Scraps and Snippets ~ Veggie Drawer Mix and Match

Our bounty from the farm gives up plenty of guilt if we don't use it. And plenty of creativity when we need to use it... to avoid the guilt. 

We have discovered that a mix or mish-mash of veggies, a few seeds or nuts, and a few splashes of vinegar make for some very satisfying stir fry meals. 

Garden Veggie Medley

Serves 3 or 4

Chop the veggies you have on hand. 

Night one we used 

five going soft potatoes.

A handful of mushrooms

1/2 an onion (I'm actually humming 12 Days of Christmas as I type this. Just thought I should share that.)

1 Clove of garlic

1 small beet

Five leaves of swiss chard

a handful of peas

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

2TBSP rice vinegar

2 TBSP sesame seeds

Chop all the veggies

Heat up the oil. When the pan is nice and hot, toss in the garlic, onion and potatoes. Get em nice and crispy. Then add the mushrooms, broccoli and cook til tender to your taste buds. Toss in 2 TBSP of vinegar and the swiss chard bits. Finally add the sesame seeds and serve it up.

Veggie Drawer Serendipity

A golden turnip

1/2 a head of cauliflower

The rest of the peas, shelled

1/2 cup of chopped almonds

And broccoli

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 TBSP rice vinegar

2 TBSP sesame seeds

Follow the same instructions. Caramelize the turnips and cauliflower, then add the rest and heat til the veggies are the tenderness level you want. 

Good eats.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Kitchen Sink Burger

Serendipitous burger of yumminess

I'm going to dub this burger the Kitchen Sink Burger...because I think you could put just about anything but the kitchen sink into it and end with a tasty result.

I had some sauteed vegetables on hand. And a soup. The soup was a fail. Okay. That's strong. It wasn't a fail, it just wasn't the best. A little sour but kind of lacking in taste. It contained potatoes, sweet potatoes, lemon, chard, white beans, garlic, cauliflower and vegetable broth. And it was actually a recipe I followed that was so-so. And I added several bits of leftovers to it to increase the flavor...and it just wasn't happening. I've frozen soups like that in the past for future use, hoping to revive them with more flavor down the road. But this time I had a brain storm. I was starving and I wondered if it couldn't be a building block for a burger.

KITCHEN SINK BURGER
 

1 cup of creamed soup. Take whatever chunky soup (or sauce) you want to use up, dump it in the food processor or Vitamix and liquefy it. I ended up with several cups which I froze for future use. Think along the lines of the flavor family in your soup because with that flavor base you will pick your bean..
 

1 can cooked beans (drained) (1 2/3 cups of cooked beans if you make and freeze your own. I used white with this recipe. (If your soup/sauce is salsa style, use black, Middle-eastern based soup, use lentils...etc.)
 

1 cup leftover or sauteed veggies. (I used onions, garlic, mushrooms, spinach)
 

1/2 cup oatmeal (or grain of choice either cooked or soaked if you aren't using oatmeal)
 

1/2 cup nuts of choice
 

1/2 cup gluten flour
 

(If your soup was flavorless you could add a bit more spice now. Like a teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, fresh ground pepper, cumin)


The soup is already in your food processor. Add all the other ingredients except the gluten flour. Whir. Not too much, but so it's a nice even texture. Add the flour and knead for a few minutes. 

Form into patties. 6-8 regular burgers, 10 mini burgers.

Grease a pan and fry each side until crusty. Serve with lettuce, mustard, sauteed veggies, onions, lettuce, tomato, sauce, BBQ sauce.

If you need an easy and delish bun recipe, here's one.

Scraps and Snippets ~ What? Vegan BBQ Weenies???

This is a crazy easy recipe. 

A few weeks ago I found a recipe for using a carrot as a Vegan hot dog. As crazy as that sounds I realized that the texture of a cooked carrot is somewhat similar to a hot dog, and well, the shape is kind of a new brainer. The "dog" in this recipe would be hidden in the bun and covered with toppings. Dang, not that I really loved hot dogs, and frankly, I have only had one Vegan hot dog, and don't feel the need to do that again. It just wasn't the best. Check out the carrot dog link.

While pondering this wonder,

my mind made a connection. One of our favorite pre-vegan treats, served almost every New Year's Eve with much guilt and heartburn was Beanie Weenies...or Little Smokies. I'd buy those little packages at the grocery store, slather them in various concoctions until we found the perfect brew...grape jelly and mustard and onion soup mix ended up being the wiener...I mean winner. I'd dump it all in a crockpot and simmer it for hours. The little dogs would puff up and brown. And we'd eat em up. 

So if a carrot could fool the mind into believing I was eating a hot dog, could small carrot lengths, drenched in sauce fool me into thinking I was eating Beanie Weenies? Worth a shot. 

I had recently made a big batch of BBQ sauce from the Blissful Bites cookbook  and had purchased ten pounds of organic carrots at Costco two weeks ago. Voila. Good time to experiment. 

I chopped the carrots into mini-carrot size. (Seriously, mini organic carrots would be a breeze.) I dumped them into my small crockpot, drenched them and stirred til all were covered in the homemade BBQ sauce and turned it on low for four hours. I added a bit more BBQ sauce right before serving so they were nice and saucy.

That's it. They are delicious. And unless someone loves the snap of gristle and would miss it, I'm pretty sure no one would really care that these are substitutes for Beanie Weenies. Ya know?

Any BBQ sauce or favorite sauce would work. The Blissful Bites BBQ sauce is tasty. I think I will try to get something going with the mustard/sweet/oniony blend for the next batch. And there will be a next one. Crazy easy. And crazy good.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Eggplant-Olive Italiano

Brilliant dinner from leftovers. 

Here's what I had.

1/2 bag of rice pasta
14 small medallions of breaded/baked eggplant (breading was flax egg (4 TBSP water, 1 TBSP ground flax)...eggplant slices dipped into flax mixture then dunked into a mixture of 1 tsp garlic powder and 1 Cup bread crumbs and baked.)
4 Chickpea cutlets from Friday night's dinner.

Here's what I did. 

Eggplant-Olive Italiano.

1 TBSP Earth Balance
Diced eggplant (1 or better yet breaded cutlets chopped into 1 inch squares)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans (or 1 large) diced tomatoes (or if you've got fresh ones, use three.)
8-16 green olives (stuffed is fine) thinly sliced (I used 8 jumbo ones)

Heat Earth Balance until it melts and sizzles. I used pretty high heat, I wanted this stuff to caramelize. Toss in eggplant chunks and garlic. Cook until golden and cooked through, stirring regularly. Toss in olives and mix. Finally, dump in tomatoes and simmer, scraping the pan bottom to get all the good bits incorporated.

Set aside to let the flavors marry. Prepare pasta. Put hot pasta on plates, top with cutlets or skip the cutlets and just drench the pasta with the eggplant mixture.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Banana Ice Cream...

One of the recipes in Minnesota taught me a sweet skill. The recipe itself ended up being one of the least favorites. But that was because of the flavor pairings. But our minds went crazy trying to pair the parfait idea with this delicious soft serve consistency ice cream. There will be parfaits in our kitchen, as soon as we can stop ourselves from making and immediately eating the...Banana ice cream.

Now onto the sweet skill. You need a food processor. The girl who posted the original deets said she'd tried a Vitamix to less than stellar results.

Here's the recipe.

You take as many "happy" bananas as you want. Make sure they are "just right bananas," not the black and slimy banana bread bananas. Peel them. Chop the bananas up into bite sized chunks. Put them in a freezer bag. Put them in your freezer and freeze for a minimum of an hour. 

Dump as many bananas as you have people to serve (approximate size of a banana because they will be in chunks  so estimate or you could put each banana into a separate container if you are picky about stuff like that) into the food processor. Example: Use two or three for a two or three person serving. One banana per person...but stick to two or three in each batch. Run the food processor on high. 

You will think there is no way an ice cream substance is going to happen. No way. They break into tiny grainy looking bits and look less and less like creamy goodness. But magic is coming. Stop and scrape it now and again so all the pieces get fluffed. You will have a creamy, deliciousness in three or four minutes.

In our experiments at home, & and I have made banana ice cream with a blob of peanut butter and a splash of non-dairy milk (about a TBSP of each) and the  cinnamon banana version with a few sprinkles of Vietnamese Cinnamon 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per banana. (BTW, there is a difference in cinnamons. Veitnamese is delicious and sweet. Highly recommended.) The results are yummy, slightly softer in consistency, but delicious. And the additions soften the banana taste. Uhh. Chocolate chips tossed in....yum. However, the banana taste is pleasant and not overwhelming because you are using the not overripe bananas.

Try it but be warned, it's addictive.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Kindness of Strangers and Ginger Pear Kindcakes

Day two of Random Acts of Kindness...

Here is something I thought was pretty cool. If you are a writer, or love getting letters, this might be just right for you.

It's a group that sends out handwritten letters to people who need a little boost. I know that a written note can make all the difference to someone. Words and the feelings behind them are important and I think they bear eternal weight.

Yesterday & and I took the dogs outside and began shoveling the driveway. I was working the edge of the driveway where it meets the street and picks up all the nasty ice accumulation. I wasn't really paying attention to the cars driving past. All of a sudden I hear. "If you step back, I'll get that for you." A guy in a pickup with a blade had stopped. He had a kid and a dog in the backseat. I told him thank you and backed out of the way. He scraped away the ice and dirty snow, backed up and made a pass at the driveway, and again. I sent & in for some cash. And He waved it off, told me to have a nice day and rode off into the sunset. Super cool.

So. Two big blessings on the first day of Random Acts of Kindness. I guess I'll call these pancakes...

Ginger Pear Kindcakes...

2 Cups flour (I used half unbleached all purpose, half whole wheat pastry)

1/4 Cup maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 Cup applesauce

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 and 1/2 TBSP baking powder

1 TBSP and 1 tsp cinnamon

3 Cups non-dairy milk (I used vanilla almond)

2 pears small dice

1/3 cup chopped walnuts.

Mix all dry ingredients until incorporated. Add applesauce, syrup, milk until mixed thoroughly. Add diced pears and walnuts. Prepare as you prefer to prepare pancakes. : ) Eat up. Makes about 20 medium sized pancakes. Freeze the extras, they are great popped in the toaster.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Love You Latte Bars or Bites...

Fruit of Recipe Contest # 4

Love You Latte Bars or Bites

1 can white beans or 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups from scratch.

15 pitted dates (I used standard, you'd need less with Medjool) or 3/4

heaping cup raisins

1/2 cup and 1 TBSP Cocoa

1 TBSP espresso powder (or 1 TBSP freshly ground coffee beans)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP apple sauce

1/2 Cup vegan and gluten free white chocolate chips and/or dark chocolate chips.

Additional white chocolate chips and/or dark chocolate chips for garnish.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all items (except chocolate chips) in food processor until all ingredients are incorporated. Stir in chips and roll cookies into balls about 1 TBSP each (makes approx 20. Bake 10-11 mins. When removed from oven press an indentation in the cookies with the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill indentation with two chocolate chips of choice. Cool and store in fridge.

If you prefer bars. Put batter in a greased 8 x 8 and bake for 21-24 minutes.

If you really want to go another layer of decadent. You can add a bottom crust to the bars.

1/2 cup coconut flakes or bits

5 dates

2 TBSP cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 TBSP coconut oil.

Process all ingredients in food processor until the mixture is uniform and sticks together well. Press into the bottom of the greased 8 x 8 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. (1/4 cup or so) dollop cookie layer batter over it, smooth. Bake at 350 for 22-24 minutes.

Scraps and Snippets ~ My Heart Beats for You Sweet Bites...

Fruit of the Recipe Contest # 3

My Heart Beats for You Sweet Bites

1 can white beans or 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups from scratch.

15 pitted dates (I used standard, you'd need less with Medjool) or 3/4 heaping cup raisins

1/2 cup plus 1 TBSP Cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP all fruit cherry preserves

1/2 Cup vegan gluten-free white and/or dark chocolate chips

Additional white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips and cherry preserves for garnish.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all items (except chocolate chips) in food processor until all ingredients are incorporated. Stir in chips and roll cookies into balls about 1 TBSP (makes approx 20). Bake at 350 for 10-11 mins. When removed from oven press an indentation in the cookies with the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill indentation with additional toppings. A dollop of cherry preserves and two chocolate chips. Cool

and store in fridge

Scraps and Snippets ~ Orange You Glad We've Got Each Other Bars Etc.

Fruit of Recipe Challenge # 2.

Orange You Glad We've Got Each Other Bars

Crust:

1/2 of an orange's zest (zest whole orange, put 1/2 aside

for filling)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 TBSP coconut oil

5 dates (regular sized)

3/4 cup coconut raw flakes

Filling:

1 can white beans or 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups from scratch.

15 pitted dates (I used standard, you'd need less with Medjool) or 3/4 heaping cup raisins

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 TBSP coconut flour (or pulverize shredded raw coconut)

Juice from one orange

Zest from 1/2 orange (zest the whole thing and put 1/2 aside)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup vegan gluten free white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 if making bars or cookies.

Combine all crust ingredients in food processor until combined, uniform and holding together. Press crust into bottom of 8 x 8 pan.

Filling: Combine all items (except cranberries and

chocolate) in food processor (no need to rinse after using it for the crust) until all ingredients are incorporated.

Stir in chips and cranberries.

Bake at 350 for 21-24 mins. Cool and store in fridge. Can also be rolled into cookie bites. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Press cranberry and white chocolate chip on top. Keep in fridge. Also, unbaked, this is a great dip. Follow all directions for filling, and put in fridge to chill, use gluten free/vegan cookies/crackers. You may also roll the dough into balls, chill, then roll them in the crust mixture and make truffles.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Peanut Butter Mocha Smooches...

Sarah commented about my post yesterday. She said she believes it is a rumor. Interesting. Here's a link she sent me. I will be reading the whole thing. 


http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2012/02/gmo-monsanto-buyout-rumors-untrue/


However, Trader Joe's and Costco could still provide my list of items. :  )


Here is a recipe for you.  Peanut Butter Mocha Smooches (Gluten free, Vegan, and no added sugar/fat)

1 can white beans or 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups from scratch.
15 pitted dates (I used standard, you'd need less with Medjool) or 3/4 heaping cup raisins
1/2 Cup  plus 1 TBSP Cocoa
1 TBSP espresso powder (or 1 TBSP freshly ground coffee beans)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
4 TBSP Peanut butter
2 TBSP Apple Sauce

Additional Peanut Butter (Approx 1 TBSP and dark chocolate chips (Vegan) for cookie garnish.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all items in food processor until all ingredients are incorporated.  Roll cookies into balls about 1 TBSP (makes approx 20). Bake at 350 for 10-11 mins. When removed from oven press an indentation in the cookies with the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill indentation with a dollop of peanut butter and a chocolate chip. Cool and store in fridge.

If you prefer bars. Put batter in a greased 8 x 8 and bake for 21-24 minutes.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ "Hamburger" Crumbles

I did not post yesterday. I can't blame it on my internet connection, which may or may not be fixed as I had to reboot it this morning. (Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, butterflies and daisies, ah yes, I feel better.) 

I spent the evening crafting. Why? Because I'm making a few gifts this year. Oh, and because I'm INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a closet full of craft items that I just want to use up. And since I'll be having company in about two weeks and that will require massive cleaning, I decided it's time to HAUL 

everything out. That way my stress level can be OFF THE CHARTS 24/7 until Christmas Eve morning. Ha.Ha.Ha (add the deranged, twisty-eye look and a touch of desperation to the ha, ha, ha, and you've got it.) 

However, while I'm crafting Netflix is making sure I'm catching up on all sorts of stuff. In the meantime, still looking for those recipe ideas to incorporate into the family file. Here's a great one. Really. And inexpensive, too. And if my grand craft ideas turn out, I'll even share those pictures and success stories with you all. (After I gift them, of course.)

"Hamburger" Crumbles

2 Cups brown rice

2 Cups prepared lentils

1 Cup oatmeal

1/2 Cup TVP (textured Veggie Protein or more rice if you prefer)

3/4 Cup finely chopped mushrooms (not minced, but small) (or extra pecans or rice)

1/2 Cup chopped (small) pecans (Or use more rice or more mushrooms)

2 tsp black pepper

1 TBSP garlic powder

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp cumin

1/8 Cup olive oil

1/8 Cup soy sauce

Mix this all together very well. Place in lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Place in 300 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

You don't have to use TVP, it doesn't hold the recipe together but does give a little extra protein. I loved the texture and taste of this. I probably got 6 or 7 cups. Keeps in the fridge for a week or so. I froze cup sized bags for future use and it freezes well.

Here is the original recipe. 

My tweaks made it way easier. It did not require a trip to a store and helped use up some of the stuff I have on hand.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Post Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up

A few more Thanksgiving recipes. As long as I still have a few leftovers, I can keep posting, right? & made a brown rice "stuffing" that cannot be shared with y'all. If I don't watch her and write down what she's doing the "recipe" remains in her brain alone...and not for long. Ha. Ha. But there is one more meal's worth of that bad boy... so one more recipe tomorrow. It will be worth it. Salted Caramel Pecan Fudge Pie....oh, BABY, it's amazing!


Mushroom Sage Gravy

3 TBSP Earth Balance
3 TBSP flour
1 oz package mushrooms (diced)
1/2 med or 1 small onion (small dice)
1 minced clove of garlic
4 Cups vegetable broth
2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP red wine vinegar


Saute onion and garlic in Earth Balance until they are carmelized. Add mushrooms and saute until tender. Add flour. When it is all mixed in and forms a paste add the veggie broth. As sauce thickens and simmers add the sage and thyme. When it gets to the consistency you want taste it. Add the vinegar, taste again, add the salt if needed. Great over potatoes or on the Chick pea cutlets. I spied a few family members drenching turkey, too. Makes about 3 1/2 cups depending on how thick you like it.

Here is a bonus. Vegan Mashed Potatoes

4 Lbs organic potatoes, large dice (leave skin on unless you hate chunky potatoes)
1 head of cauliflower (deflowered, as in cut the good stuff off the stems and get rid of the stems)
4 cloves garlic
4 TBSP vegan cream cheese
3 TBSP Earth Balance
potato water or unflavored/unsweetened non-dairy milk if needed
salt and pepper to taste.


Boil the potato chunks and garlic in a pot large enough to add cauliflower to so all can be covered in water and lidded (a dutch oven worked, a large crockpot will work too, if you are doing this the night before. If you want to use a crockpot, add the cauliflower with the raw potatoes and cook on low overnight). Add cauliflower when potatoes are nearly done. (25 minutes or so into the simmer process.)When everything is tender (45 minutes or so) turn off heat. When cooled enough to handle without danger of scalding, carefully drain, saving a cup or two of potato water. (More if you are making gravy and need it for that.) Mash all -- garlic, potatoes, cauliflower. Mash some more. It won't be smooth with the skins. And that's good. Add the cream cheese and mix it in real well. Taste, add potato water or unsweetened non-dairy milk if needed for consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. When happy with texture and taste, mix one more time and leave three small wells on top of potatoes. Add the 3 TBSP of Earth Balance, one in each well. As people dig in the "butter" will end up on most servings. Feeds at least 15 people unless they are potato freaks. My 3 quart crockpot was nicely full.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Brrr It's Cold Outside...Soup for You...

I spent the weekend being domestic. I. E. I did a lot of cooking and began the start of some craft projects. I made a big ol' batch of Seitan (Vegan with a Vengeance version) and decided I needed to use up some onions that had decided to begin sprouting in my pantry. Here's what came out of that. 

(Happy Tail-end Side of Birthday Week to You, X-ta! Hope it's been a good one.)

"Steak" and  Potato Stew

2 Cups Potatoes small dice (3-4 potatoes)

1 TBSP Earth Balance

1 Cup Chopped Mushrooms

2 Small or 1 Medium/Large Onion

7 Cups Vegetable Broth

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

2 Cups Small Dice Seitan

1/2 tsp Salt

1 TBSP Balsamic or Red Wine Vinegar

Melt Earth Balance in Dutch oven/soup pot) or frying pan. When hot add onions until they begin to caramelize, then add mushrooms and saute until tender. Either transfer to a crock pot (if using frying pan) or add directly to the Dutch oven the vegetable broth, soy sauce, potatoes, seitan. Simmer until the potatoes are tender. (Low 5-6 hours, high 2-3, stove top 1 hour) Taste and either add the salt or skip it. Add vinegar and serve with crusty bread.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Oh Yeah, This One Was Tasty...Asian Cranberry Slaw

On my quest to find delicious and Vegan or Veganable recipes for Thanksgiving I found a braised cabbage recipe that sounded pretty yummy. Except all the flavor came from pepperoni. Uhhh, so I put the idea of a warm cabbage slaw into my think-tank and this is what came out.

Braised Asian Cranberry Slaw.

1 Onion, small dice

2 TBSP sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

4 Cups Chopped Cabbage (or approx 1/2 large head cabbage, I used purple)

2 TBSP rice vinegar

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

1 TBSP sesame seeds

1/2 cup craisins

Heat 1 TBSP sesame oil in pan. Get it hot. Toss in onions and cook til browned and aromatic. Add cabbage and cook until it begins to shrink and tenderize, 3-5 minutes add soy sauce and hot pepper flakes. Stir and cook until cabbage is coated. Turn down flame and add sesame seeds, vinegar and last TBSP of sesame oil. Stir well, add craisins, stir again and serve.

Scraps and Snippets ~Italian Cheezy Toflets w/ Garlic Tomato Sauce ~

Italian CheezyToflets with Garlic Tomato Sauce

1 pkge extra firm Tofu

Other veggies if desired. I used tiny, chopped up eggplant.

Marinade:

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 TBSP lemon juice

3 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Breading:

4 TBSP nutritional yeast

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Italian seasoning

Sauce:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp olive oil

4 diced tomatoes

salt to taste

Drain and press tofu. Slice into cutlets (1/4-1/2" thickness, I got about 14). Drizzle or brush marinade on both sides of tofu. Let sit a few hours (overnight would be great but mine didn't sit very long.) Dip tofu slices in dry breading mix. Heat skillet and brown/crisp tofu slices. Lay in bottom of 9 x 13 casserole dish. If you have extra breading dump it over the top of the slices, or mix it with the other veggies you might be using. Put the veggie layer, if using, on top of the tofu. Let it sit. Mince the garlic and let it sit a few minutes. Heat the tsp of olive oil, toss garlic and saute until golden. Add chopped tomatoes. Dump garlic tomato mixture over the tofu slices. At this point I'd shake some sea salt over the whole dealio. Mine needed salt. Bake at 350 for approx 25-30 minutes. Serve with bread, salad, and whatever else sounds good. Serves 4-5

Scraps and Snippets ~ Apple Soup and Pepper Yum....

Bizarrely good soup.


Xta emailed me a recipe that she thought sounded like me but pretty much said sounded overall nasty. Ha. Ha. Well, I now know how she feels about me!


Kidding. Of course Xta loves me.


I liked the recipe. But it needed major tweaking. So here is my version.

Harvest Candied/Curried Apple Stew

1 TBSP Coconut Oil

1 Large small dice onion

1 Clove (Large or two medium) minced garlic

4 Large or 5 medium stalks of celery, small dice

2 Apples small dice

4 Cups vegetable juice

2 Cups apple cider or juice

1 TBSP curry powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

Melt Coconut oil, saute celery, garlic, onion. When tender and caramelized add the vegetable broth, the apple juice, the apples, curry powder and cinnamon. Simmer for about an hour. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Not too sweet, not too spicy. Refreshing in an oddly delicious way. And easy. Win. Win. Win.


I also made stuffed peppers out of some leftover tidbits. I had about a 1/4 cup of Daiya cheese. Some peppers fresh from the farm, and a mish mash hash of leftover Seitan, garlic, onion and potatoes.

Stuffed Green Peppers

1/2 onion small dice

1 clove garlic minced

2 to 3 baked potatoes small dice

1 cup seitan diced into cubes

2 TBSP Earth Balance

1 cup of cooked lentils

1 cup of brown or black or red rice

6-8 Bell Peppers, cut in half and seeds removed

Melt Earth Balance, toss in the garlic and onions and saute until translucent. Toss in potatoes and brown until some of the potatoes get crispy, finally toss in seitan. Add lentils and rice. Scoop mixture evenly into the pepper halves. Sprinkle Daiya cheese. Bake until pepper is tender, (about 35-40 minutes in a 350 oven).

Scraps and Snippets ~ No Bake Cookies Vegan Style, and Mouth Nirvana "Chicken Salad"

Insanity. Making cookies a half hour before needing to be on the road. This kind of sums up my life. Sadly. The insanity and the cookie parts. Ha.


Before the cookies let me share the "Chicken Salad" Recipe.

I had a love/hate relationship with Chicken Salad when I ate meat. Biting into gamey or bland Chicken Salad was the worst!!! GAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But every once in awhile you could find one that was a party in your mouth. Texture, flavors, YUM. I've been trying for the past few months to find that mouth Nirvana.


This is pretty flippin close for me. Rob even said I should make it again. Trust me. High praise. Ha. Ha.

This is the One - "Chicken" Salad

Bread of choice. ( : ) ) Or not. Eat it out of the bowl if you want.

3 TBSP Veganaise

1 TBSP rustic mustard (just not the yellow plain)

Add:

1 small diced apple (firm sour is best)

a handful of chopped pecans

1 Cup of small diced, nicely flavored Seitan (if your Seitan is bland, (I used the lemon/garlic one) you could add some seasonings)

1 Celery rib finely chopped.

Finely chopped onion to taste, I didn't add this and it would be the final blast of taste I was looking for. I'm thinking a small wedge would do.

Mix all together and enjoy! Loved the texture/taste combo.

And finally, the cookies. Here's the thing about me of late. I have come to the understanding that taking favorite recipes and Veganizing them is almost easy. Doi!!!! After months of trying to create from the ground up, I figure this out. Anyhoo. I took the No Bake Recipe my mom used to make and tweaked it Vegan style. (NOT TOUGH, Sheesh!) and the cookies were awesome. Didn't take pictures, they didn't last that long. Ha. Ha.

No Bake Cookies (Veganized)

1 3/4 cups Vegan sugar

1/2 cup almond milk

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup Earth Balance

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups oatmeal

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

Combine sugar, milk, coconut oil, Earth Balance, and cocoa in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oatmeal, and vanilla, when mixed add cranberries and stir well. Drop blobs onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

Just like my Mama used to make. Kind of, mostly. I want to try decreasing the sugar to see if I can't make them a wee bit less sweet. But that may throw off the chemistry and make them not harden.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Garden Garlic Soup

Here's a quick recipe I need to slide in while I actually have Internet. My connection is unstable. Why? I suppose it's because it's MY connection. As my internet waxes and wanes like the moon but with way less predictability, I'm going to take a chance at posting rather than put that energy into throwing my computer, Frisbee style, across the room. 

This is tasty and hearty. And has already been made twice. To raves. Methinks it's a keeper. It really needs only garlic, onion, water, potatoes, corn and salt/pepper. Of course everything we used we got from the Farmer, including the basic recipe.

Garden Garlic Soup

Melt 1 TBSP or so of Earth Balance in large pan. (A Dutch Oven works the best)

Add an entire minced garlic bulb (the whole thing, with all the little cloves, but not the papery stuff around the cloves, those you should put in a bag in the freezer and use when you make your own veggie stock like I plan to do.)

1 Onion, minced

Heat/saute until the onions are translucent. If they get browned that's great. 

Add 1 LB Organic Potatoes, chopped. Peel only if they need peeling. (I'm guessing about 6 biggish potatoes, and a dozen or so small ones.)

Sweet Corn, scraped from about 6 ears. (I used it raw because the starch from the uncooked corn made the soup thicker.)

Any other veggie that tempts you. I chopped up some carrots. Thought about adding green stuff but decided not to, but probably will next time. 

Pour enough water into the pan to cover the veggies. Heat on low for an hour or so. (Or stick it in the oven on low, or in a crock pot for a few hours. Add salt and pepper to your family's liking (or your own). Makes about six decent sized bowls of soup.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Funky Monkey Pancakes in Honor of National Pancake Day

Farm day report tomorrow.


It has been preempted by National Pancake Day.


Did you know there was such a thing? And yesterday was it.


We feasted on Scrambled Tofu


and

Funky Monkey Pancakes.

1 Smashed ripe banana

1 1/2 TBSP baking powder

2 TBSP vegan sugar

2 TBSP nut butter

2 Cups non-dairy milk

1 Cup unbleached all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 Cup oatmeal

Vegan Choc Chips...about 1/2 Cup

Smash banana with baking powder, it will get foamy, mix well, add sugar, nut butter. When well mixed add non-dairy milk. Stir in flour and oatmeal.

Heat griddle, spray with or melt non-dairy fat on surface. When ready pour 1/4 cup circles of batter onto griddle. When the the surface is full of air bubbles, flip over. Add a chocolate chip face, or polka dots. Eat. Makes about 16 pancakes.

These are not overly sweet and taste quite a bit like banana bread. To get a stronger peanut butter flavor, I'm going to add another TBSP of peanut butter next time and see if that does it. They are tasty as they are, but, of course, I'm going to tweak em.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Wildlife, P B J Oatmeal and Making Grape Jam When Life Gives You Grapes....

We had grapes we needed to do something with. If there is anything more frustrating than letting hard won or expensive, or the combo of the two items go to waste, well, I'm not sure what it would be. 

Last night I had to act or the above scenario would play out. So I plucked the grapes from their skeletons and prepared to make grape jam. 

Issue one. Not enough grapes to really justify getting the whole canning setup out and about. 

Issue two: I wanted Jam. Not Jelly. Jelly is strained and therefore you lose the chunky bits. So I had to deseed them. Is there an easy way to do this? Not sure. I should've googled it. Probably there is. But then again, I only had about three cups of whole grapes, how long could it take? A long time. Like an hour +. I had to squeeze of the outer layer of skin and then squeeze the inner jiggly part to remove the seeds. Sometimes one seed, sometimes three seeds. We took a break to do a walk in the middle of the project. It felt like hours.

Issue three: I had to look at several recipes to try to figure out what to do. In the end I just made a decision and went with it. There didn't seem to be a recipe that fit what I wanted to do. My end project plan was simply two small jars, for the fridge, to be eaten within a few weeks. So I went with the whole apple butter idea that seems to work for us. I dumped the grape bits, skins included, but not the seeds (this was about two cups total) and added half a cup of sugar into my little baby crockpot to cook down overnight. 

This morning when I woke up I did not smell heavenly grape aromas. There went my plans for peanut butter and grape jam on toast for breakfast.

Plan G: I'm leaving the lid off, hoping to cook it down further and thicken the stuff while I'm at work today. And I got creative for breakfast. I made oatmeal (a few scoops of old fashioned organic oats, 2 TBSP of chia seed) water to consistency I like, a blob of peanut butter and several spoonfuls of warm, liquidy grape jam. YUM. PB and J oatmeal. Yep. 

You might be wondering about the picture of the deer. These little guys were running away from me. I startled them while they were playing on the hill by my office. I have seen deer everywhere lately. Last night while on our walk we startled a mom and two teen deer. Last week we spied an adolescent deer hanging out in a driveway with half a dozen or so wild turkeys. Wished I had my camera for that one. Ha. Ha.