Blogging: 1 year and 10,000 page views later

Yesterday was Dinner is Vegan's first birthday, and sometime last night the blog passed the 10,000 page views mark.  I'd say that's pretty good timing!     

I've certainly enjoyed blogging for the past year.  It's been nice to have an ongoing project to challenge me and occupy my new-found, post-graduation free time.  I've enjoyed sharing the great (and not so great) recipes I've made with the vegan and non-vegan world.  And it's kind of cool to to have a record of the vast majority of the recipes I've made over the past year.

At the same time, I'm planning to rethink Dinner is Vegan a bit.  We all know that cooking can take up a considerable amount of time on its own, and it turns out that the blogging process takes up a significant amount of time as well.  As my time commitments grow elsewhere and as I start a new, more time- and energy-consuming job in the near future, I'm planning to cut down a bit on the frequency of my blog posts.  Whether that means posting one recipe per week or simply blogging about only the greatest recipes we make, I still do plan to blog.  But, I want blogging to be something I enjoy doing--not something that's stressful and burdensome.

I hope you stick with the blog as it enters year two!  Thanks for reading.    

Rajma Masala with Spinach

While I do still find time to cook in between applying for jobs, blogging has fallen by the wayside.  I made it a point to blog about the delicious red kidney bean dish we made last week, though.  We made Rajma Masala with Spinach--a creamy, filling Indian dinner. 

Rajma Masala served with rice and a samosa wrap.

Recipe:     
Rajma Masala with Spinach

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 heaping teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (or just add equal parts ground black pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon)
• 1 red chili pepper, seeded and minced
• 1/2 cup unflavored tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 - 15.5 ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 1 - 15.5 ounce can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 - 9 ounce bag fresh spinach (or more or less, to taste)
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup vegan sour cream

First, heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté until it begins to brown.  Then add the ginger, garlic, and 2 tablespoons water; cover and cook for two more minutes, stirring frequently.

Next, add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, chili powder, garam masala, chili pepper, tomato sauce, and cilantro. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Then add enough water to get a saucy consistency.

Finally, add the beans, spinach, and salt and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until spinach has wilted and flavors have combined. Remove from heat, mix in sour cream, and serve immediately with rice.

Serves 4-6

Comments:

Taste:       

The creaminess of this dish was definitely the highlight.  Rachel was pleasantly surprised that we were able to bring the smooth texture that she loves about Indian food to a vegan dish.  The dish wasn't too spicy--especially when combined with rice--but it still had a rich, complex flavor. 

Accessibility:    

At first glance, this dish might seem unmanageable.  Between the fairly unusual spices and the vegan sour cream, this recipe loses some of its accessibility.  However, we were able to find all of these spices and the vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand) at our usual grocery store.  You might be surprised what you can find quite easily these days.

 Ease of Preparation:        

This is a pretty straightforward recipe.  The Rajma Masala doesn't take too long to make, but rice can take a while.  Just be sure to start the rice before beginning this recipe.

Non-vegan friendliness:       

As I mentioned, we all loved the taste and texture of this dish.  Even though it was filling, we all wanted more.  I wrote that it serves 4-6 because it barely got the three of us through 2 dinners!

Recreating Chipotle

Simon's mom and brother were visiting this weekend for his brother's birthday.  We had a bunch of people over to our apartment for dinner (there were 10 of us in all--a new record!) on Saturday night to celebrate. We provided the main dish and dessert, while our guests provided an amazing spread of appetizers, drinks, and a side dish (corn on the cob!). 

For the main dish, we decided to recreate the vegetarian offerings at Chipotle Mexican Grill.  Feeding 10 people is easy as pie for a restaurant like Chipotle, right?  Here's what we had:

• Whole wheat tortillas for burritos/tacos
• Cilantro-lime brown rice (we prepared the rice and then mixed in chopped cilantro and lime juice)
• Black beans (drained, rinsed, and heated)
• Peppers and onions (sautéed in olive oil for about 20 minutes until very tender)
• Corn (toasted in a pan)
• Salsa
• Guacamole (we used store-bought, but here's my recipe)
• Lettuce
• Shredded cheese, for those who wanted it

We made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting for dessert.  Everyone needs some cake on their birthday. 

It was a great night, and I'm pretty sure we were all just as stuffed as we would have been had we actually dined at Chipotle. 

1,025 Page Views!!!

Dinner is Vegan now has 1,025 page views!  That's over one thousand views in 2 months.  Thanks for reading, everyone. 

New Rating System

I'm introducing a new rating system in an effort to make my recipes easier to navigate.  Beginning today, I'm going to rate each new recipe in four categories:

• Taste: How is the taste, texture, and overall eating experience?
• Accessibility: How expensive is the dish?  Are the ingredients found everywhere or just in specialty grocery stores?
• Ease of preparation: How long does the dish take to prepare?  How difficult is preparation? 
• Non-vegan friendliness: Does this dish appeal to non-vegans?

My rating scale will range from one to four carrots, with one carrot being the worst and four carrots being the best:

So, for instance, a dish that tastes great, has inexpensive and easy-to-find ingredients, is easy to make, and attracts vegans and non-vegans, alike, would receive four carrots in each category--the highest rating. 

I hope this helps you choose which recipes you'd like to try out!  Please let me know if there's anything else I can do to improve my blog or make my recipes clearer. 

About this blog

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my blog.  I'd like to use my inaugural blog post to give you all some background on my blog and let you know what to expect.

My name is Carol and I've been vegan for just over four years.  My family--including my dad, my mom, my brothers Michael and David, and my sister Emily--has been quite supportive of my vegan diet.  However, I recently moved just outside of Washington, D.C. and I now live with my boyfriend Simon and my good friend Rachel.  We eat most of our dinners together, which has been great.  But, there's one catch: Rachel and Simon are non-vegan, and, in fact, they both like meat.  Thankfully, they're both willing to be "vegan after 6pm," as Rachel says--in other words, we cook vegan meals for dinner.  Sometimes they'll add some cheese or sour cream to a meal, but hey, we're not all vegan.  Dinner is.   

I hope to use this blog to record what we eat for dinner and our reactions to those meals and recipes.  I want to create a resource for anyone looking to cook a vegan meal or bake a delicious vegan dessert.  You're in the right place if you have any interest in veganism or vegan cooking/baking.  You're REALLY in the right place if you are a vegan who lives with or cooks for non-vegans, like I do.

Finally, I'd just like to thank Emily for pushing me to blog!  We'll see how it goes.