Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Classic Burger Sloppy Joes

Classic Burger Sloppy Joes (Serves 8 ish)

2 Cups hamburger replacement (Gardein or Beyond Meat or homemade)

⅓ Cup ketchup

3 TBSP yellow mustard

2-3 TBSP dill pickle relish (or a mix of dill and sweet, or if you like your sloppies sweeter, go with all sweet) (I used 3 TBSP but I love pickles so use your taste buds as a guide.)

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1-2 TBSP finely diced onion (again, to taste)

Mix all the ingredients together and heat until warmed through. Or put it in a crock pot on low for 2-3 hours. Serve with buns. Add vegan bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onion or vegan cheese slices, pickles and ketchup and mustard.

Scraps and Snippets ~ BBQ Sauce and Vegan BBQ Beets and Franks...

Natural Grocers is a new chain grocery store in our area. It's small. Kinda like a cross between a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, a local mom and pop store and a traditional hippie health food store. In the past few visits I've scored some great organic past-their-prime fruits and veggies for various and assorted uses. The bargain produce bin is really a great deal. Last week we made the discovery that the freezer and refrigerated section have clearance, too. 

I scored $.50 non-dairy yogurt and 1/2 price tempeh, vegan hot dogs, and seitan. 

Now I needed a use for vegan hot dogs that doesn't involve a bun, mustard and ketchup. 

Rob likes BBQ sauce and keeps asking me to make BBQ for him. I had a sweet potato to use and a golden beet. 

BBQ Beets and Franks for dinner.

I sautéed the chunked sweet potato with small dice onions and leeks and the beet. I chopped two vegan hot dogs into slices and added them to the sauté. 

BBQ Sauce

5 TBSP tomato paste (I used frozen TBSP chunks from a previous can I opened. This was a great idea I saw somewhere.)

5 TBSP water

1 1/2 TBSP vinegar (I used red wine)

1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce

1 1/2 TBSP agave, brown sugar or maple syrup

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon smoke seasoning (I used Trader Joe's smoke blend grinder)

two pinches salt

We dolloped BBQ sauce over the sauté and ate up. 

This is a hint of sweet, smoky, rich, garlicky BBQ sauce. It's thick and makes about 1/2 cup. Rob and I both liked the flavor. So I think I'll use it for various assorted BBQ needs in the future. Pulled Jack sandwiches, roasted BBQ cauliflower tenders. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Quinoa Ring...Fun with Quinoa Part 1

First prep the quinoa to make enough for two separate dishes. This amount makes a quinoa ring and a medium sized side salad. I'd definitely cut it in half if you only want to make one or the other. The amount of cooked quinoa will be slightly over 3 cups. If you want to make just the ring follow the directions in the parentheses and this will make approx a cup.

1 1/2 Cup quinoa (1/2 Cup)

1/3 Cup dried mushrooms (2 TBSP)

1/3 Cup diced onion (2 TBSP)

3 Cloves garlic minced (1 clove)

3 Cups veggie broth (1 Cup)

Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and cover and let simmer about 15 minutes.

Split the cooked amount into thirds into two separate bowls (one of them can be the pan) 1/3 for ring, 2/3 for salad. The salad recipe is here. 

To make the Quinoa Ring you also need the following. 

1/4 of a container of vegan cream cheese (2 oz or 2 TBSPish)

1/4 Cup chopped mushrooms

3/4 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 TBSP finely chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 TBSP nutritional yeast

Add all these to the smaller amount bowl full of the quinoa and mix all together very well.

Crescent rolls (1 can, make sure it's vegan) You could also use your favorite pizza dough and make this a pocket or calzone. 

To make a crescent roll ring separate the 8 triangles of dough. Lay each of the  longest pointiest ends over the rim of a large pie plate or round baker. The shorter two point ends will overlap each other and there will be a hole in the center. It's going to look kind of like a stick drawing of a sun. Press the overlapped edges in the pan together. 

Scoop the quinoa filling onto the flat inner circle of dough. Then take each outside point and pull it over the mixture and tuck it slightly under the inner ring of dough. 

Bake at the temperature called for on the can (or in your pizza dough recipe) Bake approximately 4 - 6 minutes longer to make sure everything is done. You want it golden and cooked through. 

Serves 8 slices.   

Scraps and Snippets ~ Goulash Tapenade

I hate not knowing what I'm going to make for dinner. 

It's even worse when I'm hungry while thinking about it.

I had half a jar of organic tomato basil spaghetti sauce, half a package of spiral pasta and various assorted bits and pieces of other items. 

Goulash Tapenade

Finely dice 1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic
Finely dice 1/2 Cup of black, green, gourmet olives you have on hand.
Finely dice 1/2 Cup mushrooms
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 Jar (standard spaghetti sauce jar - 28 ozish)
1/4 Jar of water swished to get all the tomato sauce out

Saute garlic in olive oil until tender. Add mushrooms. Then olives. Finally add spaghetti sauce and water. Simmer until it thickens. About 20 minutes.

Prepare pasta according to directions.

Drain spaghetti and add sauce in bowl and mix well. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Sinai Chop Salad

Sinai Chop Salad

Ingredients are cut into bite sized pieces so every bite has a little of everything.

One can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) (If you have dried around, make your own. A can = about 1 and 2/3 cup cooked beans.)

Three heads of Romaine lettuce washed and chopped

Two cucumbers. Remove most of the skin but leave just a bit for color and chop into bite sized pieces.

Four small dill pickles (chopped)

Purple onion ½ to a whole onion, depending on size and your preference (small chopped)

Four to six tomatoes (chopped)

Dressing: (Make this at least the day before so all the flavors marry)

2 TBSP tahini (Sesame seed paste with a very distinct flavor should be in internal section of the store.) (If this scares you, or you don't want a jar of tahini in your fridge you can use hummus)

4 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar (may need more or some water to get to consistency you'd like)

1 teaspoons oregano (dried) or equivalent in fresh

1 teaspoon dill (dried) or equivalent in fresh

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt.

Toss all the salad ingredients into a big bowl.

Drizzle dressing over salad. Serve with pitas. Feel free to toss chunked falafels into the mix, too.

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 ~ 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 ~ Vegan "Chicken" Pot Pies

"Chicken" Pot, "Chicken" Pot Pies!"

Crust recipe of your choice. (a double crust one). I used the one from Vegan on the Cheap.

Grease muffin tin cups (12)

Press half the pie dough into cups pie style.

In a saucepan melt 1 TBSP Earth Balance

When "butter" is bubbly add:

1 small dice potato

2 stalks small dice celery

1 small dice chopped onion

1 small dice chopped carrot or other veggie you might have around and want to use.

When onions are cooked add:

1 TBSP flour (I used whole wheat)

When everything is coated and gummy pour in:

3/4 cup veggie broth 

1 cup finely diced seitan

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Cook until mixture thickens.

Place mixture into pic crusts. Take remaining pie crust and form a top crust for pot pies if desired. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. (If you don't use your crust for the pies, and don't want to freeze it for next time, roll it out and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it and bake it for about 10 minutes. )

Scraps and Snippets ~ Gravy and Biscuits to Ya.

Biscuits and Gravy

I can't say I'm a big fan of biscuits and gravy. Actually I've always considered them a little peppery and heavy.

Imagine my surprise when I had a sudden urge for biscuits and gravy.

I also had the deep desire to avoid a trip to the grocery store. I hadn't even stepped out the door all day.

So with what I had on hand. I got to work.

I found a biscuit recipe, used Vegan ingredients and even cut it into squares to avoid the rerolling thing. Nice.

Then I got to work on the gravy.

3 TBSP flour

3 TBSP Earth Balance

1/2 Cup fine dice celery

1/2 Cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 Cup crushed cashew bits

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sage

1/2 tsp salt

Fresh ground pepper, 6-8 cranks.

2 Cups Unflavored non-dairy milk.

Place cashew pieces in milk and let them soak a half hour or so. Melt Earth Balance, toss celery and mushrooms in and cook til tender. Add the flour and make a decent paste, add spices. Then slowly pour in milk and cashews. Stir and simmer until this reaches the consistency you want.

About 3-5 minutes. If it gets too thick, add a bit more milk.

Poor gravy over the biscuits and yum. Yum. Enjoy.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Oriental Lettuce Cups ~ Vegan

I hope you don't mind a recycled picture. : ) We ate these so fast I couldn't get one shot. More than one omnivore at the table said. "I'd be Vegan if I could eat this every day."

These taste a lot like P F Changs lettuce cups. Better, in my opinion, because I have control over my ingredients.

Oriental Lettuce Cups

2 Cups of "Hamburger Crumbles"
3 stalks of celery fine dice.
1/2 small dice onion
1 clove garlic minced
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
1 TBSP sesame oil
4 TBSP soy sauce


Saute onion, garlic and celery in sesame oil until tender. Add "hamburger" crumbles, sesame seeds, garlic powder and soy sauce. Mix well. Scoop a few tablespoons into lettuce "shells." (2 or more Romaine leaves laid in a X if they aren't cuppy enough on their own. Or you could put the "shells" in silicone cupcake holders and press down til they form more of a cuplike shape. The weight of the filling does help with this.)

Scraps and Snippets ~ Kickin Italian "Beef"/Beef Sandwiches

A few years ago, when we veered from the Standard American Diet toward low processed and organic I tweaked/created some recipes for a women's event we did through our church.

Yesterday, a friend called and told me she'd lost the "pink book" and needed the recipe for the pepper beef. The pink book was the recipes we sent home with the attendees of the women's event. For starters I was touched and amazed that anyone would still have that "book" and cook out of it. Secondly, when I read the recipe I decided I could Veganize it pretty easily. So. Without further ado (and with an apology for the picture quality) here is the recipe. Might I add that the recipe is better than what I ended up with last night for dinner. I didn't have a jar of pepper rings. And I didn't have the crock pot. But tasty it was.

Kickin Italian Beef or "Beef" Sandwiches

3 LBS of beef roast (grass fed) or 3 cups diced Seitan

1 thinly sliced onion

1 jar of pepper rings or pieces like jalapenos or banana peppers (including liquid)(you might want to reserve some to put on sandwiches)

5 small to medium cloves of minced garlic(or three big ones)

1 and 1/2 TBSP of Italian seasonings.

If you are using beef, dump everything together (reserve some peppers if you plan to do so)into a crockpot and let marry in the fridge overnight. In the morning put it on low and cook 8-10 hours. When you get home, remove the beef, let it cool enough to touch, shred it, get rid of the fat/gristle and put the meat bits back in the juice. Scoop with a slotted spoon, serve on hoagies, pitas, whole grain bread and use your favorite condiments.

Seitan version. Assuming your seitan is precooked like mine was, put everything (except peppers you want to reserve) into a dutch oven or large sauce pan and simmer, simmer, simmer until the onions are translucent and well cooked. (an hour or so.) Follow the above instructions.

However, next time I may use this as the broth to cook my seitan. And. I didn't have the jarred peppers so I used pepper flakes (1/2 TBSP)and those were okay. We served ours over baked potatoes.

Easy. Feeds 6-8.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Citrus Sesame Glaze

Delicious!!!

I had a few oranges that had seen better days. So I squeezed them, measured the juice, calculated a few combinations and put it all together.

Citrus Sesame Glaze

1/4 Cup rice vinegar

1/4 Cup sesame oil

3/4 Cup orange juice

1/3 Cup maple syrup

2 tsps sesame seeds

1 pinch of garlic powder

1 pinch of ground ginger

Heat orange juice and oil in saucepan. Add vinegar, maple syrup and sesame seeds. Let simmer approx 20 minutes until sauce thickens and reduces to a syrupy consistency. Stir frequently but not constantly. When it's the consistency you want add the pinch of garlic and ginger. Serve over veggies, meat subs or meat. We braised sliced seitan in it for 20 minutes and served over brown rice. Yummy.

It would work as a salad dressing, too.

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 ~ Panic, the Mother of Creativity... Or At Least Decent Meals

I mentioned an upcoming/looming camping trip yesterday. And that Friday night hit and I needed 4 meals ready to prepare over campfires or to eat out of a cooler. Panic. Did I mention Rob's two meat eating friends wanted to try a little bit of our Vegan food, too? Yikes.


I had leftover Lemon/Olive/Garlic Seitan cutlets. I could have frozen the cutlets. But I needed food ideas now, and since I had them, creativity (for me) often comes from panic. Here are my not so necessarily creative recipes, that worked.

Seitan Phillies

Bread or Vegan Naan

Slivers of seitan slices (3/4 cup or so)

Onion slivers (about 1/2 an onion)

Peppers slivered (a pepper or 1/2 a bag of Trader Joe's frozen Pepper Medley)

Mushrooms (a cup or so)

Saute onions/peppers in a wee bit of oil or Earth Balance. Add mushrooms, When they are all tender, add Seitan. Serve it up. Rob put Vegan ranch on it. I didn't put anything on it. Pretty tasty.

Seitan Three Bean Chili

1 1/2 Cups (or 1 rinsed and drained can) White Beans

1 1/2 Cups (or 1 rinsed and drained can) Pinto Beans

1 1/2 Cups (or 1 rinsed and drained can) Black Beans

1 Cup diced Seitan

1 Small jar Salsa (1/2 Jar Water)

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Cayenne

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 diced tomatoes (or a can of diced tomatoes)

Toss all together and let it simmer.

This had bite which wasn't aiyii hot, but nice. The heat of the salsa would make a difference. Mine was a homemade medium.




If my mad dash to prep food Friday night wasn't enough, Saturday morning as I packed up the food, I decided we needed some chocolate treats. It occurred to me that No Bake Cookies would hit the spot.


Come back tomorrow for that recipe.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Party on the Fly and Being Social

Cooked up a storm last night. & (the unpronounceable (not really, it's an ampersand, but humor me) symbol for my daughter who has formerly been known as 21, 22, 23, 24 and ^.) Anyhoo, & made these delicious muffins. However, she subtracted 1/4 cup of sugar, added two handfuls of walnuts and a handful of chocolate chips. Yum.

She made these because a friend is in town. & turned 25 yesterday. And tonight she's got a few friends coming over to celebrate. (One friend can't eat grain, hence the bean flour muffins.) Not sure how this party happened, actually. The list of attendees grew. A few will be dropping in for dinner. I'm making Seitan Scaloppine with Lemon and Olives . This recipe was chosen mostly, because her cute friend wants to stop eating meat. :  ). And she wanted some ideas on how to get the meat "feel" and taste. Last night I showed her how to make seitan and gave her a few recipes.

Finally, for dessert I made Mama Pea's Peanut Butter with Chocolate Ganache Brownies. (Two pans, one for trying and one for tonight's impromptu "party.") 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Last Night of Raw, Meet Mother, And Salisbury "Steak" ummm Seitan

Yesterday I had a stock pot full of homemade veggie broth that needed to make it's way into small containers for the freezer, seitan floating in it's liquid nest, and not much time. Our last Raw Cooking class started at 6:30. And I needed to get a whole lot done. We had told the class we'd be bringing show and tell. Specifically Mother and her mother juice and her friend almond milk kefir.

After nibbling on all the lovely raw treats to your left, we broke out our treats. 

I gotta tell you. I'm impressed. The ladies all, not even one refused, tried both drinks. Of course, no one wanted their very own mother to take home to feed. But they all tried it. I like to think that their digestive systems will thank us today.

But before class I threw together a meal that ended up being really tasty.  

I call my creation Salisbury "Steak" Umm Seitan with Garlic New Potatoes.

1 onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

3 TBSP Earth Balance

About 8 ozs of sliced/diced mushrooms

3 TBSP flour of choice

Sliced Seitan (a dozen or so slices)

1 LB of new potatoes or chunks of potatoes

1 TBSP olive oil

2 Cups of Veggie Broth

salt and pepper to taste

 

Put potatoes on to cook. (I brought mine to a boil and simmered for about 20 minutes. They would be good baked, too, but I didn't have time.)

I started with 3 TBSP Earth Balance in my dutch oven. Melted it. Added the garlic and onions and sauteed them. Then I took half of that mixture and added it to a bowl, with the olive oil. Stirred it and set it aside to dress the potatoes when they were ready.

I added the mushrooms to the Dutch Oven and sauteed them a minute or so. Then added the flour. I stirred until everything was covered in a thick paste. Basically just so the flour isn't in dry pockets. I added the veggie broth and stirred. It simmered while I finished the rest. 

I then browned the slices of seitan.

When the potatoes were done I drained them and tossed them with the olive oil/garlic mixture that I set aside earlier. I put pieces of seitan on each plate and covered them with the gravy. And Voila. Dinner.

This tasted really good. Very savory and would scratch any craving for old fashioned pot roast I might ever develop. I love the seitan recipe. This is going to be something I make often.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Lentils? What to do? Tapenade Alfredo

Tapenade Alfredo

1/4 small onion

3 Large green olives (mine were stuffed with a garlic clove)

3 Large Kalamata olives

2 Garlic cloves

1 TBSP sun-dried tomatoes (with the oil)

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 Cup soaked and drained cashews (I soaked them for an hour)

1 Cup of cooked lentils

1 Cup Veggie Broth

Put everything except the broth and lentils in the food processor and let it rip. Blend it up but good. Add lentils and broth and whirl again.

Ladle over cooked pasta of your choice. And add raw, roasted or sauteed veggies of choice (we added raw heirloom tomatoes and sauteed spinach and mushrooms.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Leftover Lentil Dilemma... Falafel Burgers

I had some lentils left over. Quite a few. And some brown rice. And no plans for din-din, and a few hungry mouths to feed, including mine.

So I threw a whole lot of stuff together and ended up with something I'm going to call a tasty Falafal Burger experiment. They aren't as pretty as they were tasty. My batch was nicely spiced and very falafaly in texture and taste. But it could've used a touch more flavor since I used a lot of bland ingredients. 

1 Cup cooked lentils (I used green, red might be prettier).

2 Cloves of garlic

1/2 onion (I didn't use this in my batch, but I needed a wee bit more flavor, this should do it.)

1/4 Cup garbanzo bean flour (or oatmeal would work, I'm thinking)

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

1 tsp cumin

3/4 to 1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 Cup sliced baby bella mushrooms

1/2 Cup walnuts

1 Cup cooked brown rice

1/2 Cup bread crumbs

1/2 Cup fresh washed spinach

2 TBSP sesame seeds

Okay. Putting the bad boys together. First SAVE the walnuts, mushrooms, rice, spinach, sesame seeds and bread crumbs. You will pulse them in later, but not mushify them because they will give extra texture.

Everything else, mushify in food processor until combined. Then add the walnuts, rice, spinach, sesame seeds and bread crumbs, and pulse just till everything is pulled into the mixture.

Form into patties. I got seven medium sized ones, chill for a half hour of so. Then cook on sprayed skillet, flip burgers til both sides are crusty/brownish, and burger is heated sufficiently. Three or four minutes total was about what I did.

We ate them with our Super Genius Tortillas, spicy mustard, romaine lettuce, onion slices and fresh heirloom tomato slices.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Life Continues Just Add Sun, Water and Love

It's been almost two weeks since the really, really hailish hail storm.

The farm took a hit. Big time.

The CSA will limp on.

Maybe the boxes won't be so densely packed with food from here on out, but the food we get will feed us, body and soul.

The bread and butter of the farm was wiped out in twenty minutes of rain and hail.

However, I've visited a few times the past week. And each time I see the farm there is clear evidence that life goes on. From the asparagus that survived softball hailstones and needed to have a little TLC weeding done, to the gems (sweet potatoes) hidden safely in their underground nest, these little veggies are hanging in there.

Pat, my pop drives the Super Weapon. (Weapon to weeds, only, unless I'm driving it which was not allowed.)

And the hand in the plastic glove?

It is the only view 24 allowed me to post, stating that the others were horrific and would make people hurl their breakfast. Fine.

There was an injury at the farm today. There could've been more. It rained all morning and the word MUCK is an understatement. 24 and I hightailed it to pick tomatoes in the garden behind the high tunnel. We slip-slid our way up and down the mud road, laughing our fool heads off. Neither of us fell which was a miracle.

But while digging for onions, I pulled a weed. It was a weed that did not want to leave the ground. It bit back, slicing my ring finger joint wide open.

Yes. I left some serious organic material on the farm. And I one-handedly took some impressive pictures. But, again, I was FORBIDDEN to post those. : (. You can thank 24 later.

Quick post-farm dinner deliciousness.

Garlic Pomodoro

5 good-sized heirloom tomatoes, diced.
5 cloves of freshly-grown-from-your-local-organic-grower garlic. minced.
Splash of Olive Oil (1 tsp or so)
6-8 fresh organic basil leaves (roll leaves into tubes and slice for the cool strip look)
Pasta of choice. Cooked.


Toss olive oil in pan. Add garlic and cook a minute or so, toss in basil strips and tomatoes. Cook just til it is warmed through. Ladle over pasta. Scarf it down and forget to take a picture.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Tortillas To Feed Super Internet Genius Guys and Anyone Else, Too...

Whew! I thought I might have to blog via my phone and my phone is NOT smart.

But my super internet genius and all around nice guy brother saved the day. It was almost day, too. I think he left at midnight. In a way this makes me feel less like an idiot. I had pictured him walking into the house, making two quick mouse strokes, switching out a cable and shaking his head at me. But he had to work hard to prove his geniusity. (Yes, spell check, another made up word.) And I, being who I am and all, will hijack this and use it to make myself feel better about my own skills. Win. Win. Win. Win.

My brother is not Vegan but he ate a Vegan feast with us and went back for seconds and made appreciative noises. My friend gave me her fabulous tortilla recipe which I have souped up. It will make about 16 small fajita sized tortillas or 8-10 bigger ones.

Super Genius Tortillas

4 Cups flour
1/2 Cup fat (not oil) (I used Coconut Oil but would use half coconut oil and half Earth Balance to cut down on hint of Coconut taste in future batches)
1/3 Cup Veggie Broth (LESS 2 TBSP and add 2 TBSP of Lime for an extra flavorful kick)
1/3 Cup Warm Water
1/2 teaspoon salt
Spices -- I added dried cilantro (2 tsp) and 3 cloves of garlic (I added, actually only 1 tsp cilantro and 2 cloves of garlic and it just wasn't enough kick but if you want slight, slight hints of flavor you could back off a bit.)

Liquids, fat, seasonings dumped in food processor and spin it. Add flour and mix it until dough forms. (Can do by hand. add spices and dry ingredients, (put minced garlic in with liquid) cut in fat until it is a coarse meal - add liquid and mix until dough forms. Then knead about three minutes (you will need extra flour if it's sticky).

Then let dough rest. Either in a blob or in smaller balls. 8-10 for large tortillas, 16 for small little guys. Give it half an hour at least.

Heat a skillet. Roll blobs into flat disks. Cook one side, flip cook the other. Depending on how hot the flame (med) or how thick your tortillas, a minute or less on each side. They will lose their gloss and get "cook" marks. They may puff a bit, and that's totally great. Cook until you are satisfied with the way they look. Slide in between towels in glass baking dish/stoneware and keep in a warm oven (170 degrees) until you are ready for them.