Certified!

Officially certified, twice over, and ready to coach!  Please get in touch with me (details here) about coaching services.  So far I have been coaching over the phone, and doing grocery store tours and cooking lessons in person.  It's been an incredible experience and I want to work with more of you!  Sessions 50% off for the next 4 clients.  Drop me a line soon before those spots are filled!

Just a reminder that I now live, work, and blog over at my new site at A,B,C,Vegan.  Come visit me over there!  

Anyone need some VLC? :)

Fully certified to answer "Where do you get your protein...?" :D

MOVING!

Just a quick post to let everyone know - I am moving!  Finally moving over to http://www.abcvegan.com/, where you will be able to find my blog at http://www.abcvegan.com/blog/.  It's been a great year getting the blog going over here, and I hope you will follow me over to my new home.  I intend to dive back in on Monday with the original intent of the blog - to teach the hows, whys, and whats of this crazy vegan lifestyle.  VeganMoFo starts Monday (!), and my theme will be falling right into line with that intention.  Come join me!  :)

Tzimmes for a Shana Tova 5773

Last year I wrote about my wonderful Rosh Hashanah menu, and gave a rough idea of how to make tzimmes, a quintessential Rosh Hashanah dish.  I don't know what this year's Rosh Hashanah menu will hold since I am on my own with friends for the first time ever, but I do know that I have perfected how to make tzimmes, and I need to share.  I made my mom an early Rosh Hashanah meal this week since we won't be together on the holiday, and happily, this came out exactly as I pictured it in my mind.  Sweet, warm, fall, holiday flavors... yum.

Perfect Rosh Hashanah Tzimmes
(works for Yom Kippur / pre-Kol Nidrei meal too :) )

olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, minced as fine as possible
1 1/2 lb sweet potato (any variety, prefer a non-orange flesh variety just to change up the colors in the dish), cubed
1 lb carrots, sliced into rounds
1 t salt (or to taste)
1/2 t pepper
1 t cinnamon
2 C water
3/8 C sweet red wine (I use our family favorite kiddish wine, Manischewitz Sweet Red Concord)
 +an extra few tablespoons to deglaze the pan
3/8 C lemon juice
1 red apple, cubed
4 figs, cubed

1. Heat olive oil in large pot over medium to medium high heat.

2. When oil is hot, add onions.  Saute for approximately 5 minutes, but do not let burn.  After they start softening and turning translucent, reduce heat to a little under medium.  Add a splash of wine to deglaze the pan and keep the onions from sticking.

3. Add minced ginger, salt, and pepper and saute for another 5 minutes.

4. While onions and ginger are sauteeing, chop sweet potato and carrots.  I microwaved my potato for a few minutes to make easier to chop.  I recommend also microwaving the carrots for a few minutes to start softening them.

5. Add another splash of wine to deglaze the pan again.  Add sweet potato and carrots, water, wine, lemon juice, and cinnamon.  Adjust heat to medium low to allow all ingredients to simmer together.  Cover and simmer for at least half an hour.

6. Remove cover, add apple and figs, and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes, uncovered.  If needed, add additional water, but I like letting the juices thicken a bit, so don't go too heavy with the water.

Serve over couscous, and enjoy!

Shana Tova!

Early festive table at my mom's - been eating on that table at my Grandma's my whole life :)

Pesto Hummus

Ok this may be my new favorite recipe.  And that's saying a lot, because I love so many others.  But this one is easy, totally whole-foods based, and is full of bright, fresh flavors.  In the past week I have become addicted to hummus and basil for lunch - does anyone else do that?  Great, whole grain bread, toasted, spread with a thick layer of creamy hummus, fresh-picked basil placed on top.  An easy, filling, summer lunch.  So as I picked basil at my CSA I had this light-bulb moment - how about actually combining them?  And a beautiful thing was born.  I want to just eat bowls of this ... but I'll try to restrain myself and actually enjoy it over the course of the next few days.  :)

Pesto Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
3 T tahini
2 C fresh basil leaves
4 T olive oil
4 T unsweetened coconut milk beverage (The kind that comes in the boxes, not a can of coconut milk.  You could probably use water instead - the liquid is needed, but I used coconut milk just to make it a little creamier.)
1 t sea salt
2 T lemon juice
1/4 C nuts (I used a mix of raw cashews and almonds)
1/2 T sugar

Add all ingredients to a food processor, blend until smoooooth.  Enjoy!  That's it!  :)

Savory Cantaloupe Leek Pizza

The first thing everyone says when I tell them I made cantaloupe pizza the other day is, "Oh, so that's a dessert pizza right?"  Nope.  Not at all.  I tried to convince myself that maybe it was, after so many people asked... but it's not.  It's sweet but it's savory and it's dinner and it's *wonderful*.  The first time I made it when I came up with the recipe last summer I loved it so much that I had to immediately make it again the next week because I just hadn't gotten my fill the first time around.  This time I was gifted a free cantaloupe at my local farmer's market.  Normal people might think nice, now they would have cantaloupe to snack on, or for a healthy dessert ... I immediately thought, "Guess it's cantaloupe pizza time!"  Stopped to pick up some leeks,  picked some sage off my window box garden, and dinner was born. 

Like my Tomatillo-fingerling pizza with thyme, this goes beautifully with a glass of refreshing white wine.  The perfect relaxing summer meal, it created just the right peaceful atmosphere for Shabbat dinner.  I hope it finds you enjoying it at a wonderfully perfect relaxing moment as well.  :)



Worst picture ever, but I promise it tastes amazing!

Cantaloupe Leek Pizza

Pizza dough: I use this recipe

4 leeks, chopped
2/3 cantaloupe, cut in small pieces
3 T chopped fresh sage
1 C Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese, shredded (You can of course use any vegan cheeze you like, but in this case I really like FYH because it's a little less cheezy, and just melds in with the other ingredients.)

1. Make pizza dough according to the recipe above

2. Preheat oven to 500.

3. Saute leeks in olive oil with a little salt and pepper until soft and caramelized.

4. Spread leeks over flattened pizza dough.

5. Saute cantaloupe in same pan, allow juice to reduce somewhat.  Stir in fresh sage and fresh black pepper.  Remove from pan and spread over the pizza dough. 
(You may want to spoon the cantaloupe and sage out of your pan and leave the juice behind.  This isn't always necessary, but this last time that I made it there was more juice than I wanted on my pizza.  I saved the extra flavorful juice and will make something else interesting with it!) 

6. Sprinkle "cheese" over top of pizza.

7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is golden. 

Enjoy!!

Cheezy Potato Zucchini Pie

I've been cooking a lot of quick one-offs lately, so I really wanted to sit down and create a solid dish, a meal that would provide leftovers for a couple meals.  I found myself thinking, "If only I had potatoes I could do..." - and then I realized I HAD potatoes.  Beautiful red potatoes from my CSA, and the rest is history.  Combined those with leftover red pepper scallion spread that I had used for my stuffing recipe, and a star was born.  This smelled amazing coming out of the oven, and tasted just as good.  I was blown away by how cheesy and creamy it is, and had to actually remind myself that no, I cooked it my very self and know for a fact that it's vegan.  I wish I had more to say about this one, but I just want to get it out there and share!

Cheezy potato zucchini pie

olive oil

One small red onion, diced

8 red potatoes, on the small side

2 T olive oil

1 green pepper, seeded and cubed

1 medium zucchini, cubed

1 t sea salt

1/2 t ground black pepper

2 T lemon juice

1/4 C nutritional yeast
1/4 C red pepper scallion spread

1 C frozen spinach, thawed enough to stir into mixture - optional (Can also use ripped up kale or any greens.  Will change the flavors some but will give you extra greens!)

3/4 C all purpose flour

3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour (can use all AP if you need, but I like getting some whole grains in there instead)

1/2 C crisco

4-6 T cold water

1. If you don't already have it leftover from using for other recipes, prepare the red pepper scallion spread in advance.  The recipe prepares a solid 2+ cups of spread, so think of creative ways to use the rest!  I recommend stuffing.  Or just enjoy on veggies and crackers.  :)

2. Poke potatoes, microwave for 6 minutes to soften.

3. Preheat oven to 450.

4. Heat olive oil in skillet.  Once hot, add onions to pan and saute over medium to medium low heat.  Cube 4 of the potatoes and add to the skillet.  Saute until onions are soft and translucent and potatoes are soft, approximately 10 minutes.  Add the 2 T of olive oil and heat until mixed in.  Remove from heat.

5. While things are sautéing, cube other half of the potatoes, and add to a baking dish with the cubed green pepper and zucchini.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, making sure to keep an eye that nothing burns.  

6. Place the mixture from the skillet in a food processor.  Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and red pepper spread, and process until smooth.  Make sure to stop and scrape down the sides while processing if needed.  

7. Place the mixture from the food processor in a large bowl.  Add all of the roasted ingredients from the oven, and the spinach or other greens if using.  Stir until well combined.

8. Turn the oven down to 375.

9. In another large bowl, combine the flours and cut the crisco into the flours until reaching an even crumble consistency.  Add water as needed, slowly, until reaching a dough consistency.  Pat into a glass 9" pie pan.  (Yes, no need to grease the pan.)

10. Fill the crust with the potato mixture and smooth out so the height is even all the way around.

11. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until filling starts to brown.

Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving in August. Thanksgiving EVERY DAY.

So I have a confession. I may have a small addiction. To carbs. I love my bready, doughy, cakey foods ever so much.  I can't help it; it runs in the family! There were always cookies at grandma's, and my mom can nibble at a pie crust with the best of them.  Sometimes there's no point in even baking the cookies - there's nothing better than cookie dough right?

Umm, yeah, anyways ... sorry, got distracted, I can ramble about these things for quite a while.  Where was I?  Carbs.  Right.  Along with all the desserts and breads and pastas, there's stuffing. Oh, fabulous, wonderful stuffing.  Who cares about the turkey on Thanksgiving (even before I went vegan), when I can just stuffing alllll day?  I would like to claim I never bought boxes of stuffing just to mix it up and eat as a snack, but that would be a lie.  The thing is, most of those stuffing mixes have chicken or turkey flavor in them, and aren't vegan, so I haven't done that in quite a while.  Today I discovered the answer to my love.  Yesterday I made the creamy red pepper scallion spread from a ppk post from a few months ago.  I'm not sure how well it actually works on flatbread (more on that in another post), but it has some really great flavor, and when I saw the needing-to-be-finished bag of stuffing in my cabinet, I got to thinking....  I haven't been able to successfully make great, moist, flavorful vegan stuffing - maybe this could be the key.

Success!  I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I ate this whole serving in one sitting.  But, as previously mentioned ... that's kinda what I do, and I'm just going to own it and love it.  :)  And now I get to share with you!  I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving in August as much as I do.

Stuffing

2 C vegan stuffing mix - some of the plain Pepperidge farm bags are pretty much just bread cubes and maybe some spices.  Check labels carefully and you will find some.
1 C water
2 T olive oil
1/2 - 2/3 C red pepper scallion spread (You will have extra - use as directed in the original recipe or have some fun, experiment!)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix all ingredients together.  Be careful to mix as little as necessary to get fully mixed; you don't want to end up with paste, but to still have cubes to stuffing.

3. Bake uncovered in a casserole dish for approximately 30-40 minutes.  Exact timing will depend on how moist / dry you want your stuffing to be, and how deep your dish is.  You can also bake covered if you don't want the crispy top that I like.

Enjoy!!