Bruschetta bellissimo!

Oh, the age old question - is it broo-sket-uh or broo-shet-uh? The first one! I will never forget this because bruschetta was my fall back meal in Italy, and for my first meal I was corrected very loudly for mispronouncing it by a waiter who mocked me in a New York accent! This was only fitting after my repeatedly-setting-off-the-alarm-in-the-bank-ordeal, but I still turned red as tomato!

After getting lots of local yummies at the farmers market this weekend (tomatoes, potatoes, basil, apples, cilantro, onions, peppers, zucchini, garlic, kale, and some more tomatoes), Jesse couldn't wait to make bruschetta for dinner! He even set everything up all pretty-like so that I could take a photo for "my blog thingy." Sorry for the crappy quality photos, I left my camera at a friend's place!

Chop up all your veggies (and your apple... it's good, I promise!) and have some vino!

Mix it all up in a bowl with olive oil and balsamic to taste
*If fresh garlic gives you heartburn like it does me, roast some garlic ahead of time!

Now, drizzle some olive oil on your baguette, and toast that baby up!
If using roasted garlic, "butter" your baguette with it before popping it in the oven.

Fresh, local, and quick dinner is served!

A Sunday morning decadent breakfast

A few weeks ago, we were at Jesse's parents' house for dinner. I made sure to bring my vegan additions for dinner, but totally forgot to ask what was for dessert (we never really eat dessert at home), so I missed out on strawberry shortcake. Actually, I had a giant bowl of strawberries, so I was fine with it. But what really surprised me was that they made shortcakes, and that they looked like scones rather than the spongy, store-bought shortcakes I remember from my childhood. I was intrigued and decided I had to make my own! I got strawberries at the farmers market yesterday, so today was the day!

I've made scones once, and while I liked them a lot, I perused my other cookbooks this morning hoping to find a simpler recipe. Isa Moskowitz to the rescue! The basic scone recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance only required staple ingredients that I always have (the Joy of Vegan Baking recipe uses soy butter, which I usually don't have around) and only took 20 minutes from start to finish! My plan was to top my strawberry shortcake with icecream, but I used the last of my coffee creamer for the scones and put the icecream in my coffee instead. Yum yum!

Shout out to Jess for the (soy) icecream in coffee idea!

Cute little scones just out of the oven

This is what happens when I clean off the coffee table

Cookie using all of her willpower not to attack Zoey's tail

I hope you all had a fun and delicious weekend! xoxo Chelsea

Beets a roastin'

I roasted some beets this evening while I was watching Obama's infomercial. Wasn't it great? It had the cheeze factor with the background music, the issues and solutions discussed plainly and with text, showed Obama in an Oval office-looking format, had the emotional highlights from his campaign speeches (when he talked about his mom dying of cancer and having to figure all the insurance stuff out, it totally broke my heart!), and on top of all that, really highlighted the people of America that will be helped by an Obama administration. How could anybody be undecided after that? Right?!?

Oh yeah, back to beets. They're good. I always thought I hated them because of the crappy salad bar canned kind I'd had, until I tried them for real at the Farmers Market a few years ago. The beets I roasted were from the market, and the cute old vendor (he had to be like 70!) told me to take as many as I wanted when I asked him about how many a pound is because I only had $3 left. How sweet is that? When they cooled down and I got to skinning them, I was delighted to find that I had an orange, a yellow, a red, and a deep purple beet. Woo hoo! My salad was quite beautiful.
Here's Cookie napping. She's extra fluffy because she just had a bath today - the poor kitty needs them fairly often because with that long hair, she gets some major dingleberries! She's currently licking the Goddess dressing remnants out of my empty salad bowl...

Baked tofu, mashed potatoes, and kale

Holy jeepers Batman, I think this was one of the best meals I've ever made! I am never buying pre-baked tofu again! I had no idea it's so easy to make! Wowza! Alright, I think I can calm down...

At the Farmers Market on Saturday, one of the larger veggie vendors was cooking up some yummy veggies, and one of the delicious things I sampled was kale and shallots, sauteed in olive oil with a little balsamic thrown in at the end. I'm a chard girl, but I couldn't resist!

The mashed potatoes are my basic recipe of boiled potatoes mashed with Earth Balance, Tofutti Sour Supreme, and garlic. I also had a little pesto left over from the market, so I threw that in, too.

On to the best part of the meal - that beautiful tofu! I looked at a bunch of recipes on vegweb, and settled on the tried and true Simple Baked Tofu. I had all the ingredients on hand, except I ran out of balsamic so I substituted some sesame oil for the 1 T. that I was short and I omitted the salt. This was such an easy recipe, and just turned out so delicious! I used foil on a cookie sheet, and flipped the tofu halfway into baking. If you don't already have a favorite marinade for baking tofu, try this one out! You won't regret it! :)

My plating was inspired by The Farm Cafe and their tofu marsala. Aren't I a fancy pants with my square plates? haha Jesse got them for me last Christmas and I was all pissed because I wanted him to get me a cool antique ring (we didn't do wedding rings, so he kinda owes me), but I got fucking dishes! I really love them, though. Don't tell! haha

Another delicious angle...

Yum yum yummy!

I'm not a stuffed pepper virgin anymore!

So I was at the Farmers Market today, picking up vegan pesto, french bread, chocolate panini, kale, tomatoes, shallots and such, when I saw bell peppers 3 for $2 - just begging me to find the biggest ones possible! While foraging for a 3rd monstrous pepper, I wondered about what I would do with them. Just the usual tossing them in stirfry and salad and everything, or could I use them for something a little more special? Then it occurred to me - I have never made, let alone eaten, a stuffed bell pepper! Guess what I made for dinner tonight?

Here's my attempt at a recipe, complete with pictures (oh my!). You should include whatever sounds good to you, but the essentials are a sauce, a grain, a protein, and a few veggies.

For my stuffing, I started out by sauteeing tofu and a granny smith and a golden delicious apple in olive oil. Then I added some enchilada sauce and black beans. Next, chopped rainbow chard, yellow corn, and a handful of chanterelles. More enchilada sauce. Then, when it was just about done, I added yellow and red roma tomatoes, onion, cilantro, green onion, and cooked quinoa.

Cooking up some fresh and local deliciousness!

Cut the tops off your peppers, deseed, and put 'em in a baking dish

Stuff those babies!

Drizzle some sauce on the bottom of your baking dish and on top of your peppers, replace the tops, them pop 'em in the oven on 350 for about an hour!

Take 'em out of the oven and be proud of your beautiful creation! Losing your virginity can be a good experience! haha

Plate it and eat it!

Since I'm not really a recipe person, I threw in what sounded good to me. I did look at a few recipes online to see how long to cook them and at what temp (350 and 40 -60 minutes). I cooked them for about 45, and I think they could have used another 15 because they were definitely nice and roasty on the top and middle, but not quite cooked enough on the bottom. Still delicious, though!

I think I've finally accepted, and even began to embrace, the fall season :)

Stinging nettle soup!

Sounds pretty hard-core, huh? Well, you know me! :) Nettles are actually an extremely healthy food - they are rich in vitamins A, C, D, iron and calcium, and have quite a high amount of protein for a veggie at 40%! But what about the whole stinging issue, you ask? Even brief cooking totally neutralizes it.

I bought a bag of stinging nettles from the mushroom vendors at the farmers market last weekend, and ended up using their recipe to cook them up. It made a huge pot of soup, and was surprisingly delicious! Here is the recipe:

Springwater Farm Nettle Soup
1 lb. potatoes
1/2 lb. young nettles
1/4 lb. maitakes
1/4 lb. shittakes
2 oz. butter or olive oil
1/2 pts. chicken or veggie stock
sea salt
black pepper
4 Tb. sour creme (I subbed Tofutti and halved it)


Cook the peeled, chopped potatoes for 10 min. in salted water. Drain. Wearing gloves, cut nettles up with scissors (I pulled them apart with my hands over the saucepan). Melt the olive oil in a saucepan, add the nettles and stew gently for a few minutes.

Add the potatoes and heated stock, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, saute the mushrooms (I used a mix of cremini, shiitake, and chanterelles) in olive oil until cooked. When all is soft, cool slightly and mash with a potato masher, or puree in blender. Add the mushrooms, seasonings, and sour cream. Bon appetit!

The nettles tasted similar to spinach to me, but with a bit more of a bite and they didn't get as mushy. I think next time I make this, I'll add some garlic and maybe onion. This reheated nicely, and was great with Sriracha :)

No flash, served with garlicy french bread

Zoey preferred the bread!

And a bonus! This is probably the best shot of a cat I have ever taken. It's the desktop on my computer now. I am so proud of myself!

Cookie girl mid-bath

Woohoo - Farmers Market Saturday!

The Farmers Market was lovely today - more musicians than usual, lower prices than during the summer, and a perfect blend of summer and autumn produce! There were lots of berries and lots of pumpkins! I spent all of the $21 I had on me, and came away with a big bag of yummies :)

Here's one of the vendors where I had planned to get chard, but they were out of it by the time I came back. The only downside to walking through the whole market before buying anything!

Roasting peppers!

I bought a few heirloom tomatoes and some corn here

So pretty!

You know it's organic when you find critters!

I bought some chanterelles and nettles here

Hahaha!

Here's the goods!
1 giant zucchini
4 heirloom tomatoes
4 multicolored beets
2 ears of corn
1 lb. of seedless grapes
3 bell peppers
1/6 lb. of chanterelles
a big bag of nettles
1 loaf of Dave's Killer Bread - Nuts and Grains
1 chocolate panini

Cookie just had to investigate - kittens are so curious!

This loot is officially Cookie approved!

P.S. I've never even tasted let alone cooked with nettles... it was a total impulse buy! There's a recipe for nettle potato soup with the bag, but do any of you have favorite recipes or ways to prepare them? Thanks!!!

Farmers Market goods and two yummy meals!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well :) Sorry that I've been MIA the last week or so; it's inservice time at work, and while there are no children around and it seems like a bit of a break, I am keeping busy with meetings, workshops, family visits, and setting up the classroom environment. It probably hasn't helped that I've become accustomed to getting to work whenever I want... (thank goodness I don't normally have a flexible schedule! It's bad news for me!). Anyway, I went to the Farmers Market this weekend super late, but miraculously there was still tons of stuff left! I spent $19.20 and had a heavy bag of stuff to carry home:



a bag of creamer potatoes, 3 multicolored bell peppers, 6 heirloom tomatoes, 4 ears of corn, 2 gravenstein apples, a chocolate panini, a bunch of rainbow chard, 3 anaheim peppers, and a bag of green beans - woohoo!






So what did I cook up with all that loot? Some tasty eats, baby! Here goes:

Spicy tomato black beans, quinoa, and sauteed chard, peppers, and onion
(served with corn tortillas, as most things I eat are!)

Sloppy lentil Joe's, corn on the cob, and pretty bell pepper for garnish :)

I've you've never made sloppy Joe's with lentils - do it! Even my skeptical husband loved 'em! I cooked 1 cup of lentils (3 cups water), then added a can of tomato sauce, a bell pepper, an anaheim pepper, half an onion, 2 T. or so of molasses, a T. of cumin, and a T. of chili powder. It made enough for each of us to bring leftovers for lunch the next day - pretty impressive!

Oh, and I can't end a post without some cute kittie porn! Oh wait, that sounds wrong! How about, "cute kittie uber cutieness?"

Here's crazy Zoey with her new toy, a locally handmade cat body pillow filled with catnip!

Cookie didn't get what everyone was so excited about... she's a very mature 4 month old!

I think this one is begging for a LOLcat caption... any ideas???

Lazy Sunday breakfast

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine has been enjoyable with some relaxing time as well as some busy time. I babysat, went to the farmer's market, went to an anti-foie gras demo, went on a bike ride, played with the kitties, picked up some Neil Gaiman books from Powell's, and found some time to play video games.

I went a little crazy at the farmer's market... I bought 4 lbs. of heirloom tomatoes. But how could I resist? They were only $2.49/lb.! I also picked up a baguette, peppers, onion, basil, garlic, a yellow melon that I don't recall the name of (it tasted cantaloupe-y), and 4lbs. of red fingerling potatoes. We made some yummy bruschetta for dinner last night, and this morning I used the leftovers for a tofu scramble.



Roasted potatoes, tofu scramble with heirloom tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil, and yellow bell pepper, plus coffee with hazelnut soy creamer

A totally local meal if you don't count the coffee!





Everyone has a bit different way to roast potatoes. My method is to preheat the oven to 425, quarter potatoes (or halve if fingerlings), toss 'em in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, toss with your favorite herbs, then roast for about 45 minutes.




I know you've all been waiting expectantly for a kitten update, so here it is: Zoey is adjusting better than expected! Check her out sleeping in the background and not being terrified of the Tiny Kitteh! She doesn't hiss at her at all, and has even allowed Tiny Kitteh to bat at her playfully! She isn't quite ready to bat back yet, though :). The naming saga continues... Jesse is really liking Oscar now, and wishing Tiny Kitteh was a boy. Husbands are so annoying!

Have a lovely week everybody!

Another Farmer's Market post

I got to the Farmer's Market later than I planned on today, but luckily there was still lots of amazing produce and goodies! I left with marionberries, raspberries, blueberries, shiitakes, potatoes, basil, summer squash, heirloom tomatoes, and enjoyed a muffin from Blacksheep Bakery while I was there. It was tricky to lug all that home on the packed streetcar, but totally worth it :) .

Veggie close-up

Are you thinking, "Hey, those don't look like plastic bags!" Well, you're correct! At this year's VegFest, I bought a few produce bags from Elaine of Reusable Solutions. She reclaims old fabric that would go in the dumpster, and turns it into these fabulous bags! I never noticed before I bought these just how many plastic bags I was using for produce. Kinda silly to stuff your green bag full of veggies in plastic bags, right? These bags are only $3, and you can find her around town or buy from the website http://www.reusablesolutions.org .

The bags even include handy ties!

After I bought the bags, Elaine sent me a very sweet thank you note: "Dear Chelsea, thank you for buying my bags at Vegfest. By doing so, you are supporting recycling, reusing, local economy, and you helped to fund an environmental scholarship. I hope you enjoy your bags for many years to come. My best ~Elaine Loving".

Go buy some!

Marionberries!

Marionberries are finally ripe in Oregon!



I spend most of my Wednesday lunch breaks during the summer perusing the bounty of the farmer's market. It is a popular spot! There were beautiful berries, nectarines, summer squash, peppers, breads, pesto (Dave recently started making a vegan pesto and it is yummy!), and really anything you could want. I bought a pint of marionberries from one of my favorite farms, Kruger, a farm that is not certified organic but uses organic practices, which allows them to pass the savings onto the customer. My berries were only $2!



Walking back toward PSU from the Farmer's Market, I noticed someone familiar gracing the cover of the Willamette Week - Robert Cheeke, local Vegan Bodybuilding superhero! Robert organized the first ever Vegan Holiday Festival here in Portland, and in my opinion that alone is reason enough to love him! Here is a link to the article: http://wweek.com/editorial/3436/11241/ .

Here's the WW, berries, and a hummus veggie bagel. What a lovely lunch!