In Synch: These Fudge Brownies Are Perfect For Cinco de Mayo AND Vegan Tuesday

I know, I know. You're going to look at the photo immediately to the right of this text and ask, "Pfft, who are you to judge? You just take pictures of the food you make with your phone." To that accusation I would have to plead, as the Great Dewey Cox once sang, "Guilty as charged." But, I would also have to add that I'm not a professional food stylist, nor am I in the food packaging business. The manufacturers of the box housing the product that I'm about to criticize, however, are. And if it weren't for trusting Lon's judgement on this, I never would've used said product, and I might still be waiting for these vegan fudge brownies to set. So, what's the offending party? The artwork on the front of the box containing the egg substitute that I used. After all, I had to ensure that these brownies could be both Vegan Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo compliant. 

If I hadn't seen the Ener-G Egg Replacer - the egg substitute in question - being pulled from a grocery store bag with my own eyes just a few months ago, I would've sworn that it was an artifact left behind when our kitchen was renovated the first time. In 1968. Oddly outdated, and even vaguely foreign looking, the box of Ener-G Egg Replacer that Lon purchased earlier this year looked like something that had sat neglected and covered in dust on the top shelf in a kosher butcher shop; the kinda place that my sister-in-law Amy describes as "having sawdust all over the floor and an 80 year old man behind the meat case who says to the 60 year old woman in line, 'And what can I get for you today, young lady?'"

As I've ventured into vegan territory for over a year now, one of the things I have often noted is how the products themselves don't look very appetizing or appealing. Maybe it's because we don't have any idea of what some vegan foods are supposed to look like? I don't know. But aside from the dishes they're displayed in, I can't tell one food apart from the other on the front of the Ener-G box. The ice cream, the veggie dip, the custards? All the same color.

But as we all know, don't judge a box or anything else by its cover. And while I had my doubts about using this egg substitute in my vegan brownie recipe, I gotta tell you: The results were amazing. The flavor and texture of these fudge brownies could fool any carnivore. You would never know they weren't laden with beaten eggs, butter and cream. 

I'll leave the rest of my yammering to the NOTES section of this recipe. The recipe below was hacked from a fudge brownie recipe that Lon found, actually, on Martha Stewart's Whole Living web site. Since it already has an unconventional ingredient - as you will soon see - it was already destined to have a different texture, if not taste, but again, the surprise was solely mine. 

I devised this recipe when I realized that Cinco de Mayo was falling on a Tuesday, and since I've been keeping, and writing about, Vegan Tuesday since January of 2008, I had to find a vegan alternative for what I planned to eat today. So the vegan aspects of the recipe will be obvious, as will the inspirations of the Mexican table. I spiced these up with a light addition of cinnamon, cayenne, and almond extract. I never got around to making the avocado cream for them though. Maybe later this afternoon. 

Hit me up if you have any questions, I need to get to the recipe as my posts keep getting longer and longer and... well, longer. 

Vegan Fudge Brownies for Cinco de Mayo

For the brownies.... 

1/4 cup vegetable shortening (make sure it stresses "no animal products") and more for the pan

2/3 cup unsweetened, natural cocoa powder

1/2 cup flour (you can use almond flour in this but be prepared as it might be gritty)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne (if you want to rely on a pinch, go ahead, a little goes a long way here.)

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup sweet potato puree (see NOTES below)

2 TBS prepared Ener-G Egg Replacer (see NOTES below)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract 

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Rub sides of square 8 inch baking pan with vegetable shortening.

2. Melt 1/4 vegetable shortening over medium heat. Remove from heat, stir the cocoa powder in. Mix well. Set aside. It will get very thick and clumpy but that will be addressed below. 

3. Measure egg substitute according to package directions. Set aside. (I made a double batch because I wasn't sure how it was going to produce once mixed. I only added the equivalent of one egg, though.)

4. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt to a large bowl. (I dump all of the dry items into a large strainer and tap them through the sieve, into my mixing bowl. I find this works similar to sifting and disperses dry ingredients more thoroughly than whisking alone.) Whisk to mix further.

5. Mix sugar into pureed sweet potato mix. Add egg substitute. Stir well. 

6. Add vanilla and almond extracts to cocoa mix. Stir well with a fork. If it still seems to clumpy try adding warm - not hot and not cold - water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Mix thoroughly before adding more liquid. This will smooth out. 

7. Combine sweetened potato puree to cocoa mixture. Stir well. 

8. Combine this potato/ cocoa mixture to flour mixture. Stir well. Try to break up any lumps of flour. Using a wide rubber spatula - one that you might want to coat lightly with canola oil first - scoop batter into baking pan. Spread top as evenly as possible. Bake in oven about 20 minutes but start keeping an eye on them at 17 minutes. Insert toothpick to make sure it's coming out almost entirely free of mix. I had to leave these in for about 22 minutes total. Half way through the baking I noticed that the vegetable shortening was lightly pooling on top of the brownies. I smoothed these out, carefully, with my fingers. They got absorbed back into surface. Allow to cool for at least twenty minutes. They will be very dense and moist. Cut, carefully, into squares, then refrigerate. I found that keeping them cold balanced out the cayenne flavoring very well. 

NOTES: For the sweet potato puree, I bought three small sweet potatoes, peeled them, cubed them and par-boiled them. I gave them a whir in the food processor, and voila, sweet potato puree. They help keep the fat content low while keeping the brownies moist. A word about the egg replacer. It is plant-based, and its active ingredient comes from cellulose. It has the very ability to bind and expand when its hot but melt when its cool. So when you're mixing the powder, use warm water for best results and don't let it sit around. I also wasn't sure how the egg substitute was going to work so I doubled the baking powder. The original recipe only called for 1/4 tsp. I added 1/2 and it was fine. As for the cayenne, add as much, or as little, as your tastes prefer. I could see these brownies making an excellent Cinco de Mayo dessert with ice cream - but since the holiday falls on Vegan Tuesday this year, I won't be serving it that way. Maybe next year....? Feedback is appreciated, as always. 

A Challenging Meal: Vegan Tuesday Takes The Food Stamp Challenge... And Loses.

Those of us who enjoy writing and reading about food do so for reasons as varied and as numerous as the edible items on our grocery stores' shelves. But I think it's safe to assume that we've all pulled our chairs up to this particular table because we enjoy having others seated here with us. When we share a meal with family or friends we're nourishing a need to connect with others that is as primitive as it is civilized. As Joan Kohn of HGTV's Kitchen Design show once told me "We're all still sitting around a campfire at the end of the day. It's just that now that campfire churns out 50,000 B.T.U.s!" And at the end of that day we want to share our experiences as much as our food. 

But what happens to that experience when we have less food to share? I found out, on a very small scale, when I took the Food Stamp Challenge and tried to feed my house for $12 a day. 

Some quick background info: Various food banks and services that assist families and individuals in need encourage their donors to undertake this challenge at different times of the year. November and May are two months with several hunger awareness activities, for instance, in various parts of the country. Even though we live in San Francisco, I followed the guidelines set by the United Way of King County in Washington. I did so in part because I've done some work with Seattle's Rotary First Harvest in the past but also because this information was readily available. 

The size of your family dictates how much money you receive, per diem, in the form of food stamp assistance: This meant that Lon and I would both have to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for $12 per day. 

If you know your way around your kitchen, you're probably thinking "Pfft, I can do that, no problem." I know I did. But the rules of this challenge state that you can not use any pantry items that were previously purchased. I was reminded of Barbara Ehrenreich's excellent and eye-opening book "Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America," in which she took several minimum wage jobs and did not rely on her credit cards or savings account. Still, I thought, "Easy." I specifically chose my Vegan Tuesday meal to blog about because I thought without having to purchase meat or animal products, my money - six of the allotted twelve dollars for the largest meal of the day - would go even further. For six bucks? Well, I could produce a veritable feast! Instead? I cooked something that (I thought) was not as good as the dish I usually prepare with more funds, that wasn't completely satisfying and which went 32 cents over budget. 

I know I could have stayed within, if not under, my budget by opting for the "value" menu at any one of the fast food joints. I also know I could have purchased packaged, prepared food from the grocery store. But the access and affordability of foods that are harmful are responsible for the health issues in this country today. Besides, I was trying to prove that I could stay as true to my regular diet as possible. 

I had decided to make vegan chili since it's an easy, one-pot budget stretcher that's filling and healthy. I figured I would shop the bulk bins at my local Whole Foods and my neighborhood grocer, Good Life. Between the two stores I thought I could buy just enough of what I needed. I even thought I'd have change to spare. 

I realized quickly that I'd have to adapt my usual recipe. Since I couldn't use my pantry staples of dried guajillo, ancho and chipotle peppers that I ordinarily grind up and put in my chili, I had to rely on other seasonings. I found an organic chili powder in the bulk aisle at Whole Foods and bought the equivalent of two tablespoons for about 20 cents. That, along with some lime, would provide enough flavor. The lime, also 20 cents, came from Good Life. I bought a can of black beans for 88 cents and a large can of whole tomatoes for $1.49. I was at $2.77 and over half way through my recipe yet still had over half of my budget. I was feeling a little smug. 

And then came the process of choosing additional vegetables. I always put yellow squash and zucchini in my vegan chili, along with carrot and onion and garlic. I also thicken it with toasted, pureed pumpkin seeds but I knew the pepitas were too expensive unless I could find them in bulk, which I couldn't. 

A large, organic carrot that cost a quarter pushed me over the halfway mark. I found two sizable zucchinis and one bowling pin of a yellow squash, all organic, for a total of $1.25. My tally was now $4.25 and all I needed was an onion. Here's where I will say that the ordinarily good-natured patrons of my local grocer became a little impatient with me as I weighed each vegetable, trying to stay within my means. I was going to offer an explanation for why I was taking such care, but decided not to bother. 

But it wasn't the attitudes of the other shoppers that took me most by surprise. It was my own. I caught myself blushing with embarrassment when I noticed that my frugality was not only being watched, it was being judged. Here's where I need to interject that I know what it's like to be poor: I write for a living. Enough said. But as two persons huffed and tsked behind me as they waited for the scale I felt more compelled than ever to turn around and apologize. Maybe if I explained why I was being so cautious, that every ounce translated into cents, that surely they'd understand and possibly even offer a story of their own. I kept my mouth shut. 

In the end, it was an onion that broke my budget. At $0.36 it pushed me over my limit by $0.32. I'd already purchased tortilla wraps with the intent to toast them into chips, and at $1.69 for six, they seemed like a good option to stretch the meal even further. I justified the thirty-plus cent overage by thinking I could use four of the wraps for dinner and use the remaining two for breakfast or lunch. 

I walked home with my bags of nutritious foods, three quarters of which were organic. Not bad, I thought. I won't say I felt triumphant because it was more effort than I'd anticipated. And then there was the humbling incident at the scale. But I no longer felt embarrassed and I certainly didn't feel defeated by the challenge. Until, that is, I got home. Looking at the foods on my kitchen counter I felt slightly bewildered. These ten ingredients were more than enough to make a meal, but in realizing that I couldn't use anything else in my cupboards I thought "This isn't cooking, this is assembling." Since I couldn't use any oil to saute the onions and carrot, I relied on the juice from the canned tomatoes. I seasoned them with the chili powder - which was desperately in need of some oregano, salt and pepper, all of which were on my shelf but none of which I could use btw - and then added the zucchinis, the squash and then the beans to the pot. I allowed them to simmer and then stirred in the juice of the lime. The tortillas were actually the best part of the meal. I dusted them with the remaining chili powder and zested the lime over top them as well. I toasted them in the oven at 350 F for about 15 minutes. 

Lon was at dinner with business associates so I sat down to the meal alone. It was one of the few times that I was happy to be dining by myself. The resulting chili was not bad... but it wasn't good. What could have made it better? More ingredients, certainly, but I had already broken my dinner's budget - adding additional seasonings from my own cupboards would've broken the rules.

At the end of a long day I couldn't call this dinner a satisfying eating experience. This was only one meal, and one I'd made entirely by choice. Yet I couldn't stop thinking about what I could've created if I'd only had a dollar or two more. 

NOTE: To my friend, and fellow Leonard Cohen fan, Meredith - I know I keep promising to explain Vegan Tuesday so until I blog about it here, this link's for you! 

Vegan Tuesday: Stir-Fried Chinese Long Beans w/ Peanuts and Tofu

The challenge I've set for myself in the kitchen these past few weeks is to use as many on-hand ingredients as possible. Since I work at home I love the social aspect of making daily trips to Good Life, my neighborhood grocery store. It's a chance to pick up the odds and ends I need for each night's dinner but it's also a nice opportunity to bump into neighbors. While these trips are good for my spirit, they're not always, unfortunately, good for my wallet. 

So as I looked at the beautiful Chinese Long Beans we'd procured during the weekend trip to the farmer's market, I hoped I'd be able to prepare them with ingredients I already had in the fridge and on my shelves. 

I successfully met my self-imposed guidelines and I managed to make a quick and flavorful dinner for this week's Vegan Tuesday in the process! The meal also gave me a chance to break in my new wok. (It's no longer that beautiful metallic blue color, so this pic was definitely snapped "before" I broke it in.) One of these days I'm going to listen to Tehn at The Wok Shop in Chinatown and graduate to the hand-hammered woks she has in her store.

Well, without any further yammering from me, here's the recipe - I'd also challenged myself to make this post as quick as this dish's preparation!

Stir-Fried Chinese Long Beans w/ Peanuts and Tofu 

1/2 lb Chinese Long Beans (or green beans)

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, coarsely ground 

1 cup dry roasted peanuts (do not grind or chop these)

1 TBS grated, fresh ginger root

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp fresh lime zest (or more to taste)

1 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 

8 oz extra firm tofu, sliced into cubes 

1 TBS vegetable oil (I used canola)

Lime wedges

1. Put a medium-sized pot, large enough to hold the beans, on to boil. As water heats, clean long beans and snip off any knobby tips. When water boils, dunk beans into pot and allow to cook for approximately 2 minutes. Plunge the beans into an ice bath or run under cold water to help keep them crisp and also to stop the cooking process. When they've cooled to the touch, cut them into pieces about two and a half inches in length. 

2. Heat wok, then add oil. As wok is heating, quickly mix the ground peanuts, ginger, garlic, lime zest, salt, coriander and pepper flakes in a small bowl. 

3. When oil is hot add the peanuts and spice mix to walk and stir-fry rapidly. Make sure your kitchen is well-ventilated and don't put your face directly over the wok! The fumes from this mixture are going to have a sting to them! When the bits of garlic and ginger look like they've begun to brown, scoop the mix out of the wok. 

4. Add more oil to wok if needed. Make sure excess water is shaken off of the long beans, then add to wok and stir-fry. When the beans begin to get black on the ridges, add remaining 1 cup of peanuts. Stir to heat through. Add the peanut and spice mix back to the wok, and toss over heat to mix well. Add the cubes of tofu to the beans, peanuts and spice mix and quickly stir-fry. Extra firm tofu will stand up well to this kind of heat, and handling, but I would only cook for about a minute or two, just enough to heat. Remove wok from heat source. Serve with lime wedges over rice or noodles or simply eat as is!

NOTES: If you can't find Chinese Long Beans, green beans will work just as well. If you do opt to substitute them, I would advise blanching and stir-frying them a little longer since they're thicker than the long beans I used. I keep an extra coffee bean grinder in my kitchen for grinding dried chili peppers, nuts, that sort of thing. You could also use a small food processor to grind the peanuts, or you could chop finely if you're that skilled with a knife. (I am not!) Also, I love lime juice and lime zest, so if you want to add more lime zest go right ahead. I love its clean, bright flavor. I used canola oil for the stir-fry but I gave some thought to using the sesame oil on my shelf. I decided that I didn't want that heavy flavor so I opted for the canola. 

Vegan Tuesday: Another Day, Another Daikon Rice Cake Recipe

Don't let the ho hum vibe of this post's title fool you. As I was preparing this recipe yesterday for today's Vegan Tuesday, I was convinced I was going to have to channel the legendary Johnny Cash and title this entry "Folsom Kitchen Blues." It seemed my attempt to create a vegetarian, if not vegan version of a daikon rice cake was eluding me once again. But, as can happen on occasion, the alchemy of the kitchen worked its magic. The batter rose, the flavors merged, and the result is a recipe I can happily share.  

A quick bit of background and then I have to move on to the main attraction because this really is one of the more involved recipes I've endeavored so far. After ordering the daikon rice cakes on the Slanted Door's menu several years ago I was inspired to try to make these in my own kitchen. My first attempt was a spectacular disaster. I'd made the mistake of being too literal in my culinary interpretation. I tried to make a batter out of daikon radish and cooked rice. I spent hours forcing cooked rice through a food mill that we'd picked up at E. Dehillerin in Paris. I grated, then pureed, the daikon into pulp. I think I tried to add an egg white before dousing it all in soy sauce. Then I stuck the whole thing in a Pyrex dish and shoved it into the oven. At four hundred degrees. For forty five minutes.

The results can be described in one word: Styrofoam. 

That was nearly nine years ago. Since then I've learned two valuable cooking lessons. The first, when in doubt, ask the chef. So, on a subsequent trip to Slanted Door I simply asked "Is there rice flour in these?" The answer was yes. The second bit of kitchen wisdom I've picked up is, if still in doubt, ask Jeeves. Or Google. Or the search engine of your choice. And then survey Google again. 

What follows is a vegan version of daikon rice cakes. I wanted to make these cakes without using sausage or shrimp and I knew that replacing all of that lost flavor was going to be a challenge. I opted to make a rich vegetable stock and some sauted vegetables and use those as my flavor source. Does excluding those items make this recipe traditional? Hmm. I'm going to say no. Is it easy? Um, sort of. It's more time-consuming than anything else. Is it tasty and worth all of that effort? You bet. 

A quick FYI, you will not need a food mill for this recipe, but you will need a bamboo steamer and a food processor. 

I'm still rambling and there's a detailed recipe to write, so, I'm done. If you have any questions, and if you're having trouble leaving a comment here, hit me up on Facebook or Food Buzz. 

Vegan Daikon Rice Cakes

For the stock... 

6 cups of water

2 heads baby bok choy, chopped (separate the stalks, and set leafy greens aside)

2 cups young shiitake mushrooms, sliced (the stems of young shiitakes are tender enough to use)

2 medium-sized carrots, chopped into 1/4 inch rounds

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup white miso paste

For the "cake batter"...

2 cups daikon, grated (two medium, or three young daikon)

5 scallions, chopped, excluding green stalks

1 cup young shiitake mushrooms, chopped

leafy greens reserved from baby boy choy (see above)

1 TBS dark sesame oil

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 1/2 cups, plus 2 TBS vegetable, stock (again, see above)

Non-stick cooking spray

For frying...

2 TBS peanut oil 

Sesame seeds

1. Set a pot on low heat, large enough to hold a 10 inch bamboo steamer. Spray the bottom and sides of an eight inch spring form baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. (You want the water to be ready when the batter is finished so keep an eye on its temp.)

2. Place six cups of water in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add stalks of baby bok choy, 2 cups shiitakes, and the chopped carrots and celery. Bring to a boil, then turn flame down, and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour. When vegetables are soft, add 1/4 cup of miso into stock and stir until thoroughly mixed. Allow to simmer for ten more minutes, then remove from heat. Strain stock into a large mixing bowl, pressing liquid (and flavor) out of vegetables. This should leave you with about five cups or so. Set aside.

3. Heat sesame oil over medium high heat in a non-stick pan. When hot, add scallions, stirring frequently until nearly crispy (about two minutes.) Add shiitakes, grated daikon and leafy green parts of bok choy. Stir well so that all ingredients are mixed in pan. Add 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and cook daikon mixture until liquid evaporates - about 15 to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and set aside. 

4. While daikon mixture is cooking, in a medium-sized bowl whisk together rice flour and one cup of vegetable stock. If the mixture seems too doughy carefully whisk in additional stock, half tablespoon at a time, until smooth but not runny. (I wouldn't add more than two tablespoons. If the mixture looks too runny, add more rice flour, a teaspoon at a time, until balanced. You want a smooth consistency that's not grainy, lumpy or runny.) 

5. Place daikon mixture into a food processor and pulse until well-blended. Be careful not to puree too enthusiastically; you don't want to liquify this. When ingredients look well-distributed, add mixture to bowl with rice batter. Stir until thoroughly mixed. 

6. Pour rice-and-daikon batter into prepared spring form pan and place in steamer. Place lid over steamer and turn up heat so that water comes just to a boil. Allow to steam for about 45 minutes. Check water levels frequently. When cake is cooked it will be springy to the touch. Remove from steamer and allow to cool. (You can set it in your fridge over night. I allowed mine to cool on the counter for three hours and it was fine.)

7. Release cake from spring form pan when properly cooled. Slice into 2 in X 3 in rectangles. Heat peanut oil in a non-stick pan. When hot, add pieces of daikon rice cake and fry first on one side, then the other, until brown and crispy, about 1 minute and a half to 2 minutes per side. Dust with toasted sesame seeds. Serve with favorite Asian dipping sauce. 

NOTES: I opted for brown rice which is why the pic of the cake above looks like a slice of whole wheat toast. Also, after making these I was a little burned out so instead of whipping up a dipping sauce I just drizzled some plain old soy sauce on them. It was a perfect compliment. Since I had to replace the sausage-and-shrimp goodness of the regular version, I had to come up with a flavorful substitute which is why I made the stock and used it instead of regular water when mixing the rice batter. A word of caution: The rice batter will seem grainy, almost sandy, when it's first mixed. Do not worry. It loses that texture when it is combined with the veggies and steamed. I opted to fry these in a little peanut oil because I like the flavor it imparts. You could use canola oil if you prefer. Lastly, since daikon is a radish, it can get awfully pithy. Seek out younger specimens. They'll have a nice bite to them but they won't have the bitter aftertaste. I suggest avoiding the large, knobby roots. If anyone knows if salting daikon - as you would eggplant - helps remove some of that bitterness please let me know. Oh, and before I forget, these are also gluten-free! Some rice flours are apparently not. I used Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Flour. Look on the package to assure you're buying a gluten-free product if this is of concern to you. 

"You Can't Tell Me This Is Yogurt?"

I love the way family mythologies develop. Apparently the first time Lon's Mom saw a TCBY shop, she assumed - being originally from Minneapolis - that the acronym stood for "Twin Cities Best Yogurt." But somewhere along the line in the numerous retellings of the story, I got it in my head that she went into the shop and, upon sampling their wares, declared "You can't tell me this is yogurt!?" I've called it that myself ever since.

Forget the fact that the story, as I remember it, doesn't even make sense as the name of the business is not YCTMTIY. I think I just like the image I had of her taking a taste, then with the spoon suspended in mid-air, making that exclamation, a stunned expression on her face. 

I would like to think that if I were to offer someone a spoonful of my typical morning breakfast that they would have a similarly incredulous reaction, at which point I would reply somewhat triumphantly, "You are correct! That isn't yogurt. It's tofu!" 

Tofu isn't as alien as it was in America's kitchens a few decades ago but I'm surprised by how it is still met with suspicion. Even mentioning it can really bring out the food-a-phobe in some people. Its constant presence in my refrigerator has so spooked a certain friend of mine that she immediately asks "What's in this?" every time I offer her something. Granted she was unknowingly a tofu test subject years ago when I was still figuring out how to use the stuff. The dish in question was a blueberry creme brulee, made with tofu, that tasted, and looked, like Kaopectate. 

I've learned many lessons in the kitchen since then, and of them is do not try to substitute something for which there really is no substitute. Sure there are a variety of dairy-like products on the market now, and I understand that calling a creme brulee made with tofu "curd brulee" sounds rather unappetizing on a number of levels. 

That's why I prefer to say that I have a smoothie for breakfast, instead of saying "I have a sort of tofu yogurt-like thing." Besides, when I describe it that way, I occasionally get asked, "Oh, you mean Tofutti?" 

My breakfast smoothie is made from extra firm tofu and whatever fruit and fruit juice I happen to have in the house at the time. I like the fact that I can vary its consistency by letting the whole thing whir around in the mini-food processor longer, or by adding more banana slices. 

Forgetting flavor for a second, I just have to say that the longer it mixes, the better it looks.

That's a picture of this morning's version, above. I usually don't have sliced banana resting on top but I thought I'd gussy it up for its photo shoot. Incidentally, someone asked me this past weekend, when they learned that I had written a book about kitchen history and occasionally wrote about food-related topics if I "got to work with food stylists." 

As the iPhone-snapped photo above clearly displays, the answer is obviously "no."

Without further ado, here's my recipe for my morning smoothie. It's also my first official posting for a Vegan Tuesday. I'll write more about why I keep a vegan diet on Tuesday each week later in case anyone has ever considered making the switch, one day a week. But until then, here's a quick way to help you get started.

The "You Can't Tell Me This Is Yogurt" Breakfast Smoothie

1/2 cup soy milk (I prefer the light, vanilla-flavored version.)

1/2 cup pomegranate juice (I've been using this juice because the gigantic bottle of POM from Costco is so damn cheap, but any fruit juice that doesn't have extra sugar added will do.)

1 cup extra firm tofu, cubed (If you buy the small box - the $1.29-priced size - of tofu this will be the equivalent of about a quarter of the slab.)

1 medium banana, sliced (This entire recipe can be adjusted to your personal tastes but I would leave the banana in as it helps with the smoothie's consistency.)

1/4 cup strawberries

1/4 cup blueberries (Any fruit will do, but if it's an apple or plum or peach just remove the seeds/ pit/ core.)

1. Put all ingredients in a blender or small food processor and let 'er rip. I advise blending thoroughly otherwise you can end up with little grainy bits of tofu. I don't mind them, but they have an annoying habit of sticking to your glass and to the mixer and they're difficult to dislodge. 

NOTE: If you want something thicker, something that you can eat with a spoon, cut back on the amount of soy milk or fruit juice and add more banana slices. You can also add 1/4 cup of walnuts or almonds to thicken it, but just remember to chew for god's sake. I don't want someone choking before they even get out the door in the morning. If you want something that you can carry around in a glass as you get ready to start your day - as opposed to sitting at a table and eating with a spoon - I suggest adding more liquids.