Check out my farmer’s market, yo

By Monica on July 11th, 2008

So while Raleigh certainly isn’t vegan paradise, I wanted to elicit sympathy show folks why I found the NC State Farmer’s Market so exciting. Behold, this is my farmer’s market, all 5 booths of it:

The photo is from my car as I drive past because I have not bothered going so far this year. (Please ignore the dilapidated orange ghetto trains in the background, my town thinks those are “antiques”.) From my car window each week I can spot lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and more lettuce. Illinois won’t have much else for another month or two. There are 5 booths so far; there will be about 10 when sweet corn season hits. The nice older lady in the middle there sells beer mustard, and the booth on the far right is non-vegan baked goods, so technically there are 3 booths of produce. I hope this explains my fascination with REAL farmer’s markets now!

Moo-ving on, here are some smoothies made from aging berries I would not allow to go to waste. Really though, this is just an excuse to show off my new glasses. The animals all have butts on the other side, heh.

In actual food this week, I made a double batch of Jessy’s Mom’s Magnificent Tuna-Free Tuna Casserole. Rule of thumb in my house is to double any casserole recipe to save more for later. That would have worked well if we didn’t eat the entire damn thing over the course of the week. A word of advice if you double this recipe - immediately freeze half of it because self control is powerless here.

And to round things off nicely - Apricot Cranberry Nut Pie from The Garden of Vegan. It’s so pretty one can almost overlook the pre-made crust, I hope.

But wait, there’s more!  Despite being labeled a weirdo for making soup in July, we made a batch of V’con Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup with Beans and Rice.  July or not, it was delicious…

…especially when paired with Bryanna’s Focaccia Bread - a tomato basil variety, of course.  Both the soup and the focaccia recipes make enough to feed an army, so I have all these delightful leftovers to look forward to this weekend, yay!

Cranberry Pear Snackcake

By Monica on March 27th, 2008

This is one of my favorites from the “Grandma Files”. A versatile little cake, you can easily alter this to fit whatever you have in your pantry at the time. No cranberries? Use raisins, or any kind of fresh berry. Buy too many walnuts? Throw them in! And I truly feel sorry for those who do not have 30+ jars of homemade pearsauce in their cold cellars, but if you don’t, applesauce works too. The combination of delicately sweet pears and tart cranberries is tough to beat though, this is what I always come back to. As usual, Grandma was right.

Cranberry Pear Snackcake
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1t baking soda
1t cocoa
1/2t cinnamon
1 cup pearsauce (unsweetened)
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

Cream canola oil and brown sugar. Sift together flour, baking soda, cocoa, and cinnamon, then add to the oil/sugar mixture. Add pearsauce, cranberries and mix until blended. Pour into a lightly greased 9×9″ baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

In other food this week, I took advantage of affordable fresh asparagus and added it to Joanna’s Penne Alfredo from Yellow Rose Recipes:

And lastly, SusanV’s ridiculously easy, ridiculously delicious Smoky Refried Bean Soup. I have made this twice since she posted the recipe this month!

My wieners, take 2

By Monica on February 5th, 2008

Ok, they’re technically Julie’s wieners, but this was a catchier title. And unlike my last attempt at sausages, these came out perfectly! (My sausage skills might be improving, eh?) My only modification to Julie’s recipe was to use caraway seed instead of fennel seed, and they are absolutely fantastic! Way better than packaged Tofurkey sausages and certainly healthier and less expensive. These are now on permanent rotation in my house.

Here’s a wiener now, nekked in all its glory:

And then we move onto other possibilities, like Sausage & Dumpling Soup. Believe it or not, it isn’t tomatoes coloring this Czech soup, it’s all paprika.

This was also an excuse to use up more dried beans from my pantry. There is seemingly no end to them.

I think this next dish was originally German, but surely everyone knows the old Saurkraut-Potatoes-Sausage medley. Boiled taters, saurkraut, a handful of caraway seeds, and your favorite sausage. One of the easiest one pot meals ever!

And lastly, a French Bean & Basil Stew. I modified this from an old cookbook I found at the thrift store called The Peasant Kitchen. It was 25 cents, a bargain for this recipe alone. This was crazy good - pureed beans, loads of basil, vegan Parmesan, and of course, sausage.

A noteworthy mention - all of these recipes were made using just one batch of Julie’s sausages and I still have one sausage left over. How economical is that?!

Bean & Dumpling Soup
2 cups white beans
8 cups water or broth
2 bay leaves
2 strips SmartBacon, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 small celeriac, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium parsnip, diced
2T olive oil
2T flour
2T sweet paprika
1t marjoram
2 veggie sausages
salt & pepper to taste

Dumplings:
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup water
2T Earth Balance
2T chopped fresh parsley
bread crumbs

Soak the beans in water overnight. The next day, drain and discard the water.
Place the beans in a large pot and cover with the water or broth. Add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, simmer for one hour or until beans are almost tender.
Fry the diced SmartBacon n medium heat until browned. Add onion and fry until almost golden. Add celeriac, carrots, parsnip, and olive oil; cook for 5 minutes.
Add flour and cook for 2 more minutes.
Add paprika, marjoram, and sausage. Cook for 3 more minutes and then add all of this to the beans.
Season with salt and pepper, simmer for 10 minutes.

To make the dumplings, first make a bechamel sauce. Put the soy milk and 1/4 cup water in a small pot under medium heat. Add the EB. When melted, add the flour and cook for a few minutes. stirring constantly. Take the pan off the heat and add milk and water. Return to heat and add parsley and as much breadcrumbs as needed for a semi-thick paste. Season with salt and pepper. Drop spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into the soup and cook for 3-5 minutes until done.

Bean & Basil Soup
2/3 cup olive oil, separated
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced, separated
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
3 tomatoes, diced
2T tomato paste
1/2 oregano
5 cups cooked soup beans of your choice, separated
5 cups vegetable broth, separated
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup uncooked spaghetti, broken up
1 cup tightly packed fresh basil
1/2 cup vegan Parmesan
1 veggie sausage (optional)

Heat 3T olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, 2 cloves of the garlic, and the parsley and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and oregano. Continue cooking until all the tomato juice has evaporated.
Add 2 cups of the beans and 1 cup of the stock. Season with salt & pepper, simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove this pot from the heat and allow to cool, then place in a blender or food processor. Puree until completely smooth.
Pour the puree back into the pot & return to medium-high heat. Add the remaining beans and stock.
Add spaghetti and simmer for 10-12 minutes until spaghetti is done.
In the blender or food processor, combine the remaining garlic, the basil, remaining olive oil, and Parmesan. Blend until smooth. Add this to the soup and stir in.
Add sliced sausages and cook until heated through.

A ‘ham’ trifecta!

By Monica on December 14th, 2007

Since last week’s faux-meat-roast experiment went well, I thought I’d try out another one of Bryana’s masterpieces. Baked ham was a Christmas staple in my yesteryears, so what better time to press my luck and try the vegan friendly version out?

Despite the very disturbing Tofu/Baco’Bit smoothie that you have to make as part of the ham recipe, this turned out excellent! There was even a twinge of “I shouldn’t be eating this, it tastes too much like ham”!

‘Ham’ going into the oven (sans cooking broth). Yes, it looks just like a giant wad of Silly Putty.

‘Ham’ coming out of the oven. As you can see, I didn’t have pineapple slices, but I did have chunks! Good enough!

And onto the plate, with a side of scalloped potatoes.

Another thing I love about Bryana’s creations is that while these ‘roast-type things’ take a long time to create, they leave you with enough food to make at least a few meals from. With the left over ‘ham’, the next night we had ‘Grilled Ham’ & Cheez Sammiches!

And with even more ‘ham’ remaining, what better to make than ‘Ham’ & Bean Soup?

In keeping with the theme, I made enough soup to feed a sizable vegan commune. That way I can freeze it for lazy nights, or take it to work for lunch. Feel free to half the recipe if you prefer.

‘Ham’ & Bean Soup
32 oz. dried navy beans
14 cups water or broth
3-4 cups diced ‘ham’
1 large onion, diced
6 carrots, sliced
6 stalks celery, sliced
2t salt
2t pepper
5 bay leaves
1t thyme
1t rosemary

Rinse beans and throw into a large stock pot. Add water/broth and bring to a boil. After boiling for a few minutes, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for about an hour.

Add ‘ham’, onion, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, or until beans are soft.

Add carrots and celery and cook for another 30 minutes, or until carrots are soft.