Scraps and Snippets ~ Roasted Veggie Stew

 I had some cauliflower puree on hand, a bunch of green onions thinking about going to the bad place, two stems of fresh rosemary and some not so prime potatoes = dinner inspiration. 

Roasted Vegetable Stew

5 - 6 potatoes, chopped

2-3 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

1 med onion diced (or green onion bulb ends - 1 whole bunch) 

2 stems of fresh rosemary 

3/4 cup of red lentils (uncooked)

1 1/2 cup cauliflower puree (steamed cauliflower, garlic, salt and lemon juice see recipe here...)

5 cups of vegetable broth

Splash a bit of garlic infused grape seed oil or oil of choice in a 9 x 11, 10 in round, or 9 x 13, preheat oven to 425-450. Dump the chopped vegetables into the pan, stir well, shake a bit of sea salt over the batch. Roast for 35 - 45 minutes stirring a few times.  During the last 15 minutes place the rosemary stems on top of the dish.

Place veggie broth, cauliflower puree in a large saucepan. Mix well, Remove veggies from oven and remove the rosemary stems and discard them. Add roasted veggies (I had a few left over that I'm going to use in another dish) and lentils to the broth and puree. Simmer approximately half an hour. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Drips and Disclosure

Mini confession time. If I must. And I suppose I should. 

After I posted last week about my stuffy nose and my oregano oil death therapy cure, I called my mom. 

She said she'd read my post to my dad and he snorted. And then said, "I suppose I should tell her it comes in capsules, too." 

Yeah. Well. I had found that out when I'd run out of the liquid fire-oil and had run to the health food store to see if I could find the cure there. They had two brands of little oil filled capsules. I bought two bottles of the highest strength, highest count bottles and that didn't enter into my recounting. 

I don't have any negative feelings towards my dad for withholding that information. It's not like we've talked about oregano oil since he gave me the bottle of volcano water. 

However, I must say...four days of taking the stuff did pretty much kick most of the issues I had. I felt way more "well" taking oregano oil than over the counter stuff with the side effects and it works better than anything I've ever taken over the counter to combat gunk. Honestly, I think it's great stuff. And now, I can officially take it and have absolutely nothing to whine about (unless you'd consider the occasional pizza burp unpleasant). Which would probably make for a very boring post....hence the lack of full disclosure. 

Thanks, Dad. 

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