Author: betsy

by betsy

Day 3: Vegan Spicy Grilled Pear and Spinach Salad–Cooking “The Blooming Platter Cookbook” Julie & Julia Style

Pear Salad(A sequential installment from Kim Hastings, my photographer friend and, along with her vet husband, owner of Independence Veterinary Hospital, who decided on her own to cook her way through The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes Julie & Julia Style for her omnivorous family as a strategy for more healthy eating.)

 

If I were to channel a Southern Living or Martha Stewart magazine article, I would say today’s recipe, Spicy Grilled Pear and Spinach Salad, is a delight to the senses. The preparation is effortless and the presentation would make a beautiful addition to a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner.

But seriously, here’s how it really went down. It is a well known fact that my family hates fruit anywhere near their salads. I would have to blindfold them to get them to try this recipe. I, on the other hand, love salads with fruits. So I prepared this just for me as my lunch.

First I prepare the vinaigrette but my whisk is in the dishwasher so I simply shake it up in a covered bowl. Done! Next I core and cut the pear. Unbelievably, I have a corer so I tried it out, but it left the core in the pear so I just popped the core out of each slice. Perfect! I prepared the marinade in a small bowl as directed but no way could I get the pears coated in there so I scraped the marinade out with my finger (spatula also in dishwasher) and straight into a ziploc bag and threw in the pears. That works.

Kim Cooking PearsOk wait. I don’t own a grill pan so how will I get the desired grill marks?? You got it – 14 degrees outside and I’m wiping snow off the grill and firing it up. I will have grill marks! I lay the pears all out and wait two minutes as directed. No grill marks. Ok fine. Two more minutes. No grill marks. This went on for 14 minutes. Once I saw a faint grill mark appear I placed them on a plate and went inside. Looking at the photo now, I may have been imagining the grill mark but I was freezing!

Finally I got to arrange it all on the plate and decided the photo should be taken in the snow. Once I brought the plate back inside, there was snow all over the bottom, so I tried to wipe it off and almost dropped the whole beautiful plate right in the sink. Story of my life! Almost!

I have to admit that, while crunching on the smaller pears as I waited at the grill, I wasn’t sure about this recipe – that is until I tasted all the flavors together, including the toasted almonds. Incredible! Seriously incredible! So far I have really liked every recipe. But then again I have not chosen one with tofu yet. Stay tuned!

~Kim Howard Hastings

by betsy

Vegan Middle Eastern Roasted Tri-Color Carrots and Fennel with Cucumber-Chickpea “Yogurt” Sauce

Middle Eastern Roasted Carrots with Yogurt, Chickpea, Cucumber ToppingYield: 6 servings

On Saturday, I found myself bringing home produce before I had even prepared produce from a Whole Foods run a couple of weeks ago.  Afraid that something would go bad before I could get to it, I just combined the beautiful tri-color carrots from the earlier trip with today’s fennel bulb.  I also roasted golden beets, but in a foil pouch and I’m not yet sure what I’m going to do with those little beauties.

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely dish with it’s mellow Middle Eastern flavor notes in either–or both–of two ways.  There are lots of tried and true carrot marriages, e.g. dill, mustard, orange, and maple.  But I wanted something a little different.  So, while I did include mustard and dried orange peel, I substituted tamarind syrup for maple and added several of my favorite Middle Eastern spices.  If you aren’t able to find tamarind or pomegranate syrup, maple will be tasty; and fresh lemon zest–say 1/2 teaspoon– is a fine substitution for sumac, just not quite as earthy.

As you can see below, the carrots are a beautiful side dish and I hope you’ll trust me on the taste.  However, yesterday, home form school for President’s Day, I wanted a lunch of the carrots, but with some protein.  Remembering that I had purchased a cucumber on Saturday and had some chickpeas and vegan sour cream on hand (here, no one sells unsweetened vegan yogurt), it occured to me that, combined, they would make a luscious and fresh-tasting protein-packed sauce for the carrots.  And they were.  Enjoy these beautiful roots as a side or a main dish and you’ll be blissfully content either way.

Middle Eastern Roasted Carrots

1 fennel bulb with stalks

1 pound tri-color carrots (or any carrots, really), trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces on the bias

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea Salt

Freshly ground black peopper

1 tablespoon tamarind or pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

1 teaspoon dried coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried orange peel

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sumac

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

4 cloves garlic, halved

Optional Cucumber-Chickpea “Yogurt” Sauce (recipe follows)

Optional Garnish: reserved fennel fronds, whole or chopped pistachios, and smoked paprika (note, if you serve the carrots with the sauce, stir the fennel fronds into it and garnish with the pistachios and smoked paprika)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Remove fennel fronds from stalks, finely chop, and store, covered, in the refrigerator.  Trim stalks from fennel bulb and cut into 1-inch pieces on the bias.  Cut bulb in half and then slice each half into 6 to 8 wedges, about 3/4-inch thick at the widest part. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil into a large roasting pan.  Add fennel stalks and bulb wedges, carrots, and about 1/2 teaspoon sea salt adn 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.  Stir well to coat vegetables with oil.  Roast for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Whisk together molasses, mustard, corander, cumin, orange peel, smoked paprika, garlic powder and turmeric.  Drizzle over vegetables, add garlic, and stir to coat.  Roast another 10 to 20 minutes, stirring after 10, or until desired degree of caramelization is achieved.  (I like a lot of caramelization, so I roast them another 20, but be aware that the sugar content in the syrup means that too they will scorch more easily after it is added.)  Check for seasoning and stir in more salt and pepper if desired.  Serve warm or at room temperature garnished, if desired, with the reserved fennel fronds,  pistachios, and smoked paprika, or topped with the Cucumber-Chickpea “Yogurt” Sauce and garnished as desired.

Cucumber-Chickpea “Yogurt” Sauce

1/2 cup vegan unsweetened yogurt or sour cream

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1-7 to 8-inch cucumber, diced

Reserved finely chopped fennel fronds

1/8th teaspoon garlic powder

Pinch sea salt and freshly ground pepper

In a medium bowl, fold together all ingredients until well combined and chill in the refrigerator, covered, until serving time.

by betsy

Day 2: Vegan Indian Cauliflower Wraps–Cooking “The Blooming Platter Cookbook” Julie & Julia Style

Day 2--Indian Cauliflower Wraps(A sequential installment from Kim Hastings, my photographer friend and, along with her vet husband, owner of Independence Veterinary Hospital, who decided on her own to cook her way through The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes Julie & Julia Style for her omnivorous family as a strategy for more healthy eating.)

 

Tonight I decided to stick with cauliflower since I got a deal on them. So it’s Indian Cauliflower Wraps for dinner (and yes there is a big pot of chili on the stove so my guys don’t feel deprived).

I read through the recipe and saw “vegan mayo” – now if my family sees vegan mayonnaise in the fridge they will be on to me in a heartbeat, so ix-nay on the egan-vay! Then I see cilantro. My husband has a meltdown when he catches a whiff of cilantro so I’m switching to parsley. This morning I noticed that my parsley was still thriving in my herb garden so I ran out and chopped a bunch of it before the snow hit this afternoon.

Day 2--Indian Cauliflower Wraps--prepOk confession time. What I did not mention yesterday was that when I had cut my cauliflower steaks so beautifully and had them oiled and salted waiting to go into the oven, I turn around and my husband was covering them with “Zip It’, a powerful ghost pepper seasoning I found in Texas. Now my husband will tell you that I “over reacted”. Ok fine. Looking back that is probably a nice way of putting it. Anyway, tonight I separated one out for him to “ruin” as much as he liked.

With that compromise done, the rest was fairly easy. I admit I had to read it several times to keep the steps in order but I do that with all new recipes.

These wraps turned out so amazingly delicious that I drove one over to my son’s house two blocks away so he could experience them with us. Now the entire family is a big fan of this recipe!

~Kim Howard Hastings

Kim Hastings

by betsy

Day 1: Announcing An Inspired New Project–“Cooking ‘The Blooming Platter Cookbook’ a la the movie ‘Julie & Julia’ for my Omnivorous Family”: Vegan Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Roasted Cauliflower Salad(Today begins a series of sequential installments from Kim Hastings, my photographer friend and, along with her vet husband, owner of Independence Veterinary Hospital, who decided on her own to cook her way through The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes Julie & Julia Style for her omnivorous family as a strategy for more healthy eating.)

Note: Links to each installment will be added to the bottom of this post as we go along.

Why would an omnivore with a vegan-phobic family decide to do a Julie and Julia style challenge through The Blooming Platter vegan cookbook?

Simple! I decided I was tired of planning dinner every night and then deciding what to choose for the token vegetable on the plate – usually frozen or canned and then quickly microwaved just before serving. I just want to give the veggie equal footing with the other options on the plate. Am I crazy to hop scotch straight to vegan? Maybe just a little but here goes!

Since the book is divided into seasons, I decided to start with winter. I counted up 37 recipes and 39 days till spring. Unfortunately I will not be making my way through the soup section and I will tell you why. As a kid my family struggled financially and there were times we had nothing except the soups that people were kind enough to make for us. I will be forever grateful for their generosity, but I just don’t eat soups now.

I chose my recipes for the next week and went shopping. It’s no secret I would much rather shop for, well, anything except groceries. Yes even auto parts! And yes it was excruciating finding ingredients. I looked for a scallion for 20 minutes. I called home to ask my husband what exactly a scallion might look like. He was no help. I asked a gentleman next to me and he referred me to his wife who was so sweet and led me straight over to them without a trace of pity in her eyes.

Ok on to … Walnut oil??? There’s such a thing? An hour later I was done. Thankfully.

My recipe tonight was Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette. I started by following the directions about how to slice the cauliflower, fully expecting mine to be in crumbles on the cutting board but surprisingly they were beautiful. I kept reading and looking for the difficult part but there wasn’t one! It’s hard to screw up whisking oil, vinegar and mustard. And crispy capers!! Who knew??

I always avoid eating capers because I have no idea what they are (still no clue!) but crisp them up and you seriously no longer care what they might be–they are that good.

Overall I liked this recipe. My son said he would not have eaten it without the capers and my husband added ghost pepper seasoning–but then he adds that to everything. Biggest score of the night: no one knew it was “vegan”!!!

 

~Kim Howard Hastings

Kim Hastings

 

 

 

 

 

Follow Along…

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

 

by betsy

Vegan Valentine’s Medley–Sweet, Savory, Quick or More Involved, Choose from these 7 Favorites

Valentines Medley 2016Picking a favorite of my Vegan Valentine’s Recipes to post would be like picking a favorite dog.  So, I want you to pick.

From a breakfast of Red Velvet Pancakes to Red Velvet Brownies for kids or a little savory “Heart Tart” for lunch or dinner–plus lots of sweets, including mints and truffles that are perfect little heart-felt gifts from your kitchen–I think you’ll find something here to love.

Just click on the links.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~betsy

Clockwise from top-left:

Vegan Chocolate Truffles–created when I was disappointed with other recipes I found online.

Vegan Red Velvet Pancakes (THE BEST!)–I created these when I was dissatisfied with all of the recipes I could find online.

Vegan Red Velvet Brownies–VERy popular on One Green Planet and, again, created when I couldn’t find what I wanted after searching online.

Vegan Peppermint and Chocolate Patties–peppermint and chocolate, a marriage made in heaaven, so pretty layered in a ribbon-tied box.

Vegan Chocolate Heart Cakes–the apricot-hazelnut ganache filling is sophisticated, but simple, and the espresso-cream cheese frosting a sweet dream.

Vegan Cocoa-Dusted Chocolate Truffles–bittersweet bliss.

Vegan Savory Heart Tarts–they look fancy, but are so flavorful and easy with prepared puff pastry (center).

by betsy

Vegan Coconut Dal (Yellow or Red Lentils) with Spinach–So Quick, Easy, and Tasty

Coconut Dal with SpinachYield: 6 servings

I have made other versions of this Indian staple, so rich, colorful, and satisfying without being heavy, but this may be the easiest and most straight forward, not to mention tastiest.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon curry powder (I used a fairly mild variety from Spice Ace in San Francisco, but use your favorite)

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander

Optional: 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 pound yellow or red lentils (I purchased red which was all Kroger carried), but they cooked up yellow, which is what I wanted), rinsed and drained

6 cups vegetable stock

1-15.5 ounce can coconut milk (I used the “lite” version, but you get SO much more flavor with the regular)

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6 lightly packed cups fresh baby spinach

Garnish: quartered red grape tomatoes and, if desired (recommended), toasted coconut

In a large pot (e.g. 4-quart), heat olive oil over medium-high.  Add onion and saute, stirring, about 3 minutes or until softened.  Add garlic and saute about 30 seconds.  Stir in spices, add lentils, stock, coconut milk, salt and pepper and simmer about 15 to 20 minutes or until desired consistency is reached, adding more stock, if desired.  Just before serving, wilt in spinach, 2 cups at a time.  Serve garnished with tomatoes and optional toasted coconut.

by betsy

Vegan Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Browned Sage Butter, Wilted Greens and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

PlatedYield: approximately 32 gnocchi or 4 small-ish servings

 

Quite simply, this is possibly the best version of this type of”dream meal” I have ever tasted, much less prepared.  And, once the squash is roasted, it is surprisingly quick and easy.  I sage in the dough and the sauce, rubbed in the former, fresh in the latter.  But, I didn’t have fresh sage (a frost got mine), so I used a pinch of the rubbed in the sauce and derived plenty of green color from the wilted greens.

*Do ahead: roast butternut squash

 

Vegan Browned Butter

*1 cup roasted butternut squash (I roasted cubes for about 30 minutes at 450 degrees with a little olive oil and sea salt)

1 cup all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat) + another 2 to 3 tablespoons for rolling

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Lightly wilted spinach or your favorite green

Garnishes: Dollop of your favorite creamy nut cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds or other nuts

 

Vegan Browned Butter

2 tablespoons vegan butter

Optional (but recommended): 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast

1/8 teaspoon rubbed sage (or 2 to 3 fresh sage leaves, rolled, and sliced, i.e. chiffonade)

1/8th teaspoon garlic salt

Optional: a few drops of olive oil

In a cast iron skillet over medium-high, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and, stirring frequently, cook until it begins to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes.  Stir in nutritional yeast, if desired, sage, and garlic powder, and stir for about 30 seconds while nooch and garlic powder toasts and sage leaves wilt.  Reduce heat to low and stir in a drop or two of olive oil if a slightly thinner sauce is desired.  Keep warm over low heat.

Vegan Butternut Squash Ravioli

In a medium-large bowl, mash roasted butternut squash with a potato masher or a fork.  Using fingers, gently combine mashed squash with flour, 1/4 cup at a time, just until you achieve a moist but stiff dough, that is very easy to handle.  (Depending on the moisture content of your squash, it may require more or less flour.) Avoid over-mixing.  Divide dough into thirds and, on a lightly floured work surface, roll each third into a rope about 1-inch in diameter.  With a sharp knife, cut ropes into 3/4-inch pieces.  Press tops gently with the tines of a fork.

Cover two of the ropes with a dish towel and simmer the gnocchi cut from the third rope for 2 to 3 minutes or until they rise to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain quickly over pot, and then transfer to skillet with browned butter.  Add the gnocchi cut from one of the other ropes to the simmering water and while they cook, saute the cooked gnocchi a couple of minutes with the browned butter, stirring frequently, until golden brown in spots. Remove to a covered dish to keep warm.  Repeat cooking process with remaining gnocci until all have been simmered and sauteed.  Serve over wilted greens and top with a dab of  nut cheese and a sprinkling of roasted pumpkin seeds.

 

Roll
Roll Gnocchi Dough Into 1-Inch Diameter Ropes
Cut Into 3/4-Inch Pieces and Press with Fork Tines
Simmer Just Until They Rise to the Top, 2 to 3 Minutes
Drain with a Slotted Spoon
Browning in Sauce
Saute in Browned Butter Until Lightly Caramelized
by betsy

Vegan Pralines–with a Coconut Sugar Option for Real South-of-the-Border Flare

PralinesYield: approximately 16 to 20 pralines

I grew up in Texas and Mississippi near New Orleans, so I know pralines.  But I was just always a little intimidated to make them, as my mother, a talented cook, would lament how hers would “sugar.”

It’s tricky because pralines are not smooth like caramel, but they are not crystalized either.  If you have ever enjoyed a praline frosting on a cake or brownies, that’s the mouth-feel you want: smooth-ish, but with a hint of fine sand-like texture.

Yesterday pretty much house-bound in this East Coast snow storm and with company coming to make vegan tamales for dinner, I wanted something small but sweet and keeping with the Mexican theme.  Missing my Mama on that gray, blustery, cold and snowy day, I decided to channel her candy-making prowess–she made mean English Butter Toffee even if pralines eluded her–and give it a whirl.

But, first, I did a little research to pick up a few tips, e.g. use a large pan, avoid skimping on the butter or doubling the recipe (as you can’t dip them fast enough before the mixture cools) and, most importantly, after removing the mixture from the heat, stir until the pan just begins to “talk” to you, meaning that there is a slightly “sandy” scraping sound to your wooden spoon as it strikes the sides of the pan.  Then, waste no time spooning up the candy, as it will cool quickly from there on out.

Invited to friends’ home for dinner tonight and not wanting to show up empty-handed, I decided to make another batch this morning and get even closer to perfection.  And I did.  The trick I discovered is in the stirring phase once you remove the pan from the heat.  Not only do you need to listen, but you need to look.  The mixture will first turn a translucent amber color, like maple syrup.  But as you continue to stir, it will begin to become almost imperceptibly more opaque.  That moment of transition is the sweet spot, if you’ll pardon the pun, and the exact time at which you should begin to quickly spoon up the mounds, as the mixture will cool quickly from that point on and become more “sugary” than desirable.  With a half batch of candy, the magic moment came at about the 2 to 3 minute mark.

Pralines are made from such simple ingredients that you are likely to have on hand what you need at any given moment.  I happened to have on hand coconut sugar, so that’s what I used and loved the real south-of-the-border notes the undertones of coconut lent to the candy.

Regardless of the kind of sugar you use, remember, whatever streaks of praline goodness are left in the bottom of the pan belong to the cook alone.

 

2 1/4 cups cups coconut sugar or 1 1/2 cups natural sugar (I use demerera) + 3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy creamer or your favorite plain non-dairy milk

6 tablespoons vegan butter

2 teaspoons agave nectar or molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups pecan halves or pieces

 

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper, Silpat, or parchment paper.  Attach a candy thermometerto the side of a 4-quart saucepan, but avoid letting the tip touch the bottom.  Place all ingredients in the pan and set over medium-high heat.  Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon as the mixture melts and then comes to a boil.  Once boiling, stir continually until the thermometer registers 238 to 240 degrees, about 3 minutes.  Remove pan from the heat and stir, stir, stir until you feel resistance, candy becomes slightly more opaque, and you hear a faint “sandy” sound of spoon against side of pan.  Then, quickly, drop mixture by spoonfuls onto prepared pan.  Cool completely.  Serve, or wrap individually.

by betsy

Vegan Kielbasa, Sauerkraut, White Bean, and Kale Soup–sound odd? It’s outrageous!

Kielbasa, Sauerkraut, White Bean and Kale SoupYield: 6 to 8 servings

With a blanket of snow about to cover parts of the East Coast, soup–especially a hardy, but not heavy, one like this–is in order.

I know what you are thinking, “Sauerkraut in a soup?  No thanks.”  Heck, lots of people don’t care for sauerkraut at all, never mind in soup.

But perhaps the highest endorsement I can give this soup is from my next door neighbor.  He tends to some “guy things” here at my house since my husband died in July and I return the favor with food.  He LOVED this soup and he joked about surprising himself with his appreciation for my plant-based dishes.

I trust you and yours–vegan or not–will share his appreciation.  Try it on a big “guy’s guy” and please let me know the verdict.

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

14 ounces keilbasa (I used Tofurky brand), sliced lengthwise and then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1/4 cup whole roasted garlic (I purchase from antipasto bar at grocery store)

14.5 ounce can sauerkraut, lightly rinsed, drained, and gently pressed

15 ounce can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained

1 teaspoon apple cider or malt vinegar

1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

2 teaspooons dried dill weed

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 cups vegetable stock; or 4 cups water plus 4 regular-sized vegetable bouillon cubes; or 4 cups water plus 1 envelope dried vegetable soup mix (I used the latter because that’s what I had on hand)

6 yo 8 cups lightly packed fresh baby kale (or mature kale, roughly chopped or torn)

1/4 cup soy or coconut creamer (the sweetness balances all of the tangy and acidic flavors)

Optional Garnish: vegan sour cream and smoked paprika

In a Dutch oven or large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high.  Add kielbasa and saute, stirring frequently, until it begins to develop crispy, golden-brown caramelized areas.  Add onion and continue sauteing and stirring until translucent, about 3 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients in order, except kale and creamer, bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat, and siummer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.  Stir in kale, just until wilted, and finish by adding creamer and heating through just before serving.  Ladle into mugs or bowls and serve topped with a dollop of vegan sour cream and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

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