I forgot how amazing fall baking smells. The spiciness floating throughout the house, lingering on my clothes, in my hair, up the stairs and into the bedroom. It goes everywhere. Unfortunately it didn’t last very long this time around because the mr made popcorn and then the whole house ended up smelling like a freaking movie theater, but for a little while it was so nice. I want to bake everyday just to stink the house up all nice. I might just do that.%u00a0
Everyone eats the pumpkin bread or the pumpkin this or pumpkin that. But why does’t everyone harness the greatness of all the other winter squashes in baking? This I do not know. Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin but I also think that it’s very interchangeable in most baking applications. Like this quick %u00a0bread. I am sure that some people would notice that it is not pumpkin, but these same people would also enjoy the subtle difference in flavor. Acorn squash is a sweet and delicious squash and makes a fine fine bread my friends. And the acorn squash is cheaper then sugar pumpkins which is aways a plus. And the winter squash keeps longer the pumpkins so the are available longer. Acorn squash bread all winter long. (Yup, I am thinking winter already)
This bread lasted less then a day. The mr got a couple slices but some littles came over and ate almost the entire loaf. The didn’t ask what kind of squash I used, they just ate it vigorously and left heir little crumbs all over. So Bean with her mouth full of bread declared it A-MAZING. From the mouth of a 5 year old.
The stuff. The flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon are in one bowl. The squash puree, oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar in another .Also need a little plant milk a bit more cinnamon and sugar for topping.
Simple simple. Whisk together the dry then whisk together the wet.
Pour wet into dry and mix until incorporated.
And there you have it. %u00a0Acorn squash bread batter.%u00a0
Batter goes into a well greased bread pan and sprinkles all over with cinnamon sugar. Then into the oven (preheated of course) it goes.
All baked up and cooling. Like what I did there? %u00a0More circulation to the bottom %u00a0so it cools faster.. I am so smart.
The mr came home right when I was contemplating whether it was cool enough to cut. %u00a0It wasn’t but I cut it anyway.%u00a0
Have a great fall weekend!
-C %u00a0
makes 1 loaf
1 1/2 cups acorn squash puree*
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 cup brown sugar plus 1 tablespoon
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup oil%u00a0
1/3 cup plant based milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar%u00a0
*To make acorn squash puree, stick an acorn squash into a oven at 400 for about 40 minutes or until until fork tender. Remove from oven,%u00a0cut in half, and let cool until you can handle it. Scoop out seeds (save for roasting) then scoop out flesh (eat skin as snack)%u00a0and puree in blender. Add a splash of water if needed to get a smooth puree.
preheat oven to 350
In a large bowl mix together the squash, oil, sugar, maple, milk, and apple cider vinegar. Mix until well combined. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the baking soda and powder, the tablespoon cinnamon, salt, and flour. Pour wet into the dry and mix until combined. %u00a0Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Combine the tablespoon brown sugar and teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Pop into oven and bake for 60-65 minutes or until a tester poked into middle comes out clean.
Once cooked, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove form loaf pan and let completely cool.%u00a0
Eat what you want and store the rest in an air tight container for a few days. Can be sliced and frozen too.
I picked up out last winter farm share this week which makes me sad just thinking about it. Where am I going to get my food?%u00a0 Luckily it’s only like 3 weeks until the summer share starts so I think I will survive.
At the last pick up we got the usual roots, cabbage,and greens, but we got a bunch of spring greens. 3 lbs of them and I was just all smiles and glee. I legitimately get super excited when there is a large quantity of fresh spring greens in my fridge. Greens make me happy. And of course I share my green wealth with the mr. (I am so nice) He is not thae biggest fan of just handfuls of greens to the mouth for dinner so I figured a nice dressing to dress up those greens and any other veggies was something I could do. And I just so happen to have bought a giant bag of walnuts and walnuts go great with everything so yeah. And it’s really freaking good.
The stuff. Walnuts, oil(I used avocado but walnut or olive oil would be great) a lemon, a little honey, and salt and pepper. Also probably going to need a little water.
Stuff goes into blender and gets blended until creamy. This dressing starts off really thick and can be left thick or a little bit of water can be added to thin it out. Up to you.
Poured into a jar and that’s that.
Creamy walnut dressing.
Not just a salad dressing. You can eat it with anything and everything. I was dipping carrots and apple slices in it and the mr was dipping his pizza in it cause that’s how we roll.
-C
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup of oil. (I used avocado but olive or walnut would be good)
1 lemon
%u00a0Teaspoon or two of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon honey or agave
Water
Place walnuts, juice of lemon, honey or agave, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. pulse to break up nuts then turn on and stream in oil. Blend until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of water to thin out as needed. This is a thick dressing so you can add as much water as you like to thin it out, just do it slowly. When blended, taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. . Pour into a jar.%u00a0 Stick in the fridge when not in use. Will last a couple of weeks if you don’t eat it all.
I love me some falafel. I love me some peppers. So I guess it is natural that I would want to stuff falafel inside of peppers and eat them all to my face right? I think so.
As we all already know, most of what I cook is depicted by whatever I get at farm share. And the past few weeks we have been getting a lot of peppers. I have been happily eating one or two a day, just as they are, but I figured it was time that I did something else with them. Now what is the first thing that comes to mind with peppers? Stuffed peppers of course. And there you have it, falafel stuffed peppers.
So I am not going to lie and say the mr ate them and swooned. He is not the biggest fan of peppers (I am starting to realize that he doesn%u2019t have all the right taste buds in his mouth. So sad for him.) so he dumped the falafel out of the pepper and ate it with most of the pickled onions, the tahini, and rice. That he really liked. Lucky me, I wanted his pepper anyway because roasted peppers are freaking fantastic amazing and whatever him. Me, as a pepper and falafel lover, I found these stuffed peppers to be everything that I wanted and needed and then some. Eaten pretty much right away warm, with pickled onion and covered in all the tahini, it was a very very satisfying meal. But also a left over stuffed pepper that was stuck in the fridge, eaten cold standing in front of said fridge, right before bed. That was something great as well. I might have even gone in for a second one%u2026%u2026
Anyway, a pepper stuffed with falafel is a good idea if you want food, like peppers, like falafel, and are cool. Just saying.
To the falafel stuffed peppers!
The stuff. A few sweet peppers, some cooked chickpeas, chickpea flour, an onion, a bunch of fresh cilantro and parsley, a few cloves of garlic, red wine vinegar, a little water, tahini, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.
First, take the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices, place in a bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss with the vinegar and a few tablespoons of water. Set that bowl aside. The other half of onion just cut into a few smaller chunks.
To make falafel. Add the chunks of onion and garlic to food processor and pules a few times to start chopping it up. Add in the cilantro and parsley, the chickpeas and chickpea flour, the cumin and chili pepper flakes, and a good few pinches of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse until completely combined but still a bit chunky. OR pulse until smooth if you would rather it like that. It%u2019s up to you.
Grab peppers and cut each in half. Remove the ribs ad the seeds.
Take falafel mix and stuff it into peppers.
Place peppers onto a baking sheet and into the oven they go.
In the meantime while the peppers are cooking, toss the onions around in the brine a few times. Then right before you take the peppers from the oven, drain the brine from the onions into a jar with the tahini and mix until smooth. Add a splash of water to the mix if you need to loosen it up a bit more to make the consistency of the tahini drizzle-able.
And out they come when all roasted and crispy and my oh my, so good!
Now you eat. Garb a bowl, maybe a grain of some sort if you like (I made the mr rice), plop a pepper down, add some pickled onions and drizzle that tahini all over.
Eat.
-C
Makes 6 half peppers stuffed
3 medium sized sweet peppers
2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas (or one can)
1 large onion
1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed) cilantro
1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed parley
2-3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili peper flakes
1/3 cup chickpea flour or oat flour if you don%u2019t have chickpea
salt and pepper
1/4 cup tahini
a few tablespoons water
3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Preheat oven to 425
Grab the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices and place in a bowl. Spinkle with a pinch of salt and dump in the vinegar along with about 2 tablespoon water. Toss around until all the onion is coated and set aside.
Take remaining half onion and cut into big chunks. Toss into a food processor along with the garlic and pulse a few times until the onion is chopped up. Add in the cilantro, parsley, chickpeas, chickpea flour, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and a good pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse the hole shebang until the mixture is combined, the herbs are incropeted, but there is a little chunk left. Or you could make it smooth if you wanted too. It%u2019s up to you.
Grab the peppers and cut them in half. Remove the ribs and seeds then take the falafel mixture and evenly distribute it between the peppers halves.
Place stuffed peppers on a baking sheet, falafel side up, and place into oven to bake for about 45 minutes. You want the falafel mix to have a chance to cook inside and out and to get nice and golden brown and crispy on top.
Right before the peppers are done, grab the onions and the tahini. Toss the onions one last time in the briny mix it%u2019s been sitting in, then drain that brine into the tahini. Mix around until smooth. The tahini should be at the consistency to drizzle so if it is still to thick, add in a splash of hot water to loosen it up.
Once peppers are cooked, remove fro oven. Place on a plate with or without some grain, toss on some pickled onion and drizzle tahini all over.
Eat.
Store left over peppers in a the fridge. To eat, just reheat or eat cold. I really enjoyed eating one cold.
The mr has a soft spot for tortilla chips. He doesn’t get chips often, but when he does it is usually the super fried, super salty, in a plastic bag, tortilla chips. And I am ok with that because it is not often and the dude deserves chips when he wants them. But I hate how crappy they are for him, especially all the salt. So much salt that I can smell it in my mouth (yes, I said that right). So, as with everything else we eat in the house, I now make chips from scratch. (Slowly I have eliminated just about everything that is pre packaged and started making it myself.%u00a0I think it’s pretty much just the dried pasta and the mr’s yogurt and cheese that I haven’t gotten to.Yet.) This way he can eat his chips and I don’t have to sit there tasting the smell and thinking about the crap that he is eating.%u00a0%u00a0I know I say this a lot, but lets just take a minute here and acknowledge how I really am the best girlfriend ever.%u00a0
Ok, now about these chips. I have made plan tortilla chips a few times before and figured it was time for a twist.%u00a0%u00a0In come black beans. Why, because I was pretty sure beans were going to be awesome, and lo and behold, I was completely right. Adding the beans take little to no more effort then making the chips without, and bonus here, more fiber and protein and good stuff going into a chip. Then they are lightly oil, lightly salted, and eaten without any guilt because I made them and they are the best. Seriously, the mr thinks they are amazing and doesn’t miss those pre package ones a bit.%u00a0%u00a0And sure, they might take a little time and minimal effort, but really they are super easy and the time and effort to make them is probably no more then going into a store, waiting in line to pay, and driving home to eat your chips. You can have these chip made in that amount of time. So you might as well just make them.
To the chips.%u00a0
The stuff. Masa harnia, black beans, water, salt, and a little oil. There should be a lemon or lime here too, but I forgot to stick it into the picture. Oops.%u00a0
Pretty easy.%u00a0%u00a0Add the beans to a food processor and blend untill completely smooth. Add in the masa and pulse then gradually add in water until a dough forms. Stop and feel the dough. If it feels like play dough and comes together into ball easily, then you are good. If it is to wet, add a little more masa, to dry, more water.
Dump the dough onto the counter and form into a ball. Place the doguh into a bowl and cover with a damp closer for 15-30 minutes to let the dough rest.
After the rest, divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place the balls onto a damp cloth and cover while you are making the tortillas so they don’t dry out.%u00a0
To flatten those balls into tortillas.%u00a0%u00a0After doing this a bunch of times, I have a system that works the best for me.%u00a0%u00a0I use a large ziplock bag (the plastic is a little thicker and easier to deal with, plus I don’t use plastic wrap), a cutting board, and a rolling pin. Place a dough ball into the center of the bag then take the cutting board and press directly on top, placing all your weight onto it. It gets flat, but not flat enough so take the rolling pin and flatten some more. Then press the rolled out dough with the cutting board one last time. Carefuly remove from bag and place direrely onto a hot dry skillet.%u00a0
Cook each side 3-4 minutes or until it starts to get a few light brown spots. Once cooked, place on a plate or baking sheet. If I were just making tortillas, I would place then in between a kitchen towel to keep them warm, but because they are destined for chips and don’t care.%u00a0
Black bean corn tortillas.%u00a0Hey, you could stop here and make a taco or something if you need to. Feel free to use a tortilla or two before using the rest to make the into chips.%u00a0
So chips. Grab baking sheets, oil, salt, a knife, and the tortillas. Take a few of the tortillas and oil them. (The easiest way I found to do this is to rub oil on with my hands then rub the oil onto the tortillas.%u00a0)%u00a0Oil 3 at a time, stacked them on top of each other and cut into 8 triangles,%u00a0
Get as many of the triangles onto a baking sheet as you can, without overlapping. %u00a0Once all nice and tight, sprinkle the tops with salt and pop them into preheated oven.%u00a0
Pull the chips out of the oven when they are crispy and done (about 10 minutes)%u00a0then squeeze a little lemon juice all over the chips. Toss around and pop the pan back into the oven for another minute or two just so the juice doesn’t %u00a0leave the chips soggy.
Dump cooked chips %u00a0onto a wire rack to cool. Eat as you work, you deserve it.
Pile chips into a bowl, and serve with some salsa or guacamole or whatever you eat you chips with. %u00a0They are your chips.%u00a0
-C
Makes 98 chips, or like a good sized bag worth
2 cups masa harina%u00a0
1 cup cooked black beans in bean juice
1- 1 1/4%u00a0 cups warm water
couple teaspoons neutral oil (I used grape seed oil)
2-3 teaspoons salt
A lemon or lime
Beans go into a food processor and blended until completely smooth. Add in the masa and blend, slowly adding 3/4 cups water until a dough starts to forms. %u00a0Stop and check dough. It should feel like play dough and come together easilty onto a ball. If it feel wet, add in a couple of tablespoons more of the masa. If it is still too dry and crumbly, add in more water until it’s to the right consistnacey. Dump dough onto counter and form in a ball. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp towel and let sit for abut 15-30 minutes.
Preheat a skillet on medium high heat on stove.
Once dough has rested, divide into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place balls onto a damp towel and cover when not working with them.%u00a0Grab a large ziplock bag, a cutting board, and a rolling pin. Take a dough ball and place in the center of the bag. Press down with the cutting board, placing all your weight on top. It got flat, but not flat enough. Continue to flatten out with the rolling pin until it is about %u00a01/8 inch thick. Press again one last time with the cutting board. Gently remove from bag and place directly onto the hot skillet. Cook each side for 3-4 minutes or until it %u00a0starts to get a few light brown spot. Place cooked tortilla on a baking sheet or in between a kitchen towel. Repeat until all 12 dough balls are cooked into tortillas.
Preheat oven to 375
Working in 3’s. dump a little oil onto your hand then lightly rub it all over the tortillas. Stack them on top of each other then cut into 8 wedged. Place wedges onto a baking sheet, get as many as you can onto sheet without any overlapping, then sprinkle with salt. to taste. If you have them, use multiple baking sheets.%u00a0%u00a0Place in oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the chips are crispy. Remove and sprinkle lemon juice all over the chips. Toss around and place back into oven for a minute or two just until lth lemon juice evaporates. Remove and dump chips onto a wire rack to cool.
Eat chips. Any left over can be placed into a airtight container or bag and will last about 3-4 days.%u00a0
I picked up out last winter farm share this week which makes me sad just thinking about it. Where am I going to get my food?%u00a0 Luckily it’s only like 3 weeks until the summer share starts so I think I will survive.
At the last pick up we got the usual roots, cabbage,and greens, but we got a bunch of spring greens. 3 lbs of them and I was just all smiles and glee. I legitimately get super excited when there is a large quantity of fresh spring greens in my fridge. Greens make me happy. And of course I share my green wealth with the mr. (I am so nice) He is not thae biggest fan of just handfuls of greens to the mouth for dinner so I figured a nice dressing to dress up those greens and any other veggies was something I could do. And I just so happen to have bought a giant bag of walnuts and walnuts go great with everything so yeah. And it’s really freaking good.
The stuff. Walnuts, oil(I used avocado but walnut or olive oil would be great) a lemon, a little honey, and salt and pepper. Also probably going to need a little water.
Stuff goes into blender and gets blended until creamy. This dressing starts off really thick and can be left thick or a little bit of water can be added to thin it out. Up to you.
Poured into a jar and that’s that.
Creamy walnut dressing.
Not just a salad dressing. You can eat it with anything and everything. I was dipping carrots and apple slices in it and the mr was dipping his pizza in it cause that’s how we roll.
-C
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup of oil. (I used avocado but olive or walnut would be good)
1 lemon
%u00a0Teaspoon or two of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon honey or agave
Water
Place walnuts, juice of lemon, honey or agave, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. pulse to break up nuts then turn on and stream in oil. Blend until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of water to thin out as needed. This is a thick dressing so you can add as much water as you like to thin it out, just do it slowly. When blended, taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. . Pour into a jar.%u00a0 Stick in the fridge when not in use. Will last a couple of weeks if you don’t eat it all.
Every year I play this game with myself.. Is it allergies or am I sick. The past few days I have been feeling kinda crappy, waking up with itchy, gunky eyes. My throat hurts, my head is like a balloon, and I am just feeling beat..%u00a0
I think it’s that I am sick (because I don’t want to have allergies) but whatever it is, it sucks, but usually goes away after a week (like every year because its really allergies). Blah.
But enough about my balloon head, lets talk these maple banana walnut oat squares. These yummy gems of the oat square world are just what you need in your life. Healthy, protein packed, nutty, and a touch sweet. No junk, just good stuff all made with little to no effort. If you like banana bread, you will be all into them. I was inspired to make these by the extremely ripe bananas that need to be eaten asap and the mr’s lack of eating a healthy breakfast (I want him to eat, and I want it be oatmeal). I know him well enough that if I make a snack like thing and leave it out to eat, that he will eat it. For breakfast.
So weather or not you are looking for a good way to get in some good stuff into your tummy or just want some good tasting stuff in your mouth, this is the breakfast/dessert for you.
The stuff. A couple of ripe bananas, a bunch of rolled oats, some yummy walnuts, real maple syrup, cinnamon, baking soda and a wee bit of water.
Start with the walnuts in a food processor. Turn it on and process until….
You got this walnut butter. Do not eat it, it’s for the squares (it is so good).
Add in the oats, cinnamon and baking soda and turn the processor back on until you get a nice unified crumbly mixture.
Now in goes the bananas and the maple syrup. And you guessed it, blend some more. While you are blending, if the mixture seems to dry, add in a splash of water, to wet, just toss in another handful of oat. The mixture should be like a muffin batter consistency.
And that’s it. If you want some nut chunks, add in a handful more of walnuts (do it) and pulse just to get them mixed into batter.
Then pourthe mixture into a well greased 9×9 baking pan and spread out evenly. Toss those suckers into the oven to bake.
Oh so good bananas give off the best smell when baking. After about a 1/2hour, these bars are nice and golden brown and a fork stuck in the center comes out clean, which means, they are done.
Cut into square , eat one or two, and save the rest. Eat for breakfast, as a snack, or for dessert. And a smear of peanut butter on top is aces too!
Later dudes.
-C
3 cups old fashion rolled oats (gluten free ones to keep in GF)
1 cup plus a a small handful walnuts
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 rip bananas
1 /2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Place 1 cup of walnuts into a food processor and blend until it turns into walnut butter.. about 3 minutes. Add in the oats and blend together until it becomes a crumbly mixture. Add in the maple, baking soda, cinnamon and the bananas (break into chunks) and blend until incorporated. If the mixture seems lie its too dry, add in a splash of water, and if to wet, add in another handful of oats. The batter should resemble a muffin batter.%u00a0 Once blended, mix in the remaining walnuts and pulse just to mix them in.
Pour mixture into a well greased 9×9 baking pan and stick into the fridge for 10ish minutes and preheat oven 350
And after the time in the fridge, remove the pan and slide them into the oven. Bake until golden brown and a tester stuck into te middle comes out clean. (about 30 minutes)
Remove and let cool. Pop out of pan, cut into square, and eat to you face.
Squares will last 3-4 days in a airtight container or freeze them and they will last until you eat them.
HEY Hey Hey%u2026 It’s Taco TUESDAY, which means that you are obligated as consumer of food to eat some tacos today!
So ok,%u00a0I am not going to lie, these tacos were not actually made on a Tuesday (GASP) but were made in lu of pizza Friday (another GASP!!)%u00a0
But guess what? No one died. People were happy. Food was fantastic, and there was no mention of the pizza that was not.%u00a0 So sure, taco tuesday is totally a thing around here, but %u00a0you know how “Nobady puts baby in a corner”.. %u00a0well nobody buts tacos in a corner. We don’t let the day of the week depict when tacos are eaten cause we think tacos are for everyday!
And these tacos, well, I got down with these. Made with lentils, cause lentils are the best, and topped with a hearty scoop of super fresh, chunky veggie salsa%u2026. Not much is better then that. Easy and fast with lots of pretty in every bite, these tacos are a great addition to any taco dinner rotation!
Now lets get taco-ing!!!
The stuff. First off, you are going to need some type of taco shell.. soft or hard or both , that is entirely up to you.( I made taco shells a little early in the day, but store bought is totally cool.) Also need lentils, water to cook the lentils, a jalape%u00f1o (optional), taco seasoning (pre blended or your own blend)%u00a0and onion. Also needed is a gigantic tomato, some red cabbage, a few kale leaves, a lime, and salt and pepper.
To get this party started, chop up half the onion, the tomato,%u00a0cabbage ,and kale and toss into a big bowl. Oh, and chop up the cilantro and toss that in as well.
Sprinkle with salt and add the juice of the lime. Mix oh mix and set aside to let all the flavors meld.
Now that the salsa is doing it’s thing,%u00a0chop up the jalape%u00f1o and the other half of onion and toss into a big skillet and place on medium heat.
And when the bits start to brown like so…
Dump the lentils in to the pan with water.Bring it all %u00a0to a boil then turn heat down to low.. Add in the taco seasoning and sprinkle of salt and pepper and place some type of lid on ithe pan.
And simmered until cooked.
Note. Check the lentils every few minutes while they are cooking. If you think they seems to dry, add in another 1/2 cup of water.
Now it’s ssembly time! Lentils in shell, topped with a generous amount of %u00a0salsa. That’s it!%u00a0Maybe some guacamole would be nice (I had an avocado saved for guac, but it was rotten on the inside.. I was super pissed) But with or without, these are some freak yeah yummy tacos! I served my next to a bed of some jasmine rice which was nice, but do what you want my friends.%u00a0
Happy Taco Tuesday! (or any taco day!)
-C
Makes about 8 -10 tacos
For the Lentil Filling
1 cup dried lentils
2 1/2 -3 cups water
2 tablespoons taco seasoning*
1/2 of an onion
1 jalape%u00f1o%u00a0
Fot the Garden Veggie Salsa
2 big tomatoes (or one gigantic tomato)
1/4 head of red(or green)%u00a0cabbage (about 2 cups shredded)
1/2 %u00a0of an onion
4-5 kale leaves
1 juicy lime (2 if they are not very juicy)
a bunch of cilantro%u00a0
salt and pepper
And don’t forget the taco shells!
*Note. You can use any type of taco seasoning that you like, store bought or home made. I make my own with cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and a little coriander.%u00a0
Dice the tomato and 1/2 the onion into small chunks and toss into a big bowl. Finely chop the cabbage an the kale into small shreds and toss that into the bowl. And chop up as much cilantro as you would like and that goes into the bowl as well. Spinkle with some salt and add in the juice of the lime. %u00a0Mix everything all around and set aside.
Once the salsa is made and sitting, chop the jalape%u00f1o and other half of onion and toss into a large skillet. Place on medium heat for a few minutes until the pepper and onion start to brown. Now dump in dried lentils and 2 1/2 cups of water. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, them back down to low. Seaosn with salt,%u00a0add in the taco seasoning, and stick a lid (or cover with something),%u00a0and let simmer for about 20- 25 minutes or until the lentils have absorbed %u00a0all the water and are nice and soft. If you find the lentils are still hard and there is no liquid,%u00a0, add in another 1/2 cup of water.%u00a0
Once the lentils are cooked to your liking, remove from heat and get assemble tacos.%u00a0
Scoops some lentil mixture into shells. Add on a big scoop of the fresh veggie salsa and eat with you face.
Guacamole, cheese, sour cream, or whatever are optional topping that you may consider adding but are definitely not necessary.%u00a0%u00a0.%u00a0
Peaches are here. YAY!!! Peaches are for sure one of those fleeting fruits, one that once in season, you need to eat as many fresh as you can because once they are out of season, they are not good. Not good at all. And me being me, I see peaches, I buy a shit load, and now I have a fridge drawer full. Not complaining in the slightest, but peaches cannot sit around all summer waiting to be eaten. So if you are going to buy a shit load, know what you are going to do with them all.
My peaches, well they haven%u2019t had to wait long. I have been eating at least a peach a day and%u2026 I made these bars with a few. Sharing my peaches, thats what I do. HA.
These almond peach shortbread bars. Fantastic A+ on all fronts. Easy to make, not a whole heck of a lot of ingredients, make the house smell amazing, and really kick off the peach, summer vibe thing that goes on around here.
‘%u201cMillions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of Peaches, peaches for free%u201d %ud83c%udfb6 (Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America. If you have%u2019t head the song, look it up. I don%u2019t think I can even look at a peach without hearing the song in my head.)
Now to the peach almond shortbread bars!
The stuff. Peaches, almonds, vegan butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.
Easy peasy. Almonds go in to food processor first. Blend and pulse for a minute or two until they turn into a medium fine almond meal. (Don%u2019t over blend or you will end up with almond butter.) When almonds are ground, add in the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Pulse until combined. Then add in the butter in chunks and pulse until dough just starts to come together.
Half the dough goes into a 9×9 baking pan. Smooshed evenly all over the bottom poke it with a fork. Then it just needs to go into the oven to bake. 15-18 minutes or so, just until it starts to brown a bit.
Peaches need to be cut so cut them up. !/2 inch thick slices, after the pits be removed of course.
Blinded baked bottom. Looks good yeah? Let it cool for a few minutes and then it gets peaches. Three rows, all over lapping and nestled together.
The top gets the remaining half of dough and is now it%u2019s ready for the oven. Another 40-ish minutes or so to really seal the deal.
Taken from the oven when golden brown, cooled, cut up, and placed on a pretty plate because pretty is nice.
I am pretty sure you figured out what to do next%u2026. EAT IT!
-C
makes a 9×9 pan which can be cut Into the sizes of your choice
1 cup vegan butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cup cup all purpose flour
1 cups raw almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 large firm peaches
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven 350
Place almonds into a food processor and pulse and blend until a fine meal has formed. It should take only a minute or two and stop half way and scrape the edges and sides do the almonds don%u2019t start to form a paste. Add in the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon,and sugar and pulse until combined. Add in the vegan butter in a few chunks and pulse until the mixture turns into a crumbly dough. Stop pulsing and dump mixture into big bowl.
Take half of the mixture and place into a 9×9 baking pan. Evenly distribute and press the dough into the bottom. Take a fork and poke the dough all over then place the pan in the oven. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the dough just starts to lighly brown. Remove from oven.
While the bottom crust is cooling off for a few minutes, slice peaches into 1/2 inch slices. Obviously make sure to remove pit.
Now take your half baked crust and layer peaches evenly on top. It is easies to start at the top, make three rows across and then layer the peaches down (like in the picture above). Once peaches are layered, grab the remaining half of dough and evenly distribute on top. Place back into oven and bake for another 40-45 minutes or until the crumble on top is a nice deep golden brown.
Remove from oven, let coo completely (or as completely as you can) cut into pieces, and then you eat it.
Left over pieces should be placed in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. They freeze well individually wrapped too.
blind back for about 15 minutes of until the crust is starting to brown around the edges
bake for another 30 minutes
Spring is here for reals, I think. No, it is here, it has just been a bit raw and maybe a bit more rainy then it really needs to be, but whatever, it is spring and it is good. Things are greener by the day, the temperatures although not exactly warm are still inhabitable and without cause for winter jackets (although I have still been rocking the mittens) and spring veggies are popping up all over. Things are looking good.
So last week I made a pie crust with the intention to make a veggie pot pie and stuck it into the freezer. When the time came to make said pot pie, I forgot to take it out of the freezer so the crust was not meant to be for pot pie (it will probably end up as a rhubarb pie%u2026we shall see). Without pie crust, I wasn%u2019t exactly feeling like I should make a pot pie, but a tart, well yeah, sure. A crispy and chewy crackery crusted thing with almond ricotta a spring veggies because that is where the mind went and what the mr agreed sounded good. (When I make up recipes I just start taking about ingredient and preparations and wait til the mr says %u201cYea, that loud good. I%u2019ll eat that %u201c He usually will say it right away and for anything. Very easy to please or he just doesn%u2019t care%u2026hum? )
And so the tart was made and the tart was eaten in all entirety for dinner by the mr alone. Usually when he eats all of something it means it was one of the really good things. Or he is really really hungry. But he said it was a really good thing. I trust him because I agreed. I got in a few spoonfuls of the almond ricotta mixture and it is really freaking good if I do say so myself (I could eat bowls of almond ricotta all day long).
Anyway, heres to spring and all things that are green and good.
To the tart.
The stuff. Flours (white and white whole wheat), baking powder, and a little salt in the bowl. Water and olive oil, blanched almonds, a lemon, a clove of garlic, asparagus, peas, frozen and thawed spinach, a small red onion, and salt and pepper.
Start with making the crust. Mix the dry together then add in the oil and water to form a dough. Knead dough a minutes until the dough is uniform and place back in bowl and cover. Dough needs a few alone minutes to rest. I can relate to that.
While dough is resting, make the almond ricotta. Almonds, garlic, the juice of the lemon, and a bit of water go into blender. Add in a pinch of salt and pepper too.
Blend until creamy and smooth.
Dump in the spinach and blend, just until combined.
Scoop ricotta into a bowl and mix in the peas. And sure give it another taste but try not to eat it all.
Grab the onion and slice it all nice and thin.
And after the resting time, grab dough and roll it out. Try for a rectangular shape or as rectangular as you can get it, but nice and thin. Thiner is better.
Place rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and poke the bottom with lots of little hole. Take ricotta mixture and spread evenly all over crust, leaving a 1 1/2 border all the way around.
Then top with the asparagus and more onions.
Fold over the edges of the crust, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper, and into the oven it goes to bake.
And then it is baked. And ready to eat (after a few minutes of cooling).
Nothing left but to cut it up and eat it.
Spring. Green. Food.
Things are good.
-C
Makes a 8×12(ish) tart
For the Crust
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat (can sub for all purpose)
3 tablespoon oil
1/3 cup room temp water
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Almond Ricotta and Veggies
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1/4- 1/3 cup warm water
1 lemon
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper or more to taste
1/4 cup frozen and thawed spinach squeezed of liquid
9-10 spears of Asparagus
1/4 cup peas (fresh or frozen and thawed)
1 /2 red onion
First make the crust. Whisk together the flours, salt, and baking soda. Add in the oil and water and mix until a dough forms. Form dough into a ball and knead for minute or two on counter then place dough back into the bowl and cover. The dough needs to rest for 10-15 minutes.
While dough is resting, make the almond ricotta. Place almonds, garlic, and juice of lemon into a blender. Start blending and add in the lesser amount of water, adding a little more until the stuff all starts to blend. Blend on high for a minute or two until the mixture is nice and creamy. Season with salt and pepper, blend a second to mix then add in the squeezed out spinach. Blend until mix together then dump or scoop the mixture into a bowl and mix in the peas. Then thinly slice up the onion.
Preheat the oven to 450
After doughs little rest, lightly flour a counter and roll it out, thin as you can, in a rectangular shape. Try for at least 12in x 16in. The rectangle doesn%u2019t need to be perfect. Rough is good.
Place the rolled out crust onto a baking. Take a fork and dock the surface (poke holes into it to prevent air bubbles). Take the ricotta and pea mixture and spread evenly on crust, leaving about a 1 1/2 inch border all the way around. Add a layer of sliced red onion and then take asparagus (trim off woody ends) and either lay on whole or break in half and lay on. Add more onions on top. Fold the border of the crust over the top. Sprinkle the whole thing with pepper and place into the hot oven.
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the crust becomes a nice golden brown. Remove and let cool a few minutes
And then cut up and eat. Right away or at room temperature. Or some now and some later. All up you you.
Store left over in fridge in air tight container for up to a few days. the crust will not be crispy but more chewy. Can stick it back in oven for a few minutes to crisp it up.
I am sadly at my last few bags of frozen garden foods from last season. As of now I have a bag of tomatoes, a couple bags of shredded zucchini, and a bag of rhubarb. Well, had a bag of rhubarb. I think I have eaten almost all of it already. My rhubarb patch better get up and producing stalks soon. And as for the rest of the veggies that I will require. Guess I am going to be surviving mostly on roots from farm share (we are getting a lot more greens though!!!!) and probably doing a bit more grocery shopping then I care too. A few more months. I can do it.
Anyway, enough about my freezer and lack of fresh produce problems.
Here in Vermont maple season is well on it%u2019s way making it a perfect time for anything maple. And rhubarb. Yeah I am using my frozen rhubarb from last year, but any time now (after the snow melts) there will be plenty of stalks for the taking. There will be so much maple and so much fresh rhubarb which are the perfect taste combination. Exciting times! And when added to oatmeal, things just get more gooder. (I know gooder is not a word but I think it should be) Oatmeal, especially baked, is the stuff where all gooder things start.
Have you had baked oatmeal yet? It truly is fantastic. Not at all gummy and gloopy like stove topped cooked oatmeal (but I like it like that too). It still has a good bite to it while still being soft and creamy and boy oh boy is it just the bees knees. With the addition of some crunchy almond friends, well even better. Trust me. If you are a oatmeal eater, you must try it baked. Best part is that it can be eaten as breakfast but also I have been serving it to the mr for dessert with a healthy drizzle of more maple. It%u2019s that good friends. From breakfast to dessert. Everyone is happy.
To the baked oatmeal.
The stuff. Old fashion oats, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, rhubarb (fresh or frozen), REAL maple syrup, some plant milk, a few flax eggs, a bit of tahini, and some almonds.
To start. Oats, cinnamon. salt, baking powder and almonds get a quick toss together in a big bowl.
If you rhubarb is not already chopped up into inch long pieces, do that. I already did before freezing it so yea me. Once its chopped, layer almost all of it (reserve a few small needful to toss on top) into a lightly greased 9×9 inch baking dish then cover evenly with the oat mixture.
In now empty bowl mix together the milk, the flax eggs, the tahini, and the maple until evenly incorporated.
Pour the wet mixture all over the oats and let it absorb.
Once the liquid is all absorbed , top with any left over almonds and the left over rhubarb. For good looks.
Pop into a hot oven to bake.
Golden brown with crispy edges. Rhubarb and maple baked oatmeal for all your maple, oaty and rhubarbie needs.
Fresh from the oven scooped warm into bowls. Top with extra maple if thats what you should want do.
Enjoy and happy maple season!
-C
Make a 9×9 pan of oatmeal
2 1/2 cups old fashion oats (make sure gluten free if need be)
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen rhubarb chopped into inch long pieces
1 1/2 cup plant milk (water works but it won%u2019t be as creamy)
1/2 cup chopped almonds (optional)
Preheat oven to 375
Lightly grease a 9×9 inch baking pan (I used metal because it makes for crisper edges but glass works too) and dump 2 cups of the rhubarb in and evenly distribute on the bottom. In a large bowl mis the oats, the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together. Mix in chopped nuts if you are using. Evenly cover rhubarb with oat mixture. In now empty bowl mix together the milk, flax eggs, maple syrup, and tahini until evenly incorporated. Pour mixture over oats. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the oats have abosbed all the liquid. Toss the rest of the diced rhubarb and a few more chop nuts to the top and pop into the oven to bake.
Bake for 30-40 minutes (shorter time for a wetter oatmeal, longer for a denser crispier oatmeal)
Once baked to your likeness, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes just so it is not super hot. Scoop into bowls and serve warm with extra maple and milk or whatever you might want to serve with it.
Left overs last great in fridge for 3-4 days or individual portions can be frozen for a month or two. Just pop into microwave for a couple minutes to warm up.
I have very strong feelings for heart shaped baked goods. I think that everything, all year round, should be heart shaped. How lovely would that be? It would be ever so lovely, or I would think so anyway. And yes, ok, I was thinking about Valentines Day when I made these cupcakes but don%u2019t let that be the only reason you make a cupcake, cake, or any other baked good into the shape of a heart or pink for that matter.. Hearts are just so sweet and cute and dare I say cuddly? (Can you cuddle baked goods? Let me know if you have and do. We should talk about that). And pink is just a fantastic color, especially when it is the color of the flavor. Purple-y pink equals a taste like berry so all just makes sense.
Anyways. Cupcakes. Made with nutty almond meal to taste all nutty, frosted with blackberry and clementine frosting which is a pairing that all party and non party people will love. A down right deeelightful combination that will, no matter your circumstance in life, make you smile. Because lets get this clear, these cupcakes might look all lovey dovey and Valentines Day-e and are very much a perfect Valentines Day treat, but also can be an everyday, run of the milll, straight up any day, all day cupcakes. Valentines Day does not own the heart or pink.
These cupcakes are for you to love and you don%u2019t need to worry if they love you back. That would be weird.
Slightly off topic thought. How awesome would it be if someone made a cute little teddy bear that when you squeezed it it would scream %u201cWHAT THE HELL! GET OFF ME!%u201d Hahahaha. That would be amazing.
To the cupcakes!
The stuff. Flour, almond meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, soy milk, oil, vanilla extract, and apple cider vinegar. Also some blackberry jam, powdered sugar, some vegan butter, and a clementine.
In a big bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, flour, almond meal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Add in the oil, vanilla, milk, and apple cider vinegar. Mix until fully incorporated.
And that is some mixed batter.
Scoop the batter into well greased muffin tins. I used to different shapes and sizes because I wanted too. You can do the same, just be aware different sizes will cook at different times.
And into the hot oven they go.
Baked, popped out of the tins, and cooling to cool.
Frosting time. Butter, clementine zest, and jam mixed together makes for the prettiest color.
Add in the powdered sugar and juice of the clementine and beat with a beater.
Pretty pink frosting. All natural.
And now that the cupcakes are cooled (you must wait until they are completely cooled) get them frosted.
And of course, adding sprinkles will only make them that much better.
And now you got the cupcakes which makes it cupcake time.
Look at that smile. Thats a smile just for cupcakes, not at all because I told him too.
Happy happy.
-C
Makes 12-16 cupcakes (depending on size)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/3 cup neutral oil
1 1/4 cup almond milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
For the frosting
3 tablespoons blackberry jam or preserves with or without seeds
2- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoon vegan butter
1 clementine (zest and some juice)
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda and powder and sugar until fully combines. In a separate bowl mix together the oil, milk, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour into the dry and mix, by hand, until full incorporated. Scoop batter into well greased muffin tins (heart or other shape up to you) and place into oven for 13-18 minutes (shorter time for smaller cupcakes, longer for larger sized) or until lightly browned and a tester stuck into a cake comes out clean. Pull from oven when done and pop from tin. Place on a wire rack to cool.
While cakes are cooling, make frosting. Beat together the butter, zest of the clementine, and jam. Add in the sugar and the juice and beat until fully incorporated. If the consistency is to thin, add a little more sugar, to thick, more clementine juice or if out of juice, a splash of milk.
Once cupcakes are full cooled, frost, add sprinkle if you would like, and then the only thing left to do is eat them.
Eat cupcakes, store left overs in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.
I have been making at least one cake, if not 3, a week for the past month. Last week I did not have a cake that I needed.to make, so what did I do? I made a cake.
I might have an alternative motive here, I have started my winter squash stash, and already it is looking pretty impressive. I have delicata, acorn, kombucha, and sugar pumpkins littered all over the house. As of now I think I have a count of about 27. Some came fro the garden, some from (and still coming, all winter long) from farm share, and some came from when they went on sale at the grocery store and I filled the shopping cart up. The cashier checking me out thought I was crazy, but I get that a lot. (Like when I buy 20 heard os cabbage.. it%u2019s like I scare them) The alternative motive is that some of the squashes don%u2019t have the shelf life of some of the others so I need to get on to eating the ones that don%u2019t last as long, like the delicata and pumpkins, which I am doing, gladly might I add. So while I am eating those, I figured I would use up an acorn squash for cake because well, I don%u2019t want to have a million acorn squash laying around and I am just too busy eating the pumpkins to get the acorn. And this is why I made an acorn squash cake.
What does acorn squash cake tase like? Basically like pumpkin cake. Every time I make any sweet thing with any squash other then pumpkin, no one really seems to notice the difference, but that is not to say there isn’t one. I would say that acorn has a slightly sweeter and nutter flavor then pumpkin so you might get a more flavorful flavor out of an acorn squash. And really, if you like pumpkin, your gonna like the acorn. And people love them some maple frosting so smothering that along with walnuts on this cake, well I know made some people really really happy.
That%u2019s the real reason why I made this cake. To make some people happy. Jeeze, I am just so nice. Ha HA!
The stuff. A roasted acorn squash. flour, baking soda and baking powder, spices of cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of nutmeg, salt, oil, soy milk, brown sugar, white sugar, and a little apple cider vinegar.
Start by pureeing your squash If you haven%u2019t already which basically involved removing seeds and skin (save seeds to rest, eat skin, it delicious) and blending the squash until smooth.
You are now ready to cake. Add squash puree and oil into bowl with the sugars and mix until completely combined. Whisk together all the dry ingredients then add in the sugar, squash, oil mixture to the wet along with the milk and apple cider vinegar. Mix until just combined then stop mixing so you don%u2019t over mix.
Batter then gets poured evenly into two greased and lined cake pans.
And into the oven they go.
Golden brown and smelling all nice and cozy. A tester in the middle making sure that they are cooked completely.
Cakes get popped out of pans and and placed on a rack to cool completely. In the mean time, make the frosting. Powdered sugar, salt, vegan butter, maple syrup, and maybe a splash of soy milk (you might or might not need it). And don%u2019t forget the walnuts.
Sugar, salt, butter, and maple get beaten together until creamy and smooth.
Toasted walnuts get chopped into bits.
And now it%u2019s cake assembly time. Place one completely cooled layer on a cake plate and spread half the frosting on top. Sprinkle with half the chopped nuts. Place second layer on, spread rest of frosting on top, and sprinkle with the rest of the nut.
Now eat.
Enjoy the fall weekend and all the squash.
-C
makes and 8 inch 2 layer cake
For the Cake
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup neutral oil
2 cups acorn squash puree*
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
pinch of nutmeg
1 1/2 cups plant milk (I used soy)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
For the frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup earth balance or any vegan butter
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons plant milk (if needed)
1 cup toasted walnuts
Note. For acorn squash puree. roast an acorn squash by place entire squash into oven at 425 degree for about 1/2 hour or until fork tender. Once cooked, cut in half, let cool a few minutes, then scoop out all the seeds. Remove skin and blend the squash until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350
Place brown and white sugar into bowl along with the oil and squash puree. Mix until completely incorporated. In a larger bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and spices. Pour wet mixture into dry almond with the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Mix until just completely incorporated then stop to prevent over mixing.
Grease and parchment line two 8 inch cake pans. Pour batter evenly between pans then place into oven for 30-35 minutes or until Depp golden brown and a tester stuck into middle of cakes comes out clean. When it%u2019s done, remove from oven, let cook a few minutes, then remove from cake pans. Place on a wire rack o cool completely.
While cake is cooling, make the frosting. Beat together the powdered sugar, salt, maple, and earth balance until nice and creamy. If the frosting seems to thick, add a splash of milk, to thin, add a 1/4 cup more of powdered sugar.
Chop walnuts into small bits if they are not already.
Once cakes are completely cooled, assemble. Place first layer on cake plate and spread 1/2 the frosting onto first layer and sprinkle on half of the chopped walnuts. Place on second layer, spread the rest of the frosting on top, and sprinkle on the rest of the nut. And that is it. Now you just need to eat it.
Store any left overs in for a day on the counter, but any longer place in an airtight container in the fridge. I even froze a few pieces and the mr loved them frozen to if you like frozen cake%u2026..
Well happy first day of fall to you! Are you as excited as I am? I am very very excited because well, cooler weather, shorter days, pretty trees, pumpkins, sweaters, and of course apples. All the apples!!
I am not going to lie, I was going to wait to do a big apple pick to start with my apple baking but this week the grocery store was selling apples form the orchard I am going to go picking from for a 77cents a pound!! I mean, I couldn%u2019t not buy 20 lbs right? Sure I felt a little guilty that they were not hand picked by me, but in a way they were because I did hand pick them form the store so that kind of counts? Plus I am still going apple picking, today in fact so not harm in having a shit ton of apples.
Anyway, so apple brownies. Why, because why not. Slightly chewy but soft, dense, full of all the cinnamon and apple walnut flavor one could want or need to feel all the feels of the apple season. Made them and fed them to the people and they were gone within a minute. Huge success in flavor and texture. and best part, it was slightly chilly out when I made them so the oven on was extra nice, and my house smelled amazing. Oh gosh, I am just so excited that it%u2019s fall, it%u2019s the best time of year!
And now I am for real going apple picking! I%u2019ll probably make these brownies again, just because you know, apples and I’ll probably come home with another 100 lbs or more so you know, I%u2019ll have the apples to do it.
The stuff. Apples. sugar, applesauce, cinnamon, and walnuts. Also some vegan butter, flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
FIrst, chop up the apples. And no, don%u2019t peel them, just chop, into little 1/2 inch cubes.
Butter and sugar get a good beat until light and fluffy (I read somewhere that when you beat the sugar with butter in brownies, it helps make that crisp, crackly top)
Fold in the apple sauce and cinnamon .
Like a galaxy of cinnamon goodness.
Then all the rest of the stuff: flour, baking soda and powder, salt, apples, walnuts, get folded in too until just incorporated.
Batter gets spread evenly in a greased and parchment lined pan. (There is parchment there, I was running low so it only covers the bottom of the pan. Better if it goes up the sides though.)
Then into the hot oven they go.
Popped out at just the right moment. See the top? A bit crisped crinkly, kind of like a brownie! Now pop them out of the pan and let cool completely. Or cool enough to cut. Or, cool enough to handle and eat%u2026..
There you go, apple walnut brownies.
And now you can officially enjoy the first day of fall because there is a lot of apple goodness in these brownies and what is fall without apples?!!
Have the best day.
-C
makes a 9×9 pan of apple goodness
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 large Macintosh apples (about 2 cups chopped)
Preheat oven to 350
Core and dice apples into about 1/2 inch cubes . Measure out 2 cups ans eat any left over apple chunks. In a large bowl, beat together vegan butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the applesauce and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Dump into wet mixture, along with the apples and walnuts and fold together until just evenly incorporated. Grease and parchment line a 9×9 baking sheet. Dump the batter into the pan and spread evenly then pop into oven and bake for 40- 45 minutes or until browned and a tester stuck in the middle comes out clean. Check after 35 minutes%u2026 you don%u2019t want to over bake! Once cooked all the way through, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once cool enough to handle, remove the brownies from the pan (you really need to line the pan with parchment to do this) and let cool completely on a wire rack. When they are cool (if you can wait that long because really, these are great eaten warm too.), cut and eat.
Store left overs in a airtight container for a day or two or freeze any extra. Great warmed and serves with a scoop of some ice cream or a yogurt situation.
I sometime struggle with certain veggies, not like in a eating way (I have no snuggle eating any veggie)%u00a0but in a making something with that certain veggie kind of way,%u00a0like I don’t make anything out of them, I just eat them raw as they are. (That was terribly long winded and does it even make sense?)%u00a0I don’t find this to be a problem most of the time, but sometime I think I need to be less lazy about eating and maybe prepare a dish for a meal rather then just eating raw beans out of the garden for lunch…..I mean, I am not going to stop doing that but I am going to start being a little more creative and planning meals with a little more substance. Adding nuts is more substance right?
These beans were freaking fantastic. %u00a0Blistered and charred, and not soggy and soft. They were perfect.%u00a0(I like my veggies either raw or burnt)%u00a0I made them late morning and was going to save them for dinner but the mr, Barb, and I ate them all just on snacking on them. %u00a0Just a really good, A+%u00a0veggies situation here. Highly recommended, hot or cold. Almost beats a bean lunch in the garden. Almost.%u00a0
The stuff. Green beans, almonds, garlic, ginger, soy, and a little oil.%u00a0
Quick fast, rough chop the almonds and give them a toast in a dry skillet (you can skip this part if you have already toasted almonds)%u00a0
And here would be the time to trim the beans if you are a person that does that. I am however, not a bean trimmer. But you must wash them, so give them a good rinse , and keep them a little wet. The moisture will help them cook.%u00a0
Just washed beans go into a medium high hot skillet (add in a tablespoon of oil) and get a nice little cover to start the cooking process. %u00a0Leave them alone for a few minutes, then remove lid and toss them around. Do that ever few minutes.%u00a0
While the beans start cooking, mince the garlic and the ginger and add to the soy sauce.
Smells so good!
Beans have cooked for about 10 minutes here and are all nice and blistered and just about done so now add in the ginger garlic soy mixture and toss around. Keep cooking for a minute or two.
And now don’t forget those almonds, mix those in too. Then it’s into a bowl they go.%u00a0
Green beans so good. Can’t go wrong with these.
Have a marvelous weekend, maybe go pick some green beans!
-C
About a pound of green beans (trimmed if you want to trim them)
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger%u00a0
1/4 cup almonds
3 teaspoons soy sauce
tablespoon oil
Rough chop almonds into small pieces and place in a dry skillet (meaning no oil). Turn heat on to medium high heat to toast for about 5 minutes or until you can start to smell the almonds and they are slightly browning. (you can skip the tasting %u00a0part if your almonds are already toasted, jus chop them into small pieces)
Dump the almonds into bowl and set aside. Keep skillet on heat and add in the oil. Rinse beans off, keeping them damp,%u00a0and very carefully, dump the damp beans into the hot skillet. Place a lid on beans and let cook about 4-5 minutes. In the meantime, mince garlic and ginger and combine with the soy sauce. After a few minutes, remove the lid from beans and toss the bean around. Keep doing this for another 8-10 minutes or until the beans are cooked though and blistered in places. Once the beans are cooked,%u00a0%u00a0dump the garlic ginger soy mixture into pan. Toss around and leave in pan for another minutes then stir the toasted almonds in. Transfer the whole bit of it into a big bowl or plate.%u00a0
Eat right away or.. They taste freaking fanatic cold too.%u00a0
The day started off with rhubarb soup and ended in cinnamon walnut rhubarb bread. The bread was a star,%u00a0the soup, not so much, which sucked because I was so excited and so sure it was going be fantastic. Tomatoes, rhubarb, and fresh ginger.%u00a0Doesn’t that sound good? I still have hopes for the combination, but the batch I made was way way to acidic and thick and spicy because I added so much fresh ginger to it that it made the mr’s eye water and my nose run a little. So yeah, the soup needed work, but I was not going to end my day of rhubarb cooking with a fail. Also I felt like I owed it to the mr to make him something that he found edible. He really did not like the soup.
I knew the mr wanted (or at least he hinted at) pie but I had no time for pie. I already spent the morning making not so good soup and I had shit I needed to do. Pie would just take a little to long.%u00a0Quick bread was more in my time frame. A few minutes to chop and mix,%u00a0toss it into the oven for a while. and done.%u00a0%u00a0I had time to cleaned up, run to the post office and bank (I should probably tell you not to leave your oven on when you are not in the house, but I do, but only for short periods of time. And don’t tell the mr. He will kill me) and come back to the house not on fire and fresh cinnamon walnut rhubarb bread. I felt redemption,%u00a0even this it was not pie. The mr didn’t complain, not one bit.%u00a0
And by the way, the soup made it’s way into a different batch of soup that had other stuff in it and it WAS fantastic.%u00a0
The stuff. Rhubarb and walnuts and a bowl with flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Also have coconut oil, brown sugar, soy milk, and a little dish or more brown sugar, cinnamon, and coconut oil for the topping.%u00a0
Chop rhubarb and walnuts into small pieces, not tiny pieces, but not big ones either.%u00a0
Mix the brown sugar and coconut oil into dry mixture, then add in the milk and vinegar and mix until just incorporated (don’t over mix).
Don’t forget to mix in the rhubarb and walnut pieces.%u00a0
Pour batter into a greased pan and then its %u00a0time for the cinnamon sugar topping. (cinnamon+sugar+coconut oil=rainbows?)
Cinnamon sugar topping %u00a0gets crumbled on and I found a few stray walnuts so I tossed those on top too. %u00a0
Now it’s time for the oven.
Look at that, fresh from the oven. So handsome.%u00a0%u00a0Pop it out of the tin and get it onto a wire rack to cool.%u00a0
And when it’s cooled a little and you are ready to take a seat, you slice and eat.
-C
makes one loaf
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cups brown sugar%u00a0
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup soy or another plant milk
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted and cooled)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 stalks rhubarb (2 cups chopped)
1/2 cup walnuts
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 hefty tablespoon cinnamon%u00a0
Preheat oven to 350
Chop rhubarb into small 1/2 inch pieces. If your walnuts are whole, chop those up into small pieces as well.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix together then add in the brown sugar and %u00a0the melted coconut oil and mix. Then add in the say milk %u00a0and apple cider vinegar and mix until all is incorporated. %u00a0Stir in the chopped rhubarbd and walnuts.
Pour batter into a well greases bread pan. For the cinnamon topping, just add the cinnamon and brown sugar to the melted coconut oil and mix. %u00a0Crumble the mixture on top of the bread. if you have a few more walnuts, you can toss those on top too.%u00a0Pop bread into preheated oven.
Bake for 60 -70 minutes %u00a0or until a tester stuck into the middle comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. When ready, cut and eat.
Bread lasts 3 day in airtight container on counter, a few days longer in the fridge. %u00a0Freezes well.%u00a0
I love me some spring time fresh greens, especially arugula. The last farm share pick up there was arugula for the first time since late fall and as soon as I saw it my mouth started to water for the fresh springy, peppery taste of %u00a0fresh spring time greens. As I bagged my greens, I shoved a fist full into my mouth. Ah, nothing better then a mouth full of fresh greens after a long long winter. Am I right or am I right?
I ate %u00a0a lot of those greens fresh, but did you know that arugula makes for a nice accompaniment to walnuts and chickpeas? And if you mashed all that together with a few other things and shaped the mixture into patties and you get yourself some dank ass burgers?%u00a0 Well now you know. And now you can make them for yourself and experience the greatness of spring fresh arugula. Just make sure you have enough fresh to shove a handful into your mouth. It is spring time refreshing.%u00a0
The stuff. Chickpeas, arugula, walnuts, and big onion, and some radishes. Also a couple carrots, some oats, a few cloves of garlic, a Leon, salt and pepper, red wine vinegar, and a little olive oil.%u00a0
To start, halve the onion. Thinly slice one half and thinly slice the radishes
Scoop it all into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss in vinegar. Set aside on the counter to do it’s thing.%u00a0
Chop the rest of the onion, the carrots, and the garlic into small chunks.
Carrot, onion, garlic, and oats go into the food processor and pulsed until a medium crumble.
Walnuts and arugula next.%u00a0
Pulsed until combined then add in the juice of the lemon a good pinch of salt and pepper,%u00a0and the drained chicken peas.
Pulse until just combined. Some big chunks are good, you just want the mixture to be able to hold together.
Dump the mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge for at least and hour and up to a day.%u00a0
After the time in the fridge, divide the mixture into 6 equal parts and form each into a patty about an inch think. Take a clean cloth and pat each applies dry on both sides.%u00a0%u00a0
Grab a skillet, lightly oil it, and place on a medium heat. Sear each side of each burger until browedthen place on a lightly Ould baking sheet.%u00a0
Place the burgers into a preheated oven to finished cooking. 40 minutes, flipped after 20.
After the burgers are cooked, it time to assemble. Bread or buns of some kind(I used sourdough rolls) the pickled radish and onion mixture, some mustard( I used honey mustard) and more fresh arugula.
Do it up, do it right. Serve with some fries or chips and eat while knowing that spring is here, even if as you are eating, it is snowing. Damn snow.%u00a0
At least we have arugula.%u00a0
-C
makes 6 burgers%u00a0
1 can or 2 cups %u00a0cooked chick peas drained
2 large handfuls arugula %u00a0(about 2 packed cups)
1 large sweet onion
2 small carrot
1 cup old fashion oats
1/3 cups walnuts
2-3 cloves garlic
A lemon
salt and pepper
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
handful of radishes (5-7 of them)
salt and pepper
olive oil
To assemble burgers
Burger buns or baguettes
Maple or honey mustard
%u00a0fresh arugula%u00a0
Start by cutting half of the onion as thinly as you can. Do the same with the radishes and place the onions and radishes in a bowl with a sprinkle of salt and drizzle the vinegar all over Toss around and set the bowl aside.
Grab the food processor and dump the oats in. Roughly chop the other half of onion, the carrots, and the garlicand toss those into the processor too. Pulse until a medium crumble. Add in the arugula, the juice of the lemon,%u00a0the walnuts, the chickpeas, and a good pinch each of salt and pepper.%u00a0Pulse again until just combined and the mixture has come together. Taste and make sure the salt and pepper are good for you then dump the mixture into bowl and set in fridge for at least a half hour or as long as a day.
Preheat oven to 400.
When ready for burgers, take mixture out of the fridge. %u00a0Place a lightly oiled skillet on the stove on medium heat.%u00a0
Divide the mixture into 6 equal balls and pat into inch think patties. Take a clean cloth and pat eat patties dry. %u00a0Place each burger on hot skillet and cook each side for 4-6 minutes or until each side is nicely browed. Transfer burgers onto a lightly greased baking sheet then place them all into the oven to finish cooking for %u00a040 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes.
Once burgers are cooked, remove from the oven. They will be slightly fragile, but will firm up if you let them set %u00a0for 5-10 minutes.
Assemble the burgers. Grab a bun or bread of some kind (if you want), top with a good fork or two full of the pickled radish onion mixture, drizzle with some mustard and top with more fresh arugula.
Get on to eating it.%u00a0
If you don’t eat all the burger at one time, the freeze really well. I almost prefer them after they have been frozen.%u00a0
I picked up out last winter farm share this week which makes me sad just thinking about it. Where am I going to get my food?%u00a0 Luckily it’s only like 3 weeks until the summer share starts so I think I will survive.
At the last pick up we got the usual roots, cabbage,and greens, but we got a bunch of spring greens. 3 lbs of them and I was just all smiles and glee. I legitimately get super excited when there is a large quantity of fresh spring greens in my fridge. Greens make me happy. And of course I share my green wealth with the mr. (I am so nice) He is not thae biggest fan of just handfuls of greens to the mouth for dinner so I figured a nice dressing to dress up those greens and any other veggies was something I could do. And I just so happen to have bought a giant bag of walnuts and walnuts go great with everything so yeah. And it’s really freaking good.
The stuff. Walnuts, oil(I used avocado but walnut or olive oil would be great) a lemon, a little honey, and salt and pepper. Also probably going to need a little water.
Stuff goes into blender and gets blended until creamy. This dressing starts off really thick and can be left thick or a little bit of water can be added to thin it out. Up to you.
Poured into a jar and that’s that.
Creamy walnut dressing.
Not just a salad dressing. You can eat it with anything and everything. I was dipping carrots and apple slices in it and the mr was dipping his pizza in it cause that’s how we roll.
-C
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup of oil. (I used avocado but olive or walnut would be good)
1 lemon
%u00a0Teaspoon or two of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon honey or agave
Water
Place walnuts, juice of lemon, honey or agave, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. pulse to break up nuts then turn on and stream in oil. Blend until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of water to thin out as needed. This is a thick dressing so you can add as much water as you like to thin it out, just do it slowly. When blended, taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. . Pour into a jar.%u00a0 Stick in the fridge when not in use. Will last a couple of weeks if you don’t eat it all.
I picked up out last winter farm share this week which makes me sad just thinking about it. Where am I going to get my food?%u00a0 Luckily it’s only like 3 weeks until the summer share starts so I think I will survive.
At the last pick up we got the usual roots, cabbage,and greens, but we got a bunch of spring greens. 3 lbs of them and I was just all smiles and glee. I legitimately get super excited when there is a large quantity of fresh spring greens in my fridge. Greens make me happy. And of course I share my green wealth with the mr. (I am so nice) He is not thae biggest fan of just handfuls of greens to the mouth for dinner so I figured a nice dressing to dress up those greens and any other veggies was something I could do. And I just so happen to have bought a giant bag of walnuts and walnuts go great with everything so yeah. And it’s really freaking good.
The stuff. Walnuts, oil(I used avocado but walnut or olive oil would be great) a lemon, a little honey, and salt and pepper. Also probably going to need a little water.
Stuff goes into blender and gets blended until creamy. This dressing starts off really thick and can be left thick or a little bit of water can be added to thin it out. Up to you.
Poured into a jar and that’s that.
Creamy walnut dressing.
Not just a salad dressing. You can eat it with anything and everything. I was dipping carrots and apple slices in it and the mr was dipping his pizza in it cause that’s how we roll.
-C
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup of oil. (I used avocado but olive or walnut would be good)
1 lemon
%u00a0Teaspoon or two of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon honey or agave
Water
Place walnuts, juice of lemon, honey or agave, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. pulse to break up nuts then turn on and stream in oil. Blend until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of water to thin out as needed. This is a thick dressing so you can add as much water as you like to thin it out, just do it slowly. When blended, taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. . Pour into a jar.%u00a0 Stick in the fridge when not in use. Will last a couple of weeks if you don’t eat it all.
I love me some spring time fresh greens, especially arugula. The last farm share pick up there was arugula for the first time since late fall and as soon as I saw it my mouth started to water for the fresh springy, peppery taste of %u00a0fresh spring time greens. As I bagged my greens, I shoved a fist full into my mouth. Ah, nothing better then a mouth full of fresh greens after a long long winter. Am I right or am I right?
I ate %u00a0a lot of those greens fresh, but did you know that arugula makes for a nice accompaniment to walnuts and chickpeas? And if you mashed all that together with a few other things and shaped the mixture into patties and you get yourself some dank ass burgers?%u00a0 Well now you know. And now you can make them for yourself and experience the greatness of spring fresh arugula. Just make sure you have enough fresh to shove a handful into your mouth. It is spring time refreshing.%u00a0
The stuff. Chickpeas, arugula, walnuts, and big onion, and some radishes. Also a couple carrots, some oats, a few cloves of garlic, a Leon, salt and pepper, red wine vinegar, and a little olive oil.%u00a0
To start, halve the onion. Thinly slice one half and thinly slice the radishes
Scoop it all into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss in vinegar. Set aside on the counter to do it’s thing.%u00a0
Chop the rest of the onion, the carrots, and the garlic into small chunks.
Carrot, onion, garlic, and oats go into the food processor and pulsed until a medium crumble.
Walnuts and arugula next.%u00a0
Pulsed until combined then add in the juice of the lemon a good pinch of salt and pepper,%u00a0and the drained chicken peas.
Pulse until just combined. Some big chunks are good, you just want the mixture to be able to hold together.
Dump the mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge for at least and hour and up to a day.%u00a0
After the time in the fridge, divide the mixture into 6 equal parts and form each into a patty about an inch think. Take a clean cloth and pat each applies dry on both sides.%u00a0%u00a0
Grab a skillet, lightly oil it, and place on a medium heat. Sear each side of each burger until browedthen place on a lightly Ould baking sheet.%u00a0
Place the burgers into a preheated oven to finished cooking. 40 minutes, flipped after 20.
After the burgers are cooked, it time to assemble. Bread or buns of some kind(I used sourdough rolls) the pickled radish and onion mixture, some mustard( I used honey mustard) and more fresh arugula.
Do it up, do it right. Serve with some fries or chips and eat while knowing that spring is here, even if as you are eating, it is snowing. Damn snow.%u00a0
At least we have arugula.%u00a0
-C
makes 6 burgers%u00a0
1 can or 2 cups %u00a0cooked chick peas drained
2 large handfuls arugula %u00a0(about 2 packed cups)
1 large sweet onion
2 small carrot
1 cup old fashion oats
1/3 cups walnuts
2-3 cloves garlic
A lemon
salt and pepper
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
handful of radishes (5-7 of them)
salt and pepper
olive oil
To assemble burgers
Burger buns or baguettes
Maple or honey mustard
%u00a0fresh arugula%u00a0
Start by cutting half of the onion as thinly as you can. Do the same with the radishes and place the onions and radishes in a bowl with a sprinkle of salt and drizzle the vinegar all over Toss around and set the bowl aside.
Grab the food processor and dump the oats in. Roughly chop the other half of onion, the carrots, and the garlicand toss those into the processor too. Pulse until a medium crumble. Add in the arugula, the juice of the lemon,%u00a0the walnuts, the chickpeas, and a good pinch each of salt and pepper.%u00a0Pulse again until just combined and the mixture has come together. Taste and make sure the salt and pepper are good for you then dump the mixture into bowl and set in fridge for at least a half hour or as long as a day.
Preheat oven to 400.
When ready for burgers, take mixture out of the fridge. %u00a0Place a lightly oiled skillet on the stove on medium heat.%u00a0
Divide the mixture into 6 equal balls and pat into inch think patties. Take a clean cloth and pat eat patties dry. %u00a0Place each burger on hot skillet and cook each side for 4-6 minutes or until each side is nicely browed. Transfer burgers onto a lightly greased baking sheet then place them all into the oven to finish cooking for %u00a040 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes.
Once burgers are cooked, remove from the oven. They will be slightly fragile, but will firm up if you let them set %u00a0for 5-10 minutes.
Assemble the burgers. Grab a bun or bread of some kind (if you want), top with a good fork or two full of the pickled radish onion mixture, drizzle with some mustard and top with more fresh arugula.
Get on to eating it.%u00a0
If you don’t eat all the burger at one time, the freeze really well. I almost prefer them after they have been frozen.%u00a0
I picked up out last winter farm share this week which makes me sad just thinking about it. Where am I going to get my food?%u00a0 Luckily it’s only like 3 weeks until the summer share starts so I think I will survive.
At the last pick up we got the usual roots, cabbage,and greens, but we got a bunch of spring greens. 3 lbs of them and I was just all smiles and glee. I legitimately get super excited when there is a large quantity of fresh spring greens in my fridge. Greens make me happy. And of course I share my green wealth with the mr. (I am so nice) He is not thae biggest fan of just handfuls of greens to the mouth for dinner so I figured a nice dressing to dress up those greens and any other veggies was something I could do. And I just so happen to have bought a giant bag of walnuts and walnuts go great with everything so yeah. And it’s really freaking good.
The stuff. Walnuts, oil(I used avocado but walnut or olive oil would be great) a lemon, a little honey, and salt and pepper. Also probably going to need a little water.
Stuff goes into blender and gets blended until creamy. This dressing starts off really thick and can be left thick or a little bit of water can be added to thin it out. Up to you.
Poured into a jar and that’s that.
Creamy walnut dressing.
Not just a salad dressing. You can eat it with anything and everything. I was dipping carrots and apple slices in it and the mr was dipping his pizza in it cause that’s how we roll.
-C
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup of oil. (I used avocado but olive or walnut would be good)
1 lemon
%u00a0Teaspoon or two of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon honey or agave
Water
Place walnuts, juice of lemon, honey or agave, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. pulse to break up nuts then turn on and stream in oil. Blend until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of water to thin out as needed. This is a thick dressing so you can add as much water as you like to thin it out, just do it slowly. When blended, taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. . Pour into a jar.%u00a0 Stick in the fridge when not in use. Will last a couple of weeks if you don’t eat it all.
Happy May! I love this month. It gets all warm (hopefully), flowers blooming, green trees and I am yet to get to super hot and cranks. Plus it’s garden time!!!! Just a few more days and the 6 cubic yards of dirt are being dumped off at our house to fill up our raised beds and it’s go time. All more poor seedlings are are the verge of not being good. They need to get into soil asap.
The past week has come and gone so fast. Rainy days or to cold temps have kept us from doing a lot of the outside work that we have been needing to do. (Can’t paint in the rain) Fortunately there has been plenty of others things to do so we have been keeping pretty busy. Even with all the rain we have had, we did manage a good afternoon of firing up the big blow torch and shou sugi ban-ing. We finished making our raised beds, I carved a spoon (only cut myself twice) and got rid of the 5 extra cast iron radiators that have been in the back yard for a year. Also the back sun porch got a a floor to ceiling paint job and now we are waiting for it all to dry.%u00a0 Busy as always, but it’s been good to see so much get done.
Sunday doings. The back porch should be dry by today so I am hoping that I can spend some of the day. setting it up with comfy seating and then take a afternoon nap back there. Anything else we are doing today is kind of a wait and see deal…It all depends on the weather.
What I read on the internet that might be of some interest to you.
-The birds are crazy around our house, chirping away all day, all night. It’s pretty fantastic. I think I might be turning into a birder. This helps. Guide to North American Birds
– I hope this doesn’t happen to me. Why Taste Buds Dull As We Age.
–Buildings and Stars Cut into Blackout Curtains….. These are so cool.
-This happened. A Man Ordered an Airline%u2019s Gluten-Free %u2018Meal%u2019 %u2014 and Got a Single Banana With a Knife and Fork.
-Do you ever talk to yourself? I do. It’s usually me reciting lists of things I need to do or swearing lots of swears to make me feel better. (swearing out load, even to yourself when you are made will make you feel better) The Perks of Talking to Yourself
-If you are awake at night. Spring Meteor Shower and 6 More Sky Events in May
–THIS IS HOW MAPLE SYRUP GETS MADE, AND WHAT THE NEW GRADING SYSTEM MEANS
-I like blue. Crayola Gives The People What They Want: A New Blue Crayon
-This alone makes me want to go back to Copenhagen. Friendly Giants Built From Recycled Wood Hidden in the Forests of Copenhagen
-I hope we spend some good time in the Vt State Parks this summer. Can’t wait for camping!
First off, the Happiest Day to all the mothers out there. You are great and make the world possible so thank you for that. Take care today to you. We are all better off when you are happy or to quote a sign hanging in my moms kitchen..When Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
Whoa did we spend a lot of time outside this week. The mr upin the trees cutting them down. Weeding out gardens and cleaning up lawns. So many trips to the wood chipping plant to get ride of all the wood. My arms have been sore all week and it’s mostly from hauling large chunks of wood to the truck. That and all the dirt moving. 6 yards of dirt dropped off to fill up our raised beds. The garden is on it’s way to being a real garden and I couldn’t be any happier. First time in my life where I have had a yard with a garden to do what I please. It’s freaking amazing. And now I am struggling with what to plant. I know that I will get a butt load of veggies form the farm but what do I want more of? Lots of greens are on their way and we need to have tomatoes but do I do an entire bed of carrots and beets? If so where while the husk cherries go?. And the pumpkins, should we just plant them out front? (the mr wants to turn the front lawn into a pumpkin patch. I am not entirely sure that is a good idea) So many things to consider.
Sunday has got me busy. I want to finish planting what needs planting, the laundry is backed up a few loads so I need to get on that and I have a mess of paperwork that I need to get through. Good day for it though cause it looks like a chilly rain today so hanging out on the back porch with my pile of crap won’t be so bad. At least there will be lots of coffee.
Internet whatnots
-Checked the pollen count when my face blew up, snot running, and itching my eyes out. Allergies, blah.
-Garden planting takes some planning. An In-Depth Companion Planting Guide
-I don’t know why I have never thought to add color to bread dough. On my list of things to do this week. HOW TO MAKE MARBLED RAINBOW TOAST
–New York Times Puzzles. I like to play sudoku and the mini.
–What Is Avocado Hand? I guess that it is a real thing so watch yourself.
-Feeling stresses? Thinking About Happy Memories Can Shut Down Your Body%u2019s Stress Response
–Here’s What Michelle Obama Thinks About Trump’s School Lunch Rules. Oh Michelle, I miss you.
–See the Awesome March of the Milky Way Across the Night Sky
%u00a0-The mr has always said her wanted some type of hot tub or sauna. I could get down with something like this. A Mirrored Golden Egg Sauna is Hatched in Sweden
–Vermont Legislature Votes to Legalize Marijuana. I mean it’s about time.
I picked up out last winter farm share this week which makes me sad just thinking about it. Where am I going to get my food?%u00a0 Luckily it’s only like 3 weeks until the summer share starts so I think I will survive.
At the last pick up we got the usual roots, cabbage,and greens, but we got a bunch of spring greens. 3 lbs of them and I was just all smiles and glee. I legitimately get super excited when there is a large quantity of fresh spring greens in my fridge. Greens make me happy. And of course I share my green wealth with the mr. (I am so nice) He is not thae biggest fan of just handfuls of greens to the mouth for dinner so I figured a nice dressing to dress up those greens and any other veggies was something I could do. And I just so happen to have bought a giant bag of walnuts and walnuts go great with everything so yeah. And it’s really freaking good.
The stuff. Walnuts, oil(I used avocado but walnut or olive oil would be great) a lemon, a little honey, and salt and pepper. Also probably going to need a little water.
Stuff goes into blender and gets blended until creamy. This dressing starts off really thick and can be left thick or a little bit of water can be added to thin it out. Up to you.
Poured into a jar and that’s that.
Creamy walnut dressing.
Not just a salad dressing. You can eat it with anything and everything. I was dipping carrots and apple slices in it and the mr was dipping his pizza in it cause that’s how we roll.
-C
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup of oil. (I used avocado but olive or walnut would be good)
1 lemon
%u00a0Teaspoon or two of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon honey or agave
Water
Place walnuts, juice of lemon, honey or agave, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. pulse to break up nuts then turn on and stream in oil. Blend until smooth, adding a few tablespoons of water to thin out as needed. This is a thick dressing so you can add as much water as you like to thin it out, just do it slowly. When blended, taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. . Pour into a jar.%u00a0 Stick in the fridge when not in use. Will last a couple of weeks if you don’t eat it all.
Acorn Squash Quick Bread — The Lovely Crazy
February 20, 2020 by maximios • Blog
I forgot how amazing fall baking smells. The spiciness floating throughout the house, lingering on my clothes, in my hair, up the stairs and into the bedroom. It goes everywhere. Unfortunately it didn’t last very long this time around because the mr made popcorn and then the whole house ended up smelling like a freaking movie theater, but for a little while it was so nice. I want to bake everyday just to stink the house up all nice. I might just do that.%u00a0
Everyone eats the pumpkin bread or the pumpkin this or pumpkin that. But why does’t everyone harness the greatness of all the other winter squashes in baking? This I do not know. Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin but I also think that it’s very interchangeable in most baking applications. Like this quick %u00a0bread. I am sure that some people would notice that it is not pumpkin, but these same people would also enjoy the subtle difference in flavor. Acorn squash is a sweet and delicious squash and makes a fine fine bread my friends. And the acorn squash is cheaper then sugar pumpkins which is aways a plus. And the winter squash keeps longer the pumpkins so the are available longer. Acorn squash bread all winter long. (Yup, I am thinking winter already)
This bread lasted less then a day. The mr got a couple slices but some littles came over and ate almost the entire loaf. The didn’t ask what kind of squash I used, they just ate it vigorously and left heir little crumbs all over. So Bean with her mouth full of bread declared it A-MAZING. From the mouth of a 5 year old.
The stuff. The flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon are in one bowl. The squash puree, oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar in another .Also need a little plant milk a bit more cinnamon and sugar for topping.
Simple simple. Whisk together the dry then whisk together the wet.
Pour wet into dry and mix until incorporated.
And there you have it. %u00a0Acorn squash bread batter.%u00a0
Batter goes into a well greased bread pan and sprinkles all over with cinnamon sugar. Then into the oven (preheated of course) it goes.
All baked up and cooling. Like what I did there? %u00a0More circulation to the bottom %u00a0so it cools faster.. I am so smart.
The mr came home right when I was contemplating whether it was cool enough to cut. %u00a0It wasn’t but I cut it anyway.%u00a0
Have a great fall weekend!
-C %u00a0
makes 1 loaf
*To make acorn squash puree, stick an acorn squash into a oven at 400 for about 40 minutes or until until fork tender. Remove from oven,%u00a0cut in half, and let cool until you can handle it. Scoop out seeds (save for roasting) then scoop out flesh (eat skin as snack)%u00a0and puree in blender. Add a splash of water if needed to get a smooth puree.
preheat oven to 350
In a large bowl mix together the squash, oil, sugar, maple, milk, and apple cider vinegar. Mix until well combined. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the baking soda and powder, the tablespoon cinnamon, salt, and flour. Pour wet into the dry and mix until combined. %u00a0Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Combine the tablespoon brown sugar and teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Pop into oven and bake for 60-65 minutes or until a tester poked into middle comes out clean.
Once cooked, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove form loaf pan and let completely cool.%u00a0
Eat what you want and store the rest in an air tight container for a few days. Can be sliced and frozen too.