Love this
FAVORITE MUSIC:
Thistle - You have to listen to Thistle. It’s two identical twin brothers who live in the woods, and each morning, they chop down a single tree, whittle two ukeleles from it, then record a song inspired by that particular wood. Their music is haunting.
Lady Slit - She…
Mike requested a “lighter” blueberry muffin earlier this week. So, I obliged this morning.
I decided to make them gluten-free and use an alternative sweetener as well. I’m sure they’d work with regular sugar and regular flour, I looked at a few recipes to get ideas and most of them use regular granulated sugar and all purpose flour.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients:
2 cups gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1 Tbsp flaxmeal
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut crystals (also called palm sugar)
1 cup nondairy milk (I used almond)
3 -1/2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 vanilla beans, scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
1-2 tbsp of maple syrup (optional)
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup frozen blueberries (not thawed)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease a muffin pan.
In medium bowl, combine flour, flaxmeal, baking powder, and salt. Mix.
In larger bowl, whisk together the sugar, about 1/2 of the nondairy milk, melted coconut oil and vanilla, until smooth. Add the flour and the remaining nondairy milk, alternating, until mixture is just mixed. Taste the batter and decide if it needs the maple syrup. I decided mine did :-) At this point, you can add already zested lemon peel or you can zest a lemon directly into the large mixing bowl. Add the blueberries and stir until combined. Scoop the batter into the muffin pan - about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mike and I ate ours with a little bit of Earth Balance. Mike says they are lighter than traditional blueberry muffins and a little less sweet. The lemon zest and vanilla bean are a great combination.
Delicata squash, where have you been all my life? I mean, I’ve tasted you a few times, but never have I realized how easy you are to prepare, how your skin is totally edible and how you taste so delectable!
Tonight’s dinner was simple roasted delicata squash, smoky oyster mushrooms, caramelized onions on a bed of massaged lacinato kale and red cabbage.
The squash was sliced in half, seeds scraped out and sliced into little half moons, then coated lightly in coconut oil and sprinkled with salt. I roasted it for about 20 minutes (flipping once) at 500 degrees on a metal baking sheet to get the maximum caramelization.
I also sauteed some oyster mushrooms with a bit of minced garlic and about 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke.
Basically, it was a completely scrumptious plate of food.
For some reason, I haven’t been drinking enough water lately. My already dry skin is drier than normal and I’ve been constantly reminding myself to drink more water (when I remember).
In the midst of thinking about how to be nicer to myself today, I thought “Why not make some spa water?” It reminded me of a children’s book that my niece used to love and, if you have a daughter under the age of 10, you are probably familiar with: Fancy Nancy.
The child in the book, Nancy, likes to make everything in her life fancy. The book follows the adventures of her “fanciness” and her family being taken along for the ride.
I woke up today feeling a bit blue. But the simple act of making something “fancy” in the form of spa water, has shifted my perspective and lifted my spirits.
Do something nice for yourself: Make spa water today!
My pitcher contains a sliced lemon, a sliced lime and thinly sliced cucumber. You could jazz it up even more with oranges or mint leaves, too.
I know you’re wondering “What else can I do with roasted pumpkin besides baked goods, desserts and delicious hot cereal?” Here’s what:
Lately, I’ve been using pumpkin as a canvas of sorts for dinner bowls. I use it in the same way you’d use a grain like quinoa or rice or polenta. I season very lightly with salt, pepper and nutmeg and top with sauteed veggies and a sauce of some sort. The bowl above has pumpkin on the bottom, and a mix of garden fresh zucchini (thank Angie!), caramelized onions, kale, homemade enchilada sauce and avocado.
Last’s night bowl was similar: pumpkin, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, garlic, kale, topped with marinara sauce from a jar and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.
Super comforting and delicious.
One note about the kale: you don’t even need to add it to the pan of sauteed veggies. Kale (and other greens) get steamed simply by adding them to already hot, cooked food and the less we cook greens, the more nutrition we get. I sometimes add mine to the pan after the fire is already off and then just stir with the veggies. They get slightly cooked this way. You can also chop them first, sprinkle salt and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and massage with your hands to get a steaming effect.
I knew I wanted something pumpkin this morning (shocker), but didn’t know exactly what…I’d talked about making pumpkin french toast, but woke up to rain and decided I felt like baking.
I found this recipe on The Kind Life - apparently an Isa Chandra recipe, which is all I needed to know.
However, 2 loaves sounded like way too much, and I thought I could probably halve the recipe to make muffins instead of a quickbread. The original recipe sounded somewhat sugar and oil heavy as well, so I decided to cut those ingredients a bit and replace some of the all-purpose flour with spelt flour. I was curious about what would happen with all spelt flour or even whole wheat pastry flour, so maybe I’ll try that next time.
Here’s what I did this morning:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup cooked pumpkin
6 Tbsp coconut oil, melted (a little more than 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup light coconut milk
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray a nonstick muffin pan, or use muffin liners. Put walnuts in dry frying pan and toast over medium heat, watching closely to make sure they don’t get burned. They are ready when you can smell them. (A tip I learned from Rachael Ray!) Remove the walnuts from heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add the pumpkin, oil and coconut milk and mix until all the flour is absorbed. Fold in the shredded coconut and walnuts. Spoon mixture into muffin pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
We ate these right out of the oven and they were fabulous. The coconut gives them sort of a crispy texture, and the walnuts add a richness. The cake is not too heavy and not too light. And the level of sugar was also just right in my book. They are sweet, but not cloyingly so. The pumpkin has a natural sweetness which is one of the reasons I didn’t think they needed the white sugar that the original recipe calls for.
For anyone who cares about this stuff - despite reducing the sugar and oil and using some whole grain flour - these are not low calorie, low-fat or low sugar. For me, it’s a small indulgence that I’d rather make myself than purchase at a coffee shop (where I can’t control the ingredients). I calculated the nutritional info:
Per muffin: 248 calories, 13.5 grams of fat, 2.3 grams of fiber, 30.2 grams of carbohydrate, 3.5 grams of protein.
Do you remember Magic Shell? I think of it as a product that doesn’t exist anymore because I last ate it in childhood. I’ve seen a homemade version of the blogosphere and decided to try it the other night. It’s basically just 3 parts chocolate (I used semi sweet chocolate chips) to 2 parts coconut oil. Melt it together on the stove or in the microwave and stir. If you are a salty sweet person like me, I highly recommend mixing in a sprinkle of sea salt.
Pour over your favorite frozen dessert (photo above is banana soft serve). It hardens and cracks just like the storebought variety.
I am pretty excited to be a recipe tester for Terry Hope Romero’s upcoming cookbook.
Tonight, I made Terry’s Masala Potato Soup, and it turned out quite nicely. As I was eating it, I was thinking, it would be awesome to be such a talented cook that you could make up something like this soup. So, as Mike said “This one’s going in the rotation.”
With an onion, a pile of kale, cooked quinoa and leftover homemade enchilada sauce, this bowl was born.
I didn’t have much in the fridge because it’s grocery shopping day, but I knew I wanted something cooked and semi-hearty for lunch today. Didn’t feel like a smoothie. Quinoa cooks up so quickly, so I got that underway, and then chopped an onion into rings and caramelized that over medium low heat.
I then chopped up a boatload of kale and put it in a large mixing bowl with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of sea salt. I massaged the kale for about 30 seconds and then transferred that into another bowl.
When the quinoa was done (about 15 minutes cooking time), I heated up some leftover enchilada sauce, and layered the kale first, then the quinoa, then the onions and poured the sauce over the whole thing. A quick toss and lunch was served! What I liked about this dish, in particular, was how the kale got slightly steamed by the hot quinoa and onions. Sometimes raw kale can be a bit much for some people, but by massaging it and then putting in a bowl with other hot ingredients, you can still reap the benefits of eating it raw without overcooking the nutrients out of it.
I love candy corn. There, I said it. This is somewhat difficult for me to admit, as a self-described kale worshipper. I know it’s horrible for you and that many people find it vile, but I love it. For the last several weeks, I’ve been craving it. I’m sure I’m not the only one, as it is the season of candy corn!
I haven’t caved in and bought any though, because commercial, store-bought candy corn contains gelatin (derived from animal skin and bones), egg whites and confectioner’s glaze (derived from bugs). All very un-vegan.
I KNOW that I can make it myself OR order it online, but for some reason neither of these options appeals to me, in part because I am not sure that it would taste the same as the candy corn I love. The truth is, all I want is a handful. It’s not something that I can eat in large quantities and after a handful I’d be done. But, yet, I can’t bring myself to buy even a small bag. So, I’ve been forgoing the candy corn even though it seems to beckon me every day.
This may not sound like a big sacrifice - and of course it isn’t - but it’s a small example of why being vegan is, sometimes, kind of hard. There, I said it (again). I’m coming up on my second “vegan-versary” - I decided to go vegan Thanksgiving weekend 2009 - and for the first year of my vegan adventures, I was determined to show everyone I encountered how easy veganism is.
I realize now that it’s probably more genuine to admit that sometimes it IS hard. My honest opinion after almost two years is that it gets both harder and easier. It gets harder because of little candy corn situations that crop up and sometimes I have to remind myself why I am doing this. And, it also gets easier because of all the amazing, varied food I make and eat, all the new things I discover, and experiences that I have that reaffirm my decision.
One of those experiences was my spontaneous visit to Gentle Barn today. Gentle Barn’s mission is “To rescue, rehabilitate and give sanctuary to abused animals. Through the interaction with our animals people learn reverence for all life.” I met some adorable and sweet animals today, including:
Linus
Stanley
and
Buttercup. It’s hard to tell from this photo, but Buttercup is a beautiful cow who was resting her head on my knee as I pet her!
This was exactly what I needed today. It was heartwarming to see so many animals in a healing, nurturing environment. And at the same time, sad to remember that droves of similar animals undergo torture and mistreatment so that humans can eat or use them somehow. All I need is to look at this photo of Buttercup and be reminded why I don’t really need the handful of candy corn.
