Lately I’ve been really excited about growing sprouts. Spring has been mercilessly taunting the northeastern U.S. for the last couple of months, and things have been looking really bleak. To keep from losing my mind, I’ve taken to “eating optimistically,” which involves eating piles of sprouts and all the raw veggies I can get my hands on. Nothing says “spring” like bringing lentils out of dormancy en masse, right? So a couple of years ago, I discovered a sprouting jar buried deep in the bowels of my parents’ basement. This was a bizarre find, to say the least, because if you’ve ever met my parents, you know that they definitely never went through any kind of crunchy hippie phase. Case in point: the jar was stored next to a doughnut dropper, a utensil which much more accurately reflects my parents’ culinary roots. Self-sufficiency obsessive that I am, I naturally decided I would get into growing sprouts … despite the fact that I’d never really eaten them regularly. Everybody knows sprouts are tiny nutritional powerhouses, but I’ve always been loath to buy them because they’re expensive and tend to go bad really quickly. As it turns out, growing your own sprouts […]

Saint Patrick’s Day is just two weeks away, and while I am neither Irish and nor really into holidays that don’t involve getting a day off work, I do savor any excuse to make Irish soda bread. Although this loaf is exactly what I expect when I think of soda bread, the Internet tells me that True, Authentic Irish soda bread would never contain raisins, caraway, or sugar, as these bourgeois items would never have been found in the pockets of the Irish proletariat. To dispel this myth, there’s even a Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread. Yeah, folks have a lot of time on their hands. Look, y’all, I back the IRA as much as the next self-respecting radical, and I sympathize with the fact that all too many recipes get totally bastardized at the hands of American cooks. If you are seeking traditional Irish fare this month, I recommend whipping up some cheap, hearty, and easily veganized colcannon and checking out my recipe for vegan corned beef seitan. But, authentic or not, this version of soda bread is tasty as heck, and I stand by it. Tender and slightly sweet, even the raw dough is delicious. […]

Beneath their crunchy exteriors, these cranberry scones are soft and buttery, complemented by a tart, sweet lemon drizzle. Is anyone else in total spring mode right now? I know it’s more than a little preemptive, but lately all I want to do is drink green smoothies and wear t-shirts and go for long bike rides and runs (outside! in the sun!). The bright lemon and cranberry flavors in these scones make me feel like spring couldn’t possibly be that far away. I can practically hear the birds chirping! Oh, wait … that’s just the sound of my charming upstairs neighbors engaging in their weekly turn-up-the-Evanescence-and-scream-until-you-puke-and-then-fall-down-a-flight-of-stairs-and-puke-some-more tournament. My bad! (But you get the idea.) Anyway, there’s nothing to these. I particularly love that these aren’t just glorified biscuits: a good scone should be rolled out and cut into triangles, and should have a crust and a little heft. Slicing this dough into triangles is no more work than scooping dough out of a bowl with a spoon, and it makes for a more appetizing product, too! These are best eaten the day they’re baked — with plenty of fair trade coffee, of course. (I think it’s going to take a lot […]

Despite the occasional 50-degree day, Connecticut’s gotten a lot of snow this winter. After a cold day at work and a two-mile trudge home through the snow and ice, there’s nothing that makes me happier than coming home to a hot bowl of soup. Black bean soup is healthy, hearty fare that’s sure to warm you up from the inside out.This recipe is extremely simple, but it does take time. Simmering dried black beans right in the stock is key to this soup’s full-bodied flavor. I’ve tried all kinds of shortcuts, but black bean soup thrown together in half an hour with canned beans just doesn’t hold a candle to this slow-cooked beauty. Give it a try some chilly weekend when you don’t mind cozying up to your stove for a couple of hours. It’s worth it! This soup is creamy and mild enough for folks with less adventurous palates, but you can easily adjust it to fit your tastes. I like topping my bowl with a healthy dose of smoky chipotle hot sauce. You can also go Tex-Mex: just add a cup and a half of cooked corn kernels during the last 20 minutes of simmering and garnish with […]

At some point last year, I unwittingly became one of those people who eats a big pile of raw veggies for lunch every day. It all started late one night when I didn’t have time to cook lunch for the following day, and it just kind of stuck. Turns out that in my old age I’ve grown to love chowing down on carrots and broccoli stalks and red peppers and everything else in between. I keep lunch exciting by making a different flavor of hummus every week. This chipotle hummus is one of my favorites, and it would be just as at home in your lunchbox as it would be in your next party’s snack spread! I love spicy food, but I’m not a fan of food that’s so hot you can’t taste anything. Chipotle peppers are perfect in that respect; they’ve got some kick, but also pack in the flavor. You can find cans of chipotles packed in adobo sauce at just about any grocery store. Toss a couple of those suckers in your food processor with some chickpeas and a few other ingredients, and you’ll have a cheap and flavorful dip in no time. You won’t even have […]