Merry Christmas and Soup Mix

VEGAN BISCOTTI (plain anise flavored) with awesome dark chocolate brushed on top and sprinkled with ground up english walnuts. My base recipe came from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Nonna's Italian Kitchen Cookbook, Only I made mine a plain anise flavored variation.
Here's a free recipe that I found though:
Fat Free Vegan's Cinnamon Biscotti Recipe

Now that I have your attention with my tantilizing favorite holiday treat -

Merry Christmas!

I've been trying to post for a couple of days, but I guess NOW is my lucky moment to accomplish the task. After the ice storms came a wonderful Christmas day with highs in the 50's, and sunshine. It was awesome. We had a great Christmas day brunch before opening presents, which we already knew all that there was because we shop together and get what we want .... we just don't get it until after the Bible reading by DH followed by the brunch. Without further ado, I'm going right to the food pictures. Here is my first round Christmas day. The pizza is BREAKFAST PIZZA by Bryanna Clark Grogan Oct/Nov/Dec Vegan Feast Newsletter. Every holiday season since I started subscribing we have had a new awesome main course brunch dish to feast upon. I have been subscribing since the beginning and will not stop. The ideas and personal connection is worth every penny. Bryanna is a kitchen goddess, NO... wait! I take that back, because of Bryanna I AM A kitchen goddess! :) I served the pizza with a sliced pear and a soymilk (made in my soyajoy) cappuchino.

Next trip to the kitchen allowed me to get some of this TENDER BANANA BREAD from Bryanna Clark Grogan's cookbook, FIBER FOR LIFE. I love this because the fat is replaced with a silken tofu mixture which is also great protein and it is made 100% whole wheat pastry flour, yet is still wonderfully tender. The cookbook offers the option to use dates in this, but I use vegan chocolate chips which my family adores, I like that if I am going to add a little fat it comes from chocolate. Mmmm-my kinda fat.
More cheers for Bryanna and the VEGAN FEAST Newsletter again. Here is a picture of her seitan "salami/ pepperoni", I did the pepperoni version. My meat eating sister ate 10 slices of this with crackers and said, I love this stuff! I wasn't a big fan of the seitan o'greatness awhile back due to the fact it was so dry, but this salami / pepperoni is not. The crackers you see on this plate are actually pretzel flats with an everything seasoning, new find at the grocery store and they are not to bad. Back to the seitan, every issue of the newsletter usually has one new way with seitan that I get the pleasure of trying.
I need to back track just a bit. Here is my counter setup for the breakfast pizza. The crust dough, vegan "sausage" crumbles (Bryanna's kielbasa seitan recipe from my freezer that I crumbled up), the tofu frittata mix in the food processor, red peppers, shredded sweet potato, and shreds of Bryanna's sharp chedda' cheez. The crust is interesting, it is like a thick batter that can sit in the frig for up to two weeks until you are ready to use it. The recipe calls for enough to make two pizza crusts. I am going to try a mushroom onion style pizza with the other half, I found a recipe for this that I really want to veganize in a weight watchers magazine.
Okay, I am sure that you are probably thinking Bryanna again? .... yes, I say again. There are so many recipes I still have to try from all of her cookbooks and other vegan feast newsletters that I could sing her praises for a long time. This is my version of CHRISTMAS STOLLEN, the dough has no fat but is not dry. I used the sweet bread dough from her Al-most No Fat Holiday Cookbook. To make it stollen I added cardamom, coriander, orange peel, pecans, english walnuts, rum soaked raisins, cranberries, chopped dates and dried prunes. More backtracking. Here is the seitan salami after it finished cooking in my clay pot, it is wrapped with cheesecloth. It cookes in a small amount of very flavorful broth, which does not get completely soaked up as you can see a small amount is left over.

Last idea to share. I like to make a batch of a recipe I found many years ago called Be Prepared Soup Mix, I call it Five Bean Soup Mix. When I want to make some I take 1 1/2 cups of the beans, 1/4 cup of the seasoning mix and a can of diced tomates. Sometimes I make it in the crockpot, somtimes on the stove top, but all the time when I make it do I enjoy it.

BEAN MIX:

1 1/2 cup pinto beans

1 1/2 cup white benas

1 cup kidney beans

1 cup baby lima beans

1 cup chickpeas

SPICE MIX:

1/2 cup dried minced onion

1 Tbsp paprika

2 tsp salt

1 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp garnulated garlic

1 Tbsp Frontier chicken flavor bouillon powder
3 Tbsp Frontier beef flavor bouillon powder

1 Tbsp parsley

1/4 cup vegan bac'un bits

1/4 cup dried Frontier mixed vegetable soup flakes

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the beans and place in a large jar with enough room to add the baggie of spice mix.

1 "batch" = 6 generous servings of soup

To make a batch soak 1 1/2 cup of beans overnight, drain and place them in a 3 quart saucepan (or crockpot). Add 5 cups of water and 1/4 cup seasoning mix, you can add the tomatoes now or at the end of simmering time. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer 2 - 2 1/2 hours until beans are tender or crockpot cook them on low all day.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:

Per serving: 187 calories, 12 g protein, >1 gram fat, 465 mg sod, 33 g complex carbs, and 9 grams fiber.

Individual batches can also be prepared separately, add a nice label with instructions, and give as a gift.

The Great Potato Challenge

Inspired by my canned potato post Kate of Vegan Ventures asked for ideas on dishes with potatoes.
I could share a few dishes I enjoy that include potatoes and will, but I thought it would be fun to see what other vegan bloggers say about their favorite potato dishes.

The potato picture (click the pix to go to the site I found it) is from www.slate.com and may be copyrighted, so I must give them a proper citation and be thankful this potato recipe page can look interesting.

VEGAN POTATO BLOGGERS: If you would like to link this page on your potato blog entry it will appear at the bottom of this page. Other potato interested readers can click there to see your potato recipe.

When I first changed my diet I was in a position to attend group meals or to help plan them frequently. To allow myself some food choices in a buffet style meal I always recommended a potato bar that would include a big variety of toppings. Baking a bunch of potatoes in a crockpot (and leeping them warm there) was easy work. If we were serving pot luck style guests would be asked to bring their favorite potato topping. I liked to bring my favorite Chili Sin Carne and serve it with a few morsels of vegan chedda' (although I just usually brought a container of some of Bryanna's cheesy sauce and drizzled that on top because I was on a strict budget back then). A side salad was a must also. This type of buffet really allowed flexibility for everyone's food preferences, even low carbers would munch on salads.

On Sunday's we leave for church around 8:30 and get home around 12 - 12:30. I like to fill my four quart crock pot up with potatoes and cook them on high. At four hours they seem just perfect. Then when we get home we have potatoes ready to top and eat. I will usually have things like veg baked beans, smartlife hotdogs, chedda cheese, already cooked and needs reheated cauliflower and broccoli, etc in the frig to pull out for quick fixings. The leftovers get stored in the frig and we eat on them during the week in whatever way strikes our fancy.

VEGAN POTATO LINKS:

• The daughter of Fairly Odd Tofu Mom recently posted this awesome presentation: Olivia's Incredibly Famous (vegan) Brats and Potatoes

• Dori's Dry Potato Soup Mix. When my children were younger I used to make these up ahead of time (and in large quantity so we could just scoop out amount needed) so they could make an easy meal for the family.
• Sweet Potato Oven Fries. Sometimes I wonder why I don't make these more often.
  
• Bazu says, " love potatoes in any form- cubed and roasted in the oven with olive oil, garlic and rosemary? Yes.
  
  Potato salad with onions, celery, vegannaise, and fresh dill? Yes.
  
  Mashed? Oh yes. Mmmmmm, potatoes, how do I love thee. There- that was my valentine's day poem. =)"
• Axtvegan says white food is still a it of a concern for her, but she recently made green beans and red potatoes and purple potatoes she would eat roasted anytime! "
• A picnic in France: New Potato Salad.
• BRYANNA'S POTATO AND MUSHROOM MISO SOUP
  I want to try this sometime, so am adding the whole recipe here to remind me. :b
  Combine in a pot:
  4 c. light broth (to make a quick "dashi" [Japanese broth], I use mushroom bouillon cubes [enough for only 3 cups broth] and a piece of kombu sea vegetable-- you can also use soaking water from shiitake mushrooms)
  4 oz. any fresh mushrooms, sliced
  8 oz. thin-skinned potato, scrubbed and thinly sliced
  1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  
  Simmer about 15 minutes, or til potato is tender. Remove and discard kombu, if using.
  
  Add:1/2 (12.3 oz.) box firm or extra-firm slken tofu, or 6 oz. medium firm regular tofu, in cubes
  
  After heating tofu, turn off heat. Mix some of the broth with:
  1/3 c. brown rice or barley miso
  
  Add back to soup with:
  2 green onions, thinly sliced
  
  Serve immediately. Servings: 4
  
  Nutrition Facts
  Nutrition (per serving): 136.4 calories; 15% calories from fat; 2.4g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 880.0mg sodium; 588.5mg potassium; 22.0g carbohydrates; 3.3g fiber; 4.0g sugar; 18.7g net carbs; 8.4g protein; 2.3 points.
  
• Bryanna's CAUSA (Peruvian Potato Salad). I made this dish to serve at a cultural dinner hosted by us when we invited friends over to share there experiences living in this area for more than a year with us. This was my first experience with blue potatoes, we thought they were so fun that we planted them in the garden the next year.
• Bryanna's Potato and Sweet Potato Gratin
• Bryanna's Bread Machine Sourdough Potato Bread
  

Also, about canned potatoes. Of course I would rather eat a fresh potato, but having them already cooked ready to dice, mash or otherwise prepare to add to another seasoned dish I like them for this use (soups, stir-fries, etc). I have noticed a difference in taste between the type of potato I used to can with, I will not can russet potatoes in the future. I will definitely grow more yukon gold though. I keep hearing reports from my other canning friends that this is what they prefer to use. Personal note: Keep a cold storage potato supply for fresh potatoes and can a few because I like the prep they offer.

I am still working on my tomato using the harvest post and should have some great things to share by the end of this week. Midwest Vegan, I will include pictures and a thorough description of texture, etc in this post.

ALSO HAPPY V-DAY FRIENDS! I hope to bake up something fun for Wednesday, something like a Dreena cake ... maybe something including chocolate and raspberries (oh yummers).