A Tasty Vegan Mushroom Pie

Happy New Year one week late. We’ve been sick here - since the Saturday before New Year’s Eve. If you’ve had it - I’m sorry if not, be grateful. The bright side is that we are on the mend. The cold has trickled to some light coughing and nose blowing, actually it was so nice out today that I bundled up and went for a walk - it was nice to breath fresh air for a change. 

We’ve been subsisting on Netflix, soup, scrambled eggs, water and juice with an occasional Cara Cara orange. I’m finally ready for some real food and I just happened to be feeling like a tasty mushroom pie with carrots, onions, celery and peas in a flaky crust served with a cabbage salad with oranges, apples and pomegranates. 

Pampered Chef has a new pie pan set - the pan bakes up 6 mini pies and you can totally cover or not cover the filling - I went with partial covering. 

Vegan Pie filling:

9 ounces portabella mushrooms quartered

2 medium carrots 1/2 inch dice

2 stalks celery - sliced 

1 large red onion - 1/2 dice

1 cup frozen peas

5 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Pie crust - standard 2 crust

Instructions

Place mushrooms in a bowl and add ground black pepper, salt to taste, and the all purpose flour. Toss well to mix. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large saucepan. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute for a couple of minutes, or until the mushrooms start to soften and brown slightly. Remove to a bowl.

In the same pan, add 1 tsp of olive oil, the garlic, onions, carrots and celery. Add a pinch of salt and stir-fry, scraping the bottom of the pan for any bits of mushrooms or flour left behind. They will add wonderful flavor.

When the onions and carrots start to soften but not brown, add the mushrooms back into the pot along with the peas, the herbs and 1 cup hot water.

Stir well, bring to a boil, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Add more herbs (if desired) and stir well to mix. The stew should have thickened because of the flour you dredged the mushrooms in, if it is getting too thick, add some water to thin it out. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste and turn off the heat.

Assemble the Pies

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll out the pie crust and, using the Pampered Chef large pie cutter, cut out 6 circles and place each one of the lightly oiled pie wells. Spoon the mushroom filling into each pie and then cover the tops with 2 small circles of pie dough. Place the pie pan in the oven and bake 15 minutes at 425, turn down the heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, let stand 15 minutes before serving and enjoy!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas is in the air - I love the sights, smells and sounds that remind me of the holidays. Gifts are purchased (not wrapped yet), tree is up and decorated and the turkey is purchased and quietly sleeping in the freezer until it is time for him to make his debut. 

I had a baking bug this morning so I decided to make my grandmothers molasses cookies with lemon butter cream frosting. If you’ve been reading my blog you know these cookies were my favorite as a kid and I guess I was looking for a little trip down memory lane today. 

I recall asking my mom about the recipe when I was in my 20’s and what she could recall was that things were added in 1 cup increments - which wasn’t overly helpful. After asking at a family reunion - my Aunt Kay (my mom’s oldest sister) gave me the recipe. Incidentally my mom was right things do come in 1 cup increments - go figure. 

Ingredients

1 cup crisco  - melted (in the old days I suspect Grandma used lard)

1 cup molasses

1 cup sugar

1 cup hot water with 1 level tsp baking soda

4 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

Cooking Instructions

Add sugar and molasses to the melted shorting. Alternately add water/soda mixture and flour to the shortening/sugar/molasses mixture. Add vanilla. Let dough stand in a cool place until easy to handle - the dough will be sticky. Drop dough by tablespoon on to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat (or a Pampered Chef silicone mat) and bake at 350 degrees approximately 10 - 12 minutes. Cool and frost with lemon buttercream frosting.

For the frosting I used a little butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice - frost and add sprinkles - they are delicious :-) and I am feeling the family love as I eat these!

I couldn’t just make MY favorite cookies without making something for my sweetie. Knowing anything with nuts is his favorite I decided to make him a batch of date and nut pinwheels. I didn’t realize how labor intensive they were until I got half way through the process but the end result was worth it. 

Kudos to A Taste of Home for the recipe. Today no substitutions - with the exception of only making a 1/2 batch because Dan and I don’t need 100+ cookies sitting in the house calling our name while we are trying to work :-). To be honest we’ll be putting many of the cookies in the freezer to use over the holidays and beyond!

They are delicious, see for yourself!

If you are baking at home - let me know about favorite cookies/dishes! Thanks for stopping by!

Good friends, good food and fun

Friday night I hosted my annual Pampered Chef Holiday Kick-off. I’ve been a Pampered Chef consultant for about 7 years and even though I’m at the place where I don’t do a lot of shows, I still enjoy an annual get together with friends and family. We cook, we laugh and we shop and in the end I give 1/2 of the rewards away because one only needs 1 set of knives with a lifetime warranty.

In my holiday shows, I try to focus on quick and healthy recipes that my friends can put together in 30 minutes or less. Last night we made a Chickpea Shawarma dip it was health, spicy and delicious. I served it up with veggies and flatbread crackers - it was a hit!  Thanks to Minimalist Baker for the original recipe.

This holiday season will be different. It's the first without my Dad and the tree somehow doesn't seem complete without Camille sleeping underneath it on her favorite velvet tree skirt. We do have a lot to be thankful for and a joyful event on the horizon; Dan's daughter Alona is getting married in June - everyone is very excited.

CHICKPEA SHAWARMA DIP

CHICKPEAS

1 15-ounce (425 g) can chickpeas, well drained - if you are a bean purest you can make your own from scratch  

1 Tbsp (15 ml) olive or avocado oil

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

GARLIC HERB SAUCE

1/4 cup (60 g) hummus (store-bought or DIY)

1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice

3/4 - 1 tsp dried dill

3 cloves garlic, minced 

Water 

PARSLEY SALAD 

1 cup packed (75 g) finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup (75 g) diced cherry or roma tomatoes

1/4 cup (35 g) diced red onion

1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice

1 Tbsp (15 ml) olive oil

Pinch each sea salt and black pepper

HUMMUS

16 ounces (453 g) hummus (store-bought or DIY)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C) and add well-drained chickpeas to a mixing bowl.

Top with oil, sugar, and spices and toss to combine. Then spread on a bare or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until deep golden brown and fragrant. Set aside.

In the meantime, prepare your sauce by adding all ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisking to combine, only adding enough water to thin so it’s pourable. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add more garlic for more zing, salt for savoriness, lemon juice for freshness, and dill for a more intense herb flavor. I found mine didn’t need anything else.

Prepare parsley-tomato salad by adding parsley, tomato and onion to a small mixing bowl and dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss and set aside.

Assemble 

Spread hummus on a serving platter and top with roasted chickpeas, parsley salad, and garlic dill sauce. Serve with chips, or veggies of choice.

I think of the holiday season as a time for reflection and to plan for the new year. I take stock of the goals I set and how well I met them - this year I had a goal of walking 2017 miles and barring any craziness I am on track to meet that goal. Looking forward I want to do more writing, maybe even take one of my NaNoWriMo's and self publish it - still pondering that one. I'd like to spend more time with friends, volunteer at the Arboretum and take classes to become a Master Gardener. I'd say my plate looks pretty full - which is a good thing. 

Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Not Your Mama’s Cauliflower

It’s Thanksgiving week - you know what that means - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and all the trimmings and the induced food coma after. In all seriousness I love spending time with family and friends - it’s not about the food it’s about the relationships. 

This will be the first Thanksgiving that I don’t spend with my dad I have to say I miss him.Things will be different but time marches on. We’ll spend the holiday with Dan’s family - the food will be delicious, the conversation lively and I’ll get to see many of nieces and nephews it will be a day filled with fun and laughter. 

I have this week off so I took the opportunity to make a batch of herbed cashew cheese, a loaf of banana bread and have lunch with my friend Elaine (from Elaine in the kitchen). We spent 2+ hours catching up, talking about our food adventures and other important life things - she keeps me grounded and she has the best sense of humor. 

Aside from the cheese and bread I’ve been trying some new recipes. My new favorite is Gobi Musallam aka Whole Roasted Cauliflower in Creamy Makhani Gravy - but no matter what you call it - it’s delicious. A bit tedious, but delicious. 

If you want all of the beautiful pictures you can find them here otherwise read on for my condensed version. 

Ingredients:

1 head of Cauliflower head  – leaves, tough stem removed and washed

Water to blanch

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Sauce

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium red onion chopped

1 inch ginger chopped

5-6 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 to 1 tsp chili flakes

3 medium tomatoes chopped

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

3/4 cup coconut milk(from can)

1/3 cup soaked cashews

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon agave

Cooking Instructions

Fill a large pot with enough water to immerse the cauliflower in and bring it to a boil. Add salt, turmeric and chili and blanch/cook the whole cauliflower. 

Cover and cook for 4 minutes on each side(top and bottom. Flip after 4 minutes)

Sauce:

Soak the cashews in water for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). 

In a sauce pan add olive oil and onion and saute until golden approximately 6 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, chili flakes and saute for another 2 minutes. Add remaining spices and mix until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, salt, and agave mix and cook covered until tender. Mash the larger chunks of tomato during cooking - cook approximately 8-10 minutes.

Cool sauce mixture, add to a high speed blender, and blend with coconut milk and cashews into a smooth thick puree.Taste and adjust salt, spices as desired. 

Oil the baking dish and place the blanched cauliflower in the dish. Slowly drop the sauce on top of the cauliflower letting cover the entire head of cauliflower. Some sauce will fall on the side and into the pan - that’s ok. 

Place the blanched cauliflower in a baking dish.

Bake uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the sauce covering the cauliflower is dry to touch. Turn the dish around after 30 minutes.

Serve hot with Naan and basmati rice.

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving filled with good food, great friends and family and lively conversation!

A Curry Affair

Winter, or pre-winter as I like to call it before the snow sets in, has arrived. We were at Dan's favorite big box home store a couple days after Halloween and bought 2 small pie pumpkins. My original plan was to make a pumpkin pie but I hadn't gotten around to that project yet. I’m still picking kale and collard greens and the pantry is full - so I decided it was time for an experiment. 

Since Dan was doing a work thing that evening I decided to use up some of the kale (it's not his favorite thing but he'll eat it if I cook it or add a little bit to a salad). It was a cold night so a curry sounded like just the ticket to warm me up. I tossed this together adding things that looked and sounded good as I went along. My original dish was going to be a simple red lentil curry until I realized I only had brown lentils - but I think of them as interchangeable - I know I know many of you don't. 

I started by microwaving one of the small pumpkins so that I could cut the top off and clean out the insides. After about 3 minutes I was able to cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and then put it in the oven to bake. 

While the pumpkin was baking I prepped the rest of the ingredients:

I cup dry lentils - cooked according to package directions (for those of you who give me a hard time about using canned beans - take note!) 

2 cups of chopped cooked pumpkin

1 medium onion chopped

A handful of kale - rolled and shredded

1 can of coconut milk

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice - I used fire roasted

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

garlic - 3 - 4 cloves minced

ground ginger 

salt and pepper 

Saute the onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil until soft, add all spices and cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, cooked lentils, cooked pumpkin and shredded kale. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!

A “Chili” Kind of Day

From crisp fall days to snow and sleet - Minnesota does not disappoint. I woke up this morning to cold, wind, rain and sleet on my walk - definitely gets the blood flowing. On a happier note Dan’s daughter Alona and her betrothed Nate have set a date - the wedding will be on June 3rd - we’re so happy and excited for them. Lots of great adventures ahead for everyone.

I’ve been eyeing my garden in hopes that the last 2 butternut squash will ripen but today I made an executive decision to pick them (during the rain, sleet and snow) and hope they ripen. If they don’t well the other 12 squash won’t be able to become acquainted with them - but I doubt they will care. 

If you’ve read my blog or you know me, you know that Fall is my favorite time of year - root vegetables, pumpkin, crusty french bread, a glass of wine, a fire and a good book set my evening on the right path. Tonight Dan built an awesome fire and we feasted on a batch of chili made with peppers and tomato sauce (a delicious and spicy red and green tomato sauce) made with ingredients from our garden. 

Two things; there is no such thing as too many onions and spicy is good - but not the kind of spicy that burns your mouth, the kind of spicy that is flavorful. I’d like to tell you I have a recipe for my chili but I don’t - every time I make it, it’s different. A lot of that comes from the ingredients I have on hand, the freshness of the spices and of course my mood. 

Some days I’m feeling spicy some savory and some sweet (but not in chili of course)! This go around I wanted spice, not that kick ass spice that makes you sweat but the kind that warms you and in this go round I achieved it - score!

Ingredients:

2 medium to large onions diced

1 red pepper - chopped

1 orange pepper - chopped

3 small poblano peppers - chopped

1 can black beans - rinsed and drained

1 can white kidney beans - rinsed and drained

1 can chili beans (beans and liquid)

2 large carrots, peeled, chopped and microwaved until soft

3 - 4 cups tomato sauce - I used the sauce that I made from the red and green tomatoes in our garden - you can also use 2 - 3 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilis 

Instructions:

Chop all ingredients. In a medium to large sauce pan, saute onions, peppers, and partially cooked carrots in olive oil until softened. 

To a crockpot add, onion mixture, beans, tomato sauce, garlic, chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes and cumin. Cook on low for 3 - 4 hours to meld flavors. 

Serve with cornbread or a crusty grain bread for dipping - it was delicious!

Stay safe and warm!

Squash with a Twist

With the exception of the few frost hearty crops like kale, collard greens and hard shell squash, we’ve said goodbye to another great garden year. The other day I picked the squash (with the exception of the 2 that are not quite ready), made a batch of green tomato chutney, and a final batch of green/red tomato sauce - the freezer is full.

We’ve got 3 kinds of squash this year; acorn, butternut and buttercup all waiting to be roasted or turned into something wonderful. My go to recipe is simply roasting and serve with a splash of maple syrup - maybe butter if I’m feeling like living life on the edge. 

Squash is extremely flexible it can be cooked, roasted, flattened into patties, fried, or included as a base flavor for soups. The seeds of squash are also edible, and can be made into a number of different forms or their oils can be extracted. 

I've been thinking about using butternut squash for the “cheese” in macaroni and cheese and turning acorn squash into a dessert - a fall custard if you will. This custard is simple to make and has only 5 (seriously count them) ingredients I found the recipe over on It’s a Love / Love Things blog - you can check it out here.

 Ingredients

2 cups of baked acorn squash

4 eggs

1/4 cup of coconut oil

2T butter (or more coconut oil if you prefer)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

maple syrup to drizzle. 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350. Toss all ingredients into a high speed blender and puree until smooth. Pour mixture into a greased pan (I use coconut oil) and smooth with a spatula. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. When a toothpick inserted comes out clean, the custard is done. Allow to cool on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. You can serve it warm or cold with a drizzle of maple syrup. 

Enjoy!