Food day

So today was definitely food focused. In between cooking I did get some work done (went to school and did two PCRs! if that makes no sense you'll have to wait til later for an explanation). I started this morning going to the Athens Farmer's Market. It's still a little early in the growing season here in Athens so there was not as much fresh produce as I hoped for. I was hoping since it was an early spring here there might be more but I think it will be another month. I still got some apples, herbs, and mushrooms. Since cooking heats up my apartment and this is probably one of the few cool days we have left, I was inspired to spend the rest of the day cooking.

 I bought these oyster mushrooms today. Before I moved to Athens I'd never seen fresh oyster mushrooms. These made me excited because the Vegan Planet cookbook (the recipes are tasty but very involved) has a vegetarian recipe for faux New England Clam Chowder. I love clam chowder, but live nowhere near the ocean, and the cream base isn't exactly healthy either. So in this recipe, the oysters mimick the texture of the clams (they did a good job replacing the clams too). The main flavors that make this soup more seafood-like are old bay seasoning and kombu (a type of seaweed).

While the idea of seaweed weirded me out a little, I decided to try it anyway. You don't have to eat the kombu anyway, most recipes I've seen use it for flavoring (like you would bay leaves or cinnamon sticks).

Instead of cream, the base is vegetable stock with soymilk, miso, pureed potatoes, celery, and leek (though I used red onion). While you could never mistake it for a cream base (I mean come on), it still makes a very tasty thick broth that I think is a good substitute for all of that saturated fat. The flavor really did remind me a lot of clam chowder and I was very happy with the result, though I might up the amount of kombu next time.

To accompany the soup I made an herb bread (also from Vegan Planet) that was OK. The bread is fine but I can't tell that I put herbs in it at all.

Now this final picture is the reason I am probably awake. For Christmas Charlie got me Jacked Up Java Brownie Mix, which I can't believe I didn't make until now. So these brownies have chocolate, coffee, and guarana, and each brownie has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. I won't be shy, I know my chocolate, and these brownies are amazing! Fudgy and very chocolately, with bits of coffee bean and chocolate chunks. Perfect! Any calories I saved by making the healthy soup I used eating these brownies.