Traditional Potato Salad

Ah, potato salad! My favorite dish to bring to summer potlucks, serve at our backyard BBQ's, or just to make a huge bowl of to munch on throughout the week during the summer. Though there are lots of variations of this classically summer dish, I find that my vegan version of a traditional creamy potato salad is one of the first sides to disappear at any gathering.

Ingredients

For the salad

3 lbs baby red potatoes, cooked, cubed, and cooled
½ med sweet onion, chopped (I prefer Walla Walla sweets)
1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley  
5 dill pickle spears, chopped 
½ cup finely cubed extra firm tofu (optional. I use the tofu to emulate the hard boiled eggs found in traditional tater salad, but it's totally up to you if you want to use)

For the sauce

1¼ cup veganaise  
2 Tbs dill pickle juice  
1 tsp mustard  
1½ Tbs nutritional yeast  
½ tsp black pepper  
¼ tsp garlic salt  
1/8-1/4 tsp sea salt 
Few dashes smoked paprika (optional)

Directions

Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl and set to the side. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk all the sauce ingredients together. Stir in the onion, parsley, pickles and tofu until all ingredients are combined. Add the sauce mix to the potatoes and gently stir until all the potatoes are covered in sauce. Place in the fridge for a few hours and enjoy by the bowlful.

Seasonal Fruit Salad

One of my favorite things about summer is fruit salad. So simple, satisfying to my sweet tooth, and super refreshing. But one of the best things is how many different ways fruit salad can be made. I like to just go to the farmers market, grab whatever is around and just throw everything in a bowl. And now that sweet cherries are in full season, and the rest of the stone fruits have just started to appear, its time for one of my all time favorite fruit salads.

Ingredients:
3 peaches, pitted and roughly chopped
3 red plums, pitted and roughly chopped
1 lb. sweet cherries (I generally use Bing or Rainer)
2 cups blackberries
approx 1/8 cup fresh mint chiffonade

Mix all ingredients together in a bog class or ceramic bowl and chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Bring to a vegan BBQ or eat as a delicious snack while lazily lounging in a hammock in the sun.

Cranberry Sauce Two Ways

Oh cranberry sauce, the underrated thanksgiving side dish that sometimes feels more like obligation than a joy to eat. But it doesn't have to be that way. With a few simple additions, cranberry sauce can go from the unwanted party guest to a side that shines.

Cranberry sauce is super easy to make, and there are so many ways to flavor cranberry sauce that is about a million times better than the canned stuff. This year I made a few different kinds for thanksgiving gifts–one cranberry-orange style, and one red wine and rosemary style.

Red Wine and Rosemary Cranberry Sauce

2 cups dry red wine
2 1/2 cups sugar
24 dried Turkish apricots, roughly chopped
2 6" springs of fresh rosemary
juice from 2 meyer lemons
zest from 2 meyer lemons
1.5 lbs. fresh cranberries

Combine first 6 ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in cranberries. Cook over medium heat until liquid is slightly reduced and berries burst, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove rosemary. Cool. Transfer sauce to bowl and serve, cool and refrigerate for up to a week, or can for later use. Yields 3 pints.

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

2 cups orange jucie
2 1/2 cups sugar
Zest from one navel orange
1/8 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
2 4" cinnamon sticks
Insides from 1/2 vanilla bean
1 Tbs fresh grated giner
1.5 lbs. fresh cranberries

Combine first 7 ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in cranberries. Cook over medium heat until liquid is slightly reduced and berries burst, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks. Cool. Transfer sauce to bowl and serve, cool and refrigerate for up to a week, or can for later use. Yields 3 pints.

Protein Packed Breakfast Muffins (Gluten-free) Revised

After some feedback that the original recipe I posted for these muffins were turning out to wet, I've revised the recipe a little bit, and here's a better, dryer recipe. The most recent batch I made were with Hawaiian purple sweet potatoes, black berries, and cocoa nibs. Delish.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast. They are hearty and dense and pack enough of a protein punch to help keep you going for hours. Seriously- after one of these muffins, a cup of coffee and some vitamin d, I go outside and yell "Bring it on world!" (Okay, maybe I just face my morning full of energy with a smile... same difference)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups almond meal
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4Tbs ground flax seeds whisked with 12 Tbs warm water
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1 cup mashed sweet potato* (cooked)
1/4 cup olive oil

Optional:
2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa nibs
2/3 cup raspberries, mashed**
If you are adding in optional ingredients (other than cocoa nibs), add in 1/2 cup ground hazelnut or 1/3 ground almond meal to counter the addition of wet ingredients.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Mash or use immersion blender (or beater/ electric mixer) to blend all the wet ingredients into a smooth batter. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and then mix into the wet ingredients with a spoon. Scoop into a lined muffin tin (about 1/3 cup per tin). Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until batter has been cooked through. Eat, then conquer world.

*I have been using purple sweet potato (Okinawan potato) for muffins where I am using dark berries like blackberries or blueberries, as it gives the muffins a rich dark purple color, and orange sweet potatoes for red berries, pineapple and carrots as the muffins will be pink or orange.

**You can switch out the raspberries for any berry, or pineapple for sweeter muffins. For a savory muffin, substitute raspberries with shredded zucchini or carrot.

Roasted Chickpeas

Better than popcorn, and growing more popular by the nano-second, these little treats pop in your mouth and explode with flavor (and the flavor combos are endless–sweet or savory, take your pick) and are super addictive. You'll be hard pressed not to eat a whole bowl in one sitting. I just did.

Ingredients:
15 oz. cooked chickpeas
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons spices (I used Cajun seasoning, but you can use anything you like. Like I said, the possibilities are endless)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drain cooked chickpeas and pat dry with a towel. toss in olive oil and spices, and roast for 30-40 minutes, until chickpeas are crispy and no longer soft. Eat to your hearts content.

Zucchini Pie

This is a recipe my mom used to make in the summer to get rid of the zucchini that grew in our garden. I've adapted it, and it remains one of my favorite summer dishes.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups diced or grated zucchini
1 chopped onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 cup baking mix (e.g. Bisquick or other such mix. I use gluten-free bisquick or Bob's red mill gluten-free baking flour. if using a standard flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder)
3/4 cup extra firm silken tofu, blended
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds whisked with 3 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup vegan "cheese" (I use Daiya cheddar shreds)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Turn oven to 350 degrees (f). Mix tofu, flax seed mixture, oil, baking mix, and seasonings until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and stir until vegetables are evenly coated. pour into deep dish pie pan and cook for 30-40 minutes, until top is nicely browned and middle is cooked through.

Daily lunch

Every day lately, I roast veggies from my CSA box from lunch, throw in a Tofurky sausage, and top with nutritional yeast and chipotle powder. It's awesome. This bunch included broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, and potato. Delish!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vegan "Pulled Pork" Sammie...Food Truck Style

Maximus Minimus has arrived and is rocking it on 2nd and Pike in downtown Seattle almost daily. the the menu is minimal, they do have an awesome vegan sandwich that is a bit like a cross between a sloppy joe and a pulled pork sandwich. It's loaded with cooked grains (I'm pretty sure there's some barley in there...) in delicious spicy (maximus) OR sweet (minimus) sauce and covered with cilantro, and served on a stellar whole grain bun. Add a rosemary lemonade and the day is made! And the truck itself? Well, that's one big-ass pig I would totally kiss!

OMG! cute posters for the kitchen.

my awesome wife just sent me a link to the cutest minimalist posters ever! I'm getting this one for my kitchen.

Adventures in Portland, part one

The wife and I took an impromptu mini vacation and went down to Portland, Oregon for a few days. We saw some friends, walked in the sunshine, and drank Oly on the porch while enjoying books we had bought at at Powell's (city of books). We also ate at quite a few places. One of the treats we enjoyed was a pineapple basil sorbet at Ruby Jewels. Refreshing and subtly earthy, it was a perfect sweet treat to accompany a walk down Mississippi and a browse through Land (where we bought a few Nikki McClure posters and I got this sweet shirt). It was fun to get out of town for a few days, but I'm glad to be home.

New Quilt

Just finished up this little quilt and popped it in the mail. I hope my friend Andrew receives it soon, and his kid is still in that cute baby stage in which they roll around on quilts and the like (I am notoriously bad at finishing projects in a timely manner). This quilt marks the 4th I have completed, and I am stoked about how this one turned out. It may be a little hippie-ish for Andrew, but I wanted to give his kid something to balance all the butt-rock I know he will be subject to as he grows up. At any rate, many belated congrats to my old friend Andrew, and I was so happy to have another excuse to make another quilt.

An Open Letter to My Blog

Dear Blog,

I am sorry I have been neglectful. I promise I have a few posts coming soon, mostly in the crafty side of things, but nonetheless...

You see, I have been consumed as of late with quite a major undertaking. I am acting quite manic, to tell you the truth, and haven't been cooking or crafting very much, or basically doing anything outside of looking at thousands of negatives, slides, and photographic prints from the last 100 years that have come into my life.

I apologize, and promise I will return in a cooking frenzy in a few weeks, once the initial steps of the project have been laid to rest.

Thank you for understanding,

Colleen


P.S. It's true, I am slightly cheating on you, but I promise it's for a good reason.

Old School Photos... Like, REALLY Old School

I forgot when I started this little blog, that I was going to aim for 75% recipe posts, and fill the other 25% with craftyness, kitschyness, and bitchiness. Well, that percentage is currently way out of whack, and considering my life has been insanity lately and I've been living off of cheerios, salad, and tofurky brats, I haven't posted much lately because I forgot I could write about stuff other than food.

One of the things that I've been kept busy by in the last few weeks is looking through the one hundred years of photographs that my grandmother has collected in her life. I've looked through hundreds of photographs, slides and negatives in the last week, and that is not a hyperbole. I can now identify what my mother and my aunt looked like at any age in their childhood (though truthfully, that one is kind of easy considering I am the spitting image of my mother). I can also identify what my grandmother, my two great aunts, and my two great uncles looked like at any age, from three years old until they were well into their eighties.

I can tell you my mother and I look like my grandmothers mother, and I can tell you that my grandmother and my aunt take after the women in my grandmothers fathers family. This essentially means I look Norwegian and my grandmother looks English. I could tell you alot of things I have learned in the last week, but that's for another day. Right now I want to share some old school photographs, and when I say old school, I mean one-room school old. I mean walking 20 miles in the snow, uphill, both ways, old.

The following photos were taken by my great grandmother, on the open prairies of Alberta, Canada, using the Kodak Folding Pocket Camera she bought in approximately 1912 (which is still in working order and on a shelf in my living room). I just had the pictures printed from negatives that are almost 100 years ago, and I thrilled that these records of my grandmothers childhood have survived.

My Grandmother, on the Canadian prairie, in about 1919. She is the 2nd from the left.

Spring Salad with Mango and Blueberries

Yesterday was the first really beautiful day this spring in Seattle. The sun was out, the tide was low, and it hit 66 degrees. It seemed like the whole city came out in full force: dudes were walking around shirtless, small children were donning their swimming suits and splashing in the sound while wishing the Coleman Pool was open for the season, and ladies in short shorts were littering the rocky beaches. I spent the majority of the day laden with 3 cameras, traipsing around the beaches on Vashon Island and hanging out with my best friend from childhood. I even got a little bit of a sunburn on my cheeks. Go figure.

Dinner today was inspired by the glorious weather yesterday. I went outside of my comfort zone and went for the "this isn't local or seasonal by any means, but I want summer!" approach and made an huge salad on baby greens, spinach, mango and blueberries, and topped it with a ginger lemon dressing.

Spring Salad with Mango and Blueberries

Kale and "Sausage" Hash

I've been super busy lately: out shooting from the hip with my holga, taking a painting class at the local community college (gotta love those continuing education classes!), still trying to finish a few quilts (I should probably finish them before the babies I am making them for graduate high school or something), and writing, writing, writing!

But a girls gotta eat, so I've been making simple fast foods like this hash, which there a bazillion different variations on. That's why I love them: chop up some potatoes, add whatever is on hand, saute everything in some oil until heated and crispy and voila: a filling and delicious meal that doesn't break the bank and only takes about 30 minutes to make.

Kale and "Sausage" Hash

Hearty Minestrone

Minestrone is, simply put, a hearty, thick Italian vegetable soup. Usually it includes some beans and often pasta, though I think the inclusion of pasta can be a bit overkill. I suppose it just comes down to an individuals personal taste. Minestrone is diverse, and can include just about anything one can find to throw in a pot, making it pretty much a stone soup, sans the stone.

Minestrone is considered one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine, and has roots stating back to the Roman Empire. The minestrone the Roman soldiers lived on was far from the modern version: they didn't even get to enjoy the more recent additions of tomatoes and potatoes that American cooks started utilizing in the mid 16th century. Other than slight tweaks though the ages, the soup often stays true its roots by using local, season vegetables.

So, now that you are aware of the history of minestrone, here's the recipe for a batch I whipped up while visiting my mother the other day. Have at it.

A Minestrone Recipe:

Cashew "Cheese" Spread 2 Ways

I used to love soft, spreadable cheeses before I was vegan. Brie, Camembert, Chevre, Cougar Gold, stinky, tart or smooth, it didn't matter. Basically, if a cheese could be served on a water cracker, I was a fan. The spreadable Sheese is quite good, but when I'm craving something a little different, it's time to break out the probiotics and raw cashews, and make my own. The last time I made spreadable "cheese", I made 2 different versions, a savory herbed version with rosemary and cracked pepper, and a soft light version, with lavender and toasted hazelnuts. They both rocked and every omnivore at the party didn't believe they were eating cashews and not cheese. Be warned though, even though this recipe is pretty simple, the prep time for this dish is about 3 days between the soaking and culturing, so remember to give yourselves ample time to make this dish.

Herbed Cashew "Cheese" Spread with Cracked Black Pepper

Cashew "Cheese" Spreads

Sweet Potato and Kale Enchiladas

These enchiladas were the star of my birthday dinner extravaganza. They're not exactly traditional by any means, but they sure are tasty!

I totally adapted this from Veganomicon, the holy bible of vegan cooking. Using sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes makes this dish jump off the page, and if you use Okinawan sweet potatoes (which are pretty much the coolest tubers ever) the combo of purple of the yam and the green of the kale looks amazing. If you can't find Okinawan sweet potatoes (and you likely won't be able to unless you live in Asia, Hawaii, or the west coast) regular ol' orange yams will suffice.

My cat kindly took off the top of this enchilada so you could see the filling

Enchiladas:

A Simple Curry

One of my favorite things in the entire word is having friends over for dinner. I like sequestering myself in the kitchen for a few hours and tuning into Thelonious Monk, playing mad scientist with spices, and ignoring the rest of the world until friends knock on the door and it's time to set the table. Sometimes I plate and serve full courses, and sometimes I spread all the elements on the table, and let my guests put together their own plates. The following curry works best in the latter format, as people can choose how much rice, vegetables, sauce, and garnish they want. It's a good meal for a smallish (4-6) dinner party.

Cilantro, Coconut Curry Sauce, Cumin Scented Rice, Roaster Cauliflower and Carrots, Steamed Spinach and Choi Sum

Curry Powder:

Cherry Creme Tart with Sugar Crust

Yesterday was my birthday, and I am attempting not to feel too old by reminding myself I am still in my 20's. In celebration I did what I do best: spent all day cooking, invited some friends over, ate way too much food, and drank just a little too much Yamayuzu Shibori sake.

I made all sorts of yummy treats: two types of cashew "cheese," sweet potato and kale enchiladas, bean enchiladas, toast points, and a cherry creme tart with pears. Friends brought cupcakes, artichoke dip, fruit and a soysage chard medley that was delish. It all made for a great birthday. I'll post all the recipes, but wanted to start off with the dish that ended the night, the creme tart. I passed on the traditional cake and veganized Julia Child's sugar crust recipe (oh, how she must be spinning in her grave) and modified the ppk's berry creme tart recipe. The result was a filling that was cream and smooth, not to sweet, and a crust that was like a rich buttery, flaky sugar cookie. 

Cherry Creme Tart