Middle Eastern Buddha Bowl with Honey-Lime Tahini Dressing

Yeah, that sounds a little ethnographically confusing, doesn't it? For one, what's a Buddha bowl? Recipes for Buddha bowls are easy to find online, and in fact, you can do one without a real recipe—except for maybe the dressing. Basically, the modus operandi here is to combine healthy, nourishing foods in a bowl and unite them with a dressing that almost always contains tahini, as Buddha bowls are usually a vegan thing and tahini packs a protein-laced punch.

Some people take an anything goes approach, clearing out what they've got lying around and throwing it together, which makes the Buddha bowl a good candidate for end-of-the-week farmers' market remnants, grain or protein leftovers and seeds in the pantry. However, I don't believe the kitchen-sink approach always yields the best taste. Let's be honest here, people: Some veggies just don't necessarily belong together. Gasp! I've decided to treat this more like a composed dish, inspired by the flavors of the Middle East/Mediterranean.

Middle Eastern Buddha Bowl with Honey-Lime Tahini Dressing

If you like, swap out the beans for tofu, or switch out the greens for what you have on hand, or change the flavor profile altogether with different herbs and spices. I've made it with lemon juice and it's just as lovely. In fact, I plan on making this a bunch of different ways as the growing seasons progresses, but this is one of those endlessly variable dishes that pack well (just store the dressing in a separate container) and easily, happily feeds a crowd—even one with children in it. This one more than amply fed three adults and three kids, ranging from 5-6 in age.

Middle Eastern Buddha Bowl

Serves 4-6

Bowl Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 1-2 T of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1 bunch of kale, washed, ribs removed and leaves chopped
• 2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained if using canned
• 2 cups cooked millet
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes, cut into thirds vertically
• 1 cup of pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup of Italian leaf parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 3 T. tahini
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions for the Bowl:

Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Toss together the cauliflower, olive oil and garam masala, and season with salt and pepper. Spread it out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes until the tops start to brown and the cauliflower starts to soften a little. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. (This can be done ahead of time; Buddha bowls take kindly to room temperature serving.)

Find a large, preferably wide-bottomed bowl, and fill it with the kale as the base. Starting clockwise from the top, add the chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley, pumpkin seeds, and millet in any order of your choice.

Toss with the dressing, which you've assembled per below.....

Instructions for the dressing:

Combine olive oil through garlic in a food processor and blitz till smooth. Add salt and pepper, pulse, and taste. Adjust ingredients according to your liking.

The 10-Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake

Going to someone's house for quick weekday dinner, especially for the first time, means you don't show up empty-handed. At least I don't. I have determined that I have a compulsion, nay, a pathology about this. If I am going to someone's house, chance are I'm packing something edible or potable. It just doesn't feel right to arrive without a consumable offering. Yesterday, I threw together this vegan chocolate cake, which is so absurdly easy, there's no reason why dessert should be relegated to a weekend domestic project. A 10-Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake may fit the bill; the 10 minutes refer to assembly time, not baking time—which is hands off, anyway.

A note about substitutions: if you don't have coffee extract or espresso powder, swap it for 1 T of coffee, and add it to the liquid. If you have neither, no worries. Coffee related additions create depth in chocolate desserts and I almost always, with very few exceptions, bring it on. And because I've adapted this from the awesome book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, you can of course make these as cupcakes. Just reduce the baking time to 15-18 minutes.

10 Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup almond, soy, or other nondairy milk
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 C plus 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
• 1 tsp. espresso powder (I like this one from King Arthur Flour)
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. coffee extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (of your choice; I used light)
• 1/3 cup oil of choice (I used coconut)

Instructions

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup, stir, and set aside.

Sift together all of the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl.

Add the extracts to the measuring cup with milk and ACV. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugars, milk, and oil. Slowly add in the flour, gently folding it in with a rubber spatula. When it's mostly combined, switch to a small wire whisk to get out any last minute lumps but don't overmix it.

Pour into into a well-greased and floured 8-inch round pan (I used a Springform) and bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester or toothpick comes out mostly clean (a couple of small crumbs are fine) and the cake has started to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes and then remove the cake from the pan to cool completely.

Vegan chocolate cake with vegan chocolate frosting

You can serve this as is, with a snowy dusting of confectioner's sugar, or actually make some frosting. Or if it's berry season, quickly chop up some fresh organic strawberries, toss them with a squeeze of lemon juice and a tablespoon or so of granulated sugar, and serve them alongside the cake.

Five Easy Dinners That May or May Not Be Vegan

I was talking with my barista friend Ian today, who asked me for "five dinner ideas that I can do." To spare him and his digestive system from having to order cardboard with cheese for dinner (a.k.a. Domino's), I've taken our conversation between the espresso machine and bakery case, where I endorsed the merits of braising chicken thighs and the versatility of lentils and he shared his disdain for tofu, to the next level. We all have this problem. And in less than five minutes I learned a lot about him. Well, I mostly received confirmation of things I already knew: he wanted something simple, direct, unfussy, delicious, and easily executable after standing up and interfacing with humans all day. I will add some veganizing tips for those nights when he's cooking for his main squeeze. That being said, I decided I'm not going to write a recipe; I'm just going to write instructions, and I'm going to start with one recipe, today, and post another one Monday. If anyone wants more specifics, ask away. I'm happy to provide. But in the interest of keeping this simple and knowing he can do it, I've taken this fast and dirty approach. I made this the other night—sorry, no photos, this is strictly utilitarian stuff, people—so it was on the brain. Adapted from Cooking Light's black bean and goat cheese quesadillas. I've made this dozens of times, and usually a little differently each time.

Here's the first one. I'll post another one on Monday. Enjoy!

1. Black Beans and Goat Cheese Mexican Tortilla Filler

Take  a can and a half (or two cans, it's your choice) of black beans. Rinse them and set aside. With a tablespoon of your favorite cooking fat or oil, saute a small onion (any kind, including a whole bunch of scallions will do) over medium heat in a 8-10 inch skillet or cast iron pan until they soften. Add your seasonings of choice: chili powder, cumin, coriander, paprika (I like cumin); add the beans, 1/2 cup to 1 cup of salsa of your choice. You may not need salt, between the beans and the salsa, but taste it. Let it simmer. It will come together fast. If it looks like it's getting dry, add some hot water. Finally, crumble a 4-ounce log of goat cheese into the pan and let it melt over medium heat, stirring to combine. Turn off the burner, and add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped fresh cilantro and stir to incorporate. If you have a lime, it won't hurt to squeeze half of it over the finished product.

You can serve this loose, with more water/salsa in it, as a dip with tortilla chips or the chip of your liking. You can cook off most of the water and it makes a great filling for tortillas. You can land it somewhere between dippy and dry and slide it in between the folds of a tortilla and turn it into a quesadilla. Or just eat it with a spoon. I don't police it; I just share it.

To veganize: take half the mixture and put it in a medium bowl, add half the cilantro, and stir. Add half the package of goat cheese to the black bean mixture left in the pan, and proceed as directed. But you probably figured that out on your own.....