You Look Like a Monkey... And You Smell Like One, Too!

Guess what? The Odd Couple Eats is officially one year old!

::**~Confetti, Applause, Streamers, Vegan Cupcakes For ALL!~**:: 

Does the title of this post make sense now or was I the only one who added that verse to the end of the Happy Birthday song as a kid? Man alive, a whole year... It's been fun, it's been tasty! I've been taking a look back and wanted to share some of my thoughts on what has transpired and what my hopes for the future of this blog are. Settle in, friends...

If blogs got birthday wishes, this one would be hanging out in St. John right now... 

When I started this blog last January, I was new to veganism and was navigating my way through a crazy array of information regarding health and nutrition. I was constantly reading  books, web sites, and food labels. Honestly, it was overwhelming. I had just never thought that much about what I ate before. It feels weird to say that now, but it's true. Food was about taste and little else, so suddenly being confronted with a "limited" diet and restrictions was tough. I had to answer my own questions about veganism (Where do you get protein? How much is enough? What are the names of hidden by-products to avoid?) and simultaneously build my knowledge of health and nutrition from the ground up. And yes, I was dragging Johnny with me through it all. He is quite the trooper, isn't he?

Life is much easier these days. I navigate the grocery store like a pro, trial and error led me to discover which "healthy" foods I enjoy the most (and which Johnny will and will not abide), and I've finally found certain recipes that I can cook again and again and never tire of... You know how you think of certain recipes as "Family Recipes" because your parents made them so often when you were growing up? The fact that I'm starting to make my own collection feels really cool!

I always had second thoughts about creating my own blog. I had no idea how to build a web site or write a recipe or even dream up enough content to keep things interesting. Not to mention there were already so many awesome sites out there dedicated to vegan cooking... was it really necessary for me to add my two cents to the change jar? (It's a rhetorical question, don't answer that!) But I knew that if I was learning so much about nutrition for the first time that many others were in that boat with me. I think it takes a lot of people writing about the same topic to have an impact and a real reach. So I went ahead with The Odd Couple Eats and somehow it all just sort of fell into place.

This blog has been a way for me to share all this with you, but it's also been a touchstone for me, a constant reminder that putting the time and effort into cooking is so worth it. For the first time in my life, I feel like the decisions I make about food are well-informed and, dare I say, even political. I've found issues about which I'm passionate (animal rights, supporting local and sustainable companies, educating children about nutrition, etc.) and I'm not sure that would have happened without veganism and this blog. Cheesy as it may sound, it's empowering.

The absolute best part for me has been the tremendous support I've received. At the outset, I figured my friends and family would read my posts and giggle at my writing or be inspired to try tempeh for the first time. But people from all over the world have read this blog and that boggles my mind! A highlight was definitely when Alicia Silverstone at The Kind Life featured me last summer - her book was the whole reason I went vegan in the first place! And all the encouragement you've given me about my writing led me to the realization that writing is my passion in life. Why have I denied that for so long? It's given me the push I needed to return to school in the Fall to study Creative Writing and I don't think I've ever been so excited!  

So THANK YOU to everyone who reads this blog, who post comments or recommends one of my recipes to a friend. It's had a major impact on my life and it means the world to me.

That said, I'd like to take this blog in a bit of a new direction. In looking back over some of my old posts, I found that the most entertaining don't just focus on cooking, they give you a glimpse into my life. And likewise, the blogs I enjoy reading the most allow the readers to really connect with the authors. So going forward, I'm going to try and balance informative cooking posts with some that are just about my life: what I'm eating (even if I didn't make it), wearing, and doing for fun. I'm hoping to post more frequently (be prepared for crappy cell phone pics) and to try out many new things. There's lots in store, so stay tuned... 

Recipe - Stuffed Butternut Squash

Okay, I finally have to admit it: winter is here. We East Coasters totally lucked out and managed to get away with unseasonably warm weather all through December, but it's catching up with us now. Johnny and I have been piling on the blankets at night, I ordered a few pairs of comfy over-the-knee socks from Sock Dreams for an added layer of warmth, and the hats/scarves/gloves have come out of hiding and taken their rightful positions on our bodies. No snow yet, but I'm sure that's next. I remember sort of secretly wishing for snow a few weeks ago, but I'm beginning to think that was a mistake...

It's no surprise that I've been craving warm food from morning till night with weather like this. I've traded breakfast cereal for oatmeal, salads for soups, and I have a hot mug of tea in my hand every night (our kettle is getting quite the workout!). And while I'm sure I'll be complaining about a lack of produce come March, right now I'm digging on winter vegetables. Butternut squash has got to be at the top of that list. So easy to prepare, so filling and satisfying... it's deep orange color even makes it look warm. Perfect seasonal food.

I remember first having butternut squash as a kid when my parents would make their famous Stuffed Squash. Their version uses bread cubes and sausage and my siblings and I absolutely adored it. Of course, we'd pretty much eat the stuffing and leave the squash behind. Nowadays I'm more like to scarf the squash up first! So how do you replace sausage in a favorite childhood recipe and still get a tasty result? Lots and lots of flavor.

I was drawn to this recipe because it called for an unusual combination of ingredients. Dried fruit and sundried tomatoes? Intriguing. I made some substitutions based on personal taste and what I had on hand and I really loved the result. The sweet and savory flavors blend into a perfect bite and the combination of toasted bread and silky, buttery squash is delicious. I used croutons, but next time I will use crusty bread and cut it into smaller cubes for a more stuffing-like consistency. I really can't wait to make this again!

For his part, Johnny claims his tastebuds were a bit off as he was recovering from a cold the night we ate this. So he didn't like it at first, but he warmed up to it slowly, eventually eating most of his half. He's such a fan of his own stuffing, his mind isn't really open to new interpretations. :-)

Stuffed Butternut Squash

Serves 2

(Based on this recipe by Food.com)

1 butternut squash

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, diced small

1/8 cup cooking alcohol (I used Mirin)

2 cups bread cubes or croutons

1/2 cup dried fruit (I used cherries, but cranberries or raisins would also be nice)

1/2 cup nuts (I used chopped walnuts)

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup vegetable stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut your squash into equal halves and remove the seeds (I use a small ice cream scoop for this and it works great!). Rub the cut side of the squash with a bit of olive oil and place cut-side down on a baking sheet. Cook for 30 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onions, celery and carrot for about 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and garlic and continue cooking until soft. Add your cooking alcohol to deglaze the pan, making sure the heat of the pan is high enough that the liquid bubbles up and begins to evaporate.

After a few minutes, add the bread cubes, dried fruit, nuts and sundried tomatoes. Stir well and add your spices, then stir in the vegetable broth to soften the bread. Remove from heat.

Allow the stuffing mixture to cool a bit, then spoon it into the cooked butternut squash. Bake on your baking sheet for another 20 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then serve with some lightly dressed mixed greens.

Recipe - Vibrant Vegan Lasagna and Holiday Round-up

Well, hello there! Did everyone enjoy the holidays? Johnny and I actually stayed in New York for Christmas and it was our first Christmas away from family. We certainly missed our loved ones, but we ended up having a great time! We took our annual pilgrimage to the Rockefeller Center tree, we saw a few movies, had brunch and a few drinks out on Christmas Eve, and had lots of cuddly nights at home. On Christmas day, we started with some "Fronch Toast" with an apple cinnamon topping I whipped up that was to die for. Then our lovely friends had us over to their place in Brooklyn for Christmas dinner. It was a Polish feast! Stuffed cabbage, pierogies, homemade sauerkraut... all so delicious. I was in a food coma for about a week!

We also bought our first Christmas tree and put up some fun decorations. Ornaments can be so expensive, so we decided to make our own. I got the idea from Cold and Sleepy's blog to make a simple flour/salt dough, then we used cookie cutters to make shapes and baked them. After they cooled, we decorated them with marker and it worked out beautifully! Here are a few of our creations:

Bells and Trees

Snow People - Pimp, Hula Lady, and Standard Snowman

Miss Piggy and Kermit, Charlie Brown and his gimpy tree, and Gingerbread Man

Now that the excitement of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's has died down, I'm striving to get back to basics. For me that means cutting way down on sugar and processed foods, increasing my fruit and veggie intake, and getting back to walking and exercising. All those holiday foods taste so good, but it's amazing how much they affect me on every level! I get moody, tired, anxious, my blood sugar fluctuates like crazy and random aches and pains increase. It's fun to indulge, but it's also really nice to get back to cleaner eating.

To that end, I made a really great lasagna last night that was just about as healthy as a lasagna can be without being boring. It was a bit labor intensive, but we've been eating out so much that I didn't mind spending a little extra time in the kitchen. I wanted to steer clear of any fake, processed "meat" and "cheese" products and use ingredients that were there for a health purpose, not just for flavor. I call it "Vibrant Vegan Lasagna" because the colors in it really are pretty and because it will make you feel truly vibrant - not weighed down like most lasagnas.

I knew I wanted to use a "cashew cheese" for the protein, healthy fat, and B12 courtesy of nutritional yeast. I based it on a recipe from Oh She Glows! but had to make some modifications as fresh basil is not in season. The sauce was inspired by Olivia Wilde's "Bomb-Diggity Bolognese" (she's so cute) which I've cooked many times over the past year. We just watched her in "Cowboys and Aliens" this weekend - I thought it was really good BTW - so that be why I had her on the brain. She uses tempeh and mushrooms as a meat-like base and chops them up in the food processor to get that Bolognese-like consistency. This sauce is so flexible - you can add just about any veggie to it you have on hand and it will come out tasting great. The tempeh adds even more protein and it is a fermented food, which is great for digestion. I then added some chopped collards (really working on boosting my daily intake of greens!) as they are high in vitamin C and soluble fiber. You can substitute spinach or kale and I'm sure the result would be just as good.

So how did it turn out? Let's just say that I devoured my first piece and was back for seconds before Johnny had even finished pouring himself a drink in the kitchen! I was a bit worried that the unconventional ingredients would not suit Johnny's tastebuds, but he really loved this lasagna and even had seconds himself. And now we have some leftovers for lunches and a bunch more to freeze! I love when new creations turn out so well!

Vibrant Vegan Lasagna

(Makes 12 servings)

For the tomato sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 small yellow or white onion

1 block of tempeh (I used Lightlife Organic 3-Grain tempeh)

1 pint baby portabella mushrooms, rinsed

1/4 cup dry red wine

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 28 oz jar pasta sauce (I used Newman's Own Tomato and Basil sauce)

1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes

For the cashew cheese:

1 clove garlic

1 1/4 cups raw, unsalted cashews (soaked for at least 30 minutes or overnight)

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp Dijon mustard (I know it sounds weird, but trust me!)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup water or vegetable broth

For the crumb topping:

2 cups breadcrumbs (I made my own from a stale baguette which I pulsed in the food processor)

2 tbsp Earth Balance or olive oil

1/2 tsp oregano

salt and pepper to taste

9 lasagna noodles

1 bag frozen, chopped collard greens, thawed (be sure to squeeze out the liquid so they are as dry as possible)

First, put a large pot of water on to boil. Then make your tomato sauce so it can simmer while you prep the rest of the ingredients. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Chop the peeled garlic cloves in the food processor and add to the skillet. Pulse the peeled onion in the food processor and add to the skillet. Cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the tempeh to the food processor and pulse until it breaks into small crumbs. Transfer to the skillet. Pulse the mushrooms in the food processor until chopped into small pieces. Transfer to the skillet. Add the wine and spices and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The mushrooms will begin to give off their liquid and cook down, and the tempeh will brown a bit. Stir in the jar of pasta sauce and the chopped tomatoes and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer while you prepare the rest of the lasagna, stirring every now and then.

Your water should be boiling at this point, so add your lasagna noodles. Be careful not to overcook them, 9 minutes should be plenty. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Next, wipe out your food processor so you can make the cashew cheese. Drain and rinse the cashews. Chop the peeled garlic clove in the processor, then add the cashews, lemon juice, mustard, nutritional yeast, and salt and begin to process. Drizzle in the water as the processor is running until you achieve a smooth consistency. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. You made need to add more or less than 1/4 cup water, but you want it to form a paste.

Drain the lasagna noodles and immediately rinse with cold water. In a 9"x12" glass pan, put some of the tomato sauce in the bottom so your noodles won't stick. Lay down three of the noodles, then spread 1/3 of the cashew cheese mixture over them. Sprinkle 1/2 of the collard greens on top, then spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce on top of that. Layer on three more noodles, then 1/3 cheese, the remaining collard greens, and 1/3 tomato sauce. Add another layer of noodles, then the rest of the cheese and the tomato sauce.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Before the 30 minutes is up, prepare your breadcrumb topping. In a medium skillet, melt the Earth Balance or heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and spices and cook for 3 minutes, or until everything is well incorporated. Once the lasagna has been cooking for 30 minutes, remove the foil and sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the top. Cook uncovered for another 7-10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are browned.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Recipe - Vegan Chunky Monkey and Thanksgiving Recap

Hidee-ho! Hope everyone had wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations this year! It was my second year celebrating Thanksgiving as a vegan, but my first one cooking. Last year we went to Connecticut to spend the day with Johnny's brother and his family, so I picked up a few things from Whole Foods. While I am eternally grateful for the convenience and selection that Whole Foods offers, this year I wanted to try my hand at veganizing some of the classics. It is so much cheaper and, generally, tastier to make stuff on your own, don't you agree?

On Tuesday, I began by cooking the cranberry sauce as I knew it would keep well and it was the only component of the meal that was meant to be served cold. I used this recipe from Sunset Magazine as I remembered my sister making a cranberry sauce with Earl Grey tea in years past that I loved. This called for some exotic spices like cardamom pods, star anise, and whole cinnamon sticks so I made my way to Kalustyan's and managed to buy all three for under $10. Man, I love that place! I simmered the spices and tea bags in a water and sugar mixture, then cooked the cranberries in the liquid until they all burst and cooked into a thickened sauce. I was super pleased with the results of that one, it was a positively delicious addition to the meal! I also made up a batch of hummus on Tuesday for an appetizer - we all know how much better hummus tastes after it sits in the fridge for a few days anyway.

Wednesday night I tackled dessert - the Maple Pecan Pie from the new book "Vegan Pie in the Sky" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Those ladies have stolen my heart when it comes to vegan baked goods and vegan food in general. Their recipes are so thoroughly tested and well-written that I never have to worry about yielding a less-than-tasty result. The on-line reviews of this pie recipe were split: some had great success and others had a bit of trouble. I, too, ran into some issues when I let my caramel cook a bit too long. It completely hardened and crumbled, so I blended it up in the food processor and hoped for the best. Luckily, it all worked out and it was a delicious pie! Johnny said it was a bit too sweet for his tastes, but I thought it was just right. (Though expensive to make... we paid $8 for the pecans and it used most of my $7 bottle of maple syrup. Yikes!)

I wanted to have as little cooking to do on Thursday as possible. We spent the morning making our way to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, only to find that we'd missed all but the last two balloons and Santa. EPIC FAIL. Better luck next year. When we got home, I got to work making mashed potatoes (I baked the potatoes, scooped out the innards, and mashed with plenty of soy milk, vegan margarine, and salt and pepper) and sweet potato casserole (I also baked the sweet potatoes, scooped out the innards and mashed with a bit of maple syrup, a couple tablespoons of margarine, some cinnamon and allspice and about a 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts, then I baked it with some vegan Dandies marshmallows on top. YUM!). Johnny made his famous stuffing using margarine, veggie broth, stuffing mix and lots of chopped apples, celery and onions. Then I just had to heat up the rolls and the vegan mushroom gravy. Our guests brought the BEST ROASTED VEGGIES I'VE EVER HAD that included butternut squash, cauliflower, and turnips. Monica says the secret is to roast them at very low heat for a long time, so I'll be utilizing that method in the future.

Everything came out so wonderfully and I had a plate full of vegan goodness upon which to gorge myself. And thanks to leftovers, I continued to gorge myself through the entire weekend! I was so busy trying to keep everything hot that I didn't really snap any good pics though. Bummer. We also saw the new Muppets movie that night and I must say, it was fantastic. A theater full of adults weeping at the sight of a frog puppet? Yes, please. 

In this brief hiatus between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm trying to get back to eating a bit healthier so as not to send my system into complete meltdown. I bought a gigantic bunch of bananas at the grocery store while shopping for Thanksgiving and they started to get a bit brown. I knew they would be perfect in a baked good like banana bread. But instead, I chose to freeze them and make banana soft serve! This stuff seems to be all the craze these days and I know why: it's so easy to make and it tastes divine. You can mix-in anything your little heart desires, but when I think of banana ice cream, I automatically think "Chunky Monkey". By far my favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor, it combines banana ice cream with dark chocolate chunks and walnuts. This version gives you all those flavors, but with about 1/10th the fat and calories. Big time WIN!

Johnny ate a bowl of this ice cream, licked the bowl clean, then returned to the freezer to eat the rest. I was so happy he liked it so much! A much healthier way to satisfy an indulgent sweet-tooth. Have you ever made banana soft serve? What are your favorite mix-ins?

Vegan Chunky Monkey

5 frozen bananas

1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks

1/4 cup raw, unsalted walnut pieces

Break up the bananas a bit and add to a food processor. Begin blending, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. You will have to blend for awhile, 5 minutes or so, but don't overblend as it will start to melt the ice cream. Once everything is smoothe, transfer to a bowl (a chilled bowl would be great here) and stir in the chocolate and walnuts. You can either place this back into the freezer to harden it up a bit, or serve right away. Sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips over the top and garnish with a mint sprig.

Recipe - Ani Phyo's Raw Sweet Corn and Cashew Chowder

Oh my goodness, it's been too long people! The good news is that my back feels MUCH better. I still have no real answers as to what happened or why I was in so much pain, but I am very thankful to be able to move again and breathe without wincing. 


The last few weeks have been busy with social activities, working out with my new personal trainer (oh, my aching muscles) and flying home last week for my sister's wedding! She awesomely included lots of vegan options on her Lebanese-themed wedding menu like spinach afthiad (olive oil pastry stuffed with spinach and onions), garbanzo bean stuffed cabbage rolls, and hummus/ babaganoush with pita chips. My mom, dad, aunt and brother helped her cook the gigantic feast and every bit of it was so delicious! You could really taste the love. 

Early morning cactus. So pretty. 

Back in Tucson, I had so many people come up to me and tell me that they read and enjoy my blog. What a huge surprise! I often forget that what I write gets sent out into the universe for others to read and getting so much positive encouragement motivated me to get back to posting. I have lots of yummy foodstuffs to share with you. I'd like to kick things off with a simply scrumptious soup I made a few weekends ago. I followed this recipe by Ani Phyo who is a rockstar in the vegan/raw world. I'd never tried anything by her before, but I must say, this soup made me a fan! 

I'm not much into raw foods as my body simply seems to respond better to gently cooked foods. But I do like to add in some raw recipes and meals every now and then. The benefit is that so many of the vitamins and nutrients that would typically be lost in the cooking process stay intact with raw foods. I was a bit afraid that a soup with a base of raw corn would be way too starchy, but it wasn't at all. It was crisp, refreshing and nourishing. It's probably more suited for a hot summer day, but it did make for a perfect light lunch on an unseasonably warm autumn afternoon. The markets around here seem to be selling off the last of the summer corn for cheap, so it's cost effective, too!

I made a few changes to the recipe to cut down on the fat (reflected below) and added in some delicious fresh tomatoes. If you try out this recipe, be sure to use a blender and not a food processor if possible. I don't have a blender and my food processor ended up leaking out 90% of the water I put in. I just processed what stayed in and then added in water once it was in a bowl. You could also try using an immersion blender. 

Ani Phyo's Raw Sweet Corn and Cashew Chowder

Based on this recipe

Serves 4

3 ears of yellow corn, kernels removed

1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small garlic clove

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup water

fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tomato, diced

freshly ground black pepper

In a blender, combine 3/4 of the corn kernels, cashews, olive oil, garlic, salt and water and process until smooth. Divide the soup into four bowls and garnish with the reserved corn kernels, cilantro, chopped tomatoes, and pepper. Serve cold. (Can be chilled overnight.)