Kabocha Squash Soup

Kabocha squash (also known to me as Thai pumpkin) is a delicious member of squash family - and one that you can also get in the summer. It has a distinct taste from either pumpkin or acorn squash, though it looks a little like acorn, but tastes a bit more like pumpkin. In any case, it is really tasty and I use it frequently.

This morning a friend of mine gave me the idea of making pumpkin soup. A perfect warm treat as the weather starts getting a bit chilly. I had a large kabocha, so I decided to use that instead of pumpkin and then I let the creative juices flow - combining different ideas from soup recipes that have been shared with me or that I have tried in the past. The result was truly delightful!!

kabocha soup with or without bread on the side

Here's what you'll need (organic when possible):
1 large kabocha squash (baked)
1 medium sweet onion (chopped)
2 Tbsp maple syrup
6 tsp olive oil
1/2 - 1 inch piece of fresh ginger (grated)
1 medium apple (skinned and chopped)
1-2 heads of garlic (yes, heads - you'll roast them)

3 cups of water or vegetable stock/broth
2-3 cups of rice milk
small handful of fresh sage (chopped into strips)
roasted pumpkin seeds (kabocha seeds don't roast very well - they are very chewy and not crunchy)

And here's how you make it (my way): 

1.  Cut the squash in half and clean out the seeds

2. Use about 2 tsp olive oil in each half - coat well - and then turn faced down onto a greased cookie  sheet.

3. Bake at 400F for about 40-45 minutes, or until the flesh is tender and can be easily scooped from the skin.

4. While the squash is baking (when it is about 10 minutes from being finished), heat 2 tsp oil in a large stock pot, slice onion and add to pot once oil is hot.

5. Saute onion for 2-3 minutes, then add 2 Tbsp maple syrup and stir constantly to coat and caramelize onions, for about 5-10 minutes more. Onions should be translucent and slightly brown, but not burnt

6. Add grated ginger and 1-2 cloves of chopped (raw) garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes

7. Add peeled and chopped apple and continue stirring x 5 minutes

8. Once squash is finished, remove and holding skin side with a cloth/pot holder (it's hot!!) use a large spoon to scoop flesh out of the skin and into the pot. Stir.

9. If skin is still intact, fill each half with water/broth and pour into pot (will help detach any small pieces left in the skin)

10. Turn heat down to medium-low and allow soup to simmer for 30 minutes.

11. While soup is simmering, increase oven temperature to 450F and roast the garlic for 45 minutes. (Cut the "hat" - pointy end - of the garlic off, about 1.5 cm from the tip. drizzle the inside of the bulb with olive oil, then replace the hat. Wrap with tin foil and place in oven). I use two full heads of garlic, as the potency is decreased with baking and I love the flavor of garlic. However, 1 head may be enough for most people.

12. After the soup has simmered for 30 minutes or so, use a hand mixer to blend soup (cover with top of pot or hand towel to avoid splattering). Then add rice milk and continue simmering for 15 minutes.

13. Once the garlic is finished, carefully squeeze garlic from the inside of the bulb (should be almost like a paste - if the cloves are still hard, it has not roasted long enough) into the pot of soup. Blend again with a hand mixer and add more liquid if necessary.

14. Turn heat to LOW and leave soup on the stove for 30-45 minutes more, stirring occasionally. If the bottom is getting thick/sticking, you need to add more liquid.

15. About 5 minutes before serving, heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan. When hot, add the chopped strips of fresh sage. Saute, moving constantly to avoid burning, for about 5 minutes or until the leaves become slightly crispy. When crispy, remove from heat.

16. Serve soup topped with sage and roasted pumpkin seeds. (My husband had his with some whole wheat bread, but I had nothing on the side).

Sage and pumpkin seeds on top of the soup - yum!

ENJOY!! YUM!

Vegan Pizza

Generally I am not a fan of "imitation" food - fake meats, cheese etc. (I suppose the exception to this is almond milk, which I use in oatmeal and sometimes smoothies). However, yesterday we just really wanted a pizza and movie night.

Since we have no TV, I bought a used single white sheet - which I bleached and dried; and two 9-ft dowels from the hardware store. Two quick hems with ends open on the long sides of the sheet and we had ourselves a projector screen (we have a projector - just had never figured out the screen part). I attached two small hooks to the wall of our bedroom and up went the screen. Felt over some scrap wood from the hardware store made for our projector stand and the movie theatre was ready!!

home-made movie screen ( before the wrinkes were straightened out)

For the pizza, I took a simple wheat and yeast pizza dough recipe (will attempt gluten-free at some point, but wasn't up to it yesterday), kneaded it and let it rise while assembling the screen, as described above.


I had originally planned on buying pesto, but shock! to my disappointment, ALL the available prepared pesto was full of Parmesan cheese. (who knew?!?). I don't quite have enough basil on my plants right now to have made enough pesto to cover a pizza, so I decided to go with red pizza sauce.

Our Vegan Pizza

Because I was having a crazy busy day, I bought some organic canned pizza sauce (though usually I make it with tomatoes, tomato paste,  garlic, finely diced or blended onion, minimal salt, basil and/or herbs de province and tons or oregano. Really nice in a crock pot on low for the day or on the stove top simmering for an hour or two Garlic and oregano are the keys for me!).

Then my husband and I picked our ingredients for toppings:

• thinly sliced tomatoes
• thinly sliced onion
• thinly sliced garlic
• vegan sausage
• chopped fresh basil

Now, I'm not a huge pizza fan - I just get a craving every now and again. But, the cheese for me is half the point of the pizza.  We tried, a month or two ago, a local pizza place that offers a vegan option and while it was not bad, we didn't love the taste or consistency of the cheese.  Having not tried any fake cheese products up to this point, I had to just take a gamble at the store and choose one of the many options (ahhh, Portland).

We LOVED the cheese we ended up with. It actually tasted quite a lot like mozzarella (pre-vegan days, we would buy mozzarella balls and chop them up to make pizza topping). The cheese we used was made by Lisanatti Food. It was an almond based cheese that was both dairy and soy free!  It even melted a little bit and tasted great!

What a GREAT pizza and movie night!

Vegan Food Pyramid -which do you follow more closely?

The food pyramid changes periodically, but however you look at it, a significant portion of the published pyramids are for animal products. Though I find the new pyramid difficult to read (while I really like the inclusion of exercise) I couldn't help but notice that the dairy section seems to be the largest one ... maybe equivalent to grains. What?!? This seems to go hand in hand with the over abundence of dairy adds of the last two decades ... the milk factories must be paying out to be granted a larger "lot" in the food pyramid.

(Food Pyramid Images taken from: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/food_pyramid.shtml)

Old Food Pyramid

 

In any case, I have obviously decided to eliminate animal products, but then was still left with the decision of how to structure amounts and focus on what I DO eat.


Here are two possibilities for vegan food pyramids:

Taken from ChooseVeg.com

This first one has a heavy grain focus. Of course, I am wary of eating too many refined carbs and try to limit dairy and pasta. However, whole grains are healthy and offer fiber. In the US, many grains are fortified with folic acid (a very important nutrient, especially for women of child bearing age, but also to help avoid certain anemias at any age). "Native" grains such as quinoa are higher in protein than those in the "traditional modern" diet such as wheat, white rice, quick cook oats etc....

Taken from "Wold Midwives" Facebook Page

This second one builds the bottom layer with greens. Rick dark greens provide iron, calcium and so much more. They are high in dietary fiber, and rich in folic acid, vitamin C, potassium and magnesium.

In fact, in the first version of the pyramid does not single out green leafies outside of the fruits and veggies layer of the pyramid. Likewise, the second pyramid does not seem to include grains as a group at all. Strange, as the rest of the pyramids are fairly similar.

I think if I were to  make my own pyramid I would probably combine leafy greens and whole grains in the bottom tier.

What do you think? How do you eat??

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

This is my second round of making vegan blueberry muffins. The first round went well, but I forgot to write down how I made them. (oops!) My method is to open every cookbook I have to recipes for blueberry muffins - both vegan and regular - and then start picking parts from each recipe until I think I have the perfect dough.... I made some mini muffins and took them to a meeting this morning for other people's opinions ... and the verdict was a good one. The only suggestion was to make them a bit sweeter (so this recipe is adjusted slightly for that purpose).

I really enjoy baked goods - I enjoy making them and I enjoy eating them. When first becoming vegan, I felt a bit daunted by baking minus dairy and eggs. But, after this success, I'd say I'm feeling much more confident. What's better - this recipe uses no oil and no refined sugar! Holy moly, they are practically healthy!

Give them a try and let me know what you think.....

 

Blueberry Muffins

(recipe by Emily)
makes 2 dozen mini muffins or 1 dozen regular sized muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (or more if you're like me and LOVE cinnamon)
2 Tbsp ground organic flax seed (split)
3 Tbsp water
1 cup + 2 Tbsp non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup agave nectar (or slightly more/less depending on if the apple sauce is sweetened)
1 Tbsp lemon zest from organic lemon which has been washed
1 cup fresh or frozen organic blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a small saucepan, bring 3 Tbsp water and 1 Tbsp flax to a simmer stirring constantly. Simmer for about 3-5 minutes or until a congealed, egg-like texture forms. Refrigerate to cool while preparing dry ingredients
3. Combine dry ingredients (flour through remaining flax). Mix to combine.
4. In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients (flax mixture (be sure it is cool first) through lemon zest). Mix or whisk to combine well before adding to dry ingredients
5. Mix or beat wet ingredients into dry ingredients until mixture is consistent and there are no lumps.
6. Stir in blueberries
7. Fill greased muffin tins to just below top
8. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (or 13 minutes for mini muffins). Insert toothpick to check if muffins are done - should be clean. Tops will be minimally browned, so the toothpick is the best test.
9. Cool on rack before serving
10. Eat alone or with some additional applesauce.

Slow Cooker Polenta with Mushroom and Kale Ragout

Polenta and mushroom ragout is one of our favorite dishes around here. I have experimented with several different recipes. In fact, I had never eaten polenta before my first try of this dish .... which I decided to try after coming across organic prepared packaged polenta during a grocery run.  Initially I sliced the packaged polenta and then grilled it on my George Foreman grill before topping it with the mushroom ragout. This was very delicious and I'm sure we'll have that again sometime (good party appetizer if you put just a little bit of mushrooms on top). But, my husband and I both agreed that tonight's dinner was the best version of this dish that I have made thus far.

The polenta was very easy - I made it in the SLOW COOKER (one of my very best friends .... a surprisingly large number of vegan recipes for the slow cooker .... in the past I had used it mostly for meats). I LOVE the book this recipe came out of (see citation below). I will review more about this book later.

The mushroom kale ragout, I created myself based on a couple of different recipes I have used for mushroom ragout and adding kale because I try to eat it daily.

Polenta (Classic with fennel "variation")

Kelly, Carla. (2012). Classic Polenta.  Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking. (p. 192). New York: The Experiment

Gluten Free and Soy Free!!

4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 TBSP olive oil
2- 4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 - 1 fennel bulb, chopped finely
1 TBPS white wine, or vegetable stock
4 1/2 cups boiling vegetable stock
1 cup fine cornmeal
salt and black pepper

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and allow it to sizzle briefly.
2. Add the onion and fennel, toss to coat, and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes
3. Deglaze the skillet with the wine (or broth) and transfer the contents of hte skillet to the slow cooker
4. Add the stock to the slow cooker. Stir.
5. While stirring, pour in the cornmeal in a continuous stream, ensuring no lumps form. The cornmeal will thicken a little
6. Cover, set heat to LOW, and cook for 5 hours until all the liquid is absorbed and the polenta is tender.
7. Taste and season as required
8. THIS IS ME (not in book) - I added one head of roasted garlic in addition to the sauteed garlic ... because I LOVE garlic ... after the polenta was cooked - I stirred it in immediately before serving.

 

Mushroom Kale Ragout

(created by the author of this blog)
4 servings

Ingredients
 2 TBSP olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic (per your preference), diced or sliced
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes
salt, to taste
1/2 lb. Crimini mushrooms (the brown ones. You can also use white button mushrooms, for a different flavor
1 cup dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup vegetable broth
large bunch of kale, chopped with stems removed

Directions

1. In wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium heat
2. When hot, add onion and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes
3. Add garlic, chilli flakes and pinch of salt, stir to combine and distribute oil. Continue to cook for 5-7 minutes
4. Add both types of mushrooms and cook until natural juices have come out of mushrooms and are starting to evaporate.
5. Increase temperature to medium-high and add white wine. Cook until wine has reduced. (Alcohol will cook out).
6. Add vegetable broth. Stir well to combine. Add salt to taste, if needed. Allow mushrooms to absorb flavor before adding the kale.
7. Add kale. You may want to leave it on top to keep the crispness of the kale. Otherwise, stir together into the ragout and cook until the kale is cooked to desired consistency.

I served this meal in a bowl - polenta on the bottom covered with the mushroom kale ragout.  It was a fantastic full meal. The recipes above will serve four with medium sized portions.

YUMMY!!!

Vegan Qunioa "Sushi" Roll

I came home from work today ravenously hungry and craving sushi ... I don't really know why, but that is what I wanted. So, I decided to get creative and make "sushi" with ingredients that we had in the house (namely the 3 day old quinoa sitting in the fridge, begging to be eaten).

Now, I am pretty sure I can't call what I made actually "sushi" - as I believe that this word actually IS or has something closely to do with the type of rice used to make it. "Sashimi" is the raw fish and obviously I wasn't using that....but you can have sushi without sashimi. In any case, we shall call my creation sushi for it's close resemblance and for the ease of it.

This Sushi roll is vegan and gluten free - also it is higher protein and lower sugar than a vegan roll made with sushi rice (as it is a form of glutenous rice - meaning sugar, not wheat gluten .... though beware you gluten-freers out there - some sushi restaurants add wheat gluten to their sushi rice).

My challenge in using quinoa is that it is not sticky like glutenous rice. To overcome this problem, I remembered an effective baking egg-substitute - ground flax simmered in water. After 3-5 minutes, the mixture becomes highly sticky (hence it helps hold things together in baking as eggs would). Problem solved.

I think our "sushi" rolls turned out great:

finished quinoa 'sushi' roll

Ingredients:
1 sheet nori seaweed
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
4 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp agave nectar (optional)
5 baby carrots, chopped thinly lengthwise (organic preferred)
1/4 cucumber, chopped thinly lengthwise (organic preferred)
1/2 small avocado, chopped thinly lengthwise (organic preferred)
1 tsp shoyu (organic, low-sodium)

**If you are gluten free, check shoyu or soy sauce - some are prepared with gluten**

 Directions:

1.  Bring water to simmer in small pot, then add ground flax - stirring constantly. Once mixed, add agave, if using, and continue to stir and simmer until consistency is like a raw egg - sticky.
2. Cool flax mixture in fridge while chopping vegetables.
3. Mix cooled flax mixture into quinoa (you probably have to use your hands) until mixed throughout and quinoa becomes sticky
4. Lay nori flat on a sushi mat and press quinoa across surface using hands or sushi paddle. Leave 1in edge on one side of nori for overlap when rolling
5. Lay carrot, cucumber and avocado pieces in rows across the quinoa - rows should be the same direction as the sticks in the sushi mat
6. Roll together using the sushi mat with firm pressure. If extra edge of nori does not have enough moisture to stick, add small amount of water to seal edge.
7. Using a sharp knife, slice into pieces of desired width
8. Dip into shoyu if desired

plate of sushi with splash of shoyu for dipping

Vegan? Really?!? You???

the honeycomb with the larvae....

So, if you know me, you know that I have at one point or another eaten just about everything under the sun: cow brain sheep face, fried silk worms, live bee larva (this one was a horrifying surprise in my mouth). I can match just about any episode on the travel channel that involves food. A few instances involved my voluntary desire to try some of these strange items. Most of the time, though, I felt victim to third world hospitality - which I could just simply not turn down...despite my frequent desire!

pre meat-coma

Additionally, I grew up in Texas - the land of beef. Many Texans believe that if you do not have meat at a meal - it is not a proper meal. (I even heard this from a vegetable seller at a local farmers market!!) Admittedly, I knew a vegetarian or two during my years in Texas, but this was certainly the exception. In grad school when I participated in a nutrition study for 6 weeks, during which time everything I put in my mouth was supplied by the researchers...food, drink and supplement - I romanticized about how much meat I would eat at the end of the study since I felt I was given a very meager amount during the study. Texas Steak House's triple meal - ribs, brisket and chilli was just the ticket to make up for the "lost meat". A meat-coma followed.


I have always been a meat eater and always believed that I needed *some* meat in my diet - for energy, for protein etc. I was sold on the theory proposed by Dr. Peter D'Adamo in his book Eat Right For Your Type  I have O blood, and thus I was convinced that I needed meat in order to function at my maximum energy/potential etc. I prided myself on being willing to eat just about anything.

But, then, things started to change. I'm not sure how or why it began.... My mother has never been a big red meat eater and has eaten more and more of a vegetarian diet in recent years. In grad school I started meeting people who were not only vegetarian, but vegan ("Oh, I could NEVER do that!"). I watched my classmates and friends eat food that looked good - fresh and healthy. And THEY looked fresh and healthy. Admittedly most of them ate some meat - but not that much.

So, I started eating less meat. Especially less red meat.

And then I started learning more - and really listening to - the arguments about how animals are treated. I had never been convinced by the arguments about how wasteful it is to use grains to feed animals instead of humans ... afterall, there is more than enough food on this planet to feed everyone absolutely as much as they need ... but I was convinced both by the animal rights standpoint of the cruelty to animals as well as the realization of the sludge I was putting into my body - growth hormones, antibiotics and fear hormones left in the blood/muscle from the cruel way animals are slaughtered.

Thus,  I started eating "cruelty free" meat - no hormones, grass fed, no antibiotics. And "cage free" eggs.

But, there are always arguments about how companies and stretch language and what these things really MEAN... Is "cage free" only indicating that the chickens are not in individual cages, but instead in a "pen" where they are still stuffed beyond the point of being able to move freely?

My next step was buying more from local farmers markets - so I could feel more secure that the animals were treated well and were not full of that long list of chemicals that I did not want in my body.

And as I got into farmers markets, I rediscovered the fun of juicing. My husband and I decided to do a ten day juice fast - for cleansing and not for weightloss. It was fun. I had no revelations. I did not have an "aha" moment where I turned the corner and felt my mind clear. But, I felt good and kept my energy up with only the juices to see me through my (fairly taxing, mostly-on-my-feet) workday. 

our organic farmer's market "booty" for the juice fast

After this, I decided to give up all meat for Lent and spent 40 days as a vegetarian.Surprise! It was actually very easy to be vegetarian. I liked the food I was eating and felt good. Though, I admit I did look forward to meat at Easter.

Somewhere in here my father became vegan. Being a researcher at heart, he'd read the research connecting consumption of animal products with heart disease. Having had a heart attack and bypass surgery a few years before, he decided to try being vegan. This proved difficult, as he lives in Texas and the rest of the family is pretty married to meat and dairy - but he continues to eat a vegan diet as much as possible. I am proud of him and impressed at his perseverance - I don't think I could have taken up this lifestyle in Texas!

I supposed I'd been rolling around these many different pieces of information in my mind/heart for a while when I moved to Portland. Unlike Texas, it is very easy to be vegan in Portland. There are vegan restaurants, vegan bakeries, vegan options on menus in non-vegan restaurants. I was simply more aware of this possibility here.

After returning from a wonderful trip to Iceland where I was showered with love and hospitality by my inlaws - and fed amazingly delicious Icelandic fare ..... meat, dairy and potatoes mostly .... for two weeks. I felt happy and loved ... but heavy, sluggish and (excuse me for saying it publicly, but...) very constipated. I swore I would not eat meat or dairy for at least 2 weeks.

And then I saw a social media post by a friend (who is vegan) about a book by Alicia Silverstone  The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. On a whim I ordered it...along with several vegan cookbooks. Why NOT give this a try?!?

sweet potato black bean dish - yum!

So, now I am two months into this journey and it is going well. I feel good - not energy deprived. My husband is graciously on board with vegan eating at home (and he's even eating mostly vegetarian at work!!) I am taking multivitamins and B12 as supplements and getting as many leafy greens as I can manage (iron and calcium).

We are eating well. It tastes good (sometimes great...even vegan chocolate peanut butter birthday pie)! And I have not craved meat once.  Who would have thought!

Chocolate Peanut butter Birthday Pie - made my mom, enjoyed by all!!!

Thanks for reading - I hope you will continue to join me on this journey. It is an experiment. But I can promise you that I will share things I learn and recipes I try. It's going to be a fun delicious journey whatever the outcome!