VeganMoFo: First Stew of the Season

The weather is chilly, the days are short, and it's definitely stew time. We've got a farmer's market going til Thanksgiving here, and I'm way too excited for fall veggies. I was able to find some fresh cranberry beans, which are gorgeous:


There's something therapeutic about shelling beans. It's this good ol' hands-on feeling, like I need me a porch, a rocking chair, and some lemonade. That I do.
These, along with the rest of my haul, were destined to become the first stew of the season:

The First Stew

1 Medium yellow onion
2 large garlic cloves
6 carrots
2 bell peppers
2 cups cranberry beans, shelled
1 zucchini
1 tiny jalapeño pepper
2 cups vegetable stock
Shredded fresh basil ( a good fistful)
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 cup reserved cooking liquid from beans
Olive oil for cooking the vegetables
Fresh parsley for garnish

Fill a large stock pot with warm water, and set on high heat to boil. Once it boils, add the 2 cups of shelled cranberry beans- do not add salt! It makes the beans take longer to cook / toughens them. Turn the heat to medium, where you should reach a rolling boil, and let boil for 45 minutes or so. Taste the beans for texture at around 40 minutes, and keep testing. You want them to be soft and creamy- and that can take up to an hour. It's worth the wait. Tough beans, while an awesome comeback, are not very tasty.
Meanwhile:
Chop the onion, and put your garlic through a garlic press. If you don't have a garlic press, you should get one (but we'll let you chop it this time.) Like a friend of mine said: "it will change your life." It has. It intensifies the garlic flavor, interestingly enough, which is perfect for this application.
Chop your carrots and bell peppers into roughly the same sized pieces- set aside.
Slice your zucchini into rounds, dice your jalapeño and set aside
In a large deep pot, cover the bottom with olive oil, turn to medium heat, and add your onions and garlic.
Once the onions have softened, add the bell pepper and carrots, and let cook until slightly softened, around 7 minutes.
Add the 2 cups veggie stock, marjoram, and salt & pepper to taste. Let the carrots & peppers get tender, about another 5-7 minutes.
Add the cooked beans, zucchini rounds, diced jalapeño, and fresh basil. If the mixture seems on the dry side, add the reserved bean cooking liquid here.
Taste for seasoning and adjust salt/pepper if necessary.
The zucchini takes very little time to cook, and the beans are already done, you want to heat everything through and incorporate the flavors.
Garnish with fresh parsley, the underdog of the herb world, under-rated and delicious.


Cozy up with a big ol' slice of toasted crusty bread and dig in!

Sure it's simple, it's warm, delicious, and it's just what the weather called for. Plus, you can make this recipe even quicker if you use canned cannellini beans, what's not to love?

VeganMoFo #3 - Fall Quick Fixes

Today was the subtle, yet sudden clicking of: Oh, hello Fall. So nice to see you.

At some point earlier, I went out and bought a bunch of pumpkin butter. Usually, I do crumpets & pumpkin butter, all proper like - But today, a light switch magically flicked on, and I was illuminated. I did two simple, obvious, amazing things- and I have no idea why I'd never done them before.


One: Cold mornings on a work day, I'm an instant oatmeal packet kind of a girl. This time around, I got plain instant oatmeal, prepared it to directions, and added a couple of teaspoons of this deliciousness:

and suddenly, the morning was glorious.

Two: And do you miss those damn famous Pumpkin Spice Lattes?
Yeah, so do I.
You know what?

THIS IS WHAT

1 to 2 Tablespoons of Pumpkin butter
Soy or Coconut milk coffee creamer for drip coffee, or Regular soy milk if you are able to steam it
6 to 8 oz hot coffee or espresso shots

In a mug, mix the pumpkin butter with a splash of the creamer, and mix until pumpkin is completely incorporated.
Pour your hot coffee (or espresso shots) into your mug
Top off with creamer, or steamed soy mlik.

I was at work, so I did this with a K-Cup, and it was still fantastic. If you are super sneaky, carry a jar into SB and sneak some into your regular soy latte. I haven't tried that, but believe me, that's my next step. Yes, you should always have a jar of pumpkin butter with you. It's October. Why wouldn't you have one?

And to conclude our pumpkin adventure, on a bit of a tease-y note:


Pumpkin risotto, made by my visiting mother. And it's awesome.

What have we learned? Pumpkin is amazing in just about everything. But we already knew that.

On a fall related note, I picked up a can of this:


and have no idea what to do with it? Chestnut spread... It seems so full of potential- but what to do... I'm thinking cake-y type applications- Has anyone ever worked with this stuff?

VeganMoFo #2 - Some Goals

Well, It is my first VeganMoFo. It's also my 10th year being vegan, my 'Vegaversary', if you will. There should be a tiny party, but instead, I'm going to sit here and drink my lavender hot chocolate, imported from the UK by my friend Laura:

Not too shabby, really. It's flaked chocolate and pretty damned amazing.

Well MoFo of the vegan variety, I'm thinking I'd like to go out of my comfort zone with this challenge. Maybe try over the top things like Tofu Wellington, or even give bread-making another shot. Heck, I've got a vegan turducken idea in my head for a while now. It could be a kitchen disaster lesson for us all...
Or it may be a month of me cooking most nights, and posting about 2 to 3 of said nights. That may be a more fair set of goals, and recipes rather than me blathering on about how there will be recipes.

However, in the meantime, I've made:


Pumpkin spice chocolate chip walnut muffins, what I've affectionately dubbed as 'Forbidden Muffins'.
I sense more pumpkin in our future. I also sense a second attempt at chocolate bread.
You will be mine, chocolate bread. Oh yes, you will be mine...

Kale, a love affair.

For my very first:
Allow me tell you about one of my very favorite things: Kale.

I like it. A lot.

If I had to choose only one vegetable- I'd be very sad, and then I'd pick kale. Man, but Brussels sprouts would be a close second. Oh! and butternut squash... Flippancy aside, kale is where it's at. Chock full of iron and vitamins, and what I'm after, deliciousness.
My favorite bits are the super young stems.

They are tender as all get out.

This is a mega simple standby regardless of the time of the year- Although, kale is a winter vegetable, so it's only gonna get better from here on out
More often than not, you see it as a garnish, or hear people say: What the hell am I supposed to do with this?
This. This is what you're supposed to do with it.

Kale is the Best

1 Bunch o' Kale
(not flat - Lacinato- kale, but curly kale as pictured above)
1-2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
Olive Oil for sautéing
Salt to taste
Toasted sesame seeds

Washing the kale is critical. Those oh-so-fun curly leaves hide hordes of the unknown. I've found: lady bugs, caterpillars, cocoons, much dirt, and other fun stuff that you should just go put back outside.
Separate the leaf from the stems. Unless they are very tiny leaves, the stems are too woody for this quick cooking application. I tear them away in bigger chunks.
Let them drain on a tea towel, and slice your garlic.
In a large saucier (you want high sides for this), start the garlic in the oil on medium heat.
The heat for this recipe is going to stay towards the higher end. We want to do this quickly, so that the greens stay vibrant. Keep things moving around with your wooden spoon.
Once the garlic starts to sizzle, add your kale in batches.
Basically, it goes like this:
Fill up the pan with kale.
Toss the kale about until it wilts.
Add more oil if your kale seems dry.
Add more kale and toss about.
Repeat until there's no more kale.
It will sizzle and pop, because water hides really well on the leaves, but the more kale you add, the less space it has to pop.
Once you've got all the kale in the pan and it's wilted down, add salt to taste.
Turn off the heat, and add sesame seeds (a Tablespoon or two)

I get mine at the Asian market because it is a crazy good deal, and I go through these like nobody's business.
I like slightly crispy bits to my kale, so sometimes I let the kale batches brown the slightest bit before I add more.

There have been summers where I've survived solely on this stuff. While that's not exactly the best idea, it is still quite delicious- and if you're hesitant to try this mysterious green, this is a great, simple introduction to it.

Impatient Girl's Dal

And probably in no way actually Dal, but still damn tasty. Pffft, semantics. I tend to bastardize quite a bit of things, especially when I'm in a hurry for food- but you know what they say:
Patience is a virtue.... And what is virtue doing in my kitchen? Shoo! It's a weeknight and I'm hungry.


I had some variation of dal in a restaurant in NJ once, and since then, am totally enchanted with it. From the various kinds I've tried, and some snippets of inside information, I came up with this. It's easy to whip up on a chilly fall night, even if you've had a long day.
Spices are the key to this one.


Garam Masala is a blend I absolutely love. It contains variations of: coriander, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, mysterious things, caraway, cloves, etc. I cannot get enough of this stuff. As pictured above, I am pretty in love with Penzeys' blend. It's the fundamental flavor behind this, kind of perfume-y, a little bit warm, and a bit complex- Like me? Hm.
In addition to that, there's brown mustard seeds, cumin, and a pinch of ground cloves. Mustard seeds add this curious bit of delicious texture and spice.
And it all goes a little something like this:

Impatient Dal

1 15 oz can of lentils (brown)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp Brown Mustard Seeds
1.5 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Cumin
A pinch of ground Cloves
Salt to taste
Canola oil for sautéing

In a medium sized pot with canola oil, cook the onions, crushed garlic, and mustard seeds on medium until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. The mustard seeds may pop around a bit, and that's fine.
Rinse the can of lentils (quickly fill the can with water, and then drain out said water) and add to the pot.
Add the spices & salt, and mix thoroughly. You want the flavors to meld a bit, so turn the heat to low and let it go for about 5 minutes. If you notice that your dal is too dry, you can add a splash of vegetable stock or water.

Serve dal over rice- Once again, I prefer Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, it's amazing.

Put your feet up and chow down!

A Dangerous Game

If I could enforce upon you one rule, I think it would be this: Know your chilis.
When you reach into that bin at the farmer's market that only says "hot peppers", yet contains a variety of sizes and shapes? Be ever vigilant, or pay the price.

I've made this recipe before with jalapeños, and it was delicious- so when I pulled out a small green pepper shaped kind of like a super tiny bell, I thought it was relatively harmless. It didn't smell like much, so I threw it in seeds and all.
What I didn't know was: Habaneros come in green.


I ate a lot of this, I couldn't stop myself. The flavor was good, but the heat levels were, well, hardcore. I ate it anyway, and I learned my lesson the hard way. There is a charred and shriveled abyss where my stomach once was.

Okay, consider yourself warned. On the upside, when not done with a lethal chili, this is pretty damned addicting. Somewhere between a warm salad and a salsa, it is a hodgepodge of delicious that hinges on some key ingredients, as well as methods.
Let's begin.

A Fire in the Belly

1 Bag of Trader Joe's Fire Roasted Corn
2 red/orange/yellow bell peppers, chopped
Pint of Grape (or cherry) tomatoes, Whole
1 Avocado (diced)
1 Jalapeño (chopped)
Juice of half a lime
2 teaspoons of Mrs. Dash, table blend (yeah, that's right)
Salt to taste
A pinch of smoked salt (optional)
Fresh cilantro leaves, a fistful (optional)
1 package chicken-y strips (like Lightlife)
Earth Balance margarine for sautéing

In a deep saucier, sauté the bell peppers until slightly softened.
Clear a space in the center of your pan, and add around 2 tablespoons of the margarine.
Once that's melted, add the corn. The fire roasted kind really adds a great flavor and depth to this- I recommend it to insane degrees, it's great even on its own.
Add your chopped chili. Heed the warning.
Add the Mrs. Dash. In all seriousness, it's great. It's the only use for this stuff I have. It goes on this corn, it goes on this corn like destiny.
Then salt to taste. I know that's the opposite of what Mrs. Dash is for, but be brave. Rules were meant for breaking. If you have smoked salt, try the tiniest bit here.
Add the juice of half a lime.

The corn won't take long, about 5-7 minutes on medium. You're warming it through, and getting a bit of a crust going. Once this has happened, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

Clear the pan and put in about a teaspoon of canola oil.
Drop in your grape tomatoes whole, over medium heat. Sauté these, while keeping them moving (shake the pan or bust out the wooden spoon for this). The object is to get some color to them, and to get them to split from the heat. Once they have, add them to your corn mixture. Tear up a few cilantro leaves and stir in.
Add the diced avocado to the mix, and sprinkle with lime juice.

Clear the pan once again, add some canola oil, and sauté the chicken-y strips until they are brown on each side. I feel like I've used the word sauté at least 5 times now. I'm not going to count.

Get yourself a bowl, fill with the corn goodness, and top with some chicken-y strips


See if your farmer's market carries any ghost peppers, you know, for next time...

Pie for Breakfast

I am an advocate.
It's fruit and carbs, the ultimate breakfast (well, it would need to be chocolate for that- but close enough) How could you go wrong?

Pie crust and I have made a compromise, ever since I discovered: Oh hey, you can make pie crust in a food processor...and it actually comes out perfectly! Before, I would scoff at that technique, thinking that the processor would overwork the dough, or that the fat would melt too quickly and the dough would be ruined. Then, one late night where I foolishly wandered into pie territory, I decided that there was no way I was going to stand there with two damned butter knives and have at it. Food processor it was, and food processor it has been since then. And no, I'm not looking back.

The possibilities just got magnitudes easier. How do I celebrate my new found pastry freedom?
I've had it in my head to find some good peaches at the farmer's market this summer, but with each attempt have met failure. Of the pick I've had up until now, they're more weapons than fruit. Peaches that could kill a man- that is, if your were to throw one at a man's head.
Until finally, to usher in the last of summer, I find what I've been looking for.

I could not kill a man with these peaches, unless of course, he was allergic to peaches.

That aside, peach pie is imminent. A fitting farewell to the flakiest of summers. But how to make it special? Back in the day, Snapple (of all things) had a Peach Melba drink, that I believe has since been discontinued (sadface). Peaches and raspberries? I can totally do that.

Ready? Let's do this.

Crust (double)

2 and 3/4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) Earth balance margarine (cut into 1/4 inch pieces)
1/2 cup very cold water
(soy milk & sugar for brushing & dusting later on)

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor, and gently pulse to combine.
Add the margarine, and pulse gently until there are smaller crumbs of fat in the flour mixture.
While the processor is running, stream the cold water in. You may not need all of the water, so do so slowly. Just as your mixture forms a ball, stop the processing.
You have a crust, hooray!
Split the dough between two discs- one for the bottom crust, and one for the lattice top. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

In the meantime:

The Filling

6 Peaches, skinned and cut into slices
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint raspberries
A handful (1/4 cup) of sliced toasted almonds

Combine the sugar and cornstarch first, to avoid lumps.
Add the peaches and the vanilla, and set aside to juice.
Preheat the oven to 400° F .
Once your dough has rested, flour your work surface and roll out the bottom crust- Turning and flouring (not too much!) as you go along.
Lay crust into your pie plate- now they say you should refrigerate it here. I did not. You be the judge, if rolling has overheated your crust, and it looks like it took a bit of a beating, pop it in the 'fridge for about 10 minutes before proceeding. If not, carry on.

In the meantime, roll out your top crust. Lattice is optional, and I'm evidently a glutton for punishment. Sure, you can act like you're intentionally going for that "Made it myself / 3rd grade arts & crafts" look, but sooner or later, they're bound to catch on.
Perhaps a tutorial is in order: how about this one?

Remove your pie vessel from the fridge, and fill with your peach mixture. You can dot it with margarine, I always forget, it's still delicious. I mean, there's like an entire container's worth in the crust. Come on now.
No, I haven't forgotten the raspberries. Dot the raspberries in whatever fashion you like over the peach filling, and sprinkle with the toasted sliced almonds. Just a hint. Be mysterious.
Lay, or lattice, your top crust, brush with soy milk (or coconut milk, if you're feeling fancy), and sprinkle with sugar.
I have since discovered that since I don't pre-bake my crust, I don't actually need a tinfoil pie tent to protect it from burning.
Place on center rack in the over and bake for 30 minutes.
Lower the oven temperature to 375° F, and rotate the pan 180°
Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes until crust is golden brown, and filling is thick and bubbly.
Remove and transfer the pie plate to a trivet or cooling rack to prevent soggy bottoms.


Le breakfast, she is served. With this to start the day, how can it be anything but a good morning?
Take that, Monday.