Happy Halloween

Well, I was going to bore you with the goodies I made for the kids' school parties or the pumpkin cake I took to my job, but the pictures weren't all that great and seriously - every other blogger out there has simply amazing, beautiful and festive versions of vegan cupcakes baked up for Hallow e'en, and I don't... I'm not a fancy, foo-foo decorative sort of baker-person, and I'm not apologising for that, I just think I'm not going to post any food pictures here at all tonight because there's MUCH better ones to be found out there...

OK, so without food, this is as interesting as it gets, the crafty little "Happy 'Hall'-O-Ween" treat bags I made for my high-schooler and her friends. (Our last name is "Hall" if you're thinking I can't spell or something). We filled 'em with cookies and gummi eyeballs and other teen-age Halloween nastiness.

As for the rest of the "holiday" if you MUST know, well, parts of it were rather...... UN-vegan! (I know, the horror, gasp!!).

Here's proof. My daughter dressed up in FURS. Yes, I know, throw red paint and stick PETA stickers on me...

Let me explain. I grew up in Alaska where my father was a physician for the State of Alaska (anyone familiar with Northern Exposure? Yes, that was our life...) and we literally lived in inaccessible, snowbound, remote villages for a good part of the year. One of the women in the tiny village of Anuktuvuk Pass, Alaska sewed this beautiful fur (yes, fur!) lined parka for me and presented it as a gift when my parents and I left the village. (You can't see it, as it's got a fabric outer-coat, but it's lined solid with rabbit, seal, wolverine and wolf fur. Yikes!)

As you can imagine, fur or not, it is very sentimental to me but for the most part, it just hangs in the closet. I have let my two older children wear it very carefully, for one night of trick-or-treating and have shown it to school groups that were studying the Arctic and so forth.

However my middle Sprout wore it over ten years ago, so I had completely forgotten about our "tradition" of bringing it out for Halloween... As you can see, my 8-year-old BARELY fit into it this Halloween, (I wore it when I was 3, 4 and 5) but she wanted to wear it as her sisters had, so we gave it a try. Evidently October weather in Washington State is slightly balmier than Alaskan winters, as she was sweating profusely after 15 minutes and opted for the Spiderman Jammies she had underneath.

I'm planning to have my real, genuine dead-animal fur Alaskan parka carefully and professionally cleaned and stored in a protective box to save, but I glad my kids got a chance to try wearing it. Most of all though, I'm SO thankful we live in a country where we have the resources and materials available so that we no longer need animal skins to clothe us and keep us warm!


OK, so tonight, we went trick-or-treating with friends. They have Star Wars characters, err... no... little boys who go to school with my youngest Sprout - and they are also proud parents to a new (and adorable) little girl whom they had recently adopted from China.

Everyone KNOWS a one-year-old needs to celebrate Halloween and dress up in a silly costume. Right?

She obviously had no clue what was going on, but the grown-ups and teenagers-trying-to-be grown-ups had a good time walking and talking through the autumn evening - and the little ones had a BLAST begging the neighbors for rotten candy!

That's my Halloween story, no cupcakes, no steaming cups of cider, just some non-vegan-ness and an evening with friends.

Hope your evening was wonderful too!

Zucchini and Veggie "Lasagna"

Zucchini and Garden Veggie Lasagna

You know it's time to clean out the vegetable bin when I make this stuff.

I use the term "lasagna" here rather loosely, because this recipe has no actual lasagna noodles in it. I make this for potlucks a lot during the late summer, it uses up a nice variety of vegetables!

Zucchini and Veggie "Lasagna"

2 6-inch zucchini, sliced very thin (I use a mandolin slicer)
2 6-inch yellow summer squash or yellow crookneck, sliced very thin

1 cup pureed pumpkin or squash
1/2 a large sweet onion, sliced thin
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
2 large fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced
handful fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 - 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan

Tofu "Ricotta" Lasagna Filling (See recipe below)

In a deep, well-oiled casserole pan, lay down a single layer of summer-squash, then with a single layer of mushroom slices slices.
Spread a 1/2 of tofu "ricotta" over squash. (use about 1/2 of the mixture).
Layer sliced fresh tomatoes and basil leaves over "ricotta.
Spread pumpkin or squash puree over tomatoes.
Layer thinly sliced onions, zucchini, mushrooms and any remaining summer squash.
Pour remaining "ricotta" over veggies, it should cover all of them. (If not, add a bit more soymilk, up to a 1/2 cup or so).
Top with a layer of marinara and sprinkle with nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan.
Cover with foil and bake 45 min. Remove foil and bake 15 - 20 min until set and not juicy (sometimes the veggies are far more juicy than other times, if this happens, turn oven up and bake another 15 minutes or so. Sorry, this isn't an exact science here.)
Remove from oven and let set 10 minutes or so before serving.

"Tofu-Ricotta"
1 Cup of soy or rice milk, heated but not boiling!
1/2 Cup of raw cashews
1 box silken tofu
1/2 carton Tofutti Cream Cheese
1/8 Teaspoon of salt
1 Teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 Cup of nutritional yeast flakes
*2 garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
2 Tb. cornstarch
1/4 cup fresh herb leaves (I use a mixture of basil, oregano, sage, parsley and rosemary)
In food processor or GOOD blender (like a Vitamix) place the very warm milk and cashews in first, blend until liquefied, (careful, hot liquids can splatter) then put in the rest of the ingredients and blend until thick and creamy.
Should be fairly thick but still a little"pourable" like very thick pancake batter, add more soymilk if needed.


Once completely cooled, this "lasagna" sets up really nicely. It can be reheated, covered with foil in the oven or in the microwave, it's even pretty good cold in lunches!

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And on a final note, my littlest sprout went to the pumpkin farm this morning with her 2nd grade class. Here are some of them riding the little tractor-drawn cart out to the field. (She's in the maroon sweatshirt). I love their excited little faces! Who doesn't LOVE getting a nice big pumpkin!

Pumpkin Polenta with Sage-Pumpkin-Seed Pesto

It's fall, it's chilly, I'm in a "Pumpkin-y" sort of mood... So I dragged out some ingredients that sounded good and modified a very UNvegan recipe or two for these... Pumpkin Polenta and Sage-Pumpkin-Seed Pesto.

You can use canned plain pumpkin here if you want, or if you want to use fresh: Bake or microwave a small pumpkin (the sugar-pie type, not the big jack-o-lantern type - or any dense winter squash will work) until soft.

Scoop out squash and mash or puree. Measure out 1/2 cup squash for this recipe:

Crispy Pumpkin Polenta Triangles

1/2 cup squash or pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons soymilk

1 tablespoon margarine

1/2 tablespoon agave or maple syrup

Salt

1/2 cup polenta cornmeal (or coarse ground cornmeal)

1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for frying

In a medium saucepan, combine the pumpkin with the water and bring to a boil. Add the soymilk, margarine, agave and a generous pinch of salt.

Add the polenta cornmeal in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Cook over low-ish heat, stirring until thickened and cornmeal is cooked - about 20 minutes.

Scrape the polenta into a loaf pan and refrigerate until firm. When firm and chilled, run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the polenta. Slice into 1 1/2 -inch squares/rectangles, and then crosswise into triangles;

Fry the triangles in batches, turning once, until deep golden and crisp, about 2 - 5 minutes per side.

Transfer to paper towels or brown paper bag to absorb excess oil and drain.

Make Pumpkin-Seed Sage Pesto:

Pumpkin-Seed and Sage Pesto

3/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves (from 2 large bunches)

3/4 cup raw, hulled pumpkin seeds (about 4 ounces)

1/4 cup (packed) fresh parsley leaves

1 - 3 garlic cloves

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

4 Tbsp raw cashew pieces

squeeze fresh lemon juice

Put cashews in bowl of food processor and blend into a fine powder.

Using on/off turns, blend sage leaves, pumpkin seeds, parsley, and garlic in processor until mixture is finely chopped.

With machine running, add 3/4 cup oil and squeeze of lemon juice and blend until thick paste forms.

Transfer to small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Warm for a few moments in a saucepan, if too thick, add several Tbsp. soymilk.

Serve crispy hot polenta triangles with pesto sauce.

As you can see, I had a hard time getting a picture, my kids kept eating the polenta before I had enough to photograph!

Tomato-Macaroni Soup, Quinoa Soup again, and the cat!!

This has definitely been a "soup" sort of week.


Not only have I been running in a thousand different directions with overtime work, classes and activities with my kids, but we've also had several nasty storms that have knocked down power lines and trees.

Fortunately we didn't lose electricity or trees at our house, though both my kids' school and the one where I teach were without for periods on Thursday and Friday, and this old tree down the street finally gave in to the winds...

OK, so...Soup, in my book, has to be quick and easy, or something that re-heats well. I'm not one for standing and stirring and simmering for hours...
First up is this stupidly simple "Tomato Macaroni" soup.

Some years back, I'm not too proud to admit, I had to make occasional visits to the neighborhood food-bank. One of the items we always received, not sure why, was several quarts of tomato juice. Maybe it was government surplus, just like the cheese?

Who knows. At any rate, at a loss for what to do with weekly quarts of tomato juice, I created this soup.

It's definitely nothing fancy, but it's quick, easy, cheap (obviously) and filling comfort food. As a bonus, my kids LOVE it and still ask for it often. Hey, tomato juice is actually good for you, you know? Lots of good stuff, including 21957 micrograms of lycopene in every 8 oz. and you KNOW that's good!

Tomato Macaroni Soup

1 large onion, chopped fine and sauteed in a tsp of oil in the bottom of a stockpot
6 - 8 cups water
2 med. baking potatoes cut into smallish cubes

Bring the above to a boil.

Boil for 5 minutes and add:

1 cup elbow macaroni (you can use whole-grain pasta here)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pickling spices tied up in a cheesecloth or put in a teaball - yes, odd, but these MAKE the soup!

Cook the above at a good boil until potatoes are soft. Remove spice bag.

Add:

1 pint tomato juice, taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt or pepper if needed. Stir until heated and serve.

We sometimes add a swirl of soymilk to cool it down and make it creamy.

Next up, my "Quinoa Peanut Soup" (which I think I posted here before). I originally posted this over at Veggieboards.com, and I was pretty impressed when Nava Atlas asked if she could include it in her latest "Soups..." cookbook. Way cool!

Still one of our family favorites, I love that it re-heats so well. My littlest sprout loves the curly-Q "tails" that the quinoa grains leave in the soup and in typical 8-year-old style, she gets a morbid kick out of freaking out her classmates at school when she takes this soup in her thermos (they're not little worms, I swear, though you might want to warn unsuspecting people...).

Quinoa-Peanut Soup

2 Tb margarine

1 chopped onion or 2 med. leeks sliced (I prefer leeks, use all of white and tender part of green)

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (I use more because I'm a garlic fiend)

1 fresh jalapeno, minced (Again, I use more)

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 diced celery stalks, with leaves (I usually leave this out, cause I don't care for celery much)

2 small diced zucchini

1 large sweet potato, yam or peeled butternut squash, diced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

4 cup vegetable stock (I use the "non-chicken" style broth)

1/2 cup quinoa, (some brands say to rinse and drain before using - I never have..)

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 dash cayenne pepper or to taste (I use more!!)

1/2 cup chunky organic peanut butter, no honey or sugar

Wear rubber gloves to prepare fresh jalapeno pepper if you need to - or just be careful.

In a large heavy-bottomed soup pot, melt margarine over medium-high heat. When margarine is hot and bubbly, add all veggies, and cumin and oregano. Saute 10 -15 minutes, or until vegetables are softened.

Add stock, quinoa, black pepper and cayenne.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover.

Simmer until quinoa is cooked and veggies are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.

I know it looks done at this point, but go ahead and add the peanut butter, using a wisk to blend in completely, and simmer another 10 minutes. Taste, and adjust seasonings. (Personally I use a little more salt than listed, but do what you like)

I almost always throw grated fresh ginger in there somewhere but it's not necessary.

Last, but not least, the ever-fearless, but curious cat has taken to "supervising" cooking in a new and slightly worrisome way.

If given the chance, he perches on the range hood, high ABOVE the bubbling, boiling, splattering pans... which scares me more than a little!!
We usually try to keep him far from the kitchen whenever we're actually cooking!! (Maybe it's the liquor bottles hiding in the cabinet that fascinate him, eh?)

My Beautiful "Sprouts" :)

My Beautiful "Sprouts" all wore DRESSES this weekend, to church!!

Without me even asking, or threatening... or whining...

(Actually I don't do any of those things, they pretty much wear what they want as long as it's in reasonably good taste.)

Of course, I think they always look nice, (I'm their MOM, I'd think they looked good in their jammies - which they wear a lot too...) but today, I was just happy and surprised and so proud of how grown up they all were!

So, naturally I just had to snap their photo in front of our fall-colored dogwood tree.

(No, in case you're wondering, the CAT didn't go to church).

Have a GREAT Autumn afternoon...

Corn and "Dirty Squash"

Is this the MOST un-inspiring photo EVER?

Yeah, well, we're still enjoying fresh garden corn (from my Mom's garden) so I wanted to get a picture of that!

Last night for supper, I sauteed some chunks of yellow/green summer squash in a little sesame oil, garlic and tamari. No recipe. But yummy!

My youngest Sprout looked at the vegetables skeptically and said
"Mom, everything on my plate is yellow and the squash looks... DIRTY!"

Well, I admit I didn't go for a lot of color variety today. I even had yellow corn muffins on the side that I forgot to take a picture of!! Regardless of the "dirty" look to the squash, everything disappeared quickly.

Beach "Vacation"

So... where have I been and why haven't I blogged?

Well, it so happens that my Middle Sprout, and my middle sister, and yours truely took a random little vacation to the beach. At no charge!

Grandma (my Mom) thought we needed a break and set us up for a few days at the Shilo Inn at Ocean Shores.
No, no... no need to be jealous. Not your stereotypical warm sand and blue water "beach" vacation... Oh no - this was an adventure to one of Washington's cold, wet, windy beaches... Yes, I know some of you live in equally wild, storm-prone locations. Just clarifying for anyone who was thinking of palm trees and white sand...














I'm not complaining. It was rather nice actually. Peaceful. Restful. DEFINITELY "off season". And cold! Quiet, no one was around, we basically had the town, and beach, to ourselves... The hotel was wonderful, we brought snacky things (knowing there weren't any veggie options to speak of) and we honestly spent a lot of time sleeping, Jacuzzi-ing and watching pay-per-view.

HOWEVER: We also spent a LOT of time on the beach! Sometimes in the middle of the night or during storm conditions. My sis is a die-hard "walk-and-wade-on-the-beach" fanatic and we had to drop everything and troop off to the waves whenever the fancy struck her!
See the sign? I told my sister that going wading - at MIDNIGHT - wasn't a good idea. Of course they were much more adventurous than I am, so we went anyway... we could have been caught by a shark. Or tidal wave...




















30 MPH winds and rain blowing straight sideways! Were we crazy? Yes. Was it fun? Actually a lot yes!
This is my crazy sister and Miss Middle Sprout. Gosh, they look ridiculously cheerful! ...and wet....














See below... Proof that we didn't get washed away in those "dangerous rip tides" and so forth. My sister said I was a wimp. I am. The spots are rain on the camera lens. It was insane wet and cold! And did I mention midnight? I could barely see anything! And we had to walk miles and miles or a few blocks in the pitch dark to actually GET to the waves... in the dark.

















We didn't stand around on the beach the entire weekend of course. We drove around and did some tacky tourist shopping in the few stores that were actually open.

Oh, and I LOVED this sign!! Good to know they watch out for ALL the wildlife!




















Lest I forget to mention it... The high point of the weekend, (at least for my Sprout), was DRIVING ON THE BEACH!! Yes, My crazy sister let my 14 year-old sprout DRIVE! In the wind, and rain and typhoons and ...(OK, I admit, it was fun too, and my sister isn't all that crazy - maybe just a little!) And doesn't Ms. Sprout look like SHE'S happy?











And highlight number two... a veggie sandwich at Subway. (I know, such a high point!) We never go there, but it's my daughter's all-time favorite restaurant food (could be worse I guess...) so I indulged her - and honestly, places serving something OTHER than dead-clam-chowder were pretty much non-existent.















A final wet, windy day picture. We had serious trouble holding the camera still or even standing up straight, yet we kept going back to the beach. OK, we're ALL a bit crazy...












And since this is a food blog after all... a pic of the awesome spicy-sweet potato fries at the one and only place (besides Subway) that served anything vegetarian. So yummy! Definitely the FOOD highlight for me.

Sourdough Pizza

A while back, I raved about the sourdough starter that Jody sent me. Well, good news - you'll be happy to know I've been using my precious sourdough starter regularly and it's stayed quite healthy and happy for me...
















Last week my kids and I made the most amazing pizzas, complete with thin, light, crispy-but-tender sourdough crust.

Good blogger that I am, I took a bunch of pictures, but then quickly became a lazy blogger and let them languish in my camera while I went on to other things...


However, while catching up with all my blog friends last night, I was inspired by Bazu's absolutely mouth-watering "All-Things-Sourdough Post" . (Actually ALL of your blogs inspire me!!) But since I'm currently elbow deep in sourdough experiments myself, this was just the kick in the a$$ I needed to get my little (or BIG) blogging butt in gear and post my sourdough adventures as well!
Not that mine are even close to the culinary sourdough perfection over at Bazu's blog... Eh well... regardless, I still need to get these pizza pictures off my camera.















Here's the crust. I thought it looked pretty good, even just sitting here all pale and nekkid. After making the dough and letting it rise a good while, I rolled it out pretty thin. No recipe really. Just the same as I'd do for bread. It made enough for two crusts, one for me, one for the kids...

Spread some tomato sauce made last year from end-of-the-summer over-ripe tomatoes. Wonderful stuff!

My littlest Sprout put her favorite pizza topping carefully on... sliced Tofu Dogs. Oh yum! But wait, if this isn't "gourmet" enough - there's OLIVES to follow!

Next, I mixed up a "cheeze" sauce. Again, no recipe. This really was an evening for winging it. I just blended a bunch of stuff and "melted it on the stove... nutritional yeast, cashews, Earth Balance and some mozzerella-style Scheese. Wooooo... very good!

Then I topped my pizza (the good one) with some sliced, lightly broiled eggplant (and not pictured - some sauteed mushrooms and carmelized onions - drool!)

And poured the "Wonder-cheeze" sauce over both pizzas and popped them in a very hot oven.

The sauce bubbled and browned and the crust rose perfectly!

End result; a hot, toasty, TOTALLY CHEESY eggplant-mushroom-onion pizza. It was way too good, I grabbed a slice before I even got a picture taken. (The kids' tasty hot-dog-and-olive creation is pictured at the top of the post. It was equally delicious, according to all reports.)