Vegan Month of Food 2016 - Day 11 FIELD TRIP!!!

Today's prompt for Month of Food is "where does your favorite food come from?" Perhaps the question begs a different answer than the expected "favorite cuisine."  Let's watch:

The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come and he would gather her leaves
and make them into crowns
and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples.
And they would play hide-and-go-seek. And when he was tired,
he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree....
very much.
And the tree was happy.
But time went by.
And the boy grew older.
And the tree was often alone. Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, "Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy."
"I am too big to climb and play" said the boy.
"I want to buy things and have fun.
I want some money?"
"I'm sorry," said the tree, "but I have no money.
I have only leaves and apples. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy."
And so the boy climbed up the
tree and gathered her apples
and carried them away.
And the tree was happy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time.... and the tree was sad.
And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy
and she said, "Come, Boy, climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy." "I am too busy to climb trees," said the boy. "I want a house to keep me warm," he said. "I want a wife and I want children,
and so I need a house.
Can you give me a house ?"
" I have no house," said the tree.
"The forest is my house,
but you may cut off
my branches and build a

house. Then you will be happy." And so the boy cut off her branches and carried them away
to build his house.
And the tree was happy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time. And when he came back,
the tree was so happy
she could hardly speak.
"Come, Boy," she whispered, "come and play."
"I am too old and sad to play,"
said the boy.
"I want a boat that will
take me far away from here.
Can you give me a boat?"
"Cut down my trunk
and make a boat," said the tree. "Then you can sail away...
and be happy."
And so the boy cut down her trunk and made a boat and sailed away. And the tree was happy
... but not really.
And after a long time
the boy came back again.
"I am sorry, Boy,"
said the tree," but I have nothing
left to give you -
My apples are gone."
"My teeth are too weak
for apples," said the boy.
"My branches are gone,"
said the tree. " You
cannot swing on them - "
"I am too old to swing
on branches," said the boy.
"My trunk is gone, " said the tree.
"You cannot climb - "
"I am too tired to climb" said the boy.
"I am sorry," sighed the tree.
"I wish that I could give you something.... but I have nothing left.
I am just an old stump.
I am sorry...."
"I don't need very much now," said the boy. "just a quiet place to sit and rest.
I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree, straightening
herself up as much as she could,
"well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest." And the boy did.
And the tree was happy. 

Yours truly!
Long lost summer days of mango time.

Big Pine's own "Giving Tree"

We rescued this little terrapin today!
He was in one of the cisterns, but couldn't get out.
We helped.

Let us nurture our giving ground, all that dwells upon it, within it, and above it.

Plant strong.

Vegan Month of Food 2016 - Day 10 (Fusion Food) Italy meets Russia

Today's prompt "fusion cuisine" is AWESOME! Usually the topic would strike fear into my heart ... oh how I anguished last year on the same prompt. The difference this year is the OTHER happy vegan WANTED to do this one! REJOICE!

Today I bring you cabbage ravioli (cleverly disguised as cabbage manicotti.  Russia hooked up with Italy, and together they created the perfect storm of a food baby.

The other happy vegan got up bright and early this morning and made the cabbage/onion filling, the house smelled a little bizarre when I got up to make muffins, but so be it. Vegan food always me happy, even cabbage and onions at the crack of dawn. He was so excited about this. I've heard a few stories about his grandmother through the years, he absolutely adored her. I'd never met her, she was long passed on before we got together, but he spoke for years (not kidding, YEARS) about his grandmother's cabbage ravioli, I really thought he was kidding. Then I actually stumbled upon the recipe in his mother's cookbook (!!!) He wasn't vegan (yet) but I sure was. I noted how basically the recipe was accidentally vegan already (depending how the dough was made). He promised me for years he'd make it, but never did. One day last year, he made shells with the filling, and I was an instant believer.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to 2016 Vegan Month of Food... this is only the second time he's ever made this for me. Without MoFo, this would have never happened today.

Oh.... enjoy the (multiple) cat cameos. This is why 1) cats are not allowed in the kitchen while I'm working, and 2) why I wanted to be OUT of the kitchen. Our companion animals are our lives, in the best way possible.

Ciao and Добрый вечер

xo and Vegan Strong!

Vegan Month of Food 2016 - Day 9 "Icelandic Christmas Cake!" VEGANIZED!

As I was driving home tonight from checking on, and feeding, the small group of ferals I help look after (only 3 of the 6 tonight, so worried...) I flipped through the satellite stations and somehow landed on a channel that was playing space music, or at least what I call space music. Synthesizers, no vocals, just endless flowing sound. As I continued to drive, I glanced upwards towards the sky noticing it was perfectly clear; full of stars.  I  turned onto my street, and eased into a pullover area, flicking off the headlights. It was so dark. With the space music still going, I opened the windows, got out of the car and looked at the sky. In the brush I heard some rustling, likely a Key deer or two... those that so many of us are working so hard to save. All this was balm for the soul and I wished everyone who matters to me could do the same.

Today, we're tasked with bringing you something from a cuisine or region we've never done before, or rarely do.

Iceland. Home of the midnight sun, Northern Lights, and adorable puffins. This was not my original plan for today's post, but when life hands me lemons, I make cake.

Since my video from Ethos got eaten by the internet demons (explained in the video below), I had to give this some mindful, but quick thought. I've been preoccupied with Iceland for quite a few years. I follow a couple of Icelandic pages on social media, and am ridiculous when it comes to staring at photos and movies of the Northern Lights. I've never seen them, but sure hope to. I want to visit Iceland, stay in an ice cave, forage for vegan food, see puffins in real life, be in a place where McDonald's is (supposedly) banned (can that be TRUE?!!!) and experience a day with practically no darkness. I know I'm all about beaches and palm trees, but Iceland gets a free pass from me, there's just something about it that calls. We've had a few guests from Iceland visit us here through the years as well. Such lovely people. So, with this, I've chosen the cuisine of Iceland to represent today. I learned that pretty much everything in Iceland is not vegan (there's air, there's water....) There's tons of lamb, fish, potatoes (with lamb, and fish), and so forth. But, if I had more time, I could veganize almost any recipe I looked at today. I chose Vinaterta, which is a traditional Icelandic Christmas cake. Actually, it's a shortbread torte layered with prune jam. Prunes do not live in my house, so I used cranberries and dates. Other than the prunes, I had every ingredient on hand for this, and who cares about prunes when ya got dates & cranberries. Even better, for the rebels out there who don't care about tradition, I have visions of chocolate ganache dancing between layers.... but that's just crazy talk, no?

It's been hard to put a post together today, not to mention a video, but I did. If you would like to try this recipe, scroll past the video and you'll see the link. I forgot to mention, I used vegan margarine for the butter, the other vegan substitutions are spoken of in the video.

Let's watch:

Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/shortbread-and-prune-jam-layer-cake

I don't know how to say "good night" in Icelandic, so I'll say it in English... good night. May tomorrow bring us just that much closer to a vegan world.

xo

Vegan Month of Food 2016 - Day 8 "Far Flung Land" PS: I voted

Today's prompt is "dig deep, what's on the opposite side of the Earth from where you are." There's an app for that (does anyone use a globe anymore?)

We discovered that opposite us is the Indian ocean. The closest land mass is Australia. I can't swim, have water terror, and suck at making vegan sushi, so I went with Australia. They've got beaches, cool animals, and something called Anzac biscuits. Being that today is Election Day in my country (I voted. I got a cool conch shell sticker, that's about the only positive thing going in this entire election) when I learned about Anzac biscuits, I thought it was appropriate for the day, meaning patriotic to their country. Anzac biscuits came about sometime around World War I, and are beloved in Australia. The term "Anzac biscuit" is regulated; it cannot be called a cookie. As point of fact, I learned that Australia forced Subway to stop selling the "cookies" in Australia unless they made them more authentic and called them a biscuit. Apparently Subway couldn't source the ingredients economically enough (quite puzzling to me considering this was essentially a biscuit based on war rations, very basic ingredients) so they dropped them from the menu.

The biscuits are made with flour, sugar, (sometimes coconut, I did use it), oats, treacle (I used molasses the closest thing to treacle), vegan butter, and baking soda mixed with boiling water. That's it. If you scroll past the video, you'll see the link to the recipe I used which is from the Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, so I'm hoping I did choose one that is as authentic. Mine came out hard on the outside, a bit chewy on the inside. I was surprised how delicious and flavorful these are. They have a very long shelf life according to the information I found online, which is one of the reasons they were so popular during the war... stories are that the wives made them for the men at the front lines. I've read that they were made for galas and fundraisers as well, in fact to this day they are used for fund raising efforts.

I also talk a bit about koalas, because dang they're cute, and dang they're in trouble.... they're losing their habitat and on the road to becoming a very troubled species. Let's watch and see:

Here's the link to the little article containing the recipe I used for these biscuits. Give them a try, you may be as surprised as I am how tasty these are for something so very simple! This recipe is based upon ingredients not subject to war rations back then, so easy to veganize! I substituted Earth Balance for the butter, everything else is obviously vegan already!

http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/04/24/3487637.htm

There ya have it.... far flung and a sticker.

Til tomorrow!

xo

Vegan Month of Food - Day 7 "Home Town, Home State or Home Country"

There were so many options for today's prompt! I decided to go with a nod to my paternal grandparent's home country which is Italy, mostly because Italian food is my favorite, and this way I can showcase my favorite dessert of all time, tiramisu.  During last year's MoFo I veganized a Cuban sandwich for you, so we can skip that part of my heritage, and also as far as my hometown and home State, the LAST thing I want to eat is what's popular up there (also covered during last year's MoFo, veganize a childhood favorite; mine was fried pork roll or fried bologna, absolutely SHAMEFUL).

My grandfather was a cook, we've talked about this before. Today he'd be called a chef, back then "just" a cook. He worked in fine restaurants in NYC, and then places in NJ closer to home. I wonder what it would have been like for me to cook for him, and for me to have the benefit of his knowledge and support. That was not meant to be, but I think of him a lot when I'm in the kitchen.

I have not provided the recipe and with very good reason. This recipe takes 3 days to make, you serve on the 4th day. First a day is taken to make the vegan cream, vegan sour cream, and vegan cream cheese (disclaimer, I used premade vegan cream cheese for this video), those 3 components take 24 hours to set, minimum. The next day I combine those components with the rest of the creamy ingredients, and then give it at least another 24 hours to set. That same day I usually make the cake, but in this video, you'll see I used vegan lady fingers from a contributor on the vegan aquafaba site. I made several versions of them, the flavor is really great, but the rising was a problem for me. I do not fault author of the recipe, as I live super tropical, baking down here is always interesting with the year round humidity and heat. The cookies seemed to almost disintegrate in the dessert instead of absorbing the espresso, but the flavor was still perfect. I was going to buy some lady finger molds and work on the recipe some more, but for now I've decided against that. I make this recipe probably once every 2-3 YEARS. And, then the 3rd day I assemble the components into the actual tray, and allow it to set another 24 hours. Then day 4, you enjoy the fruits of your labor. If I make it that infrequently, imagine how you would feel... even less inspired. I'm a big fan of not spending events in the kitchen. I like simple things so my time can be spent with my friends when I'm entertaining. This recipe is NOT for the faint of heart, so just kinda go with me on the non-publication of this (I'm a little paranoid not sharing the recipe, last time I shared a picture on a social media site of one of mom's old recipes that I had veganized perfectly, I was shredded for not sharing, it got so bad I actually deleted my post!)

For your information, my creams are not nut based. Everything I use is typically made with soy, however I have also done the components using coconut milk with success. My thoughts are that far too many "cream" recipes are nut based (ie: cashews), again I'm NOT against nuts, but to rely on them too heavily is not the best idea for me. So many people that come to our place here have sensitivities, so I have a lot of excuses and reasons to experiment with vegan recipes that are allergen free, including gluten free, nut free, wheat free, soy free, and so forth. Always remember to have FUN in the kitchen, don't be so afraid to take a chance!

I find it a bit strange that tiramisu is not on more vegan restaurant's menus more often. There are SO many simple versions we can work up, including gluten free variations, there's no good reason for this not to be more readily available. Also, I never thought I'd take the plunge, but I did buy Chef Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen cookbook. I thought I'd never use it, but actually it's a GREAT book to have in the collection because the recipes are based on readily available ingredients, almost all of the recipes are uncomplicated, they taste great, and I've never found a typo in any of her books! She's got a tiramisu inspired recipe in there, I've made it, it's good!

Here's today's snappy little video, I hope you enjoy it. Now get cracking and make your own version of tiramisu. I'm taking this tray to my friends at the local health food store!!

Ciao for now!

xo

Vegan Month of Food 2016 - Day 6 "Comfort Food"

As usual, I'm different. My idea of comfort food doesn't usually comport with what most people typically want as comfort food. For me, I prefer a food that will nourish and heal... something that will heal my body, not just numb the mind when hurting. Many others associate comfort food with decadence. Things like super creamy mac & Gary, mashed potatoes with tons of gravy, cakes, donuts.... things of that nature. That's ok too, as long as it's vegan, it's on my plate at some point or another. I don't use bad times as an excuse to indulge in things that aren't the best choices for me. So, I bring you 2 comfort foods today... mine (detox "yoga" soup) and everyone else's (chik'n & dumplings--yes, damn good).

As I explain in the video, when I had some very intense pastry chef training a few years ago, I was feeling very unwell by about day 3. My instructor said "I know what you need! You need a detox or miso soup!" So, that's what I made for us, and magically we both felt so much better after we ate. As I also explain, I don't eat a lot of sugar (um, can we please forget about last night's "midnight snacking video") but I still ingest it through absorbing it through my skin as I work, as well as inhaling it during work (things I'd never considered until I went to see a healer for so many problems I was having).  I'm a baker. I spend countless hours working with the sweet stuff. It causes inflammation in my body, and sluggishness in my brain. I got sick of feeling sick, and eliminating sugar helps me.  This detox "yoga" soup is delicious and comes together in about 5 minutes. If you scroll down past the video, you'll see a list of suggested ingredients and a method for each. The other soup is a "chik'n & biscuit" style dish. It's super easy, and dirt cheap if you make your own seitan. It's hearty, creamy, warming. Actually it's a hug in a bowl.

Let's check them out:

Chik'n & Biscuits

4-6 cups veg stock, veg bouillon or un-chik'n bouillon

Choice of veggies, diced (I used carrots, onion, potato, edamame, corn)

seitan of choice (I made my own, method below)

your favorite biscuit recipe (I made my own, method below)

Seasonings of choice (I used sage, poultry seasoning, thyme and black pepper)

Bring water/stock to boil, turn heat to med. low, add veggies. Cook about 5-10 minutes, then add seitan (I shredded mine), keep on low about another 5 minutes. Mix up your biscuits (I mixed 1 cup flour, 2.5 tsp. baking powder, sage, thyme, black pepper; cut in 2.5 tablespoons vegan margarine, then mixed in about 1/2 cup non-dairy milk). When ready, spoon the biscuit mix on top of the soup/stew in blobs. Cover, keep on low about 7 minutes, uncover, check biscuits for doneness, should be ready to eat. Ladle into bowls. Prepare to receive compliments and hugs.

Seitan

I used about 1/2 bag of gluten I had leftover from something else, dumped in a bowl, sprinkled in some chickpea flour, poultry seasoning, and whisked well. Added in water until it became not too wet, not too dry, pulled to mix well, and shaped into logs. Slice. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of seasoned water to boil (use what you want: veg bouillon, poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, whatever.... if you don't season this enough, your seitan will be a little bland, but that's still ok, it's going to take on flavors of whatever recipe you use it in). Add uncooked seitan to boiling pot of magically seasoned water. Turn heat to medium low, cook 1/2 hour, stirring and pushing down occasionally (cook covered), then for about another 15 minutes or so, cook uncovered. Let cool. Use what you need, freeze or refrigerate the rest. Keep your leftover seitan in some of the stock water so it doesn't dry out. (Do I hear buffalo style seitan calling you????)

Jen's Detox "Yoga" Soup

About 4 cups water

Bragg's liquid aminos

Ginger, powdered or sliced, whatever you want.... amount to taste. I used a decent amount!

Mushrooms, washed & sliced.... MANY!

edamame, shelled

rice noodles or whatever you call those Asian noodles that you add to stuff after finished cooking, they're magic, you don't cook them, they're like little threads

You can add: miso (always add miso after done cooking, never boil miso), dark greens, tiny bits of tofu, broccoli, things like that. Whatever you want.

Serve with diced scallions, seeds on top, any type of hot sauce.

This is MY idea of comfort food.... it resets my body when it's far too overloaded with crap, especially sugar.

Hope you like the video and food.... cooking should be from the heart, more experimental than rigid. Use what you have on hand, and just go for it.

xo

Vegan Month of Food 2016 - Day 5 "Midnight Snacking"

Our assigned prompt today is "midnight snacking." I would not lie to you... I do not go for midnight snacking. No lectures to anyone who chooses to indulge, but it's just not for me.

Imagine my surprise (and good luck) however that tonight we attended the annual banquet for Save-A-Turtle of the Florida Keys. It's a non-profit here in the Keys that we volunteer for. Save-A-Turtle volunteers are the permitted people who walk Keys beaches in search of sea turtle nests during nesting season. We also do the excavations, and some of us are also part of something called the stranding and salvage network. All that being said, once a year after nesting season is just about over, we gather for an evening of fun and turtle talk with food (vegan food is always represented), raffles and other good stuff. Yours truly donated the desserts this year, which consisted of a bunch of organic vegan cheesecakes.  For good measure I also donated a couple pounds of allergen free triple threat chocolate biscotti... nut free, soy free, wheat free, gluten free, egg free, dairy free, of course vegan!  I packed my cake slice up and took it home after the banquet. It's coming up on 11pm right now.... not quite midnight, but close enough. Indeed I'm going to take a couple bites as soon as I'm done here. See how I don't lecture you for regular midnight snacking... now do me the same solid and don't lecture me about eating sugar which is off my approved list. Sometimes a girl just has to.

By the way, where I am we "fall back" tonight, meaning we set our clocks back 1 hour to Eastern Standard Time. For anyone that might be wondering, while summer is the best day of the year by my personal standards, by innkeeper standards, this is the second best time of the year. An entire extra hour of my eyes slammed shut before mixing waffle batter. Just dreamy.

Oh... and my handbag tonight.... by Calico Dragon. Found at the Central Florida VegFest. I may be paring down possessions, but I would have been incomplete if I did not have the bag shown in this video.

Cake! Vegan style.

xo