Archive for the ‘vegan’ Category

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Very Simple Tomato Basil Soup


2010
10.06

Posted in Can go dairy-free, casein free, GF Basics, Recipes, vegan, Vegan, Veggies, Veggies and such | No Comments »

Ugy tomatoes: usually cheap to buy and with a simple chop chop, they go from ugly to soupable!

Don’t be afraid of the tomatoes in the picture!  With this recipe you can turn them into something wonderful.

One of my daughters is a very picky eater.  It has taken years to develop her palate beyond scrambled eggs and noodles with butter.  I have found that if I can feed her something once, the next time will be a breeze and by the third time, she’ll request it!  Several weeks ago, out of the blue, she asked me for my tomato basil soup.

So I went to my favorite tomato guy at the farmer’s market and asked him for his uglies.  And ugly tomatoes are just that.  They are over-ripe or spotty, or have a crack.  They are just plain ugly.  But more than that, they are cheap and so I can afford enough to make a giant pot of soup!  For dinner I usually serve this with a home made Caesar salad and for lunch I serve it with some tasty very sharp cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches (gluten-free of course!).

Ingredients:

Makes about a gallon

Fresh Ugly Tomatoes or pretty ones if you have them, about 10-14, chop them

1/2 large sweet onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

About 4 cups of tomato juice, this helps stretch it out and make it smooth

3 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c. half and half (optional)

About 10 fresh basil leaves (more or less to your taste)

Method of preparation:

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil, saute the onions and celery on medium heat until they begin to caramelize.  Throw in the garlic, stir briefly making sure not to brown the garlic.  Throw in the tomatoes and tomato juice.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let the soup simmer for about 45-50 minutes.  Add the heavy cream if you wich, chop and add the basil.  Salt and pepper to taste.  At this point if you have an immersion blender:

run it though your soup.  I like this method because you can leave the soup a little bit chunky.  If you don’t have one of these, use your blender (be careful with hot soup in a blender!!!).  You can make this soup as chunky or smooth as you like.  And then you are done.  Serve the soup, put away the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, wash the dishes, and go to bed:)

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Secondary Fall out from reading too many food articles


2010
10.01

Posted in casein free, Rumbly Ramblings, vegan, Veggies and such | No Comments »

I have a pretty carnivorous family.  Until recently. Until I read too many food articles about what is really in food and how food is processed.  Suddenly, the vegetarian entrees are at an all time high on my dinner table.  Mostly no one is complaining.  Which is good, because complaining gets you no where around my house.  If it hits the table, it’s what’s for dinner!

Actually there are two other reasons for the high veggie content at our table these days.  First, a wonderful friend of ours who is a vegetarian in staying with us for a few weeks.  Second, I work Saturdays at a farmer’s market.  There are 3 for $2.00 gigantic squash and a million other outstanding veggie deals.  I would be a dummy to pass them up.

I’ll be sharing recipes for some good, easy and family filling-up veggie meals.

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Sick of potato salad


2010
06.16

Posted in Can go dairy-free, casein free, GF Basics, Recipes, Rumbly Ramblings, vegan, Vegan, Veggies, Veggies and such | No Comments »

When I was little I hated potato salad.  My grammie used to save the liquid from sweet pickles all year round just to use it all summer in potato salad.  The pickle juice was sweet and maybe she used Miracle Whip?  I don’t know.  All I know is that the one bite I was required to eat was like licking the back of a toad to me.

Then I grew up and still thought that I hated potato salad.  But I soon discovered that all potato salads are not created equal.  My mom’s is salty and has ground up olives in it and I love it.  Dill, which I also don’t love, is perfect when mixed with a little sour cream and mayo and layered like a royal robe over some very thinly sliced boiled red potatoes.

This summer I’m not in the mood for mayo or sour cream.  I’m not even in the mood for the olive oil roasted potato salads that one can make.  That leaves me with what?  Lettuce?  Boring.

I don’t subscribe to Bon Appetit because I’m not in the love with the style of photography that they’ve gravitated to. My neighbors somehow get one extra copy of the magazine every month of which they pass on to me, and I am grateful for.  In effort to continue a past legacy of love for the magazine, I try to find one thing a month from the issue to make and love.  It’s the right thing to do.   In the May 2010 issue, I found nothing at first.  But then I randomly found a rice salad recipe.  Rice Salad? Ummmmmm…maybe yuck.  Nope-won’t go there.  So I have to make the recipe now that I even started to go there.

Checked the fridge, found most of the ingredients, substituted some others.  Cooked some rice, roasted a chicken, tossed the ingredients for the salad and we were off.  Was it good?  So good I called my Dad and told him that he was cooking giant steaks for Father’s Day and that we would be having rice salad as the side dish.  His first reaction-”Can’t you make that olive oil roasted potato salad that you made for Easter?”  I said no.  If I know my Dad, this rice salad will become one of his new standards.

Here’s my adaptation of the same recipe:

Ingredients

  • 3 cups cooked white rice or brown rice, still warm  but not hot
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder or 1 tsp. fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 cucumber, peeled and diced small
  • 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (mine actually came from my own plants!)
  • 1 cup yellow zucchini, yellow squash or regular zucchini
  • 1 avocado, halved, peeled, diced
  • 3 each thinly sliced green onions
  • 1/2 bunch chopped fresh cilantro
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Optional-Shredded dry cheese such as Panela

Preparation

  • Cook rice until just tender, about 15-20 minutes for white rice and 45 minutes for brown rice. Take the lid off and let sit.
  • Meanwhile, whisk lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder and most of olive oil in small bowl. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Heat the rest of the olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until just tender, 6 to 7 minutes; scrape into large bowl. Add cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, and dressing; toss to coat. Add the rice and mix well, without crushing the rice. Season with salt and pepper. Serve room temperature. Sprinkle on avocado and optional cheese just before serving.

Here’s the link to Bon Appetit’s recipe: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/05/southwest_rice_and_corn_salad_with_lemon_dressing

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It’s getting hot in here


2010
06.02

Posted in Rumbly Ramblings, Shameless Plugs, vegan, Veggies and such | No Comments »

Check out this salad from my friend Cowgirl Granola:  http://bit.ly/9OXsQp.  It is so delicious and perfect for a hot summer evening.  It is also perfect to eat before a GF pizza and GF brownie competition!

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Come see me at the farmers market


2010
05.14

Posted in casein free, GF Basics, Rumbly Ramblings, Shameless Plugs, vegan, Veggies and such | 2 Comments »

I will be bringing my pound cake wares to the New Braunfels Farmers Market tomorrow.  It is a great market with music, places to sit and eat, veggies, palettas, crafters, herbs, Cowgirl Granola and me Poundcake Lady-Delicious and Gluten-free.  Come join in the fun, pick up a six-pack of pound cake minis and enjoy a gorgeous market.

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Farmer’s Booty


2010
04.17

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Posted in GF Basics, Rumbly Ramblings, vegan, Veggies and such | 2 Comments »

We went to the farmer’s market with $14.00 today. Came home with $1 and an Ikea bag full of veggies. I got the $4 cauliflower, 6 beets, a bunch of carrots and a hydroponic butter head from the Aquaponics farm. Let’s see what I can make of these.

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A GF cookie worthy of eating (instead of throwing like a frisbee)


2010
04.13

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Posted in Baked Goods, Can go dairy-free, casein free, Recipes, Rumbly Ramblings, Tasty Pastries, vegan, Vegan | 2 Comments »

When I was a pre-teen, my mom worked at Vicki Lee Boyajian’s Bakery.  It has moved a bunch of places since then and even didn’t exist for a while.  It was an impressive place.  It wasn’t one of those slop the pre-made cherry pie gel filling into a pre-made pie crust kind of place.  No, it was a hand-cut fruit, hand-separated eggs, hand decorated cake, hand-scooped cookie kind of place.  It was a curry chicken salad, make your own laminated danish dough kind of place.  It was exceptional.

Besides the fact that everything there was especially delicious, perhaps my favorite thing (I’m having trouble committing to a favorite) was the Anzac cookie.  Crisp on the edge, sort of caramely tasting, nuts, coconut, soft in the middle, on and on.  The Anzac is actually a pretty well known cookie, in Australia.  The history of it is here.  It is advised that once the cookies are baked, that they should be stored in a locked box as not to disappear too quickly.

There’s several important things about this cookie:

  1. I have formulated it to be gluten-free
  2. There are no eggs in this cookie
  3. You don’t have to add nuts if you don’t want to
  4. Because the butter gets melted, the butter can be substituted out and another fat used in its place (shortening, maybe olive oil but this I’ll have to try first).  If you do this you’ll have an egg-free, dairy-free cookie good enough to feed all of your friends and family, including vegans! How awesome is that!
  5. These are made with Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is gluten-free, for which there is no good substitute.  Find it, buy it, use it.  You will not be sorry!  Honey, corn syrup, agave, they just will not do!

Lastly before you bake.  I don’t own the original recipe to these cookies, I just grabbed one off the web, as there are hundreds of them.  I have formulated this on my own to be gluten-free for all of our enjoyment.  Happy Baking!

Crispy tasty chewy all at the same time

Gluten free ANZAC cookies:

Ingredients

Method

  • Combine the flour mix, oats, coconut, walnuts and sugar in a bowl.
  • Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat.
  • Mix the baking soda into the water , gradually as it will fizz, and then add it to the butter and Golden Syrup.
  • Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well by hand.
  • Spoon or scoop dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut, onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading. For small cookies, fit about 9 on a half sheet pan.  For large cookies, scoop 6 on a half sheet pan. If you scoop them small they will be crisp and chewy.  If you scoop them larger, they will be crisp on the edge and soft in the center.  BEFORE YOU PUT THEM IN THE OVEN, FLATTEN THE COOKIES OUT WITH THE BOTTOM OF A GLASS.
  • Bake in a moderate oven, 350F, for 8-12 minutes, depending on how crisp you want them.
  • Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.


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