Chocolate Makes Any Crisis Better.

So I HAD to make brownies today. Oooey-gooey with decadent chocolate frosting.
Doesn't chocolate always make ya feel better? (Even if the picture's crappy?)

See, the engine on my very old van finally bit the dust in a horrible, oil-dripping, green-smoke belching death-gasp.

And it's not even remotely worth fixing. And we are not in a position to do the car-free thing. I needed a LOT of chocolate! And a reliable vehicle.

Nothing to do but suck it up, and go car shopping. Which I hate. And cannot afford. Really. Mucho tears and hand wringing.

Somehow, the Higher Powers were smiling on me, because not only did we find truly an unbelieveable deal (with only slightly painful payments) - but it actually fits my long-legged family and our soccer/camping/T-ball/picnic/dog-show/more camping/car-pooling/Costco-shopping/home-improvement/bulky garden project lifestyle.















Behold, our new (OK, used!!) Mitsubishi Outlander Crossover SUV. (Whatever all that means).

Yes, I fantasize about a cute, little hybrid; but size, reality and budget tend to get in the way there... still, someday...
It actually qualifies as a Partial Zero Emissions vehicle (which is a good compromise at this point) and gets respectable mileage (we've gotten 29+ hywy so far) - far better than the guzzler-van. I can't complain a whole lot. I miss my funky "Vegetarian" bumper stickers and crappy DVD player. But this car?van?SUV?thing is sorta growing on me too. And has a mind-boggling stereo. So, there ya go. I'm feeling better, the chocolate's kicked in.

Here's my daughter's top-secret brownie recipe should you be in similar crisis or just need a choco-fix, which is a crisis in itself:

Olivia's Super-Chocolate Brownies

1/2 cup melted coconut oil (you can use canola oil but the texture will be different)
1/4 cup honey (*gasp*) or agave nectar (or, since it's expensive and I'm not crazy for it anyway, we usually use maple syrup)
1/4 cup soymilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Extra Dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup semi/sweet chocolate chips (We use Guittard)

Preheat oven to 350.
Lightly oil an 8 inch square GLASS pan.
Put the oil, maple syrup , soy milk and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a rubber spatula. Don’t overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Put the batter in the pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 35 minutes.
Don't overbake. When STILL WARM but not hot, cover with frosting. Cool until frosting sets before cutting.

Frosting: (easier than it sounds)
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons corn starch
4 tablespoons Hershey's Dark cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon REAL vanilla extract (the fake ones just taste bad here)

Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan.
Whisk in the water, this is hard to do unless you sift the cocoa and sugar first. Heat over medium until it gets thick and starts to boil - which does NOT take very long.

Watch it really careful and just boil a minute or less. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut oil, chocolate chips and vanilla. Cool a bit and spread/pour over brownies.

Eggplant NOT-Parmesan over Pasta

Don't let the long recipe alarm you - it's really not bad! And this goes together faster and easier than a baked Eggplant "Parmesan" casserole.

Eggplant NOT-Parmesan over Pasta

1 large eggplant, sliced about a 1/4 inch thick (or a little more)
3/4 cup Panko breadcrumb (or whatever you have is fine)
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp. Vegenaisse
1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup shredded Vegan mozzerella (I used "Follow Your Heart")

1 16 oz. jar your favorite Italian sauce, heated (I added some Burger crumbles to our sauce)

Enough dry pasta for 4 people - you judge how much you'll eat.

Make eggplant:
Mix Panko, nut. yeast, cornstarch, salt, and seasonings together in a shallow bowl. (The cornstarch helps the coating stick)

Mix Vegenaisse and soymilk into a thick liquid in another bowl.

Dip eggplant slices into soymilk mixture (like "egg") and then into breadcrumb mixture.

Place in medium-low well-oiled skillet and cover. Let slices slowly cook until browned but not burned, then turn CAREFULLY and cook/brown other side with pan uncovered. Eggplant should be soft in the middle. Set aside when cooked.

Cook all eggplant slices, adding oil as needed.

Heat sauce. Cook pasta. Drain

Preheat broiler.

Set eggplant slices on cookie sheet. Place a several tsp. shredded Vegan mozzerella on each slice.

Place cookie sheet as FAR from broiler element as possible. Broil until Vegan cheese liquifys/melts. This happens VERY fast once it starts to melt, so watch it carefully!!

Top pasta with warm sauce, and then eggplant slices. (You can do this in a casserole dish or individual servings.)

Serve. Yum.

Meanwhile Back in New Mexico - POST 1

OK, so I've been momentarily distracted with day-to-day blogging, but I wanted to go back and share several AMAZING and totally vegan-friendly places I visited when I was recently in New Mexico (as well as some of the beautiful pix and touristy stuff too).
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Starting out in Santa Fe, one destination I most wanted to visit was the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum , so I was pretty excited we made that our first stop!
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I've always loved the passion and emotion of O'Keeffe paintings, and the work she did in New Mexico is some of my favorite. It was an unexpected treat to discover the museum was also hosting an Ansel Adam's exhibit, double-feature - I was thrilled!! (I admit I stole this photo from a website, no photos allowed in the museum of course!)

After the Museum, we walked and shopped Santa Fe's Plaza, where the Spanish Market and the Santa Fe Indian Market are held. Good thing I didn't have money to spend! Upscale shops, high-end designers, original jewelry and art to drool over, New Mexico chile products and Native American items galore, but there are definitely "tacky-tourist-y" parts too;

Honestly, I wasn't totally comfortable browsing the rows and rows of the Indian Market.

I'm not sure why, but it almost seemed ... sad - and embarrassingly commercial, as if too much history had been lost to tourism, as if we white folk had taken so much from these beautiful people that they're reduced to sitting hours in the sun stoically selling cheap trinkets and tacky souvenirs as their livelihood.

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Maybe I'm interpreting it all wrong. Tourism is a thriving industry here in Santa Fe, I only hope those who lived here first are reaping some financial benefits from our footprints on their land.

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That soapbox rant aside, this area is SO beautiful and rich with history. Photo opportunities and colorful contrasts everywhere I turned. I can't tell you how much I LOVED it (OK, except for the heat which no one but ME seemed to mind).

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Many of the buildings surrounding the Plaza stand just as they did during colonial Spanish times. Besides the shops and restaurants, there are several famous landmarks including Palace of the Governors, St. Francis Cathedral and Loretto Chapel with it's miracle staircase. I'm a history geek, I was in heaven but I'll spare everyone a three-page point-by-point dissertation!

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After a tiring (did I mention hot) and busy day, we started looking for someplace to eat; traditional New Mexican, yet remotely vegan-friendly in this land of cheese and meat.

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Luckily, we were directed to one of Santa Fe's oldest restaurants, "The Shed". The place is famous with locals, family owned, right off The Plaza and (be warned) MAJOR tourist destination, you might want reservations, which we didn't have. Instead we had margaritas (Lots. While waiting for dinner).

We didn't announce our dietary choices because it was easy enough to order from a nice selection of vegetarian items, just leaving off the cheese. After we'd ordered, our waiter said "Oh, you must be vegan!" and helpfully suggested several appetisers and other yumminess. The gazpacho was TO DIE FOR! I'm craving it seriously as I write this.

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In the picture you'll see some of our food including Froggy's blue-corn enchiladas with red chile sauce, and my vegetable burrito with green chile sauce. Everything was delicious, very traditional and we were so VERY impressed with our waiter's vegan-awareness. Totally made our night!

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And finally, we stayed that night at the charming (and very affordable) Casa Del Toro Bed-N-Breakfast. They have a bunch of wonderful little guest houses (not just single rooms) all located right in the heart of Santa Fe. I can't rave enough about this place and their amazing accommodations and if you are EVER in town this is the place you must stay. You MUST.
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Even though we didn't need it, they upgraded our group to a bigger house - plenty of room for everyone, but still cozy and decorated with traditional Southwest furnishings and artwork.

But best of all? OH. MY. GOSH. The next morning, they served us the most amazing VEGAN breakfast!!!

All their breakfasts are quietly vegetarian - but the cook herself, (whom we met and fell in love with) is vegan and will prepare a special vegan breakfast if notified when you reserve. She outdid herself for us and we couldn't be more impressed.
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With fellow guests, we chowed down on Southwest Tofu Scramble, the world's best granola with a sweet yogurt-type raw-cashew-creme, home-fried potatoes, biscuits, scones and minted fruit-salad.

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All without the omni's realizing it was all vegan (except for the coffee cream and milk for cereal, though soy was available too) - and certainly no complaints!! Everyone went back for seconds. Oh wow, drooling over the memories!

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I have so much more to share (bore) you with from my little Southwest vacation because I'm long-winded that way, stay tuned though, the rest will have to wait for another night.

Farmer's Market and Kalamata Alfredo

I have a several vendors that I visit almost every Saturday Morning at our local Farmer's Market.

I LOVE shopping there. Not only is everything fresh, inexpensive, local and organic - it's so beautiful, and just a lot of FUN! I enjoy seeing the same vendors every week, checking out the produce selections and what's currently being harvested - exchanging cooking ideas and talking foodie with them too.

One of my favorites, Terry's Berries, is a local Family Farm & C.S.A. producing amazing fruits and veggies year round here in our green little valley... I can never scrape up the bucks for a CSA membership (I wish!) but I make sure to stop by their market stall or the farm whenever I can; they have the beautiful strawberries, greens, broccoli and herbs right now and usually they'll have an interesting or new veggie or green waiting for me, that I can't resist trying.

So, besides the usual produce, today I splurged on a pound of fresh-made (and vegan!) pasta from Pacific Pasta as well. They have all sorts of beautiful stuff, unfortunately only a couple varieties are egg-free. I'm hoping they'll add more to their line-up.

Later in the evening we thought pasta sounded good, but I wasn't feeling all that inspired though, so decided to just do something simple and familier.

I cooked the pasta al dente because I'm all Martha-Stewart like that, (which means I boiled it about a minute!) chopped and steamed some perfect broccoli from Terry's Berries, threw in leftover sauteed portabellos, (I know, who can have leftover mushrooms, right?) and whipped up my famous (well, famous in my mind anyway) Cashew Alfredo.

On a last moment whim, I threw about six pitted kalamata olives into the processor while blending the sauce.

WOW! I wasn't expecting much, but I think I'm really on to something here.

Oh my gosh, the kalamata olives gave the sauce this INCREDIBLE rich flavor (and a weird speckled purple color) that I will definitely be repeating again soon. Just use the purple-y kalamata or Greek olives. I think the effect would be lost with plain, can-variety black olives.

Best of all? This was big-time kid-approved too, they seriously LICKED the pan clean, brocolli and all! Even if you're not an olive fan, try this, the rest of your family will thank you!

Sweet-Potato Gnocchi with Chard

I love gnocchi and love sweet potatoes just as much, (actually I used yams) so perfecting/veganizing this recipe was tasty and very easy. Try this, like most everything I attempt, it's not difficult, I promise.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with 'Buttered' Chard

Gnocchi:

• 3 large sweet potatoes or yams (I use the brighter orange ones which are actually yams I guess)
• 1 cup flour or probably more
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• salt and pepper.
  
  Bake the sweet potatoes/yams in 450 F oven until soft (about an hour). Peel, mash, and add cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste.
  
  Mix in flour until dough holds its shape, but do not add too much that it becomes too stiff and hard to manage. Just add until it no longer sticks to your hands - like playdough!
  
  Roll into long ropes and cut into pieces. Do the whole "rolling against a fork" thing if you must (you'll have to Google gnocchi-rolling directions) - I don't because I'm terribly inept at it, I just cut into ball-like blobs and it's fine, really.
  
  Fill a pan with lightly salted water. Bring to a boil.
  Drop gnocchi in.
  Cook in salted boiling water until they float to the top.
  Drain, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
  
  Greens:
  
• 3 cups packed baby rainbow chard leaves (or coarsely chopped larger rainbow chard leaves)
• 1/4 cup gnocchi cooking water
• 1/2 tsp. dry powdered "chicken-style" bullion broth
• 1 Tbsp. Earth Balance or other vegan margarine
• 1 clove pressed or minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
  
  In frying pan, bring water to simmer, melt in Earth Balance. Sautee chard in water and Earth Balance until wilted.
  
  Sprinkle with garlic, vinegar and "Chicken broth" mix. Stir well, Mix in gnocchi (add additional water if it's too "sticky", and serve.

Very-Veggie Pasta Salad and Rhubarb-Ginger Crisp

Hello dear ones, I swear I'm still cooking and eating. Just not blogging. Sad really, because I have no excuse.
So here to appease you, a couple items of yumminess that we enjoyed last week:

Very-Veggie Pasta Salad
(This makes a HUGE bowl, we keep it in the fridge and munch on it for several days. The kids LOVE it and it's crunchy, cool and nutritious in hot weather when you just don't feel like eating anything!)

4 cups cooked pasta of your favorite shape
1 cup broccoli flowerlets, blanched briefly in boiling water
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup garbanzos/chick peas
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 small can sliced black olives
1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrot
3/4 cup (1/2 a package or so) baked, flavored tofu, cubed
1 cup chopped fresh (raw) spinach or arugula

Mix the above ingredients together.
(You can really use whatever veggies your family prefers here)

Dressing:
1/4 cup good olive oil or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
2 cloves pressed garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk dressing ingredients together, pour over salad. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill salad and enjoy.

And next? Soooo easy.

Rhubarb-Ginger-Apple Crisp
2 c. rhubarb, diced
3 large apples, cut in bite sized pieces (peel if you feel the need, I don't)
1/2 c. sugar
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, minced
1 tablespoon flour

For the crisp:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
4 tbs. vegan margarine, cold, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 c. oatmeal

Place rhubarb, apples, 1/2 cup sugar, crystallized ginger, and 2 tablespoons flour in a large bowl and toss well.
Combine “crisp” ingredients in a bowl and mix with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly.
Spread about 1/3 of the crisp mixture on the bottom of a greased baking dish.
Place the apple rhubarb mixture on top of the crisp mixture. And spread the rest of the crisp mixture on top of the apple rhubarb mixture. Bake at 350F for 30+ minutes, until fruit is tender and topping is browned.
Serve warm or cold.

I'm Making New Car Payments!

OK, I'm not really making car payments.

At least not for a car, new or otherwise.

But might as well be.

My daughter's beautiful 'new' smile says it all. I've named her braces Prius. Because someday I'll own a shiny new one. But only after this particular shiny metal is paid off.

And seriously, I am very happy for her, just needing to share my pain; it will be sooo worth it in the end though.

Simple Tempeh Fried Rice

Simple and incredibly good. This is a great way to introduce yourself (or others) to tempeh. You must make this fried rice!

Tempeh Fried Rice

4 - 5 cups cooked brown rice

1/2 package tempeh, any type

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 tsp liquid smoke flavoring

1/4 cup white wine, water or apple juice

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tsp. peanut oil

1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrots

1 cup frozen peas (or peas and carrots)

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, VERY well drained (optional)

1 - 2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. toasted almonds or sesame seeds

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Slice the tempeh thin and then cut into squares or strips. Mix maple syrup, wine (or water), liquid smoke and cider vinegar together in non-stick or lightly oiled skillet.

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Put tempeh into liquid and simmer, uncovered, turning gently from time to time, until liquid evaporates to a thick, sticky sauce - 10 - min. or so, depending on climates/temperatures/pans, etc...

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Heat peanut and sesame oil in large skillet or wok. Put rice in wok and stir to heat and seperate grains, and coat lightly with flavored oils.

Add carrots, or if using frozen, rinse frozen peas and carrots under hot water until thawed and add to hot rice.

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Add onions, pineapple (optional), brown sugar and continue to stir and heat, scraping pan gently until rice starts to "stick" a bit and get browned bits, add tempeh (and some of the reduced sauce - just not so much that it makes the rice "juicy") and heat until everything is hot...

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Season to taste with soy sauce, sprinkle with toasted almonds or sesame seeds and serve.