London Fog Blondies

I am a tea fiend.  I have an entire cupboard devoted to teas and tisanes.  The only tea I disliked was Earl Grey- I used to think it tasted like old lady perfume.  However, I learned to love the heady aroma of bergamot when my partner, who loves Earl Grey, moved in and I bought him a tin of The Earl's Garden from  David's Tea.  Earl Grey is my favorite now!  London fog lattes are one of my favorite indulgences.

Here's a recipe for those of you who made my vanilla Earl Grey apple butter and don't know what to do with all of it- and these blondies would be wonderful for a tea party!

London Fog Blondies

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsps almond milk boiled and brewed with two bags of Earl Grey tea, cooled
• 2/3 c Vanilla Earl Grey Apple Butter
• 1 tsp tapioca starch
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 2/3 c sugar
• 2/3 c canola oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c toasted chopped pecans
• optional- 1/3 c chocolate chips
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Mix  the apple butter, tapioca starch, sugar, and canola oil in a large bowl.  Really mix this well.  Add in vanilla, 1/4 c of the almond milk, and scrape half of the vanilla bean into the bowl.  Mix again.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix until just combined, and then fold in your nuts and chocolate chips.
4. Pour the mixture into your pan and smooth the top.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the mixture comes out clean.
5. Make the glaze- mix the rest of the almond milk and scrape the rest of the vanilla bean in with the icing sugar.  Mix well and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and pour over blondies.  
6. Enjoy!

What's your favorite kind of tea?

A Trio Of Apple Butters, Part 3- Gingered Butternut Squash and Apple Butter

No picture today, because I lost my light before I finished cleaning my place.  Trying to tidy up with a toddler makes me deeply sympathize with Sisyphus. They're like little walking agents of chaos and destruction.  No sooner would I clean one thing, then I'd go back and he'd be ripping apart the thing I had cleaned before I cleaned the last thing.  I'll try to take a picture and update this post tomorrow. In better news... I made Adventuretime Bacon Pancake cookies!  I'll post about it tomorrow.  For now, though, here is the last post about apple butter this month.  I swear.

Gingered Butternut Squash and Apple Butter

Ingredients

• 10 apples, cored- no need to peel
• 1/2 a medium-sized butternut squash, cooked, cubed and peeled
• 1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup carrot juice, apple cider or water (the carrot juice was spectacular here)

Directions:

1. Throw all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook for four hours on high, or until apples are soft.
2. Remove the cinnamon stick and blend until smooth.
3. Throw the butter and the cinnamon stick back into the slow cooker and cook on high for an hour and a half with the lid cracked open for steam to escape.  Let cool and enjoy.

What geeky foods would you like to see me replicate?

B.

A Trio Of Apple Butters, Part 2: Spiced Fig and Apple Butter

The best part about making apple butter is how your house smells while it's cooking.  For the past few days, my house has smelled like the personification of Autumn.  This apple butter is no different; it's heavily spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.  The addition of figs give the butter a sweet richness.  Enjoy!

Spiced Fig and Apple Butter

Ingredients

• 15 medium apples, cored (no need to peel)
• 6 figs, sliced in half
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 6 whole cloves
• 20 green cardamom pods, split and seeds scraped out
• 1 cheesecloth or nut bag
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Pour apple cider in slow cooker. 
2. Put the whole spices in the cheesecloth.  Fasten so they won't come loose.
3. Layer on figs, apples, and spices.
4. Cook for 4 hours on high, Stirring occasionally.
5. Let cool, then put mixture in vitamix (except for spice packet) and blend until smooth.
6. Put mixture back into slow cooker, add the spice packet, and cook on high until desired consistency.
7. Remove spice packet, add in ground cinnamon and let cool, then jar.  

Enjoy!

What's your favorite Fall scent?

A Trio of Apple Butters, Episode 1: Earl Grey Vanilla Bean Apple Butter

My family and I took a trip to the orchard at Archibald's Winery on Saturday.

I'm a city girl now, but having grown up in rural Ontario, I still feel very much at home in the country.  There's something cathartic about fresh air and rows upon rows of crisp, ripe apples that nothing in the city can compare to.  The air smelled heavenly.

The wonderful little general store there sold a number of local goodies, and they had a row of fruit butters.  I almost picked up a few, but then I remembered the half bushel of apples I was bringing home.

I decided to fool around with some recipes, and though my third experiment is in the slow cooker now, I already know what my favorite apple butter is- Earl Grey vanilla bean.  The vanilla bean and Earl Grey add a wonderful, sophisticated flavor to the stewed and pureed apples, complementing that bright apple taste without being too overpowering or heavy.  I could put this stuff on everything...toast, ice cream, making it into a tea latte...this butter is seriously wonderful, and super easy.

Here's the recipe; it makes about 3 jars with enough left over for a little dish for your ice cream!

Earl Grey Vanilla Bean Apple Butter

Ingredients

• about 20 medium apples, cored and sliced (no need to peel)
• 4 Earl Grey teabags
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 vanilla bean, halved and then split lengthwise
• 2 tsp loose Earl Grey tea

Directions

1. Pour water into slow cooker.  Layer a teabag, 1 piece vanilla bean, and a quarter of the apples.  Layer another teabag, 1 tsp of the loose tea, 1 piece vanilla bean, and another quarter of the apples.  Keep layering until everything is in the slow cooker.
2. Cook on high for approximately 4 hours, until apples are soft and breaking apart.  Let cool slightly.
3. When cool enough to handle, remove the vanilla bean and teabags and set aside.  Pour the apple mixture into your blender and blend until smooth.
4. Add the mixture back into the slow cooker.  Scrape out the seeds to the vanilla beans and add seeds into the slow cooker.  Throw the empty pods into the slow cooker as well.  Squeeze the remaining liquid out of the teabags into the slow cooker.  Discard teabags.  Cook down for about an hour with the lid to the slow cooker ajar, or until desired thickness.  Discard vanilla beans.  Let cool and then pour into jars.  Should keep for about 2 weeks or so.  Enjoy!

What are some of your favorite Autumn memories?

I am wiped out.

2 new blogs tomorrow, after I'm back from apple picking.
Until then,

Thai-style Butternut Squash Stew with Lentils

My eating habits come in waves.  For a week or two at a time, I'll eat indulgently- a lot of olive oil, nuts, processed meats and cheeses and heavy flours and decadent pastries- and then I'll go through a week where I eat nothing but whole foods.  There's no rhyme or reason for it- I just eat what my body wants.  After days of pastry, olive oil, fake chick'n, cashew sauces, and the like, my body wanted something clean and whole today.

I've had a big butternut squash from my CSA sitting on my counter all week, just begging to be used in something special, and Thai pumpkin soup is one of my favorite dishes.  There's this wonderful place in the city called King's Cafe, and sometimes they'll do this wonderful seasonal pumpkin stew that I'm absolutely in love with.  I had some cauliflower and red pepper that needed to be used up, as well as 2 cups of cooked lentils.  The beauty of stews and curries and soups is that it's really anything goes.  This ended up being SO good.  Is something still healthy when you've had three bowls of it?  Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

  Thai-style Butternut Squash Stew with Lentils

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 piece of ginger, about 2 inches big, peeled and minced
• 1 stalk lemongrass, sliced in half and scored all over with a sharp knife
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp red curry paste
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 small butternut, kabocha, or buttercup squash, or 1 pie pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
• 1 red pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 3 cups lentils (if you're using green or brown lentils, cook them first; if you're using red lentils, no need to pre-cook)
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can coconut milk

Directions

1. Saute the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass in a 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat until fragrant.  
2. Add spices, salt, and curry paste and saute another minute.  
3. Add squash, cauliflower, and red pepper.  Saute a few minutes.
4. Add the lentils, coconut milk, and veggie broth.  Bring to a boil and then turn the heat to low and simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally.
5. Blend a quarter of the stew with an immersion blender or in your blender.  Stir back into stew.  Enjoy!

What are your typical eating habits like- do you go for healthier fare, or are you an indulgent eater?

Farfalle Con Broccoli with Tempeh Bacon, Vegan Chick'n, and Cashew Miso Rose Sauce

Don't mind the fancy title.  This is something you'd see, un-veganized of course, at a Kelsey's.  Bowtie pasta is smothered in a tomato cream sauce, then tossed with steamed broccoli, crispy tempeh bacon and baked unchick'n.  It's nothing fancy, we're not re-inventing the wheel here, but it's good and it's quick and there isn't a ton of cleanup.  It's nice for nights like this, when you want to curl up with a cup of tea and watch ParaNorman and not do much.  In the spirit of that, let's get to this recipe!

Farfalle Con Broccoli with Tempeh Bacon, Vegan Chick'n, and Cashew Miso Rose Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp miso
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 package tempeh bacon
• 1 package farfalle (bowtie) pasta
• 1 head broccoli
• 4 gardein or PC world's best meatless chick'n breasts, or 1 can chickpeas

Directions

1. Bake chick'n breasts as directed on package.
2. Chop tempeh and brown it in a pan over medium heat.  Set aside.
3. Chop broccoli into florets and steam until tender. Set aside.
4. Blend cashews, garlic, miso, nutritional yeast, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, water and crushed tomatoes in a blender until smooth.  Transfer into a pot and cook over medium heat until thickened.
5. Cook pasta until al dente.  Drain, add sauce, and toss with broccoli and bacon.  Top with chick'n.  Enjoy!

What's your favorite pasta recipe?

Nana's Chick'n and Sliders

My maternal grandmother and I were very close.  I lived with her on and off throughout my childhood, and some of my favorite memories involve spending time with her and my Mom.  Toll painting, baking Christmas goodies, canning mountains upon mountains of produce- these are some of my favorite memories from  my childhood.

We lived in Mennonite country, and my grandmother worked for this Mennonite family delivering the mini-barns they made, so there was always fresh organic produce from their small family farms at her house.  I vividly remember canning peaches one day, and being absolutely horrified when I found a worm inside one of the peaches I was peeling.  My Nana was completely unfazed.  "Oh, it's just a worm.  Cut around it", she said, and though I did, I secretly marked the batch of canned peach preserves that peach went into so I wouldn't accidentally eat worm-peach.  (I was a squeamish sort as a kid.)  

I have other food memories revolving around my grandmother, too.  Because both of my parents worked, I got dropped off at Nana's when I was sick.  She'd give me Vernors, and on occasion, she'd make me my favorite of all her dishes- chicken and sliders.  

Where I'm from, sliders are flat little rolled and sliced dumplings in chicken broth.  I'd never heard the term "sliders" used for mini-burgers until Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle came out.  As far as comfort food goes, they're still my favorite.  I've since veganized the recipe (and added some vegetables to make it at least semi-healthy), and I think Nana would approve.  

Note: This recipe makes a lot.  That's okay, though, because this dish tastes better the next day!

Nana's chick'n and sliders

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces PC Blue Menu meatless chicken breasts, gardein chick'n scallopine, or chick'n flavor seitan, or 2 cans chickpeas
• 6 cubes veggie boullion (vegetarian chicken style if you can find it) mixed with 4 cups boiling water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp flour mixed with 1/4 c water to make a slurry

For the dumplings:

• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp rosemary
• 1 c cooled veggie broth (I mix up a cube of veggie boullion with 1 cup boiling water and then pop it in the fridge until cooled)
• 1 flax egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place chick'n on foil lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, flipping them around 15 minutes.  When they're done, take them out of the oven, chop roughly, and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, saute the onion, carrot, and celery in the oil in a big soup pot until fragrant.  Add the garlic, thyme, rosemaery and black pepper and cook for another minute.  Add the veggie boullion and stir, then bring to a boil.
3. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, thyme, and rosemary.  Add in the flax egg and the veggie broth and mix until a slightly sticky dough is formed.  (If your dough is too dry, add water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together and is slightly sticky.)  Roll out on a floured surface and cut into 2-3 inch squares.  They don't need to be perfect.  Drop them in the boiling broth, one at a time, stirring after each addition so the sliders don't stick to the pot or each other.  Boil, uncovered, for 15 minutes.  Add the flour slurry and the chick'n, and then cook for another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, let it sit for 15 minutes to cool, and enjoy!

What was your favorite comfort food when you were sick?

Tex-Mex Shepherd's Pie

Mexican-inspired food is a big thing in our household, because it's our "neutral zone" food-a one of the only things my partner and I agree upon.  (He hates sweets, but loves cabbage.  He even actually LIKES the taste of scotch.  It's like he's mad at his tastebuds and trying to punish them for something.)  I delight at having something in common with my partner, so cumin, corn, beans, chiles, tomatoes, and the like make their way into a lot of my dishes.  I made tex-mex sweet potato skins on Saturday's party, topped with daiya, cashew queso, salsa, soyrizo, and coconut bacon.  They turned out alright, but I'm always looking for reasons to put things in pastry, so I thought I'd take my leftover pie dough from Saturday's Cocoa-kissed Blueberry Pies and encase all the things that went into my potato skins- and then top with mashed sweet potato, because I love sweet potato, even though it vexes my long-suffering sweet-hating partner.  The pie turned out so good he didn't even mind the sweet potato!  Success!  Victory.  She is mine.  MINE!

Anyway, here's the recipe.

Tex-Mex Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 jalepeno pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 package soyrizo (I like the tofurkey)
• 2 cups cooked lentils
• 1/2 cup daiya mozzarella or pepperjack flavor
• 1/4 cup cashew queso (use the rest for dipping your corn chips into!)
• 2 cups salsa
• 1 cup corn
• 3 sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 1 prepared unbaked deep-dish pie crust

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Saute onion and peppers in 1 tbsp olive oil until onion is translucent.
2. Add garlic, cumin, and chili powder and saute for another minute.
3. Stir in soyrizo, lentils, daiya, salsa, corn, and queso.
4. Pile into pie crust and smooth the top.
5. Top with mashed sweet potatoes, sprinkle with a little extra cumin, and bake for 50 minutes or until pie crust is golden.  Let sit for 5 minutes, and enjoy!

What's the "neutral zone" food in your house?

Spanakopizza pockets

Doesn't that look lovely?  Whew!  It's been a busy couple of days.  Funny thing about life- when you're busy making food, it doesn't allow you a lot of time to blog about it.  I threw an end of summer bash last night, and I was busy all day preparing food for the party.  I made what I hoped was going to be THE definitive vegan jalepeno popper recipe- they even had coconut bacon in them!  However, the breading wasn't thick enough, and they leaked and made a big mess.  I'll double bread them next time and hopefully they'll turn out better the next time!  Also, the coconut bacon in them tasted strange.  When I mixed it in the cream cheese, most of the bacon flavor got lost and I was left with a weird coconut taste in my poppers.  Again, next time I'll try something different- perhaps with crispy-fried tempeh bacon or soy bacon bits the flavor won't be as off.

One of the things I was meaning to make but didn't have time for was spanakopita- Greek spinach and feta pie, at the request of my lovely friend Hope.  Retrospectively, not having time turned out to be a boon for me- because I thought of something better to do with the recipe.  My partner was in the mood for pizza, so I decided to try a bit of kitchen alchemy- and combine spanakopita and pizza pockets into flavor gold!  (Okay, that joke was really bad.  I'm sorry.  I'd say I won't do it again, but I'm totally lying.  I love bad jokes.)  The tomato sauce is spiked with dill and the "feta" is herbed tofu mixed with a sundried tomato, garlic, and basil cashew spread left over from last night.

Anyway, here's the recipe!
Enjoy!

SPANAKOPIZZA POCKETS

HERBED TOMATO SAUCE
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp dill
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent.  Add herbs and saute for another minute, then add tomatoes and salt.  Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

While that's simmering, make the

SUNDRIED TOMATO BASIL "FETA"
1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
2 tbsp soy yogurt
2 tbsp white miso
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c basil, finely chopped
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1 block firm tofu (use herbed tofu if you can get it!)
4 cups finely chopped spinach
2 tbsp olive oil

Blend soaked cashews with lemon juice, miso, salt, and yogurt until smooth.  Add in sundried tomatoes, garlic, nutritional yeast, basil until everything is mixed together, but not completely smooth.  Crumble in tofu and pulse a few times until the consistency is somewhat like feta- again, you don't want it completely smooth.

Saute spinach in olive oil until wilted.  Mix into "feta" mixture.

FILO
20 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
1 cup Earth Balance, melted
1 cup olive oil

OPTIONAL: vegan mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix Earth Balance and olive oil in a bowl, and then brush 2 baking pans liberally with oil mixture.  Working quickly, lay a sheet of phyllo on each pan, brush with oil mixture, then lay another piece of phyllo on top.  Do this for ten sheets of phyllo each. Slice both of the layers of phyllo in half crosswise so you have four pieces of phyllo, then divide the feta-spinach mixture into four equal parts and spread the filling on one half of each piece of phyllo, leaving half an inch around the mixture.  Pour roughly 1/4 cup of tomato sauce on top, sprinkle on optional mozzarella, then fold the phyllo over and seal the dough.  Bake for 20 minutes, pull out of the oven, brush with the remaining oil, and then bake for another 24 minutes or until golden.  Let cool for 5 minutes, and serve with remaining sauce poured overtop.

Cocoa-kissed blueberry pies

I liked the blueberry chocolate braid I made a few posts ago, but the flavors were a bit strong.  I wanted to try something with a subtler chocolate nuance this time.  Enter the cocoa-kissed blueberry pie!  The flavor for this pie was perfect...it added a sophisticated nuance to the pie which I loved.  For those of you leery of blueberry and chocolate, this is a good place to start out.

COCOA-KISSED BLUEBERRY PIE

1 recipe pie crust (I like the Buttery Double Crust recipe from Vegan Pie In The Sky
4 cups blueberries
3 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp vegan margarine, cut into small chunks.

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2) Mix corn starch, cocoa powder, vanilla powder and sugar together.  Mix in blueberries.
3) Line pie dish with one pie crust.  Crimp edges.  Pour berry mixture into crust.  Top with dots of vegan margarine.
4) Cut remaining pastry into shapes.  Alternate shapes so they make a checkerboard pattern.  Bake for 50 minutes.  Serve with vegan ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!
O.

Fajita Pozole with Easy Chipotle Masa Dumplings

I was first bitten by the travel bug when I got the opportunity to go to Mexico City in 2006. We were expanding a new branch of my company.  It was the middle of December, and it was sunny and beautiful...I remember marveling at the outdoor malls in the middle of what was a brutally cold winter back home.

What really made me fall in love with Mexico, though, was the food.  Fresh avocado every day, homemade corn tortillas... it was heaven.  I could have gleefully stayed at the hotel and worked as a maid and gained 20 happy pounds eating all that amazing fare.

There was only one culinary item that I wasn't a fan of.  We were in this super fancy five-star restaurant where each table is assigned a few waiters to stay at the table and do your bidding, and we had this amazing spread of a number of different items that you eat on tortillas.  One of the items they insisted we try was something called Mexican Caviar.  This was before I was vegan, so I decided to be adventurous and give it a whirl.  I was well into my second tortilla loaded with the dish, when between sips of tequila they told us that Mexican caviar really was...

...ant eggs.

 I was eating ant eggs.  I choked down the rest of mine, and my poor coworker, who was in the middle of a bite of hers, discreetly pushed her half-eaten tortilla to the side of her plate and filled up on ensalata.

Needless to say, surprise ant eggs is one of the things I don't have to worry about now!

One food I really fell in love with in Mexico was hominy.  Hominy is a type of field corn, or maize, that has been soaked and cooked in a diluted alkaline solution of lime or wood ash,, and it is absolutely delicious.  Pozole is a type of stew traditionally made with hominy and some type of protein- meat, traditionally, but also beans for vegan or vegetarian versions.

Because I love melding food, I took fajitas and pozole and spliced them into one supreme dish...the "meat", peppers, and onions are sliced and seasoned as fajitas would be.

I also added chipotle masa dumplings, because everything is better with dumplings.

This turned out freaking amazing.  Enjoy!

FAJITA POZOLE WITH EASY CHIPOTLE MASA DUMPLINGS

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 red onion, cut into half-moons
1 red pepper, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 green pepper, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 PC meatless chicken breasts, Gardein chicken breasts, chickenless seitan or tofu, cut into thin slices on the bias
1 package PC or Gardein beefless tips (do not cut if using beefless tips), beefless seitan, or portabello mushrooms, cut on the bias into thin slices
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1 can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 cups veggie broth
2 tbsp corn starch mixed with additional 1/4 cup veggie broth to make a slurry

FOR THE MASA DUMPLINGS
1 cup masa harina flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp chipotle powder
1 cup water

TO SERVE
chopped cilantro
chopped avocado
lightly crushed corn chips
vegan mozzarella or pepperjack cheese, shredded
lime juice
Mexican hot sauce
cooked rice

DIRECTIONS:
Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan until translucent and fragrant.  Add cumin, chili powder, and oregano and saute for another minute, stirring occasionally.  Add peppers, meatless chicken and beefless tips, sauteing until everything is nicely browned.  Add the hominy, black beans, diced tomatoes (juices and all), and veggie broth and mix together then bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.  Meanwhile, make the dumplings.  Mix the masa harina, chipotle powder, and salt together and then add in the water until a stiff dough is formed.  Form into small dumplings, and carefully place gently on top of the stew...you don't want them to fall in, you want them to steam up on top of the stew.  Cover well and cook for 35 minutes, then add the cornstarch slurry and cook for another 5 minutes.  Let cool for 15 minutes and serve pozole over rice with a sprinkling of lime, cilantro, avocado, Mexican hot sauce, corn chips and vegan cheese.
Enjoy!

Wild Blueberry Chocolate Braid

Apparently it's Vegan MoFo this month.  I had no idea!  Well, I guess I started this blog at the right time, and I'm going to attempt to post a food blog each day this month.  I have a hard time finishing anything, so we'll see how I do.

When I was a child, I thought chocolate and fruit were the most disgusting combination in the history of food.  Every Christmas, my father would get a Terry's Chocolate Orange.  I remember trying it one year, and immediately spitting it out as the flavors of chocolate and orange waged war with my tastebuds.  I like chocolate, I like orange, but chocolate and orange together did not work for me.  It was like a party in my mouth, alright...a Donner party.  I was the kid who used to peel the chocolate off of chocolate-covered strawberries, and eat the bits separately.  Chocolate and fruit just broke my mouth.

That all changed when I tried the Fudgy-Wudgy Blueberry Brownies recipe from my Most Hallowed of Tomes, the Veganomicon.  The sweet blueberries and rich chocolate just complemented each other so well.  I was trepidatious at first, but one bite of those heavenly morsels and I was hooked.

In the spirit of that recipe, I created this wild blueberry chocolate braid.  I've been getting those wonderful tiny, sweet wild blueberries in my CSA recently, and I've been looking for something special to do with them.

 What could be more special than melding them with chocolate and vanilla powder and a pinch of lovely floral lavender?  I'm pretty sure this is what romance tastes like.

(For the record, I still think chocolate and orange together is simply the wrong way to eat both chocolate and citrus.)

Anyway, enjoy.


WILD BLUEBERRY CHOCOLATE BRAID

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed (most brands are vegan.  Check your ingredients, though!)
1 and a half cups wild blueberries
 a few generous pinches
dried culinary lavender
1/2 tbsp corn starch (use 1 and a half tbsp if berries are frozen)
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips (I used the PC Equateur Origine dark chocolate baking pieces)

FOR BRUSHING AND DUSTING THE PASTRY
4 tbsp almond milk
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp vanilla powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix the lavender, corn starch, cocoa powder, and vanilla powder in a large bowl until well combined.
Add blueberries and stir until coated.
Roll out puff pastry into a large rectangle.
Spoon blueberries down the middle 3rd of the pastry lengthwise.
Top with chocolate chips.
Make 1 inch cuts down each side of the pastry and overlap the pieces like a braid.  (I topped mine with extra puff pastry Dark Vader cutouts, but this was just to entertain myself- your puff pastry is going to puff up so much you'll lose details.)

 Brush with almond milk, and mix together the sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla powder before sprinkling it onto the pastry.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until your pastry is golden.  Don't overbake or all your filling will ooze out.  Let it cool and enjoy!

xoxo
The Overlady

Spaghetti Squash with Lentil Bolognese

So Day Job forces me to be naked on camera, and we still shoot in SD, so when I overindulge in the processed stuff and sweets and get a bit squishier than usual, it's pretty obvious.  Unfortunately, the end of August is my busy time, what with Fan Expo and all, so I end up eating a lot of processed junk- fake meats, oreos (they're accidentally vegan!) and sweets galore.  I don't have time to cook, so I end up eating garbage.

But then comes September.  

Autumn is my favorite season of the year.  Fall clothes, the crisp smell of cool mornings, Hallowe'en, falling leaves...and harvest foods.  Is there anything better than drinking a mulled apple cider on a cool night in front of the fireplace, or digging into a perfect piece of pumpkin pie, lightly sweetened with maple syrup? I never eat healthier than Autumn, because my love affair with harvest foods means you have to pry me out of the kitchen.  Dancing?  Sorry, I have an apple crumble to bake.  Dinner with friends at a fancy restaurant?  No thanks, I'm REALLY feeling some homemade Thai pumpkin soup tonight.

 Harvest foods are my favorites...apples, pumpkin, squash.  Spaghetti squash in particular is a marvel.  Bake it and it shreds up into a perfect bed of noodles for pasta- slightly crunchy, juicy, and delicious.  As an added bonus, it's gluten free, chock full of folic acid, beta carotene, and potassium, and low in calories- about 42 calories a cup. I've smothered cooked spaghetti squash in cashew alfredo sauce, cauliflower "cheese" sauce...all of it's wonderful, but my favorite sauce is my lentil bolognese.  Because I use artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and roasted red peppers in my sauce, it tastes like antipasto and spaghetti are makin' sweet love in your mouth.  (Is that appealing?  I'm not good with metaphors.)

Anyway, here's the recipe.

SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH LENTIL BOLOGNESE

Ingredients

1 large spaghetti squash

BOLOGNESE SAUCE

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

2 cups chopped cremini mushrooms

1 cup chopped sundried tomatoes, re-hydrated

2 roasted red peppers, chopped

2 cans artichoke hearts, quartered

2 cups cooked green or brown lentils

1 large jar tomato sauce 

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.  Halve the squash, scrape out all the seeds, poke holes in the skin, place cut side down on a rack, and bake for 10 minutes, then flip over and cook until tender.  (This took about 40 minutes in my oven- it might take more or less time in yours, because I have a touchy oven.)  Hold the squash with an oven mitt and shred the flesh with a fork until the flesh resembles spaghetti.

While squash is baking, in a large saucepan saute the onion in the olive oil on medium heat until translucent, then add garlic, thyme, and oregano.  Cook for one minute, then add the mushrooms and cook until mushrooms have gone soft and released their moisture.  Add all other ingredients, stir, and cook until bubbling, then simmer 15 minutes for the flavors to blend together.  Serve over squash.