What's New with You?

Hi again! It's been awhile since I wrote, and I really have a good excuse. In fact, I've got tons of them! It's one of my faults/talents. Let's see, it's the busy season at work, we've been doing some heavy garden work, I've been working to change my eating style, school has started, ... I could go on and on. All of the above are true, but somehow they don't seem adequate to have kept me from taking a few minutes here.

Let's talk about the garden. Pappy and I seem to have hit on the right combination this year. We had so many tomatoes we were having to give them away. Our peppers put out enough (and aren't finished yet!) that we have bags and bags frozen. Then we went on vacation. Our glow after a lovely week of camping in the beautiful Smoky Mountains came to a crashing halt when we saw our garden after a week of neglect! The deer had discovered it and had a field day, or should I say a buffet. Since then, we have decided 1) we'll call it quits for the year and start over next year, 2) well maybe we can let the tomatoes go, and salvage a few more peppers, 3) or what if we trashed what was there and planted a fall garden?, and 4) let's keep the tomatoes, fence out the deer, and plant a fall garden. Hence the heavy garden work mentioned above. So the fence is up, with an electric current running through it, the tomatoes are propped up and weeded (they really are monster plants!), more basil is planted amongst the tomatoes (and they are also becoming monsters), and the ground is ready to be tilled for spinach, kale, lettuce, and maybe a few other things.

There really has been a lot going on here, but I don't have time to tell it all now. I'll keep you up to date on the garden saga, as well as telling you all the neat "foodie" things I am learning, when next we meet.

Enjoy life!
Mimi

Vegan Recipes -- Healthy and Not

OK, a couple of posts back, I promised to share any new favorite recipes I found in my library cookbooks. Here are 2 of them. They are both OMG-heavenly! The Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe comes with a warning that it is definitely NOT healthy, so it may be safer not to look!

First the healthy recipe: Tempeh, Kale, and Sweet Potato Skillet from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. I made this twice the first week I found it, and Pappy requested it again for his birthday dinner a few days later! This is a very satisfying and healthy comfort-food dish, and a great first experience with kale for Pappy and me.

Tempeh, Kale, and Sweet Potato Skillet

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, microwaved until tender/firm, then peeled, cut in half, and cut into thick slices
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 1/2 tbsp tamari
• 1 8oz package tempeh cut into 1/4" slices
• 1 bunch of kale, tough stems removed, torn/chopped into bite sized pieces
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 green onions, diced
• 1/2 cup cashew pieces

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil and tamari. Add the tempeh, toss to coat, and cook until golden and crisp, then remove from the pan.
   
2. Heat the second tablespoon of oil in the pan and saute the garlic for a minute or two over low heat until soft.
   
3. Add the kale and 1/2 cup of water, the canned tomatoes, and the curry powder. Cook for about 10 minutes until the kale is bright green and wilted, but not soggy. I also added the sweet potatoes and tempeh here, because the recipe did not specify when to add them. I have seen other blogs with this recipe where they added them at the next step. Try it both ways and see which you like best.
   
4. Fold in the sweet potatoes and tempeh, if you have not already added them, along with the onion and cashews and cook until everything is heated through again.
   
   

And for dessert (or if you've been very, very good and want to blow it all!), here's the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Of course this is the first recipe I tried -- after all, it's the most decadent one I saw among all the cookbooks! I took these for Snibble Day at work and saved some for my granddaughter. They were a hit on both fronts.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Cream together the margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add the molasses and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls spaced a little over 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until ever so slightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Makes 3 dozen cookies.

As I said, make the cookies only if you intend to really blow your diet, or if you're taking them somewhere so you won't eat them all!


Well, that's all the damage I can do for today. Next time I'll have some other blogs to tell you about. Also, an update on my vegan life....

Keep it simple!
Mimi

Easy Simple Cooking

Last Sunday after church we needed to do our grocery shopping. Since we had our granddaughter with us, we knew we would also need to get some lunch (and it’s better not to shop on an empty stomach anyhow), so we decided to go to Subway. Now I can hear the groans from here, but at least we knew we could get a reasonably cheap, vegan meal. We told our granddaughter where we were going and she flipped: "I LOVE Subway, but my Mommy and Daddy don’t like it." Why? "They say everything they have at Subway is stuff we could buy and have at home." Well, duh!!! Anything you buy anywhere that you eat out is stuff you could buy and have at home!

I think the problem a lot of people have is that they don’t know how to cook the stuff once they get it home, and they think they don’t have time to cook something their family will like. I can relate. For almost the entire 22 years of my first marriage, we ate out. My kids’ friends didn’t believe it when they said their mom didn’t cook – but it was true! I didn’t cook because 1) my husband and 2 kids were picky eaters and none of them liked the same things, and 2) my mom was a great cook, but she never had time to teach me how she did it. On the rare occasion when I did cook it was stuff like bland beef stew, (dry and chewy) pot roast, or spaghetti (Ragu out of the jar).

I joke that one of the reasons I married Pappy was because he cooked for me. Pappy had been on his own for awhile and was used to cooking for himself. After we got together, I got interested in cooking and gradually learned to put some things together. Now I do most of the cooking, although he still helps out in the kitchen.

Almost any older person will tell you it’s cheaper to cook your own meals than to eat out. And many nutritionists will add that if you want to be sure what you’re putting into your body, you should prepare your own food. If you would like to explore cooking some things at home, here are a few ideas. Make friends with someone who cooks. Most cooks are happy to share their expertise with a newbie cook. Check out a cooking class at a local community college, grocery store, church, or food co-op. If you don’t want to take a class, here’s the recipe I learned with. This is the basic one-dish meal that Pappy cooked a lot, and it’s easily customized to fit the tastes of many people.

The Dish
The Dish is cooked in a 9 x 13 inch pan. You can line it with aluminum foil for easier cleanup. If you are going to be using meat, you don’t need to worry about any oil, but if not, you may want to spray the pan with Pam, olive oil, or something similar. You can use chicken, stew beef, pork chops, or any other meat you like. And with this recipe you don’t have to worry too much about getting a great cut of meat. It will cook down enough to make most meat tender. Of course we make it vegan. The basic ingredients are potatoes (any kind you have on hand or can buy cheap), onions, bell peppers, garlic, and tomatoes.

Wash the potatoes and cut off any bad spots or eyes. You don’t need to peel them unless you want to – most of the nutrients are in the peel anyway. Thickly slice the potatoes (about ¼" thick). Peel and slice the onions about the same thickness, or slightly thinner. Also slice the bell peppers into ¼" rings. Then layer the sliced onions, potatoes, and bell peppers in the pan. If you are adding meat, add it now. Add salt, pepper, and any other spices you want to use. I always recommend garlic and maybe a dash of cayenne pepper for a bite. Thinly slice tomatoes as the top layer of The Dish. You can pour in a can of diced tomatoes if you don't have any fresh. Cover with foil and bake in a 350ºF oven for about 1 hour. No need to preheat the oven. You can put this into a cold oven and take a look at it in about an hour, or when you start to smell it. That gives you time to help the kids with homework, have a glass of wine, or take a nice relaxing bath before dinner. Serve The Dish with some crusty bread and a green salad, and you’ve got a meal. Once you feel comfortable with the basic recipe, you can start experimenting with other ingredients. Some we have used are jalapenos, eggplant, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, and all kinds of spices: sage, basil, rosemary, parsley, cumin….

Things to remember about cooking:

• Don’t be afraid to try different ingredients. A friend once told me that if you like something on its own, you’ll probably like it in a dish with other things. This is absolutely true with very few exceptions. (I really couldn't think of any right off-hand.)
• Don’t be afraid to substitute ingredients. If you’re following a recipe and don’t have everything it calls for, see if you have something similar. For example, substitute any kind of onions for spring onions or leeks. Or substitute white mushrooms for other types. Most of the time it won’t hurt. It may not have some of the subtle tastes of the original recipe, but it will usually be pretty close.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with spices. My technique for herbs and spices is to smell them and see if the smells go together with what you’re cooking. Start with a small amount and increase if you need to. Taste a lot while you’re learning so you won’t over-spice with something that doesn’t work as well as you thought it would.

Please give home cooking a try, and get your kids involved too. Kids love to cut vegetables, grease pans, even wash the dishes if you just give them a chance. Most things I’ve read also note that kids involved in producing their own food end up eating more healthily, and that’s always a good thing. Let me know what you try and how it turned out. If you have questions, send them to me. Odds are I’ve made any mistake you can come up with, so I can probably help find an answer. Most of all, enjoy!!

Love, Mimi