28 February 2009
19 February 2009
A few thoughts...
A few things that made me think today:
1. Reading an article on "Natural Beef" which came out in the Oregonian Food Day section yesterday.
This article takes for granted the fact that if cows are raised being fed grass, they're happy to die for humans to eat them. A cow does not WANT to die, even if eating grass all the way to your mouth. A living animal that is sent unwilling to its death does not make for a guilt-free ingredient or snack, no matter what she is fed while she is alive.
This article seems like an unfortunate sham to me. The title reads, "Grass-fed? Grain-finished? Organic? Free-range? How do you know, and what does it mean?" I got excited for a minute. Will this article address the fact that it doesn't matter whether it's grass- or grain-fed; there is no "humane" treatment of an animal born to be slaughtered? I'd like to see an article starting with this premise that concludes it doesn't matter what a cow is fed while alive on a "feedlot;" cows and other living and feeling creatures shouldn't be sent to a lot to be "finished" at all. I use quotes around "feedlot" and "finished" because I find these terms to be intentionally vague. A feedlot is a type of confined pen where cows are sent to be overfed in order to gain enough weight to be slaughtered. "Finished" simply means these cows have their lives taken away before nature would do so, and they go to their death unwillingly. (I have to say, of course. What sane creature would go happily to have their throats slit, even if they were fed a delicious diet beforehand?)
2.Rats.
As my sous chef told me today, "Rats are stupid. Why else would they eat each other when caught in a trap? Why else would they dart in front of us when we're right here?" I really really like this guy. He's a super person. I really like my job. It's fantastic in all ways. All ways except one. You've heard of the "cognitive dissonance" that some people struggle with? Cognitive Dissonance is "an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. (Wikepedia)" This happens most often in peoples' work lives versus personal lives. I love what I do and that I'm paid to do it. It'd be hard to ask for a better job more suited for my skills and talents. I won't say what I do, only that I mostly love it, and the people I work with. The hard part? The dead chicken's bodies I see in the walk-in freezer every day. The smell of dead pig when I arrive in the morning. The turkey mounds, or "meatloaf," on trays I see at lunchtime. The pieces of cow I see in bloody bags, kept cold until ready to be cut up. And the rats darting out from their homes after we close. I work in a century-old building. Our city is centralized around a river; of course there are rats most places one goes. The rats at my place stay mostly to themselves, trying to find water, or something to eat. They don't usually succeed since we keep our kitchen in the basement very clean. The Chef, Sous Chef, and General Manager have no problem with viewing these cute, intuitive, and loyal creatures as pests to be removed. There are traps set every night.
Sticky tape is one such trap--if a rat runs over a certain part of the floor, their feet are permanently stuck. Starving to death, confused, they try to gnaw at their own limbs in an effort to free themselves. I'm not an expert in rats, but I'm fairly certain that the one incident in which my co-worker mentioned one rat trying to eat another was just one trying to save another the only way they knew how. Rats are highly intelligent and friendly animals that don't deserve to be tricked and trapped and killed for living where they do.
To be honest, I've cried at my job, a few times, to hear these people, my friends, my otherwise sensitive and wonderful friends, discussing the eradication and torture of these fellow creatures with a laugh, a giggle, and a shrug.
3. Revolutionary Road. A touching movie. Thought-provoking and amazing. The actors were well cast, and the plot... oh, the plot. As the author of the novel says, "If my work has a theme, I suspect it is a simple one: that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy. (Wikipedia)" To me, the tragedy lies in the fact that some human beings see themselves as being inescapable alone, whereas others do not. Mrs. Wheeler sought a way out, any way out, because to her happiness and freedom meant escaping the rut, the race for money and promotions and a bigger house. It meant reaching their potential as human beings. To Mr Wheeler, he saw happiness as being with his beloved wife, his children, and eeking out a substantial way of life, even it wasn't the life he vaguely imagined for himself while a naive and bullheaded youth. When the realtor's husband toward the end of the movie slowly turns down his hearing aid to escape his wife's hypocritical explanations, I can see what Richard Yates, the novel's author, means when he says that most human beings are inescapably alone. Is this the fate Frank and April would have had in store in for them if she had not died a lonesome, tragic, and irrelevant death? Who's to say? This movie, to me, spoke to the urges of humans, the drives, and the occasional futility of simply trying.
4. Squirrel meat. A article in the same section of the same paper I read this morning.
I thought this article was a joke. Here are a few choice pieces from this article:
How to Cook a Squirrel
"....Looking at the carcasses I wished that they had been cut into serving pieces; if there is a next time, I'll request that. I did try cutting them up, but the bones were sturdy and I didn't want to mangle my meal...."
"...I had planned to hunt my own squirrel..... but never having killed an animal before, I was hugely relieved when the weather turned miserable and I had to place an order....."
"....Instead of serving it in its sauce straight from the oven, you need to cook it first, then cool it enough to pry, slice and pull the meat from the carcass..."
"...though I thought I tasted a faint whiff of furry slipper along with an echo of hazelnut...."
And here's some from the article itself:
"....Enter the 'Save our Squirrels' campaign begun in 2006 to rescue Britain's red squirrels by piquing the nation's appetite for the marauding North American cousins. With a rallying motto of 'Save a red, eat a gray!,' the campaign created a market for culled squirrel meat..."
Fergus Henderson, the chef and co-owner of St. John restaurant in London, cooks with "...both poetry and passion, and sometimes prepares his squirrels to 're-create the bosky woods they come from' braising them with bacon...."
"If you want to grab your shotgun, make sure you have very good aim--squirrels must be shot in the head; a body shot renders them impossible to skin or eat. (You want to get rid of the head in any event, as squirrel brains have been linked to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease..."
"...Skinning a squirrel is 'difficult and unpleasant,' food write Leslie Mackley said, adding, 'You have to fight to rip the skin from the flesh...."
And now some thoughts on this:
I never want to eat a food that I have to ask be cut into serving pieces before preparing because I don't want to look at the original "product," or let's be real, animal.
I never want to be thankful that my food comes prepackaged to my door, rather than me going out to kill it. (It's much better to go pick a big bunch of kale and prepare it than shoot a squirrel in the heart.)
I never want to eat a food that I have to cook, pry, slice, and rip the meat from in order to eat it.
I never want to eat an animal to "save" another animal.
I never want to cook with "poetry and passion" if it means killing and cooking fellow creatures.
I never want to grab a shotgun and aim away from the head, in case I get a nasty deadly disease while eating my dinner.
And finally, I never want to prepare a meal that is supposed to nurture me by fighting to rip skin from flesh.
Frankly, I never want to eat a squirrel. Then again, I never want to eat any meal where I have to have a difficult and unpleasant time, where I have to be glad I didn't have to source it, and where I have to put out of mind the fact that I am eating something that fervently would choose NOT to be eaten.
1. Reading an article on "Natural Beef" which came out in the Oregonian Food Day section yesterday.
This article takes for granted the fact that if cows are raised being fed grass, they're happy to die for humans to eat them. A cow does not WANT to die, even if eating grass all the way to your mouth. A living animal that is sent unwilling to its death does not make for a guilt-free ingredient or snack, no matter what she is fed while she is alive.
This article seems like an unfortunate sham to me. The title reads, "Grass-fed? Grain-finished? Organic? Free-range? How do you know, and what does it mean?" I got excited for a minute. Will this article address the fact that it doesn't matter whether it's grass- or grain-fed; there is no "humane" treatment of an animal born to be slaughtered? I'd like to see an article starting with this premise that concludes it doesn't matter what a cow is fed while alive on a "feedlot;" cows and other living and feeling creatures shouldn't be sent to a lot to be "finished" at all. I use quotes around "feedlot" and "finished" because I find these terms to be intentionally vague. A feedlot is a type of confined pen where cows are sent to be overfed in order to gain enough weight to be slaughtered. "Finished" simply means these cows have their lives taken away before nature would do so, and they go to their death unwillingly. (I have to say, of course. What sane creature would go happily to have their throats slit, even if they were fed a delicious diet beforehand?)
2.Rats.
As my sous chef told me today, "Rats are stupid. Why else would they eat each other when caught in a trap? Why else would they dart in front of us when we're right here?" I really really like this guy. He's a super person. I really like my job. It's fantastic in all ways. All ways except one. You've heard of the "cognitive dissonance" that some people struggle with? Cognitive Dissonance is "an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. (Wikepedia)" This happens most often in peoples' work lives versus personal lives. I love what I do and that I'm paid to do it. It'd be hard to ask for a better job more suited for my skills and talents. I won't say what I do, only that I mostly love it, and the people I work with. The hard part? The dead chicken's bodies I see in the walk-in freezer every day. The smell of dead pig when I arrive in the morning. The turkey mounds, or "meatloaf," on trays I see at lunchtime. The pieces of cow I see in bloody bags, kept cold until ready to be cut up. And the rats darting out from their homes after we close. I work in a century-old building. Our city is centralized around a river; of course there are rats most places one goes. The rats at my place stay mostly to themselves, trying to find water, or something to eat. They don't usually succeed since we keep our kitchen in the basement very clean. The Chef, Sous Chef, and General Manager have no problem with viewing these cute, intuitive, and loyal creatures as pests to be removed. There are traps set every night.
Sticky tape is one such trap--if a rat runs over a certain part of the floor, their feet are permanently stuck. Starving to death, confused, they try to gnaw at their own limbs in an effort to free themselves. I'm not an expert in rats, but I'm fairly certain that the one incident in which my co-worker mentioned one rat trying to eat another was just one trying to save another the only way they knew how. Rats are highly intelligent and friendly animals that don't deserve to be tricked and trapped and killed for living where they do.
To be honest, I've cried at my job, a few times, to hear these people, my friends, my otherwise sensitive and wonderful friends, discussing the eradication and torture of these fellow creatures with a laugh, a giggle, and a shrug.
3. Revolutionary Road. A touching movie. Thought-provoking and amazing. The actors were well cast, and the plot... oh, the plot. As the author of the novel says, "If my work has a theme, I suspect it is a simple one: that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy. (Wikipedia)" To me, the tragedy lies in the fact that some human beings see themselves as being inescapable alone, whereas others do not. Mrs. Wheeler sought a way out, any way out, because to her happiness and freedom meant escaping the rut, the race for money and promotions and a bigger house. It meant reaching their potential as human beings. To Mr Wheeler, he saw happiness as being with his beloved wife, his children, and eeking out a substantial way of life, even it wasn't the life he vaguely imagined for himself while a naive and bullheaded youth. When the realtor's husband toward the end of the movie slowly turns down his hearing aid to escape his wife's hypocritical explanations, I can see what Richard Yates, the novel's author, means when he says that most human beings are inescapably alone. Is this the fate Frank and April would have had in store in for them if she had not died a lonesome, tragic, and irrelevant death? Who's to say? This movie, to me, spoke to the urges of humans, the drives, and the occasional futility of simply trying.
4. Squirrel meat. A article in the same section of the same paper I read this morning.
I thought this article was a joke. Here are a few choice pieces from this article:
How to Cook a Squirrel
"....Looking at the carcasses I wished that they had been cut into serving pieces; if there is a next time, I'll request that. I did try cutting them up, but the bones were sturdy and I didn't want to mangle my meal...."
"...I had planned to hunt my own squirrel..... but never having killed an animal before, I was hugely relieved when the weather turned miserable and I had to place an order....."
"....Instead of serving it in its sauce straight from the oven, you need to cook it first, then cool it enough to pry, slice and pull the meat from the carcass..."
"...though I thought I tasted a faint whiff of furry slipper along with an echo of hazelnut...."
And here's some from the article itself:
"....Enter the 'Save our Squirrels' campaign begun in 2006 to rescue Britain's red squirrels by piquing the nation's appetite for the marauding North American cousins. With a rallying motto of 'Save a red, eat a gray!,' the campaign created a market for culled squirrel meat..."
Fergus Henderson, the chef and co-owner of St. John restaurant in London, cooks with "...both poetry and passion, and sometimes prepares his squirrels to 're-create the bosky woods they come from' braising them with bacon...."
"If you want to grab your shotgun, make sure you have very good aim--squirrels must be shot in the head; a body shot renders them impossible to skin or eat. (You want to get rid of the head in any event, as squirrel brains have been linked to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease..."
"...Skinning a squirrel is 'difficult and unpleasant,' food write Leslie Mackley said, adding, 'You have to fight to rip the skin from the flesh...."
And now some thoughts on this:
I never want to eat a food that I have to ask be cut into serving pieces before preparing because I don't want to look at the original "product," or let's be real, animal.
I never want to be thankful that my food comes prepackaged to my door, rather than me going out to kill it. (It's much better to go pick a big bunch of kale and prepare it than shoot a squirrel in the heart.)
I never want to eat a food that I have to cook, pry, slice, and rip the meat from in order to eat it.
I never want to eat an animal to "save" another animal.
I never want to cook with "poetry and passion" if it means killing and cooking fellow creatures.
I never want to grab a shotgun and aim away from the head, in case I get a nasty deadly disease while eating my dinner.
And finally, I never want to prepare a meal that is supposed to nurture me by fighting to rip skin from flesh.
Frankly, I never want to eat a squirrel. Then again, I never want to eat any meal where I have to have a difficult and unpleasant time, where I have to be glad I didn't have to source it, and where I have to put out of mind the fact that I am eating something that fervently would choose NOT to be eaten.
12 February 2009
Bread and Cookies and Nessybars, oh my!
Snacky treats:
While the landlord was here the other day, again, I took the opportunity to do some baking. Lunch with my friend Nell on Sunday inspired me to bake some bread. For the first time ever.
She served me fresh and warm rustic bread. With a little earth balance and some nutritional yeast, it was a cozy treat.
Rustic bread is actually very simple. I have no idea why it doesn't need sugar for the yeast to feed on, but it just doesn't*.
Just four ingredients--water, salt, yeast, and warm water. It takes about 2 hours to rise, 30 minutes to bake. I'm going to try again, maybe with a little variation (herbs, spices, fruit, etc) and then I'll post the recipe.
* I actually called my mom in a panic, because it wasn't rising as fast as I'd like. No need to panic though. It turned out great. A little plain, to be honest, but super edible.
I also have been fetishing for coconut recently. I cannot get enough of the texture and the flavor. I found a recipe on the PPK (the same evil geniuses who wrote my Veganomicon cookbook are behind this website) for chocolate oatmeal macaroons.
Ohmygoodness. Holy Yum.
So easy, so quick. They take 10-15 minutes to whip up, and about an hour to refridgerate. Talk about vegan deliciousness. I gave these out left and right because I knew I'd want to eat them all if they stayed around. I'm definitely making these more often.
I also made my own version of larabars, those magic whole food, vegan, raw, delicious snack bars. They all have just a few ingredients in them, so I tried my favorite at home. Coconut Cream Pie.
This actually tastes like pie, it's so good, and it doesn't even have any sugar. I didn't take pictures because the whole process was literally 5 minutes and I had cleaned up by the time I remembered my camera. But I will be making them again, quite often. Just 5 ingredients--dates, cashews, almonds, coconut, and coconut oil.
I want to try other flavors, like apple, banana, maybe peanut butter chocolate, maybe use some spices and herbs.... who knows. The point is they were so freakin easy and so freakin delicious and I am so freakin happy with how all of these projects turned out today! (Maybe if I added coconut to the bread I would have liked it better.)
While the landlord was here the other day, again, I took the opportunity to do some baking. Lunch with my friend Nell on Sunday inspired me to bake some bread. For the first time ever.
She served me fresh and warm rustic bread. With a little earth balance and some nutritional yeast, it was a cozy treat.
Rustic bread is actually very simple. I have no idea why it doesn't need sugar for the yeast to feed on, but it just doesn't*.
Just four ingredients--water, salt, yeast, and warm water. It takes about 2 hours to rise, 30 minutes to bake. I'm going to try again, maybe with a little variation (herbs, spices, fruit, etc) and then I'll post the recipe.
* I actually called my mom in a panic, because it wasn't rising as fast as I'd like. No need to panic though. It turned out great. A little plain, to be honest, but super edible.
I also have been fetishing for coconut recently. I cannot get enough of the texture and the flavor. I found a recipe on the PPK (the same evil geniuses who wrote my Veganomicon cookbook are behind this website) for chocolate oatmeal macaroons.
Ohmygoodness. Holy Yum.
So easy, so quick. They take 10-15 minutes to whip up, and about an hour to refridgerate. Talk about vegan deliciousness. I gave these out left and right because I knew I'd want to eat them all if they stayed around. I'm definitely making these more often.
I also made my own version of larabars, those magic whole food, vegan, raw, delicious snack bars. They all have just a few ingredients in them, so I tried my favorite at home. Coconut Cream Pie.
This actually tastes like pie, it's so good, and it doesn't even have any sugar. I didn't take pictures because the whole process was literally 5 minutes and I had cleaned up by the time I remembered my camera. But I will be making them again, quite often. Just 5 ingredients--dates, cashews, almonds, coconut, and coconut oil.
I want to try other flavors, like apple, banana, maybe peanut butter chocolate, maybe use some spices and herbs.... who knows. The point is they were so freakin easy and so freakin delicious and I am so freakin happy with how all of these projects turned out today! (Maybe if I added coconut to the bread I would have liked it better.)
10 February 2009
Breakfast of Champions--Oatmeal!
I love oatmeal. It's hearty, delicious, versatile, and easy to make.
My new favorite breakfast is this:
How to make it:
Janessa's kick-ass oatmeal
1/2 cup oats (not quick cooking or steel cut, just nice regular oats)
1 cup water or nut milk (I use water, but occasionally add a little almond milk)
2 tsp ground flax seeds (gotta get in your omega 3's!)
1 tsp sweetener (I usually use maple syrup or agave nectar. I'm sure brown or vegan white sugar will work just as well)
1/8 cup almonds (I put in a small handful of slivered almonds)
4 strawberries, sliced
1/8 cup frozen blueberries (if using fresh, wait until you remove from heat)
1/8 cup unsweetened coconut
Combine oats, water and flax seen in small pot over low-medium heat. Wait until oats soak up some of water (about 1 minute, really!), add the remaining ingredients.
This is a great start to your day! It takes 3-7 minutes, so even if you're in a hurry you've got time to make a good, satisfying, and healthy breakfast. It makes a perfect amount, and is easy to mix up. You can add banana and peanut butter instead of the fruit and coconut. Or chopped apples and cinnamon.
Whatever you want. I'm having a bit of fling with coconut right now, so I've been adding it to everything.
Enjoy!
My new favorite breakfast is this:
How to make it:
Janessa's kick-ass oatmeal
1/2 cup oats (not quick cooking or steel cut, just nice regular oats)
1 cup water or nut milk (I use water, but occasionally add a little almond milk)
2 tsp ground flax seeds (gotta get in your omega 3's!)
1 tsp sweetener (I usually use maple syrup or agave nectar. I'm sure brown or vegan white sugar will work just as well)
1/8 cup almonds (I put in a small handful of slivered almonds)
4 strawberries, sliced
1/8 cup frozen blueberries (if using fresh, wait until you remove from heat)
1/8 cup unsweetened coconut
Combine oats, water and flax seen in small pot over low-medium heat. Wait until oats soak up some of water (about 1 minute, really!), add the remaining ingredients.
This is a great start to your day! It takes 3-7 minutes, so even if you're in a hurry you've got time to make a good, satisfying, and healthy breakfast. It makes a perfect amount, and is easy to mix up. You can add banana and peanut butter instead of the fruit and coconut. Or chopped apples and cinnamon.
Whatever you want. I'm having a bit of fling with coconut right now, so I've been adding it to everything.
Enjoy!
08 February 2009
Libraries In Need!
This is from the Dispatch:
The Senate has just finished a unique Saturday session with numerous floor statements from senators on both sides of the aisle. There has been no action on the floor since late last night. Good news: From what we can discern without being able to confirm specific language with Senate staffers, amendment 501 was DEFEATED last night. This amendment would have cut, from among other programs, $200 million in funding for libraries and community colleges for broadband deployment.
THANK YOU - library advocates. You all generated at least 1,000 calls/messages to senators to help save this funding. It was a tremendous effort in a very few hours - and it helped!
Unfortunately, it appears that there have been very troublesome changes to the education/library provisions in the bill. Without being able to obtain the actual language, we cannot confirm with any detail, what specific pieces were cut or eliminated.
Supporters - there is still much to do. We now need to generate more messages to ALL senators on the overall library, education and broadband provisions. We ask library supporters to continue to contact each of their senators (email, calls or faxes) between now and Tuesday. Watch here at District Dispatch and other news reports to see if the scheduled vote or other provisions change within the next couple of days.)
NEW MESSAGE FOR LIBRARY ADVOCATES TO ALL SENATORS: Keep all library, education and broadband provisions in the stimulus bill.
* Broadband is necessary to level the playing field in all communities and for people of all economic backgrounds and will spur economic recovery and promote new jobs.
* Libraries provide the public with unique, necessary and affordable information and online services related to job and career development, databases and other online information, and computer literacy training to help people apply for jobs and utilize e-government services, which are now often exclusively online.
* Libraries support local small businesses, distance learning and community development.
* Libraries are often the ONLY no-fee access to the internet in local communities - especially in rural areas.
* Where libraries have access to broadband, communities benefit because the public has access to the applications and services needed to function in the modern knowledge economy.
* The important library and broadband provisions of the stimulus bill can:
- create jobs to build out fiber and other broadband infrastructure;
- create jobs for manufacturers and others to supply broadband technology;
- create new markets for affordable broadband;
- stimulate jobs in libraries, education and other community entities that will then also help the public find jobs, develop employment skills, etc.
_______
Please get involved!
06 February 2009
Cave Junction Visit
o
o
A few pictures from family weekend in Cave Junction in late January. My camera hadn't been working too well, so there's not too many. It's working better now (thanks Mike) so look for new posts about some recipes I've been making to come soon (like vegan potato kale enchiladas with a green chile sauce--Mmmmmmm!).
This post includes Dad, Ahi, and I; the vegetable aisle in Shop Smart; the mexican food restaurant we tried for the first in Grants Pass and LOVED; one of my vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffins; and part of Ahi's face with a smorgsaboard of snacky treats and his banana margarita.
02 February 2009
Mexico Food Recap
Mexico. I came, I saw, I tried to eat vegan. Sometimes it was only a waffle for lunch, or a side of beans and avacados and tortillas for dinner. One time we raced through the city of Veracruz following our impromptu guide, and found a prix fix (food on the run) that was ENTIRELY vegan. not the best I've ever had, but super edible. Abby's step-mother made me some delicious food. Gorditas, Empanads, Rice with carrots, spicy potatoes with green beans and cabbage... everything she made had the magic touch--SO GOOD. I miss the food there.
01 February 2009
Without further ado....
I'm at stuck at home all day. My landlord has kept me company the majority of the day. Scrubbing and cleaning and playing with plywood and mess and a constant stream of mostly pleasant chatter.
I'm bored. There's only so much a girl can do all day in a situation like this, without resorting to sorting through the murky wet clothes and shoes and deciding what to throw out and what to keep. That is too depressing for me currently.
So. On to more fun, semi-productive things.
I found a hodgepodge of recipes I've been collecting over the past year that I have not yet tried. This blog entry will document them. I will lessen my clutter and resume blog posting. win/win.
** I did not, unfortunately, write down the source for some of these. Oops. I'll be better next time. Probably.
Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream
* 1 can light coconut milk (13.5 oz)
* 1/2 c maple syrup
* 1/2 c crunchy peanut butter
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 cup soy cream
Puree everything but the soy creamer in a blender until smooth. Pour into 2 ice cube trays and freeze until solid. Place 1/2 of ice cream cubes and 1/2 cup soy creamer in blender and process til smooth and creamy. Repeat with 2nd tray and remaining cream.
6 servers
305 calories/6 grams protein/18.5 grams fat/32 grams carbs/1 gram fiber/26 grams sugar
___________
Mimosa Biscuits
preheat oven to 350
2 1/2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP finely grated orange zest
2 TBSP shortening (Earth Balance)
1/2 c champagne
1/2 c orange juice
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Work shortening into the flour mixture with the tips of your fingers, or cup using 2 knives. Add the champagne and orange juice gradually, mixing with a knife to form a soft dough ball. Roll dough until 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter. Bake for 12/15 minutes. Serve with fruit compote.
Serves 12
____________
Grand Marnier (Vegan!) Souffle
preheat oven to 350
1 c chocolate chips
1 lb firm tofu
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4-1 c agave nectar
3-4 TBSP Grand Marnier or other liquor
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c soymilk
1/2 c unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
Melt chocolate chips in a double broiler. Place remaining ingredients in a food processor, process until smooth and creamy. Add melted chocolate, process a few more moments. Pour into a lightly oiled 1 quart souffle mold or glass baking dish.
Bake until completely puffed up, about 45 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, serve immediately.
499 calories/16 g protein/ 16 g fat/68 g carbs/ 5 g fiber
_______________
White or Red Sangria
1 bottle white wine, such as riesling
1/2 c grand marnier
1 lime
1 orange
1 peach
1 cup strawberries
sugar
sparkling water
~OR~
1 bottle red wine
2 TBSP Brandy
1/4 c orange juice
sugar
fruit
sparkling water
I would make a simple syrup out of vegan sugar rather than just mixing it in. Boil equal amounts sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves. Cool.
I've actually made both of these and they both turned out great.
______________
Okay, I'm done with this portion of recipes. I'm going to have a glass of wine and try to un-grumpify myself.
I'm bored. There's only so much a girl can do all day in a situation like this, without resorting to sorting through the murky wet clothes and shoes and deciding what to throw out and what to keep. That is too depressing for me currently.
So. On to more fun, semi-productive things.
I found a hodgepodge of recipes I've been collecting over the past year that I have not yet tried. This blog entry will document them. I will lessen my clutter and resume blog posting. win/win.
** I did not, unfortunately, write down the source for some of these. Oops. I'll be better next time. Probably.
Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream
* 1 can light coconut milk (13.5 oz)
* 1/2 c maple syrup
* 1/2 c crunchy peanut butter
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 cup soy cream
Puree everything but the soy creamer in a blender until smooth. Pour into 2 ice cube trays and freeze until solid. Place 1/2 of ice cream cubes and 1/2 cup soy creamer in blender and process til smooth and creamy. Repeat with 2nd tray and remaining cream.
6 servers
305 calories/6 grams protein/18.5 grams fat/32 grams carbs/1 gram fiber/26 grams sugar
___________
Mimosa Biscuits
preheat oven to 350
2 1/2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP finely grated orange zest
2 TBSP shortening (Earth Balance)
1/2 c champagne
1/2 c orange juice
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Work shortening into the flour mixture with the tips of your fingers, or cup using 2 knives. Add the champagne and orange juice gradually, mixing with a knife to form a soft dough ball. Roll dough until 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter. Bake for 12/15 minutes. Serve with fruit compote.
Serves 12
____________
Grand Marnier (Vegan!) Souffle
preheat oven to 350
1 c chocolate chips
1 lb firm tofu
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4-1 c agave nectar
3-4 TBSP Grand Marnier or other liquor
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c soymilk
1/2 c unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
Melt chocolate chips in a double broiler. Place remaining ingredients in a food processor, process until smooth and creamy. Add melted chocolate, process a few more moments. Pour into a lightly oiled 1 quart souffle mold or glass baking dish.
Bake until completely puffed up, about 45 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, serve immediately.
499 calories/16 g protein/ 16 g fat/68 g carbs/ 5 g fiber
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White or Red Sangria
1 bottle white wine, such as riesling
1/2 c grand marnier
1 lime
1 orange
1 peach
1 cup strawberries
sugar
sparkling water
~OR~
1 bottle red wine
2 TBSP Brandy
1/4 c orange juice
sugar
fruit
sparkling water
I would make a simple syrup out of vegan sugar rather than just mixing it in. Boil equal amounts sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves. Cool.
I've actually made both of these and they both turned out great.
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Okay, I'm done with this portion of recipes. I'm going to have a glass of wine and try to un-grumpify myself.
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