Kimberly Steele's Blog, page 39

Daily Vegan Lunch for 20 January, 2013: Roasted Acorn Squash and Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:

Acorn squash, roasted, peeled, seeded, and sliced

8-10 gold potatoes, washed, skins on

1 Tablespoon of oil

DIRECTIONS:

Not like you need them for a lunch this simple but here goes: Poke holes in squash with a fork, roast in the oven at 375 for one hour. I often do this with other vegetables, like beets and sweet potatoes, up to 2 days before I use the squash. Once the squash is cool, peel it and seed it. Don’t forget to save the seeds, they are delicious roasted in a very small amount of oil and salted at 350 for 20 minutes.

Put the potatoes into a casserole dish and toss them with the tablespoon of oil. Salt them to taste and put them into the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, after which take them out and stir them around, and put them back for another 20. Gold potatoes are very quick cooking but if you use Russet, up the baking time to 30 plus 30 minutes.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 19 January, 2013: Borscht

INGREDIENTS

4 cups beets, peeled, roasted, and chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon oil

3 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Peel the beets and then roast them in the oven for 375 degrees for 1 hour. Chop them and set aside.

Add oil onion and garlic to a large stewpot over medium heat, sauté. You can also substitute 2 tablespoons of water for the oil to eliminate fat. Once the onions are transparent, add beets, broth, tomato sauce, and paprika. Borscht would be fine as is or you can transfer it in batches to the blender and puree it as I did. Yes, beets are pink and messy but they are VERY good for you and tasty! I know, because I spilled some borscht on a white T shirt. It is now a pink spotted T shirt.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 18 January, 2013: Sweet Squash Soup

This recipe is modified from Vitamix.com, where they have lots of great recipes even if you don’t have a Vitamix!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups acorn squash

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and chopped (about 1.5 cups)

1/2 garlic clove, chopped roughly

2 cups vegetable broth

1 small apple, seeded and chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Puncture squash and bake it at 375 degrees for one hour. Alternately, microwave squash for 8-10 minutes, just make sure to poke holes in it with a fork first!! I have exploded squashes in the microwave before. The sound scared the living daylights out of me and the cleanup was epic. I wait until the squash cools, sometimes overnight, and then I peel it with a potato peeler. Way easier than trying to peel it raw.

Saute onion and garlic until onion is clear and tender.

Add all ingredients to a Vitamix on the Soup setting or to a regular blender for 5-6 minutes, until the soup is pureed. If you used cold squash, reheat resulting soup in a sauce pan.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 17 January, 2013: A Very Sweet Potato

INGREDIENTS

1 large sweet potato, washed

2 Tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons vegan butter or water

DIRECTIONS

Wash unpeeled sweet potato (in the US, they are often called yams but they are actually technically sweet potatoes because Americans are dumb) and poke it at least five times with a fork. Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees — I did this on a tray with a bunch of other veggies, this time it was beets and squash so I could process them later — or alternately put in microwave for 5 minutes on high.

Take potato out of the oven, split it down the middle, and mash the inside with a fork. Scoop the inside mash out with a spoon and put in a bowl so you can mash the sides. Add vegan butter, syrup, and cinnamon to the mashed part of the potato in the bowl. Re-stuff the filling in the potato and eat.

Movie Review of Resident Evil 5: Stultification

Aiming for the middle of a swastikapus.

I wasn’t even sure what installment of the Resident Evil franchise this was. I have seen more Resident Evil movies than I should admit, which is all of them. I have no idea why I have seen all of the Resident Evil movies and I actually told my husband I would never willingly watch another one after this. I am not sure what it is about me but I tend to watch some very terrible movies. I guess I’m a horror slut and will pretty much watch anything with a haunted house or a zombie in it. The fact that I sat through Resident Evil: Retribution proves that I have a high tolerance for suck that Im not proud of.

The original Resident Evil seemed, well… original. The rest of them, not so much. Here’s what I looked up online about the Resident Evil series:

1. Resident Evil (2002) The T-Virus, or zombie-makin’ virus, escapes a top secret Umbrella Corporation facility by accident. Protagonist Alice has to escape the underground facility.

2. Resident Evil Apocalypse (2004) T-Virus reaches the outside world, Alice has to rescue a little girl from a junior high school, and Umbrella Corp. blows up Raccoon city with nukes.

3. Resident Evil Extinction (2007) Alice gets superpowers from genetically bonding with the T-Virus and a group of survivors decamp to a survivor stronghold called Arcadia.

4. Resident Evil Afterlife (2010) Alice becomes human again because of the evil machinations of Wesker, Arcadia turns out to be a trap.

5. Resident Evil Retribution (2012)

Which brings us up to date, unfortunately. The absolutely stunning Milla Jovovich, even though she looks exactly the same as she did 10 years ago when she starred in the first Resident Evil movie, could not save this epic stinkburger. Milla Jovovich truly needs to move on. This movie doesn’t do her future career in cinema any favors. The beginning is a shootout scene with Umbrella Corporation that we watch playing out backwards, meaning bullets fly back into guns and people fall back onto the great big oil tanker the battle takes place again. The backwards theme turns out to be entirely appropriate and symbolic, unfortunately. My husband said that the backwards stuff was “cheap teenage boy effects”. Uh, that pretty much sums up the whole movie.

Rolling out the bimbos: Dragon Lady, Gimp Suit, and Blue Balloon Bosoms.

Alice, after all her tribulations, is still being targeted by Umbrella as Baddie No. 1 after all these years, though who could possibly give a fart considering the human race is almost extinct and Umbrella itself serves no purpose as the whole world is overrun by zombies.

Which brings me to the problem of Resident Evil’s logic. If all humans are extinct, there are no people left to spend money to flow into Umbrella’s coffers, and isn’t that what corporations are all about, money? Why chase after an enemy of the corporation when the corporation has no assets or promise of assets ever again?

After a narrated recap by Alice herself, we learn Alice is trapped in an underwater facility in Siberia. One of her many clones is living out a simulation of suburbia where she sports a terrible blond wig with horrific bangs. She has a cute family and a deaf daughter. Of course not 5 seconds can go by before her idyllic lawyer foyer is being trashed by slobbering zombies. Several yawns later, the plot of Resident Evil: Retribution is spelled out by one of the characters — because surely a movie of this depth and breadth needs the monologue equivalent of Cliff Notes — by a dragon lady named Ada Wong (Li Bingbing) who has perfect asymmetrical hair and possible double eyelid surgery. The whole movie’s plot is that Alice needs to escape to the surface. That’s it. There’s no more. Sorry. There are some people who are set to rendezvous with her in Fake Moscow or thereabouts. Fake Moscow, Fake Tokyo, and Fake Suburbia USA are all installments in the underground antechamber from which Alice must escape. They are global in the way Epcot Center is global — nobody would be convinced that these sad, dippy looking scenes were actually shot at international locales, even if they actually were. The whole movie is so video tragically game-ish that the DVD should come with a joystick. I know the franchise was based on a Capcom video game, but do we really need squares around various locations and people’s heads? Glowing letters? The only thing missing was a Mana bar. Oh wait, and a plot.

Alice flits from boss battle to boss battle. The little deaf girl from the beginning scenes clings to Alice, thinking she’s mommy. At one point, the little girl asks Alice “Why are you dressed in S&M bondage wear, mommy?”. So Alice tromps through zombie Epcot Center sometimes with the little girl in tow. It’s a small world after all. Old, dead characters from the previous movies are brought back under dubious circumstances. New-old gimmicks are introduced, such as zombies with four-pronged hydras for mouths that I will call swastikapus because they look like a cross between a swastika and an octopus. Another boss, encountered in Fake Moscow, I think, has its brain outside its head, yet another tragically apt metaphor for the film.

Her butt is the only thing worth watching in this movie. Sad.

A frenemy of Alice’s, Jill Valentine, has a spider-jewel thing between her ample bosoms that robotically controls her brain, this lady ends up being the final boss battle. Her character is so boring and her acting so wooden, they had to dress her in a skintight catsuit as they were otherwise out of options. Wesker, the evil big cheese of Umbrella Corporation, is a dime-store villain in dire need of a black mustache to twirl and a maiden to tie to some railroad tracks.

The only thing more bogus than his hair is his acting.

Milla, please extract yourself from these awful, plotless films, you’re far too good for this! Oh wait, I just read that she’s married to Paul W.S. Anderson, the director. The hell? Awkward…

Daily Vegan Lunch for 16 January 2013: Kale Kidney Bean Salad

INGREDIENTS:

8 cups kale, massaged

To “massage” kale, turn down the lights, play a Marvin Gaye record, and light some candles… just kidding. Wash the kale and then sprinkle salt on it. Rip the kale off its ribs (sounds violent but it’s not) and roll it in your fingers. Crumple it into kale balls, twist it as if it was hair, and generally abuse it with your hands. This tenderizes the kale and makes it much more yummy.

1 cup kidney beans

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dried cranberries

1 large carrot, shredded (I use a vegetable peeler)

DRESSING:

Juice of one lemon (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of sugar

Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Massage the kale and add the beans, cranberries, walnuts, and carrot to a large bowl, mix well. Make the dressing and pour over the salad. Kale doesn’t wilt so there is no worry about it getting soggy, this will keep for several days in the fridge.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 15 January, 2013: Leek and Mushroom Polenta

Polenta is cornmeal mush. I know that doesn’t sound appetizing but trust me, it is very good. Polenta has a comfort food vibe. It kind of reminds me of Thanksgiving stuffing.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup leeks, chopped fine

1 cup button mushrooms, chopped

1 cup cornmeal

2 cups water mixed with one veggie broth cube or 2 cups veggie broth

Salt to taste

Marinara sauce, for topping

In a pan, fry leeks and button mushrooms over medium until mushrooms are brown and juicy, about 3 minutes. Add cornmeal and broth directly to the pan and stir well. Mixture will thicken and gradually become more solid. You can eat it as mush or cook it until it becomes a chewy cake. You can even re-fry, grill, or roast slices of polenta, though I didn’t get that fancy. I like polenta a tad on the dry side, when it starts pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Serve in a bowl topped with marinara sauce.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 14 January, 2013: Kale Chickpea Rice

INGREDIENTS

4 cups brown rice, cooked

3 cups kale, washed and chopped

1 cup onions, chopped

2 cups button mushrooms, chopped

2 cups chickpeas, rinsed

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a large fry pan, fry onions and mushrooms in oil over medium high heat until onions are transparent and mushrooms become juicy. Add kale and chickpeas, stir. Turn heat to medium low and add rice to the pan and stir well. Add salt to taste. Soy sauce can also be used in the place of salt.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 13 January, 2013: Kidney Bean Chili

I adore kidney beans. A cute fact about them is they are actually very healthy for human kidneys. Because they are low fat and full of fiber, they help kidneys do their job by regulating blood sugar. They provide folate, a nutrient that fights inflammation and cancer, an array of amino acids, and magnesium and potassium. Magnesium and potassium are both “happy” vitamins that help everything from your heart to your moods. They are also a serious budget food — these beans are organic ones I soaked overnight and then cooked in the crockpot for 4 hours on high the next day, by doing this I end up with a TON of beans. Chili freezes very well, by the way.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans rinsed kidney beans or approximately 4 cups (you could also use pinto beans, adzuki, chili beans, it doesn’t really matter)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (NOT the same as cayenne powder)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cocoa powder (yes, cocoa powder)

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce, leftover marinara is okay

1 cup TVP reconstituted in 1 cup water

2 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)

Black pepper and salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a large stewpot, fry the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until transparent. Add the spices, including cocoa powder, to the mixture and stir. Add the beans and tomato sauce and cook for about 10 minutes. Reconstitute the TVP in a small bowl. TVP will absorb water. You could also use 1 cup ground walnuts or almonds in the place of the TVP. Add TVP to the chili, stir well. Add garlic, if using, and cook for 5-10 more minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 11 January 2013: Penne Bolognese

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup walnut meal (finely ground walnuts)

You can make walnut meal by putting 1 cup walnuts in a food processor and pulsing a few times.

1 cup TVP granules reconstituted in 1 cup water

TVP stands for texturized vegetable protein. It is usually made of soy and comes in hard little granules that you soak in water, which makes it soft. TVP is very cheap and is available at most health food stores.

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cups canned or homemade marinara, I used a mixture of both

Sprinkle of garlic powder

Salt to taste

Cooked pasta of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

As you have probably guessed, this is nothing more than doctored up marinara sauce, vegan style. Nuts and TVP will add substance — a small bowl of this usually keeps me full until dinnertime. Fry the onions in a frying pan in olive oil over medium heat until they are translucent. Reconstitute the TVP by putting it in a small bowl with 1 cup water. It will absorb the water in a matter of minutes. Add the walnuts to the mix and stir them until they become fragrant. Add the sauce, then add the TVP and sprinkle of garlic powder. Taste-test the sauce to see if it needs salt, salt to taste.