Scraps and Snippets ~ Cauli"Chick" Salad

I might be catching the cauliflower puree train late in the game. And, honestly, I may be overusing it. I mean three soups and a sauce and now as a base for a "chicken" salad. Weird. But stinking delicious. Really. Like who knew cauliflower was bigger than as an addition to mashed potatoes and as a base for ranch or cheese sauce??? 

So forgive me if my new discovery, my cruciferous epiphany, is so 1990's. But it's new to me, and it's a wonderful addition to my kitchen repertoire. 

I used the cauliflower puree with a smidgen of mustard in place of mayo in this salad. I smeared it on toasted marble rye, but it would be delicious with whole grain crackers, in a tortilla as a roll-up or wrap or stuffed in a hollowed out pepper or tomato, served with celery... etc.

Cauliflower puree

1 head of cauliflower chunked (use most of the stem as well)

3 medium to large cloves garlic 

1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice

sea salt to taste (1/2 teaspoon or so) 

Steam cauliflower and garlic cloves until fork tender. (about 15 minutes)
Cool a bit.
Put the steamer contents into a food processor and add salt and lemon juice and puree until a creamy consistency.

To one cup of cauliflower puree. (Put the rest in a fridge for dinner another night).

Add: This is the fun part. 1/4ish cup of each

rotten picture of a side view of the cut sandwich. 

minced fresh celery and/or minced onions
chopped nuts (I used pecans)
dried or fresh fruit (I used dried apples and cranberries) 
chicken substitute of choice. (chickpeas would be great, or chopped, seasoned tempeh).
I added 1 teaspoon of mustard. 

Additional ideas....endless.
Some rolling around in my brain....

buffalo sauce to taste with chickpeas, minced celery and onions and parsley
A few sprinkles of Italian spices with chopped sun dried tomatoes, onions, olives 
Some shakes of lemon pepper with onion, lemon zest, almonds 
A teaspoon or so of curry with chickpeas, onions, chopped kale.

This recipe was shared at Ricki Heller's Wellness Weekend.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Review of Gardein

I was totally under the effects of a head cold Friday. Rob was feeling punk, too. Saturday was better and unfortunately required a trip to a store. So I ventured out and went to Target. I wasn't planning on cooking. However, I thought I'd check to see if they had a Vegan pizza hanging around in their freezer case. As I browsed around after grabbing soy milk and toilet paper, I discovered a case full of Gardein. 

I don't have a tight relationship with Gardein. I had never actually even tasted it until I was almost a year into Veganism. What I have tried has been pretty yummy so when I saw that freezer case with a bunch of choices I knew what I was buying for dinner. Everything was pretty reasonable, too. A main course that feeds two (or more) under 5 bucks? Okay. 

My review of Chicken Sliders.

These are tasty. I was so hungry by the time I got home I just followed the stove top method and fixed up the package (4 patties and buns which worked out to 2 a piece). Cheaper than fast food. Better than fast food. Vegan. And non-GMO. With fresh toppings, these can have unlimited tastiness. And I think the texture and taste wouldn't clue any omnivore into the fact that these aren't just a cute little chicken sandwich. I'm thinking vegan ranch dressing with tempeh, eggplant or coconut "bacon".  spaghetti sauce with Daiya mozzarella melted on top. Buffalo sauce. Tapenade. Oh, the possibilities. I give these a double thumbs up and will buy them again. 

My review of Szechuan Beefless Strips


I mentioned I shopped while hungry. So I bought a few Gardein products. I thought the Sizzling Szechuan would be a quick idea for after church. 

I had some leftover pepper and onion strips. Also some cauliflower and mushrooms to use up. So I added some garlic infused grape seed oil to a pan, chopped the veggies and dumped half the package of the Szechuan Beefless into the pan. After browning everything I added half the sauce packet. Yum. The sauce is a little sweeter than I like, but I did add more soy sauce which fixed that for me. Since I used only half the package and almost always have veggies that need to be tossed into a stir fry or medley there is another meal waiting. A very good deal, 4 meals for under $5.00 and just the time it takes to chop veggies and cook em up. Another double thumbs up. 

These items were just the tip of the Gardein iceberg at Target. Thanks, Target. You've always been one of my favorite stores but this is vegan icing on the cake. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Another Playing with Pictures Moment

 So. My nose is still stuffy. And we got hit with more winter yesterday. I left work early and took a little nap. My bed faces a tree that I love. So I had to take some pictures of the tree with snow. And I had to tweak those pictures. So here we go. Tweaked. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Only The Nose Knows....

I have a stuffy nose.

I'm trying to keep it from turning into a massive cold.  How? Oregano oil. UGH. My dad, the wise pharmacist, bought some for me a few years ago. And dang it. It works. Seriously. 

This is kinda what it feels like to take a shot of it...

Pretend that you take fresh/dried oregano. (Pungent already, right? Think Italian food intensity if you can't picture it...that pizza sauce spice that is super strong...) Then take that oregano and crush it into paste and mix it with (this is for exaggeration purposes...do not attempt this at home, just kidding about the ingredients, seriously, do I need to even say that?)  turpentine (or gasoline would work, or diesel fuel, used motor oil -- basically the most horrifically intense oily medium you can imagine..k?). Then pour a drop or two into water and chug it. Throw it back and feel the burn, baby, burn all the way throughout your body. Do this two, three times a day til the noxious mixture knocks all invading bacteria or virus from your body.

Usually, I feel like oregano oil kicks an oncoming cold within three days. I mean...if the cure doesn't kill you, right? 

However, since I'm fighting a cold with it's Italiano spices, I'm not sure I can come up with anything really coherent to post. So. I've spent a little time mindlessly playing. I've found Bored Panda which often has entertaining pictures....so there's that. And I love tweaking photos on pic monkey. Hence my nose, in all the abstract weirdness I could throw on it. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Wednesday Wisdom

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Skillz

I learned a few tidbits about life and priorities yesterday.

"What?" You might ask. Well, I'll tell you, mostly because I need a blog post topic and because you know I wanna tell it. 

I'm involved with a women's Bible Study on lies that women believe. (Basically pro truth and getting rid of lies....if you needed that clarifying statement, if not, move on.) I somehow have become the ice breaker person in the group. (I think I missed a meeting and was voted in...) Anyhoo. I had a great idea for last night's class on priorities. I'd juggle and use that as a visual lesson on accomplishing life without God's guiding hand. 

Only problem? I didn't juggle. Oh, I like to watch those who can, and part of me thought maybe, with grace and skill I could maybe master the basic Cascade Juggle (1st thing I learned, vocabulary of juggling. One word. Nailed it!) 

I thought about this juggling thing all week, intending to watch a few you tubes and pull off an impressive class opener. However, (2nd thing I learned; even though a youtube video is titled learn to juggle in ten minutes, that doesn't mean it's true.) I didn't really take the time to attempt juggling until about 3:30 p.m. yesterday. (Class starts at 6). I bought balls on Saturday, with plans to use them well before two hours before leaving for class. Do good intentions count? 

3rd thing I learned. Not everyone takes to juggling like a fish to water. The videos explained important things like stance. One guy told me the proper way to juggle is toss, pause, toss. Not toss, PANIC, toss. I don't think I got that lesson. I practiced tossing one ball back and forth for a full ten minutes. That's when lesson number 2 dawned on me. 

4th learning point. I'm really glad I didn't start out juggling chain saws. I do not recommend this to newbies. There is not a video titled "Learn to juggle chain saws in ten minutes" on Youtube. I hope. I didn't actually search for that nor do I recommend that search. Yikes. 

5th lesson? Juggling is great exercise. One video suggested juggling next to a bed so there's less bending over every time a ball is dropped. Ha. Well, I did the juggling thing by the couch thinking that might be useful. Sure, if you like crawling under the couch every twenty seconds. That's the picture in this post, my cute scarf covered in tiny little dust bunnies and creature hair from crawling on my hands and knees and sweeping under the couch every 40 seconds. (Not all balls went under the couch. Which was another problem.)

Lesson 6...don't juggle around dogs who love to play. More exercise as I chased Lola around the kitchen island after she grabbed the ball. This happened frequently. She was having a great time. I had to give the disclaimer in class that anyone who was given a wet ball shouldn't be concerned as they had been rinsed due to Lola's interest. 

So. Did I learn to juggle? Well. I can fling two balls and catch them most of the time. Ball three never really got off the ground (er, out of my hand). So I just went with that angle in class. After all, I was hoping to demonstrate that none of us is equipped to do life successfully without God. Oh, yeah. I got that lesson shared, loud and clear. And everyone was really relieved that I didn't go with my initial instinct to go for the drama of chain saws. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert...

10 Oreos (whole, including filing) or Trader Joe's Jo-Jos

10 Oreos or Jo Jo cookies (This is 10 whole cookies equaling 20 cookie shells. Scrape the middles into a bowl for the filling).

1 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil

In a food processor whir the 10 whole cookies, twenty cookie shells and 1 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil.

Press the mixture into a 7 x 11, 8 x 11, 9 x 11 or 8 x 8 square pan. 

Filling:

Move the bowl of the cookie middles to front and center. Pop the middles into the food processor or mixer bowl. To them add:

8 ounces cream cheese (I used Trader Joe's Not Cream Cheese) 

3 TBSP Strawberry Jam (I used organic) 

1/4 Cup powdered sugar

Whip with mixer or food processor. 

Fold into: 

1 can whipped coconut cream. I use Trader Joe's again. You don't have to let this one chill as long as other brands and it's mostly coconut cream whereas others are almost 1/3 water. To prepare, Scrape the thick cream into a mixing bowl. Add a couple of TBSP of powdered sugar. Beat until the consistency of whipped cream, make sure to scrape the bowl frequently. 

Spoon over crust and refrigerate until ready to serve. I've decided the day before you are going to serve is perfect because everything sets up fabulously. 

This is a not too sweet dessert. Several omnivores scarfed it down at my house recently. My mother-in-law who lives with a cook who makes all sorts of deliciousness commented that I could bring it to her house anytime because it was delicious. 

I loved it because it was stinking easy to make and satisfying. My daughter-in-law who hates/detests/grosses out over coconut ate every bite. The coconut flavor is a subtle undertone. If you wanted it a little more strawberry or sweet you could add one more TBSP jam. Also I intended to make a strawberry chocolate drizzle (melt 2 TBSP chocolate chips in double boiler with 1 TBSP of jam. Place in a ziploc with corner cut off and drizzle over the dessert.