Vegan Vigilante: Saving the World One Meal at a Time

For me, one of the most daunting aspects of learning to cook was getting comfortable with spices. Coriander? Fennel? Mustard seed? Huh? I was comfortable with salt, pepper, and garlic. I mean, you can do a heck of a lot with salt, pepper, and garlic! But eventually, I came to accept that there might be other flavors out there worth investigating. After all, there’s a whole wall of spices at the grocery store, right? Let the games begin!

(At this point, I’d like to mention how patient Chris is when I get transfixed… okay, obsessed with things like this. Yes, fried potatoes are bland on their own. Yes, dumping a bottle of paprika on them will turn them a lovely orange. No, woman cannot live by paprika alone.)

After a year of experimenting, I’m finally getting comfortable with a wider array of spices. In fact, I’m kind in love with toasted mustard seeds, and little glass bottles of spices are encroaching on cereal’s real estate in the pantry. I found the following recipe in an old Vegetarian Times issue. I clipped it out without jotting down the date, and I couldn’t locate it on the website.

Salt-Free Seasoning

1 tsp. each:

• paprika
• dried parsley
• dried oregano
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• ground black pepper
• ground red pepper
• celery seed
• ground cumin
• dried lemon peel

Blend all ingredients and fill a large-holed shaker with the mixture. Makes about 3 tablespoons.

I didn’t have ground red pepper or dried lemon peel on hand, so I just omitted them and have been using this veggie burgers, tofu steaks, and yes even fried potatoes. It’s an excellent low-sodium, vegan replacement for something like Lawry’s Seasoned Salt with a better, fuller flavor than Mrs. Dash.

Skillet-fried potatoes for the win!

What would summer be without fresh strawberries? Winter, that’s what! Okay, maybe not, but it wouldn’t seem like summer for sure. After finding gorgeous strawberries at the downtown farmers’ market, Chris and I were craving strawberry shortcake. While looking for a recipe for vegan angel food cake (impossible!) or shortcake (elusive…), I flipped through an old issue of Vegetarian Times (April 2007) and found a recipe for vanilla pound cake. The original recipe includes a lime glaze, which I skipped for the time being, but I intend to play with it soon. I wasn’t able to locate this particular recipe on the website, so here it is: 

Vanilla Pound Cake

5 oz. silken tofu, drained

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 vanilla soymilk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9X5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Blend tofu, suga, oil, soymilk, and vanilla extract in food processor until smooth.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Fold in tofu mixture. Pour into loaf pan and bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Learning experience: I had never used cake flour before. It’s ridiculously fine! And even messier than the original! Brilliant! Also, I made this before getting my new oven thermometer, and I think the temp discrepancy may have been responsible for the sub-par rising.

While maybe visually disappointing, the pound cake had a fantastic taste–vanilla-y but not too vanilla-y. Topped with a strawberry-sugar mixture (half as much sugar as Chris wanted, twice as much as I wanted; hey, marriage is about compromise, right?) and vanilla Soy Dream ice cream, it more than satisfied my strawberry shortcake craving!