Scraps and Snippets ~ A Little Hair of the Cat er Kernel That Bit You?

I follow a few blogs. Most of them are Vegan focused because, clearly, that is my learning curve right now.

One is Peas and Thank You. I love Mama Pea's spicy posts.

She didn't disappoint the other day. I haven't made the recipe and don't know when I'll get around to it. But this caramel popcorn post reminded me of a hilarious, though a little icky, story a friend told me.

My friend has a favorite family recipe for caramel corn. A lot of folks pop the corn in a paper bag, my friend uses paper bags to actually caramel the corn. I'm not sure of the procedure but she told the following story.

Her dad (who looks a little bit like Parks and Rec's Ron Swanson sans the bodacious mustache) and sister were at home with her and it was one of those nights. Not much to nibble on in the house. A few good back to back television programs on, and the air had a tinge of brisk in it. One of the three of them decided that popcorn sounded fabulous. And as we all know how that goes, three heads together pretty soon popped out the idea of caramel corn. (If the original idea is good, pour a decadent sauce on it or drench it in chocolate to make it AMAZING!)

My friend hopped up to get the job done. She decided to make a double batch for efficiency's sake and pulled out the ingredients and paper bags.

Later, after the caramel corn cooled and hardened they polished off one of the bags. But one was not enough. (As is often true of sugar drenched or chocolate drowned goodies.) Her dad began noshing on the second bag. He stood up and turned on the light. He held up a handful of caramel corn. "This is hairy."

My friend looked at him with a Huh face and said, "Huh?" "Hairy?"

The annoyed cat, aka Feral Will, has nothing to do with the story. However, it's a creepy picture of a hairy critter and I'm sure he'd be thrilled to coat anyone's caramel corn with some of his fur.

He held out his hand. "Look."

And she did. And his popcorn was covered with hair.

After a little freak out dance by the entire, now completely grossed out, party. They began trying to figure out a) how the heck they got hairy caramel corn. b) If the bag they scarfed had been covered in it too.

Here's what happened. My friend's mom had been cleaning out some closets at a relative's home. One who was going into a skilled care facility and hadn't moved in years. My friend's mom packed loads of things in containers and bags and a few found their way into my friend's house. Turns out that the elderly relative had been a hair dresser way back in the 60's. One of her grocery bags, which had probably been used to hold swept-up hair still lurked in her kitchen closet. And my friend's mom was thorough enough to use every little container she could find, even the last bag in the kitchen closet. Being the green gal that my friend's mom is, she decided the bag could be used yet again. It ended up in her kitchen closet. Where her daughter could grab it and use it for caramel corn er Caramel-and-50-Year-Old-Hair-Bits-Corn.

(Need an idea for a creepy Halloween trick? There you go.)

This probably can't be considered a Vegan Month of Food worthy post. After all, I just tell a story. And the caramel corn that is featured in the story was traditional with dairy. But, I did link to Mama Pea who is a "Go, go, Vegan!"  cheerleader. And I think there is a moral to this story. It is safer to recycle paper bags that have not been used to haul meat and dairy products. aka VEGAN bags. Bonus Moral: Never, never, never, reuse a paper bag for caramel corn that has been played in by a rambunctious cat.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Farm? For Reals...

I revisited the farm yesterday. We hadn't been for three weeks. Three long weeks.

Why? Two birthdays and a few visitors from out of town squeezed our plans. And the CSA was only supposed to go through the last week in September. But because of the hail storm and the damage that intense twenty minutes caused, the farmers planted more greens, turnips, radishes, kept pulling tomatoes out of the high tunnel, eggplants from the bushes that survived, and hoped for a late frost.

This is our haul. Twelve additional boxes looked just like ours, (but had tomatoes, too) and a dozen more were half full of loot. The sink full of lettuce is what 169 ounces of lettuce looks like. That's a whole lotta lettuce. And believe it or not, the farmer had a fight to the death with some pests who were chewing her kohlrabi right before we got there. Sounded ugly. Glad I wasn't there as a witness. Apparently those critters are hardy, Iowa-stock, too.

I missed the farm. And I get to go back for a few more weeks. Crazy that we'll be getting fresh produce into November. Crazy good.

Scraps and Snippets ~ A Little Late, But Not For Next Year...

Do you ever have those V8 moments, but not about V8?

The ones where you say. "Duh!!!! I coulda/shoulda been paying attention."

Apparently yesterday was national Food Day. October 24, 2011. What a great thing to blog about during Vegan Month of Food (aka MoFo). Yeah. Well, would have been, and, still going to.

Here's what I found out, accidentally, while reading someone else's timely post about Food Day, after the fact.

There were Food Day events in my area. (I remember driving by a sign that mentioned the farmer's market special event on Sunday, the 23rd. Of course I was excited. The sign was colorful and I love farmer's markets. But then I apparently got distracted and never revisited the initial happy, happy, joy, joy moment. Another bit of interesting trivia. One of my state's Senators is a chairperson. Whodathunk.

The Food Day goal is simple. "Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way."

Uhhh. I can support that. So next year, I will. I signed up for their emails so I can have a bit of a heads up. Clearly I need all the shiny, colorful reminders I can get.

Check em out, and Eat Well Guide, too.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Weekend Over ~ Sigh...

This past weekend was full of fun and food. Vegan food, of course. Our meat-eating friends visited from up north. They left with full tummies and a few recipes. Most of the recipes they adored were desserts. (Surprise there.) I know it's a good visit when my Martha Stewart friend, Michelle, wants to make a recipe I've served. And I'm pretty excited that all of them were Vegan recipes. (Did I mention that they pretty much love meat and dairy?)

& outdid herself in the dessert department. She made Peanut Butter cups from The Kind Diet, a pumpkin "cheese"cake (which also works great for a guilt free breakfast the next morning), and pumpkin muffins and sparkling ginger snaps from Vegan with a Vengeance.

I didn't take many pictures of food since we were busy having fun. We checked out some local history. Did a whole lot of shopping. They like the prices at our thrift stores and are fans of a few stores we have that they don't. We even went to the library and church. And for long dog walks with our two big girls and their teeny, tiny Arthur.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Recipe Book Review ~ Vegan With a Vengeance...

I'm not a cookbook collector. Oh, I collect books and have a whole wall of bookshelves to prove it. But I need my cookbooks to be more than pretty decoration. If they don't work for me, I scavenge what I will use, put it in a three ring binder and the cookbook moves to a new home. Vegan with a Vengeance is moving in.

Why?

I've made nine recipes. One of them twice. All but one of them stellar. The following is a list of the items I've tried.

Seitan. Terrific and easy. Yum.

Sparkled Ginger Cookies. AMAZING. All thumbs, and big toes, up.

Fauxstess Cupcake. They taste freakishly like the original.

Chocolate Chip cookies. Good

Pumpkin Muffins. Really good.

Lemon Gem Cupcakes (I made a bundt version... very, very lemony delish)

Gingerbread Apple Pie (Good and got raves from non-Vegans.)

Cold Udon Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Seitan (making that one for dinner tomorrow, the sauce and seitan are done, pretty sure it's going to be delish.)

Other recipes are marked with "gotta try this" strips of paper. Others won't be ones that tempt me. She has a pancake recipe that looks way too involved and I have a pancake recipe that I LOVE. Scrambled Tofu, tried it, didn't love it and I have another recipe I like better. Many of her recipes are comfort food makeovers or fun twists on standard ethnic dishes.

Moskowitz is clever, creative and funny. Her bodacious attitude peppers the book with comments and she shares her story, her kitchen tool list, and her ingredient must haves. Her cat, Fizzle, pops in with interesting facts throughout the book.

I don't think Vegan with a Vengeance could be the only Vegan cookbook you'll ever need, but it certainly can add a whole lot of interesting spice to your menu repertoire.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Recipe Book Review ~ Peas and Thank You...

The best thing about writing book reviews is when you score a free FABULOUS book to review. So thank you, Peas and Thank You marketing team. That said. I don't write glowing reviews unless the book deserves one.


When I get a cookbook, I look through the recipes and try a few that sound good to me. And if there are five or ten recipes I will add to my life recipe file, I consider the book a keeper. I'm pretty picky. If a recipe book has only two or three I want to try, I don't buy it. If I'm given the book with just a few keeper recipes I usually will copy down the recipe, put it in my file and get rid of the book. I just don't need a huge shelf of books that aren't being used.


Peas and Thank You is a keeper. A lifetime member of my recipe shelf. The recipes I've tried are delicious, they turn out when I follow the easy directions, and they don't taste like someone is trying real hard to make tasty food healthier. Everyone who has tried the recipes I've made from Peas and Thank You, whether Vegan or meat eater, cautious eater, or don't-give-a-rat's-rear-end-what they put in their mouth, rave about the food.

I have only tried nine of the recipes, but three of them I've made several times. These are the recipes I've tried and love. And they are SO worth the stinking sticker price. Heck. I'm tempted to send a check to someone.


Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Lemon Lentil Soup
Cutout Sugar Cookies
Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
Almond Joy Cookie Bars
Peanut Butter Blondies with Ganache
Double Chocolate Single Chin Brownies
Grand Old Biscuits
Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chickpeas


I have about a dozen more that I must try. More recipes are marked than not.


Mama Pea (Sarah Matheny) is a talented and engaging writer as well and she shares charming and sweetly twisted stories about each recipe. I don't often laugh when reading a recipe book. I did with this one. She also shares pantry information, details about why they went vegan and most of her recipes are designed for busy folks and use convenience items. If you are newly Vegan, want to explore meatless, or love cookbooks, you need to add it to your list.


The only thing I did not love was the recipe title appeared at the beginning of each recipe, but not after the story and right before ingredients. So some recipes are a page or two after the introduction/story. So you have to do a little page flipping to make sure you are on the right recipe. Otherwise I LOVE it. Don't even ask to borrow it. This little sucker is part of me now.

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.