Leek soup with dill oil

Today's we made this delicious leek and potato soup with dill oil, inspired by Heidi Swanson's recipe.
(Here is the recipe!)

It is so tasty and super easy to make. It was devoured by all here.

It just called for 7 ingredients and but we left out the butter... It doesn't really need it. I also just dumped all the ingredients in a pot and used a handheld blender to puree at the end, keeping it a bit chunky as she suggested. ( I was pressed for time).

If you haven't visited her blog.... please do so! ( Here)
Besides the fact that her vegetarian recipes are amazing... her photos are gorgeous!

(all in the pot...)

(The dill oil)

mmmmm!

(Everything tastes better if it is in the shape of a heart. So the dill oil was sampled by my little picky eater here and deemed delicious! ;)

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Oh my, jicama

What in the world is a "jicama" you might be asking yourself. I know you might have seen it in the produce section if your supermarket, perhaps right next to a yucca or a plantain. This lovely and delicious root vegetable is Mexican and sometimes called a Mexican yam though it tastes nothing like a yam. It resembles more like a daikon radish or turnip but unlike yams or turnips which you have to cook first before eating, this one you can eat raw.
It can also be used as a substitute for water chestnuts in Asian dishes because of the texture and resemblance in taste. It is a great crunchy, sweet and delicious snack.




A great way to eat it is by slicing one up like so....





Add the zest and juice of half a lime. Sprinkle on some sea salt and cayenne to taste !

A quick and DELICIOUS snack !
Honeypie likes it plain but daddy loves it with a huge cayenne kick and I, myself ...
With plenty of lime juice!!!
Yummmmm!








Try adding it to salads too!

Perfect roasted chestnuts

We adore chestnuts here. I would love it if we had a fireplace and we could roast them over an open fire. But that's ok. The oven is just as good!
The other day we found an actual chestnut tree in one of our walks!
We collected these and I did not know that chestnuts actually were encased in these pods! Very neat!




After roasting them so often, I think we actually have the perfect roasting tip. So if you would like to try this ... Here is how.

Score each chestnut on the top with an "x". Try not to go too deep or the nut will totally split in the oven but make sure that the x is big so that the skins will peel.



Place on a cookie sheet with the scored tops "up".
*Sprinkle the chestnuts with water . This is actually a great tip I got from the Internet. It keeps them from drying out.

Bake at 400* for about 25-30 minutes. BUT Check at 20 minutes, at 25 and at 30. Each oven is different and you want them to be soft on the inside but not dry.




Delicious !!
I like to eat them plain but I hear people like to sprinkle them with all kinds of seasonings like salt, cayenne or even curry powder .




Soooo good!!
Enjoy!!


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Vegan meat balls

Here's another great recipe from my recent favorite cookbook, "veganomicon".
This is a recipe for vegan meatballs... a.k.a Bean balls!
Though the recipe calls for using regular wheat spaghetti, I decided to use a spaghetti squash for the noodles and the result was fantastic !!
For those of you who have never attempted to cook a spaghetti squash, I am including a how-to.




To make the bean balls you need:

1 (20 oz) can of black beans
Rinsed and drained
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb tomato paste
2 tb olive oil
2 cloves of garlic grated or finely minced
1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
*I also added some finely chopped onion.

-Mash the beans in a bowl until no whole beans are left.




-Add all of the ingredients into the bowl with the beans and knead by hand for about a minute, until everything is really well combined and firm.




-Roll the mixture into walnut sized balls. ( do not make them too big, they will be difficult to cook.)




-Put a bit of olive oil to coat the whole pan and cook them at medium heat until they are browned . Remember to flip them and cook the other sides.




(Here they are cooked)




Now, to bake the spaghetti squash...

-Slice the spaghetti squash in half. Gently scoop out all the seeds from the inside.




-Bake (inside down/ peel up) in a pre-heated oven at 375* for about 45 to 50 minutes. (Depends on your oven. Mine heats too quickly, so I need less time.)




- Once the squash cools a bit, use a fork to scrape the spaghetti strands off from the squash. You can do that by pulling the fork away from the peel. It is actually quite amazing !! All these spaghetti like stands !!!!







I added a homemade marinara sauce using San Marzano tomatoes and called the dish "veggie spaghetti and bean balls". The whole family gobbled it up happily. :)








Delicious!!

Nutty about hazelnuts

This month, Martha Stewart's magazine has a focus on hazelnuts. Though my only real love of hazelnuts comes via Nutella or Ferrero Rocher ... I decided to investigate this high class nut and it's flavors using Martha's recipes in that issue.
The first thing we tried was her hazelnut pizza dough and the two toppings, butternut squash and the broccoli rabe. The butternut squash pizza was delicious!!! But the broccoli rabe... Not so much. I didn't know broccoli rabe was soooo bitter. Almost to the point of being inedible. So I tried my own topping on that delicious crust, while still keeping it vegan and I think the spinach, caramelized onions and pinenuts was the best tasting. The butternut one came in second.  It was very tasty.
We made vegan nutella and lovely hazelnut cookies too and the hazelnut pancakes were a hit!
This experimentation made me realize that hazelnuts are a great versatile nut!

The butternut squash is best sliced with a mandoline slicer, since it's the only way to get it nice and thin.







Here it is tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, sage and fresh garlic .

And that is it!!

Delicious and vegan!

Here is the broccoli rabe one. The broccoli rabe is blanched first and added to olive oil, salt, garlic, and chopped red onion.

Here's the spinach, pinenut and caramelized onions.

Mmmmm, hazelnut pancakes with a raspberry sauce.

These were devoured by the clan.

Lovely hazelnut cookies. These tasted like short bread.

Dipped in vegan hazelnut chocolate spread!! (nutella)

Home made and Vegan nutella  :)

I'm including the links to the recipes above.  Definitely give them a try!

Thanks Martha ! ~_^

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Autumn latkes

We made these delicious autumn latkes from the book "veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. They are perfect for fall and maybe even as an appetizer for the thanksgiving table. Daddy and I ate ours with the vegan horseradish-dill sour cream and honeypie ate hers with ... Ketchup.
I wanted to share the recipe.









Autumn latkes

From veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

2 cups peeled and shredded beets
1 cup peeled and shredded carrots
1 cup peeled and shredded sweet potato
1 shallot finely chopped
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt ( I used more)
Pinch of black pepper
1 tsp fennel seeds chopped ( I did not use these... I know what my kid will not eat...)
1/4 cup water ( I did not use that since my veggies were already quite wet.. You have to form this dough into patties and if the dough is too wet, the shape will not hold)
Olive oil for pan frying

Put some paper towels on a plate to absorb the oil on the latkes once they are done.
Combine all the shredded veggies in a large mixing bowl. Add the shallots, salt, pepper, flour and corn starch. Mix well.
Add a bit of the water to help the flour mix with all the veggies.
Preheat a non stick pan with a bit of olive oil. (She calls for 1/4 " but that is waaaaay toooo much.) I just used enough to coat the pan lightly. The pan is already non stick so you really don't need to add unneeded calories .
Form the veggie dough into patties. Pan fry the patties at medium high heat for about 4-5 minutes on one side ... A bit less on the other side but check for brown and crispy like texture.
Transfer to the paper towels.
Done!

Now for the horseradish sour cream! (which is amazing !!)

For the horseradish sour cream you need:

1 lb of soft tofu
2 tb fresh grated horseradish
1 tb of apple cider vinegar
1 tb of agave syrup or maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

I placed all this in a bowl and blended it with my handheld blender.
Done.

But that is a short cut...

What she calls for is this...

Take 1/4 cup of grapeseed oil and 3 chopped cloves of garlic
And cook in a pan till lightly browned. Remove the garlic from the oil and discard. Place the oil into the bowl with the other ingredients and blend. Add the dill and blend again. The sour cream should have a light green color. Adjust salt or vinegar to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

^_^

Great recipe!!









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Some vegan hits ...

Getting a kid to eat veggies sometimes can be as much fun as a trip to the dentist for a root canal. I mean... I'm talking about my kid. She can be quite adventurous or very choosy depending on the weather. Though she finds some things like pesto delicious, whether walnut- kale or basil - pinenut, she will frown at mushrooms. She might say yes to butternut squash soup or quinoa stew but no to green or red peppers...
figure that. Hmmm.
Kids can be picky.
So my going vegan has made home meals more complex and obviously veggie based and it has been a challenge to see what passes as "great" for honeypie. She is still eating some dairy, eggs and the occasional turkey meatball which she loves for lunch or breakfast but I've made dinner strictly veggie based for ALL.
So last week I worked from the awesome book "veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, as well as her "Vegan Brunch" and Terry Romero's "Viva Vegan" and these were some great hits for everyone.




Chickpea, potato and spinash enchiladas with a tomatillo sauce. (honeypie ate hers without the tomatillo or spinash ...)








These were awesome !!!!! Sooooo delicious that everyone must have had 4 a piece !
Potato pancake samosas ( Indian spiced but not hot). Amazing ! Eaten with a mango chutney and a vegan lime mayo.





This was a good soup. Butternut squash with adzuki beans and shiiitake garnish, spiced with Ginger, cloves, cinnamon. Honeypie really liked this but minus the shiitake.




And of course dessert...
Great vegan chocolate almond cookies. Filled our cookie jar for the week.




These were pumpkin chocolate brownies... Spiced with a bit of cayenne!




So all in all...
Getting there with broadening honeypie's palette.
If it was up to her...
It would probably be pasta day everyday...
So cooking and choosing together our meals might be a good way for her to keep an open mind.


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Hello fall...

We had been eagerly awaiting the beginning of fall all week. We went on night walks in the park to watch the moon and we were so excited for the harvest moon on wednesday night . But on our third walk on Wednesday, It started to thunder and the moon hid in and out of clouds all night. So no big orange moon sighting on this autumn solstice. :(
Thursday we went out again at night and enjoyed a yellow bright moon and welcomed the first night of fall. We opened all windows and aired the house out. (and burned some sage to clear the air .)
We did enjoy our night walks and loved hearing the sounds of crickets and night creatures. It was experiencing our park with new ears and eyes. We even saw big bright Jupiter . A huge treat.




Honeypie painted her favorite sighting of the moon.




We read books about autumn.




(some were funny!)




We also read a book about the moon.




And honeypie requested a "harvest celebration" like dinner... Something with corn she said. So I made her vegan corn chowder and vegan corn bread in the shape of cute little acorns.




(here's the cute acorn pan.)










She also started writing a book about fall. Here are some pages...












Hello fall !

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