Savory Chick Pea Dollar Pancakes

This is a super easy snack or side that is so flexible.  You could gussy it up for brunch by topping with sautéed or steamed baby veggies, serve as an hors d'oeuvre with something like this or just serve at dinner with vegan buttery spread.  Don't feel wedded to the rosemary either.  I used this fresh herb because I had it on hand but this recipe would work great with a bouquet of whatever herbs are going nuts in your garden right now. 

You'll need:

1 cup garbanzo/chick pea flour

1/2 cup water (and more as needed)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive or nut oil

Additional oil or oil spray for the pan

several sprigs of fresh herbs

Mix the flour, water, oil and salt until smooth.  Your batter should like pancake batter.  If it is looking too thick, add more water.  Heat additional oil or spray in a pan on medium high and lay herbs on the pan in several spots.  Once your pan is shimmering, pour heaping tablespoons of the batter between the herbs.  Once the edges are firm and beginning to brown, flip to the other side.  Cook until both sides are golden brown.  Serve with vegan buttery spread or something more creative...

What would you serve these with?

Baked Brussels Sprout Leaves

On the Fourth of July, my best friend and her family came over for a barbecue.  They brought some amazing food (her husband is a trained chef) and I added some vegan fare to the menu.  I made a huge batch of grilled brussels sprouts and when I was done skewering the sprouts, I noticed how many of the leaves had fallen off in the skewering process...so I deep fried them!  I mean, why not.  My best friend's husband referred to them "nature's candy".

So tonight, I decided to make a much more reasonable baked version and they were just as delicious, crispy and wonderful.  I prepared the sprouts the same way (see the recipe here).  Then, I sprayed a baking sheet with olive oil spray and spread the leaves that were leftover after the skewering on the sheet.  I baked them at 300 for 15 minutes and they came out as delicious, if not better, and certainly less guilt inducing than the deep fried version.

These were so good I might just make them without the skewers!

Baby Kale Chips

Like regular kale chips weren't good enough, now we need baby kale chips!

Well, actually, they're pretty good so let's not let their immaturity get in the way of some deliciousness.

Here are the details:

5-6 oz baby kale leaves
2 tablespoons pistachio nut oil
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon flaxseeds
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Oil spray
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350

Toss the kale in the oil, add the rest of the seasonings and toss again.

Spray two cookie sheets with oil.  Spread the leaves evenly over the cookie sheets and bake for about 40 minutes.

Now, try not to eat them all yourself.  I dare you.

Peach Sorbet

This post was actually born from a fail!  I made this amazing peach juice a few weeks ago, and then followed a recipe for sorbet that included sugar.  The results were sickeningly sweet.  So, this time around, it's just as simple as possible.

We juiced 11 peaches, yielding about four cups of juice, and then we poured the juice into the ice cream maker and let it spin for about 25 minutes.  The result was so good.

Here's what it looked like in process:

And, deliciously done.

Yum.

PS:  Riv says, "It tastes like a peach."

Make Ahead Monday

Even though it's summer and I'm not spending my Mondays rushing from class to class and then meeting to meeting, I'm keeping the spirit of easy Monday night dinners alive.  This week's Monday dinner main dish is meant to be made Sunday but, it's also good for making early in the day and escaping the kitchen during the late afternoon heat.

The Menu:
Slow Cooker "Special" Adzuki Beans (I know, it sounds like it belongs on a Chinese food take out menu, but basically it's mild chili as named by little miss picky pants)
Millet
Salad

Day Before
Special Adzuki Beans
4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 onion diced
1 portabello mushroom diced
1 cup squash diced
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 1/2 cup BTB No Chicken Broth or another flavorful broth, divided
1/2 cup TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)
30 oz adzuki beans (from dry or from the can, drained)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil one cup broth.  Pour into a bowl over the TVP and set aside.

Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a pan on high, then sauté the garlic and onion for one minute.  Add the mushroom and squash.  Sauté until the squash has browned and the onion is translucent.  Transfer to slow cooker.

Heat the remainder of the oil in the pan on high, then add the TVP and spices.  Saute for three or four minutes but take off the heat as soon as it begins to stick.  Transfer to the slow cooker.

Add the beans, tomatoes and remainder of broth, stir and cover.  *Slow cook on low for two to three hours.

Salt and pepper to taste.

*I put the slow cooker insert in the fridge overnight and pull out when it's time to start cooking.  I live about four city blocks from the school where I teach.  So, I run home and start my slow cooker when it's time.  However, I hear on the internet that there are fancy shmancy slow cookers with timers out there.  Sounds like a great option for starting the cooking process so that dinner is ready shortly after you get home from work or the kids' activities.  Note:  leaving the insert in the fridge overnight adds to the cooking time which is why I give an hour range here.  Don't worry about leaving it to cook even longer especially if your beans are al dente when you add them to the pot.

Sunday prep hint:  one of Kordelia's teachers told me to soak the millet overnight and it does make a difference so I recommend soaking the millet overnight as well.

Evening Of
Millet
1/2 cup millet, soaked overnight if possible
1 1/2 cups BTB No Chicken Broth or another flavorful broth
2 cloves garlic finely diced
1 shallot finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sauté garlic and shallot in oil over high heat until browned.  Transfer to a pot.  Add the broth and millet and bring to a boil.  Cover and turn heat to low.  Simmer for about a half hour.

Serve beans with the millet and a fresh salad from whatever you have on hand.  Pretty good for a Monday (and even Rivers eats it up, no meat on the side!)

Lemony Chick Pea Broccoli

Oh this is just so good...

I am exhausted from our early AM garage sale this morning and the landscaping that followed but I have to share this recipe because it's one of my new favorites.  Seriously, make this now and rejoice.

You'll need a maui onion or several shallots, a lemon, lots of broccoli florets, a can of chick peas aka garbanzo beans, BTB No Chicken Broth, Earth's Balance, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper.  Nothing requiring a trip to Whole Foods here.

Here's the recipe:

2 tablespoons Earth's Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
1 cup maui onion or shallots chopped
3 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 1/2 pounds broccoli florets
10 oz chick peas/garbanzo beans
1/2 cup (or less) BTB No Chicken Broth or other flavorful vegan broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Handful sunflower seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Red pepper flakes

Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet (or your favorite wok).  Add onion or shallot, grated lemon peel, salt and pepper.

Sauté for 5 minutes.  Add broccoli and beans and stir until just before the onions or shallots start to stick, at that point, add the broth and cover for 5-10 minutes until the broccoli is tender but not soft (err on the side of al dente here).  Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with sunflower seeds and, if using, red pepper flakes.

Yum, seriously, yum.

To bee or not to bee: my vegan manifesto

It's the Fourth of July and yesterday, as we were hanging the bunting and flag, my husband said that the Fourth of July was not a military holiday.  I argued that it was a military holiday as we declared our independence from England, and then fought them for it.  

But, I was wrong.  At the writing of the Declaration of Independence, we were already embroiled in the Revolutionary War and had been for about a year.  The battles of Lexington and Concord happened on April 19th of the previous year.  Jefferson, tasked by the Continental Congress to draft up the statement, holed up in a room, away from his family and home, was really writing about why we were already at war.  I wonder if that in someway helped him to articulate the national sentiment...this wasn't writing about something we were going to do, it was about what we were doing  and why.  

That national sentiment included the idea that, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Did I mention I teach English and History? 


Today I'm thinking about the concept of Liberty.  According to Merriam Webster, liberty is: the quality or state of being free...the power to do as one pleases...the power of choice.  For me, being vegan came out of, and is empowering, because it is an expression of liberty.  And because of this fundamental belief and orientation toward practicing veganism, I don't expect or suggest that others should become vegan...even those who are in my immediate family.  

Take, for example, my daughter who will tell you at lunch that she is vegan and then eat a hamburger (see above photo).  My husband will eat vegan food with a steak on the side.  One day, maybe either or both will choose to join me, but it's okay if they don't.  If they do, if anyone takes up the practice of being vegan, I hope it comes out of this liberty, this freedom that I experience. 

For me, it's about the power of the choices I can make.  Also, it's about the liberty inherent in a modern lifestyle that affords me the health benefits of nutritional science, including supplements, so that I can be vegan and still be very healthy.  

Interestingly, within the choice to be vegan I find there is a whole host of freedoms.  I have freed myself from the feeling of carrying in my digestive system, animal products.  Animals and insects, unlike plants, are sentient beings and their by products, milk, eggs, honey, are imbued with something different than the wheat stalk or strawberry.  I didn't realize this until I stopped eating milk, eggs and yes, even honey.  I felt powerfully different.  Also, as I began to explore the world of vegan food, I found so many new ideas and options.  So many, in fact, that I started this blog a few days ago to keep a record of this discovery process.

For me, being vegan is a real and profound way to experience liberty.  I wonder why you make this choice or other food choices.  Please leave me a comment and tell me why you make the food choices you do....