Easy festive vegan hors d'oeurves

This is a crazy time of year for Soap the Earth. Lots of gift baskets to make up and send out, so haven't had much time to post. However it's Christmas Eve and I'm going to a party, so what to take.

Something quick and easy of course, but also yummy, vegan and gluten free.

Easy!

Vegan cream cheese served with jalapeno jelly on top and crackers. It's festive and delicious, and gooey bean and cheese dip!

The cream cheese dish takes about 3 minutes, so your not going to have to worry about slaving over a hot stove for hours before your party.

Vegan cream cheese and jalapenos

There are quite a few vegan cream cheeses on the market, any will do.

I tub of cream cheese, take out of tub and place on a plate, or better still, a small dish with a lip to it, so the jelly doesn't spill onto your crackers.

I jar of jalapeno jelly. I sometimes make my own, but didn't have time this year. The jelly's on the market are a tad too sweet for me, so

add a couple of tsp of rice or apple cider vinegar to the jelly and 1 or 2  finely chopped fresh jalapenos, depending on your taste and 1/2 tsp salt.

Place some jelly on top of your cream cheese and arrange crackers around the platter.

Cheesy vegan bean dip

Chop
1 small onion
1 jalapeno
3 cloves of garlic

saute in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil

add
1 can re fried beans 3 to 4 tablespoons of vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup of vegan shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoon of hot sauce (more or less depending on your taste)
1 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in blender, blend until smooth.
Adjust seasoning.

Place in a oven proof bowl and bake until warmed through, about 10 minutes.

Serve with chips.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

Quick & Easy Fresh Cranberry Relish Vegan and Gluten Free

A friend of a friends Grandma used to make this relish to go with an Italian dinner.

My friend told me about it this morning and I made it in about 3 minutes and I swear I won't ever make any other cranberry sauce or relish again. This is the bomb!

It's tart, fresh and delicious and there's no need to cook.

I packet of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup of sugar  you can use more if you prefer it sweeter, however I recommend you try it like this first, then add more sugar if you need to.
I medium orange

Cut the orange in quarters take out any seeds. That's it leave the skin on and put cranberries, sugar and orange in the Cuisinart and blend until all evenly chopped. I pulsed it a few times to get the orange to chop up. This whole process took a couple of minutes at most.

Put it in container with a lid overnight, to let the flavors blend.

Serve with your Turkey or Tofurky or whatever you desire.

Vegan and Gluten free Banana Bread

So, I've had the week from hell, all to do with taking my computer in because it was running slow. The tech department decided it needed a new hard drive, but once they had replaced it, the computer wouldn't work at all. I won't bore you with the details, but I had to go back three times. Eventually, they decided it would be so expensive to repair I should buy a new one, which I did because I was trying to run my online business soaptheearth from my iPhone and it was very stressful. This is all to explain why I missed posting last week and why I chose the recipe I did. I needed something comforting, easy and delicious.
I have tried many banana bread recipes and most come out lacking in one way or another. So, I have been trying to come up with a recipe I'm happy with. After many trials and tribulations I think I've done it. Sometimes the simpler the better.

Let me know what you think.

2 cups gluten free flour
11/2 tsp baking soda
11/2 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon xanthun gum
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar ( I like palm)
2 "eggs" substitute I use EnerG and I whip the mixture before adding to the rest of the ingredients
1/2 cup coconut or almond milk
1/2 cup safflower or sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup of walnuts or pecans, chopped

Mash the bananas, I use a potato masher, set to one side

Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix to blend.

Place all liquid ingredients in a separate bowl and mix to blend. Whip the egg substitute when your ready to add everything together

Add the dry and wet ingredients together including the egg substitute, mix in the mashed bananas and nuts and place in a greased loaf pan.

Cook at 350 degrees for approx. 40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

I love to put a slice in the toaster and spread a little butter on the warm slice. Nice change from toast and Oh SO good with a cup of Coffee or Coffee alternative.

Vegan and Glutenfree Mac & Cheese

Like a lot of people I get cravings for the comfort foods in life, especially once the weather starts to get cooler and evenings get darker, earlier. It may be something in my genetic makeup, or at least a nostalgia for my childhood, growing up in Northern England.

Either way I'm craving warm, high carb comfort food, which brings us to this weeks recipe.
Vegan Mac & Cheese.

I have tried quite a few recipes for vegan mac and cheese and they leave me flat. I like the idea of the sweet potato mac and cheese, but it doesn't have anything to do with the original dish and seems a little dry.

I like the recipes with the cheese sauce made from cashews, but I wanted to try something different, especially as I like to add more protein, so I played with some recipes and came up with a hybrid.

I also realized that although it did turn out creamy and delicious, I think most non vegans wouldn't really consider it mac & cheese in the sense of the infamous Kraft variety. Therefore I think our vegan mac and cheese should be called Mac & Cheesefredo.

It seems like a cross between mac & cheese and an alfredo sauce.
Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to downplay how yummy it is, however I think it describes the dish more accurately.

It was an interesting experiment, serving it to my husband. When I told him it was mac & cheese, he looked sceptical. When I added, to clarify, it was more a cross between mac & cheese and alfredo, he dug right in.
To explain, my husband does eat 90% vegan and enjoys it, but he was a true meat and potatoes man when I met him and a junk food aficionado. Therefore, once in a while he gets a little nervous when I serve a new dish. When it comes to food, he doesn't like a lot of change or surprises. With that in mind I think he's truly a trooper and my biggest supporter.

So, I wanted to share this dish with you. It's creamy, comforting and has lots of protein and fiber. It's also incredibly easy to make, with very little prep time, if you don't count how long the potato takes to cook. Just cook that earlier in the day and you're all set for a quick and easy dinner.

Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. I served it with a crisp green salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing. It really hit the spot.

Serves 6

Put one medium sweet potato in the oven to bake. While it's baking start on the rest of the dish.

Corn pasta penne, cook enough for six people, using the diections on th packet. I like to use the corn pasta for this recipe as the texture is good with the sauce.

While your pasta is cooking add the following ingredients in a blender.

1 cup unsweetened soy or rice milk
1/2 cup nutriotional yeast
1/2 vegetable oil
3 tablespoons tamari (glutenfree)
2 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
3 tsp grey poupon
2 tsp horseradish
1 package of block tofu, I used firm silken

Blend until well mixed, once the potato is cooked, peel and add the flesh and blend.

Mix the sauce with the cooked, drained pasta. Mix in a 1/4 cup grated vegan cheese ( I like daiya cheddar) Sprinkle a little more cheese on top and bake at 350f for approx 15 to 20 mins or until pasta looks slightly browned on top.

Vegan soft tacos

The BEST vegan dinner - easy, nutritious and DELICIOUS!

Okay, I know that sounds a little over the top, but this is my go to recipe. It's so yummy you can serve it to vegans and non vegans a like. It takes 10 minutes to make and it's good for you.

What's not to love?

I start by making a quick fresh salsa

3 to 4 tomatoes chopped
1/2 onion finely chopped
handful of fresh cilantro finely chopped
a few squeezes of a fresh lime
1/2 jalapeno finely chopped (if you like the spice, if not eliminate this ingredient)
salt to taste


You will need;

soft corn tortillas
1 can pinto beans
vegan shredded cheese (I like Daiya)
vegan chorizo
cabbage and lettuce finely shredded mixed together
avocado sliced

I like to make them on a cast iron griddle, but if you don't have one, a heavy bottomed fry pan will do.
Put a little olive oil on the pan to stop the tortillas from sticking.

I get 4 tortillas at one time on my griddle. Heat on one side without browning, takes a minute or two.
Turn them over and immediately, sprinkle some cheese on each one. When it starts to melt add some drained warmed pinto beans on each tortilla and some warmed chorizo. Don't add too much, you don't need to. Put a few pieces of avocado on each tortilla. Serve immediately.

Serve with shredded cabbage/lettuce mix, fresh salsa and your favorite hot sauce.

Vegan Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Just because your vegan, doesn't mean you can't indulge in this quintessential American lunch.

Once in a while I get a craving for tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I also needed to use up some of my tomatoes from the garden. We've had a great crop this year and I don't want to waste any. So I keep coming up with recipes to use my tomatoes and this is my Tomato soup recipe.

For the grilled cheese, butter two pieces of vegan bread with vegan butter add vegan cheese in the middle. I like Daiya Cheddar it melts well and tastes great. Any unused I keep in the freezer, because it does tend to go off rather quickly, once opened.
Grill on one side until browned, then flip sandwich over and grill on the other side. Yum!

Tomato soup Ingredients
1 medium onion chopped
2 large celery stalks chopped
1/8 of medium cabbage chopped
2 medium carrots chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Vegetable stock atleast several cuos, you may need more.
5 fresh tomatoes peeled and chopped (To peel fresh tomatoes, cut a small cross in the skin of each tomato, place them in a bowl and pour boiling water to cover. Leave for a minute or two, drain the water off and skin should peel off easily)

Saute all the above ingedients over medium heat for a few minutes then add some vegetable broth, put lid on pan and turn on low. Cook until vegetables are soft. Check often to prevent burning adding more vegetable stock as needed.

When vegetables are very soft, add

1/4 tsp powdered white pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste
1 Tablespoon oregano (crush with your hand before adding to the pot)

Blend altogether until smooth.

Add one can of tomato sauce (I like Trader Joe's organic tomato sauce)

Blend again until silky smooth, adjust spices and add more broth if needed.

Serve with a dollop of vegan cream cheese.

This is the cheddar cheese I like to use.

Freya Ridings - Too Much Sky (original acoustic)

This is my brother's friends daughter. She is so good, I just had to share.

Monsanto at it again

This is a continuing battle that the big companies like Monsanto are hoping we'll get so tired and discouraged we'll give up on.

Last week, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) dumped in $5 million against the Yes on 522 ballot initiative in Washington state. That means the GMA, who represents companies like Pepsi, Coke, Kraft, Kellogg's, Starbucks and General Mills, is now the lead funder in an effort to silence GMO labeling in America, with a total of $7.2 million. But the real story behind the continued efforts to kill GMO labeling in the U.S. is even more alarming.

Already Monsanto has dumped in $4.8 million and DuPont has pledged $3.4 million to bring the opposition war chest to a total of $17.1 million against the citizen-led ballot initiative Yes on 522 to label genetically engineered foods.


Hawaii has it's own battle.
For the past several months an important battle has been heating up on the paradise islands regarding pesticides and experimental GMOs that could impact our collective future.

“Right to Know” legislation - Bill 2491 - that puts public health ahead of biotech profits by limiting Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs). It prohibits open air testing of experimental pesticides and experimental GMO’s while publicly disclosing pesticide use on the islands.

Unfortunately biotech companies like Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont are triyng to force a delay on the vote to try to stop Bill 2491 and another important bill (Bill 113) from becoming law in Hawaii.

Earlier this summer more than 32,000 Food Democracy Now! members stood with residents of Hawaii to protect this island Paradise and its residents from the indiscriminate poisoning of their communities.

We can all do our part. 
Contact your congressman and tell them we have a right to know when we are eating GMO's.

We need to keep the pressure on.

Delicious Vegan Plum Cookie Bars

We had a dear friend coming to stay overnight and I wanted a quick easy dessert. I had home made plum jam (we had a bumper crop of plums this year) and cookie ingredients so I came up with this. If you would rather use another type of jam, I would think apricot or seedless raspberry would be good. Something with a little tartness to it. 

Our friend really liked them and we did too.

I used palm sugar which is low on the glycemic index, oats, pecans and almond meal making it high in protein and I used gluten free flour because I don't do well eating gluten.

Another plus being it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare.

1 cup gluten free flour
1/2 cup packed palm sugar ( can use brown sugar if you wish)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup vegan butter softened
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease one 8 by 8 square pan.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, rolled oats, chopped pecans, almond meal. Rub in the vegan butter, using your hands or a pastry blender to form a crumbly mixture. Mix oil, vanilla and maple syrup, pour and mix well into the crumble.

Press 2 cups of mixture into the bottom of the pan and spread the jam on top. Leave a half inch space around the edge to give the jam room to spread. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top, pressing it lightly into the jam.
Bake for approx 35 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool and cut into squares.  

spread the jam evenly over the crumble

Press the rest of the crumble lightly on top of the jam

Bake until lightly browned

Vegan Leek and Potato Soup

I'm originally from the North East of England and we can grow great leeks. In fact when I was a child they would have leek growing contests.
The old guys of the town would prepare all year growing and tending to their leeks. The prized leeks would be displayed on a long table at the local pub. After they were judged and the prizes were given out ( some great prizes, vacations, tv's etc) the pubs staff would make big batches of leek and potato soup to serve to the patrons.

I think this charming old tradition has probably gone now, but I still get a craving for leek soup.

I grew my own leeks this year and although I definitely would not have won a prize, they still made great soup.

Traditional recipe includes butter and chicken stock, but I just vegged it up and it came out delicious.


4 to 5 medium leeks chopped (cut most of the green part off, although I left about an inch)
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
4 drops liquid smoke
approx 4 more cups of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast powder
4 to 5 drops of hot sauce (I like chipolte tabasco )
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley and 2 tablespoons for garnish
salt to taste

Saute leeks for a few minutes in the olive oil, making sure not to brown. Then add 1/4 cup of broth and turn down the heat. Add lid and cook the leeks down until tender, approx. 10 to 15 minutes. Add more broth, if needed and stir often to prevent burning.
Add bay leaves, pepper, liquid smoke and chopped potatoes and the rest of the vegetable stock.
Cook until potatoes are tender, but not over cooked.

Take 1/4 of the mixture and blend until smooth (making sure you don't blend the bay leaves)
Return the blended mixture back to the pot. Adjust seasoning and add parsley. If too thick add a little more broth or water.

Remove bay leaves just before serving soup with some sprinkled parsley on top.

South of the Border Salad

I love the recipe for caesar salad in Alicia Silverstone's book "The Kind Life".

If you haven't tried it, I recommend you do. It's delicious and great to serve to the non vegans in our lives. Everyone I've served it to loves it.

My garden has recently exploded with cilantro. It dies off in the summer, but as soon as a little cooler weather comes out it pops again like a lovely surprise.

I decided to make Alicia's caesar salad dressing, but add a bunch of cilantro and make a yummy south of the border inspired salad. It was delicious and you might want to try it.

Salad dressing

2 tablespoons blanched almonds
3 garlic cloves chopped
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons shoyu
1 tablespoons tahini
3 tblsp fresh lemon juice
2 tablsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of cilantro roughly chopped
1/4 cup water

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

I like to make a salad hearty enough for dinner. It's perfect to add beans and rice and then you have a complete protein too. Add anything you like, but this was my combo.

My salad included lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and grated carrot, all from my garden, sliced jicama, avocado, black beans, brown rice and kalamata black olives.

Pour dressing over the top, or mix into salad, whichever you prefer.

Eating out

Went to PF Changs last night and we were happy to see quite a few vegetarian and vegan options on the menu. I had the tofu lettuce wrap, which was on the appetizer menu - delicious!

One of our staples for a quick easy lunch is Chipoltes. We love the crispy tacos with vegetables, black beans, lettuce and guacamole. A vegetable bowl is also yummy.

If we go to a Mexican restaurant, that isn't fast food, I always order the vegetable fajitas with corn tortillas, hold the cheese and sour cream and I'm good to go.

A favorite, is going out for sushi. I usually order an avocado roll and a vegetable roll. A lot of the sushi restaurants have quite a few vegan choices, with speciality rolls, so no need to feel deprived.

If you know of any good vegan options, let us know

Vegan gluten free pumpkin bread with chocolate chips

Here is my recipe for gluten free pumpkin bread. I added chocolate chips because - well why not. You can never have too much of a good thing and chocolate is ALWAYS good!


2 cups pumpkin either canned or fresh
1 cup sugar ( I am using palm sugar right now and I really like it for cooking. It's low on the glycemic index)
1 egg worth of egg substitute (enerG egg replacer)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup sunflower or safflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups gluten free flour ( I like Bob's)
1 tblsp xanthum gum
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2/3 cup of vegan chocolate chips
1 cups chopped pecans


Pre heat oven to 350 F

Oil a loaf pan 9 x 5 works well

Combine the pumpkin, sugar, milk, vanilla and egg substitute in a bowl and mix together. In another bowl mix flour, spices, salt, xanthum gum.

Combine dry and liquid ingredients together, add in nuts and chocolate chips.

Mix the vinegar and baking soda together then add to batter mix, pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, approximately 1 hour.

Cool on a baking rack.

I have to say I love to eat this bread while the chocolate chips are still slightly warm. Yum

If you are someone who likes milk with your treats, I like the combo of rice milk with just a touch of coconut milk added. It gives a consistency of milk and a little richer flavor than rice milk alone.

If you like it, let me know.

Quick Sushi Lunch

When it's hot outside and you want something tasty, quick and easy for lunch, I love to make sushi wraps.

When I'm cooking rice I usually make extra, so that I have leftover rice to make wraps with.

Ideally,  I will add a little more liquid when cooking the rice and cook for a little extra time. The rice is then perfect for sushi, a little sticky and soft.

The other great thing is there are no rules, whatever you have in the refrigerator and would like, can work in a wrap.

These wraps are my favorite combo, but get creative and see what will become yours.

Cold cooked brown rice
Umeboshi plum vinegar
Mix rice and a little vinegar together approx. 1 to 2 tsp per cup of cooked rice.

Shredded carrot
Shredded daikon
Thinly cut cucumber
Avocado
Vegan cream cheese
Sheets of nori


I like to cook the nori sheets over an open flame for a few seconds until sheet turns bright green. I use a pair of tongs and hold over the gas the burner turning the sheet so it doesn't burn. This only takes a few seconds.

Cut each sheet in half.

Place rice and veggies in the middle of each sheet. Spread a little cream cheese on each sheet, next to where you have piled the veggies and rice. Then wrap into cone shapes.

Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

Place ingredients on your 1/2 sheets of nori

Once rolled into cone shape, enjoy with soy sauce and wasabi

Vegan pesto

Well our basil is plentiful and I needed to use some up, so I decided to make pesto. Always a good summer dish.

It's very easy and quick and that's what we're all about, so here you go.


2 packed cups of basil
3 to 4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp salt
3 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp agave syrup
freshly ground pepper to taste

You can use a blender or food processor. I used a blender.

Blend basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and yeast together. Add lemon juice and seasoning and agave, pulse a few times and let sit in refrigerator until needed.
You can keep for several days.

Use with pasta for a hot or cold dish, on pizza instead of a tomato sauce, or serve on baked potato, just to name a few ideas.

blended pesto

Pour pesto onto hot cooked pasta

Mix pesto sauce and pasta

I like it served chilled on a bed of lettuce greens

Enjoy!

Let me know how it works for you.

Healthy and Quick - Beet soup and Bruschetta

My sister and niece and nephews have been staying for the summer. My sister has made this quick, delicious lunch several times. Thought you might like to try it.

The beet soup takes about 5 minutes and the bruschetta takes about 10 minutes max.
Serves 4 people

Beet soup

1 vacuum packet of precooked beets ( usually about 4 beets in each packet)
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
vegan vegetable bouillon
olive oil


Chop onion and garlic, saute in olive oil until soft, add some water ( start with approx 1 cup)
Then add bouillon to taste (start with 1 or 2 tsp). Use either an electric hand whisk or blender and puree all ingredients together. Adjust and add more water and bouillon to taste and for the texture you prefer.
Warm and serve with bruschetta.


We have a huge crop of delicious tomatoes this year and this is a great way to use them.

Bruschetta

French or sourdough baguette sliced and toasted (slightly stale is good for this recipe)
3 or 4 large tomatoes
handful of fresh basil
salt
Fresh garlic cloves (at least 3)
olive oil

Boil a kettle of hot water. Cut a cross through the skin of each tomato. Submerge tomatoes in hot water for a few minutes. Take them out and the skin should peel off easily. Chop tomatoes roughly, add salt to taste and drain excess liquid off. (Salt will bring out more liquid from tomatoes) Chop basil and add.

Toast bread slices, rub peeled cloves over bread ( bread will act like a grater ) and drizzle with olive oil over the top.

Check to see if you want more salt, then spoon tomato mixture on top, making sure to drain away any more liquid.
Serve.

It reaaly is a great lunch, healthy and really tasty. Yum!

2nd try of Cauliflower Steak

OK, as you know I'm now on a quest to make a good cauliflower steak. I've been completely underwhelmed by the few I've  had in the past. I made it again for a BBQ we had this past weekend and was quite happy with the results.

Marinade
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp powdered onion
1 tsp powdered garlic
5 drops liquid smoke
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tblsp powdered vegetable bouillon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tblsp agave syrup

Slice cauliflower into 1/2 inch thick steak slices. Marinade for several hours in marinade. Then BBQ on high for 10 mins then flip over and cook another 5 to 10 minutes.

Really yummy!

Also cooked asparagus on the BBQ

My sister baked eggplant, onions, garlic and tomatoes in olive oil in the oven. 

Next time I'm thinking of making a sauce to go with it. I'll let you know how that goes.

High Cholesterol and Eating Vegan

My lovely husband has just had surgery because his left carotid artery was 80% blocked. He has very high cholesterol even though he eats mostly vegan these days, but not in the past.
His continuous high cholesterol is genetic and runs in his family.

Now that he has had surgery, I think it's important for him to do everything he can to help keep his cholesterol as low as possible. We don't like the idea of maintenance pharmaceutical drugs, but in his case it's necessary to take a statin.

After seeing what he had to go through I feel that anyone who can help their cholesterol with diet should definitely do so. Using diet, is by far the best option and a no brainer, since the risk of stroke is so high and the risks and the discomfort from surgery are not something you want to deal with, unless totally necessary.

Feel better soon, babe

Ouch!

Refreshing Iced Tea

Home made iced tea is super easy and quick, so perfect for our "Quick and Easy" vegan.

I like to make my own blend and thought you might enjoy it too.

4 green tea bags ( I use decaffeinated)
1 earl grey tea bag

Steep in a couple of cups of hot water for about 30 minutes.

Add agave syrup to taste. I use about 1 tablespoon, but you may like it sweeter.

Juice of 1/2 a lemon, try to use fresh lemon it makes such a difference.

Sprig of fresh mint

I make my tea in a 2 quart mason jar. Take the tea bags out after allowing tea to steep for thirty minutes.

Add rest of ingredients and place in mason jar, add water to fill and put in fridge to cool. Serve with lots of ice.

It looks so pretty and tastes good too!

Will last for several days to a week in the refrigerator

Easy Sloppy Joe Dinner

We a have our family staying with us from England and it can be a challenge to make a dinner that good for the vegan and non vegans at the table.
This is easy to make and can be made several days in advance, so it's great when you've been out sight seeing all day. Come home, heat it up and serve with a fresh green salad. Perfecto!

It has a lot of ingredients, but is so simple.

Sloppy Joe recipe
1 tablsp olive oil
1 small onion
a little vegetable broth, approx 1/4 cup ( more for thinning joes if needed)
2 medium stalks of celery
1/4 cabbage
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
4 generous tblsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp white pepper
Salt to taste
1 tblsp oregano
1 tsp powdered onion
1 tsp powdered garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup ketchup ( I use organic from whole foods)
1 tblsp grey poupon
2 tsp ume plum vinegar ( rice vinegar if you don't have ume)
5 drops liquid smoke
2 cans organic pinto beans drained and rinsed
6 oz vegan ground beef
3 oz vegan chorizo
1 tsp agave syrup
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tblsp drained capers


Finely chop onion, celery, garlic and cabbage, saute in olive oil for a few minutes, add a little vegetable broth and bay leaves, cook on low with lid on, until veggies are soft. Add tomato paste, white pepper,  oregano, powdered onion and garlic. liquid smoke and grey poupon. Cook for approx 5 minutes to meld flavors. Add ground beef and chorizo and pinto beans. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add vinegar, soy sauce and salt to taste. Cool and refrigerate for several hours (great to cook one or two days in advance) Add capers, take out bay leaves and adjust seasoning if needed, Serve warm on toasted, buttered(vegan butter of course) buns. It's great with a green salad or coleslaw.

Easy one dish recipe

Good for all ages and vegan and meat eaters alike  

Healthy, savory and filling. 

Summer Fruits

Summer is in full swing and our fruit trees have had a great crop this season. The fruit is ripe and ready to eat.
We've eaten so many plums and apricots we have mouth sores, still doesn't stop us eating more. What is it about homegrown fruit that makes you masochistic.

We had to make preserves this year because we had such a bounty. This is onetime I use white sugar, granted it's organic, but still.....

Does anyone out there have a great preserve recipe that doesn't have sugar. Something with agave or even better, just the fruit?
I haven't found anything that works yet, so please let me know if you have.

Our grapes are coming along nicely and if the wasps don't suck them all dry, that will be are next treat.

I tried making grape jelly a couple of years ago, but it just wouldn't set. Once again if anyone has a great grape jelly recipe, I'd love to hear from you.

The recipe I use for my preserves is yummy, but obviously not the healthiest with all that sugar, but if you want to try it.

51/2 LBS of apricots or plums pit and slice into halves (I like the preserves to have big pieces of fruit in it) To the apricot jam I add one peeled apple, chopped into little pieces. The pectin from the apple helps the preserves to set better. I've never needed to to do that with the plums.
31/4 LBS organic sugar
2 cups of water

Bring the fruit, apple included if using it, sugar, water, to a boil with lid on, then take off lid, turn flame down to low and cook until thickened ( I usually cook until the fruit, sugar and water has reduced to about half) Keep stirring so it doesn't stick. You can test to see if it's thick enough by taking a little on a spoon, let it cool and see how thick the preserves are.
Prepare jars by sterilizing them with boiling water. I then turn them upside down on a cooling rack to dry them off.
When ready, pour into jars, put lids on while still warm, lids will pop to seal as it cools.
I got about 12 4 oz jars of jam from one recipe

The taste of fresh homegrown fruit preserves is always better.

I usually make a couple of batches of each kind of preserve. It's enough for us and to give some away to friends and family.

Fresh bread and jam, simply delicious, can't wait.

I also use the jam in desserts throughout the year. 

We have about 7 grape vines, some red, some green, all delicious

These grapes will turn red and are usually sweet and crispy, just the way we like them.

The Avocados will be ready around October, November

We have the sweetest cherry tomatoes this year. 

We have to cover the tomatoes, or they would cook on the vine in the summer heat

Yum!

Our grapes are planted on the road to Gary's woodworking shop and my soap and lotion Kitchen