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 ~ Recipes, Rolling Pumpkin Heads and Ugly Food...

I can't believe it's October. Where did the year go? However, it has been a BEAUTIFUL October so far. 

:  ) 

Sunshine and cool breezes. I still am gathering a tomato here and there. 

Saturday was busy. A wedding and a Family Fun event at our church. Sunday brought a flurry of cooking activity and planning for the week. As I write this (on Sunday night, pretending it's bright and early Monday morning....gotta love auto post.) I'm cooking up a huge batch of homemade vegetable broth. 

Ready to be simmered into deliciousness.

I helped with some of the decor.

Pumpkinhead

At the wedding I avoided all that was not Vegan. Even the cake. (You should all be clapping for me, that was a big deal!). They had a platter of fresh fruit so I scarfed some of that, and was prepared enough to eat dinner before heading to the wedding. The Fun event at church included all sorts of stuff I didn't eat, too. But, those two events did plant a need for some sweet noshing. Sunday's cooking adventures included two cookie recipes. (and the eating of a few of those little yummers.) 

^ thought we should pose in the pumpkin pile. Pretty cute.

I also tried my hand at boiled Seitan. I'm currently "reading and drooling" through Vegan with a Vengeance, The Kind Diet, Peas and Thank You and the newly arrived Another Fork in the Trail. I've prepared baked Seitan which has been decent to good, but it's a little hard to cut. Vegan with a Vengeance had a boiled version, one the author Isa Chandra Moskowitz has perfected. So. I tried it. 

Safe to gander at. Seitan before the ugly part.

I used water instead of veggie broth for the broth because it called for 13 cups of broth or water. Yikes. That's a lot of cups. I was also out of tomato paste so I used Vegan organic ketchup.  I didn't take a picture while it was cooking or after I added the liquid. Trust me. You don't want to see it. It was UGLY. Think alien or body part ugly, and after the whining about mother's state of appearance I just couldn't do it to you. You are welcome. It looked so freaky that I had to watch a few YouTube "Making Seitan" videos to see if I had done something wrong.  

I guess Seitan is just ugly. But this version tastes pretty close to the Trader Joe's version we really like and gave me at least 5 meals worth of meat substitute. It wasn't too time consuming when it's all said and done and I think it will be pretty flexible overall. So. It's a keeper.

Oh MY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUM!

As far as the goodies. Chocolate Covered Katie posted a must try chocolate peanut butter no bake cookie. Halfway through the simple recipe I realized that I only had a teaspoon of cocoa. I had to grind up a two tablespoons of chocolate chips to make it work. I think this recipe is an amazing use for raisins. Katie knows her chocolate. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan What? Did You Just Insult Me?

October brings pumpkins.

Falling leaves.

Delicious smells, shorter days, and slippers.

(Awkward story. I had to run to the grocery store last night and waited til the after work crowds cleared out. At one point, while a block away from my house, I noticed my feet felt weird. I was wearing spa flip-flops. Terrycloth with nubbies and no tread and in a color that would grab notice even if my frequent wipeouts on the slick floor did not.) What to do? Did you notice I said the floors are slick and my slippers have no tread? Yes. I went home and changed into proper footwear.)


And October brings a first for me. It is Vegan Month of Food. Which was started as kind of a tribute to the NaNoWriMo. (National Write a Novel in a Month - month). But it's about Vegan and writing about Vegan. 

And we know I have the capacity to do that. 

Since I've participated in NaNoWriMo twice I felt participating in Vegan MoFo is a no-brainer.


I will be focusing on Vegan, which won't change things much at all. : ). October will bring a Vegan birthday cake. An overnight cold camping trip. A visit with friends from two different states who may or may not want to learn more about Vegan food and will get lots of opportunities to taste some of our trials and errors. I have four Vegan cookbooks I need to review. And. Well, there's always the farm. Kombucha, a chance to borrow a friend's Excalibur for a week. Well. Let's just say I shouldn't run out of Vegan content in October. 

Happy October. Happy Vegan MoFo. Let the fun begin.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Daily Bread, and Chocolate and Farm Thoughts

Insanity comes in many forms. 

One of those might be writing a blog post at a wee late hour when I should be chasing sheep. But. I gotta make hay while the sun shines. Or the moon shines. Or...


I digress. 

Speaking of sheep and moons. The farm day was actually kind of a sad one. Oh. The weather was amazing. The kind where you roll down the car windows and suck all the scents into your nostrils with gusto. Where the wind blows through your hair so you arrive at your destination looking a little like Harpo Marx (or a clown should you need help with that visual.) (Actually. That might be just me this happens to.)


So after a perfect drive in weather that was perfect, I arrived to a pack that was full of glorious veggie bounty and quick to boot. Why was it sad? Because it was officially the last day.


Because of the hail, the farmers are going to keep it going. But, our official duties have come to an end. But the invitation was extended for us to come same time, same place as often as we want to. And I think we have to, the farm has gotten under my skin, and completely so, like the dirt works it way into my fingernails (and toenails.)


Tonight ^, Mrs. Toad-Boy and I took an Artisan Bread making Class at the local college. We each took bags of freshly baked bread home. Ahhh. The car smelled heavenly. Not sure how they taste. ^ and I were not even tempted to taste as we were full from gorging on a new recipe my sweet tooth required me to make today. I'm giving you the link. (Scroll down for the version I made.)

Think before you freak. This stuff is delicious. Now I know. Some of what I make and call delish isn't something you are going to be making any time soon. Or even become tempted to try. But. If you have a sweet tooth but want something slightly better for you than most of the crud out there....well, you could do far worse.

(What I did different. I made the batch of chocolate chip (about halfway down the page, highlighted and clickable). I added a total of 2 TBSP almond milk, 3 TBSP of oats, and blended very well. I also added half of the chocolate chips and blended those, too. Then I took half the batter and put them in half a bowl and sprinkled the rest of the choc chips on top. To the mixture in the food processor, I added 1 TBSP of cocoa powder. Then blended it up and spooned it into the bowl next to the choc. chip version. It thickened up decently. Especially the chocolate one. Oh my it's good. )

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 ~ What I Learned In Raw Food Class

Spices and herbs fall into different categories between the sweet and bitter spectrum of tastebud land. Our dishes need a proper blend of sour, salt, sweet and bitter to taste good. The perfect bullseye of taste falls within the mix and blends.

I knew the tastebud pleasure flood goal. But I had an imperfect education in proper spice/herb leanings. Spearmint is sweet but peppermint can go sweet or bitter. Fresh basil is sweet but the dried version will add bitter notes. Cinnamon leans sweet or bitter which explains why cinnamon is called for in so many savory recipes as well as the classic cinnamon roll. : ) Acid can also decrease the need for salt. If a dish tastes flatish, instead of another few shakes of salt an acid might work better.

I also learned that heating herbs too much kills the flavor, and that spices need the heat to bring out flavor. And that spices are two to three times more flavor packed than herbs. So. I need to avoid spices in dishes that don't get cooked and add herbs to my cooked dishes at the last few minutes. Really? That explains a few fails.

All but three of my spices are seriously outdated. Fresh is three to six months. I literally have three that young. The rest are gray haired and using walkers. So. I will be working on parting with my ancient spice. Oooh. Remember the Spice Girls? Wouldn't it have been fun to have an Ancient Spice in the band? Ha. Ha.

We also tried sprouted and soaked grains in banana date soaked oat groat oatmeal, and sprouted quinoa and wheatberry salads. Pretty tasty stuff. The class had chatting time and our classmates want to meet Mother and give kefir and Kombucha a taste. We'll pack a small jar of Kombucha and a small jar with a baby mother to class next week.

Ooooh. That will be fun. I'll try to remember to snap pictures of first encounters with Mother. Heeheehee.