season of karen

Mango Lassi Ice Cream with Beet Halwa and Crisp Rice-Coconut Laddu

2012-07-16T12:38:00.002-04:00

I love, love, love beet halwa -- so I was already thinking of making some from the beets we got from our CSA this week, but when I saw that the latest PPK Chopped/Vegan was a dessert challenge demanding beets as one of the four ingredients . . . I took it as a sign.

The mystery ingredients were mango, red beets, dried unsweetened coconut, and crisp rice cereal. I'm a sucker for a scoop of ice cream on top of warm beet halwa, so I made a mango lassi ice cream for the top and a crispy rice and coconut laddu for the bottom. Here it is:

Not the prettiest picture -- the ice cream was starting to melt from the heat even before I scooped it onto the still-warm halwa -- but I'm just happy to have any picture with my broken camera.

The bottom layer is a coconut and crisp rice laddu. I know that laddu with puffed rice are delicious, so I subbed crisp rice cereal for the challenge. The laddu were made from crisp rice cereal and shredded coconut (two of the mystery ingredients), plus ginger, cardamom, cloves, coconut milk, vanilla, and agave nectar. First you make a syrup over low heat with the milk, agave nectar, and spices -- then remove from the heat and mix in the dried coconut and rice cereal. Normally you would then roll the laddu into balls, but I flattened them out into a disc-shape so that they would be a better base for the rest of the sundae.

The middle layer is the beet halwa, made basically the same way as my recipe posted here -- except that I used coconut milk instead of s'milk, left out the cashews, added ginger, and used ground cardamom. I also toasted a little of the shredded coconut to add to the beet halwa while it was simmering.

The melting top layer is the mango lassi ice cream. I've been making crazy amounts of ice cream lately, but here's what's in the mango lassi ice cream: mango*, soy creamer, coconut milk, vanilla soy yogurt, tapioca starch, and sugar. Some of the mango is pureed and mixed in with the rest of the ice cream base, and some is chopped up and mixed into the ice cream for nice little chunks.

In the end, the result was a crispy-crunchy layer, a warm-gooey layer, and a cold-melty-fruity layer. In addition to the four mystery ingredients, I used the following ingredients: coconut milk, agave nectar, vanilla extract, canola oil, soy creamer, vanilla soy yogurt, tapioca starch, sugar, ground ginger, ground cloves, and ground cardamom.

After taking a few pictures with my broken camera (and hoping that my ice cream sundae would even be in one of them), I suddenly remembered that I was going to get to eat this thing -- how exciting! Even though I'd been tasting all the parts separately, the combination was somehow different from any of the individual parts -- and in a totally good way. I managed to secretly eat almost half of it before my daughter caught me and ate the rest. Ah well. At least she liked it!

* The challenge called for fresh mango, but I used frozen and thawed mango. I am embarrassed to tell you how long this mango has been in our freezer, but I'm pretty sure this is the third apartment it's lived in. Yikes! Somehow, miraculously, it is not freezer-burned and still tastes just fine. It's a Chopped/Vegan miracle!

Double Stuffed Peppers

2011-08-05T22:55:00.001-04:00

Last week, I got three giant bell peppers from the farmers' market; when P brought home our CSA vegetables, he informed me that there were three tiny bell peppers in our share. Instantly, an idea hit me -- I double stuffed peppers. I was going to stick those cute tiny peppers inside the giant peppers like Russian nesting dolls.

I didn't have a chance to make the double stuffed peppers (or, as P likes to call them, stuffed pepper stuffed peppers) until tonight at my dad's house, but I have been thinking about them all week. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

The big peppers were stuffed with a mixture of diced jalepeno, soyrizo, brown rice, and spices. The little peppers were inspired by jalapeno poppers, since they were jalapeno-sized bell peppers; they were filled with a combination of vegan cream cheese and vegan pepper jack, with a little surprise at the bottom -- diced jalapenos! The mixture in the big peppers was quite spicy, so the cheese in the little peppers was there to cool things off -- which it did, along with adding a rich creaminess to the whole dish.

Once both mixtures were made, I filled the three big peppers with the soyrizo mixture -- pressing the mixture to the sides and bottom to leave a space for the wee peppers. The remaining space was still a bit big for the little peppers, so I added some salsa into the holes before sliding the little guys in there. The double stuffed peppers were then baked at 350° for 30 minutes.

While they baked, I got the side dishes ready -- refried beans and a lovely salad -- and made a lime vinaigrette for the salad. The salad was dressed with a bit of salsa and the lime vinaigrette; the spiciness of the salsa worked really well with the acidity and sweetness of the lime vinaigrette, resulting in a super-delicious salad to go with the super-delicious stuffed-pepper-stuffed-peppers.

The only downfall of this recipe was that the peppers were SO stuffed! One complete pepper, plus the salad, plus the beans, was more than any of us could manage to eat! Which means that the downfall is really also a secret bonus, since we all have another pepper-half to eat tomorrow for lunch! Woo!

Cilantro Mashed Potatoes, Jalapeno Gravy, and Seitan Sausage

2011-08-03T02:56:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner was awesome. And I can say this without bragging, because I didn't do a single thing. My wonderful husband, whose culinary repertoire to this point consisted of grilled cheese and english muffin pizzas, decided to make dinner for me tonight. I teach until 10 pm, so by the time I get home I am totally exhausted and starving and not feeling like making dinner. But! Tonight! I didn't have to do a thing but sit on the couch and play with our daughter while P was cooking up a storm. I wasn't even allowed in the kitchen!

He made cilantro mashed potatoes with a white jalapeno gravy that was spicy and creamy and delicious. He also made a mixture of chard, corn, jalapenos, onions, garlic, plus some tomato-coriander seitan sausages I made last week. The mixture was cooked up with a base made from jalapenos and cilantro; it was pretty spicy, but the sweetness of the corn really balanced it out. All of the vegetables are either from our CSA or the farmers' market, and the whole thing was delicious! I was amazed by how fantastic everything tasted and how well it worked together -- and extra-thrilled that I didn't have to do a damn thing!

P had his in layers -- corn tortilla, potatoes, gravy, and the sausage mixture on top. I made myself a taco, with a pile of mashed potatoes and gravy on the side. We both had seconds . . . and I might've had thirds if there'd been anything left.

He says he intends to cook like this once a week from now on. I am totally excited -- and will be sure to post P's contributions to our seasons of Karen.

Green Bean French Fries (Roasted Green Beans)

2011-07-21T12:45:00.004-04:00

We got the world's biggest bag of green beans from our CSA this past week -- and I had a plan for them! But when I got home from school, P rejected that plan, causing me to scramble at the last minute to come up with something else for dinner. What I finally settled on was roasting up the green beans, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper -- plus a little onion powder and garlic powder. It is super-easy to roast green beans; just throw them in the oven at 400° for about 12 minutes, periodically checking on them and shaking the pan around so they don't get crispy just on one side.

We were calling them green bean french fries, because that's basically what it tasted like! P said he would much rather have green bean french fries than the breaded zucchini sticks that are at diners everywhere, though that particular menu change doesn't seem all that likely. I had a hard time getting a good picture of the beans, because this kept happening:

So . . . I guess that's a good thing?

I think these pictures speak for themselves -- the green bean french fries were a hit!

Summer Squash Cakes

2011-07-18T20:10:00.001-04:00

Last summer, I made some zucchini cakes -- a vegan version of crab cakes, the way I remember them from my childhood when we would head to the shore every summer. I've been a vegetarian for sixteen years now, but still -- in the summer, I think about crab cakes.

When we got our first summer squash of the season from our CSA this week, I instantly knew that it was time for some vegan crab cakes. Technically, these are squash cakes and not zucchini cakes -- since they are made with a green summer squash that isn't zucchini -- but it is basically the same thing.

These cakes might not taste exactly like crab cakes, but they definitely serve the role -- flaky, moist, buttery, and extra-delicious. The kelp gives it that sea flavor -- with almost a fishiness to it -- while the Old Bay calls on a classic crab cake seasoning.

The only time-consuming part of this recipe is grating the squash, but I took care of that as soon as I woke up this morning -- so at dinner time, it was a simple matter of throwing everything together in a bowl and then pan-frying. This recipe easily scales up or down, depending on how much squash you have -- but my one small green squash yielded the cup and a half of grated squash called for in the recipe. This amount of squash produced four big squash cakes -- plus one small one for Zelda.

Zucchini or Summer Squash Cakes

1 1/2 c grated squash or zucchini, patted dry
4 tbsp olive oil
1 c plain bread crumbs
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp kelp granules (I use this, but really any kind of powdered/granulated seaweed works)
2 tbsp flour
oil for pan frying

Mix together the squash, olive oil, bread crumbs, Old Bay, and kelp in a bowl. Form into patties, then dredge in the flour on both sides. Drizzle some oil into a pan and let it heat up over a medium-high flame. Once the oil is hot, pan fry about three to five minutes per side, until it turns a lovely golden brown.

Kale Pesto

2011-07-17T21:05:00.006-04:00

The other day, as I stared at a huge bunch of kale from our CSA, a thought occurred to me. I love basil pesto; I've heard of spinach pesto; why not kale pesto? We had two small sprigs of basil this week, so they were recruited -- along with said huge bunch of kale -- into pesto!

There wasn't anything fancy about the recipe itself -- it was a very standard pesto recipe, but with kale stepping in for the bulk of the greenery. It's extremely easy to make pesto; just put everything in the food processor and process the food until it has a nice smooth texture. This pesto was made of pine nuts, rice-parmesan, olive oil, garlic, kale -- with the stems removed and coarsely chopped, basil leaves, and a little salt and pepper.

It took just as long to wash and chop the kale, assemble the other ingredients, and prepare the pesto in the food processor as it took for my pot of water to boil and the pasta to cook. Quick and easy! And, to make it even easier next time, this recipe made three times as much pesto as I needed for tonight's dinner -- so I froze two individual servings of pesto for the next couple of times!

As easy as tonight's dinner was, I didn't have the energy even for this much work last night after I got back from doing work at school. I present you with a bonus photo of last night's dinner -- roasted CSA broccoli and farmers' market potatoes plus salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.

I love roasting -- you just throw your vegetables in the oven and forget about them, then -- BAM! -- dinner's ready! Despite my intense love for both roasting and broccoli, I'd actually never had roasted broccoli before -- but this will certainly not be the last time. Roasting the broccoli gave it a fantastically nutty flavor; I may have just found my new favorite way to prepare my favorite vegetable.

Indian Potato-n-Kale Stuffed Peppers

2011-07-15T00:44:00.005-04:00

We got some tasty-looking green bell peppers at the farmers' market last week, but I wasn't sure what to do with them -- maybe stuffed peppers? -- and then inspiration struck. With some red-skin potatoes (also from the farmers' market) and a bunch of kale (from our CSA), I would make an Indian-flavored, spicy mashed potato and sauteed kale mixture to stuff the peppers with.

P chopped up the kale nice and small so that there would not be big chunks mixed in with the smoother texture of the potato, while I chopped and boiled the potatoes until they were soft enough to mash and got the peppers ready -- cutting off the tops and scooping out the seeds inside. I sauteed the kale in a bit of olive oil and some Indian spices, including the hot curry paste I use for just about everything. Once the kale was cooked and the potatoes were mashed, I mixed it all up together -- it already tasted delicious, but I managed to get (most of) the mixture into the peppers anyway.

Once stuffed, I stuck the peppers in the oven at 375 for about 20 minutes, until the peppers were nice and soft -- but not too soft! The texture of the peppers was perfectly balanced between tenderness and crispness, and the top of the stuffing peeking out the top got delightfully crunchy from being uncovered in the oven. Fabulous!

We have one pepper left, and you can bet that we are going to be fighting over it for lunch tomorrow!

Grilled Kale

2011-07-11T16:33:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, we barbecued with my dad -- and he had the idea to grill some kale along with our corn and veggie burgers. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first -- but he talked me into it. And I'm so glad he did! The kale turned out amazing.

It had that delicious smokiness from the grill, and was crisp on the edges while the rest of it was still nice and soft. We made sure not to cook it too long, so the kale wasn't bitter -- and it turned out with a perfectly rich, smoky flavor.

The preparation was simple -- we tossed everything in some olive oil, salt and pepper, and a little bit of cayenne pepper. First, we grilled some CSA carrots and spring onions with the chopped up pieces of kale stem; once those started to get nice and soft, I threw in the leafy part of the kale. I made sure to keep stirring up the veggies so that the kale didn't get charred on one side, but the whole cooking process only took about ten minutes.

You can see our farmers' market corn and black bean burgers in the background, but the grilled kale was definitely the star of this meal! Grilled kale is definitely a must for our future barbecues!

Asian Chik'n Salad with Scallion Pancake

2011-06-24T12:42:00.003-04:00

Earlier this week, I made these delicious salads as part of my dad's birthday-father's day celebration. Having a nice big salad for dinner is pretty much his favorite thing, so I made these -- with some fabulous salad greens from the CSA, tangerine vinaigrette, and veggie chicken (Trader Joe's chicken-less strips -- my dad's favorite), garnished with sesame seeds. The chik'n was cooked up with some plum sauce, red pepper flakes, ginger, garlic, and a little peanut oil.

As you can see from the picture, we also had some scallion pancakes with our salad -- made from the last of the spring onions from our CSA and whole wheat pastry flour. Overall, a tasty, satisfying, light summer meal -- and, most importantly, my dad loved it!

Curried Chick Peas & Kale on Potato Pancakes

2011-06-15T22:34:00.005-04:00

One of our classic family favorites is curried chick peas and some kind of green vegetable -- with some potatoes thrown in if I have them. I've posted about it before, because we really do have it all the time! Last night, however, I made a slight variation on the classic garbanzo'n'green extravaganza.

The chick peas and chard were prepared as usual, but -- instead of having potatoes as part of the curried mixture -- it was served on top of potato pancakes. It was delicious -- and a fun twist on one of our standard dishes!

Despite the fact that the chick peas were quite spicy, Zelda ate a million of them -- and refused to eat any of the potato pancake. In the background, you can see a glass of homemade limeade that we had with the meal. Zelda was watching Yo Gabba Gabba -- and Plex taught us how to make lemonade (squeeze lemons, add water, add honey, stir). We didn't have any lemons, but we did have a couple of limes -- so we made our limeade with agave nectar. Yum!

Thai Enchiladas with Kale, Black Beans, and Sweet Potato

2011-06-10T22:13:00.004-04:00

At long last, our CSA has started up again! This week, we got kale, spinach, lettuce, arugala, mustard greens, spring onions, sage, lemon balm, and radishes.

We had our official first CSA meal of the season last night at my dad's house, after picking up the vegetables. Last night I made a sweet and spicy stirfry with all of the mustard greens and some veggie chicken that my dad had (Trader Joe's chicken-less strips); the sauce was made from plum sauce, peanut oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, and some spices. We ate the stirfry over brown rice, garnished with some sesame seeds.

Alas, I don't have a picture of last night's meal (though I should have one whenever my dad e-mails it to me) -- so let's talk about tonight's meal, the second official meal of the season!

Tonight, we had thai enchiladas filled with kale, black beans, and sweet potato -- and they were awesome. The filling was creamy and delicious, and the various flavors blended really well to make an amazing meal. I considered keeping the secret of this complicated-sounding recipe classified -- but the best part of this super-tasty meal was how easy it was to throw together. This comes with a confession that I didn't make my enchilada sauce or most of this recipe from scratch; no, there was a very crucial assist from my friend carton of soup.

In our pantry, we had a box of Pacific Foods Thai Sweet Potato Soup. I strained out the liquid to be the base of the sauce and left the chunky sweet potato bits for filling. I added a can of drained black beans to the mostly sweet potato mixture, then added kale that had been chopped and sauteed.

The liquid from the soup is pretty thick to start, but needs a little bit of thickening to be really good as an enchilada sauce. I think coconut flour is a good thickener to use, since there is already coconut in the soup -- but really, any thickener will do. Whisk in a little bit of your thickener of choice until it is smooth, then heat gently until the sauce thickens up enough to pour over the enchiladas.

We only had small, taco-sized corn tortillas -- so these were really mini enchiladas. One container of soup and half of our part of the kale yielded nine small enchiladas. You'll want to drizzle a little bit of oil and sauce on the bottom of the baking pan so that the tortillas don't stick or get hard on the bottom. Roll up the tortillas with the filling and lay them in the baking pan; when they are all assembled and comfortably snuggled together into the pan, pour the sauce evenly over all of the enchiladas. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, covered in tin foil so your tortillas don't dry out.

When there was about five minutes left, I decided on a whim to sprinkle a bit of soy cheddar over the tops of the enchiladas to give them some cheeziness -- but that is definitely optional. The darker sauce on top of the cheese is a little bit of extra sauce drizzled over the top. You can see a bit of kale and black beans peeking out shyly at the end of the tortillas. Overall, not the most photogenic creation, but definitely super yummy -- and easy!

Layered Chocolate Pie

2011-02-27T21:25:00.019-05:00

Yesterday, my family gathered at my grandmother's house to celebrate her life. My grandmother was an amazing woman -- super glamorous, highly opinionated, passionate activist, wonderful artist . . . and ultimate gourmand. Everyone who knew her knew that she loved a huge range of cuisines and was extremely vocal about her opinions on different foods or restaurants. In providing dessert for the event, I knew that I wanted to make something delicious that she'd be proud of. Since she loved chocolate, I decided that one of my desserts would definitely be a chocolate pie; for variety, I also made a berry tart. Since there are several steps to each dessert, I'll just post about the chocolate pie here and will save the berry tart for another later.

There were a couple of considerations in making these desserts other than just trying to make them tasty! Since this was a day for family, I wanted everyone to be able to participate -- so these pies reflect the various dietary restrictions present. As always, there are no eggs or milk, but there is also no wheat, no sugar, and the whole thing is low-carb* to be diabetic friendly.

When I was shopping for ingredients, I came across coconut flour, which I had never seen before -- but in addition to being gluten-free it is also low-carb, with most of the carbohydrates coming from fiber. Since it looked perfect for my needs, I decided to give it a try despite having never cooked with it before! Some quick googling didn't turn up any useful recipes, so I plunged in blind -- but fortune was on my side, and surprisingly the results were quite tasty! I actually made two of each kind of pie, but halved my recipe below so the proportions are right for one pie.

Chocolate Pie

The chocolate pie consists of three layers -- the chocolate crust on the bottom, a layer of chocolate ganache, and a layer of chocolate custard.

Chocolate Crust

6 tbsp coconut flour
2 tbsp melted earth balance
1 1/2 tbsp ener-g
6 tbsp cocoa powder
6 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together dry ingredients, then mix in the wet ingredients until well-mixed. The dough will still be fairly wet, so use a rubber spatula to spread it on the bottom of a nine inch pan. I used a cake pan with flat sides for one (with crust only on the bottom) and a pie dish with sloped sides for the other (with crust up the sides); the cake pan is pictured above. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

Full disclosure: I was running out of earth balance when I made this, so I might have made more or used other proportions otherwise -- but this is the amount I made yesterday, and it worked fine. Feel free to make more though! Additionally, to keep it sugar-free I used grain-sweetened chocolate chips; if you don't care about the sugar but want to keep it gluten-free, use regular dairy-free chocolate chips.

1/2 c soy milk
1 tbsp earth balance
2 tbsp chocolate chips

Place s'milk and earth balance in a saucepot, then bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. As soon as it boils, take it off the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until they are well-melted and thoroughly combined. Pour the ganache into the prepared pie crust and place in fridge to cool.

Chocolate Custard

This is also great by itself as chocolate pudding, though it needs a touch less tapioca starch if you intend to eat it plain instead of as part of a pie.

1 can coconut milk
1/2 c cocoa powder
2 tbsp tapioca starch
3 packets of truvia stevia
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp agave nectar

Whisk all ingredients together in a saucepot before turning on heat. Once the mixture is well-combined, turn the heat on medium and continue to whisk. The mixture will thicken as it heats; once it is evenly thickened, pour the custard over the cooled ganache and refrigerate for a few hours. You may want to smooth the top with a rubber spatula before placing it in the fridge.

* With the ingredients I used, there were 13 carbs for a slice (1/12) of the chocolate pie.

Pumpkin Cutlets & Solstice Dinner

2010-12-23T03:19:00.006-05:00

At the end of last week, I revisited my squash nuggets recipe -- this time, making cutlets instead of nuggets! I also didn't have any squash handy, so I used a 15 oz can of pureed pumpkin instead of the mashed squash. I used thyme, oregano, sage, marjoram, garlic powder, and a bit of salt to season them. They were superterrific this way! We ate them with brown gravy and cranberry relish, with some lovely green beans in a dijon vinaigrette made by our friend Jimmy on the side.

Then on Tuesday night, we had dinner with my dad and brother to celebrate winter solstice! This picture is a bit dark because we were dining by candlelight, but the meal was amazing. We had a celebration roast with a pomegranate glaze and extra pomegranate jelly on the side, some roasted root vegetables, a lovely salad with chunks of oranges and an orange vinaigrette, and rolls like my dad's grandmother used to make for the holidays. Delicious! The pomegranate glaze and jelly were made from squeezing the juice from pomegranate seeds, whisking that together with a bit of cornstarch and a bit of agave nectar, and then continuing to whisk as it heated and thickened! P did all the juice squeezing, so he really did all the hard work -- and the end result tasted amazing.

For dessert, there were chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, an eggnog cake, and plenty of soy eggnog. Zelda chowed down on the pomegranate jelly, the rolls, and some cake for dessert; based on her reactions, I'd say her first solstice was a success!

Vegan Sufganiyot!

2010-12-04T19:28:00.003-05:00

A little more appropriate for Hanukkah, tonight I made sufganiyot -- sponge-y doughnuts filled with jam and covered with powdered sugar. In fact, the word 'sufganiyot' comes from 'sfog,' the Hebrew word for sponge. Slightly healthier than the normal variety, these little guys were baked instead of fried.

They came out great! Perfect sponge-y texture, filled with a dollop of raspberry jam. Zelda is not to be trusted with sticky jam, but she chowed down on plain doughnuts -- while P and I ate the gussied up ones. I modified the recipe from here, but the most important modification was making doughnuts that were fillable instead of doughnuts that already have holes all the way through! I've made those doughnuts about a million times and they are awesome, so do yourself a favor and try them out!

Vegan Matzo Brie

2010-12-03T19:53:00.003-05:00

Sure, it's the wrong holiday for matzo, but I haven't had matzo brie in forever -- and P has never had it! -- so I decided it was as good a time as any to whip some up.

with powdered sugar

There are lots of parameters for matzo brie: is it matzo or matzah? is it brie or brei? it is more like scrambled eggs or more like french toast or a fritatta? is it sweet or savory?

The variety I'm used to from my childhood is the sweet, french toast-like version -- and so that's what I made! Not the most photogenic, but totally delicious -- topped with maple syrup, jam, or powdered sugar. Even Zelda devoured the matzo brie!

with raspberry jam

Matzo Brie

12 unsalted matzo (one box)
1 box silken tofu (I used firm, but it doesn't really matter)
1/2 c non-dairy milk of your choice (I used rice milk)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp black salt
1 tbsp maple syrup

Break the matzo into pieces that are about two inches on each side and run the pieces under cold water. Drain them in a colander, and set aside -- the matzo should soften up quite a bit.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Place the softened matzo in a large pan and cover thoroughly with the tofu mixture. The matzo should be totally coated in the tofu mixture throughout, so make sure it gets evenly distributed! A rubber spatula can help with the spreading.

Cook for about seven to ten minutes on one side, then flip the mixture over so it can brown a bit more on the other side -- about five more minutes. You may want to cut the matzo brie into a couple of big pieces to flip it more easily.

Serve with jam or maple syrup!

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T20:08:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving is the big holiday in our family, so I spent most of the week getting ready for the big day. And here's what we had!

Yes, that is two kinds of stuffing on the plate there -- cornbread stuffing at the bottom and sausage stuffing at the top. All of the produce (yams, potatoes, chard, cranberries) came from the farmer's market. That delicious slab of protein in the middle there is Field Roast's hazelnut cranberry roast en croute.

Not pictured: pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, apple-cranberry pie, macademia creme, vanilla coconut milk ice cream. The apple-cranberry pie (made by my friend Sarah) was one of the very best apple pies I have ever eaten -- and certainly the best apple cranberry pie I'd ever had. Yum! In fact, the only apple pie to rival this one is the apple pie that my Aunt Karen (for whom the blog is named!) would make every year at Thanksgiving. If I can't have that one . . . well, this cranapple pie is a delightful substitute!

Squash Nuggets

2010-11-20T18:02:00.004-05:00

We went to a potluck last night and I've been feeling in the autumn spirit as I think about what to make for Thanksgiving next week, so I wanted to bring some very seasonal, autumn-y dishes. I decided to make pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon creamcheese frosting, and these little guys -- squash nuggets.

I was thinking about the super-delicious zucchini cakes I made this summer and wanted to make something in that family, where the vegetable is transformed into the centerpiece of the meal instead of a side. The nuggets have a nice chewy texture from the vital wheat gluten, more like a meat analog than like a pure vegetable. We ate ours dipped in mustard, but they were also good plain.

Really any spice blend would work with these little guys! Next time, I will probably try cinnamon, curry powder, coriander, and ginger. Another blend that would work great with the squash is rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, and garlic. This recipe is definitely open to lots of different flavorings, so you can get creative with the spices!

Squash Nuggets

makes two dozen nuggets or six cutlets

1 1/2 c roasted squash, mashed (you can also use canned pumpkin)
1 c vital wheat gluten
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp marjoram

Combine ingredients in a bowl and knead until strings start to appear. Form the dough into small balls about 1 inch in diameter, then flatten them out into nugget shape and place nuggets on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush the tops of the nuggets with olive oil, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes -- flipping the nuggets halfway through.

I roasted three small winter squashes left from our CSA -- one delicata, one acorn, and one butternut -- but really any kind of winter squash (including pumpkin!) would work. To roast the squashes, I cut them in half and placed them on a lightly greased baking sheet, then threw them in the oven at 400° for about 45 minutes. If you don't want to roast them yourself, canned pumpkin or squash puree would definitely work in place of the roasted squash. My three squashes yielded a cup and a half of mashed squash, but if you end up with more or less squash after roasting, this recipe could be scaled up or down accordingly.

Roasting the squash takes the longest amount of time; the rest of the recipe comes together very quickly and easily. Since you don't actually have to be there watching the squash while it roasts (in fact, I left P with the roasting squash while Zelda & I went to the store to pick up some ingredients for the cupcakes!), it is not a very time-consuming recipe. Definitely easy enough -- and tasty enough! -- to be worth making again!

Update: These nuggets have become a family favorite! You can either make a whole bunch of nuggets or make them into larger cutlets. I normally make some big cutlets for the grown-ups and nuggets for Zelda.

Rice Noodles with Broccoli in Peanut Sauce, version 2.0

2010-11-20T02:53:00.006-05:00

It's true that I've posted a similar dish in the past, but there have been some advancements made between the last time and Monday night, when we had this for dinner.

The first advancement is that I made my own peanut sauce this time, instead of copping out and using an already prepared variety. I found Thai culinary stock at Wegman's -- which was fabulous! --though any kind of vegetable broth would certainly have worked in its place. To make the sauce, I began by heating up some of the broth and then mixing in a couple of tablespoons of natural peanut butter so that it dissolved completely. I also added sriracha, lime juice, and a little bit of tapioca flour to thicken the sauce a tad more. I actually meant to add coconut milk, but completely forgot about it; the additional creaminess would be welcome in the future, but the sauce still managed to be quite tasty without it. Even though there wasn't much actual peanut butter in the sauce, it still had a nice, full peanuty flavor.

The second advancement is about the noodles themselves. Previously, I always would drop the noodles in boiling water for two or three minutes before using them; on Monday, I learned about a different technique! Instead of boiling, you can soak the rice noodles in cold water for about twenty minutes and (after draining them) they're all ready to use.

The noodles and peanut sauce, stir-fried with delicious broccoli from the farmers' market, are pictured above. Unfortunately, today was the last day of the farmers' market, so the broccoli we picked up this morning will probably be the last we have for awhile! In the past week, I've learned that there is one local farm market that will be open through the end of December -- so we'll be able to get winter squash, apple cider, and canned tomatoes there, though I'm not sure if they have anything else. It would be a very long winter on just squash and tomatoes! I would love to continue eating only locally-grown produce during the winter, but I'm sure we would get very sick of squash and tomatoes. I am still looking into the potential for growing some spinach inside, but I'm not sure how well that would work. More to come on this later!

Garlicky Kale, White Beans, & Sausage

2010-11-13T22:57:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, plus our CSA has been finished for several weeks now -- but I'm still here! Things have been crazy with school and the tiny one, but I'm going to try to get back into posting regularly.

We got a great haul at the farmers' market this week, but I am already beginning to worry about the weeks to come; next week is the final week of the season . . . where am I going to get produce then? Are there any farms around here that are open year round? Should I try to grow some indoor vegetables?

Those worries aside, let me tell you about tonight's dinner! I have to start with a confession. I decided what to make tonight because I've always thought the word 'garlicky' is one of the best words ever, and wanted an excuse to use it. That, and we got a gorgeous bunch of kale from the farmers' market this week!

Kale, white beans, and sausage is one of those meals I think of as very classic Italian, and I was all set to make my Italian friends proud (I'm looking at you, JerzeyGrrl!) by making the Italian sausages from Vegan Brunch and giving this meal the proper Italian treatment. But . . . well, I didn't have any tomato paste. Or fennel. Or oregano. Or, really, any of the appropriate seasonings to make some good Italian food. I know, I know.

So what did I have? My answer to everything: curry paste! Instead of tomato paste, I used curry paste; instead of Italian seasonings, I used Indian seasonings. I always have the goods to make Indian food, and so I turned this Italian classic into something new.

I used cannellini beans as the base for the sausages, since I was going to be using them for the rest of the meal anyway. The sausages turned out a little softer than usual, which I am going to attribute to the softness of the beans that I was using -- but they were super tasty! After steaming the sausages, I diced two of them up and sauteed them in a little olive oil before adding the kale.

The kale came with a whole boatload of garlic -- it was supposed to be garlicky, after all! -- and a bit more of the same Indian spices I'd used in the sausages. Once the kale started wilting appropriately, I added the white beans at the end. The white beans really just have to get warm, but they also need to get mixed up with the rest to make sure they get nicely coated with all those other delicious flavors.

Even though this wasn't exactly the meal I had in mind when I started out, it was a fantastic dinner! The sausages take time to cook, but it is an easy meal to throw together -- and you don't have to pay attention to the sausages while they're steaming, so you are free to go off and do something else! The Indian flavors really came through nicely in the sausages and the kale, putting a new spin on an old classic. Definitely a meal we'll be having again!

Zucchini Bread Contest

2010-08-27T15:35:00.003-04:00

Our CSA holds an annual zucchini bread (well, summer squash baked good) contest -- but I've always been afraid to enter. People always have preconceived notions about vegan baked goods, and I didn't really feel like dealing with it. But! This year, I put on my big girl pants and entered. I submitted two things -- chocolate summer squash bread and lemon zucchini muffins. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. (Sorry!) Well, the results are in . . . and those lemon zucchini muffins were apparently a hit!

Here's what I won! A container of fresh raspberries and blackberries, and a tote bag with the name of our CSA on it. The berries were super delicious. Hooray for lemon zucchini muffins!

Falafel and Cucumber-Tomato Salad

2010-08-21T12:23:00.003-04:00

Last night, I made a cucumber-tomato salad and some falafel for dinner. We had a bunch of cucumbers and more tomatoes than you could shake a stick at -- so what better way to use some of those veggies up? And who doesn't love falafel?

For the cucumber-tomato salad, I used a bunch of CSA veggies: three small cucumbers (probably about two average sized cucumbers), one and a half giant tomatoes, and two small onions. The onions were chopped up and lightly cooked with some garlic before mixing with the other chopped veggies, for the same reasons as the last time I made a cucumber salad.

Since there was more of a middle eastern vibe to this meal, I wanted a hint of mint in the salad -- but I had no fresh mint. Instead, I made a small cup of mint tea and used that as the liquid when I cooked up the onions and garlic, letting it completely cook in. The veggies were tossed with a bit of lemon juice, a bit of lime juice, and a bit of olive oil -- then they just sat together in the refrigerator, letting their flavors mingle until it was ready to be served!

Falafel is another one of those quick and easy meals. I baked them this time, since we were bringing dinner over to the home of our friends who are moving out -- and their entire apartment is in boxes. Much easier to throw a tray in the oven than make a mess with the stove! Ahead of time, I mixed two cans of chick peas with few splashes of lemon juice and a variety of spices -- some cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, and salt; this mixture was mashed all together with a fork, then I added a bit of chickpea flour to help bind the falafel balls together.

I made fourteen moderately-sized falafel balls in total, brushing them with a bit of olive oil on both sides before putting them in the oven. I had never baked falafel before, so I cooked them for the first 10 minutes on 350 before realizing the oven needed to be much hotter if I wanted the falafel to get crispy; the last 25 minutes were cooked at 400. Halfway through the baking time, I flipped the falafel over and made sure they still had a bit of oil brushed over them to keep from drying out.

They were delicious! The whole meal is easy to make -- and you can make it all ahead, heating up the falafel when you're ready to eat. The warm falafel coupled with the cold salad is a really great contrast, and the spices of the falafel are balanced nicely by the crisp coolness of the vegetables in the salad. Definitely a great meal for a summer night!

Vegan Omelette with Jalapenos, Potatoes, & Pepper Jack 'Cheese'

2010-08-18T08:00:00.006-04:00

I am closing in on the perfect vegan omelette. I swear. I'm not quite there yet, but it is slow and steady progress from the last attempt at a vegan omelette. Last time, the outcome was a little too fluffy; this time, not quite fluffy enough. The taste is there -- the kala namak and chickpea flour combination are definitely where it's at! --, but the texture needs to be just right.

It's getting close though; so close I can almost taste it! I am definitely going to make another attempt this week, so hopefully I'll have an actual factual recipe to post soon instead of being a tease with only pictures.

Pretty though, isn't it? It's stuffed with home fried potatoes, a red jalepeno, a green jalepeno, and pepper jack style almond cheese. The home fries were cooked with garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and a little sea salt; the cayenne pepper gave them a nice little kick! The red jalepeno was nice and sweet, with just a hint of spice to it; the green jalepeno lacked that sweetness but was a bit hotter than the red, giving a different layer of heat to the overall flavor. Finally, the almond cheese bound all of the filling together and gave the oozy cheesiness that I look for in an omelette. Totally delicious.

(Full disclosure: I probably wouldn't have posted another recipeless post about the vegan omelette, but I am compensating for the fact that I forgot to take a picture of a meal I wanted to post earlier this week! The missing meal was a lime basil pesto -- yummy pesto goodness with a hint of citrus! -- over rotini. If we get more basil at the CSA this week, I will try again! Pinky swear!)

Mexican Cucumber Salad

2010-08-10T22:34:00.005-04:00

A couple of days ago, I made a big batch of black beans to use in various recipes; once the beans are cooked instead of dry, they need to get eaten -- so I was looking for a way to use the beans with some of the vegetables from this week's share. We had a nice cucumber, so I decided to make a cucumber salad with a Mexican-style twist.

Neither P nor I are fans of the bite that raw onions have, so I cooked the onions a bit with the beans to mellow their flavor a little. Other than that, this meal was basically of the chop'n'toss variety; chop up the ingredients and throw them all together in a bowl. Extremely easy, though it does take a little bit of time, since I wanted to let all the flavors mingle together in the refrigerator for awhile before serving.

It was the perfect meal for a hot night: cool and fresh, with a delightful tang from the lime juice. P ate his with a few warmed corn tortillas, but I ate mine just as is. It would surely be delicious with the addition of a diced avocado -- or a few dashes of hot sauce, if you're into that!

Mexican Cucumber Salad

2 cups black beans
1 onion, diced
1 cucumber, diced
2-3 small tomatoes, diced
1-2 hot peppers, minced
4 tbsp lime juice (or the juice of two limes)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh cilantro
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Optionally, you can first cook up the onions with a bit of water to mellow their flavor; I cooked them with the beans, because the beans needed to cook a tad longer -- and then let the whole thing cool in the refrigerator while I chopped the rest of the vegetables.

In either case, combine lime juice through salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well; add the vegetables and beans to the mixture and stir to evenly distribute the liquid. Refrigerate about half an hour, to allow the juices to mingle. More juice should form as the salad sits, so be sure to mix the entire salad again before serving.

Curried Chick Peas, Chard, & Potatoes

2010-07-28T19:08:00.005-04:00

One of our family favorites -- you know, the standard meals that we have a million times a year, the one you whip up quickly when you have no time to cook -- is curried chick peas and green peas. Sometimes I throw potatoes in there too, or chik'n pieces . . . however the mood strikes that particular night. Well, we didn't have any peas in our CSA this week, but we did have a bunch of delicious-looking chard -- and some potatoes from the farmers' market. The chard looked super fresh and awesome, and was just begging to be devoured -- so I decided to mix up the ol'favorite with some chard.

The potatoes get diced and cooked first, in a little olive oil and a good-sized amount of curry paste. While P and I use a fairly hot curry paste, you can use whatever level of spice fits your personal taste. After sauteeing a little bit so the outsides of the potatoes are heading down the road into crispy territory (and are well-covered in curry paste), I put the lid on the pan to steam the potatoes for a bit so they can get nice and soft. While the potatoes are cooking, I wash and chop the chard, then open a can of chick peas. The chick peas -- and any stem bits of chard -- get added to the potatoes first, stirred up so they get their own nice thin coating of curry paste. Finally, the leafy chard gets added last, since it doesn't need to cook very long before serving. The whole meal comes together quickly, and is one of my favorites!

Kalesanga

2010-07-24T23:36:00.004-04:00

Tonight I made a giant tray of kale lasagna -- which I affectionally refer to as kalesagna. Since I made it with rice noodles, the whole thing was also gluten-free . . . though we ruined the effect by having slices of farmers' market whole wheat bread on the side.

I made my first kalesagna right after Aunt Karen died, to bring up with us when we went to be with the family; it felt Karen-y to me when I made it -- so it seemed particularly appropriate to make a kalesagna as part of my season of Karen.

The lasagna is made up of layers of tomato sauce, sauteed kale, and tofu ricotta; I had a bag of Daiya mozzarella cheese still hanging out in our fridge from before, so I used that for the top of the kalesagna.

The tofu ricotta I always make is based on the ppk's recipe, though I have made it so often now that I never look at the recipe or measure anything; in fact, when I just now looked up the recipe, I was a bit surprised to see it called for salt. My variant is a bit different from that recipe, but it is essentially the same thing. I've seen lots of vegan ricotta recipes out there, but this one is definitely the best. Even if I don't exactly follow it anymore, it's still definitely the best starting point for making your own ricotta. Plus the recipe is super simple, and throws together quickly -- always a bonus.