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.

Green Tomatoes

I was asked for some suggestions in using up green tomatoes a few days back, which immediately sent me scrambling to the garden and the interwebs for some good ideas.

My Grandma used to use green tomatoes in a chow-chow relish sort of thing, but I was curious what else was out there. I had no idea there were so many great recipes!.

This has been a fun few days of experimenting!!

First, pretty much everyone has their own version of Fried Green Tomatoes. So I'll spare you there, though we did make these babies for supper one night and they were DEEELISH as always. Crunchy-fried stuff, who can't like that?!! If you haven't made them, please do, everyone needs to experience these!

Next, we tried Czech Green Tomato Soup from an old, yellowed cookbook called "Recipes From The Czechoslovakia" which (as the title suggests) seems to be a somewhat poorly translated version of old Czech recipes. Someone gave it to me years ago because I have Czech heritage. It's all pretty meat-centric but I tried this one (veganized of course) because I was basically curious. And I loved it!!

It was a little bit "weird and lumpy green" for my kids. Here's the recipe though, if anyone wants it, I thought it was simple, different and quite yummy. Don't let my kids palates discriminate for you...

Czech Green Tomato Soup

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz any vegetarian faux-meat sub for "ham", chopped (1/2 cup) I used Smart Bacon because

that's what I had, not "ham" exactly, but work with me here...
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 bay leaf
2 lb green unripe tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot sliced very thin
1 cup vegetable or vegetarian "chicken" broth
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Garnish: Tofutti or any vegan type sour cream and fresh cracked black pepper(optional)

Heat oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook vegetarian "ham or bacon" bits, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add scallions, garlic, carrot and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are tender and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add tomatoes, broth, water, salt, and pepper and simmer, partially covered, until tomatoes and carrots are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf and season soup with salt and pepper. I blended this just a bit with my immersion blender but left it still fairly chunky. Really good the

next day!!

But the hit of my green-tomato cooking frenzy has got to be this wonderful spaghetti sauce I "veganized" from the FoodDay section of The Oregonian - everyone loved it and we've made it TWICE already. Here is my version:

Sausage and Green Tomato Pasta

2 Apple-Sage Field Roast Sausages, sliced thickly
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound green tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
Salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced pepperoncini (little pickled peppers)
1/2 pound pasta of your preference
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper

In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, pan fry the sausage slices until lightly browned. Remove sausage and set aside.

Raise the heat to medium high. Add the tomatoes, salt and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes soften and start to turn golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add the wine and pepperoncini and cook until the some of the liquid evaporates and the tomatoes are a bit saucy. Add sausage back in to pan.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta of your choice in salted boiling water according to the package directions until al dente (if you like it that way). Drain the pasta.

Put the drained pasta back into the pot and add the cooked tomatoes and sausage, nutritional yeast and parsley. Toss until combined, adding soymilk to moisten and make sauce a bit creamy, as necessary. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.

Pour into serving bowl, sprinkle with lots of additional parsley and serve immediately.

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Now go pick those last green tomatoes and ENJOY!!!

Seattle VegFest 2009

The Big Day dawned grey and drizzly, no surprise for Seattle weather and definitely not significant enough to keep the faithful from their journey. (OK, maybe I'm rhapsodising a bit too much...)

But, OH MY!!
The things we saw. The foods we tasted. The people we talked to. The facts we learned. Most of all... the FUN WE HAD!!
Seattle's Vegfest is the largest vegetarian-food festival in the country, with 14,000 visitors last year.

I realize my ramblings may seem a bit redundant, 'cause I've blogged about previous year's VegFests here and here and on and on... and I do tend to get carried away.

But I'm excited to share this year's adventure, as my perspective is somewhat different...

See... instead of the usual group of fellow vegans/vegetarians, I branched out and brought several friends who are definitely not vegetarian, as well as a crew of teenagers, (including my daughter who actually IS vegetarian - I had to have SOME support after all!).

And of course, Barbie came along for the ride, and she may have upstaged me, as she has her OWN blog!! (Fine Barbie, then take your own PICTURES too!!!)

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So without further ado, here's the part you're wanting to read anyway, a sampling of what we sampled:

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One of my favorites first: (OK, everything was a favorite) Best vegan treats in Seattle - at least in my book. Mighty-O Doughnuts. Yes, you CAN be vegan and indulge in sugary, fried pastry goodness!

The picture doesn't do them justice. Wish you could have been there.

A Vegetarian Festival isn't complete without tofu of course, and this is hands down the Best Tofu in the World that I know of.

Small Organic Planet Tofu:

I LOVE this tofu so much! I could be their spokesperson!

I spent quite a while chatting with the owner, "Tofu Phil" who started the company in 1992. They're a small LOCAL artisan tofu company and truly do make the most amazing and delicious tofu I've EVER had. (From a blogger called Tofu-Mom, I think that's the ultimate compliment right there.)

As I've whined about before, my budget doesn't allow specialty items very often, but this is worth it! I can GUARANTEE the price is worth it - my favorite would be the Curry flavored. Even if you *think* you don't like tofu, give theirs a try. At least once. Or ten times. (They're coming out with a new Lemongrass-Ginger variety that I can't WAIT to get a hold of!!)

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Moving on, another of our favorite vendors was Dave, of Dave's Killer Bread. We make sure to visit every year. Go to his website, read his story. Be amazed.

Oh, and try some bread too, you'll never, ever want any other bread. It's been our family's favorite for over a year now. And sorry to tempt those of you who live far, far away... it's a local (Portland) thing.

Dave totally charmed my daughter by posing with Barbie for her blog. You'll have to visit Barbie's Blog to see more.

As a bit of trivia? Dave and I attended the same high school. All the more reason I love his bread :)

Weirdest and most "Un-Vegan-Like" item: "Cavi-Art vegetarian Caviar," made from seaweed. The kids were braver than I was, too fish-egg realistic for me, and I tried it last year, so I'm exempt, aren't I? While my daughter wasn't impressed, her friend Tanner almost liked it, I think.

Best Hummus out of 272829282827 varieties we tried. (Why do these events always attract yet ANOTHER vendor who thinks they have the best hummus out there?)

Well, Maloula's Garden Garlic Hummus was honestly really awesome stuff - definitely stood out from the crowd. That's high praise coming from a hummus-snob like myself who really never eats store-bought. Another local product too!!

We don't remember what this green drink is. My daughter thinks it was a hemp-something-or-other, but I think it looks more like one of the many green drinks being sampled (way too many since I'm NOT a fan of green drinks!!). We all cheered her on for being brave enough to try it!!

And speaking of green, I'd like to take a moment to point out our NAILS, which we'd thoughtfully painted a nice eco-friendly GREEN color in honor of today!

Last, but definitely NOT least, my wonderful friends over at Field Roast!! OK, not friends, like good-buddy-pals, but I consider them such, all the same. They always recognize me from my blog and are SO friendly. They're an amazing, tasty and again LOCAL company! Last year they even gave me a great Field Roast tee shirt - I should have worn it today!!

Field Roast was sampling their new MEATLOAF which will be available in stores in a month or so. EXCELLANT and as you'd expect - SO tasty!! Too bad I got a crap picture. It didn't taste like crap, I swear!!

We ended the day with full tummies, a little craziness and way too many new and tasty ideas. My friend Tanya became particularly attached to the Mighty-O donuts sticker. We just pretended she wasn't with our group.

If you're ever in Seattle around the end of March, VegFest is an AWESOME destination.

Rambling About Fajitas

I used to ramble on randomly, about my kitchen and family and foodie adventures - a lot more than I do now. Lately I've noticed my posts have become a rushed, "slam-bam-here's-the-recipe-ma'am" sort of thing. And to most of you poor readers, that's probably a good thing (just the fact's please, ma'am!!); but tonight I slowed down just a bit. I have no specific recipe and my cooking took a rather rambling turn, so that's what you get.

Around here, Friday is "Mexican Food" night; a weekly supper tradition started when the girls were little and their Dad cooked awesome and loaded nacho platters of cheesey insanity; I do have to give him credit there, they were good. But diets, ethics, relationships and the rest of life changes and evolves. These days, I do the Friday night (and every other night) cooking and it's usually enchiladas, tamales or tacos.

So, tonight, my youngest suggested fajitas. She'd been begging me to use the Field Roast Mexican Chipotle sausages I had stashed in the freezer. According to her, they're her favorite thing in the world and it wasn't FAIR to see them sitting in the freezer every time she opened the door and we needed to use them because they'd been there FOREVER. Well, things don't need to be quite as dramatic as all that, but it was a good suggestion, and as you'll see, her idea had DELICIOUS results.

Wow. Can I just say these were just INCREDIBLY yummy! No exact recipe, but I do think we stumbled on the perfect blend of spices and veggies.
I'll definitely do these again - (when I can afford the sausages, which isn't often, sadly. Yes, I tried making my own seitan Chipotle/Chorizo-style sausage, and while I love it, I just cannot duplicate the same flavor or texture as the fine folks at Field Roast, which is why they own a faux meat company and I don't...)

But I digress...
We cut 2 sausages into strips (which sorta crumbled, but my daghter specifically wanted "strips" I don't know why...) and fried (yes, I said FRIED, deal with it or substitute the word "saute" if it makes you feel more virtous) in a non-stick pan with strips of veggies;
1/2 an onion,
1 zucchini,
1 red bell pepper,
1 medium carrot, sliced paper thin so it cooks quickly
minced garlic and some tomatoes.

Have your pan HOT and throw everything in, stir gently until tender-crisp and browned in a few spots. No oil needed, the veggies and sausages have enough liquid. (So maybe that IS sauteeing instead of frying? Nevermind.)
You can use any vegetarian meaty thing you want here, but you may need to add spices and seasonings to taste, unlike with the Field Roast sausages.
Add the tomatoes at the last, just let them soften a bit, and for heaven's sake, don't let the sausage get dried out, you paid too damn much to let it do that!! (Add a little tomato sauce or even broth if needed, but not so much that you make a sloppy mess).

Serve in warm, flour tortillas with some vegan sour cream and/or guacamole (not pictured here because my youngest isn't a fan of the guac and this was HER idea, after all).

Stuffing (or Dressing) with Apples, Cranberries and Roasted Pecans

Because it's getting to be that time of year and I don't think I've posted this (veganized) family Thanksgiving stand-by, yet...

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Stuffing with Apples, Cranberries

and Roasted Pecans

12 cups 1/2-inch cubes whole wheat bread (homemade is better because it's more "dense", you can use part white or even part cornbread if you want)
1/2 cup Earth Balance (Or less, but it's the Holidays, come on, make it right!!)
2 cups chopped sweet onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 red, tart apples (not red delicious) UNpeeled and chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
2 Tbsp. finely minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 Tbsp chopped fresh if you can find it in November...)
1 Tsp. crushed dried rosemary or 1 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup chopped roasted pecans or whatever nut you like (OK, not peanuts, that'd be weird!)
1 1/2 cups vegetable (or vegetarian "chicken-flavor") broth

Toast bread cubes 5 to 7 minutes or until barely golden, in a 400 degree oven.
In a large skillet, melt 1/2 the Earth Balance and cook onion and celery over medium heat for 3 minutes or until softened.
In another skillet, melt remaining Earth Balance, add apples, and saute until softened.

Mix everything together. Toss gently.

If it's really dry add a sprinkle more broth until the texture you like.
Toss well and adjust seasoning and bake until heated through.

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Optional: Crumble and fry 4 Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage sausages and mix in. REALLY amazing-super-yum!!

VegFest II; The Rest of the Story.

OK, it's been a week, you'd think I could finally get the rest of the VegFest post done, but no.... I've been on Spring Break and being lazy and doing... well.... not much... visiting with friends, cooking, going out to eat with my friend Shaun and a couple Dr.'s appointments. I'll post gratuitous food porn shots another day.

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So last Sunday.

VegFest in Seattle.

What a blast.

Yummy food and great information and interesting presenters... You all just need to come next year.

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I guess it's the largest (or 2nd largest? I heard both statistics) event like this in the country.

It's pretty big. Yeah, like sensory overload. But worth it.

A group of 6 of us went together, 2 vegans (my friend Shaun, and myself), 2 vegetarians (my 2 'Sprouts') and 2 "sometimes-a-tarians"(my friend Sheryl and her son) ...yes, yes, calm down, I know the term is FLEXatarian or whatever, (insert eye-rolling here) but they like this better and I suppose they can call themselves whatever they want, I'm not that into labels.

It was nice to have perspectives other than mine when it came to trying new products. My kids tend to be picky, it was nice to let them try new things without buying an entire BOX and then wasting it... I discovered my littlest Sprout LOVED Nancy's Soy Yogurt and the Bumble Bars. Items I haven't boughten simply because I'm not a fan. My not-quite-vegetarian friend Sheryl loved several of the burgers and the Tofurky sandwich slices, as well as meat-free Potsticker dumplings, all items she hadn't had before.

I think I sampled every available vegan sample - I was stuffed, but what FUN!! (OK, except for the reeeeally green hemp butter. Just a little too "green" for all of us...).

There were a few lacto-ovo items that I wish had been labelled better. The event is run by volunteers and even though they do an INCREDIBLE job, unfortunately, sometimes their product knowledge is limited. I LOVED the Bella Diva Raw almond/coconut oil (I think?) spread or "butter" too. So creamy and slightly sweet. It'd be nice instead of Earth Balance once in a while, I think.

And did I mention we all voted the Field Roast booth our favorite? Well, of course.

My only disappointment was the "Purely Decadent" people - what was up there? Last year was so awesome! Not to fear, there were several other vegan ice-"creams" to sample.

Matthew, my friend's teen-age son, so typical, tries to act like he's seldom impressed by much, but he was our "guinea pig" and volunteered to try anything. He really loved the "Cavi-Art" vegetarian "caviar"... I saw him return for several samples there. Surprising.

It's fascinating and fish-egg-like, but a little TOO caviar-like for me.

Oh!! And Bryanna Clark Grogan was one of the presenters!! So exciting. A REAL celebrity!

She gave the best demonstration for Banana Cream Pie, which I unfortunately don't have a recipe for - think I'll go look on her website. It was fun to see one of my cookbook heros in action though, even if I was in the w-a-y back! She's very entertaining and informative in real life, not that she isn't otherwise, but you know...

Here's HER blog notes about VegFest for a slightly different perspective. We were gonna stop by for an autograph in my "Nonna's Italian Kitchen" book a little later but my kids had had enough of the crowds by then. It WAS crowded. Very.

Speaking of crowds - I saw someone who recognised me from the PPK forums as well, but I didn't have time to stop and ask THEIR name... (kids needing the bathroom don't wait for veggie chit-chat I'm afraid.) So, {sigh} whoever you are, I wasn't being rude, I swear it!!

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A good time was had by all.

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My not-quite vegetarian friends learned a lot about products they hadn't heard of or tried; my kids got adventurous and sampled new things; And my friend Shaun - also vegan - got to try lots of items he can't find in the stores in his area of the world (Albuquerque).

As you can see, we came home LOADED with "loot" like vegetarian trick-or-treating; PETA stickers, Odwalla bars, tea and coffee and LARA bars!

After VegFesting, my 'Sprouts' were getting a little stir-crazy with the crowds, so we did a little Seattle sight-seeing (*Ooooh, the big city - skyscrapers - traffic - pollution - street people - oh my*) and then went to Whole Foods which, for us, is a treat; almost 2 hours from my house. I go about once a YEAR!

My friend Sheryl, a small-town girl like me, had never been. She was awestruck at the variety, selection and typical Whole Foods "pretty stuff". I SOOO enjoy sharing favorite places with my friends.

Here's hoping each of you had a great weekend and spent time with people you love.

Field Roast (or: VegFest, Part1)

So we just returned from Seattle's amazing VegFest extravaganza ...and we're dead tired and stuffed to the eyeballs with good and wondrous vegan foods.

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I'll post the entire story tomorrow, but for now, I have to tell you one little anecdote... this TOTALLY made my day. TOTALLY.

We had just walked into the Exhibit Hall and were dealing with the momentary sensory overload of several hundred bright and colorful booths, with 500 different food samples being cooked, eaten, advertised and given away... Wow.

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Then, right in front of us I saw a familiar banner. The FIELD ROAST people. (If you haven't tried their amazing - and vegan - "grain meats" well, you MUST, you absolutely must. Best stuff e-v-e-r!!)

My kids and the friends with us immediately rushed over to their booth for (what else?) free samples! OK, we buy the stuff all the time, you'd think we'd leave some for the poor souls who haven't yet had the privilege of indulging... but oh no... there we were, filling our faces.

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"MMmmm, *snarff*snarff* try the Apple-Sage.. No, the *snorg*snarff* Chipotle is better..."

Flattering. Stuffing our cheeks like chipmunks ...err... sampling all the wondermous sausages (because it's so freakin' GOOD), one of the employees RECOGNIZED my glamorous self and said "You're Tofu Mom! Wait, we have something for you..."

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For me? Wow. Always nice to be recognised with your mouth full, yeah, maybe it's a BIB!...

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At this point, let me say, I'd been harassing the poor Field Roast people on their blog for a few weeks, asking and hoping they'd be at VegFest yet again this year. They couldn't let me down - I mean, I'd told only about 6798789 people that they had to sample Field Roast, even if they tried nothing else the whole day!!

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But, glamorous or not, I was still amazed and surprised they recognised me. So cool!

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Cooler yet, the employee pulled out a Field Roast Tee Shirt. With my "name" on a little sticky on it. (ignore my purse in the background). Look at THAT!

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They'd been saving it there, just for me, with a zillion and twelve other crazy veg people milling around. How very, very SWEET is THAT!?! I was SO excited I may have almost peed my pants.

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My friends teased me about my "celebrity" status, but seriously, that lasted for about thirty seconds...

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The Field Roast peeps though? Made my day. Totally. Lotta love for the Field Roast - YAY!!! Go buy some sausages!!

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(I'd say that even without the tee shirt.) But now I want to stand on a street corner and wave them in the air. And the tee? Well, I WORE it. Duh! Several people asked me if I was an employee. Ha. No. But I have an official (?) shirt, whee. Now I think I'm going to tie-dye it. It's so awesome. Stay tuned.

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Happy Sunday. More VegFest notes tomorrow!!

VEGFEST, SEATTLE, Part II

VegFest! The day's finally here! An entire convention hall devoted to vegetarian food, product samples (i.e. lots of yummy vegetarian foods to taste or even buy) speakers, chefs, nutritionists, etc...

We met up with friends (see post below) and got a bite to eat first, then headed over...









As we walked over to the Convention Center, I happened to see the Purely Decadent truck parked on a side street and had to run do a happy dance in the street... (Scoops of ice cream bigger than my head... I'm in heaven...).

Once inside the Festival, we wandered up and down aisle after aisle, sampling all sorts of interesting and tasty items. Talk about sensory overload. Wow.

With so much, it was hard to pick a "favorite" but we definitely LOVED the Field Roast booth. Have you tried Field Roast? They call themselves a 'Grain Meat' - basically a really well-done fake meat product. Even if you don't like some of the faux-meats out there, try this!! I know it's not available everywhere, which is too bad. Oh my gosh...

They had generous samples, helpful information and were SO friendly! We jut stood there chatting and trying ALL their yummy items. I am always raving about the stuff to people and getting soy-skeptical omni friends to try it - one time I randomly started talking about it to someone in the grocery store... I should do their PR, I swear! (They're a small artisan company based right here in Seattle, so it's even LOCAL!) it was fun to try everything! If you have access to them in your area, DEFINITELY check it out - the sausages especially? Amazing. My friend's husband, a devout omni :) even gave them his seal of approval!
So of course we had to ham it up (can vegans do that?) a little in front of their sign.

Oh, and one of the staff even recognised me - which was sorta cool; "Hey, you're the Blog Lady" she said. Funny. Yeah, they have a nice little blog here that I'd posted a comment in a while back. My friends called me "The Celebrity Blog Lady" for the rest of the day - :rolling eyes: great!

Other interesting items; samples of Purely Decadent "brand new" flavors they're introducing this summer; Pomegranate-Chip which was just OK, a Coconut Crunch sorta-thing which was too coconutty for me, Strawberry-something which I can't remember the name but we all really liked, and Orange-Creamsicle and Lemon Creamsicle which we agreed were heavenly!

SOOO many other things to try too! Besides the usual - soymilk, granola, energy bars, and so forth, there were about twenty flavors of hummus (we didn't feel a need to sample all of those) lots of salsas, faux meats, rice milk, hemp milk (which I'd never had, really good stuff!) "caviar" made from seaweed which was...um.. interesting...

Speakers included nutritionists, chefs and dietitians. The featured presenter while we were there, was doing a presentation on ways to use nuts. She had good ideas, some of which I already use and others I hadn't thought of, but unfortunately was very soft spoken and it was hard to hear.

There were pretty long lines for some of the more popular samples and sales pitches, so it took us a while to make the rounds, but all-in-all, a really fun and interesting afternoon.

On the hike back to the parking garage we passed the Purely Decadent truck again... and even with tired feet - more happy dances in the pouring (Seattle) rain... yeah, we're weird. Great ending to a great day!
But wait, there's more!

LOOT:

After returning home, I dumped my bag out and took a picture of all the great take-home samples we returned with as well... I had no idea there was so much until I put it all together - and we didn't even hit every booth! I feel like I hit the veggie-sample jackpot all over again.

And last but not least, my 'Sprout', ever the Animal Rights Activist, made several trips past the PETA, Pigs Peace and Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN) booths to stock up on stickers... she immediately covered one of her school binders when we got home and took this picture for me to share ...