Fingerless gloves, giveaways, and yummy soup-dipping bread !

This past month flew by in a whirlwind of busy-ness - I can' t believe its April already! Unfortunately, that all that busy time wasn't getting any projects completed, but I did get to create something of my own design!

I had knit some fingerless gloves for the big-big one (my 7 year old daughter), and of course the little big one (3 years old) wanted some of her own. She loves going to the yarn store, and so she came along and picked some lavender yarn for her "glubs." I couldn't finish them fast enough for her - although it took me only 2 evenings to finish them! I'm super excited, because I actually made up the pattern on my own. I will write it up separately before too long.



Also, this past month I made a couple pairs of "Oma House Slippers" (Pattern page here). These are the cutest, fastest things I've made in a while!



I made a pair for my aunt Claudia ... they were too small and ended up being for her best friend (and sort of adopted aunt) Judy. So I made another pair for Claudia in a bigger size. I have TRIED making them with hemp, but the hemp cord I have is just way too thick. Which is really disappointing since I've always wanted some hemp shoes, but I'll get around to making them sometime with some smaller hemp cord.

I found the pattern through the Knit-Purl Gurl blog - which is one of my favorite blogs. Anyway, her Oma slippers are the cutest things ever, and what inspired me to make some of these for my Aunt's birthday... and probably for me and everyone else I know!

Speaking of Knit Purl Gurl, she has some awesome giveaways going on, for "March Madness" which I'm excited about. She has a summary of all the giveaways here. Lots of fun stuff!

Besides all the work, knitting, crochet and browsing giveaways this month, I have spent some time in the kitchen... Now, I'll be honest. Most of my experimenting in the kitchen results in something not so stellar, in my opinion. But I made these "Veggie Scones" that I thought were absolutely wonderful. More importantly, my kids loved them too! My little big one at 2 of them back to back - which is a lot for her!





I served them with some tomato soup (which was one of those not-so-amazing creations of mine... still working on that one). My big big one came up with the idea for the soup - it was practically all her intelligence there. But I just felt like something was missing... maybe some fresh basil or bell peppers. I'll have to work on that one. These scones definitely need some yummy soup to dip them into though, as they're a little dry just by themselves. Dippin' them in some warm soup is quite satisfying!


Here's the recipe for some VEGGIE SCONES, perfect for dipping:

Ingredients:

1 cup small broccoli florets - cooked until soft
1 3/4 cup bisquick mix (I know, that's cheating... I think I'll work on a recipe without this)
1/2 tsp hing/asafoetida
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast (optional, if you can't find it or don't have any. Or if you just plain don't like it)
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup plain soymilk.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
Whisk together dry ingredients. Add broccoli and soymilk and stir until combined. I've also made this once before with some finely chopped bell peppers, and that adds a nice touch. I just didn't measure it out when I made it then - so feel free to improvise some with that.
Once its mixed, knead it about 10 times, or just until it smooths out a bit. Pat it into a circle about 1/2 an inch thick. Use a floured butter knife and cut the circle into 8 triangles. Place on un-greased cookie sheet. Brush tops with soymilk. Bake at 450 degrees (f) for about 16 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown, and the tops spring back when lightly pushed.

That's it! Super simple, quick, and great to go along with some soup on a chilly day. Too bad we won't be having too many more of those... eh.

If you don't have bisquick, you can try using self-rising flour and about 2 tsp of canola oil, or regular flour, 1 tbsp baking powder and about 1 tsp of canola oil. That's what I'm going to try - but I haven't yet, so don't hold it against me if it flops. Not yet anyway!

Time to get to that little man, his hunger calls!

Beans and Rice, Beans and Rice, how nice!

Well, its been more than a year now since Ive posted anything here in the blog world. I suppose anyone who read my blog before probably forgot about me. That's alright, I had a great reason for my extended absence - I was pregnant! I didn't feel like cooking or eating much of anything, and didn't really feel like writing much anymore either.

Now my little man is here I finally feel like expressing my creativity to the world - no matter how insignificant it may be. I am changing the name of the blog to reflect the content a little better, since I really don't want to only write about food. I am no chef by any means, but I do like to share my explorations. Even more than that I like to share my adventures with my kids and what I'm making (mostly for the kids).

So, I'll start with what I'm making. I have been working on a cardigan for my husband for the longest time (well, 3 months feels like the longest time...) and I think I'm almost close to the end. I hope so because I want to finally make myself something, for once! I have some beautiful yarn to create something for me and I can hardly wait.

Here's some views of his sweater:




While thinking of something I'd like to make for myself, I've started a mini version for my daughter. It will be a little cardigan, knit sideways. Hers is short sleeved. I'm super excited about it, especially because it's my first creation entirely my own. Pics to come...

As far as food goes, the other night (its taken me a while to get this up) I cooked up some yummy creation with rice, beans, tofu and chipotle sauce. It was quite good. I was inspired a bit after my mom and I were reminiscing over old School House Rock videos, and this song got stuck in my head:



Thus this weekend is a nice combo of some yummy beans and rice.


The picture is a little yellow... sorry. Taken quickly with my phone, while holding a wriggling little boy.

The ingredients are:

1 package firm tofu, cubed
1 to 1 1/2 cups basmati rice (cook as usual, with a bit of turmeric and paprika for color)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp hing (aka asafoetida)
1/2 medium bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cup water
3 tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos
3-4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp chipotle sauce (to play it safe... if i were cooking for myself I'd used at least 3x as much!)
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
1/2 cup frozen baby lima beans
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 15 oz can each whole kernel corn and black beans (or pinto, or both!) drained and rinsed
About 1/2 cup chipotle Salsa, or your favorite salsa
2 medium carrots, shredded
salt and pepper to taste.

I baked the tofu cubes. You could also easily just fry them a little, but to bake them:
Heat the oven to 400 degrees f. Coat the tofu in a little oil (about 1 tbsp). Spread out on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little salt and nutritional yeast, if desired. Bake about 30 minutes, turning a couple of times so they cook evenly.

In the mean time, in a large pan heat olive oil over med heat. Add bell pepper and cook for about 1 - 2 minutes. Add cumin seeds and sautee another minute or so. Add hing just until it turns color. You can also use garlic, I suppose, if you like that or if you can't find hing. Which is very likely.
Add the rest of the ingredients except beans, corn and carrots. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans and corn and cook until heated through. Stir in tofu, cooked rice and shredded carrots. Wah-lah! Yumminess! Would be best with some avocado, chips and fresh salsa.

 Hope you like this week's flavor! As a special bonus to celebrate my return, I'm including another recipe!

Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies!

Yep, you read right -- breakfast cookies!  These pair perfectly with a cup of soymilk and some fruit on the side, especially a banana. Made with oatmeal, peanut butter (duh!) apple sauce and whole wheat flour, its a little meal in a cookie!
I just tried this tonight, and honestly I think there was a bit too much flour. Next time I think I'll lessen the flour by maybe 1/4 cup, and/or use regular, unbleached flour, add a little more apple sauce, or use regular sugar or agave nectar instead of powdered sugar. However, they are still yummy, especially for dunking!

Ingredients:
1 cup of your favorite creamy peanut butter (about 1/2 of a 15 oz. jar)
5 tbsp applesauce
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oatmeal flour (2/3 cup oatmeal processed in food processor or blender until a fine powder)
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Put oatmeal in food processor or blender and process until a fine powder. Measure w.w. flour, baking soda and salt together. Add to food processor and process for about another minute, until fine and completely mixed. Alternatively, you may whisk the dry ingredients together. I would love to mix some ground flax in here as well - I add that to almost everything I bake. However, I try to keep my recipes here as universally accessible as possible, so I didn't add them here. Feel free to toss in a couple tablespoons if you have some!
In a separate bowl, mix together peanutbutter, applesauce, and sugars together until completely mixed. Stir in flour mixture slowly, about 1/2 cup at a time. When it gets a little tough to stir, just mix in with your hands until flour is no longer visible. It'll blend in with the peanut butter.
Form into small golf-ball sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press down with a fork twice, to form a criss cross pattern typical of yummy peanut  butter cookies. Bake for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool and enjoy with a cup of soymilk, almond milk, hot chocolate, tea.... whatever your pleasure!

Again, I hope you enjoy these recipes. Please let me know of any ideas for improvement!

*A note about hing - this is a very particular spice, and an acquired taste in many people's opinions. My family does not care for garlic or onions much, so I generally use hing in its place. It is often available in Indian as well as some Asian and Mexican food stores. Feel free to adjust the amount of hing to suit your "tolerance" :) or feel free to put a little garlic if that's what you use.

Creamy Corn Tortilla Soup

At a certain restaurant, whose identity I shall not name, they serve a Tortilla Soup that is so fantastic, I knew I'd have to make a vegan version (it is vegetarian, but they use cream).  I've been so excited to try this, and now I'm triply excited because it takes less than half an hour, and I can have all the ingredients on hand! (If I have canned tomatillos and frozen bell peppers...) So awesome.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 - 3 tbsp chipotle sauce (look in the mexican food section)
1 12 oz package soft silken tofu
1 tbsp canola oil
1/4 medium sized red bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp cumin seed
2 medium tomatillos, diced
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chiles (or just diced tomatoes if you don't like it so spicy)
3 15 oz. cans whole kernel corn
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Combine silken tofu and chipotle sauce in a blender and blend until smooth.  Set aside. (If you can't find chipotle sauce, use tomato puree and about a tsp of chipotle powder, or very finely chopped chipotle peppers - which are dry roasted jalapenos! Oh, and the silken tofu is probably with the asian foods, or on the baking aisle with the soymilk)
Heat oil in a medium sized pan on medium heat.  Add bell peppers and saute just until they begin to brown, 3 - 5 min, then add cumin seed and saute another minute.  Add tomatillos and saute for another minute longer. Add the rest of the ingredients, and the tofu mixture from the blender, and cook until heated through.  Spoon about half of the soup back into the blender, cream it in the blender, then add back to the pot.  Or, use an immersion blender to cream it as much as desired. (Thanks Aunt Claudia for that immersion blender, the best present ever!)
Serve hot and top with crushed tortilla chips.  That's it!!

Now, a note about spiciness.  All of my family, except for me, is pretty sensitive to spicy foods. (To me, the spicier the better!) and this soup was too spicy for them.  My husband said it was "eatable" and he really enjoyed the flavor, but almost too spicy that he couldn't eat it.  SO, if you don't enjoy spiciness I'd suggest just using diced tomatoes, not with green chiles, and maybe only using 2 tbsp of chipotle sauce, or maybe just to taste. 

As always, I hope you enjoy this one and please let me know how it turns out!

 

(Served here with Enchilada Muffins - recipe for the book!)

Quinoa Cakes

A few days ago I was reading about the nutritional benefits of quinoa. For one, quinoa has an especially high, complete protein content. It is a good source of fiber, magnesium and iron, gluten free and easy to digest. So, I thought I should try to cook more with it. My hubby really doesn't like quinoa, he says he doesn't like the texture, so I knew I had to make something completely different from any quinoa he'd had before. 

Enter the Quinoa Cake! They're really cupcakes, of the savory variety. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked quinoa (1/2 cup dry quinoa cooked with 1 cup of water)
1 zucchini, peeled & grated
1 yellow squash, peeled & grated
1japanese eggplant, peeled & grated
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 medium carrot, grated
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 cup ground, unsalted sunflower seeds (unhulled)
1 heaping tbsp ground flax


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350f and spray muffin pans with oil or liners.
Heat the oil in a medium skillet.  Add celery and carrot and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables, the spices and the water. Stir and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to be translucent and the water is beginning to soak in.
Grind the sunflower seeds in a blender or coffee grinder until coarse. Put in a large mixing bowl, add the vegetables from the skillet, then add the flax and the quinoa. Stir together until completely mixed. Spoon into muffin pans and bake for about 45 minutes, or until they begin to brown on top. Makes 12 cakes!

My husband actually really liked these.  (Amazing!) I think they're great smothered in ketchup. My little one thought they were so cute she wanted to hug them! As always, please try and let me know how it came out! Feedback is greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

Belly-warming Lentil Soup

So, I've been on a slight hiatus this week.  The family and I had to spend a few days in Los Angeles, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Los Angeles is becoming more and more vegan friendly, which is quite exciting.

Anyway, now that I'm back I couldn't wait to get into the kitchen! I made this tasty lentil soup that warms the soul, as well as some "tortas fritas" (an Uruguayan fried flat bread that is perfect on rainy days) and as if that's not enough I even tried my  hand at "Chik'n Seitan" from Vegan Comfort Food and it wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was super easy and I can't wait to experiment more with other flavors (and I'll post some of those experiments here, of course!).

Now I have to decide which recipe to post.  I would love to put up the recipe for the tortas fritas, because it was actually easier than I expected but the instructions would take too long... and too many pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about. I think I'll need to master it a little better and get the measurements right first, since I'm going from watching my husband, who's Uruguayan, make these for years and never measuring anything.  (He always laughs at me, the American, always needing my measuring cups and spoons).  So, for easiness I decided to put up the recipe for the soup, which goes along perfectly with all this nice, cold weather we're finally getting!

Here's the recipe, which can easily be cut in half if you're only cooking for 1 or 2 (or for 1 day, we have leftovers)

Ingredients:
12 cups vegetable broth/water and bouillon in whichever combination you want to use that adds up to 12 cups of liquid
2 cups green lentils
1 cup pearl barley
2 - 3 medium carrots, sliced into rounds
2 medium russet potatoes, cubed
2 small stalks of celery

2 tbsp olive oil
about 1 tbsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
2 - 3 bay leaves (so you can plant them in hubby's bowl so he'll do the dishes)  :)

optional:
1/3 pkg vegetable crumbles (hamburger style)
1/2 pkg chicken-style strips

Now I took the easy way on this and put everything in the slow-cooker in the morning, so we'd have a nice steaming bowl waiting for the big one when she came home from school.  However, if you don't have a slow cooker or don't have the time, you can also cook it on the stove.

Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Add celery and saute until it begins to turn translucent.  Add broth or water and bouillon cubes and bring to a boil.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium heat until lentils and barley are softened and soup begins to thicken (roughly 1 - 1 1/2 hrs, although I'm not quite sure), stirring occasionally.

My family loves this one (extended family included) and my big one jumped up and down with excitement when I asked if she wanted to take some for lunch the next day.  So, I hope you enjoy making this one, and as always let me know how it turns out!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This was a nice, creamy vegetable soup. My big one loved it, and she hates butternut squash! (well, she did) :)

Ingredients:
4 - 6 cups of water
5 medium, diced russet potatoes (or yukon gold)
1 medium butternut squash
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cups chopped spinach
1 stalk celery, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp tarragon
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
pepper to taste

optional: add 1 pkg soft silken tofu and 1/4 cup plain soymilk for extra creaminess (adjust salt as needed if you do this)

Directions:
Heat oven to 400f. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff and place face-down on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Place in oven and bake for about 45 min, or until flesh can be easily pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, bring the water to a boil. Make sure to use as much water as you will need (and no extra) because you'll be using all the water for the soup.  You can always add more later if you need more.
Dice the potatoes (I like to leave them peeled) and add to boiling water. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add broccoli and the rest of the ingredients. Cook for about 30 minutes or until broccoli and potatoes are very soft.

When butternut squash is done, use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and add it to the soup.  Use an immersion blender (or a regular blender will work just fine) to puree the soup to desired consistency.

Walah! You're ready to serve in a nice big bowl, perhaps with some other roasted veggies or fresh bread or baked tofu... the possibilities are endless! Enjoy!

And as always, please let me know how it turns out!

Pregnancy

Sorry, no new recipe yet (we've been eating enchilada leftovers...that recipe's for the book).

I just got a note from a friend about being vegan or vegetarian while pregnant and thought I'd share the response with everyone.  You definitely can stick to your veg(etari)an diet, just make sure you're eating healthy. One of my friends lent me the book Your Vegetarian Pregnancy and I highly recommend it.  Also, take prenatal vitamins! I've been taking Rainbow Light Vegan One, because it's the only one I can get locally that's totally vegan and doesn't cost a fortune. I tried taking another one this summer (they were out of the vegan one vitamins), but I was supposed to take four per day, and it made me nauseous.



Anyway, don't let people tell you you can't go through your pregnancy sticking to your animal-free diet, because you totally can. And best wishes to you!