Great Local Food

I visited the downtown farmers market Saturday morning, which is considerably smaller than Sunset Valley, but I did manage to pick up some wonderful produce. Aside from three baskets of peaches, I got sunburst squash, golden zucchini, purple onions, and beautiful tomatoes.




Because I love our peaches so much and can’t bear to do anything but eat them right out of the fridge, I was smart this time around and bought a big bargain basket of overripe and/or damaged peaches to cook. I was also happy to buy the peaches from Urban Roots. I noticed the vendors appeared to be two teenage boys, working very hard to keep baskets of peaches ready for the long line of buyers. Here’s some information I pulled off the Urban Roots website.

Urban Roots is a youth development program that uses sustainable agriculture as means to effect lasting change for youth participants, and to nourish East Austin residents who currently have limited access to healthy foods. Young people will cultivate a local 2 - 5 acre, diversified organic farm, selling a portion of their harvest in the Austin area and donating a portion to local hunger relief programs. Through this process young people can connect to the land and learn the benefits of growing, eating, selling and donating organic food, as well as leadership, entrepreneurial and life skills, and the importance of giving back to their community.

I felt really good buying my peaches from Urban Roots, and you get a yummy peach dessert recipe at the end of this post!

Chase would be working 12 hours on Sunday, without much to eat during the day, so I knew he would be extra hungry for dinner. I took a chance making a meal with squash (he’s not a big fan of summer squash) and no tofu.

For our entrée I made Blackeyed Peas and Collards from Vegan Fire & Spice. I used fresh local field peas I found at my market. This was a very flavorful dish, and I was so pleased that I was able to hold it for nearly an hour before serving.

I served it over Baked Brown Rice Pilaf.

I also served the Sunburst Squash, which I simply sautéed in broth with red pepper and onions.

And of course, the obligatory broccoli. Here’s my simple plate.

Here’s Chase’s plate. As hungry as he was, he took the time to make a lovely presentation and then take the picture himself. Please note that the rice is in a square pattern and the peas are in the shape of a pyramid.

I also set out chopped fresh tomato and some leftover 4th of July potato salad. I must tell you that Chase LOVED the sunburst squash and ate almost all of it. He also ate the fresh tomato, which he normally gags at. Tomatoes are so sweet right now it’s almost like eating fruit, which we all know it really is, but I’m just sayin’…

Okay, now desserts! That’s right, two desserts. I have tons of peaches and tons of bananas. As much as I love peaches, I still need my chocolate, so a banana and chocolate dessert was in order. I pulled out my copy of Sinfully Vegan and selected the gluten free Bold Banana Cake. The header reads “This is a heavy, rich-tasting cake…” and it is certainly true! I baked as directed until the sides pulled away and a toothpick came out clean.

But oh boy, when I sliced it, it was pure goo.

I would liken it to a big bowl of oatmeal with mashed bananas and chocolate chips in it. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not what I had anticipated.

The second dessert, however, was stupendous! I made a gluten free Peach Buckle from a recipe inspired by Food Allergy Survival Guide, Living Well Without. A buckle is a great dessert to make gluten free, because it’s like cake, only it “buckles” or sinks when it cools. I couldn’t get a good picture of the bumpy top, but it was definitely a buckle! And I had no problem using the bargain peaches for this recipe. Here’s Chase’s corner piece with NadaMoo.

And here is my beautiful slice.

If you like peach cake, please give this recipe a try. And remember you can sub AP or WW flour for the gluten free.

Peach Buckle

Cake:
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup Sucanat (or other granular sugar)
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup applesauce (I used peach butter)
1-1/4 cups gluten free flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill)
¾ cup oats*
2 t. baking powder
1 t. xantham gum (or guar gum)
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. salt
½ cup nondairy milk
1 t. vanilla
2 cups diced peaches (I like to leave the skin on)

Topping:
½ cup oats*
¼ cup brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
2 T. canola oil

* If oats are not a part of your gluten free diet, substitute them with more gluten free flour.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square glass pan with cooking spray (or lightly oil).

Prepare cake: Combine oil, Sucanat, maple syrup, and applesauce in a mixing bowl and combine. In a separate bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, xantham gum, cinnamon, and salt. Add half of flour mixture to sugar mixture and mix well. Add milk and vanilla and mix well. Mix in remainder of flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Fold in peaches, then pour into pan.

Combine all topping ingredients and mix until crumbs form. Sprinkle on top of cake batter. Bake for 60 minutes, until lightly browned and tester comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

This was so delicious, a fantastic finish to our fresh local dinner.

Fourth of July Meal on Wheels

I packed up a typical 4th of July dinner to take to my mom’s for dinner for just the two of us. I made black bean and veggie patties (mom supplied the condiments for our burgers).




Potato Salad

Mango & Avocado Broccoli Slaw

and a delicious Fresh Strawberry and Blueberry Pie in Lemon Crème!

This year a quiet celebration of good food and watching fireworks on TV was just fine for us.

Salsa Pesto, Stuffed Globe Zucchini, and More

It’s been awhile, but Sunday I got to enjoy my son’s company for dinner and prepare a tasty meal. On the menu:

Baked Tofu with Salsa Pesto
Stuffed Globe Zucchini
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli
Squash Pickles
Peaches and Coconut NadaMoo

The Salsa Pesto was fabulous – with crackers, on tofu, and on my pintos. I adapted a recipe from Newman’s Own. I hope you’ll try this pesto – Chase says it’s completely addictive. And it’s a beautiful fresh green color!




Salsa Pesto

½ cup medium hot salsa (I used a locally made fresh salsa – yum!)
2 cloves minced garlic
1-1/4 cups firmly packed fresh spinach
½ cup fresh cilantro
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
½ cup toasted nuts (I used sunflower seeds)
¼ cup olive oil
pinch salt

Mix all together in blender or food processor until thick and smooth.


The Stuffed Globe Zucchini was also really delicious. I used this recipe from famed chef Eric Ripert, using about a tablespoon of bac-o’s instead of ham, and utilizing my lovely farmers market zucchini and tomatoes. The filling looks as wonderful as it tastes.



Ready to bake.

Done!

Chase is not much of a fan of zucchini, but he ate all his portion.

I had not made homemade pickles in a long long time, and I’m not sure my previous attempts were very successful. But when I saw Vegan Homemade’s recipe for Squash Pickles, I was anxious to try again. I made my own pickling spice, since I had none on hand, and reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup. All who tried these pickles really really loved them. I think they are wonderful. They are easy to make and ready to eat after an overnight stay in the fridge.

Thank you, Erin, for this terrific recipe!

So, here’s Chase’s dinner plate – Tofu topped with Salsa Pesto and resting on Squash Pickles, Stuffed Zucchini, broccoli, mashed sweet potatoes, and homemade pintos.

And my plate, same as Chase’s but with pintos topped with pesto instead of tofu.

I can’t get enough of our fresh Texas peaches these days. I knew our dessert would need to include peaches and I just can’t bring myself to cook them when they are so delicious out of hand. So I figured I would just serve them with ice cream. Fortunately, I received an email from Amy, maker of NadaMoo, stating she had recently discovered my blog and wanted to thank me for saying nice things about her ice cream by sending me some vouchers.

Thank you again, Amy, for such a kind and generous (and yummy) gift! I chose Creamy Coconut to go with our fresh peaches. Look how beautiful white the ice cream is!

Amy told me that new flavors are out and also that NadaMoo is now available in Colorado and California! Please check your favorite vegan friendly grocers and try some of this delicious, nutritious ice cream.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Fourth of July.

A Top Ten Market

Gosh, you guys, I just haven’t been home much the past week, and I won’t be home tonight for a Sunday dinner with Chase. So I thought I would share yesterday morning’s trip to the farmers market with you. It was the first time I’ve had the chance to go this year.

The Sunset Valley Farmers Market in south Austin is fabulous. It’s 30 miles from my house, but definitely my market of choice (it’s only 10 miles from my mom’s house). It’s ranked as one of the top ten in the nation and apparently the rest of the city is coming to appreciate that fact, as this particular morning it was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it. My mom and I arrived seven minutes after it opened and it was already full.



The above picture is a covered area to rest, eat, and listen to live music. Below shows one of the rows of busy vendors.

I’ve never been so happy to see a crowd of people. I bought a nice selection of produce – peaches, tomatoes, carrots (for Smokey), zucchini, purple kohlrabi, and onions. So far I’ve only had a peach and it was perfect. I love our Texas peaches!

I always look for carrots with full tops because Smokey absolutely loves them. The vendor I purchased from gave me all the loose tops he had, and told me that just one minute earlier he had given most of what he had to a man who wanted to feed them to his five rabbits. I still got plenty, and I’m glad to now know where I can get free treats for Smokey.

I also found a new vendor selling raw treats. He had samples out and oh my goodness, they are incredibly delicious. This is still in the wrapper, but check it out:

We also made a stop at Whole Foods. I found a locally made salad that I couldn’t resist buying.

Yes it is as tasty as it looks.

I hadn’t seen my son in nearly 2 weeks until he came by yesterday afternoon. I only got a quick look at him because he had just a 30 minute “lunch” break at 4:00. I put together a plate of leftover stirfried veggies, homemade pintos, and fries from one of our favorite restaurants. I also made two fresh salads, one with the sprouts and one with peaches and blueberries.

It's awfully hot here and I’m getting a little heat weary. How about you?

Hedgehogs and Rainbows

I made it through my first Father’s Day without a father. It was very strange and excruciatingly sad, but bearable by spending the evening with my mom. We remembered how much Dad loved opening his cards and gifts, and barbecuing our dinner. He would carefully prepare veggies for me and Chase, wrapping them in foil to keep them meatfree, then plate them to make them blogworthy. All the family would be together and we would pitch washers or throw horseshoes while Dad tended the grill and made sure we were all having a good time. It was important to him to be a good father and a respectable man. He was an outstanding father and a remarkable man. I loved him so much and miss him every day.

For Sunday evening my mom fixed two fresh beautiful salads, one leafy green and one mixed fruit, both of which were delicious (and neither of which I took a picture of – oops). I made three dishes to take over. First, my Black Bean Salad. I know I’ve made this a hundred times, but everyone loves it and it’s just so pretty.



It had beans, corn, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, purple onion, green onions, avocado, and cilantro.


I made the Hedgehog Potatoes from Super Natural Cooking, mostly following the method and not the recipe. I sliced the purple potatoes and just brushed them all over, including between each slice, with olive oil seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper. I think we used to call these Potato Fans, but I like Hedgehogs better.

They were delicious and a fun way to eat potatoes. Your fork can just cut through the rest of the slice and you’ll have yourself a nice bite of baked potato.

For a treat I had to make a vegan version of something I saw in a magazine – Rainbow Cupcakes. I made the Vanilla Cupcakes from VCTOTW and added in a heaping quarter cup of sprinkles. The cupcakes baked up beautifully.

I waited (im)patiently for them to cool, then cut one in half.

Yay! How fun is that! So then I had to eat it. The vanilla cupcake recipe was perfect for this because, as Isa says, they are not terribly sweet. Adding in the sprinkles made them just right. I didn’t want to put any frosting on them (I hate buttercream), but I thought I might run into a chocolate lover, so I put a little ganache on half of them.

I wish I hadn’t put chocolate on them. If you decide to make these and don’t want naked cuppers, I recommend a powdered sugar glaze made with lemon or orange juice, and a few extra sprinkles on top. In fact, I’m going to do just that for a party next Sunday. Well, they are for kids, so maybe some with buttercream too….

Tofu Millet Skillet & Raw Treats

I have two recipes for you in this post from our Monday night dinner, which had to be postponed from Sunday night. You know those places where you can go and prep your family dinners for the week? This dinner made me think someone should start up a vegan version.

Tofu Millet Skillet




Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
10-12 sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 cup veggie broth
1 cup white wine
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. white wine vinegar
2 t. Bragg’s
3 t. Italian seasoning blend
½ t. crushed red pepper
1 cup millet
12-16 ounces baked tofu, cubed
½ pound fresh green beans
½ cup frozen peas
salt & pepper to taste
(any other seasonings you like)


Directions:
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until onion is softened, a few minutes. Add the sundried tomatoes, broth, wine, vinegars, Bragg’s, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil; stir in millet. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. (If millet has soaked up all your broth, add in ½ cup more.) Add tofu, green beans, peas, and salt & pepper. Simmer about 6 minutes, or until green beans are crisp tender. Check seasonings before serving.

Chase really enjoyed his tofu prepared this way, and I really enjoyed it with the tofu picked out!


We also had Happy Herbivore’s Mac n’ Cheese, another test recipe for her cookbook. This was so yummy! I found some extra large elbow noodles to use, which made it fun to eat, plus it holds a lot of the cheesy sauce.

I made another delicious salad from Vegan Express, the Broccoli Salad with Yellow Peppers, Pine Nuts, and Cranberries. I didn’t have pine nuts, so I used sunflower seeds. I also added in some kohlrabi!

After eating the purple kohlrabi last week, I figured it would pair nicely with broccoli since it tastes like broccoli. You can never have too much broccoli.

My local market had fresh blackeyed peas, so we had those too.

Here are all the foods on the table, waiting for hungry vegans to help themselves.

I had two treats for dessert, one raw and one baked. The baked one was basically Banana Oat Bundles from Vive with chocolate chips and peanuts added. I make these a lot.

(Sorry for that awful picture!)

The raw treat was my own creation. I’m always on the lookout for a healthy way to get my chocolate fix, so I put together this recipe:

Raw Cocoa Nib Treats

Ingredients:
¼ cup ground flax seeds
1 cup raw cashews
½ cup raw oats
6 dates
½ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup cocoa nibs
1 T. vanilla extract
2 T. coconut water

Directions:
Place ground flax seeds, cashews, and oats in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add in the dates and process until dates are chopped fine. Add in the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Pat into an 8 x 8 pan and refrigerate until firm.

I don’t think the rolled oats I used were technically raw, but more nuts can be used in place of the oats for purists. Nonetheless, these are very, very good and certainly satisfy my chocolate cravings. In fact, Chase said he would “go raw” if he could eat treats like these all the time. He always says just the right things to keep me inspired!

Bunny-sitting Makes Me Crave Salad and Raw Foods

Some of you may remember Chase’s pet rabbit, Smokey. Chase got him about a year ago when he just a baby bunny.



Smokey stayed with me this weekend while Chase’s air conditioner was being repaired and while he tended to a hectic work and summer school schedule. This is Smokey today.

It was hard to get a good shot of him. He liked to jump back and forth over my legs, lick my ankles, then jump some more. Chase says that means he loves me. He’s a beautiful rabbit. He’s very quiet and very sweet and will stare right into your eyes. He also helped me do six loads of Chase’s laundry!

Coincidently, my internet went out yesterday morning. I checked all the cords to make sure Smokey hadn’t unplugged anything. They seemed fine. I asked Chase to buy me a new modem today, which he did, and then he came over for dinner and began to install the modem. I told him I was sorry that I had initially blamed Smokey for the problem. Chase looked at me, stopped what he was doing, and went into the room where Smokey had stayed. After carefully inspecting the phone cord, he found a spot with little rabbit teeth! I took back my apology, got a new phone cord, put the old modem back in, and here I am. Anyway, Chase’s air conditioner is fixed and Smokey is now back home with Chase.

While Smokey was here, I made lots of trips to the fridge for lettuce to feed to him. He’s like me and especially loves the purple variety of oak leaf lettuce. I think he inspired me to make two very yummy salads.

First, Spinach, Artichoke, and Chickpea Salad from Vegan Express.

This salad also had roasted yellow peppers, olives, and cherry tomatoes, and I used mixed greens instead of just spinach as suggested for a variation – delicious!

Second, Ani’s Raw Spinach Salad with Marinated Onions and Mustard Seed Dressing. Again, I used mixed greens and spinach, and this salad was also delicious. I love the mustard seed dressing.

I did try another recipe from Ani’s Raw which was a complete, into-the-garbage can failure. I mostly blame myself. The Lemon Coconut Bars sounded so wonderful, but there is only one step of instructions included, and the recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of sea salt. I don’t put a whole tablespoon of salt into anything. So, thinking I don’t know anything about raw food prep, but not really wanting to use so much of my sea salt, I only put in a half tablespoon. It smelled heavenly, but oh, man, it was inedibly salty. I should have known better. I wasted a whole cup of expensive raw almonds and I was not happy.

Still wanting a raw treat, I remembered Ruby Red Vegan’s homemade larabars. These are a smashing success!

I also tried my own version of raw treats. I baked them in the sun, then refrigerated them. They turned out really nice and I will post my recipe later this week.

Chase dropped the Take n’ Bake Breakfast Pizza Pie I made for him. So I made him another one and baked it myself.

He took it home with him when he picked up Smokey and said he would eat it that night and let me know how it was. Thankfully, he loved it. He said it tasted like mac n’ cheez on a biscuit and he ate the whole thing!


I’ll be back later in the week with a post about tonight’s dinner and perhaps a couple of recipes. I missed checking all your blogs yesterday! I just hung out with Smokey and watched a little tv and stayed cool in between loads of laundry.