Failures and successes

I don’t document many kitchen failures on this blog. Truthfully I don’t make a lot of terribly risky things, so that’s part of the reason. However, so as not to be disingenuous, today’s post will spotlight two not-so-successful endeavors of the past week. The first:

Um, yeah. Yummy? Blech. This was a certifiable vegan overnight oats failure. I mixed 1/2 cup of oats, 1 cup of water, and a few frozen blueberries into a tupperware container in the fridge overnight, assuming they would absorb all the liquid. Yeah, not so much. Instead, my bowl was filled with soggy, liquidy oats. Not appetizing. This was Monday morning, and I showed you in my last post the oatmeal I made my lazy way. That night, I made stab number two at overnight oats, which was far, far more successful:

I combined 1/2 cup of oats with 3/4 cup of homemade almond milk and half a mashed banana. Oh, and blueberries again. The result was still a little liquidy, but it was delicious. At work, I topped with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter and a splash of coconut milk creamer.

So tasty and soothing. I highly recommend.

Another failure was my lunches for the week. I thought a little snack plate featuring lettuce wraps would be fun:

Looks pretty enough, right? It was a fail, pure and simple. Clockwise from top left, you have lettuce from the farmers market, white bean spread, sugar snap peas from the farmers market, chopped pepitas, and Chipotle Brown Rice. The bean dip is based on the White Bean Aioli from Veganomicon, and it’s just not that tasty. I wanted to like it: navy beans, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice — what’s not to like? There’s just something off about it. Maybe it was too thin? Here’s it wrapped up:

I think I failed at bringing enough food, too. That’s why I included some of the rice intended for book club. Speaking of the rice, book club was cancelled due to the threat of imminent death (i.e. scary tornado warnings following the Joplin disaster), so the rice is ours. Woo hoo! It came out crazy spicy, but I love it. Here’s how you make it. The chipotle sauce is borrowed heavily from Veganomicon, by the way.

Chipotle Brown Rice

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• Half a large onion, chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 chipotle peppers, minced
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from the peppers
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly. Then puree it in a blender, food processor, or in a bowl using an immersion blender (my method of choice). When fairly smooth — a few chunks are fine — mix into the brown rice, stirring well. Adjust for salt, pepper, and cumin to taste.

Spicy, savory heaven.

Tags: breakfast, lunch/dinner, oats, rice, veganism, veganomicon