Happy Halloween

No recipe tonight, just a final post for this Month of Vegan Blogging.

It's been challenging, coming up with a recipe (and the time) EVERY day to share in my blog, but a lot of fun as well.

Not to fear, I'll be back in November, maybe not posting EVERY day but certainly as often as I can.

To start the day I made fun little goody bags for my oldest 'Sprout' and her friends in the dorm; they got pencils, erasers, yo-yos, raisins, spider-rings, Skittles, "Jack'o-lantern" oranges and apples.

Lots of fun to make/assemble and better than tons of candy! No matter how "grown up" you think you are, everyone loves a few goodies on Halloween, right? (Oh, and all vegan, how about that!?!)

Then of COURSE, on to Trick-or-Treating with my two younger 'Sprouts' and friends.

I have no yummy food pics, so thought I'd share a couple pictures of kids, costumes and general sugar-induced silliness.

No, the candy they collected wasn't vegan, but then neither are my children - ALL the time; but it's all good.

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Hope your evening was wonderful, crazy, filled with fun, and shared with people you love...

Happy Halloween.

Crispy Tofu and Gravy

Crispy Fried Tofu and Brown Gravy

This is the simplest supper I can imagine; super-quick and I always have the ingredients on hand...

Here's how you do it:

• Cube well-drained, extra firm tofu, and toss with *seasoned cornstarch so you have it coated in a light layer.
  (*That's just cornstarch mixed with a good dose of whatever you like - we used lemon pepper, cayenne, sage and a little salt).
  
• Pan fry (yes... FRY!) until crispy and lightly browned, in a thin puddle of peanut or coconut oil, turning as needed.
  
• Keep tofu cubes warm in a low oven.
  
• Wipe out skillet to remove most of the excess oil and crumbs.

Make gravy:

• Melt 2 Tbsp. margarine in the same skillet.
• Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. flour over margarine, cook and stir over medium heat until tan-brown.
• Turn heat OFF and gradually stir in 1 cup soymilk.
• Season with 2 tsp veggie buillion powder ("beef" flavor if you have it, though veggie flavor is fine too), 1/2 tsp. sage and 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper.
• Stir (a wire whisk is best) until all browned flour is well incorporated.
• Whisk in 1/2 cup water.
• Turn heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring constantly, until the gravy thickens, about 7 minutes.
• If it boils too hard, turn heat down a little.
• Taste, and season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle (or better yet, POUR) gravy over tofu. Enjoy.

I Won A Cookbook, I Won A Cookbook!!

A couple weeks ago, I saw this great cookbook give-away over at "Herbivoracious", a really great restaurant-review-and-recipe-blog written by a fellow Seattle-ite and amazing vegetarian chef, Michael Natkin.

I have learned so many great cooking tips and ideas from his blog, you need to check it out, plus it's actually interesting writing, which is always a plus in blogger-land

OK, it's not specifically vegan, but seriously folks - relax! Everything's very vegan-friendly, and simply reading the word "cheese" once in a while isn't going to un-vegan-ize your retinas.

Besides, you might learn something!!

And actually he notes which (many) of the recipes ARE vegan and most are extremely easy to modify.

OK, so, to enter the contest, we had to tell one of our WORST cooking experiences. So, yeah, you KNOW I jumped on that!! The things that come out of this kitchen are definitely NOT always edible.

Well, long story short, I WON the cookbook, much to my amazement and delight. I'll let you read the stories here: "Tassajera Cookbook Giveaway" though, because frankly, there were a LOT of great entries!!

The cookbook, The Complete Tassajera Cookbook, is from the famous vegetarian California spa/retreat of the same name.

And it is really a COMPLETE cookbook starting with the very basics of good vegetarian cooking and going from there.

I like the healthy, fresh approach and I've found the recipes helpful, creative and educational, as well as quite delicious (at least so far!) - exactly what I like in a cookbook!

Thank you again Michael and the fine folks at Shambhala Press, for this great give-away!!! I've never won anything before, and you really made my week!!!

As you've noticed, I included pictures of several things we tried; sorry, I guess I can't share the recipes. (One of the reasons I rarely post recipes from other sources, I don't usually "tease" people with pictures and no recipes, but this is a special occasion!) Hopefully you can still get an idea how yummy they are...

Poppyseed Noodles

Another Paula Deen comfort-food recipe turned deliciously vegan in my hot little hands... This one's mind-numbingly simple, and I admit I throw it together far too often when lack of creativity/time and ingredients strike.

Try it.

My kids really seem to like the slight 'crunch' of the little black seeds.

"Sour Cream" Poppyseed Noodles

• 1 pound pkg. rotini or other corkscrew-type pasta (whole wheat if you want)
• 1 tablespoon margarine
• 1/2 cup Tofutti "Better-Than-Sour-Cream" or other sour-cream substitute
• 1/2 cup soy or other milk
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• dash of Tabasco (just to brighten the flavor, NOT to make it spicy)
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives (optional)
• Salt (to taste)
• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Cook and drain pasta according to package instructions.

Melt the margarine in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stir in Tofutti "Sour Cream" and soymilk and lower heat. Stir until warmed through. Toss the cooked pasta, poppy seeds, Tabasco, chives, salt and pepper in the sauce. Serve immediately.

Rosemary-Lemon Glazed New Potatoes

Tonight's supper was pretty simple, pan-"roasted" potatoes and salad. No need to show you the boring and stereotypical rabbit-food salad, but I thought I'd share the potatoes with you 'cause they were awesome! Fresh rosemary is the only green thing I still have in my garden.

Rosemary-Lemon Glazed Potatoes

2 lbs. small, new potatoes, whole halved or cubed (depending on size)
1 Tbsp. olive oil or as needed
1 1/2 cups water
1 Tbs. dry powdered vegetarian "chicken-flavor" bullion
2 - 3 garlic cloves
handful FRESH rosemary - stripped off stem
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/4 tsp lemon zest (very finely grated skin)

Toss potatoes with oil and pan fry in non-stick-skillet on med. high until one or two sides start to brown.

Mix broth powder with water and pour over potatoes, and bring to a simmer.
Cover skillet and briskly simmer, shaking skillet occasionally, until potatoes are tender and most of water is absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes.

Blend rosemary, garlic and lemon juice in food processor until very fine, (not a puree). Stir in lemon zest and toss potatoes with mixture.

Put potatoes back over med-low heat just long enough for garlic to cook but not burn. (2 min. or so).

(You could also toss the potatoes with olive oil, lemon, garlic, rosemary and oven roast them, but this method is quicker.)

Mustard-and-Maple Roasted Root Veggies

Ahh... root veggies. My Mom's garden provides almost more of these goodies than we can eat, but I'm not one to pass up free food, so my vegetable bin is stuffed.

Consequently, I'm always on the lookout for different ways to use parsnips, turnips, beets, onions and/or carrots in recipes that my kids will like. No easy feat, but sometimes I hit on something that works.
This combination, oddly enough, has turned out to be a favorite. I say "oddly enough" because I am not a mustard fan and rarely use it in recipes. Apparently my kids like it though. Who knew.

**Even though I'm not a mustard fan it is a good flavor contrast here, to the sweet maple syrup and veggies. AND if you really don't like mustard, just leave it out, it's really good without too.

Oven Roasted Maple Veggies

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1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp Dijon mustard ** (See note above)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion or 20 pearl onions, peeled
5 cups coarsely chopped or sliced veggies of your choice; turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, carrot, potato, yams, beets and/or golden beets.

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Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss veggies and onions with the olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking pan.
Roast in oven for 20 minutes, then remove and re-toss on baking sheet.
Cook 15 minutes more. Toss again.
Cook another 15 min. Combine maple syrup, Dijon mustard and garlic powder in a small bowl.
Drizzle the maple mixture over potatoes and veggies and mix to coat well. Cook again until veggies (beets and potatoes will take the longest) are soft and glaze starts to caramelize and brown a bit.
Serve and enjoy!

A Post In Which I Go Completely Off Topic. No Food, No Recipes Here...

Nothing vegan, no recipes, no pretty food porn. Stop reading, move along to another blog for today, if that's what you came for.

Today takes a slightly different path.

See, the Sprouts and I had free passes for a movie, and we'd been hanging on to them for a very long time so we could catch "Where The Wild Things Are."

And... (of course) we loved it!

Not that the movie needs any more promoting from little ol' me, it's doing very well on it's own.

But I couldn't resist a few words because I totally adore Maurice Sendak, author of the book on which the movie is based, for so many, many reasons.

First, simply because he's a lovable, curmudgeonly, reclusive, gay, Jewish, absolutely BRILLIANT children's book author and illustrator. That in itself puts him high on my fantasy list of "People I Want To Have Dinner With"!

Children's books (and their authors, illustrators and anything to do with them) are definitely my first love. My original major in college was Children's Literature, but through youthful indecision various distractions and reasons I don't now remember, my course of study eventually morphed into something else. And I have no complaints, but I recently started working a few hours a week at a charming little used-book store here in town, and I spend my time blissfully immersed in the children's section. It's reminded me all over again of the passion I have for reading, and books, and sharing stories with children... (Yes, even as much as I love cooking, if you can imagine that!!)

But I digress.

Another reason I love Maurice Sendak, though rather cliché, is because he wrote "Where The Wild Things Are"; one of my all-time favorite "read-aloud" books and one that sparks a lot of (not-surprisingly) honest and candid conversation in my classroom. Sometimes coaxing spontaneous conversation out of my special students can be a bit of a challenge, so I welcome the reactions and thoughtful commentary they tend to interject when we read this book. As a bit of trivia, "Wild Things" was first published in 1963. The year I was born. (Yes I am that old!) I have a weird habit of collecting things published/written/released the year I was born.

I love, too, that Mr. Sendak has a dark and slightly macabre side. He's not afraid to illustrate life just like it is; fascinating, full of immense and rich detail, but sometimes a bit scary, frightening and dark. He thinks kids can handle it. And I tend to agree. Life is not always a "happily ever-after" fairy tale, and I think sometimes we try to sugar-coat reality. Kids can handle real life. They have to live it, and find their own ways to deal with it, just like the rest of us do.

Not long ago, 81-year-old Mr. Sendak was interviewed for Newsweek magazine. The interview was intended to promote the film version of "Where The Wild Things Are" but no doubt wound up offending parents all over the country (I soooo love it!) . My favorite part went like this:

Reporter: "What do you say to parents who think the 'Wild Things' film may be too scary?"
Sendak: "I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate." Reporter: "Because kids can handle it?"
Sendak: "If they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered."

Indeed.

Bravo Mr. Sendak.

And since I'm on the subject, an HBO documentary "Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak" airs tonight. Check it out, directed by Spike Jonze (as was the movie) it has rumors of being Oscar-worthy. I wish I had cable!

Fried Cabbage and Field-Roast Sausage

Oh man, this is the best "super-quick" supper ever!! (Steaming-hot food makes for blurry pictures, sorry!)

Now, I realize opinons about cooked cabbage may not be as enthusiastic as mine, but if you haven't had it in a while, try it again.

Just cook until tender-crisp, not soggy. And understand, I grew up eating my share of German/Polish/Russian-inspired family cooking, so anything with cabbage is gonna be a hit.

Sauteed with some Field Roast sausage (my favorite "faux sausage" in the world, but I suppose you may use whatever you like) and really, how can you go wrong?

This hardly needs a recipe but:

4 cups coarsely chopped or shredded cabbage
1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tart apple, shredded coarsely
2 Apple-Sage style Field Roast sausages, sliced
wee bit of olive oil
splash of cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee sausage slices with onion over med. heat until they start to brown. Add cabbage and apple. Cook, stirring frequently, until cabbage is done. Sprinkle with vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Tempeh Fried-Rice

NOTE:
I TOTALLY ADMIT THIS IS A RE-POST FROM SEVERAL YEARS AGO. But it's one of the recipes people ask me for the most, so it must be hidden away down in the depths of my blog where it's hard to find... I am just not talented enough to make an alphabetical listing of my recipes, even though I would LOVE to have that eventually:

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.

Shoot the Computer!!

I'm B-A-A-A-A-A-C-K! And ready to blog up a storm.

You all know how I've been whining over my stupid almost-dead computer, I was ready to shoot the stupid thing and put it out of it's misery (hence, the picture of my daughter getting in some target-practice.)

No, we didn't shoot the computer, it died a slow natural death of old-age.... but it probably didn't seem like much of a serious "loss" to anyone out there because magically, I continued to post every day. Well, THAT was an adventure I'd rather not repeat, let me tell you!!

I think I mentioned I got VERY resourceful!! I actually did an entire blog post from my iPhone (just one!)!! As well as borrowing friend's computers, ah, work computers, library computers...

Well my computer-borrowing days are OVER!

Thanks to an incredibly generous fellow vegan Blogger, Lucy, over at "Vegan Del Ray", I now have a nice little gently-used laptop that is happily sitting on my desk and anxious to help me blog! She claims it was an old computer she just needed to "get rid of", but you have no idea what this means to me!!

It was like Christmas, truly, when we unwrapped the UPS package this afternoon. Lucy even enclosed some goodies from Trader Joes, and added a heavy layer of bubble-wrap, both of which thrilled my girls even more than the computer, I think!! Thank you for your kindness a hundred, million times over!!!

And now, let me get back to blogging, the way it's supposed to be, with an actual computer that belongs to me!!

My recipe today? Quick and easy, once again.

Pumpkin "Hummus"

3 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree (or fresh cooked)
4 ounces Tofutti vegan cream cheese
2 t. ground cumin
2 t. Hungarian paprika
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 t. coarse salt

Add all ingredients to food processor and process until very smooth. Taste for salt and spice — you may need to add a little extra. Sprinkle the finished dip with extra paprika for garnish. Serve with crackers, pita chips (VERY yum!!) or veggies.

Olive-Tofu-Pecan Spread

I know it looks like a bowl of oatmeal, but I promise it's a delicious and crazy-simple dip (more of a "spread" texture) that NO ONE will ask or care if it's "weird vegan food" or not.

This is my stand-by when I need a 'spread' sort-of party-food thing at the last moment, and have to impress non-vegan sorts with too. Don't TELL them it's tofu, for goodness sakes, wait until they've licked the bowl clean and are asking for the recipe. (*gloats*)

It's good with crackers, with celery and carrots or in a sourdough bread bowl. Also great for sandwiches should you have any leftovers!

Olive-Tofu-Pecan Spread

1 cup firm tofu, mashed fine with a fork

1/3 cup pecans, ground fine but into large crumbles... not totally into powder, in food processor or blender

2/3 cup black olives, chopped (you can use a couple Tbsp. kalamata olives if you want extra tang and saltiness, but it's good with standard old black olives too).

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 finely chopped onion (or chop celery and onion in food processor, but I like the uniform tiny chunks you get by hand chopping...)

1 1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. seasoning salt

1/2 cup Vegannaise vegan mayo (or equal parts Tofutti Sour 'Cream' and vegan mayo)

Mix ingredients well. Chill several hours. Enjoy! That's it!

Basil Cream Sauce over Pasta

I am struggling with no computer, seriously.... Yet, somehow I WILL get through this "Month of Vegan Blogging" and for some perverse reason, I'm all the more determined to see it through to the bitter end, now that I'm computerally challenged...

Yes, even though my computer has passed on, I'm still here, and on FaceBook and other forums I haunt... I haven't left. Yet. I've used the library computer, my iPhone (yes, blogging that way is a crazy-tedious task!!), used my daughter's computer when she's not away at school, I MIGHT have used the computer at work though I can't really say, since I know co-workers might read this read this... at any rate, the recipes must continue, just maybe not at the same rate that I've managed so far. Stick around though... things MIGHT be changing for the better here in "No-Computer-Land"... stay tuned.

That said, tonight's recipe is a repeat. An oldie-but-goodie that I posted sometime back. I don't have access to my files, my pictures, my recipes, my notes, all that good (and useful!!) stuff (not to fear, it's backed up, I just can't access it here, tonight...)

Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce:

2 cups fresh basil leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 ounces pine nuts
2 oz. silken tofu (or a couple heaping Tablespoons)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup vegan (Tofutti) sour "cream"
1 cup soymilk
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
In a food processor, combine basil and garlic. Begin processing, and pour in olive oil in a thin stream. Process for about 40 seconds, or until mixture begins to emulsify. Add pine nuts and silken tofu, then blend for 1 minute.
Heat sour "cream" and soymilk in a saucepan over low heat until simmering.
Pour 1/2 of the hot "cream" into the processor with basil pesto, and pulse for 20 seconds to incorporate. Pour mixture back into "cream", and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve over hot pasta or use in lasagna.
You can thicken with cornstarch while heating the "cream" part, if you want a thicker sauce, or just use more pine nuts (which is what I did).

We had this over sun-dried tomato pasta with roasted veggies on the side. YUM!

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I'll leave you with a picture of the cat in his favorite resting spot. Not MY favorite place for him to be, but it IS rather funny.

Macaroni-N-Cheese in the Crockpot/Slowcooker

Have I mentioned I love my crock-pot?

I have an older model Rival of smallish capacity that I got 20+ years ago as a wedding gift.

I've always used it for beans and soup, but in the last few years, as our schedules have gotten crazier and my kids' appetites bigger, I've been explored several new (and most of them delicious) recipes that have become family favorites.
This only takes about 5 hours so I don't do it on days when I'm gone ALL day, but it's still worth it to come home from an afternoon of shopping and have creamy mac-n-cheese almost ready. Results can vary depending on what sort of slow-cooker/crock pot you have, it pays to try this once while you ARE home to see how it turns out. Seriously though... LOOK at this stuff, it's AWESOME!!

Crock-Pot Mac-N-Cheeze

Turn crockpot on high. Blend the following ingredients in the blender for 2 minutes until smooth:

1/2 cup very hot water
1/2 cup raw cashews

Add the following and blend another minute:

1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup quick oats
1 very small jar pimentos (about a Tbsp or two?)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 teaspoon Umeboshi vinegar (or lemon juice and a bit more salt)
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance or other margarine

Pour into crockpot. Rinse blender with 2 1/2 cups water and add to cooker.
Cook aprox 5 hours on low or 2 1/2 hours on high until sauce starts to boil in a few places around the edges. (If it isn't boiling on "low" after that time, turn to high.)

If not already on high, turn heat to high and quickly add:
1 1/2 cup uncooked macaroni, and 1/2 cup shredded vegan cheeze (any type you like will probably work OK here), and stir.
Do this and re-cover as quickly as possible so it retains the heat.
Cook on high for 45 - 55 more minutes (perfect time for while you make the rest of supper).

Uncover, stir again and let sit for 10 minutes or so for sauce to thicken. (At this point sometimes if I want to "fuss" I'll put some "melty" vegan cheese (usually rice slices or something) cheese on top, cover and heat another 20 min or so. Yum!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Chard

I love gnocchi and love sweet potatoes, so perfecting/veganizing this recipe was tasty and very easy. You need to try this - like most everything I attempt, it's not rocket science, I promise. I am planning to try these with a dry, slightly-starchy Hubbard squash maybe, I wonder if it'd turn out about the same?

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. Saute 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.

Crockpot Pumpkin Butter

Another "Pumpkin" post because I love the stuff and have a bunch of dense, sweet, sugar-pie pumpkins from my garden this year...

Pumpkin Butter doesn't have any butter in it, rest assured - it's sweet, dark, dense and spicy - like pumpkin pie in a jar.

It's delicious on toast or pancakes and makes great holiday gifts!! I made a bunch last year and it's on my "to do" list for sometime soon again. As always, I've adapted this to a crock-pot, as it's my favorite (lazy) way of cooking just about anything.

OR just add tofu and you have the quickie-makings for a wonderful pumpkin pie!! (No exact recipe, I just add 1 box of silken tofu blended with 1/2 cup soymilk and 2 Tbsp. cornstarch to 3 pint jars of Pumpkin Butter and bake until set up!)

Crock-Pot/Slowcooker Pumpkin Butter

2 cups of cooked, pureed pumpkin (or you can use a 15oz can of pumpkin if you don't want to use fresh)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp. finely grated fresh ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in crock-pot and stir to mix well. Cook on Low for 5 hours, stirring occasionally. It will thicken as it cooks. Do not let it burn or stick. Store in the fridge or freeze.After it's done, if you want to can it - fill the pint jars or 1/2 pint jars and seal. Process in water bath canner for 40 minutes.

Pumpkin Scones

OK, so I found a recipe that was supposed to be just exactly like those yummy (but not vegan) Pumpkin Scones that Starbucks sells... I used to be in love with those things. Well, the recipe wasn't all that great, so I messed it all around and made them much better (if I do say so myself).

Yes, LOTS of ginger in these. But I'm a fan. And it's good for you!

PUMPKIN SCONES

1/2 cup sugar

3 1/2 cups flour (I use 1/2 white, so shoot me!)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ginger powder

2 Tbsp. finely minced candied ginger

1 Tbsp. finely shredded/grated fresh ginger root

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup margarine

2 TB. coconut oil

2 cups pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned, either is fine).

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and dry ginger and cinnamon).

Cut in margarine and coconut oil, adding a bit at a time until mixed. Add pumpkin and candied and fresh ginger and combine well.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough a few times, pushing it into two circles, a few inches thick.

Cut each circle into 5 or so fat triangular pieces. Imagine you are cutting a pizza so that you get even, triangular slices.(Not that it matters if they're even.)

Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until done.

I usually sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking, or drizzle with an orange glaze or something if I'm feeling all Martha Stewart-y.

And while we're on the subject - here's a picture of an elk that's been nicknamed "Pumpkin Harry" by my friend Sunny.

He's been destroying the Halloween decorations on her back porch in Arizona...Bad Harry!! Hope the poor guy can figure out how to get those lights off his antlers. Sorry about your porch decorations though!!

Happy Pumpkin Days...

Homemade Pizza with Daiya Vegan Cheese

I'm usually slow to jump on the "new product" bandwagon, but I chanced upon some of the new Daiya vegan cheese that everyone's talking about, and decided it was worth satisfying my skepticism. I'm all for having vegan/vegetarian versions of foods, if that's your preference, but I have yet to find a vegan cheese I felt was worth eating, let alone recommending.

I have to say I'm fairly impressed with this new Daiya stuff. Impressed enough to tell you to try it anyway.

Different tastes and textures appeal to different people. I liked it. It was melty and stretchy and gooey and cheesey-tasting enough for me to justify hunting it down again some day.

Since going vegan, I usually just avoid recipes that depend heavily on cheese or poor vegan substitutes. And I really don't feel like I'm deprived of a major food group. But I just might drag out the enchilada recipes or the pizza pans a little more frequently now! (Yes, I'm quick to point out, I can make perfectly delicious enchiladas and pizza without cheese, but even after being vegan for years, I still prefer them cheesy!)

No real "recipe" here, just crust-sauce-veggies-cheese.

Several years ago, I was sent a sourdough starter and it's still providing me with plenty of opportunities for breads, biscuits and, my favorite, pizza dough. I blogged about it way back here... Don't laugh at my misshapen crust, we were feeling rather "free-form" tonight...

Here then, is my mostly-mushroom pizza with cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers and onions from the garden - the sauce too, is some of my famous Crockpot Tomato sauce that I posted just a few weeks ago. Topped off with the new "cheese" and baked at 475° for about 10 min. Pretty awesome and cheesy!! It's definitely worth trying, if you get a chance!

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

I just made a double batch of these snacky-crunchy-salty-spicy-toasty-tasty bits of yumminess on Saturday, supposedly for my daughter's school lunches this week. I wasn't terribly surprised to find them ALL gone this morning. Indian spiced, crunchy roasted chickpeas. You know they're the same as garbanzos, right?

Yes, I realize there are 565767 versions of these in every veggie cookbook and blog out there, I have no idea where I got the original idea.

Crunchy-Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

-- 2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained well and blotted dry
(Note: I have always cooked my own chickpeas/garbanzos from dry beans, so I have no idea how this would work with canned, but I am sure they'd be much the same..)
-- 2 tsp. olive oil
***
-- 1/2 tsp. Indian Black Salt (which adds a rich smoky, sulphuric Indian taste, or just use regular salt if that's all you have...)
-- 1/2 tsp. cumin
-- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
-- 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
-- 1/2 tsp. chili powder
-- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less if you don't like things too spicy)
***Pretty much, just use 2 - 3 teaspoons of whatever spices you like. These just happen to be our favorites.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Toss the chickpeas with olive oil in a bowl, until coated. Then sprinkle on seasonings and spread chickpeas on a nonstick bakingsheet.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp, stirring several times.

These make a great snack, salad topper, soup "crouton" or lunch-box staple. Try them and see how long they last around your house?!?

Good-Bad-Happy-Sad

My computer is dying.

{{"snap-crackle" goes my fan...}}

I am depressed! I have no spare computer, no computer I can borrow, no back-up plan.

When it finally gives up for good, I am computer-less for a good long time.

Done. Finished. Finito.

Unfortunately I have too many other REAL expenses that will come before replacing this silly piece of #%$%#.

{{"buzzz-whine-buz" goes some internal drive...}}

I have known for some time it was on it's dying gasps.

I HAVE backed up everything I need.

But I'm still so VERY BUMMED! {{"flicker-flicker" goes my screen...}}.

We've been through a lot in the last seven years, my little lap-top and me... sadly it's almost time to let it pass peacefully over that great electronic bridge to ... well... to wherever dead laptops end up... {{"snap-crackle" goes the fan again...}}.

But we're still limping along for short periods of time, so I'll continue to post until that day inevitably happens. Just warning you.

On a MUCH happier note, we got new couches today!!

This is a BIG BIG deal because our 20+ year old couches were the most disgusting things ANYONE has ever used as furniture.

Our "new" ones are very definitely still in the "used" category but free is a BEAUTIFUL price, and the couches are really very nice looking. (Even if the picture isn't that great!!).

We were all extremely thrilled when a friend called and asked if we wanted them. It feels like we actually have a living room again!!

Supper was short and sweet, we'd had a busy day with all that furniture-moving; and warm, cozy, comfort food was just what everyone needed...

Repeat of one of my old favorites:

CURRIED (and Roasted) PUMPKIN (or Squash) SOUP

.

.2 Tbsp. margerine

1 small onion, chopped

1 small garlic clove, pressed

2 tsp. curry powder or paste (I much prefer paste!), or to taste

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

cayenne to taste

2 Tb. brown sugar

1 Tb. very fine grated fresh ginger

Aprox 24 oz. vegetable broth

3 cups pumpkin or squash puree - either from a can, frozen or bake/steam your own and mash (my fav.) **See Note following

3/4 cup coconut milk (or 1 can of it is fine, so there's no waste)

chopped fresh green herbs for garnish

Melt margerine in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic, curry powder, ginger, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute more.

Add broth, sugar, water and puree; mix well. Reduce heat to low.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Stir in coconut milk. Puree soup in blender in batches until smooth.

Heat through before serving.

Adjust seasonings - sometimes needs a pinch more sugar, or salt or cayenne - depending on your tastes.

Garnish with whatever green herby things you can find.

**I cut small sugar pumpkins or squash in quarters and roast until soft, then puree with a little vegetable broth for this recipe.

Vegan Bake Sale and Olivia's Cookies!!

So today my middle "Sprout", Olivia, baked her very famous and much-requested Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I have to say, we actually resisted eating most of them (a VERY difficult feat, believe me!).

Olivia made these cookies to donate to the SideCar Bake Sale. SideCar is an all-vegan grocery in Seattle that supports Pigs Peace, an awesome animal sanctuary just out of Seattle.

All proceeds from the Bake Sale, of course, went to Pigs Peace.

We couldn't stay long, but the bake sale, organised by my friend and fellow-blogger Bethany, had the makings of being a huge success!

She recruited a lot of great bakers!! Tables were loaded with every imaginable goody and we made sure to purchase a bag full before heading home. We're huge cookie fans, but I think our favorite bake-sale discovery were the Gingersnaps and some little savory, "cheesy" animal crackers in the shape of tiny pigs. SO YUMMY!! I'm going to hunt down the cracker recipe

here soon

We decorated a little sign for our cookies and make pink-and-gold tags for each bag, listing ingredients.

And you'll notice Barbie came along? The pink and bling was specially for Barbie, of course... (I had to borrow these pictures from my daughter.) As you may or may not know, she (Olivia, not Barbie) is also a blogger and writes (when school and work allow) about the vegetarian world from Barbie's point-of-view.

Check out "The Adventures of Veggie Barbie and Carnivore Ken" for some pretty entertaining reading.

It's been posted before, but here's the cookie recipe again, should you have missed it. Enjoy.

Olivia's Amazing Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup Smart Balance Light (or regular Earth Balance will work fine too, though for some reason SB Light just works the best, - trust Olivia on this)

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 heaping Tbsp. flax meal

1 heaping Tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder

1/4 cup soy, almond or hemp milk

1 tsp. vanilla (use real vanilla if you can)

2 cups vegan chocolate chips (Good quality vegan chocolate chips are absolutely essential here. Guittard Semi-Sweet is my favorite - available in regular grocery stores and VEGAN!)

1.) Preheat oven to 375 F.

2.) In a small bowl, mix soy milk VERY WELL (until creamy) with Ener-G egg replacer and flax meal using a fork. Set aside.

3.) In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Set Aside.

4.) In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil, Smart Balance and sugars. Add soy/flax mixture and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.

5.) Gradually add flour mixture to liquids. Stir in chocolate chips.

6.) Drop by small well-rounded teaspoonfuls (actually less than a teaspoon, more like 3/4 tsp) onto ungreased cookie sheet.

7.) Bake for 8 - 10 min. until lightly golden. Watch the time, it depends on the pan. This produces a bite-size, melt-in-your-mouth, chewy cookie.

**If you want crisp cookies, or larger cookies, play with the baking time by just a few moments.

8.) Let cool on the pan 5- 6 min., just until set enough to remove to wire rack. They will be very soft and fragile, but will set up as they cool.

Let pan cool before baking more.

You can add nuts, raisins, coconut, whatever... but we like them just as they are!

Brown Non-Cow Gravy or Stroganoff

Good Gravy!

I was recently discussing gravy with friends and it got me to craving a nice plate of mashed 'taters and brown gravy. My parents dropped off a truck-load of beautiful potatoes last night so what else could I do? I make AWESOME gravy, if I do say so myself... Awesome VEGAN gravy!

All bragging aside, I frequently have skeptic non-veggie people ask how I can possibly make gravy without turkey or roast drippings - silly meatheads, I love you all, but gravy without animals is easy. Even those nasty salty little flavored envelopes at the supermarket are often accidentally vegan.

Homemade gravy is easy too, so skip the salt-laden envelope of bleh, and make it from scratch!

And come on, it tastes SOOO much better! And without those meat drippings, it's a whole lot better for you, and keeps the cows happy too, right?!! The following recipe is for a very flavorful "Brown Gravy", the stuff my family likes on mashed potatoes or with meatballs, a vegetarian "roast" or seitan/gluten. If you want it more "chicken-or-turkey"-like, use a "chicken-style" broth and less mushrooms)

Rich Brown Non-Cow Gravy

28 oz. Vegetarian "beef" or vegetable broth (I usally use "Imagine" Foods in the aseptic box, but you can mix your own from bullion and water, or do whatever you want).
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup coarsely chopped celery
2 Tbs. red wine (the alcohol cooks off, or just use more broth)
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 tsp. sage (1 Tbsp. chopped fresh is awesome here if you have it)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance or other margarine
2 T. all-purpose flour

Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium saucepan.
Bring to a boil; cook 15 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 2 cups (I just eyeball it, it needs to reduce by about 1/4 less than what you started with I estimate...).

Strain broth mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. (I know, this step sounds sounds wasteful, but it makes a nice smooth gravy - if you want, you can make chunky vegetable gravy and leave them in, in that case, chop much finer and use about 2 cups of chopped mushrooms).

Melt margarine in large skillet; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add flour, and cook 2 minutes or until browned, stirring constantly. Take off heat and allow to cool a bit.

While off the heat, add 1/4 cup broth mixture to flour; stir well with a whisk. Add remaining broth mixture, stirring well with a whisk.
Turn heat back on to medium-high.
Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes, or until thick, stirring constantly. Adjust seasonings to taste (more salt or pepper).

Serve with potatoes, noodles, dumplings, meatballs, whatever...

To make this into Stroganoff:

Make above gravy. Add 2 cups sauteed mushrooms.

Stir in 1/2 container Tofutti Sour Cream and heat gently. Serve over rice or noodles. SO SO YUM!

Build-Your-Own-Taco-Salad better known as HayStacks

OK, that's a long, wordy title.

During the summer, we go through phenomenal vats of Taco Salad but the leftovers always get soggy and inevitably there's someone *cough*children*cough* who has to pick out the onions, or the tomatoes or the olives I laboriously chopped because they're picky that way...

So we do a sort of "Taco Salad Buffet" where I set all the ingredients out buffet style and everyone gets to pile all their favorite ingredients in a stack on their plate. Messy but fun. And everyone's happy.

These are known as "Haystacks" in our house, but they could also be described as sort-of a "Frito-Pie-Taco-Salad" (I know it's sacrilege to mess with Frito Pie, but yeah...).
That's all well and good, I mean, vegan chili is pretty good for you, right? Throw in a few whole-grain chips and we're still good... But, as a Mom, I have the fantasy that my offspring might actually WANT a few more veggies than the lone tomato or two in the chili...

'Well', I thought to myself, 'they like Taco Salad, let's just do all those ingredients in a great big "design-your-own" pile!'

I'll give you our ingredients, you can mix or match, use what you like, add something new. There's no recipe, just pile your favorite ingredients on your plate and enjoy.

Haystacks/'Build-Your-Own-Taco-Salad'

• 1 head lettuce, shredded or chopped small mixed with:
• 1 cup shredded green or purple cabbage (I use green so it blends in - but purple is prettier)
• 1 large bunch fresh cilantro, chopped and mixed with:
• 1 bunch green onions/scallions, chopped
• 1 chopped red bell pepper
• 2 minced jalapeno peppers (pickled or fresh, your choice)
• 1 can sliced olives
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• salsa
• Vegan 'sour cream' (homemade or Tofutti)
• shredded vegan cheese if you want (if you freeze Vegan Gourmet you can shred it very finely and it's almost tasty this way!!)
• 2 cups chili (homemade or canned) mixed with 1 cup pinto or black beans
• 2 cups crumbled 'burger', whatever kind you like, mixed with Taco Seasoning and a little salsa
• 1 bag Fritos or your favorite chips

Set all ingredients out in serving bowls.

Pick and choose and make your own Taco Salad.
We like to start with chips first.
My kids like the burger and chili on the chips, I prefer the chili on top the salad greens and salsa as 'dressing'....

-------------

And no - I have no idea why comments are 'disabled' on Blogger when I specifically checked to make sure they were not? See? Blogger hates me in October, happens every year!!

Happy 10th Birthday to My Youngest "Sprout"

My youngest "Sprout" hit double-digits today, celebrating her 10th Birthday in fine style.

Our wonderful friends invited us over for a most delicious supper, and afterwards, there was much excitement with friends, big sisters, presents, ice-cream, candles and so forth, just like birthdays are supposed to have...

Their youngest daughter was pretty sure she needed to help supervise the unwrapping, it's awfully hard to watch someone ELSE have a birthday when you're only two, after all!

She was actually very good about letting the Birthday Girl open her gifts, and providing running commentary in case some of us weren't sure what the gifts were.

Instead of a traditional cake, my very un-traditional "Sprout" opted for those

"Drumstick" ice-cream-cones. She hates cake, these happen to be her favorites (Hey, they're cheaper than some garish bakery birthday cake anyway - And no - I do not bake, 'nuff said...).

Yes, we all know the ice-cream's not vegan, but she's not always, and that's not the point of this post, get over it.

Not to be deterred by the lack of a cake, we decorated her cone with a birthday candle and sang "Happy Birthday" even though she was hoping to get out of that apparently embarrassing part of the event. Happy Birthday sweetie!!!

I'd also like to point out that I did some celebrating of my own this morning on the way to work, treating myself to my first Starbucks Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season, compliments of my sister and a generous gift card for MY birthday last month.

Hey, I needed to insert SOMETHING vegan in this blog, right? I definitely deserve to celebrate my children's birthday's too, thinking back to her birth, ten years ago today and all the effort THAT was!! And, yes, patting myself on the back for how well my "Sprouts" have turned out, despite their crazy Mom!!

If you haven't tried the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, by all means do. The nutty taste of the soymilk complements the spices perfectly!! Cheers, Happy Birthday and happy Vegan Month of Food Blogging Craziness!!!

Something New: Gardein Tuscan "Chicken" Breast

Just a really short blog tonight because my camera isn't working, my computer is overheating and I have homework to get finished...
I'm not much on "endorsements" because taste is a very personal preference... But... I FOUND SOMETHING YOU MUST TRY!!

I don't use an abundance of "faux" meats in my cooking, not because I have a problem with them being like dead animal meat or not, but because they're usually expensive, not locally produced, I don't always like the taste or texture and the ones I DO like are sometimes hard to find. (No Whole Foods or Trader Joes around here!!).

But I'm the first to admit certain products work really well in certain recipes and I do have a short list of favorites (*cough*Field Roast*cough*). Well, add a new name to the list, because tonight I happened to try a new product (well, new to me anyway) and was totally and completely THRILLED with it!

Gardein products are a meat substitute from Vancouver, Canada, (hey, almost local) made from, as they advertise, "garden protein". They also claim to be fast, convenient, tasty and healthy. Claims which I would say are pretty much accurate. The 'Tuscan Breast' style product that I had tonight contains soy and wheat as well as quinoa, kamut, amaranth and millet. 3 grams of fat and 26 grams of protein (if you are concerned about those things) per serving.

Convenience? OK. So, to start out, I heated these things in a foil-covered pan in the oven, mainly because I have a microwave-phobia that we won't go into here... I can see how, if you were willing to nuke your food, they would be super-fast and convenient. Even in the oven wasn't terribly time consuming, so that's a plus.

Appearance? They look a lot like, well, like "real" chicken.

Taste? OK, to be totally honest I'm not in love with the bit of sauce these "breasts" came in. But that's easily remedied, if I made these again, I'd simply drench them in my choice of sauce. The actual "chicken" though, was very tasty! Amazingly delicious in fact!

Texture? This is the BEST, easily (in my opinion) beating every other "chicken" product out there, hands down. Not mushy or stringy or dry or bready... I would absolutely try this again!! SO, SO YUM!!!

Grilled-Bread Salad

I need to use up some extra bread! For whatever reason, we have two lovely loaves of starting-to-go-stale whole-grain sourdough.

I made French Toast last night for supper and it was exceptional. But I've blogged about French Toast before. And if my middle Sprout was home, we'd make her wonderfully buttery garlic-toasted croutons. But that's her recipe so I'm left to other means.

I also have a few sad end-of-summer zucchini and tomatoes languishing away in the produce crisper that need to be used and appreciated, and several jars of half-used miscellaneous in the door of the fridge. Time to get creative.

Here you have the results of my using leftovers - sometimes a dangerous thing, as I hate to waste ANYTHING! But today's efforts turned out pretty tasty, and with a side of pasta, was a perfect supper to go with our unexpected bit of sunshine!! Use whatever ingredients you have on hand, I think wild substitutions here are not a problem!

Marinated Vegetables and Grilled Bread Salad

(I didn't make this idea up!! Bread Salad, or Panzanella, is a rustic, Italian peasant salad designed to use day-old bread, I swear it is!)

4 - 6 slices whole-grain sourdough bread or any hearty, whole-grain bread (thick slices are nice but not necessary)

2 small zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, halved
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper

Heat Panini or outdoor grill to medium heat.
Brush bread, pepper and zucchini with olive oil, kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper. Grill on both sides, watching closely, until nicely browned. Don't let zucchini get overly soft.
When bread is cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Slice zucchini into 1/2 inch slices and pepper into chunks. Set aside.

Marinade:

5 Tablespoons champagne, red wine, or balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic, put thru garlic press
freshly ground black pepper

Mix marinade together.

1 1/2 pounds ripe, meaty tomatoes, cut into 1/2 cubes or small cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small cucumber, cut into 1/2 cubes (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 a red onion, sliced
2 Tablespoons capers, drained, rinsed (optional but good!)

In a small bowl, marinate the tomatoes, capers, cucumbers and red onion in the marinade for 10 minutes, or while grilling bread and veggies. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl, reserving the marinade.

3 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
3 Tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (use more or less of these herbs as you have them)

1/2 cup (more or less) chopped Kalamata or Spanish olives (I've done it both ways)

Toss the bread cubes, grilled vegetables, marinated vegetables, herbs and olives together. Drizzle with marinade as much as you want. You should have slightly moist bread but not overly soggy lumps. This is great even the next day, though the bread is considerably soggier by then, it's still good!! And if you should happen upon some firm, smoked tofu? It's AWESOME cubed in the salad. Just sayin'...

Mashed Potatoes, Parsnips, Turnips and Kale

Mmmm, today is definitely a "comfort food" sorta day. Cool, misty Pacific Northwest Autumn weather and a lazy weekend with no big tasks looming...

Here's my warm and cozy lunch, another "veganized" Paula Deen recipe.

Yes, this is ALL I had for lunch. Call the carb police, I really don't care, I have enough leftovers for them too!. Not something I make that often, (who can make Paula's recipe's THAT often, really!?!) and usually I do NOT like parsnips, but I have an abundance of them to use right now and cooked this way, how can you not LOVE LOVE this combo of veggies!

Smashed Potato, Parsnip and Turnips with a little Kale

8 cups quartered yellow potatoes (I don't peel them, you can if you want)
4 cups chopped and peeled parsnip
1 turnip, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup chopped kale (you could use more but that's all I had)
1 (8-ounce) package Tofutti cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance
Freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, combine potatoes, parsnips, turnip, onion, kale and salt; add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Add Tofutti cream cheese, Earth Balance and a dash of pepper. Mash together, taste and add more salt if you think it needs it, and serve hot.

These keep in the oven (or a crock pot) nicely while other parts of your meal are being assembled and you can snip some fresh chives or parsley on top right before serving if you want it all fancy.

Yum.