Happy Thanksgiving

I WELCOME THE HOLIDAY SEASON!

I am thankful for the four very large butternut squash that a friend grew in her garden... she had so many that she gave me four. In order to see a size comparison I have the gift next to a squash I bought, a pear, and my 3 quart crock pot.


Yesterday (Wednesday) the kitchen and I had some good bonding time since I had the day off of work. The day started as a "slow" day, the kind in which I prepare oatmeal with pumpkin, carob chips and a pot of hazelnut flavored coffee. I take an hour to sit and eat while everyone else sleeps or goes to work while I reflect on life. During my reflection time I grabbed my journal to write a few things down, but I grabbed the wrong journal. I have kept a family memory book of holidays beginning in 2004 in which I start the holiday season writing a "state of the union address" then each member of our family start this season writing five things they are thankful for. I included a record of all the happenings from Thanksgiving to New Years including lists of the gifts we received, my favorite recipes with our reactions to new ones tried, and ways we want to change to make things more meaningful next year. Sentimental feelings ran high as I looked through this book and this is where I began to journal.

Part of my feelings were sadness that I almost forgot this treasure in my "busy-ness" of life. My reflection time took me back to where I was last year at this time, hoping for a teaching position after finishing my license and debating whether to close the doors on my business or stay on part-time. At the same time I was adjusting from being a full-time home school mom into a full-time away from home employee so that DH and I could build up our retirement fund and get the kids through college. My son is now in college full-time and my daughter enrolled full-time into public high school full-time which she wanted and we reluctantly agreed. I have to admit I appreciate hearing her talk about what she liked while being a home schooled student now that she faces a different type of education. DH is very happy with the position he was promoted to at his day job and enjoys his time being the sound engineer for a christian rock band and I have enjoyed traveling around with them. Although this year has been a time of grieving the end of where we have been and who we used to be, it has also been exciting as we transition into where we are now. Exciting, but not without several growing pains which we are dealing with ... "What does not kill me will make me a better person."

A summary of 2007 with one word TRANSITION.

We also put up our little tree the day Friday (today ... as I finish the blog entry I started on Wednesday). I snapped a picture of my favorite kiddos and one of our dog's, Ricky. DD is in charge of holiday decorations and it looks like we are going to have a blue and silver theme this year. Soon I will replace the picture on the wall with a window like mirror under which out hanger for 4 stockings will be hung. I think the challenge I will give the family this year is to create their very own stocking to hang there this year, something that will creatively express who they are this year and what is important to them.

I am also thankful for the opportunity to be able to reflect on our transition, that says we made it through. At one time in our life DH and I stepped away from our "normal" life (trusted in God, sold the house, home schooled the kids, grew a large garden, started a "hippie" business, etc) and followed our hearts. Before we started that journey we both agreed that even if we failed, failure would be better than wondering if or living in regret of never trying. We did not fail, we have been blessed. I hope that your holidays are the same, hope filled and if difficult that they be internally satisfied in the midst of it.

NOW I INVITE YOU INTO MY KITCHEN ...

How about a sip of brew inspired by Dreena's ED&BV (p. 227) MULLED CRAN-APPLE CIDER. It snowed in my state on Thanksgiving Eve so I filled Crock pot #1 with this wonderful potion to sip on this chilly evening and then let it stay on warm until we finished it for breakfast. I had to use what I had on hand and ended up making enough changes that I will share my recipe with you.




DORI's MULLED CHERRY-APPLE CIDER



Place the following in the crock pot and allow to cook on high for 2-3 hours, then switch to warm.



1 - 12 oz container frozen cherry-apple juice concentrate (thawed)



3 - 12 oz "cans" of water (juice prepared as directed on the can)



In a tea bulb I placed 5 -1" cinnamon sticks, 10 allspice seeds, and 4 whole cardamom pods. I placed this in my juice and added 1/4 tsp nutmeg, a sprinkle of KAL brand stevia extract, and 1/2 tsp orange peel powder. A sliced up an orange in thin slices and placed about 6 slices, cut into quarters in my crock pot with the juice and spices. Dreena said with her recipe that you could add a few splashes of rum or brandy if desired.... sure I would desire to, but I have none on hand. I still have an unopened bottle of Cranberry Crimson wine from Christmas 2006 sitting on my shelf, I received 2 as a gift and emptied one with the help of 6 friends. I plan on taking it to a dinner we will be going to at my aunts house.




For breakfast we enjoyed the hot fruit drink served with muffins loaded with carrots and apples from Ken Haedrich's cookbook called COUNTRY BAKING. Although this book is not vegan, recipes can easily be transformed. I know Dreena has a good carrot and fruit filled muffin in her EDV cookbook or maybe it is in VLV cookbook, I've made them. The ones I made now are a bit more decadent and carrot cake like.




DREENA'S ED&BV Sweet Potato Lentil Chili: I made this in the crock pot on Monday night and enjoyed bowls of this for snacks and several meals after. I find Dreena's use of lemon and lime juice in soups unique to what I have cooked before. This was a change that my salty pallet had to adjust to, but now I really find it refreshing. I also found some 2 cup freezer containers made by ball. Although I enjoy homemade canned soups off my shelf, I like the convenience of freezing away one or two left over servings to use as I need. When I know I want to eat one ahead of time I place it in the refrigerator to thaw, ready to heat and eat.




The Everyday Slow cooker byRobin Robinson ... PUMPKIN BUTTER. I made this last year in and noted in my cookbook that I loved it, this year in order to avoid redundancy I noted that I REALLY loved it. I placed this wonderful stuff in 1/2 pint jars and hot water bathed it in my large slow cooker. 7 jars were covered with water, cooked on high 5 -6 hours, and removed to rest on a towel for 12 hours. The jars sealed "pop" immediately after taking them out of the crock pot. This was convenient I said to myself. I wish that I could have canned pint jars this way, but they won't fit I would have to take my other canner out to accomplish this task. Note that I peeled and cut the squash in to take out the seeds, I added the large pieces to my crock pot with the spices and a little onion. When all was done I blended combination smooth with my hand blender. I made mine sugar free and liked it very well. My recipe follows:

GRRRR'''' I entered this recipe once already, but then my computer froze as I tried to e-mail a video at the same time I was working on this. Anyways, here goes round two.

DORI'S STEVIA PUMPKIN BUTTER
Note: I doubled the recipe and canned 7 jars 1/2 pint jars to give as gifts for the holidays.
2 pounds of butternut squash
2 cups of apple juice
1 tsp KAL pure stevia extract powder

1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 Tbsp good quality cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
Combine all in the crockpot and cook on high 4 hours (or so), low for longer.
Blend with a handblender. Place in jars and process can if desired. I did can the 7 half pint jars in my 5 quart crockpot. I did this by preparing the jars and lids, placing the jars in the crockpot, fill with water. Cook on high 6 hours. I heard the jars seals within 1 minute of taking them out of the crockpot. This would be similar to the hot water bath method. The water was boiling in the crockpot when I took the jars out. The apple juice might cause this recipe to have an acceptable acid percentage for water bath canning however I would recommend perssure canning per the canning instruction book for pumpkin pie mix.


On Thanksgiving day two new recipes I tried were Marie Oser's "The Enlightened Kitchen" cauliflower in "cheese" sauce on page 163. This was a bit heavy on the nutritional yeast and needed a little shake of salt, but I really liked this dish. I added green peas after I snapped the picture which really made a difference in appearance. Overall Ilike this dish and will probably make it again.



DH and the kids really loved a cheesy corn and macaroni casserole that I used to take to potlucks years ago. This year they bugged me figure out how to make it so we can have it again. Here is the vegan result:

DORI'S CHEEZY MAC AND CORN CASSEROLE

In the crockpot combine the following (we doubled the recipe listed):
1 - 14.5 oz can of whole kernel corn with it's juice
1 - 14.5 oz can cream style corn
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup cheddar style cheese (a good melty kind)
**I used some homemade chedda' created by Bryanna Clark grogan.
1 Tbsp earth balance margarine
Cook on high about 3 hours, until the macaroni is cooked and the extra juices are soaked up. Serve. On Thanksgiving day our crockpot was the first dish emptied.




Robin Robinson's "The Vegetarian Slow Cooker" green beans Provencal also made an appearance on my Thanksgiving table. I was a bit heavy on the pepper accidentally, but I still liked this recipe consisting simply of petite diced tomatoes green beans, onions salt and pepper. If you want a creamy mushroom sauce type bean she has a recipe for this in her book also. I am planning on trying it when I get some fresh mushrooms.

To conclude I will have to admit the autumn (harvest time) is my favorite time of year, but this season definitely comes in a close second.

Pumpkiny stuff...

Isa's VWAV pumpkin seed crusted tofu along with roasted strips of tofu and a romaine salad with chopped apples and dried cranberries. I liked the raosted pumpkin, I have not tried it this way before. The pumpkin seed coated tofu has a nice crisp texture, but needs more flavor ... perhaps a sauce would cure this.

Cooking away the cold ...

(updated)

LINK TO COOK BEHIND THE APRON
I have noticed other blogs I enjoy reading have been posting their 28 cooks "coming out". I did mine a few days ago, but wanted to add a link to it again.

Now back to food (my favorite subject)...
It is really cold here ..... like below zero cold and I'm not talking wind chill. BRRR! I live in an "extreme" (winter and summer temperature differences) weather area. As I was contemplating the ability to complain I decided to look through past blog entries to find warming thoughts, here is a link to a post I made in July when the thermometer was reading over 100 (and no not dry heat). I won't complain anymore. Instead I will begin to think different warm thoughts ... like crock pots and soup. The crock pot is god send, I love warm comforting food when I get home. Yesterday I made a recipe from Bryanna's Oct-Dec 2006 newsletter called LOCRO (a squash and vegetable stew). She didn't make it in the crock pot, but I did. I had it on low all day (about 8 hours) and it worked well. I used 2 3/4 cups mixed vegetables instead of the recommended corn and peas. I also made seasoned brown rice in the rice maker and refrigerated it for quick micro heating when I was ready to serve. Although the recipe looked simple and didn't stand out as exciting, it was excellent.... even DD said this is pretty good. It is pretty colorful too. I have a basket of four more butternut squash I want to use up so I'll be trying more recipes with them soon.

ON TO LUNCHES (Can you tell I'm having fun with these?)
This is a whole grain English muffin sandwich with one of Bryanna's crock pot steak patties / roasted red pepper and onion, a romaine salad with sprouts/ red pepper/ purple onion/ currants, homemade apple pie filling sprinkled with homemade granola, and "sushi" pickles that I made using a recipe from the book Summer in a Jar by Andrea Chesman. The pickles are made with large thin slices of ginger root and carrots and tastes just like the little pink pickled ginger slices on a sushi bar (yum).

The steak again only cut up with some seasoned brown rice, romaine salad with sweet corn relish (Andrea Chesman's book again, homemade using my home grown garden gooodies too), home canned pear slices that I didn't grow (no pear trees here) but bought in abundance from an organic Amish farmer, and strips of roasted peppers and onions to add to my rice and steak. The little red container has balsamic dressing for my salad.

Today's lunch. If you turn your head like you would to read a smiley you will notice that this lunch has a container of Stacey's pita chips, roasted red pepper dip from Marie Oser's Soy of Cooking, romaine salad with carrots and sprouts, a sorta trail mix container including roasted peanuts/sunspire m&m's/ currants, along with a banana which I intend to use as a "poker" to pick up the "trail" mix.
NOTE: The red pepper dip called for 2 cloves of garlic. I used two fresh cloves and let my magic bullet mixer whip it with the roasted red pepper, seasonings and tofu smooth. The garlic has come back to haunt. I really like to taste of this so the next time I make it I will roast the garlic with the red pepper.

Thanks to the Oser cookbook and then confirmed by Megan the Vegan I have been hankering mushrooms. My new Oser cookbook calls for ground chicken style gimme lean, which I have never bought before and I didn't want to make any from scratch so, I then decided to have something different for supper and prepared the mushrooms to use another time. I then remembered the mushrooms I made some time ago using brussell sprouts so I looked it up and decided these are what I would try again . . . . here's the link to my previous entry about them and ia link to the recipe included.

Since I bought a 24 ounce package of the nice stuffer size mushrooms I had plenty of stems and 1/3 of the package which I could make into another dish. A dish like Oser's creamy mushrooms sauce over pasta. I actually left the recipe out and asked DH to make it so supper would be ready when I got home tonight. We'll see how it turns out, DH is a sweetheart and said he would however I will c hop the carrots and onions this morning as a time saver for him this evening. I'm looking forward to it, will share pictures later.

No pictures of the pasta because DD chopped the carrots into a salad with romaine and used up the sliced mushrooms I had planned for the sauce also before DH could get on the pasta. Last night we had pita pizza and salad NOT the pasta. I also still have the mushroom caps for stuffed mushrooms, but intend to use them soon.

Cranberry Relish and a table full of food

This is a picture of Thursday's leftovers and the food I set out for my sis who was coming in from New York on Friday. On the peninsula top from left to right: I made Bryanna's chedda' cheese (the recipe that uses tahini) with crackers spread around it, soy and seitan roulade slices, corn from our freezer (we grew), romaine salad with purple onion/ carrots/radish slices, an apple slices tray with a sweetened soy cream cheese dip, seedilicious bread slices, (foldable table): potatoes (we grew and canned these), squash/ pear/ cranberry baked dish, sun dried tomato stuffing, Dori's favorite fresh Cranberry Relish, gray bowl had pickled cauliflower/ carrots/ red peppers (we grew these and I pickled them for the county fair), and a wonderful fabulous Pumpkin Tunnel Cake from Bryanna's latest vegan feast newsletter.

DORI'S FAVORITE CRANBERRY RELISH
Place the following into the food processor and chop to the size of rice:
1 lb package fresh whole cranberries
1-2 peeled oranges, removing most of the pith
2 Tbsp orange zest (fresh if using organic oranges)
1-2 medium apple, cored
Add the following to a medium mixing bowl along with the processed mixture above:
1/2 C crushed pineapple (more if you desire or omit and add one more apple to processor in step above)
1/2 C chopped pecans or light English walnuts (I use 2 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (opt)

• opt 2 tsp fresh ginger minced - I use this when I can or cinnamon when I'm out

1/2 - 1 cup sweetener of your choice

• OR 1 tsp KAL brand stevia powder = 1 generous cup of sweetness*
• I use KAL brand stevia, it is not bitter like other brands I have tried. One could easily use their choice of sweetener.
  

Combine well. Allow flavors to meld one hour.

Whenever I find a great buy on cranberries I make a bunch of this up and freeze it in addition to just freezing the berries. I add it to muffins, put it in salad dressing, and directly onto the salad when I want color. I also add it to sandwiches, stir into my morning oatmeal, and top cornbread with it for an interesting change. Even after it has been frozen it has an acceptable texture. As you can tell this is my favorite. I made a variation of this last year that had cumin and jalapeno peppers in it, yet was still sweet. We place it in a tray over the top of soy cream cheese and surrounded it with crackers.











Here's a close up of the tunnel cake before I drizzled it with a thickened powdered sugar drizzle tweaked with a bit of almond extract. For the cake I adjusted the recipe and made mine sugar free. The cake batter recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, I used 1/2 cup of applesauce to replace the bulk of the sugar and 1 tsp KAL brand stevia. The filling is made with a cashew / silken tofu blend and is also sweetened with stevia (no applesauce filler). It turned out very well.

I tried something new this year: PUMPKIN BUTTER
In the crock pot and from the book by Robin Robertson, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow cooker. Mine is sweetened with the KAL stevia extract in place of sugar and it is fabulous! Matthew made carob chip pancakes for breakfast Thursday morning. It was my niece's birthday so we invited her up to eat breakfast with us and we used the pumpkin butter to top them with ... what a grand feast.

About eight years ago I was depressed and went through a soul searching time. Prior to this time I claimed a religion but fell prey to the Santa Claus and materialistic ways of the world. More than materialistic ways I realized that there was a lot about holidays that I didn't like, so I began to change. I am still connected to my spiritual roots, but I realized that I wanted the holidays to express our connection, not distance and cheap gifts to be returned the next day nor the debt to be paid away on until April AND I wanted to anticipate the "connection" just as much as my children. Here's are some of my favorite changes:

I bake. From now until the first of the year I will bake every imaginable goodie (some I will freeze and we will enjoy these throughout February). My kids do to.... the most important part of my holiday is sharing and it is expected at each holiday gathering or meal that they bring something. This Thanksgiving Melissa made the apple dip and sliced the apples. Matthew took the corn from the freezer and cooked it. Dave washes up, pulls out special dishes, sweeps, and cuts/slices, rearranges, etc. ... he always leads our family into a prayer of thanks and continued blessings before we eat. They both will make something substantial at Christmas time also. Last Christmas season Melissa chocolate's a BUNCH of goodies, we splurged on an after the holiday sale of "the chocolate factory" from the year before and stored it away. Matthew made a crock pot corn pudding and muffins and cleaned up Melissa's chocolate tools (with his tongue).

Now begins the "holidays" in my family. I will share more about our holiday practices as well as food in the upcoming weeks. For now I will get this posted and prepare for the day.

I hope this post has found you with much to be thankful for!

Defending the Honor of My Vegan T' Art

Occasionally Dave will wake me up with the gentle word, "Honey." Occasionally I will respond with the growl, "Honey's not here, I'm black strap molasses-ssss." Today is a day like no other and today I feel the growl rising up deep within my vegan soul. Know that I am usually a nice vegan, but today I have very serious work to do and the honor of vegan cooking ideas and inspiration to defend. This post is my entry into Urban Vegan's T'Art contest... let the battle begin!

The weapons of my warfare:

1 7" pie pumpkin, 1 lb Swiss chard stalks removed and greens chopped, and 1 large sweet vidalia onion - all from my garden

14" deep dish tart pan, large sharp knife, and vegetable peeler

One 375 degree oven

(see other supplies needed for the journey below)


Preparation for the Battle:
100% Spelt Tart Crust
The Battle Frontline ....Don't mess with me!


















The Defensive Details:
Cook the diced pumpkin (I use a pampered chef microwave vegetable steamer, but you can steam it anyway you want).

I used a dutch oven pan to combine the chopped greens, cooked pumpkin, and sauteed onions/ garlic.









I proudly present ....
RUSTIC ITALIAN STYLE PUMPKIN AND CHARD SAVORY TART

This is a free form tart. In America tarts are often though to be complex with it's symmetry, precise rows and perfect circles, placing the average fruit and potpie at the level of a culinary demolition derby - to "French" and confounding for Amercan daily fare. This need not be so, a tart is actually just an open faced pie, either sweet or savory and inherently pretty on it's own so there is no need to go to alot of trouble to get a stunning appeal.

No I am not French... American, but today I defend the honor of my vegan t'ART.

THE GORY DETAILS
click link to get recipe(s)

RESOURCES:
COUNTRY BAKING: Simple Home Baking with Wholesome Grains and the Pick of the Harvest by Ken Haedrich (c) 1990. It is not vegan, but with a little skill can be easily veganized. I like his "down home" conversational family style writing. He has an muffin recipe that is an agreement with his wife, she gives birth and he spends a week making all of her favorite foods... the muffin recipe was one of them - it's that kind of chit chat that makes this book appealing to me.

Warriors who boldly marched before me to make today's plight a successful one....
I salute Bryanna Clark Grogan of Vegan Feast who included a Squash and Kale Savory Tart in a Previous (Oct/ Nov 2005) subscription of Vegan Feast Newsletter. No brave vegan should ever attempt life without this noblest of resources.

Here's a closer look, my tart served with homegrown tomato soup, roasted pumpkin seeds, and chopped pears ....
Oh and about the teaser:

These are just not big enough for the tough job this vegan has to do.
:o)
I'll post again on Monday as I need to regain strength after this battle.
This tart makes a great leftover lunch meal also.
Try it with farmer's market squash and greens if you don't grow your own!