit labor intensive, but delicious and easy on the wallet.

Zoology lesson: Study of a Pepe

A Pepe Le Pew (also referred to as a "Pep Pep," "Peepers," "Pep," "Peeper Squeaker," and various other monikers) is a small boned, highly excitable member of the Mammalia class. Though believed upon initial examination to be a member of the Felis genus, subsequent exposures and six months of intensive study have led a team of researchers to reclassify the mammal as a hybrid of the Rattus and Sciuridae genus, with a dash of monkey and lemur thrown in the genetic pool.

Yes. This is a blog about one of my cats. Pepe, to be exact. But bear with me. This is not a "cat blog," per se, but a singular entry about a cat.

In all my years of cat ownership and appreciation, never have I encountered a specimen like Pepe.
He is wild, hyper, terribly behaved, fearless and very loving. He destroys houseplants, neatly made beds, iPod headphones (two in one month, score!), water glasses and any sense of order that may have existed in our family prior to his arrival. These are some images of the creature in his natural habitat:

Top to bottom: Channeling Cujo while his gentlemanly brother, Robot, cuddles; chilling on the door; preparing to ruin Christmas; more door walking;nesting in a garbage can; IKEA time.

Sunday Supper, Episode 2; Almost Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese

This week's Sunday Supper is a bit of a cheat. I had planned to make vegan club sandwiches and a creative side salad as a festive meal for Adam, who starts classes tomorrow at the Art Institute (yea!). But as the effects of spending a weekend in the blazing Florida sun sink in, I'm feeling in no mood to eat, let alone cook.

So, I'm cheating and posting a recipe for a delicious vegan mac 'n' cheese that I cooked for the first time last month. It's a recipe from Sublime, a Fort Lauderdale vegetarian restaurant that is supposed to be excellent. I found this in the print edition of the Sun Sentinel. It pays to read the newspaper, kids! I followed this pretty closely and it was sooo good. Creamy and amazing, with a pleasant consistency and flavor. Apologies for the lack of an accompanying photo.

Almost Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese

Ingredients
-Salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
-Water
-2 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
-1/2 cup (1 stick) vegan margarine (Got ours at Whole Foods)
-1/2 cup flour (I use Hodgson Mills half white/half wheat blend)
-1 quart plain unsweetened soy milk
-2 cups grated shredded rice cheese (From Whole Foods. Couldn't find shredded soy cheese.)
-1/2 cup organic, grass fed, shredded white cheddar (As a conciliatory gesture to Adam, whom I thought would like a hint of real cheese)
-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
-1 cup Italian seasoning panko crumbs
-Next time I make this, I will add 1 tsp. of dried dill weed

Directions:
Cook the macaroni according to directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large, heavy saucepan melt the margarine over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the soy milk and continue whisking until the mixture begins to thicken. Stir in the cheese and mustard and keep stirring until it melts and is well blended (Stirring is an important part of this dish..). Season with salt and pepper, and maybe that dried dill. Remove it from the heat and mix it with the macaroni.

Transfer to a shallow 2-quart casserole or baking dish. In a small bowl, use a fork to mix the remaining mustard with the crumbs. Scatter evenly over the top of the casserole. Bake in the center of the oven 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.

Tips:
This doesn't taste like regular mac 'n' cheese, so you're not going to be able to "fool" anyone. But it is less oily and heavy than the traditional dish, and should be able to win even a non-believer. The crunchy topping more than makes up for the missing cholesterol. This made enough for dinner, plus leftovers for two days and a portion to freeze. Serve with a salad or veggie side, and you're ready to go!