meeting my rock star

Like many people out in the Land of Food Blogs, I made sure to catch Molly Wizenberg of Orangette during her recent book tour. For the record, everything you've read is true. She's as sweet as her writing. Getting to see her in person was a bittersweet experience for me. Her blog has come to symbolize so much of what I love and long for about Seattle: Its nerdy chic; flourishing DIY ethos; blindingly gray afternoon light (that Molly captures so eloquently in her photographs); and subtle, fresh food. As I clumsily attempted to tell her within ten seconds how much her writing means to me, I realized that me getting to meet Molly was much like Mary getting to meet Gwen Stefani. Or my friend Terra getting to meet George Stephanopoulos. Or my mom getting to meet Melissa Etheridge. Needless to say, I don't think I conveyed to her how very fantastic I think she is. That's okay. I've gotten to spend some time with her book, and that's nearly as good.

I purchased Molly's book as a gift to my mom, but it's been getting quite a bit of use before even reaching its intended owner. (Mom; I hope you'll forgive a couple of olive oil and/or batter splatters. Consider them a reminder of how much I love you). Each story is a confession, a small part of Molly that she has packaged for her readers to share. The accompanying recipes are treasures. Sometimes odd and always incredibly delicious, Molly presents them carefully and at the perfect moments within her gentle narrative. 

This weekend, searching for a special breakfast to prepare for some vegan, gluten-free friends, I decided to pull together a sort of vegan rice pudding with stewed prunes on top. I know you don't think it sounds good, but it was. It really, really was. I stewed the prunes the night before, which took all of two minutes, and I whipped up the pudding in the morning with leftover rice from dinner. Lucky me, there are still plenty of prunes left over in the fridge, and I've been savoring them for the last few days. Even if you don't think you like prunes, I think you should try these. They are so good, so simple, and yet so decadent.

-Kylie

Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding With Stewed Prunes

Stewed Prunes

Adapted from Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life

1 orange, preferable seedless

1 pound pitted prunes

1 cinnamon stick

Cut the orange in half from stem to tip, then slice it into six sections (including peel), picking out any seeds. Put orange slices in a medium saucepan with prunes and cinnamon stick, and add water just to cover. Place over medium heat, bring to a gentle simmer and cook, adjusting the heat as needed so that the liquid barely trembles, for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the prunes are tender, the orange sections are soft and glassy, and the liquid in the pan is slightly syrupy. Remove the cinnamon stick and orange sections, cool (if you want to) and serve. You can also let the prunes cool to room temperature and then store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

Coconut Rice Pudding

4 cups of leftover rice (any type, though I used jasmine)

1 16 oz. can of coconut milk

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cardamom

1 tsp. agave nectar or honey

In a small saucepan, combine rice and coconut milk. Stir until any clumps of rice break up and it is warmed through. Add cinnamon, cardamom, and agave or honey. Serve topped with rice milk and stewed prunes.

cookies for sharing

I got lucky this weekend.

I had been jonesing to attend WAM! 2009 (that's Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Activists, Journalists & Everyone) for a couple of months now. Due to the generosity of some dear friends who offered me a bed for the weekend, I got to go. It was, by far, one of the best weekends of my life.

Have I mentioned that I'm a Feminist? That's right, I am. The kind with a capital F, thanks. In my free reading time, I devour cookbooks and feminist fiction, throwing in a healthy dash of pop culture critique to taste. Sometimes I'm not sure how to fuse my immense love of artisanal cheeses and farmers markets with my adoration for feisty feminist blogs that challenge the gendered status quo. This weekend, those two seemingly separate worlds collided in me, and I don't think I can look back. 

This weekend was filled with swiss chard sauteed with sweet onions and eaten straight from the pan with Jess and Yoana, my incredible hosts. It included a lunchtime discussion on the immense barriers that prevent residents of low-income communities in cities like New York and Chicago from accessing fresh produce like that I had gleefully enjoyed the night before. On more than one occasion, I found myself confronted by the issues at play when I consume meat and other animal products; the workers whom I affect through my own culinary choices, for better or worse. 

I'm still reeling from all the learning I did this weekend, from all the accomplished activists and writers and people I met. I won't bore you with my glee. Instead, I'll share with you some delicious cookies to make when you visit your favorite vegan friend. Or anybody, really. Try them. You'll like them.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks

2 cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or spelt flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. sea salt

1 cup organic, natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth, depending on your preference)

1 cup agave nectar (or maple syrup)

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place one rack in the top third. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl, combine the peanut butter, agave nectar, canola oil and vanilla. Pour the flour mixture over the peanut butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it's all barely combined ("still a bit dusty looking", as Heidi says). Let it all sit for five minutes, and then give it one more stir.

Throw the bowl in the freezer for 20 minutes or so. Take the bowl out, and shape tablespoon-sized cookies into rough balls with your hands, laying them on a well-oiled baking sheet or Silpat. Wet a fork slightly, and then press the cookies down with its back, in different directions to make a criss-cross design. If the cookies start to stick to the fork, just wet it again. 

Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies just start to brown. You really don't want to overcook these, as they get crunchier in the hour after they bake, as they cool. Let them sit on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer them gently to a rack to cool and harden.

Enjoy with old friends, new acquaintances, your family and/or your favorite snuggle buddy.

-Kylie

breakfast for a sunshiney day

New York weather sometimes feels miraculous. 

Just this week, it snowed eight inches in one night, and we trudged to the subway through fluff that reached well above our ankles. Today, most of us got on our jackets, went outside, turned right around, and came back in to shed them. It's warm out. It isn't just warm like put-on-a-sweatshirt-and-sit-outside-the-coffee-shop-shivering-in-the-sunshine warm. It's wear-your-t-shirt-and-jeans-and-bask-as-it-warms-your-face warm. It's the kind of warm that made me take a run around Prospect Park this morning instead of going to the gym as I had planned. I smiled as I stepped outside and walked down the stoop into a world that was a little different than yesterday's. In this sunny world of spring, there are young families strolling with their babies and confused toddlers, couples holding hands as they listen to music on shared iPod earphones, and very old men and women who have lived in the neighborhood for years. They walk slowly and let others pass them. They've walked these streets enough times to know that the sunshine feels best when one soaks in it at one's own pace.

This sunshiney day is the perfect time to try making millet porridge, if you haven't done so already. I've been experimenting with millet a lot over the past week or so, and I've wanted to share it with you. I prepared it in my rice cooker, and it turned out perfectly. You can also make it on the stove; I just didn't because I nearly burned my favorite pot to its death trying to make rice a few weeks ago. The night I made the millet, I ate it with a soupy green curry. And then there were leftovers.

When millet is prepared, it begs for a liquid to moisten it. The cooked grain itself has a nutty scent that reminds me of nutmeg. Milk, cream, or coconut milk complement it beautifully. Once you combine the grain with some type of milk, you can make endless additions to the cereal. I simply grated on some cinnamon and nutmeg and then pinched in a few drops of stevia. However, I think it would transport you to Fantasy Breakfast Land if you added any or all of the following: Apple sauce, chopped dates and pecans, dried cranberries and apricots, rehydrated raisins, fresh strawberries, citrus zest, agave nectar, raw honey, bee pollen, good preserves, sliced almonds, vanilla extract, pumpkin seeks, flax seeds, lavender blossoms, flax seeds...

Are you still there? Phew; I went off on a tangent there. Glad I didn't lose you. My point is, you can do a lot with this. You could also make it into a savory breakfast, or add an egg as I did for some more protein. 

One of the reasons millet appeals to me so very much is that it is gluten-free. It has been around for thousands of years (literally), a staple in many Indian, Russian, and African cuisines. It grows easily on soil that is bereft of nutrients, making it ideal to feed those living in arid climates. And it is free of gluten, meaning that those with wheat sensitivity or gluten allergies can eat it safely. As a flour, millet lends baked goods a tender crumb, though it doesn't allow them to rise. This makes it an excellent base for flatbreads. And so the recipe I present below is both gluten-free and vegan. While I eat nearly everything and have few food aversions, I know that many of you out there must be careful. And if you're unable to eat refined sugars and want to sweeten this up, try it with stevia as I did. 

Millet Porridge

Makes 4 servings

1 cup dry millet

2 cups coconut milk

Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, or other garnish of your choice

Step 1 (Rice Cooker Method): Rinse millet in a colander. Place it in rice cooker with three cups of water. Let the rice cooker do its magic, and proceed to step 2.

Step 1 (Stovetop Method): Rinse millet in a colander. Boil three cups of water, add millet, and return to a simmer. Cover and allow to simmer slightly for about 25 minutes, or until water has absorbed. Be careful that you keep the heat low enough that the grain doesn't burn onto the bottom of the pan (trust me). 

Step 2: Mix cooked millet with coconut milk in saucepan. Whisk together until porridge has warmed. Add your chosen garnish and mix it in, or spoon the porridge into bowls and sprinkle on top. 

-Kylie