Cafe Indigo/home cooking split post

oh how we love cherries!

I am thrilled to annouce that Cafe Indigo was a part of the Best Of New Hampshire Festival courtesy of New Hampshire Magazine. We won for our carrot cake! It was held at the civic arena in Manchester and was a great time. I was stunned to see a double rainbow as I was exiting the building. Our logo has a rainbow in it. I felt like it was a sign that we are on the right track as a business.

Here are several pics of food at the cafe. I have been meaning to actually photograph our food, but I am always busy when I'm working... so it has been put on the back burner. Here are some fast shots I got the other day since I brought my camera for the event that night.

Salad with BBQ Tofu

The Rachael

(our version of the reuben, with my homemade seitan)

Tofishy

Ok, end the Cafe Indigo part of this post!

Onto my home cooking.

Let me sing the praise of my pressure cooker! I don't know how I lived for so long without one! This morning, I parboiled 1 lb of organic black beans ($1.29), then added them to the cooker with 1 cup of short grain organic brown rice, (.50) onions, garlic, spices, red pepper, green pepper and jalapenos. I cooked them for 20 minutes and was thrilled with the resutls! I added 1 bunch of chopped cilantro and the juice of 2 limes and divided the mixture into two containers. The first container was turned into a "7 layer" mexican type dip. This is a staple in my home during the summer. I made a quick tofu sour cream out of lite tofu, lime juice, roasted garlic, evoo, pimento and spices then added salsa, and green onions. We will use this as burrito filling this week. It is a simple meal for my kids to throw together while I'm at work and so delicious!

I turned the rest of the mixture into black bean burgers. I added fresh breadcrumbs and "fried" them up in my beloved cast iron. I got 9 burgers. I make them fairly small for portion control and I think the texture is better. I do not like mushy burgers.

Talk about a bang for your buck!

cooking in the cast iron

ready for lunch!

Arugula and Walnut Pesto with fresh thyme

Again, more arugula pesto. Over whole wheat fettucini. I portioned this into individual sizes and they are in the freezer for us to grab as a quick lunch/dinner.

Tofu "Egg" Salad

All spiced up with fresh thyme, mustard, vegenaise, celery, onion and spices. I used extra firm tofu that had been frozen. Nice texture.

hmmm, me thinks there was a printing typo

-but how cool is it that these tortillas have the vegan logo?

If I have time tomorrow (I have a personal chef client) I am going to make a test recipe for Urban Vegan's Vegan's Gone Wild dessert contest.