Tator Salad...and a Leftovers BBQ Stack

I was never much a fan of potato salad.  Cold potato?  Meh. 

I have always maintained that my mom's version is "the best," and that's probably true to my taste buds because we grew up on Miracle Whip instead of real mayo, and that's what she still uses.  So there's Reason #1.  But as I got older I realized Reason #2 is probably because I always had hers fresh...aka...on the lukewarm side.  It went from assembly to the table.  No refrigeration = no cold potato = no "Meh."  In fact, I could sit down to a whole pile of the stuff and go back for seconds and thirds.

My parents host a family Memorial Day feast at their house every year, complete with steaming lobsters and grilled steak.  I decided I'd try my hand at a potato salad (albeit cold) so that I would be sure to have something to eat (other than the choco chip cookies I was also bringing...not that I'm opposed to making a meal out of those) and also so that my egg-allergic niece could partake too!  It came out truly yummy, and I think it's safe to say that nobody did or would even notice that it was vegan.

To my delight, my aunt and uncle made a meatless hot potato salad; and my sis-in-law brought a cold spaghetti salad with pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, etc too.  I was in carb coma heaven for the holiday.

The Salad:
1 lb red potato, in bite-size chunks
1 lb sweet potato, in bite-size chunks
4 oz shelled fresh peas
About 1/2 a jar of Dijon-Style Nayonaise (or use regular vegan mayo and add a touch of mustard, vinegar, horseradish, etc.)
1/2 an onion, thinly diced
Paprika
Fresh chives, snipped into bits
Salt & pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the potatoes and boil for about 10 minutes, until fork tender but not falling apart.  Remove with a slotted spoon into a drainer and spray with cold water to stop the cooking. 

Bring the water back to a boil and add the peas.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Drain the peas, and also spray with cold water.  When the potato and peas are both cool, combine them. 

In a separate bowl, combine the Nayo, onion, salt, and pepper before mixing with the potatoes and peas. 

Sprinkle the top of the salad with paprika and the chives.  Cover, pop in the fridge, and you're ready for your next summer get-together!

If there are any leftovers...the next night you could, hypothetically, brown up some sliced tempeh and carrots in peanut oil in a small frying pan.  Then add some Annie's BBQ sauce and stir it around for just a minute.  Turn off the heat, and stack a plate with baby spinach, a pile of the potato salad, and then the tempeh.  It's like Memorial Day all over again, maybe even better.

And please do not forget to thank the veterans in your life.  I have many.  Thank you.

Spaghetti Pie

My best friend's mom used to make this for me every year for my birthday.  Think, the best lasagna you've ever had but without all those awkward-to-cook/awkward-to-eat lasagna noodles.  The original recipe used browned hamburg, but I've replaced that with shrooms and onions.  By all means, use some faux meat crumbles if you like, but I prefer it as is.  I find the veganized version to be as addicting as the original.  My daughters love it too, and my husband says he could eat the whole pan.  So, I guess it's not just me. 

10 oz button mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
8 oz brown rice spaghetti noodles (or spag of choice)
1 jar (2-1/2 cups) organic spaghetti sauce
1 jar-ful of water
2 bay leaves
14 oz organic firm tofu
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 cup nutritional yeast
1-1/2 cups Daiya mozzarella shreds (estimated amount....due to 9-yr-old running off with hand- and mouthfuls, with a muffled "I do LOVE THIS CHEESE!")


In large saute pan, cook shrooms and onions until translucent and tender. 

Add spaghetti sauce and bay leaves to the pan.  Fill the sauce jar with water, cover, shake (to get all the sauce), and add.  Bring the sauce to a boil, and add the spaghetti noodles.  Simmer until tender (bendy) but not fully cooked. 

Meanwhile in food processor, blend the tofu, spices, and nooch until smooth and ricotta-ish.

Preheat oven to 350.

Spoon half the spaghetti mixture into a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish (I leave the bay leaves right in to bake...yeah, I have a fetish).  Top with tofu mixture and a sprinkling of mozzarella shreds. 

Top with the other half of spaghetti mixture and more shreds. 

Bake, covered (if using foil, tent it so it doesn't stick to the melty shreds), for 30 minutes.  Uncover, and bake another 5-10 minutes.

 

Let rest before cutting, or it'll look like this instead of the pretty picture at the very top (but oh...so delicious):

...and be sure to warn those at your table of the potential of bay leaves.

Rhubarb Pie

I harvested the rhubarb last weekend after a beautiful day of planting in the gardens.  I made a couple pies.  I tried one with stevia for my diabetic husband.  I've had success with it in other baking, but the pie came out a little bitter (altho it got mostly eaten), so I made him another one yesterday with a different Artificial Sweetener That Shall Not Be Named.  But the other one I made on Sunday was with maple syrup, and it was absotively delicious.  Notice "was" in past tense.  Yeah, it was gone in less than 2 days.  The girls helped only a little.  I think I could eat a whole rhubarb pie...by myself...in one sitting...if it wasn't for the shame factor.  If one were to ask what my favorite pie was, I'd probably say chocolate cream; but then spring rolls around...those red-green stalks emerge at the edge of my garden...and I can't control myself.  So, hands down...favorite fruit pie:  Rhubarb!  And we're purists here on the hill.  Adding strawberries is for wussies. 

The crust here is my standard quicky, and it's yummy and flaky.  It's an offshoot from my parents' crust recipe that I grew up on and still love (nobody, and I mean nobody, makes apple pie like my mom...nope, sorry, yours just doesn't cut it).  They use all AP flour and shortening in theirs.  My husband prefers the heartier dark flour and olive oil (with which I'm more than happy to oblige). 

The Crust:
1 cup AP flour
1 cup spelt (or white wheat) flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup olive oil (or other oil/shortening)
7 Tbsp water

Mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl.  Pour the oil in the middle and mix with a fork until all the flour is saturated.  Add the water, and mix again.  Don't worry if it seems watery at first.  In no time, the flour will soak up the water too and take on a nice doughy texture.  Let it rest in a ball while you prepare the filling.

The Filling:
6 Tbsp AP flour
1-1/3 cup maple syrup (or other sweetener)
6 cups diced rhubarb
1-2 Tbsp Earth Balance butter (optional)

In a bowl, coat the rhubarb with the flour.  If you're using a dry sweetener, add that to the flour before mixing with the rhubarb.  If you're using maple syrup or other wet sweetener, pour it on after you've placed the rhubarb/flour in the pie shell. 

Split the dough in half.  I just press the first (bottom) half into the pan with my hands.  Make sure to give yourself a good lip at the edge.  Place the filling on top of this.  Dot with Earth Balance butter.

For the top crust, sprinkle your rolling surface generously with flour.  Sprinkle the top of the dough also and roll out with your pin.  When sizable, cover the filling with the top crust and seal the edge.  I grew up cutting around the circumference and crimping with a fork, but now I always just tuck the extra dough underneath and flute the edges with my fingers.  I think it just looks prettier.

(fluting)

(fluted)

Pierce the top crust with a knife to allow steam to escape.  Make sure to line the bottom of your oven with foil, in anticipation of pie juice seepage. 

Bake the pie in a preheated 450-degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then reduce the temperature to 350, and bake for another 40 minutes. 

Let cool completely before slicing, if you can.

Nom nom nom...Repeat.

Corn Chowder

I threw this together a couple years ago, basing it off my former dairy-and-bacon-laden "throw-in-what-looks-about-right-off-the-top-of-my-head" corn chowder recipe.  I've seen lots of fancier chowders since...laden with chipotle and "cheese" and all kinds of spices; but my family likes this one, so I didn't fix what wasn't broken and have even served it to omni company with good reviews. Ok, so maybe it was New Year's Eve, and they were more than mildly inebriated. But, really, it's good.

My dad always says about chowders, to never put more potato in than the star ingredient (I think I've only ever watched him make fish chowder, but I have to imagine he'd say the same about corn).  And I always heed my dad's words.  Except I ride on motorcycles with boys.  Ok, just one boy.  But I like it.  A lot.  Sorry.  But look, Dad! just a few little potatoes....?!


Earth Balance butter and olive oil (a few Tbsps)
1 large onion, diced
1 pkg tempeh bacon (or make your own)
1 lb red potato, diced
Salt and pepper to taste (about 1 tsp and 1/4 tsp respectively)
2 bay leaves
3 cans organic corn, drained
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups unsweetened soy milk
3 cups unsweetened hemp milk

In a soup pot, saute onions in EB & olive oil until tender and translucent.  Add potatoes, and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the salt, pepper, bay leaf, and veggie broth, scraping up the nibbly bits on the bottom of the pan.  Continue cooking until potatoes are fork tender.  The broth may evaporate/be absorbed during the cooking. Add a little more if necessary.

Meanwhile in a separate frying pan, brown up the tempeh bacon in a bit of olive oil. Then add it to the pot. 

Add the corn and milks to the soup pot too.  Heat through.

Serve with crackers or toast (like this freshly baked English Muffin Bread  - i.e. a shameless plug at an upcoming blog...but really, what's yummier than any kind of buttered bread with chowder?)

Tempeh Kew Broccoli

Growing up, my mom made this dish called "Steak Kew Broccoli."  Going into this blog in my 36th year of existence, I thought I should google what "kew" means.  I always assumed it meant something akin to "with," being an uncultured woodchuck; but apparently it means this dish is Cantonese!  Who knew?!  I'm not sure where dear mom got the original recipe.  Maybe she clipped it from a magazine.  We were very meat-and-potatoes up there in the hills.  So, other than Chow Mein from a can, this was about as ethnic as our meals got.  Regardless, it's a family favorite - I remember requesting it for my birthday dinners.  I've made some minor changes (aside from the obvious swap-out of beef), but the flavor remains the same.  I know this because my oldest daughter proclaimed "the broccoli is my favorite part!"  It was always my favorite part too.

3-4 Tbsp peanut oil
8 oz tempeh, sliced
3 Tbsp liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
1-1/2 tsp maple syrup
1-1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 lb broccoli, cut into thinnish pieces

(made in VT!)

Heat the oil in a saute pan.  Add the tempeh, and brown it up.

Mix the liquid aminos, rice vinegar, maple syrup, salt, and water; add to the pan. 

Add the broccoli, cover, and cook until broccoli is steamed and tender, mixing occasionally, 5-10 minutes.  You can add some cornstarch at the end to thicken up the sauce, if you like.

Serve over a bed of quinoa (or rice).

Hermits and Donkeys and Friends - Oh My!

"Donkey Donkey!"...this is what my kids and husband have been repeating randomly with gusto for the last 24 hours.  And I tell them, just think how boring their lives would be without all my crazy friends.

But let's go back.  A couple months ago, one of said crazy friends asked me if I'd make some finger foods for a "donkey show" on Mother's Day weekend.  I didn't ask what a donkey show was.  I just said Yes, because I love said crazy friend.  We met 4 or 5 years ago when I was in pursuit of chicken and turkey knowledge, before I started my own flocks.  I thought her name was Karen (it's not).  She likes to stay incognito.  These days she goes by Bird Brain, and her Facebook info says she lives in Budapest (she doesn't).  Through the years I helped her with butchering her poultry (we're both big into "local" and knowing where your food comes from...and I wasn't vegan then).  We've swapped plants, food, and tidbits of factitious and personal info.  She has introduced me to other interesting people, and I just like the chemistry between us.  She gives her everything to her yard, her barn, her plants, and her animals (think "crazy chicken/cat/plant lady" but in a good way).  And over the past year or so she's come to realize butchering isn't so easy anymore, even if you know where your meat comes from.  Maybe especially because you know where your meat comes from...'cause you hatched it from an egg, nourished and protected it, looked in its eyes every day, watched its personable and funny interactions out your window, and slowly realized it was a creature who had as much right to live as any, despite it having the label of "barnyard animal."  She's gone soft, is evolving into vegan territory, and it fills me with glee.

Turns out the donkey show was at a local orchard.  The sign at the turn read "Donkey Donkey."  I made chocolate chip mixed-berry streusel muffins and iced hermit bars.  The family tagged along when I went to drop them off in the morning.  The girls and my husband ended up babysitting Bird Brain's three donkeys, watching the peacocks in the petting yard, while Bird Brain and I helped the others set up a bit. 

Turns out it was quite a to-do.  Notably, some of the others at the show included the Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue, who brought a donkey, a mule, and a cool red-tick coon hound on the side (I'm a sucker for a dog, not so much a donkey).  My husband's aunt recently adopted a couple mini donkeys from SYA, so it was cool to make the connection with them.

(the adopted ones...Franklin and Everett)

We also met Miriam and Aram from VINE Sanctuary.  Bird Brain had shared with me last year a video of them making Borscht; and apparently she told them about my blog too - they've been following it!  They're pretty cool people...tattooed, radical, and vegan...lovers of food and animals.  I kinda love them already.  I need to check out more of their videos and hope to make their acquaintance again.

Hermits!  You've been waiting patiently. 

These are neither the hermits I grew up on, nor the hermits of somebody else's recipe box, but a conglomeration of the two, with some yummy icing...because, well, most everything's better with icing. 

The Hermits:
1 cup Earth Balance butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
6 tsp Ener-G egg replacer + 8 Tbsp warm water
4 cups white whole wheat (or all purpose) flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cloves
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350.  Coat an 18 x 13-inch sheet pan with baking spray.
In a mixer bowl beat the butter, brown sugar, Ener-G eggs, and molasses. 
Mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl, and then add to wet mixture until just combined.  Stir in the raisins.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.  Bake for 15+ minutes (I baked my batch for 20, and the edges were a little on the dry side...when it comes to hermits, the moister the better).

Let the bars cool on a wire rack.

The Icing:

4 cups confectioner's sugar
4 Tbsp Earth Balance butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
4 Tbsp hot water

Whisk all together til smooth.  Spread out over bars (it's OK if they're still a little warm).

Share with your crazy donkey/chicken/vegan friends...but save some for your mom too (if she loves hermits like mine does)!  After all, it's Mother's Day.