Sweet Potato Parsnip Curry

Warm, slightly spicy, sweet and comforting.

Cube sweet potato and parsnip.














Place in a sauce pan with enough coconut milk to cover.

I add a little water too, because the coconut milk is very rich. I use about 1/4 cup water for every cup of coconut milk.

Stir in 1 tbs or so of Mae Ploy Yellow curry paste and cook over medium heat.















Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.
Simmer until the vegetables are soft and the coconut milk starts to thicken.
















Shown with quinoa and roasted fennel.

Roasted Fennel, Purple Potatoes, Red Bell Peppers

Roasted vegetables featuring fennel.

















People ask me "ZB, how do you prepare fennel?" I never really had an answer but this is what I did with some yesterday:

I bought fennel and cooked it for the first time. I've had it raw, shredded in salad, but never cooked it. I decided to roast it. The flavor is distinctly anise or licorice. I cooked it with rosemary and a little salt.

First, cut the feathery leaves off and dehydrate them to be used as a spice in dishes later.

I chopped the long fingers off of the bulb and cut them into 2-3 inch pieces*. Slice the bulb in about 1" wide slices.
Cut purple potatoes and bells into bite sized pieces and peel the garlic cloves. Put all in a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil and rosemary and bake at 350F for an hour.















Remove from the oven and stir or flip the vegetables. Put back in the oven at 350F for another hour or so until the potatoes are soft. Salt to taste and serve.


















The outside is of the fennel was tough but there is a soft center, sort of like the heart of an artichoke, which was absolutely delicious.














Shown here with sweet potato/parsnip curry














*The stems turned out tough and pretty much inedible. Next time I'd put them in a stew or use them for vegetable stock.

Two Vegan Thanksgiving Dinners, One of them Raw!

Dinner number one was at Cafe Gratitude.















That was a free lunch that Cafe Gratitude gave away from 11am til 3pm. I found out about it the night before! almost missed it.

There was cranberry sauce, mashed cauliflower, stuffing and a pattie with mushroom gravy. it was all very delicious!
For dessert there was raw vegan pumpkin pie.















It was good but too sweet for me. I only took a bite and let the man have the rest.


This is the dinner that I made and ate over at the man's mother's house:














There is baked sweet potato and boiled potato and a beautiful green salad that was supplied and stuffed seitan roast, stuffing, mushroom onion gravy, two kinds of cheese and the cranberry sauce isn't on the plate, it came later.



There were a lot of people at the dinner and a lot of food. All in all it was a very nice Thanksgiving feast. Great to see the extended family.

I never once felt over stuffed but I ate what seemed like a lot of food. Just another benefit of being a "low fat" vegan :)

Happy Holidaze!

See Ya!

We are over the river and through the woods, headed for Gramma's house. See you in a few days and have a nice holiday! If you aren't having a holiday, try to have some fun anyway.

Nomivore

I Broke my VitaMix

I was making a smoothie and it must have had a crack cuz I put in an ice cube and whammo, the driver broke and the blade stopped spinning.


We ordered a new driver for $12 +shipping
















The part should be here this Friday. I'm back to using my old hamilton beach and it seems so slow.


Here is a photo of the foodies I made to take with us to SF:















There is the roast wrapped in foil, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, cheese, sauerkraut, crackers, almond sour cream.
I'm also bringing some potatoes and oranges, apples, bananas, whatever other fresh food I don't eat today.




I made some grilled endive for lunch today















That is just vegetable fried rice on the side and red lettuce with some fermented almond paste.

Oh, deer!

Debra is giving away Vegan Lunch Box Around The World

Debra is having another vegan cookbook giveaway!

You have 3 ways to enter this time..
1. Leave a comment on her blog
2. If you are not a follower of her blog become a follower and leave a comment letting her know that you became a follower
3. Post a link to the contest on your blog and leave a comment leaving her a link to the blog post

Giveaway ends at midnight on November 30, 2009.

She will announce the winner on December 1.

Thanksgiving Prep

Today was spent cooking the thanksgiving dinner that I will be taking with me when we go to San Francisco this week.

I made

Cranberry sauce
Gravy
Almond sour cream
Stuffed seitan roast (the stuffing is INSIDE!)
Extra stuffing
Crackers
Sauerkraut
Cheese

Now if you will excuse me, I have a lot of vegetables to eat before we leave.

Cooking In the Burn Barrel and Holiday Cranberry Sauce Recipe!

We wrapped some veges in foil and put them in the
coals after we burned some wood in the burn barrel today.































It all got burned up on the edges but the middle was good. Anybody else ever try this?


I made some cranberry sauce. I modified a recipe I found in the Joy of Cooking, a great book. I refer to it often.

Here is what I did:

Festive Cranberry Sauce

12 oz cranberries, separated 10 oz and 2 0z
1 orange, deseeded
2 cups water in large pan
1 cup organic evaporated cane sugar

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a large pot while you

Puree in food processor 10 oz of fresh cranberries and one whole orange (including the peel) cut in quarters. Remove any seeds and thick white pith from the orange if need be.

Add puree and whole berries to the boiling sugar mixture and reduce heat, keep it bubbly.
Stir constantly until it reduces by 1/3

Pour into a large jar, cover and cool. Refrigerate for two days and then serve.















We are going to SF for Thanksgiving and I will take this with me to add to the feast.

Orange Juice and Oatmeal Weekend Vegan Breakfast

I squeezed a some oranges and grapefruit and we had juice then I cooked some oatmeal.












Cooked Oats
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
2 cups water (add more if needed while cooking)
2 tbs Vegan margarine
pinch salt

Cold water and oats in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir constantly until nice and gooey, about 5 minutes. Add more water for thinner oats.















Shown served with sliced bananas but the sky is the limit with toppings.

I used to like to put jam in it when I was a kid.

You could add dried fruit like raisins while cooking.

Maple syrup is nice, that's what the guys had on theirs.

Peanut butter.

Cacao.

Cinnamon or nutmeg.

Peaches or other fresh fruit.

Nut milk or cashew cream.

Or you could go savory and have ginger and garlic, it's up to you!

Vegan Fat Free Roasted Garlic Baked Potato

Prick a washed potato.














Put it in a piece of foil with a large, raw, peeled clove of garlic. Be sure to cut off the hard end of the clove, no one wants to eat that.














Bake in foil for 1 hour at 500F.

They are done when a fork easily poke in the side. If too hard, keep baking for 10 minute increments until done.



Cut the garlic into the baked potato. It doesn't need anything else but you could put some salt and herbs if you want.

Cauliflower l'Orange Vegan Side Dish Thanksgiving Dinner Idea!

This is a raw side dish recipe that I borrowed and from Earth Mother. I changed it slightly and my recipe is not 100% raw. I was out of avocado and thought, "I've used avocado as a mayonnaise substitute, why not vice-versa?" so I subbed vegan mayo for avo and left out the Bragg's.














Cauliflower l'Orange

1 cup each finely chopped cauliflower and carrot

In the blender:
1-3 cloves of garlic (I like garlic a lot)
2 tbs dried dill.
1/4 cup orange juice (fresh, of course)
1 tbs vegan mayo (or 1/2 fresh avocado if you want it to be raw)

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate 1 hour.

Makes 4 servings, 1/2 cup each serving.

Beans. Sexy, Sexy Beans

I guess the people in marketing at Fiesta got wind of the fact that sex sells.















I'm not sure which is more of a turn on: The nearly naked woman on the package or the fact that they only cost a dollar a pound. Either way, I love beans. High in fiber, sodium and fat free, and cheap. Where is his other arm?





Speaking of beans, this was dinner last night:














Red leaf lettuce with bean salad. That's garbanzo, black and pinto beans with corn and green beans and chopped red bell pepper. The dressing is jalapeno infused olive oil and raw garlic blended together with a little bit of water. On the side, there is fried polenta with caramelized onions. That is Food Merchant's Brand Ancient Harvest Quinoa Polenta fried in olive oil with onions.

Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Soup

I hear many of you saying "Zucchini Breath, now that I know how to roast an eggplant what do I do with all that delicious roasted eggplant that I have and don't know with which what to do?" (or something like that) to which I have but one reply

"Make SOUP!"
















Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Soup
1 peeled flesh from one roasted eggplant
Peeled cloves of one head roasted garlic

Blend together with

2 tbs tahini
2 tbs lemon juice.
Salt and black pepper to taste.

Serve hot or cold.
Garnish with fresh ground pepper and lemon.

How Do I Store Green Leafy Vegetables So They Rot Less and Stay Fresh Longer?

I hate to spend good money on expensive organic greens only to have them turn to mush in the fridge.

This storage method is quick and easy and will keep lettuce, spinach, kale, collard, chard and other greens fresh in your fridge for days!

1. Separate and wash your leaves. Pat dry.
















2. Lay them out on a slightly damp kitchen towel one at a time and loosely roll them up. The idea is to have the leaves touching the towel but not each other.

















3. Keep rolling. Use another towel if you need to.






























4. Put rolled towel with leaves in a plastic bag and store in fridge. The leaves will stay dry so they don't rot and they will wick moisture from the towels as needed so they don't dry out.












It works even better if you use a zip-type bag and can get more air out.




Store your greens this way and you will save money and waste less food. I have had greens stay fresh up to a week (and longer) in the fridge using this method.

How to Roast an Eggplant

How to roast an eggplant.
Like most things it's easier than you might think.

If you are using eggplant for a recipe the important thing is for it to be very, very overcooked well cooked. I like raw eggplant cubed in salad, dehydrated as chips, etc, but if you are cooking eggplant you want to make sure it's well done.

Poke a bunch of holes in the eggplant and put it in a baking dish that is big enough to lay it down.















Bake at 400F, keeping your eye on it until it deflates. You might have to poke it an turn it to get all the juice out but it will deflate after an hour, hour and a half. Remove and compost the skin.



















Now you have a large bowl of roasted eggplant that is ready to bend to your will. Make sauce, relish/pickle, soup, dip, casserole, freeze it and save it for later, puree it and make crackers, let your imagination take you where it will with roasted eggplant.

Raw Vegan Lunch Idea! Collard Salad

Two good sized collard leaves, chopped fine. I used the food processor.
1 roma tomato
2 tbs chopped onion
Dash of hot sauce
2 tbs lemon juice.
Mix, chill if desired and eat.

Raw Vegan Sausage :: Almond Pecan Pepperoni

The man says it's too sweet but I like it on pizza or chunked up in salad. Lots of flavor, lots of fat. It's awesome.

















Soak and then dry about a half cup each of almonds and pecans.

Place nuts in Food Processor with:

8 dates
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dehydrated onion slices
1/4 cup dried black mushrooms
4 or five sundried tomatoes

Process with S-blade until you have a sticky mass. There should still be chunks of nuts visible in the sticky mass. Transfer sticky mass to wax paper, roll it into desired sausage size, wrap and freeze.

To use it, unwrap frozen roll and using a sharp knife slice off what you need.


















Re-wrap and freeze the remainder for weeks.

Soak and then dry nuts if desired. You can make this recipe without soaking if you don't care about that.

Please feel free to adjust the salt, spices and flavors to your taste.

I have also made this with walnuts only but it's VERY greasy that way.

It works great on cooked pizza, too! It bakes and broils very nicely.

Sunday Brunch with Deer and Compost.

Dinner last night was roasted veges and stuffed squash
















Vegan Sunday Brunch:














English muffin bruschetta with tomato and avocado slices and red leaf lettuce. The bruschetta sauce we picked up at Big Lots. It's Cucina Toscana Artichoke Bruschetta

I looked out the window and saw this deer eating my compost.














































He's a young buck with little bitty antlers.


I updated the tutorial about crocheting plastic bags. Check it out here.

Jennifer Cornbleet: Raw for Dessert

I just won a copy of this book from Ms. Veggie who had a giveaway.
















Wow, awesome! I can't wait to get it and start making goodies.

Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner Idea! Stuffed Squash Holiday Roast

With inspiration from Healthy Happy Life and a big mystery squash I made this vegan, meatless, animal alternative, DIY, cruelty reducing holiday roast.

Make your ordinary stuffed squash.

Flip it and peel it.















It should look something like this:
















Then slice











Voila!



Holiday Roast!



It snowed here yesterday but it all melted away. I took this photo in the late afternoon.