Desayuno al Osita

It's Breakfast Time!When Sal and I were in Guatemala we discovered the most delicious breakfast ever. It's called "El Chapin", Chapin being a term for Guatemalan. This breakfast consisted of eggs al gusto (how you like) with some sauteed tomato and onion, re-fried black beans, platanos maduros, a cheese called simply "queso fresco" (almost feta-like) and fresh, handmade corn tortillas.

Well, sadly, we're not in Guatemala anymore. The chickens here don't roam free in the streets, fully beaked and satisfied. And eating beans everyday for six months made us... well, you know, they are the magical fruit.... So we've adapted this favorite breakfast of all time to fit a healthy, comfortable vegan lifestyle. It's so good, we eat it everyday and if, for some reason, we miss it, I make it for dinner (we call it brinner and it is a many splendored thing). Sal is addicted to this breakfast, I had to show him how to make it for days I oversleep/get sick/whatever.

Step One: Gather your ingredients.
This amount feeds 2 hungry people 3 tacos each.

1. 1 tbsp Earth Balance vegan margarine
2. 1/2 a medium red onion, diced
3. 1 tsp salt
4. 2 tsp agave nectar
5. 2 cloves garlic, mashed and chopped
6. 1 cup chopped button mushrooms (I go by the rule of: 2 mushrooms per serving)
7. 1/2 cup diced asparagus (2 stalks asparagus per serving) —For tips on prepping and cooking asparagus, see VeganYumYum's awesome how-to, I love her site!—
8. 1 cup chopped frozen brocolli (fresh is better, I'm sure, but I always have frozen around)
9. 2 slices (about an ounce) of Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella, diced
10. About 4 ounces, a thick slice, of firm tofu
11. 1 ripe plantain (ripe plantains can be hard to find at your average grocery store, try a Mexican market or a farmer's market or buy them in advance and let them ripen)
12. 2 veggie sausages
    

Step Two: I love onions. I really do. I basically start most meals with this step. Heat a large frying pan (wok-style is best) over medium-high heat, add the Earth Balance margarine and let it melt and begin to sizzle lightly. Add the diced onion and stir to coat with the margarine. I always tell myself to take my time with onions, let them cook slowly. When they begin to release their juices and turn all shiny, add the salt and agave nectar and stir it up well. Put a lid on it, lifting it to stir every couple of minutes, and let the onions caramelize just a little.

Step Three: Veggies make it best. Add the garlic and let it cook with the onions for a little before adding the mushrooms. Mushrooms take time, I let them cook the longest, stirring frequently. Add the asparagus, stir it in and add the broccoli almost immediately after. If there's one thing I can't stand about the south it's this: overcooked vegetables. Things like asparagus and broccoli are best when they have a crunch to them! Don't overcook them, let your asparagus turn a lighter shade of green, the broccoli only needs to defrost and soften slightly.

Step Four: Scramble. Lower the heat to a medium-low setting and add your cubes of vegan cheese. Stir it in and let it melt.

While that's melting, this is a good time to slice your plantain. I start with the curve of the plantain and slice diagonally, that way I get a few good, long slices and some short ones. I've been using these microwave steaming bags my mother-in-law bought, but I used to just use a microwave-safe container with the lid loose. Put your plantain slices in there, generously sprinkled with water and microwave for 3 minutes (remember, microwaves vary so adjust as needed).

Go back to your scramble and stir it some more, the cheese should be melting and spreading throughout the veggies. Sometimes there's still a few chunks of cheese in there and this doesn't bother me at all —but it does look a little funny. When it's melted to your liking, add the tofu by squishing it in between your fingers. This was the big break-through in tofu scramble for me. Squish squish squish. Stir it all up and turn off the heat.


Step Five: Breakfast ASSEMBLE! Your plantains should be all steamed, set them aside. Now, while I microwave my vegan sausages, I also heat up my plates. Just run some water over the plates, put the sausages on top and microwave it all for about 2 minutes (1 minute per sausage, basically).

I've yet to master homemade tortillas (someday!) so I buy the big bags of corn tortillas at the store. To heat them up, stack them about 5 high in between two damp paper towels and microwave for 30-45 seconds. Divvy up the plantains, sausages and hearty scoops of tofu scramble and get ready for one of the more delicious breakfasts ever. Sal always enjoys his with either hot sauce or a pepper, I usually add a little more salt. To make it a true Chapin, serve it with a cup of fresh coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

We clean our plates everyday.

Also, look at the puppy:

Vegan Pizza

Hello all! I thought I'd have made some desserts before now but — I was good! So here's tonight's dinner, a vegan pizza.


A note about soy cheeses. There's a lot of talk about soy cheese. I was a big skeptic for a long time. I was a humongous cheese lover before going vegan. I've yet to find a cheese that really hits the spot, say, something good enough for a grilled cheese sandwich, but Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella is damn good. We use it everyday in our morning tofu scrambles and it melts in the frying pan —but it didn't melt too great on the pizza. Still, this cheese tastes good and adds a lot of comfort. They stock it at Whole Foods, and in Atlanta I get it at Sevananda cooperative grocery store — a treasure.

Pizza crusts are easy as far as making your own bread goes — so it's a good introduction to the process. I love making bread, but it's been a while. Most pizza crusts are easily vegan, by the way. Some things to keep in mind: don't use metal utensils (except a measuring cup, I suppose) I've heard (though not experienced myself) that metal + bread dough = ruined flavor and general badness so use wooden, ceramic or plastic bowls and utensils. Wash your hands really well (get under those fingernails!), take off your rings and be prepared to get messy and use your arm muscle. Lastly, even though I say "let the dough rise an hour" it may take longer (especially if it's a rainy day, like today, or if you live in a very humid area, like I do) so get started early enough that you'll have time for the dough to rise for 1-2 hours, and set for another 20 minutes before baking. You can use your down time to prepare sauce and toppings.

Crust:
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (that's one pouch if you use the pouches)
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, feels warm to the touch but not hot)
3 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. agave (you can use honey if you want to be unvegan, or just more brown sugar)
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
about 3 1/4 cups flour (I use King Arthur's unbleached white whole wheat, but I'm sure all-purpose is fine —just remember that bleached flour is not vegan!)


Step One: Proof the yeast. This step is called "proofing your yeast". In a medium-large bowl, mix the warm water, sugar and agave until the sugar dissolves. Add the yeast, stir and walk away. In fifteen minutes, come back and find that your yeast has proofed! It should be a little foamy, almost fluffy and make a quiet snap, crackle, pop sound when you move or stir it. (If your yeast doesn't proof properly, it might be too old, no good, or maybe your water was too hot or too cold.)


Step Two: Add your other ingredients. Mix the salt and olive oil (I also had some fresh rosemary and thyme lying around, so I threw those in there too) with your yeast mixture. Add the flour a quarter cup at time, adding about 2 1/2 cups (I added more until it was easy to work with my hands).


Step Three: Knead the dough. Turn the dough out onto a clean, well-floured, steady surface, such as a cutting board. A good tip I picked up around the web is: if your cutting board keeps sliding around the counter while you knead, put a kitchen towel underneath it. Knead more flour into the dough, a little at a time, until it's not too sticky anymore.
Don't worry if you don't use all the flour, or if you need a little more than the recipe calls for (I lose track at this stage, honestly, and suspect that I added more), you want your dough to be smooth, not very sticky, it'll make it easier to work with. Take your time adding the flour: sprinkle it on there, knead it in thoroughly, add some more.

Knead the dough for several minutes, as few as five, as many as twenty, depending. Kneading the dough builds gluten chains, so as you're kneading, imagine each push and prod is creating more and more little bread muscles (sounds crazy, doesn't it?) don't rip or stretch your dough, just massage it lovingly and you'll find it's becoming more and more sturdy and glutinous.

If you skimp on the kneading, the dough will become crumbly and unpleasantly cake-like after you bake. If you knead it too much, it may end up stringy and chewy. After you spend some time with doughs, it becomes an intuitive process.


Step Four: Let it rise. Form your well-loved dough into a nice smooth ball. Now, liberally coat the inside of a clean bowl in oil and roll your ball around in the oil so it's coated on all sides. Put a towel over the bowl and put in someplace warm to rise. If it's a warm, sunny day, you might want to put it in front of a sunny window. If it's cold or rainy, you may want to preheat your oven to about 175 degrees Fahrenheit, turn it off, and let the dough sit in there like a cozy little womb. It'll take about an hour. You'll know your dough is done rising when it's doubled in size and when you press into it with your finger, the indentation won't bounce back right away.


Step Five: Shape and set. Punch down the dough, squeezing out air bubbles and kneading it just a little bit more. I know we've all seen the cartoons with the pizza chef who tosses the dough in the air to get a perfect circle, well, maybe we can all build up to that. I form a sphere, spread it out on a flat, clean surface with my fingers and then, holding onto the edges, spin it in my hands to let it stretch out naturally. I realize this might sound a little confusing, I wish I'd taken pictures of that step! Do your best to work the dough out to about 1/4" thick for a thin crust, or 1/2" thick for a thicker, softer crust.

If you're using a pizza stone, sprinkle some corn meal on there and go ahead and spread your dough out on it and your good to go for adding sauce, toppings and your shredded Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. If you're using a metal pizza pan or cookie sheet, shape the dough onto the sheet (remember to grease it up with olive oil and sprinkle some corn meal on there to prevent sticking and give the bottom crust a nice texture!) and let it set for about 20 minutes. Around now is a good time to preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Six: The fun part. You can use a jar of sauce, sure, but what's the fun in that? Here's what I did while my dough was rising:

Sauce:
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 or 4 cloves fresh garlic, mashed and chopped
1/2 a medium red onion, diced
1/2 cup of sliced button mushrooms
4 leaves fresh basil, shredded, chopped, mashed (get all those juices out!)
15 oz. can of organic tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Saucy Step One: Saute. Heat the pan over medium-high first, then add the oil -don't let the oil get too hot. Add your garlic and onion. Saute them until the onion begins to turn clear and releases it's juices (I salt my onions lightly at this point), then add the mushrooms, and saute everything together until it's cooked and smells heavenly.

Saucy Step Two: Make it sauce. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the basil, stir it around a bit. Add the tomato sauce, mix everything well and put a lid on it. Let it come to a simmer - the longer it simmers (stirring regularly), the better it will taste. Add the salt and pepper as you like for flavor.

Step Six: The Fun Part, cont. Once your dough is set, you can build your pizza. I like to brush the crust with olive oil, a little cracked pepper would be yummy too. Spread the sauce and your shredded Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella (have I plugged this enough yet, think they'll give me free soy cheese?). I used an entire 10oz block, shredded. Yum! I sauteed a medium zucchini (halved longways and sliced) in a few teaspoons of Earth Balance vegan margarine with garlic and layered that, tomato slices and more fresh basil on top. But it's your pizza, do with it what you will.


Step Seven: The last step. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes. The cheese didn't melt like I'd hoped, but the crust was a perfect golden brown, and the smell absolutely tantalizing. Move it to a wire rack or cutting board, let it cool about 10 minutes and then slice it up. Enjoy!

I'm pretty bummed the cheese didn't melt all gooey and delicious —I know this cheese can melt. Maybe it would be good to melt it in a saucepan and then pour that over the pizza? Or maybe it's just because I used an electric oven that has the heating coils on the bottom? Perhaps heat from the top would melt it? I don't know. But it tasted great anyway, let me know if you have any tips about how to make a truly gooey vegan pizza!

Until next time! Here's the puppy:

Dear Internet,

Well, I figured I couldn't keep blogging at my AtítlanBear address because I'm not at Lake Atítlan anymore. But I wanted a place to talk about all the fun I get into in the kitchen. So here it is.
To start with I'll just let you know that I'm vegan, I love to bake and people claim to adore everything I cook.
My favorite vegan cooking resources are:
veganyumyum
and
vegweb
Coming up next: Vegan Pizza